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Rep. McDermott Introduces American Worker Security Resolution
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
September 22, 2008

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, took the first step today toward introducing comprehensive legislation to modernize many of the social safety net programs that have remained largely unchanged since they were written over 50 years ago. 

McDermott’s resolution in the House of Representatives identifies many specific economic and social programs that need to be modernized: “Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to re-weave America’s social safety net to responds to the needs of the 21st century economy and labor market.”

Since becoming chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee at the beginning of the current Congress, McDermott has worked on a bi-partisan basis to address economic, security and safety net issues that affect the American people.  Hearings before McDermott’s subcommittee laid the groundwork for significant new legislation that has passed to address a number of key issues, from extending unemployment benefits to reforming foster care.

McDermott said it has become increasingly clear that many safety-net programs meant to help protect and assist the American people during tough economic times have left large holes in the safety net because they no longer reflect the workplace or workforce in America today.

“Many Americans who are falling victim to the current economic crisis are going to fall right through the social safety nets meant to catch them,” McDermott said, “because America in 2008 looks very different than America in 1935, and we need to both recognize this and fix it.”

McDermott’s resolution, says the American people are falling behind in many ways and the resolution identifies many of the social and economic programs that need to be modernized, including: child care, health care, wage stagnation, sick leave, savings and pensions, and education and training to keep Americans competitive in the global economy.