Rep. Jan Schakowsky Announces Bill to Create 2.2 Million Jobs

The Drive For Decent Work applauds Rep. Jan Schakowsky for her leadership in developing and proposing a comprehensive job creation bill.  We expect that this bill will receive strong support from labor, religious, human needs and community-based advocacy organizations across the U.S.  We urge other House members to sign on and help build a broad base of support for this and related jobs legislation.

You can help!  Please write to your Representative and urge him/her to cosponsor the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act.

Cross-posted from Rep. Jan Schakowsky's web site:

Schakowsky Announces Bill to Create 2.2 Million Jobs

“Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act”

Estimated to Lower Unemployment Rate by 1.3%

CHICAGO, IL (August 10, 2011) – Today Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of President Obama’s 18-member Fiscal Commission, announced she will introduce the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act, 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. I’m not talking about “incentivizing” companies in the hopes they’ll hire someone, or cutting taxes for the so-called job creators who have done nothing of the sort. My plan creates actual new jobs,” 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 School Improvement Corps would create 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs by funding positions created by public school districts to do needed school rehabilitation improvements.

•The Park Improvement Corps would create 100,000 jobs for youth between the ages of 16 and 25 through new funding to the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service’s Public Lands Corps Act. Young people would work on conservation projects on public lands include restoration and rehabilitation of natural, cultural, and historic resources.

•The Student Jobs Corps would creates 250,000 more part-time, work study jobs for eligible college students through new funding for the Federal Work Study Program.

•The Neighborhood Heroes Corps would hire 300,000 teachers, 40,000 new police officers, and 12,000 firefighters.

•The Health Corps would hire at least 40,000 health care providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and health care workers to expand access in underserved rural and urban areas.

•The Child Care Corps would create 100,000 jobs in early childhood care and education through additional funding for Early Head Start.

•The Community Corps would hire 750,000 individuals to do needed work in our communities, including housing rehab, weatherization, recycling, and rural conservation.

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.

Click here for more information

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CONTACT: Adjoa Adofo; 202.225.2111, adjoa.adofo [at] mail.house.gov

Posted by Chuck Bell at 8:36 AM    

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Speakout for Good Jobs Tour comes to NYC June 30

Download June 30 NYC Event Flyer

The Speakout for Good Jobs Now tour will feature stops in numerous cities across America giving Americans the chance to speak out about how the economy is affecting them. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus will listen to what everyday Americans have to say and take that back to Washington with them as they continue to fight to reinvigorate the American Dream — the ability to put in a day’s hard work for good wages and benefits so we can provide our children with a better future.

Learn more about tour stops, visit our Events Page
 
Speakout for Good Jobs Now

When: Jun 30, 2011
Where: Hostos Community College
500 Grand Concourse
Bronx NY 10451
Description: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Speakout for Good Jobs
A Congressional Listening Tour—Speakout for Good Jobs Now

Join ...   Rep. Charlie Rangel, member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Rep. Yvette Clark, member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
for this important Town Hall meeting.

More Americans are falling out of the middle class than are joining it. These Representatives want to hear the priorities of everyday Americans as a first step towards building America's greatest asset—its middle class.

It's time this country worked again for people who work for a living. Watch this video.

This event is sponsored by ProgressiveCongress.org and endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America. For more information, go to SpeakoutTour.com.
Doors open 6:30 p.m. Please check back for possible time change.
Text NYC to 228466 to get New York City event reminders.

Download June 30 Event Flyer

Posted by Chuck Bell at 4:58 AM    

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Speakout for Good Jobs - National Tour

Attend one of our Speakout for Good Jobs Now Tour events in cities around the US. Share your stories of how the economy is affecting your life and your ideas for how we can rebuild the American Dream.

Can't attend an event?  Speak out by sending a personal story or uploading a video.

More info on events at: http://speakouttour.com/?page_id=8

June 27:  Detroit, MI 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., Historic King Solomon Baptist Church 6100 14th Street, Detroit, MI 48208
Join Representatives Keith Ellison (MN- CPC Co-Chair), John Conyers (MI) and Hansen Clarke (MI) at the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text DET to 228466 to get Detroit Event Reminders

June 29:  Milwaukee, WI 6p.m. – 8 p.m. Vincent High School 7501 N Granville Rd, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Join Representatives Gwen Moore (WI), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Jan Schakowsky (IL) and Barbara Lee (CA) at Vincent High School for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text MKE to 228466 to get Milwaukee Event Reminders

June 30:  New York City, NY 5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. Hostos Community College, 500 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY, 10451

