The United States Senate has defeated by a bipartisan vote legislation to bail out local governments by subsidizing public employee hiring — one of the key elements of Barack Obama’s unfunded Stimulus 2.0 legislation.

The vote was 50-50, falling well-short of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture.

Republicans only hold 47 seats in the Senate, meaning three Democrats joined them in opposition to the unfunded legislation.

Meanwhile, the left-wing media is kicking its shilling operation into hyperdrive.

The Associated Press calls it a Republican filibuster while labeling a massive tax increase on businessmen and investors as a “surcharge”.

They’re coming up with all sorts of interesting terms to avoid repeatedly saying “tax hike”. How creative and helpful of them.

More: Interestingly, a Republican proposal to end 3% withholding on contractors also failed cloture attainment this evening. But that vote was 57-43, just three votes short of cloture.

Put another way, Republican jobs legislation is now getting closer to passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate than Barack Obama’s proposals. That should have the White House concerned.