Richard Trumka ~ Vote Jobs Now !

Tell Congress: Vote for Jobs Now!
by Mike Hall, May 24, 2010

If members of the U.S. House of Representatives support creating jobs and putting Americans back to work, as they so often claim, they’ll vote this week for a bill that creates jobs and makes Wall Street pay, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Saying it’s “crunch time for putting Americans back to work,” Trumka tells lawmakers: “If you’re not for this bill, you’re not for jobs. Period.”
Join us in pushing hard for passage of the jobs bill and take action now. Call 877-442-6801 and urge your representative to vote for H.R. 4213 to create and save jobs and make Wall Street pay. Tell your representative a vote against the bill is a vote against jobs. The Promoting American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213), could be up for a vote as soon as tomorrow. The bill addresses many points of the AFL-CIO’s Five-Point Plan for Creating Jobs by:
•Extending unemployment benefits and COBRA health care subsidies through the end of the year;
•Providing critical aid to cash-strapped states by increasing the federal share of Medicaid, which can stop layoffs and cuts in services;
•Funding more than 300,000 summer jobs; and
•Financing local infrastructure projects.
The jobs bill also will start the process of making Wall Street finally pay to restore the millions of jobs the Big Banks and financial institutions destroyed with their reckless and risky practices. It closes a tax loophole that allows rich Wall Street hedge fund managers to pay lower tax rates on their income than ordinary wage earners. It also closes a similar loophole on corporations that ship jobs overseas. Critics of the bill say the nation’s budget deficit does not allow spending to create jobs. Says Trumka: The people who are always saying “No” to jobs because of the deficit are often the same people who voted to squander our hard-earned budget surpluses so they could shower undeserved tax breaks on rich people during the Bush years. Apparently, spending money on rich people is perfectly okay, but investing in jobs for working class Americans sets off alarm bells. With Wall Street banks, investment firms and corporations lining up against the jobs bill, lawmakers have a chance to back up their rhetoric about jobs with action says Trumka. It’s time for members of Congress to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Vote for jobs. Now.