Issue Position: Working Wisconsin

Issue Position

"Working families and small businesses in Wisconsin and across America form the backbone of our economy and are at the root of our prosperity. However, a struggling economy and flawed trade agreements, combined with rising health and energy costs, have put many of Wisconsin's working families in an extremely difficult position -- but our state's strengths show a promising road to the future.

We can combine our workforce with innovative small businesses to create jobs, enhance our economy, and provide opportunities for workers. I have worked to support these efforts and will continue to advocate policies that help our state lead the way in addressing the enormous economic challenges our country faces."

- Senator Russ Feingold

Tax Credit -- Focusing on Getting Wisconsin Back to Work - Russ's legislation helps encourage firms to hire more workers by establishing a jobs tax credit for businesses. His bill would create a jobs tax credit over the next two years for businesses that hire new employees, expand work hours for their current workforce, or simply raise worker pay. His aim is to have the jobs tax credit be fully offset as to not increase the deficit. Key facts on the proposal include: The credit would be 15% of eligible payroll for 2010 and 10% for 2011, eligible payroll includes that part of a business's wages subject to Social Security taxes, so for 2009 that applies to wages under $106,800, therefore pay raises for higher salary workers would not be eligible for this tax credit; the credit is calculated on a quarter over previous year's quarter basis; the credit would be measured against the last quarter of 2008, rather than 2009, to avoid the possible gaming of the credit in the last quarter of 2010; and wages of business owners and their family members would not be eligible. Russ is committed to moving his proposal forward when the Senate considers jobs legislation.

E-4 Initiative: Economy, Employment, Education, and Energy -- By combining our state's unique resources with our steady workforce, Wisconsin can serve as an example to other states on how to create jobs and enhance economic stability for the long term. With that in mind, Russ has introduced a package of legislation dubbed the E-4 Initiative for its multifaceted focus on the economy, employment, education, and energy.

This legislation didn't come out of Washington, D.C.; the E-4 Initiative was put together after months of conversations and meetings Russ and his staff had with business leaders from Milwaukee, Madison, the Fox Valley area, and other regions across Wisconsin. Each bill in the Initiative is fully offset. Highlights of the E-4 Initiative include:

* Economy: Boosting Innovation Through Small Business -- Small businesses generate nearly 80% of the total employment in urban areas across the country and provide nearly half of our nation's payroll jobs. We must find ways to spur their continued growth and success. The E-4 Initiative brings together our state's resources with our country's emerging needs in the areas of energy, water, transportation and domestic security. This portion of the E-4 Initiative increases federal funding for small business innovation research and technology transfer programs. These programs already have a proven record of success and by increasing their funding we can help innovative small businesses across Wisconsin and around the country lead the way toward economic stability and growth.

* Employment: Workforce Development -- Wisconsin has a strong and able workforce that is the envy of the nation. Russ's E-4 Initiative helps businesses locate these qualified individuals and helps workers connect to these job opportunities. Feingold's bill would promote uniform skill standards certificates and make information on them readily available so that as new industries emerge, business, and workers can more easily adapt in a combined effort to build successful businesses and spur job growth.

* Education: Building New Education Partnerships -- Wisconsin is home to some of the best schools in the nation, but too many students still don't make it to graduation day. Russ's E-4 Initiative aims at helping business and schools combine their resources in an effort to further engage teenagers and put them on a exciting career path. Russ's legislation would provide for competitive grants for states and school districts to form education partnerships with state, regional, and local businesses, workforce development groups, and other non-profit groups. These partnerships will help prepare students for professions in emerging industries - whether they enter the workforce directly or go on to further education after high school.

* Energy: Growing the Emerging Energy Sector -- With the skyrocketing and fluctuating costs of energy, and our over-reliance on oil from unfriendly countries, we must support companies that will help put our country on a path toward renewable, sustainable and efficient energy. Russ's E-4 Initiative promotes green jobs efforts and energy efficiency programs by encouraging partnerships between government and businesses in an effort to help move new technologies from the research and development phase to the marketplace.

Protecting Workers -- Russ has been a consistent supporter of workers and their rights since his days in the Wisconsin State Senate. He continues his committment to helping Wisconsin workers and employers create jobs that help provide a safe working environment, access to affordable health care, adequate and equal pay, and basic safeguards for workers. In the Senate, Russ has supported a number of initiatives to support Wisconsin's workforce, including:

* Standing up for Workers' Civil Rights: Russ introduced the Civil Rights Procedures Protection Act. This legislation prohibits employers from requiring, as a condition of employment or promotion, that employees surrender their right to file civil actions against the employer for sexual harassment or civil rights violations.

