Jobs For Main Street Act, 2010

Floor Speech

Jobs For Main Street Act, 2010

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this jobs bill.

We have seen 23 straight months of job losses. What does this mean? It means that families are under a huge stress. It means there are hungry children in the United States of America. It means a lost generation of American workers.

We owe a response to those families contending with joblessness and the financial havoc it wreaks on their lives. It is not only the moral thing to do; it is our obligation as legislators and as citizens.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill. It redirects $75 billion of TARP funds, money that was spent on Wall Street, and it moves it toward key infrastructure investments, which will provide jobs now. It provides a foundation for long-term prosperity. It helps to stabilize our public sector workforce. It supports teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants. And as important, it cuts taxes for 16 million struggling families by making the child tax credit available to working families with children.

They lost their jobs. They lost their health benefits. Their work hours were cut short. And, yes, their child tax credit was decreased. Refundable tax credits are the most fiscally stimulative policies that we can put into place. Don't listen to me. Listen to economists. And it puts money into the hands of families who are living today paycheck to paycheck, and their spending in turn leads to a strong boost in job creation. Let's put that TARP money to work where it always belonged, in the hands of the American people.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill. We need to get America back to work.

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