Join Representatives Charlie Rangel (NY), Jerrold Nadler (NY) and Barbara Lee (CA) at Hostos Community College for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text NYC to 228466 to get New York City Event Reminders

July 2011
Check back for July locations and Special Guests

July 16:  Miami, FL Location information coming soon

Join Representatives Raul Grijalva (AZ-CPC Co-Chair), Lynn Woolsey (CA) and Frederica Wilson (FL) for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text MIA to 228466 to get Miami Event Updates and Reminders

July 18:  Pittsburgh, PA 6p.m. – 8p.m. The Kinsley Association 645 Frankstown Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15206

Join Representatives Raul Grijalva (AZ- CPC Co-Chair), John Conyers (MI) and Mike Doyle (PA) for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text PITT to 228466 to get Pittsburgh Event Updates and Reminders

July 19:  Philadephia, PA Location information coming soon

Join Representatives Raul Grijalva (AZ-CPC Co-Chair), Bob Brady (PA) and Chaka Fattah (PA) for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text PHILLY to 228466 to get Philadelphia Event Updates and Reminders

July 20:  Boston, MA Location information coming soon

Join Representative Jim McGovern (MA) for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text BOS to 228466 to get Boston Event Updates and Reminders

July 21:  Houston, TX Location information coming soon

Join Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee for your opportunity to share your stories and ideas.
Text HOU to 228466 to get Houston Event Updates and Reminders

July 22:  Portland, OR

Text PDX to 228466 to get Portland Event Updates and Reminders

July 23:  Seattle, WA 12p.m. – 2p.m. The Brockey Conference Center at the South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave. SW , Seattle, WA 98106-1499 (click for map)
Text SEA to 228466 to get Seattle Event Updates and Reminders

August 2011

Check back for August locations and Special Guests

August 16:  Oakland, CA
Text OAK to 228466 to get Oakland Event Updates and Reminders

Posted by Chuck Bell at 4:51 AM    

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Against Learned Helplessness

Expanded public investment for job creation consumes 97 times its weight in excess political realism.

The high priests of financial austerity and tax cuts for the wealthy prefer private opulence and public squalor. They would rather let families languish in protracted unemployment while schools crumble, levees fail and bridges collapse.

Be realistic, demand the impossible -- living wage jobs for all!

"...5 million green jobs, national infrastructure bank, hybrid cars, solar panels, mass transit, energy-efficient housing, new Civilian Conservation Corps, universal broadband, pre-K, reading tutors, afterschool and home care for all."

Against Learned Helplessness - NYTimes.com

By Paul Krugman, 5/29/11

"...In pointing out that we could be doing much more about unemployment, I recognize, of course, the political obstacles to actually pursuing any of the policies that might work. In the United States, in particular, any effort to tackle unemployment will run into a stone wall of Republican opposition. Yet that’s not a reason to stop talking about the issue. In fact, looking back at my own writings over the past year or so, it’s clear that I too have sinned: political realism is all very well, but I have said far too little about what we really should be doing to deal with our most important problem."

"As I see it, policy makers are sinking into a condition of learned helplessness on the jobs issue: the more they fail to do anything about the problem, the more they convince themselves that there’s nothing they could do. And those of us who know better should be doing all we can to break that vicious circle."

Read Paul Krugman's op-ed

Posted by Chuck Bell at 7:02 AM    

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"How to Create a Job" Misses the Mark

I am generally a fan of Ira Glass and "This American Life," but the recent piece they aired ("How to Create a Job"), that purported to answer whether government can create jobs, was pathetic and sad.   And the reason seems to be that the NPR reporters seem so bracketed in by their oh-so-practical, centrist, neo-liberal Zeitgeist, they have drunk the Kool-Aid along with everyone else.  They can't look outside the box, because they're in the box.

The teaser for the show says, "It seems like every politician has a plan for putting people back to work.  But we and the Planet Money team couldn't help but wonder... how do you create a job?  Can politicians truly create many jobs?  Is it possible the whole thing is just well-intentioned hot air?"

Glass opens the piece by blowing off the idea of public investment in infrastructure -- without any analysis of whether it works or not.

“One of the big ways that politicians used to create jobs, the way FDR did it back in the 1930s, [was to] put more people on the payroll, build dams, build roads, spend and spend and spend – nobody, nobody with any power anyway, is talking about doing that..."

In the first segment, "Can Government Move My Cheese?" a Planet Money reporter examines the questionable claims of Gov. Scott Walker, who claims to be creating 250,000 jobs in the private sector.   

