Economy

REVIVING THE ECONOMY AND CREATING WELL-PAYING JOBS FOR WORKING FAMILIES

Like many people in Marin and Sonoma counties, I remain deeply concerned about job creation and the high level of unemployment.

In 2009, with the economy on the brink of collapse, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provided direct aid to states to prevent layoffs, helped modernize our transportation infrastructure, and made robust investments in our education system and renewable energy technology, all with unprecedented accountability to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars were spent in the best way possible.

Since enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 6th Congressional District has received over $277 million in federal recovery funding for transportation construction projects, healthcare improvements, education, community programs, civil works projects, energy efficiency upgrades, and first responders.  It’s with investments like this that we’ll be able to turn around the economic downturn. For more information on Recovery Act funding that has been allocated to the 6th Congressional District, please click here.

Small businesses are the engine of job creation, and ensuring they have access to credit is critical to reinvigorating our economy.  Unfortunately, many small businesses have been unable to secure credit during the recession as some lending institutions have restricted access to loans or raised interest rates considerably.  The inability of small businesses and entrepreneurs to access credit has severely restricted our economic recovery and slowed down job creation efforts.

It’s imperative that we unlock small business lending as a critical step to revitalize our economy. That’s why I voted for the Small Business Lending Fund Act which was signed into law on September 27, 2010.  This law created a loan fund to boost lending to small businesses looking to hire and expand operations. This fund will provide additional capital to community banks with the requirement that the money be lent out and a penalty provision for those banks that do not make loans.

We must enact equitable tax reform that protects lower- and middle-income families while addressing the long-term fiscal health of our country.  Working families should not see a rise in their tax burden as they are struggling to find and keep jobs, pay their bills, stay in their homes, and ensure they have ample savings for retirement.  H.R. 3630, the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act, extended the reduced payroll tax through December 2012. 

As we look for new ways to create jobs, we also need to remember workers who have lost employment through no fault of their own. Unemployed people must be supported as they continue to search for work in difficult economic times. H.R. 3630 also provided an extension of unemployment compensation.  H.R. 3630 was signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 22, 2012. 

Marin and Sonoma counties are leaders in developing green technologies and supporting renewable energy.  We must continue to investment in researching and designing new green technologies, while supporting jobs in building and installing these technologies here in the United States.

Finally, it’s important that we create a corporate environment in which businesses are not encouraged by the tax code to move jobs overseas.  I’m pleased that the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, eliminated tax provisions that encouraged companies to ship jobs overseas by cracking down on corporations that split foreign tax credits from income earned abroad. I voted for this bill when it passed Congress, and it was signed into law by President Obama on August 10, 2010.

(Updated April 2012)