|
Supporting Workers, Small Businesses and Economic Development
As a member of Congress, I have worked to bring more good-paying jobs to south Louisiana and help small businesses prosper. I believe we must strike a balance between protecting the rights of working people and preserving a pro-growth environment that gives businesses the freedom to expand.
Job creators and entrepreneurs rely on a strong workforce. By the same token, workers rely on businesses to preserve and create jobs. This mutual dependency means that it is important that both sides work together as partners rather than adversaries.
As a former small business owner myself, I understand the needs of the business community and have worked to build bridges between businesses and workers. The Chamber of Commerce has given me a strong 77% rating for my voting record to support the business community, and I have earned their "Spirit of Enterprise" Award every year I have been in Congress.
I will continue to work with both workers and businesses in Louisiana to help them succeed and prosper in our 21st century economy.
Supporting Working People in Louisiana
Minimum Wage
I have always been a strong supporter of hardworking Louisianians. As such, I am committed to faircompetition for U.S. workers and ensuring that people are fairly compensated for the skill and hard work they bring to their jobs. I have consistently voted to raise the minimum wage, which will be increased to $7.25 an hour by mid-2009, after this provision was included in a larger emergency funding bill passed by Congress in 2007.
Before this legislation was passed, the federal minimum wage had not increased in almost ten years - the longest period in the history of the law. As a result, the real value of the minimum wage had plummeted to its lowest level in 51 years. If the minimum wage was equal to what it was at its highest point in 1968, it would be $9.05 per hour today.
Helping Workers Hurt by Offshoring
I have also worked to protect American jobs and prevent them from being shipped overseas. I opposed unfair trade deals and was one of the lead opponents in Congress of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). To mitigate the negative effects of globalization, I supported legislation to assist workers who are laid off when their jobs are moved overseas, including those who work in the service sector. I supported legislation that doubled job training funding and expanded job training support for workers and, since losing a job often means losing health insurance, would also help laid-off workers afford health coverage for themselves and their families.
Right to Organize
In Congress, I have worked to improve labor conditions in south Louisiana. I support a worker's
"I've been the owner of several small businesses in south Louisiana, so I personally understand how hard it can be for small businesses to make ends meet. However, no employee can be expected to survive on just $10,700 a year, which is the current annual earnings for fulltime minimum wage workers. I believe the best way to move more Americans into the middle class is to make sure they can earn a meaningful and fair wage, if they put in a full day's work."
|
legal right to form a union and recognize the importance of good-faith and productive contract negotiations between workers and their employers. In Congress, I have co-sponsored legislation that would strengthen a worker's right to organize and implement stronger penalties for employers who violate the workers' legal rights to negotiate contracts.
Encouraging Technical Education and Training
I believe training more skilled workers is key to bringing better-paying jobs to south Louisiana. He is a strong supporter of Louisiana's technical and trade schools. Since the 2005 storms, I have been a partner in encouraging the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative (GCWDI), a program spearheaded by the Business Roundtable to provide critically needed new construction workers and empower the region's workforce with new educational opportunities and careers. The GCWDI has set a goal of recruiting and training up to 20,000 new construction workers in the Gulf Coast region by the end of 2009.
Supporting Louisiana's Small Businesses
Because small businesses are the foundation of our economy in south Louisiana, I have been a strong supporter of pro-small business legislation in Congress. Before serving in public office, I was a small businessman and entrepreneur, having owned and operated several Baskin Robbins franchises in south Louisiana and an insurance agency during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In Congress, I have supported legislation to provide new opportunities for south Louisiana's small businesses to help them grow and prosper. I have voted for legislation that would ensure small business owners have the opportunity to compete for contracts from the federal government, putting them on a more level playing field with large corporations. I have also supported tax relief for small businesses, voting for legislation that will help them grow by providing tax credits and incentives for expanding and purchasing new equipment. This legislation would also help small businesses adjust to the impact of the minimum wage increase, which will affect their bottom line more than that of larger businesses.
While I have fought to protect American jobs from foreign competition, I also understands that some small businesses in south Louisiana have a need for temporary foreign workers because they are unable to find Americans to fill certain jobs. Seafood and sugarcane processors in particular depend on seasonal labor to harvest and process their crops. I have supported legislation in Congress to temporarily raise the cap for returning temporary "H2B" nonagricultural workers.
Reforming the Small Business Administration
I have also helped lead the fight to reform of the Small Business Administration, the federal agency that failed miserably to provide relief to devastated Gulf Coast small business owners after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I was an original co-sponsor of a comprehensive SBA reform bill and drafted several key provisions in the bill that specifically address the needs of small business owners in south Louisiana.
| "When small business owners needed help the most, the SBA failed them," Rep. Melancon said after the House passed the SBA reform legislation. After months of frustration, many gave up on getting any assistance from the SBA and either kept their businesses closed or drained their personal resources struggling to stay afloat. The RECOVER Act will make sure that the SBA catastrophe that followed Katrina and Rita doesn't happen again, and small businesses can get the help they need to get back on their feet." |
Specifically, I worked with other members of the Louisiana delegation to improve the efficiency of the SBA's disaster relief program by allowing the SBA to partner with private lenders to distribute disaster loans to small business owners. I was also successful in pushing to double the SBA's maximum individual disaster loan limits so that small businesses that are severely damaged by a major disaster can secure enough financing to begin rebuilding. Further, I helped lead efforts to increase the flexibility of SBA regulations so that small businesses along the Gulf Coast that were trying to adjust to meet post-storm demands would have greater access to disaster recovery loans.
Supporting Louisiana's Oil and Gas Industry
Expanding Offshore Drilling & Securing Fair Revenue-Sharing for Louisiana
I have a strong record of supporting legislation that will help grow Louisiana's economy and create more and better jobs for south Louisianians. Primary among the pro-business bills that I have supported was legislation to expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and increase Louisiana's share of the royalties derived from this industry.
I helped craft the House version of the bill and secured passage of the Republican-supported legislation by convincing 39 fellow Democrats to cross party lines and vote in favor of the bill, providing the margin of victory it needed to pass in the House. The historic legislation, which was signed into law in 2006, will open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and natural gas drilling and share 37.5 percent of the new revenues with Louisiana and the other oil-producing states along the Gulf Coast. The new revenue-sharing deal is projected to provide for Louisiana's coastal restoration projects a dedicated revenue stream of more than $13 billion over the next 30 years.
Encouraging International Economic Partnerships
I have also worked to build international economic partnerships to strengthen Louisiana's oil and gas industries. After traveling on a trade mission to the oil-rich Asian nation of Kazkhstan in 2005, I launched an initiative to open the door for Louisiana's oil and gas companies to help develop Kazakhstan's energy infrastructure and fully realize the new democracy's potential as a major supplier of oil to the world. Kazakhstan has an estimated 92 billion barrels in untapped oil reserves located in conditions very similar to those off the coast of Louisiana. I have advocated that local companies in Louisiana can prosper from participating in global markets and am working to facilitate and nurture international relationships that will bring jobs and economic development to south Louisiana.
Opposing Tax Increases for Louisiana Businesses
I have broken ranks with my party in Congress to side with Louisiana businesses. I voted against an energy bill that would have saddled Louisiana's oil and gas industry with higher taxes and slowed exploration and expansion in the Gulf.
For my support in Congress for measures that will stimulate job creation and spur economic growth, I was awarded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's "Spirit of Enterprise" award in 2007 and 2009.
Related News
View all related news here |