This angle might be worthwhile, but the poor listener is left with the feeling that "government's" hands are tied when it comes to creating jobs.  Reporter Chana Joffe-Walt winds up her piece by suggesting that there is little a governor can do to create jobs:

"...So in the meantime, politicians with a jobs number to achieve focus on the short-term. Republicans and Democrats hand out tax incentives to seduce employers into hiring.  And of course, those goodies cost something.  In Wisconsin, they account for $117 million in taxes, that will not be collected over Walker's first two year, and this in a state where they are fighting over every dollar.  This leaves the government with less money to... spend on education so employers can hire smart people, to build good roads and infrastructure so businesses can transport goods, and innovate."

"If you go with tax cuts, you might seduce some employers to hire now, but you'll hurt future employers who needed you to spend on schools, so they can find educated workers to come up with great new ideas.  If you go with long-term spending -- schools and Internet -- you have to increase taxes to pay for it, which can mean that businesses on that job-creation fence will be pushed to anti-job creating territory.  In both cases, you've zeroed out your efforts.  You've had some effect on the one side, but canceled it out with what you did on the other side."

"But that's the choice you have -- long-term or short-term.  Whether the governor is Democrat or Republican, someone you love or someone you hate, politicians don't have a lot of options.  At best, they'll get some jobs for the somersaults it took to get there.  At worst, they had some impact, did something, but had no idea how to measure exactly what."

What's the problem here?  Joffe-Walt isn't wrong to suggest that there are short-term vs. long-term tradeoffs, or that the value of public investment might take some time to be realized, such as she suggests, in the end of the governors' second term, or even later.  But within the range of tax breaks, incentives and investments that are made by states in job creation, there is a wide variation in what actually works, and a lot of that actually could be measured -- something NPR might have learned about by talking to groups like Good Jobs First.   

But an even bigger problem is that the overall piece is looking at the wrong end of the horse.  With Glass' glib dismissal of the feasibility of infrastructure investment, Planet Money lets the Congress and the President off the hook for what the federal government actually can do to create jobs.  

Within the spending choices that are made by Congress, there are direct tradeoffs made by deciding whether to fund military spending vs. education, or subsidies for oil companies vs. investments in clean energy.  Those choices really could move the dial on whether we have jobs or not.   For every $1 billion spent on the military, $1 billion spent on mass transit or education would create twice as many jobs.  Spending $100 billion on clean energy and conservation investments would create 2 million jobs, and twice as many jobs as spending on investments in oil and fossil fuels.  (Not to mention, the tradeoffs involved in granting tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, vs. making targeted infrastructure and social investments in a deep recession!)  So that is point #1.

Second, the federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) did save and create many jobs, showing that expanded public investment in job creation does make a difference. A November 2010 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that as of the third quarter of 2010, the stimulus lowered the unemployment rate "by between 0.8 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points," and "[i]ncreased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.6 million.   The stimulus bill has been criticized from the right as wasteful, but the truth is that broke the free fall of the economy and demonstrated that government can in fact save and create jobs.  

Third, the problem for states right now is that because the state fiscal stabilization and Medicaid assistance funds in the ARRA are ending, they are collectively shouldering huge fiscal gaps that are actually leading to thousands of layoffs.  The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reports that 44 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totaling $112 billion for fiscal year 2012.   One of the most important things that politicians could do to protect and grow jobs in this severe recession would be to extend financial aid to the states, to keep them from making deep cuts in education, health care and assistance for the unemployed.  (You would think Planet Money might want to take note of this context, because the same governor they are reporting on, Scott Walker, who claims to be interested in creating jobs, is seeking to fire thousands of workers in the public sector.)

Fourth, direct public job creation by the federal government would likely be much more cost-effective than granting tax breaks or incentives to private companies.   1 million direct jobs a year could be created for a direct federal investment of $46 billion, according to Prof. Philip Harvey, author of Back to Work: A Public Jobs Proposal for Economic Recovery, published by Demos.  

Fifth, why not interview Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, who are supporting Make It in America legislation to restore American manufacturing; or Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has introduced a bill to create a federal infrastructure bank, or Rep. John Conyers, who has proposed establishing a national Full Employment Trust Fund by imposing a financial transactions tax on Wall Street; or Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has proposed establishing a 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps.   I guess they don't have any power... they're just members of Congress.   

Or reach out to the Blue-Green Alliance, a coalition of obscure environmental and labor organizations like the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the United Steelworkers, and the United Auto Workers, which supports a ten-year program of federal investment in green energy and green manufacturing to create 5 million jobs.  This is a program that would actually pay for itself through reduced costs for imported oil.

