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WASHINGTON – Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, joined other Members of Congress today in announcing a comprehensive “Jobs for America” agenda – a plan to end the “outsourcing” of good paying U.S. jobs and invest in the education, highways, and broadband Internet access that will bring more jobs to the Central Valley.
The new economic agenda would end tax loopholes that reward companies for moving jobs overseas, encourage small firms to expand and hire new workers, and help more children attend college to study science and math.
“With two million private-sector jobs lost in the last three years, and eight million Americans looking for work, it’s time for a new commitment to keep jobs here in the U.S. and create new ones,” Cardoza said.
The American Jobs Plan proposes repealing $125 billion in current tax breaks that help ship jobs overseas, replacing them instead with two new tax incentives targeted to companies, both large and small, that create new jobs in the United States. Under the new jobs plan, savings from ending tax loopholes would be invested in job training, education, and research and development.
The plan, which is fully paid for, also gives U.S. companies priority for government contracts if they keep jobs in America.
“There is no reason why any American should be paying one dime in taxes because billion dollar tax breaks help big corporations export U.S. jobs to countries like China, Pakistan and India,” Cardoza added. “Let’s invest in American jobs, American factories, American schools, and American workers.”
Among the key proposals in the “Jobs for America” agenda:
- A new jobs tax credit to give American manufacturers, small businesses, and other industries impacted by outsourcing $3,000 for every job they create in the next two years.
- A new small business tax credit to help make health care more affordable for smaller firms so they can expand.
- A highway bill to create hundreds of thousands of jobs by modernizing and rebuilding highways, airports, railroad lines, ports, and water treatment facilities.
- Giving priority for government contracts to companies investing in American jobs.
- Expanding investment in broadband infrastructure to make using the Internet more cost effective for families and small businesses in rural areas, and connect industrial parks and small business incubators with high-speed links.
- Making college more accessible by doubling Pell Grants for low and moderate income students to $11,600 by 2011.
- Increased funding for job training, and new programs to ensure that workers are trained for industries with an unmet demand for high-skilled talent.
- Extending unemployment benefits to the 2.9 million people who have exhausted their current benefits but still have not found work.
Expanding trade adjustment assistance to high-tech workers and other service workers who lose their jobs due to offshoring, which would allow them greater access to job training, health benefits, and funding for job search and relocation expenses. |
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