[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15080-15081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           AMERICAN JOBS ACT

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of the 
American Jobs Act. Rarely is our economy discussed these days without 
mention of the 14 million Americans who are currently out of work and 
searching for a job. But as you know, I am from your home State. This 
is not just a statistic. It is real people--people who are struggling, 
people who have had their hours cut, people who may have worked at a 
job for a very long time and, poof, it is gone away. That is what this 
is about.
  Two years after the recession officially ended, unemployment is still 
stubbornly high, at 9.1 percent--9.1 percent. When we factor in those 
who are working part time because they cannot find a full-time job, 
that number goes much higher, up toward 16 percent.
  Now, my home State, the State of Minnesota, is much better. We have 
an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent. But there are still too many 
people out of work or who are struggling with reduced hours at their 
jobs. While no group of workers has been spared by the high rates of 
long-term unemployment, the hardest hit have been older workers, those 
with a high school diploma, and then those I am sure you

[[Page 15081]]

have seen in the construction trades. They have been hit very hard.
  We also have had issues with our timber industry in northern 
Minnesota. We have had some trouble in our iron ore mines, but they are 
bouncing back. The biggest problem I have heard of is for those in the 
construction industry.
  It is my firm belief that the role of Congress is to promote the 
interests of the American people, and the American people have said 
loudly and clearly that we need to focus on initiatives that stimulate 
job creation--in particular, private sector job creation. In fact, the 
majority of Americans want us to pass the American Jobs Act that we are 
debating today.
  When Americans are asked about specific provisions in the bill, that 
message is even clearer: 74 percent say they support providing money to 
State governments to allow them to hire teachers and first responders; 
65 percent say they support cutting the payroll tax for all American 
workers; 64 percent say they support increased spending to build and 
repair roads, bridges, and schools.
  Of course, no one knows that better than me and my State. I live just 
a few blocks from that bridge that collapsed in the middle of a summer 
day. I said that day: A bridge should not just fall down in the middle 
of America. But that is what happened. So, obviously, people in my 
State understood the need to continue funding bridges and roads.
  Fifty-eight percent of Americans say they support cutting the payroll 
taxes for all American businesses. But passing this bill is not the 
right thing to do just because it is popular. It is the right thing to 
do because it will have a positive impact on our economy.
  Economists from across the political spectrum agree that steps taken 
in this legislation would increase economic activity and add jobs. 
According to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's:

       The plan would add 2 percent points to GDP growth next 
     year, add 1.9 million jobs, and cut the unemployment rate by 
     a percentage point.

  That is an economist's words, not mine. It would accomplish this by 
initiating targeted measures, many of which have garnered overwhelming 
bipartisan support in the past. The employee payroll tax cut that would 
be extended under the American Jobs Act was originally introduced by my 
friends, Senator Schumer and Senator Hatch. It was ultimately included 
in the HIRE Act, which ultimately passed the Senate by a 68-to-29 vote 
early in 2010. Just over a year ago it was extended again. This time, 
139 House Democrats and 138 House Republicans joined to support it. In 
the Senate, 37 Republican Senators joined 43 Democratic Senators in 
voting for the extension.
  Cutting the payroll tax for all American businesses is another idea 
that has gained strong bipartisan support. In fact, it has been the 
centerpiece of several jobs packages put forward by my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle.
  We all know the neglected state of our Nation's infrastructure. 
Crumbling infrastructure just does not threaten public safety, as it 
did in Minnesota when that bridge collapsed, it also weakens our 
economy. Congestion and inefficiencies in our transportation network 
limit our ability to get goods to market.
  We all know one of the main ways we are going to get out of this 
downturn is with exports. Well, to truly have the kind of exports we 
want to see in this country, we have to be able to get our products on 
a truck or get them on a train and get them to a port and get them 
across the sea or get them on an airplane. The only way we are going to 
do that is if we have a transportation system that matches the economic 
system we want to have.
  The congestion, the inefficiencies in transportation exacerbate the 
divide between urban and rural America. They constrain economic 
development and competitiveness. They reduce productivity as workers 
idle in traffic.
  Americans spend a collective 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in 
traffic--4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic--at a cost to the 
economy of $78.2 billion or $710 per motorist. Think about that, over 
$700 per motorist simply because of people waiting in line on our 
highways.
  What better way to get our struggling economy back on track than to 
build the 21st-century transportation network our economy demands, 
while creating jobs in the construction industry, which, as I 
mentioned, has been one of the hardest hit industries. The American 
Jobs Act would establish the infrastructure bank as a new financing 
authority to help address some of our Nation's most important 
transportation projects. Roads, freight rail, and water projects in my 
State of Minnesota and across the Nation would benefit from access to 
loans and loan guarantees from this public-private partnership.
  This approach has bipartisan support in the Senate, as do the other 
proposals I discussed. In March of this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
President Tom Donohue endorsed the idea saying this:

       A national infrastructure bank is a great place to start 
     securing the funding we need to increase our mobility, create 
     jobs and enhance our global competitiveness.

  So pieces of this bill have been supported by the chamber; pieces of 
this bill have been supported by my Republican colleagues. In fact, the 
major provisions of this bill have been supported on a bipartisan 
basis. There are other great ideas in this bill as well, such as an 
extension of the bonus depreciation, which would allow businesses to 
continue to immediately write off the cost of investments in new 
property and equipment.
  I have to say this was the one thing--when I met with our small 
businesses over the last few years, this was the one thing they kept 
mentioning, that this was very helpful for them and would create an 
incentive for them to invest in equipment.
  This bill includes a returning heroes tax credit for veterans, which 
would provide a tax credit up to $9,600 to encourage companies to hire 
unemployed veterans. At a time when the percentage of unemployed 
veterans of Iraq stands at 11.7 percent, the importance of a provision 
such as this is clear. There is no reason that those people who have 
served our country should have to come back to the United States and 
not have a job. When they signed up to serve our country, there wasn't 
a waiting line. When they come back to America and they need a job or 
they need college or they need health care, there should not be a 
waiting line. I am glad this provision is included in the bill to 
create an incentive to hire returning veterans. The post-9/11 time 
period is most important when you look at the unemployment rate.
  With our economy struggling and 14 million Americans still out of 
work, Minnesotans want Congress to put the politics aside and come 
together to move our economy forward. It is time to step forward and 
show some leadership, and it is time for us to work together to show 
the American people that Washington isn't broken--that, instead, we are 
willing to put aside politics to do what we were elected to do, to do 
what is right for America.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for this important piece of legislation 
that would put Americans to work and help our struggling economy get 
back on track.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, we are in morning business, right?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.

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