No, we'd rather look at the wrong end of the horse...   and leave people with a sense that that there's nothing left for us but a fiscal crumb fight in the states, vague and unmeasurable statements by governors, and "well-intentioned hot air."  

I like This American Life and think this report is worth listening to -- for all its flaws -- but it tells us something about how mainstream media is missing the boat about jobs.  (Maybe, perhaps, because the reporters who work for NPR are in fact, not leftists.)  And we're left with the implicit assumption that the role of government can only be to support the role of the private sector in job creation.  It's all about education and human capital formation, never mind all the middle-aged, well-educated workers who have been spit out and left to twist in the wind by corporate America, and now -- public sector employers.  

Almost comically, early on in this piece, Glass accuses Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research of engaging in "trope" by suggesting that job creation is more important that obsessing about the deficit.

"I mean, to my mind, it really is unconscionable just sit back and have people go, oh, we‘re worried about the deficit 10, 15, 20 years unite when we have 25 million people unemployed, underemployed or out of the labor force altogether... So, getting jobs in the economy really should be front and center."

Exactly right.  Why not let Baker, or some other knowledgable economist like Joseph Stiglitz, make a full-throated defense of how public investment actually does create jobs?  And how job creation actually is much more important than obsessing about the deficit?   

Jobless recovery is an oxymoron, and at the current slow pace of job growth, we're unlikely to get out of it without some major initiative by government, -- yet this piece (which claims "we have answers") provides few ideas on how that could even conceivably take place.  

Full disclosure:   The writer of this post, Charles Bell, serves as vice chair for the National Jobs for All Coalition, which advocates a New Deal, FDR-style federal jobs program of exactly the type that Ira Glass thinks no one -- or at least no one with any power -- is willing to talk about.

Posted by Chuck Bell at 6:13 AM    

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"Make It In America" Jobs Plan

If a jobs plan falls in the forest, does anyone notice?   This Make it in America Jobs Plan needs a lot more attention!!

Cross-posted from Denver Unemployment Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-in-denver/democrats-introduce-make-it-america-jobs-plan

While House Republicans have continued to focus on abortion-related legislation and the introduction of a 'JOBS Act' designed to make it easier for states to reduce U.I. benefits, Democrats in both chambers have re-launched the "Make It in America' domestic job-creation campaign.

'Make It in America', a phrase termed by House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer (D-MD), is a comprehensive agenda that consists of multiple bills (several of w hich have already beens signed into law or bassed by the lower chamber) focusing on Trade, Taxes, Energy, Labor, Education, Intellectual Property (research & development) and Infrastructure.

Yesterday Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-7) released the following statement in support of 'Make It in America'.

"If We Make It in America, We Will Make it in America."

Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) joined in support of the “Make It In America” agenda for the 112th Congress, a plan to support job creation today and in the future by encouraging businesses to make products and innovate in the US and sell them to the world through strengthening our infrastructure and supporting investments in key areas like energy and education innovation. This effort builds on House Democrats' actions to create jobs and continue growing the economy and focuses on investing in key priorities while cutting wasteful spending.

"If we make it in America, we will Make it in America," said Perlmutter. “Manufacturing continues to drive our economic recovery, and the best way to spur growth and reduce the debt is to get people back to work in good jobs making things in this country. I want to make sure we out-educate, out-innovate and out-build our competitors so we can strengthen American competitiveness, create jobs and ensure American workers can make it in America.”

Manufacturing supports an estimated 18.6 million jobs in the U.S. -- about one in six private sector jobs. This includes nearly 130,000 jobs in Colorado. The Make It In America agenda unveiled today encompasses a range of issues to help create an environment where manufacturers and small businesses can expand and create jobs here. The agenda:

• Closes tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas;
• Provides hometown tax credits to help small businesses hire new employees and sell their products and innovation overseas;
• Boosts incentives to create American clean energy jobs like making state-of-the-art wind turbines and solar panels–paid for by ending corporate welfare to Big Oil;
• Strengthens rules that U.S. and its contractors buy American, especially to build transportation, energy, and communications infrastructure;
• Demands that China and other countries honor fair trade principles or lose American business;
• Gives incentives to hire and retrain America’s returning veterans for new clean energy jobs;
• Strengthens partnerships with businesses to retrain America’s workers for the jobs that are actually needed.

