A jobless recovery is unacceptable. We cannot ask the American people to fund a Wall Street recovery when the benefits are not being passed on to communities and small businesses across the country and people are losing their jobs, homes and health care.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2009
CONTACT: Emily Barocas/202-225-7295
LARSON: MOMENTUM BUILDING IN DEM CAUCUS FOR JOBS PLAN
Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, released the following statement on Democratic plans to create jobs and grow the economy.
“Last night at a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus it became clear that momentum is building amongst my colleagues towards new job creation legislation that rebuilds our economy in a way that puts Main Street – not Wall Street – first. There is no shortage of ideas and legislation on the table and we will carefully consider them all, but the time to act is now. One thing is certain; we cannot grow today’s economy on the back of our future economy. We will be fiscally responsible and build a foundation for long term economic growth, finding ways to pay for much of what we do.
“It was taxpayers who rescued Wall Street. Now it is time for Wall Street to contribute to the growth of Main Street. That means using money returned to TARP to fund job creation programs. It means charging Wall Street a transaction tax on over-the-counter trades in the unregulated dark markets to pay for a transportation and jobs bill that will rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure while creating or saving 6 million jobs. I introduced the Transparent Markets Act (H.R. 3153) earlier this year that would do just that and, as the number of unemployed Americans has increased the need for that legislation is even greater now.
“A jobless recovery is unacceptable. We cannot ask the American people to fund a Wall Street recovery when the benefits are not being passed on to communities and small businesses across the country and people are losing their jobs, homes and health care. Our efforts must be focused on jobs and people, not only the GDP and monetary policy.”
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