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Issue: 963 Date: 2/5/2009
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Congressman Carnahan: Congress Must Act Now to Stimulate American Economy'
Russ Carnahan supports President Obama's plan to create jobs and boost the economy, House votes 244-188 to send plan on to Senate
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(Washington, DC) - Congressman Russ Carnahan (MO-03) voted in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs over the next two years, get the United States economy moving again, and transform it for the long-term.
After the 2.6 million job loss just in the last year of President Bush's watch, the need for action is urgent.
"Missouri is facing the highest unemployment rate in 25 years with 7.3% without jobs," said Congressman Carnahan.
"If bold immediate action is not taken each month 500,000 Americans will lose their jobs," said Carnahan. "Our nation cannot afford to lose jobs at this current rate without taking bold immediate action."
In Missouri alone the American Recovery and Reinvestment plan will save or create 71,030 jobs, which will decrease the unemployment rate by 2.2 percent.
This jobs and economic recovery plan contains targeted efforts to:* Transform our economy with clean, efficient, American energy and innovation and technology that will create more than 1 million jobs;* Lower health care costs by funding aggressive adoption of health information technology, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and broaden coverage by helping those who cannot afford health care during these tough times;* Modernize roads, bridges, transit and waterways to create 1.5 million American jobs;* Invest in education for the 21st Century, including an increased Pell Grant for 138,591 students in Missouri and a higher education tax credit for an additional 74,000 students in the state so that they can stay in college despite these tough economic times;* Cut taxes up to $1,000 for 2,099,000 families in Missouri and more than $20 billion for American businesses, large and small, to spur job creation;* Help workers hurt by the economy, including 219,700 of Missourians that are out of work, those who have lost their health care, and seniors; and* Save the jobs of teachers and police officers.
"The economy won't turn around overnight," said Carnahan. "America has faced crisis before and turned it into opportunity to create jobs and build the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity."
This legislation has unprecedented levels of accountability, oversight, and transparency, including a dedicated website, recovery.gov, which will allow citizens to track every penny and hold federal, state, and local officials accountable for performance.
Congressman Carnahan has worked with colleagues in the House to push for investment in high-performance building principles, which have been included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"This legislation takes steps to improve the energy efficiency and weatherization of existing buildings as well as investing in the development of future high-performance buildings," said Carnahan. "Implementing high-performance green building principles to new construction and retrofitting existing structures can have an immediate impact on decreasing our nation's carbon foot print while creating millions of jobs."
To ensure that job creation goals are met, the Obama Administration has pledged that 75 percent of these job creating investments will get into the economy in the next 18 months. |
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