For Immediate Release: December 23, 2008
Contact: Katinka Podmaniczky (202) 224-2441
Senators Call For 'Economic Disaster' Relief In Stimulus For Communities With Massive Job Loss
In Letter to Pres.-Elect Obama and Congressional Leadership, Senators Outline Economic Development Needs of Distressed Communities
WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Congress and the incoming Obama Administration craft an economic recovery package, a group of Senators today called for targeted economic development assistance for communities with massive job loss.
In a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama, Vice President-Elect Joseph Biden, and members of congressional leadership, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today outlined how federal assistance can bring new jobs and economic activity to communities facing the double-blow of national economic recession and massive local job-loss.
“What may start as an isolated layoff or plant closing can quickly ripple through an entire community,” wrote the Senators today in a letter to Obama and congressional leadership. “Mass layoffs and plant closings undermine the local tax base, at the expense of key government services, Main Street businesses, schools, and libraries.”
“These communities cannot recover from the double blow of national economic recession and massive local job loss without specialized assistance from the federal government,” continued the Senators in their letter. “Absent such assistance, communities that could contribute to national prosperity may instead require long-term safety net assistance. Investing now in the economic revitalization is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.”
The Senators referenced examples of job loss in their states that have had far-reaching effects on local communities. These include DHL’s plans to close its plant in Wilmington, Ohio, G.M. layoffs in Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan, Chrysler’s plant closing in Newark, Delaware. They also reference pockets of the country with unemployment rates well above the national average, including Providence County, Rhode Island with a 9.6 percent rate.
- Providing $2 billion through the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) “Economic Adjustment Assistance” programs, including its University Centers program, with priority consideration given to areas that have experienced sudden and severe economic dislocation or persistent and long-term economic distress due to corporate restructuring.
- Increasing by $50 million the “TAA for Firms” program, administered by EDA, which helps trade-impacted firms make adjustments that allow them to remain competitive.
- Investing an additional $700 million through the Wagner Peyser Act for reemployment services for unemployment insurance claimants, labor market information to help guide state and local decisions about economic development strategies, and other labor market exchange services.
- Investing an additional $1.5 billion in the existing WIA dislocated worker fund to retrain workers recently laid off, with $300 million reserved for National Emergency Grants (NEG) and for the remaining $1.2 billion, 25 percent reserved at the state level for supporting rapid response efforts in economically distressed areas.
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