EVANS TELLS OREGON’S UNEMPLOYED THAT
“HELP IS ON THE WAY”
Says Bush Plan Assists Unemployed, Creates 30,000 Jobs in State

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans today promised the patrons of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs that the Bush Administration would remain focused on the economy “until the last person without a job finds a job.” Evans, who was joined by U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (Ore.), expressed his disappointment about the unemployment rate across the U.S. and in Oregon and told the audience that those figures were the reasons for President Bush’s Economic Growth and Job Creation Proposal. Evans stressed that, in addition to tax cuts for individuals and small businesses, the President’s plan includes assistance to America’s unemployed looking for work in the form of re-employment accounts.

“President Bush, Senator Smith and I believe that one American without a job is one too many,” said Evans. “American jobs are at the heart of President Bush’s economic plan. The plan provides assistance for America’s unemployed today while creating the conditions for millions of jobs to be created tomorrow and well into the future.” Evans told the group that the President’s Plan would create nearly 30,000 jobs in Oregon and over 1.4 million nationwide over the next 18 months.

"There is nothing more important for Oregon and for America than to get people back to work," Smith said. "The president's stimulus plan will bring both short and long term growth to every sector of the economy from the Doug Fir forest to the silicon forest."

Evans and Smith spent much of their time here discussing the President’s plan to provide personal re-employment assistance to those seeking jobs. The re-employment program provides unemployed workers with $3,000 to use for job training, child-care and transportation, moving costs and other costs associated with finding a new job. Evans called reemployment accounts “an innovative idea that helps the people that need it the most” and predicted that the program would place thousands of unemployed Oregonians onto payrolls.

Following their visit to the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs, Evans and Smith held an economic roundtable at the Les Schwab Tire Company with Portland-area small businessmen and women to discuss how the President’s plan benefits small businesses. Evans pointed out that because of tax cuts and new incentives to purchase capital equipment, all of the nearly 50,000 small businesses in the Portland area would benefit under the President’s plan.

Today’s trip to Portland is Evans’ 31st city and the 17th state that he has visited since the President unveiled his economic growth and job creation package in early January. From Oregon, Evans travels to Seattle, Wash. and to Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M. to discuss the economic plan.