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Job Creation Legislation
Pending Before Congress
Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) has introduced H.R. 870,
the “Humphrey-Hawkins
21st Century Full Employment & Training Act,”
a comprehensive and innovative federal and local government job
creation and training bill that would create millions of new jobs
for the nation’s unemployed. The Act’s Full Employment
Trust Fund would provide federal funding for local community-based
job creation and training initiatives until full employment is
reached in the United States. The Act is deficit neutral and fully
funded through a modest tax on Wall Street stock and bond transactions.
Description of HR 870
HR 402, the National Infrastructure
Development Bank Act of 2011, has been introduced
by Rep. Rosa DeLauro with 55 cosponsors. The legislation establishes
a National Infrastructure Development Bank, an independent body
designed to evaluate and finance infrastructure projects of substantial
regional and national significance. Eligible infrastructure projects
would include transportation (i.e. highways, transit, inland waterways,
rail and air travel), the environment (i.e. drinking and wastewater
facilities and hazardous waste facilities); energy (i.e. renewable
energy transmission and building efficiency); and telecommunications
(i.e. broadband development). The Bank would be capitalized with
authorized appropriations of $5 billion a year for 5 years as
paid in capital and would sunset 15 years after it is signed into
law. A similar bill, S, 652, the Senate BUILD Act introduced by
Sen. John Kerry with 8 cosponsors, would establish an American
Infrastructure Financing Authority (AIFA), a type of national
infrastructure bank, an independent body designed to evaluate
and finance infrastructure projects of substantial regional and
national significance.
HR 494, the 21st
Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act introduced
by Rep. Marcy Kaptur, with 5 cosponsors, would establish a Civilian
Conservation Corps to employ unemployed or underemployed U.S.
citizens in the construction, maintenance, and carrying on of
works of a public nature, such as forestation of U.S. and state
lands, prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil erosion, and
construction and repair of National Park System paths and trails.
The bill would be funded at a level of $16 billion a year from
fiscal year 2012 through fiscal year 2015.
The Security
in Energy and Manufacturing (SEAM) Act, (HR
724/S 591) introduced by Rep. Steven Rothman and Sen.
Sherrod Brown, would renew the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax
Credit program, also known as 48C, which provides investment tax
credits of 30 percent for facilities that manufacture energy equipment.
Currently, 70 percent of clean energy components are manufactured
outside of the United States.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) introduced the Build
America Bonds to Create Jobs Now Act (HR 11) with
17 cosponsors to spur job creation here at home. These bonds have
been an effective tool in job creation, having helped finance
$181 billion in critical infrastructure projects, such as schools,
hospitals, roads, courthouses, public safety facilities and equipment,
water and sewer projects, environmental projects, energy projects,
public buildings, government housing projects and public utilities.
HR 1901, the “Saving
America's Youth: the Youth Employment Act of 2011,”
(SAY YEA!) introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush with 22 cosponsors, would
create summer jobs for disconnected youth. The bill would provide
$6.5 billion dollars for youth employment while offering tax incentives
for businesses that hire employees ages 16 to 21 years of age.
The bill funds a national public service employment program that
focuses on jobs in parks, education and rebuilding infrastructure.
According to Rep. Rush, “…the unemployment rate for
Americans between the ages of 16 and 19 had reached a Depression-era
level of 25.5 percent. That percentage, which translated into
an estimated 1.5 million unemployed youth, was the highest level
it had ever been in the 50-plus years that the U. S. Labor Department
has been tracking those records.”
HR 1366/S 751,
the National Manufacturing Strategy Act of 2011, introduced
by Rep. Daniel Lipinski with 36 cosponsors, and Senators Sherrod
Brown and Mark Kirk in the Senate, expresses the sense of Congress
that: (1) the U.S. government should promote policies related
to the nation's manufacturing sector intended to promote growth,
sustainability, and competitiveness, create well-paying jobs,
enable innovation and investment, and support national security;
and (2) the President and Congress should act promptly to pursue
policies consistent with a National Manufacturing Strategy (Strategy).
The bill directs the President to submit a national manufacturing
strategy to the Congress every four years.
CLEAN ENERGY & MASS TRANSIT:
The Apollo Alliance
has proposed a 10-year plan to get the U.S. to energy independence
by investing in clean and renewable energy, including energy efficiency
and conservation and green vehicles. The plan would require an
annual investment of $50 billion each year for 10 years, but actually
pays for itself in terms of public sector savings and avoided
costs of imported oil and fossil fuel consumption.
“Make it
in America: The Apollo Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action
Plan” calls for sustained investments to harness
transit and clean vehicle building here in the U.S., investments
that would result in 3.7 million jobs in the next six years. Of
those new jobs, 600,000 alone would be in the manufacturing sector.
UNEMPLOYED WORKERS:
HR 589, the Emergency
Unemployment Compensation Expansion Act of 2011, introduced
by Reps. Barbara Lee and Bobby Scott, with 87 cosponsors, would
add 14 weeks of benefits to the first "tier" of Emergency
Unemployment Compensation, one of two programs that together give
the unemployed up to 73 weeks of federally-funded benefits for
workers who exhaust 26 weeks of state benefits. The full 73 weeks
are available in states with unemployment above 8.5 percent.
List compiled by Chuck Bell, National Jobs for All Coalition,
www.NJFAC.org
www.DriveForDecentWork.org
www.JobsCampaign.org/
www.PutAmericaToWork.net
cbell@igc.org (914) 830 0639
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