Dear Madame Speaker:

The State of Michigan’s unemployment is 687,400 people unemployed. Detroit has 305,200 people unemployed. We have 15 million people unemployed in our nation.  America and Americans are practically shouting for Congress to get Americans back to work. The best stimulus package is a job. H.R. 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, is not that bill. This legislation provides tax incentives to businesses to hire people. This is not the answer. How Congress can walk away with more than 680,000 people unemployed in Michigan, and more than 15 million people unemployed in our nation, is shameful.  

When I served as Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with my CBC colleagues, I pushed for more than two years for both a strong summer jobs program and a federal bill that would directly hire the unemployed. This is a bill that is modeled off of the successful Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) program of the 1970s–1980s. The CETA program, which gave grants directly to cities, counties, and non-profit organizations to hire and train individuals, worked to lower our unemployment rate and stabilize our economy during the previous recession. It would be easy to make this legislative fix not next week, not next month, but right now. During the Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt almost halved the unemployment rate with a similarly aggressive program under the Work Progress Administration. I am ashamed and disgusted that the U.S. House of Representatives cannot find the collective political courage and will to do what is needed for the people of America.

What does a real jobs bill look like? In addition to what I have pointed out earlier, a real jobs bill would:

Create public jobs initiatives, involving the Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration and the Corporation for National and Community Service, to maximize direct training and hiring;

Provide locally-directed funding for Summer Youth Employment and collegiate -level apprenticeships and/or fellowships;

Enforce the minority contracting requirements under the Department of Transportation and promoting equal access to funding for projects of the National Significant and National Corridor grants in the extension of SAFETEA-LU;

Expand unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits; and

Provide access to capital and technical assistance to capital for small businesses from the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency.

I am sure that there are other areas, but these areas, in particular, would be a great place to start.  
 
I know too well that the Democrats have inherited the worst job market since World War II. Too many workers have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. GM and Chrysler have gone bankrupt.  We are staring down the barrel of a $12 trillion deficit. This fiscal year, we have to make difficult decisions. All Americans, in Congress, in business and at home, must work together to keep our recovery on track by helping small businesses create jobs, investing in our infrastructure and clean energy industries, and keeping police, firefighters, and teachers on the job. This bill is not that bill.

I understand politics. I know the legislative process. It is my belief that this bill is supposed to be the first in a series of bills that is to address the chronically unemployed. Regrettably, I also heard this more than two years ago. Today, Congress is no closer to a real jobs bill two years later. The time for incrementalism is over.

I remain a proud and steadfast supporter of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Hundreds of thousands of jobs and businesses have been helped. However, that bill was meant as a quick, temporary fix for businesses and to help stimulate the economy. Employment was a welcome by-product of that law.  Fifteen (15) million people who are still unemployed are telling us that we need to do more. We need to do it now.

This is not a jobs bill. This is a business tax cut bill. While I remain willing and able to work with my colleagues for a real jobs bill, I cannot support this tax cut legislation.