View the Blog post on Cleveland.com here

I am incredibly frustrated at the lack of growth in our economy, the partisan bickering in Washington and the resistance of Republicans to do what is in the best interest of our country. I’m ready to see progress, and I’m sure you are too. We need to rebuild our economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, investing in education, and supporting innovation. And we must build the workforce of the future. President Obama recently unveiled the American Jobs Act, which is made up of ideas that will put people back to work now, right here in Ohio.

The President’s plan includes an immediate investment of $1 billion in Ohio’s infrastructure, which would support over 13,700 construction jobs to fix highways, upgrade  transit facilities and airports. It would go to work modernizing infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Also in the plan is an investment of over $1 billion in local governments in Ohio to prevent further layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters; it would also support the hiring of 14,200 educators in our state. Ohio would receive an additional $985 million to improve classrooms and upgrade our schools as well as support 12,800 construction jobs.

We know the foreclosure crisis hit hard in Cleveland. If the President's plan is passed by Congress, Ohio is projected to receive about $577 million to put construction workers to work rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. The Jobs Act also proposes investing $5 billion to modernize community colleges. This is critical to ensure we have the facilities and technology to address workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Ohio is projected to receive $148 million in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

And the President's plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, targeting tax relief to the 98 percent of businesses with wages below this level. In Ohio, 200,000 businesses would benefit. The plan will also expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Ohio, with a median income of $46,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,430.

The long term unemployed, which includes an estimated 250,000 Ohioans, are not forgotten either. The President is proposing to help those without jobs transition to the workplace through The Pathways Back to Work Fund, which will provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and achieve needed training in growing industries.

This plan will guarantee the addition of thousands of jobs. It will provide funding to avoid more layoffs in the ranks of our teachers, police officers, and firefighters. This plan is one that will jump start our economy and get our family and friends back to work. Most of the provisions in the American Jobs Act have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans in the past, so there’s no reason my colleagues in Congress should not support these same measures now. It’s time we started working together for a better future.