News

February 10, 2009

harkin applauds passage of senate economic recovery bill; urges congress to heed president's call for school construction dollars

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after the Senate passed the economic recovery bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, by a vote of 61 to 37. 

“With this vote today, Americans will know that help is on the way.  And in comes in the form of jobs that will be created or preserved as a result of this measure.  In empowering ordinary working Americans to take charge of their economic destiny, this package gives people in communities all across America the tools to help pull them out of this recession by their own initiative, their own hard work, their own grit and determination.” 

As Congress works to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the measure, Harkin, as chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) will work to improve the final conference product, including an effort to reinstate the $16 billion in funding for school construction.

“Thousands of schools across the country run the gamut between “in need of repair” and “crumbling as we speak” and the long backlog in construction needs of local school districts have not been addressed because of tightening budgets.  As the president said in his speech last night, funding for education construction is a wise long-term investment and meaningful economic stimulus, especially when contrasted with other provisions like the  Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) fix.  Congress must fix the AMT, but it is not needed in the stimulus.  The provision does not create jobs, and it costs $70 billion.”

The 21st Century Schools Fund has estimated that the $16 billion in school construction funding that was in the original Senate bill would create between 270,000 and 400,000 jobs between construction and manufacturing.  Between December 2007 and 2008, the country lost 613,000 construction jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.