The plan is in stark contrast to the GOP jobs plan as Ray Medeiros of PoliticsUSA wrote in his article titled, 'GOP Ignores Jobs While Democrats Unveil Make It In America Agenda' yesterday:,

 
"After many many months of waiting, the Senate GOP has finally come forward with a “plan” to get our economy back on track. Initially, the first issue they take up is government spending, unusual right? I bet the next thing will be tax cuts and deregulation, yep, right again. If you look at the link I provided above it is a very predictable storyline, almost like Grimm’s fairy tales. Unfortunately for America we have been doing this very thing for the last 30 years, how has it helped?"
 
The 'Make It in America' agenda is endorsed by the Campaign for America's Future, a progressive coalition with representatives from the Economic Policy Institute, the NAACP, AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org and many other groups. house Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi waas among money who attended the 2010 America’s Future Now! conference in Washington, DC.

**The Democrats first introduced their 'Make It in America' agenda on March 15, when Representatives Paul Tonko (NY), Jan Schakowsky (IL), and Steny Hoyer (MD) outlined the plan on the House floor.
As the long-term unemployed continue to struggle with homelessness and unsuccessful job searches, the need for interim financial assistance is paramount. In the fight for passage of HR589 which would add 14 weeks of EUC benefits to Tier , please use this news, along with HR870 and other jobs bills that have been introduced a means to push the House Republicans into action on JOBS and passage of HR589. The Republicans are under pressure and have backed down from their push to 'reform' (eliminate) Medicare. Please use this opportunity to put more pressure on the Republican Leadership to act on jobs legislation along with HR589.

For a list of bills that have already been signed into law as well as those that have been passed in the House, please go here.

'Make It in America ' legislation for the 112th Congress includes:

National Manufacturing Strategy Act (Rep. Lipinski, H.R. 1366):Directs the president to work with industry, labor leaders, and other stakeholders to develop a national strategy to increase manufacturing.

Build a 21st Century Surface Transportation System: Enact a Surface Transportation Authorization bill to create a modern and efficient transportation system that facilitates trade and industry.

Build American Jobs Act (Rep. Levin, H.R. 922)/Build America Bonds to Create Jobs Now Act (Rep. Connolly, H.R. 11): Extends the Build America Bonds program, provides additional funding for the Recovery Zone bonds program, and makes improvements to existing bond and credit programs to help states and local governments leverage private capital to create jobs today and build the infrastructure that is the backbone of future economic growth.

National Infrastructure Development Bank Act (Rep. DeLauro, H.R. 402): Establishes a wholly-owned government corporation to facilitate efficient investments in and financing of infrastructure projects—from leading-edge broadband networks and energy delivery systems to modern ports—that foster economic development and keep America competitive.

The Airports, Highways, High-Speed Rail, Trains and Transit: Make it in America Act (Rep. Garamendi, H.R. 613): Increases domestic content provisions for airports and rolling stock and eliminates non-availability waivers.

One Global Internet Act (Rep. Lofgren):Establishes a government task force that would review, prioritize, and act on attempts by foreign governments to degrade or disrupt the flow of goods, services, and/or content on the Internet.

Permanent R&D Tax Credit (Rep. Carney): Make permanent and expand the Research and Development Tax Credit so research investments can draw capital that create tomorrow’s jobs.

Patent Reform: Improve the patent system to provide incentives for companies to continue innovating and manufacturing in the U.S.

Rare Earths Materials: Three bills have been introduced on this important issue. Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act (Rep. Boswell, H.R. 618), Energy Critical Elements Renewal Act (Rep. Brad Miller, H.R. 952), and the Resource Assessment of Rare Earths (RARE) Act (Reps. Hank Johnson and Markey, H.R. 1314). These bills support the assessment and development of U.S. capacity in rare earth minerals critical to the manufacture of energy and other technologies.

Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (Reps. Levin and Tim Ryan, H.R. 639):Levels the trade playing field by holding accountable countries that create an unfair trade advantage by manipulating their currency.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs: Ensure that the nation’s small, high-tech, and innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government’s research and development efforts.

The Innovative Technologies Investment Incentives Act (Rep. Van Hollen, H.R. 1732): Accelerates innovation by providing a 25% tax credit for qualified equity investments in eligible high technology and biotechnology small businesses.

Small Business Start-up Savings Accounts (Rep. Sewell): Establishes tax-preferred savings accounts for small business start-up savings accounts.

Make It in America Block Grant Act (Rep. Cicilline): Establishes a grant program at the Commerce Department to provide small to medium-sized businesses in communities hardest hit by unemployment with the resources and strategies they need to retool and retrofit their operations and train their workforce in order to transition to the manufacturing of clean energy, high-technology, and advanced products.

