House Approves Legislation to Save and Create Hundreds of Thousands of American Jobs

Statement

By a vote of 247 to 161 the House of Representatives today passed H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, to save or create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Not only does H.R. 1586 prevent layoffs and provide funds to hire teachers and prevent law enforcement officers from losing their jobs, the bill is paid for by closing tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship American jobs overseas and other provisions which, have a net effect of reducing the Federal deficit by $1.4 billion dollars according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

"The minority comes here talking about their unemployed constituents, having voted against continuing unemployment compensation for those out of work and looking for it," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI). "The minority comes here talking about help for small business, having voted against Democratic bills to help small business. And today, once again, they vote against the American worker. In this bill we close tax loopholes, used by some companies to escape taxes and to ship jobs overseas. Closing this loophole is fair taxation and it is what the people of this country demand."

The legislation will save or create more than 319,000 American jobs--161,000 teacher jobs saved and 158,000 jobs created or saved, including police officers, firefighters and nurses. However, despite the clear benefits, and calls for passage of this critical assistance from a bipartisan group of 45 governors nationwide, House Republicans voted virtually in lockstep against the legislation.

The provisions included in H.R. 1586 to close tax loopholes that ship jobs overseas were drafted by the Committee on Ways and Means and championed by Chairman Levin and his colleagues. House Republicans have consistently voted against closing these loopholes.

Click here for a fact sheet on H.R. 1586.

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