House Acts To Create Jobs, Put Nation On Path To Economic Stability
Madison, WI - WISPIRG lauds today’s passage of H.R. 1, the
American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act by the United States House of
Representatives. According to Gary
Kalman, the director of WISPIRG’s Federal Legislative Office, “This legislation
will spark immediate economic growth and lay the foundation for continued
prosperity in a quickly changing global economy.”
Passage of the bill comes as
American families are struggling with the most serious economic conditions in
80 years. “Today,” said Kalman, “Speaker
Pelosi (D-CA), Chairman Obey (D-WI), and supportive House members deserve
credit for acting boldly to provide immediate help to American families and put
the nation on a path to longer term economic stability.”
On Transportation, H.R. 1 includes $12 billion in much-needed funding to modernize and
expand public transportation networks across the country. The package was
significantly strengthened by a floor amendment offered by Reps. Jerrold Nadler
(D-NY), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Michael Mahon (D-NY), and
Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) that added an additional $3 billion in capital funds for
transit projects in communities across the country both large and small. The
added investment will create or preserve an additional 133,000 jobs. The
total transit and rail package will put hundreds of thousands to work while
reducing our nation’s dependence on oil, traffic congestion, and global warming
pollution.
“This investment is an
important first step, and it sends a strong message that this Congress will
move us toward a modernized, 21st century transportation system,” says WISPIRG
Federal Transportation Policy Analyst John Krieger.
On higher education, the economic recovery package contains what WISPIRG Higher Education
Advocate Rich Williams calls “much needed relief to students and families
struggling to pay for college.” The legislation combines a $15.6 billion
increase to the Pell grant program with the largest ever increase to the work
study program. Also included is a tax credit that will cover tuition and fee costs
as well as textbook costs. Williams points out, “Facing a shrinking job pool
and shrinking assets, students and families need all the help they can get
right now, and for the next several years, to pay for college. In the
long run, providing an affordable college education is the single biggest thing
the country can do to ensure that our economy becomes stronger and grows.”
On health care,
H.R. 1 takes the critical first steps toward long-anticipated comprehensive
health care reform. This bill includes
significant new investments in prevention, electronic medical record systems,
and comparative effectiveness research. “The recovery plan’s health care
funding,” claims WISPIRG Health Care Advocate Larry McNeely, “will create new
high-tech jobs immediately, begin the process of controlling health costs and
put us on the path to long-term economic sustainability.”
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WISPIRG is a statewide, nonprofit non partisan citizen-based advocacy
organization.