Corporate Tax Reform: Our corporate tax system is far too confusing and inefficient. It causes economic distortions by forcing managers to make decisions based on tax consequences rather than on solid business principles. Many of these decisions, unfortunately, send investment and jobs overseas. Reform could lower the corporate tax rate and bring investment back to make American business and the American worker more competitive globally.

Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act (Rep. Matsui, H.R. 502): Establishes a Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Fund, to be administered through the International Trade Administration, to ensure that U.S. clean energy technology firms have the information and assistance they need to be competitive and to create clean energy technology sector jobs.

Security in Energy and Manufacturing (SEAM) Act (Rep. Rothman, H.R. 724): This program, initially created in the Recovery Act, invested $2.3 billion in tax credits for advanced energy manufacturing facilities generating more than 17,000 jobs and incentivizing an additional $5.4 billion in private-sector investment.

New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions (NAT GAS) Act (Reps. Sullivan, Boren, Larson, and Brady, H.R. 1380): Provides incentives to encourage private investment in natural gas refueling infrastructure and the production and purchasing of natural gas vehicles and trucks.

Advanced Vehicle Technology Act (Rep. Peters, H.R. 1367): The bill reauthorizes the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies research programs (FreedomCar and the 21st Century Truck Partnership) so that the next generation of advanced vehicles can be built in America.

Energy Efficient Buildings and Homes: The Rural Energy Savings Program (Rep. Clyburn), along with the “Home Star” and “Building Star” programs, would support installation of American made energy efficient products.

Workforce Investment Act: Our economy is only as strong as the people who work to grow it. The American workforce investment system is supported by a partnership of educators, workforce development professionals and the business community who work together to ensure the vitality of local economies. A robust reauthorization of WIA will ensure that workers who seek opportunities in a new field or new opportunities within their own field have the support they need.

Job Opportunities Between our Shores (JOBS) Act (Whip Hoyer):Establishes a Workforce Investment Act pilot program to provide education and training programs in advanced manufacturing.

American Manufacturing Efficiency & Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA Works) Act (Rep. Donnelly, H.R. 1325):Strengthens our workforce by helping American workers earn certifications, degrees, and qualifications for the jobs American industry needs to fill.

Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act (Rep. Loebsack, H.R. 1240): Forms partnerships between businesses, unions, and educators to train workers for some of the most needed 21st Century jobs.

STEM Education: To strengthen American innovation, create the industries of the future, and ensure that our kids have the skills they need to fill well-paying jobs in those industries, we must invest in outstanding science, technology, engineering, and math education.

Ensure that states develop rigorous core standards in science, to complement standards in math and reading

Help interested science, technology, engineering, and math professionals enter teaching careers

Build community partnerships to create externship opportunities for students

Promote careers in manufacturing for high school students

Fully fund STEM education provisions in the America COMPETES Act to strengthen manufacturing education, increase STEM career opportunities for women and minorities, and recruit STEM teachers from underrepresented groups

Posted by Chuck Bell at 7:29 AM    

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Jobs And Economic Justice Tour Launched

cross-posted from OurFuture.org
Jobs And Economic Justice Tour Launched 
by Isaiah J. Poole, 3/10/11

"...The Progressive Caucus is launching a 'jobs and economic justice' tour around the country, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., announced at the Summit on Jobs and America's Future."

"The tour is designed to promote an alternative to the 'so be it' agenda of congressional conservatives and their corporate backers that Ellison says is attacking the fundamental underpinnings of the middle class — and ultimately the principles of American democracy..."

Read rest of post

Posted by Chuck Bell at 2:31 AM    

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Can infrastructure-led growth save the economy?

Can infrastructure-led growth save the economy?

Forget "stimulus." The U.S. needs more public investment paid for by more borrowing and higher taxes

Salon.com

by Michael Lind

07-13-10

"...The debate about American economic policy can best be understood with the help of a remark by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' When you have eliminated impossible policy options, whatever options remain, however difficult, must be pursued..."

"...To avoid competing with private enterprise, the government should produce public goods that increase overall productivity and that the private sector has no incentive to provide, in good times or bad, such as infrastructure and social services like policing, health care, education and care for the young and old. In addition to mobilizing idle resources and labor directly, both infrastructure and public service spending could help business in general by boosting the purchasing power of Americans who are now unemployed..."

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Posted by Chuck Bell at 6:38 AM    

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It's a one-and-a-half dip recession, for sure

By ROBERT REICH, www.SALON.COM

WEDNESDAY, JUL 21, 2010 18:15 ET

This post originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog

"...We're not in a double-dip recession yet. We're in a one-and-a-half-dip recession.

