Jobs Bill: Action Needed Now

As the U.S. Senate considers a much-needed jobs bill with no certain date for a vote, the AFL-CIO union movement continues to push lawmakers to put the needs of workers and the economy before concerns over the nation’s budget deficit. Of the nation’s 15 million jobless workers, 6.8 million have been out of work for more than 26 weeks. If Congress fails to act on the jobs bill and allows federal unemployment insurance (UI) to expire, 8.2 million workers will exhaust their benefits by the end of 2010.   

Over the weekend, President Obama called on the Senate to pass the jobs bill, saying the nation needs to “jump-start private-sector job creation, avoid massive layoffs in state and local government and help the unemployed. We cannot afford to slide backwards just as our recovery is taking hold. We must take these emergency measures.” 

In a letter to the Senate last week, Bill Samuel, AFL-CIO Government Affairs director, urged senators to move quickly on the bill. He told senators the AFL-CIO supports an amendment offered by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), which provides relief for cash-strapped states, financing for local infrastructure projects and extension of federal unemployment benefits.

We also are backing a proposed amendment by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to the appropriations bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that would extend the COBRA subsidy for laid-off workers.

Just before Memorial Day, the U.S. House passed the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, a jobs bill that includes a six-month extension of the UI program but not COBRA, which provides subsidies to help jobless workers maintain their health care coverage. COBRA and financial aid to states that could save 900,000 private- and public-sector jobs were dropped from the original jobs bill because many members claimed it would increase the federal deficit. The Senate left town without acting on the bill.

The economic recovery is very weak, Samuel writes, and we face a real risk of another recession if Congress does not prime the fiscal stimulus pumps again.

Complacency in the face of the enormous human suffering caused by this jobs crisis is incomprehensible….Economists agree that unemployment benefits increase economic output more than almost any other stimulus measure. 

The Baucus amendment would extend federal Medicaid assistance to states that must cut vital services just as more unemployed workers are applying for aid. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has vowed the House eventually will adopt both the Medicaid funding and extra health assistance for the unemployed.

The legislation also includes funding relief for defined-benefit pension plans. Baucus proposes to pay for these provisions by closing the loophole that allows Wall Street hedge fund managers to pay lower taxes on their income than ordinary tax payers pay.

Says Samuel:

It is perfectly appropriate to ask these extremely wealthy individuals to give up their undeserved preferential tax treatment so that other Americans might go back to work.

Saying the impact on the budget will be “insignificant,” Samuel adds “Congress must act now to pass this vital legislation.”

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