WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Congresswoman Lois Capps praised the House of Representatives passage of critical legislation to create and save 3 to 4 million American jobs.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R.1) was approved by a vote of 244-188.  Working closely with President Obama, the House developed the economic recovery package to stimulate job creation, rebuild America’s infrastructure, make us more globally competitive and energy independent, and transform our economy for long-term growth.  This landmark legislation give 95 percent of American workers an immediate tax cut and makes smart investments that will quickly jumpstart the economy.

“I was proud today to join many of my House colleagues in taking the first step in implementing President Obama’s plan to get our economy back on track,” said Capps.  “We must act quickly and deliberately to put in place a forward thinking economic recovery package that will save and create American jobs now and lay a foundation for long-term economic growth through investments in clean energy, innovation and education.  We have also established strict accountability measures to ensure that taxpayers dollar are spent wisely and effectively.  The passage of this critical economic legislation will provide real change by rebuilding America’s roads and bridges, encouraging mass transit, protecting vital services like education, healthcare and law enforcement, and providing a tax cut to 95 percent of American workers.  In the coming weeks Congress will continue to work closely with President Obama so we can quickly finish and enact this much needed economic recovery and reinvestment legislation.”

Capps continued, “America is facing an economic crisis greater than any since the Great Depression, with a staggering 2.6 million American jobs lost in the last year and 60,000 jobs lost just in the last week.  As California’s unemployment rate has soared to 9.3 percent, many families across the Central and South Coasts have been affected and many communities are suffering.  These dire circumstances underscore the need for this unprecedented action.”

This jobs and economic recovery plan contains targeted efforts in:

·        Transforming Our Economy With Clean, Efficient, American Energy and Innovation and Technology that will create more than 1 million  jobs;

·        Lowering Health Care Costs by funding aggressive adoption of health information technology, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and Broadening Coverage by helping those who cannot afford health care in these tough times.;

·        Modernizing Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways to create 1.5 million American jobs;

·        Education for the 21st Century, including an increased Pell Grant for 744,000 students here in California and a higher education tax credit for an additional 522,000 students in our state so that they can stay in college despite these tough times;

·        Tax Cuts of up to $1,000 to Make Work Pay for 12,570,000 families here in California and more than $20 billion for American businesses, large and small, to spur job creation;

·        Helping Workers Hurt by the Economy, including 505,923 of Californians that are out of work, those who have lost their health care, and seniors; and

·        Saving the Jobs of Teachers and Police Officers.

The Recovery Plan has unprecedented accountability measures built in—providing strong oversight, a historic degree of public transparency, and includes no earmarks. 

A copy of the Congresswoman Capps’s speech on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

Statement of Rep. Lois Capps
HR.1 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
January 28, 2009

M Speaker, I rise in support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

I am glad that we have taken seriously our challenge to pass an economic stimulus bill right away so that we can take important steps to protect ordinary Americans.

I have been particularly concerned about the effect of the current economic situation on health care access and am relieved to see that the bill before us today takes excellent steps to address the health care crisis.

Most important, in my view, are the Medicaid provisions that will ensure states can continue to provide Medicaid to their residents with, at minimum, the current level of benefits.

My home state of California, much like other states, is suffering a budget crisis that is leading to proposals of slashing Medicaid benefits.

We must protect current benefits AND ensure that Medicaid and COBRA are available for the high number of Americans who have lost their jobs.

This bill does an excellent job of doing that.

I also want to applaud the inclusion of Health Information Technology language, including essential privacy protections.

Spurring adoption of HIT will reduce medical errors, allow physicians and nurses to spend more time with their patients and create jobs.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t express disappointment in one important item that was unfortunately not included in today’s bill.

The Energy & Commerce Committee, on which I serve, rightly included language to make family planning services for low-income women a state option.

Currently, states must apply for a waiver, accompanied by the uncertainty of future applications’ success, in order to provide this basic health care service for women who do not otherwise qualify for Medicaid, but are low-income nonetheless.

Through a campaign of misinformation perpetrated, I am sad to say, by some of our own colleagues in Congress, we were forced to strip this provision out in order to reinforce the message of the underlying bill.

But make no mistake, the family planning provisions would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years.

And you don’t have to take my word for it, just ask the CBO, which scored the provision as a savings.

So I will remind my colleagues that we have lost an important opportunity to improve health care services to the extent that this bill originally intended to do and I vow to work with the White House and Congressional leadership to ensure we fix this in the near future.

Nonetheless, the remaining health care language is strong and will provide tremendous relief to the millions of currently unemployed Americans as well as those who rely on Medicaid.

Mr. Chairman, we also have a tremendous opportunity to put America on a path to economic recovery by moving us toward energy security.

Immediate investments in renewable energy production and rebuilding our infrastructure to be greener will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, save billions of dollars in energy costs, and reduce our carbon footprint in the long term.

And that’s exactly what the bill before us today does.

It creates new programs, and it makes important changes to others, that will get Americans back to work.

And the cash savings achieved through increased efficiency will go back into local communities and could be used to pay mortgages and other necessities – continuing to improve the economy.

I am also pleased to see that this bill will help our country prepare for the DTV transition. 

By allocating funds to the converter box coupon program, hotline call centers, and consumer education, we can ensure millions of Americans are not left behind during this transition. 

Finally, this bill will enable people in un-served and underserved areas of our country to harness the internet as a tool for economic, social and civic empowerment by providing much needed funding for broadband deployment and wireless voice service.

So I want to applaud the Chairman for his excellent work on the provisions that fall within our Committee’s jurisdiction and urge my colleagues to support it.

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Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.