Consumer confidence is down. Retail sales are down. Home sales are down. Permits for single-family starts are down. The average workweek is down. The only things not down are inventories — unsold stuff is piling up in warehouses, and inventories of unsold homes are rising — and defaults on loans.

The 1.5-dip recession should be causing alarm bells to ring all over official Washington. It should cause deficit hawks to stop squawking about future debt, Blue Dog Democrats to stop acting like Republicans, and mainstream Democrats to get some backbone.

The 1.5-dip recession should cause the president to demand a large-scale national jobs program, including a new WPA that gets millions of Americans back to work even if government has to pay their wages directly. Included would be zero-interest loans to strapped states and locales, so they didn't have to cut vital services and raise taxes. They could repay when the economy picked up and revenues came in. The national jobs program would also include a one-year payroll tax holiday on the first $20,000 of income.

The president should stop talking and acting on anything else — not the deficit, not energy, not the environment, not immigration, not implementing the healthcare law, not education. He should make the whole upcoming midterm election a national referendum on putting Americans back to work, and his jobs bill. Are you for it or against it?

But none of this is happening. The hawks and Blue Dogs are still commanding the attention. Herbert Hoover's ghost seems to have captured the nation's capital. We're back to 1932 (or 1937), and the prevailing sentiment is that government can't and mustn't do anything but aim to reduce the deficit, even though the economy is going down..."

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Posted by Chuck Bell at 12:02 AM    

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The Disappointing Senate Jobs Bill That's All Too Easy to Forget

If you've already forgotten about the small Senate jobs bill that was approved in February, here's a refresher on what the bill included, and how disappointed progressive groups are in its small size and lack of ambition, in the face of a ferocious unemployment crisis.

Maybe the only thing that can be said was at the time, the Republicans were seeking to lard the bill up with even more tax breaks for business, so as a tactical matter, Reid may have been smart to cut his losses.

Now that health care reform is done -- why not hammer, hammer, hammer on the Senate to pass a much larger jobs bill. This could include the Jobs for Main Street Act passed by the House in December, with a margin of one vote and no Republican help. It could also include the Local Jobs for America Act (HR 4812) proposed by Rep. George Miller, and the Put America to Work Act bill (HR 4268) proposed by Rep. Keith Ellison. It could include the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act (HR 2269) proposed by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and the Public Lands Restoration and Job Creation Act proposed by Rep. Linda Sanchez (HR 4291), among others. And finally, the Congress should cough up more help and support for ailing state economies.

With unemployment at sky-high levels, the key problem we ought to be worried right now -- as Richard Trumka and others have wisely pointed out -- is CREATING JOBS AND PUTTING PEOPLE BACK TO WORK, not reducing the deficit. Leaving workers and the states to twist in the wind for months or years ought to be completely unacceptable to policymakers and voters across the board.

Senate approves $15 billion jobs bill

By Tami Luhby, senior writer
February 24, 2010: 11:42 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate on Wednesday approved a $15 billion job-creation bill that would give businesses tax breaks for hiring the unemployed and states more money for infrastructure projects.

The four-prong bill would:

Exempt employers from Social Security payroll taxes on new hires who were unemployed;
Fund highway and transit programs through 2010;
Extend a tax break for business that spend money on capital investments, such as equipment purchases;
Expand the use of the Build America Bonds program, which helps states and municipalities fund capital construction projects.

The legislation, approved by a 70-28 vote, is a scaled-down version of an $85 billion bipartisan draft bill that was crafted by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Some 13 Republicans, including newly elected Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., voted for the measure Wednesday.

"Today's progress is a small step forward but an important one," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who surprised many lawmakers last week when he announced the slimmed-down measure. "This morning's vote is a victory for hard-working Americans, especially those trying to find work. This will help our economy grow."

It now moves to the House, which may take it up as soon as Friday, said a Democratic aide at the House, which passed a more comprehensive $154 billion bill in December.
However, the bill does not extend the deadline to apply for unemployment benefits or the Cobra health insurance subsidy. Some 1.2 million people will run out of benefits after Feb. 28 if the deadline is not extended. Lawmakers are looking to pass a separate, shorter extension by the end of the week in order to give them time to enact a longer fix.

Also, unlike the House's bill, the Senate's jobs measure does not provide additional assistance for states. Many governors want the Obama administration to send more federal dollars so they can cope with yawning budget gaps.

