Congressman Pascrell Backs $15 Billion Jobs Bill To Get Hundreds Of Thousands Of Americans Back To Work This Year

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today voted with the House majority in passing the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, H.R. 2847, which passed with a vote of 217-201. The bipartisan bill is projected to create more than 300,000 new jobs this year.

"This legislation is Congress' latest step taken to rejuvenate the nation's economy and get people back to work. But it is by no means the last step," said Pascrell, a member of the Congressional Task Force on Jobs Creation. "My colleagues in Congress and I are committed to continuing to work on the nation's top priority -- the creation of jobs. And we will continue to make are that any legislation we pass will pay for itself, just as we have today."

The HIRE Act will encourage job growth, small business expansion and infrastructure improvements through the following provisions:

* $1.03 billion in transportation projects to New Jersey through the Highway Trust Fund.
* A payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers, to create some 300,000 jobs and an income tax credit of $1,000 for businesses that retain these employees
* Tax cuts to spur new investment by small businesses to help them expand and hire more workers
* Extension of the Highway Trust Fund allowing for tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment
* Provisions -- modeled after the Build America Bonds program -- to make it easier for states to borrow for infrastructure projects, such as school construction and energy projects

The $15 billion cost of the bill will be offset through:

* New tools provided to the U.S. Treasury Department to find and prosecute U.S. individuals that hide assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service. The crackdown is estimated to raise $8.7 billion over 10 years.

* A three-year delays (through 2020) of a questionable tax break enacted in 2004 that would let U.S. multinational companies that have shipped jobs overseas reduce their U.S. taxes by deducting more of their worldwide interest income against their U.S. income. The delay is estimated to raise $9.9 billion over 10 years.

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