CNN - Jobs, jobs, jobs!

Op-Ed

While the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows the federal budget deficit falling over the next several years, our jobs deficit -- nearly 12 million officially unemployed and tens of millions more underemployed or out of the labor market -- is still dragging our economy and destroying human potential.

We need a grand bargain for jobs and wages.

Over recent years, several factors -- from outsourcing to technological change to government budget cuts -- have conspired to make it harder for Americans to find work that provides a living wage. This means not only massive pain and suffering but also slower economic growth and greater government debt. With millions of Americans out of work or underpaid, our businesses can't find customers to purchase homes, cars, college tuition, or even meals at restaurants. With fewer people earning reasonable salaries, fewer people are paying taxes and more people are reliant on government assistance.

By getting people trained, working, and earning good salaries, we can build the tax base and responsibly reduce our budget deficits.

Budget conferees should start by cancelling the sequester cuts that are set to destroy up to 1.6 million jobs for teachers, police, medical researchers, national security personnel, construction workers and others across the country. A "Grand Bargain for the People" would also include training programs to close the skills gap and needed upgrades to infrastructure, education, and energy systems. The American Jobs Act of 2013, a set of bipartisan pragmatic proposals that I introduced this year with support from 75 cosponsors, is a template.

For an economy suffering from weak consumer demand, cutting Social Security and Medicare would just make our budgetary woes worse. The only responsible solution is to return Congress to its rightful focus: Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

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