Chairman Miller Announces Hearing on Unemployment and Job Creation
After Emergency Meeting with Economists, Democratic Leaders Announce Series of Hearings to Develop Economic Recovery Plan

Monday, October 13, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC -- Following an urgent meeting held by Democratic leaders and top economists in Washington today, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that House Democrats will begin the laying the groundwork for a comprehensive economic recovery and job creation program, including a hearing to be held by the House Education and Labor Committee. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee, today said that the hearing will focus on the nation’s severe unemployment outlook and strategies to spur job growth.

“The credit crisis and stock market crash is making an already dire unemployment situation worse,” Miller said today.  “The top economists who have briefed the Democratic leadership today and over the last few weeks all agree that unemployment is going to continue to rise.  We are going to examine the best ways to get Americans back to work and put our economy on the road to recovery.

“The emergency financial bill Congress approved late last month was one important step toward rescuing the economy, but we knew then that additional, comprehensive measures would be needed to help stabilize and heal our broken economy.  We need a longer-term economic recovery plan that will create jobs, grow the economy, and protect Main Street. These hearings will be vital to our efforts to develop a plan that rebuilds our economy while protecting taxpayers and helping workers and their families seize the opportunities that our 21st century economy presents.”

The hearing is expected to take place late next week.  The exact date and location will be announced later.  Last week, Miller announced a second hearing on how the financial crisis is impacting workers’ retirement savings, on Wednesday, October 22, in San Francisco.  He held a hearing on this topic last Tuesday as part of a series of hearings House Democrats are conducting to look at the causes of the financial crisis and appropriate responses to it.

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