* Fighting For and Successfully Raising the Minimum Wage: Russ supported legislation that became law in 2007 and was a long overdue step toward helping working families by raising the minimum wage.

* Defending the Right to Organize: Russ has cosponsored legislation to prohibit hiring permanent replacement workers and has fought efforts to overturn President Clinton's executive order prohibiting federal contractors from using strikebreakers. He supports efforts to strengthen the collective bargaining process for workers and enact stronger penalties for employers who violate the rights of employees who try to form a union.

* Supporting Family Leave: Russ has been a strong supporter of the Family and Medical Leave Act from the very beginning and has fought efforts to weaken the law because no employee should lose a job simply because a family emergency arises.

* Fighting for Fair Pay: Nobody should be disadvantaged in the workplace based on race, gender, or national origin. Russ supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Fair Pay Act, and the Fair Pay Restoration Act -- all efforts to help ensure equal pay for everyone in the workplace.

* Protecting Workers' Safety: Russ is a cosponsor of the Protecting America's Workers Act -- legislation that would provide increased penalties for willful workplace violations by employers, protect whistleblowers, and ensure that employees are given proper protective equipment. Russ also strongly opposed the Bush Administration's effort to repeal basic workplace health and safety protections.

* Helping Communities Face Job Loss: Russ has supported the Forewarn Act. This bill closes some of the major loopholes in the WARN Act so that employers are better held accountable to their communities when they've made a decision to close a work site. The bill would help communities better prepare for the impact of upcoming layoffs.

Fixing Flawed Trade Agreements -- We cannot afford to continue pursuing trade policies that gut our manufacturing sector and send good jobs overseas. We cannot afford to keep undermining the protections we have established for workers, the environment, and our public health and safety. And we cannot afford to squander our democratic heritage by entering into further trade agreements that supersede our right to govern ourselves through open, democratic institutions. The major trade agreements we have entered into have resulted in a race to the bottom in labor standards, environmental standards, and health and safety standards.

The trade policies of the last decade and more have been devastating to our working families, and have undermined our democratic institutions. Russ voted against NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, Fast Track, and Most Favored Nation status for China, because he believed they would cause Wisconsin to lose manufacturing jobs and family farms. Unfortunately, he was right. Over the years, Wisconsin has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs because of unfair and unbalanced trade policies. We need to turn our trade policies around to promote sustainable economic growth for our state, our country and our trading partners.

Russ has introduced the Minimum Trade Standards Resolution to help fix our nation's failed trade policies by setting forth a number of principles future trade agreements must meet. The minimum standards outlined in Feingold's bill include:

* Enforceable worker protections and the core International Labor Organization standards

* The ability for our country to enact and enforce our own trade laws

* Protection of U.S. public interest laws from challenges by foreign investors in secret tribunals

* Assurances that imported food meets U.S. food safety standards

* Requirements that trade agreements contain the same environmental standards U.S. companies must abide by

* Requirements that trade negotiations and implementation of trade agreements be conducted openly

We must also be able to renegotiate current trade agreements and Russ is an original cosponsor of the TRADE Act -- legislation that would allow the U.S. to review and renegotiate trade agreements, as well as set forth the principles on which future trade agreements should be negotiated.

Buy American -- The federal government purchases billions and billions of dollars of goods and services each year and whenever possible, the federal government should support American manufacturers and buy American-made products. We owe it to American manufacturers and their employees to make sure they get a fair shake.

Russ is the author of the Buy American Improvement Act. His legislation would make it significantly harder for government agencies to buy goods that are manufactured overseas. It would also make government agencies more accountable by requiring them to provide Congress, and the American people, with records on how often they buy goods that are not made by American companies.

Investing in Our Workforce -- Given the current economy it's more important than ever that we give workers in Wisconsin and around the country the tools to adapt to changes in the workplace. Russ has supported a number of initiatives that would aid in this effort.

Russ has introduced the Community-Based Health Care Retraining Act which would help workers who have lost their jobs retrain and retool their abilities for a job in the growing health sector.

He is pushing Congress to improve the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA created job centers for training and has done a lot over the years to help meet the needs of workers in transition. We must provide more help and training to workers -- especially during these tough economic times -- so that fewer Wisconsinites find themselves underemployed or unemployed.

Russ has also pressed for increased support of Job Corps. Education and training are vital for young people who have a high school degree or GED and the Job Corps program gives these folks the assistance they need to obtain jobs, pursue higher education, or enlist in the military.

Recognition of Senator Feingold's Record - Russ has repeatedly received among the highest rankings of any current senators for his voting record from the AFL-CIO, the International Association of Firefighters, the Teamsters, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and other labor groups.

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