Jobs & The Economy
With an unemployment rate hovering around 9%, putting Iowans back to work continues to be my number one priority in Washington. I’m proud to have passed job creation legislation into law:
Putting Iowans Back to Work
It goes without saying that America's small businesses are the backbone of our economy. As we continue to develop policies to strengthen our economy and put America's middle class families back to work, small business development will be one of the keys to our success, especially in Iowa.
In 2010, the President signed into law the HIRE Act which included my provision to exempt small businesses from paying the employer's share of the social security tax if they hire workers who have been unemployed for more than 60 days prior to employment. This payroll tax cut is win-win, giving small business owners the help they need to create good-paying jobs for unemployed workers.
My provision in the HIRE Act provides small business owners with greater incentives to hire workers for long-term positions, providing $1,000 in additional tax incentives for businesses that retain employees for 52 consecutive weeks. The payroll tax cut provides greater incentive for employers to move quickly to hire new workers because the credit expires at the end of the year. The sooner employees are hired, the more time small business owners have to benefit from the credit.
Reviving American Manufacturing
America once led the world in manufacturing, but over the last decade, we’ve lost millions of manufacturing jobs and that has to change. We must be a country that builds things again. That’s why we need a forward-thinking manufacturing strategy that puts American workers and consumers first.
I recently introduced legislation to reinvest in American manufacturing. The National Manufacturing Strategy Act would develop a national plan to create new manufacturing jobs in the United States. It would require the President to establish a Manufacturing Strategy Board within the Commerce Department. The Board would consist of federal officials, two state Governors from different political parties, and nine private-sector leaders and stakeholders from the manufacturing industry.This bill is the first step to creating stable, good-paying manufacturing jobs for middle class workers right here in America.
This bipartisan bill passed overwhelmingly out of the House in 2010.
Investing in Biofuels to Spur Job Creation
Investment in biofuels is crucial not just to Iowa’s economy, but also to our country as a whole. I recently announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) is offering a $105 million loan guarantee to support the development of the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. My legislation, passed last Congress, allows DOE to provide a loan guarantee for the new biofuel plant and others like it.
By producing ethanol in new and innovative ways, we can lower the price of gas across the country and reduce our national dependence on foreign oil. The new plant in Emmetsburg will help create hundreds of jobs in Iowa, and I’ll keep fighting to make sure we grow our economy and create long-term, good-paying jobs in Iowa and all over America.