Republicans have yet to act as poverty reaches its highest levels since 1993 and middle class income falls

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Gary Peters called on the Republicans to act immediately on President Obama's jobs plan following a U.S. Census Bureau report showing that the number of Americans living in poverty climbed to 46.2 million in 2010 and the poverty rate reach its highest point since 1993.  Moreover, real median household income, a critical indicator of the strength of the middle class, fell to $49,445 the lowest level of real income since 1997. 

“Poverty is at its highest level in almost 20 years and the middle class is shrinking - this is why we need to pass President Obama's jobs plan immediately,” said Congressman Gary Peters. “Republicans need to put partisanship aside and put the President’s plan up for a vote right away, because families in the greater Detroit area need more jobs not more politics.  Let’s get to work creating jobs.”

Last week in a joint address before Congress, President Obama announced that he would be sending the American Jobs Act to the Congress, and called for its quick passage. 

Here is how some of the key provisions of the American Jobs Act would impact Michigan:

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

•  The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Michigan, 180,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $901,000,000 in Michigan that could support a minimum of approximately 11,700 local jobs.
   
• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $945,500,000 in funds to Michigan to support up to 11,900 educator and first responder jobs.
   
• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs.  Michigan will receive $926,300,000 in funding to support as many as 12,000 jobs.
   
• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Michigan could receive about $696,200,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.
   
• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Michigan could receive $157,700,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.

• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 293,000 long-term unemployed workers in Michigan back to work.
   
• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 81,400 people looking for work in Michigan from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks.  And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.
   
• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 5,600 adults and 17,200 youths in jobs in Michigan.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family

• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Michigan, with a median income of around $46,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,430.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.

• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

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