The administration said on Monday that it strongly supports the $15 billion jobs measure but indicated it is only one step in the job-creation effort. The president wants lawmakers to take up a bill that would increase small businesses' access to credit.

Reid said the Senate will vote on extending tax provisions and small business job measures in the near future. The majority leader also said lawmakers will consider providing additional Medicaid money for states, which governors have been requesting.

"We have other things in mind," Reid said. "Remember, we don't have a jobs bill, we have a jobs agenda."

Still, labor leaders and left-leaning think tanks say the Senate must do more to spur job creation.
"We need to create 11 million jobs to get back to the level of unemployment we had before the recession began," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. "Yet the Senate jobs bill would create no more than a couple hundred thousand jobs."

CNN Radio Correspondent Lisa Desjardins contributed to this report.


Unions and liberal groups blast Reid’s $15 billion jobs legislation as 'puny'

By Walter Alarkon - 02/22/10 07:00 AM ET

Unions and liberal groups have dismissed Sen. Harry Reid’s $15 billion jobs bill as "puny" while calling for larger stimulus measures.More than two dozen organizations, including the AFL-CIO,

National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) and National Council of La Raza, warned Democratic leaders in Congress to avoid tackling the troubled economy through incremental action.

They urged the Senate to pass the $15 billion jobs measure, which features a hiring tax cut for small businesses, but called for much more legislation to bring down an unemployment rate the White House projects to average 10 percent this year, more than 9 percent next year and over 8 percent in 2012.

"If this $15 billion was the only thing [that passed], that would be like having an amputated arm and sticking a Band-Aid on the end of it," said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, on a conference call Friday.Lawrence Mishel, head of the union-backed Economic Policy Institute think tank, described the $15 billion bill being pushed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as "small, puny.

"In addition to the $13 billion hiring tax credit, Reid's bill includes money to extend the federal trust fund for highway and other transportation projects, a tax break allowing businesses to write off losses from depreciating equipment and bonds for state and local government infrastructure projects. Reid has set up a Monday procedural vote to bring the bill up for debate, and Democrats hope to pass it later next week.

The left-leaning coalition is proposing its own jobs package that goes beyond the House Democrats' $154 billion jobs bill, which passed without House Republican votes in December.In a letter to Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the coalition called for an extension of increased unemployment and COBRA healthcare benefits for the rest of the year. The House bill provides $63 billion for a three-month extension of those benefits, which are set to expire in February.

The liberal groups' jobs package also calls for $40 billion for public works and job training programs, $70 billion for school construction, $10 billion in loans for low-income homeowners facing foreclosure and other provisions making it easier for distressed homeowners to keep their property. The coalition's criticism of the Senate bill echoes that of liberal Democrats.Pelosi said last week that House members want the pieces of their jobs bill, which features infrastructure spending and fiscal aid to state and local governments hoping to stave off public worker layoffs, in the legislative package that Congress sends to President Barack Obama.

"The House looks forward to reviewing the Senate proposal and working together on legislation that creates jobs and helps our families, small businesses and workers," Pelosi said in a statement.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said job-creation measures should include fewer tax breaks and more spending to directly create jobs. Brown spokeswoman Meghan Dubyak said the senator will back the bill but wants it to be part of a series of job measures this year.

"He wants to see legislation that helps unfreeze the credit market for businesses, helps manufacturers retool for the clean-energy economy, extends unemployment insurance and COBRA assistance and provides increased support to states so that programs essential to Ohioans can continue," Dubyak said.

Posted by Chuck Bell at 8:32 AM    

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Mayors Want Jobs Program Like in New Deal - WSJ.com

Works Progress Administration construction workers in Pennsylvania in 1936. The Roosevelt program was one of several that employed millions during the Great Depression.

Mayors Want Jobs Program Like in New Deal - WSJ.com
By LOUISE RADNOFSKY

Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2010

The specter of a long period of high unemployment is reviving interest in an old idea: The Works Progress Administration, which put millions to work during the Great Depression.

The United States Conference of Mayors is citing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs as its members push for more infrastructure money to go directly to local governments. They are pointing to the legacy of programs like the WPA to bolster their case that such direct public-sector job efforts can work when mayors run them.

"A lot of the infrastructure in Schenectady was funded with WPA funds in the 1930s and you can still see the WPA stamp in the sidewalks, in the parks, in the pools," said Brian Stratton, mayor of the city in central New York state during a recent visit to Washington to lobby lawmakers. "That is what we need to come back to America's cities, that's what Schenectady needs, that's what all of our cities need."

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Posted by Chuck Bell at 10:27 AM    

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