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Sign Here to Create 1 Million Jobs
This Great Recession has had a vicious double impact on local economies
First, nearly 1 in 10 Americans are out of work.1
Second, the downturn has starved local governments of resources they need to fix potholes, hire teachers and keep cops on the beat.2 Iowa’s state budget is suffering too, and that could mean lay-offs and further decline of our local economy.
But we can solve this problem and make our tax dollars do double duty by investing in public jobs that put people back to work.
President Roosevelt did it during the Great Depression with the Works Progress Administration (WPA). And now progressive champ Rep. George Miller has proposed the Local Jobs for America Act to put 1 million people back to work in the same way.3 Two of our Iowa Members of Congress are already co-sponsoring this bill—Reps Braley and Loebsack—we need all the others to hear us loud and clear!
And with Congress just back from recess and rushing to finish a full slate of work before the Memorial Day holiday, we need a BIG show of support to create momentum and get this important bill a hearing. Click here to sign the petition and urge your elected officials to support the bill. Join us in supporting our national partners at TrueMajoriity as we act together to deliver this petition to every member of our Iowa Congressional Delegation.
http://act.truemajorityaction.org/p/7002/bluepetition?petition_KEY=158
The economy is FINALLY starting to turn around, thanks to the intervention of the stimulus bill and other big public investments.4 And the Local Jobs Act would expand that solution by investing $75 billion in local communities to create jobs and hire workers, including:
- $23 billion this year to help states support 250,000 education jobs;
- $1.18 billion to put 5,500 law enforcement officers on the beat; and
- $500 million to retain, rehire and hire firefighters.
But obstructionists in Congress are already digging in their heels -- refusing to pay for ANY services that invest public dollars in the economy, even as they hypocritically defend tax cuts for the rich.5
That's the economic strategy that brought us the last Great Recession. It's time to bring back the thinking that helped end the Great Depression: investing in public works to create jobs.
Help start America down a path to recovery now by signing your support of the Local Jobs for America Act.
1 cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/12/business/main6387815.shtml
2 centeronbudget.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=711
3 huffingtonpost.com/deepak-bhargava/jobs-we-can-believe-in_b_530407.html
4 usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-04-02-jobs-march_N.htm
5 washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/11/AR2010041103586.html
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