Put America to Work Campaign: How Did Congress Vote on Jobs Issues?

Monday, August 27, 2012

How Did Congress Vote on Jobs Issues?

In the national media, a lot of attention is being given to the Presidential race between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

But when voters go to the polls, they will also need to assess whether Congress has been doing enough to enact legislation to create jobs. Many members of Congress have staunchly opposed the American Jobs Act proposed by President Obama, and other legislation to create jobs by investing in infrastructure and public services.

How can voters find out how their member of Congress voted on jobs legislation, and other matters that affect labor rights?

Three resources for looking up Congressional Voting Records on Jobs Issues are:

AFL-CIO Scorecard (2012 and prior years)

SEIU.org Key Votes

UFCW Congressional Scorecard

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Other Priority Federal Job Creation Legislation

In addition to HR 1000, there are several other good job creation bills that were pending in recent previous sessions of Congress. Some of these bills may be reintroduced this year.

The Put America to Work Campaign thanks the sponsors these bills for their leadership.

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. See 7/21 Rep. DeLauro article in Roll Call

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. > http://www.acse.org/

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. http://www.facebook.com/21stCenturyCCC

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. http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/

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. http://www.democraticleader.gov/floor?id=0423

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.” http://rush.house.gov/

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. http://www.americanmanufacturing.org/

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. http://www.apolloalliance.org/

“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. http://www.apolloalliance.org/

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. http://american99ersunion.com/

Click here for a Summary of 2012 Job Creation Legislation

HR 1000: The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act

HR 1000, a revised version of HR 870 and HR 4277 introduced in previous sessions of Congress, was reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) on March 6, 2013. This transformative federal legislation would create a national public service jobs program to complement job creation efforts in the private and nonprofit sectors. Most notably, the bill "aims to provide a job to any American that seeks work, and to ultimately, create a full employment society."

HR 1000 creates a national "Full Employment and Training Trust Fund," funded by a small Financial Transactions Tax on stock, bond and derivatives transactions. This would create a major new national funding source large enough to create 2.5 to 4 million jobs in the first two years of the program. The bill would also provide much additional funding to support innovative job training programs, such as one-stop career centers, YouthBuild and Job Corps, among others.

Click here for more info

Pass a Local Resolution in Support of HR 1000!

Help build momentum for a national jobs program by passing a local resolution in your city, county or state legislature!

See here for a sample resolution:

Draft New York City Resolution in Support of HR 870/HR 4277 (previous version of HR 1000 -pending)

Recently Passed Resolutions

AFSCME 2012 Convention Amended Jobs Resolution -- passed at 40th International Convention, 6/18-22/12, Los Angeles, CA

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Resolution -- passed at National Confereence, 7/26-28/12, Orlando, FL

National Organization For Women (NOW) Resolution -- passed at National Conference, Baltimore, MD 7/1/12

Other resources for passing local jobs resolutions:

Local Jobs Resolution Toolkit, from Cities for Progress

Put America to Work!!

The Put America to Work Campaign seeks to organize a strong national social movement to guarantee a right to a living wage job for every person who wants one.

As part of our work, we strongly support the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act (HR 870), which aims to create millions of jobs for unemployed workers and move the US towards a full employment society.

The bill establishes a National Full Employment Trust Fund to fund an innovative direct job creation program. The Trust Fund will pay for new jobs on Main Street by raising new revenue through a small, targeted tax on Wall Street stock, options, futures, swaps and credit default swap transactions.

This campaign is a project of the National Jobs For All Coalition, which is working to build a new movement for full employment at liveable wages. For more info, visit: www.NJFAC.org

About the Campaign

The Put America to Work Campaign is a national grassroots citizens' campaign to pass comprehensive federal job creation legislation, achieve full employment and secure the right to a living wage job for every person in the U.S. who wants one.

Our current strategic focus to build national support for HR 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). To mobilize support for the bill, we will be conducting a national program of community forums and teach-ins to educate policymakers and citizens about the jobs crisis and the need for massive public investment to improve our infrastructure, human services and social safety net.

We seek to put a human face on unemployment, underemployment, financial insecurity and economic distress. Our goal is to build a powerful national social movement that harnesses the voices of ordinary Americans and community organizations to permanently improve the economic rights for people who live in this country, including the right to a job, the right to a decent education, the right to health care and the right to income and retirement security.

In taking on this challenge, we want to create a more compassionate and solidaristic economy, where the public interest and the common welfare are valued, and people from all walks of life join together to reduce and eliminate poverty and chronic unemployment. Whether we have a good job or we are unemployed, we have a huge stake in each other's well-being. The problems of unemployment, poor wages and poverty are not just the problems of the unemployed and the poor -- they are the problems of all of us. We have all seen corporations abruptly eliminate and shed jobs of highly-paid workers when it suits them to do so. The economic security of workers-at-large will be greatly improved by ensuring that everyone who wants to work has the right and opportunity to do so.

To that end, we seek to inspire a much high level of public awareness and civic engagement about solving the serious, long-standing and chronic problems of unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the U.S. Even in relatively good times, tens of millions of Americans have continued to suffer with inadequate job opportunities and low wages. The fight for full employment and economic justice must go to the top of the national agenda, and stay there until all Americans have the economic right to a decent job and livelihood.

The Put America to Work Campaign is a project of the National Jobs for All Coalition, a national organization based in New York that advocates for full employment and living wage jobs for all. Contributions to NJFAC are tax-deductible and we welcome financial and volunteer contributions in support of the campaign. To join the campaign and endorse HR 1000, or request more information, please fill out our contact form.