Chairman Miller: It yields to the concerns that we have echoed in our Caucus every week as Members come back from their local communities. Yes, we have a few positive indicators — hopefully they will continue — on unemployment, but we hear in the private analyst community and among many people concerned about unemployment in this country — economists and others — that that could be overwhelmed if we do not do something to support local government. That we could have a wave of unemployment created by the cuts that they may face because of the fact that they are close to $300 billion underwater in their budgets.
And this bill makes an effort — I think a good effort — in making sure that we can assure the health and safety of our communities and the education of our children. We’re watching as every year now as we get the reports from across the country — from thousands and thousands of schools districts and hundreds of thousands of schools — the gains that young people in America are making in terms of the proficiency in reading and mathematics and elsewhere. We cannot afford to lose that because of unemployment in the school districts. We cannot afford to lose that because of the downturn in the economy. Most business leaders will tell you that it’s in this kind of atmosphere where you want to make your investment for the future. We need to continue the investments that we have been making in the education of America’s young children by making sure that we do not lose hundreds of thousands of teachers across the American landscape and then children are put in an environment where they cannot continue to make those kinds of gains.
So this legislation on public service jobs addresses the need — as you heard from our leaders — of the health and safety of our community, the education of young people, and also to provide opportunities in this coming summer for young people who have graduated in many cases from school, are looking for jobs and haven’t been able to find them, but to give them that opportunity to receive training and job opportunities. I think the mix of this legislation, with the emphasis on infrastructure, jobs, and public service jobs is what we need in our states, in our localities, in our economy, at this time. And looking forward to a good vote in our Caucus on behalf of Jobs for Main Street bill.
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The legislation on public service jobs is essential to the survival of many of the worlds countries today with many countries already moving ahead with privatizing the health and medical industry sectors to name just one industry where governments can see the benefit of privatization.