Schakowsky Introduces Bill to Create 2.2 Million Jobs |
“Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act” Estimated to Lower Unemployment Rate by 1.3% WASHINGTON,DC (September 14, 2011) – Today Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and 40 members of the House Democratic Caucus introduced the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act, H.R. 2914 - a cost-effective plan to put over 2 million people to work for two years. The time has come for Congress to focus like a laser on the most pressing crisis facing our country – the jobs crisis. With extended unemployment benefits scheduled to expire at the end of this year, 13.9 million people remain out of work. The average worker who is unemployed has been searching for a job for more than nine months and recent reports reveal that private sector employers largely refuse to hire those currently jobless. An additional 8.4 million are working part time because they cannot find a full-time job. In June 2007, 63 percent of adults were employed, now the percentage is 58.2 percent. Despite reports of a Congress immobilized and unable to address the jobs crisis– Congress can and must do something today. “It begins with this simple idea: If we want to create jobs, then create jobs. The best way to grow the economy and reduce the deficit is to put Americans to work. Every dollar in H.R. 2914 must be attached to an actual job,” said Rep. Schakowsky. “The worst deficit this country faces, isn’t the budget deficit. It’s the jobs deficit. We need to get our people and our economy moving again.” If enacted, the legislation would create 2.2 million jobs that will meet critical needs to improve and strengthen communities:
The legislation gives the unemployed priority for jobs, particularly those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits (the “99ers”), and veterans. The bill allocates a fair distribution of funding and jobs among states, with targeting based on high unemployment and need. The bill also ensures that jobs do not undercut the rights of other workers, lower wages, displace current workers or take business from small/local businesses. The $227 billion cost of the bill ($113.5 billion over each of two years) can be fully paid for through separate legislation such as Rep. Schakowsky’s Fairness in Taxation Act, which creates higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, and eliminating subsidies for Big Oil and tax loop holes for corporations that send American jobs overseas. The full, detailed summary of H.R. 2914 can be found at http://schakowsky.house.gov/jobs/ ### CONTACT: Adjoa Adofo; 202.225.2111 |