David Gill Praises Teacher Jobs Act & Supports Closing Overseas Jobs Loophole
Press Release
Recently endorsed by the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois AFL-CIO, Congressional candidate Dr. David Gill praised the recently enacted Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law yesterday by Pres. Barack Obama.
"This action to save over 5,700 teacher jobs in Illinois and close tax loopholes that rewarded corporations for sending our jobs overseas is just what the doctor ordered for our ailing economy," said Dr Gill, who is running in Illinois' 15th Congressional district.
Illinois will receive $415 million for local school districts to save teacher jobs and another $550 million to extend Medicaid benefits for six months to women and children, seniors, and those with disabilities to ensure continued access to vital health care services.
The spending bill is totally offset by rolling back benefits for food stamps to pre-Recovery Act levels and by closing loopholes that allowed U.S. companies to operate tax-free in other countries. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the act will reduce the federal deficit by about $1.3 billion over the next 10 years.
Gill has long been an advocate of creating high-paying job opportunities in central Illinois and of modifying free trade treaties and tax practices that reward U.S. corporations for sending jobs overseas.
The total $26 billion package is expected to save 300,000 jobs nationwide.
Dr. Gill's opponent, five-term incumbent Timothy Johnson, voted against these measures in a 247 -- 161 vote that was cast largely along party lines.
"Mr. Johnson shows he is not only out of touch but unresponsive to the needs of this district, where unemployment has climbed to stubbornly high levels during his House tenure," Dr. Gill noted. "This continues a long line of negative votes including one cast against the 2009 Stimulus package that contained the FutureGen project."
Dr. Gill will address the jobs package and other issues tonight at 6:15 p.m. when he is the guest on the Stan Waggoner's public affairs program The MidWatch on Champaign's WEFT radio 90.1 FM.
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