In his address to a joint session of Congress last Thursday, President Obama showed the leadership we need to get America back to work. Now the burden is on Congress to honor America’s long tradition of innovation and hard work by creating the good jobs for all Americans. To create more jobs right now, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – a set of ideas supported by both Democrats and Republicans that Congress must pass right away. The President will call on Congress to act on it immediately.
The purpose of this package is simple: put more people back to work - including teachers, first responders and construction workers and to put more money in the pockets of working Americans. This will lead to new American jobs, and it won’t add a dime to the deficit.
The American Jobs Act is:
- Based on bi-partisan ideas.
- It is fully paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.
- It will have an impact on job and economic growth NOW – just as soon as Congress acts.
The American Jobs Act will:
- Cut taxes for small businesses, the engines of job creation, to help them hire and grow;
- Put more money in the pockets of working and middle class Americans.
- Put more people back to work --teachers laid off from state budget cuts, veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, first responders, and constructions workers rebuilding our roads and bridges, and schools.
- Help the long term unemployed, by helping them support their families while they look for work and reforming the system to better connect them to real jobs.
The President is rebuilding the economy the American way – based on balance, fairness and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street where hard work and responsibility pay and gaming the system is penalized.
Our jobs crisis is too important to be held up by Washington gridlock. The American people are tired of waiting while a small group of right-wing politicians in Congress holds our country hostage in the name of tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and incentives for reckless corporations.
The American Jobs Act is something that Congress can do to create more jobs and put more money in people’s pockets right now.