House Passes Jobs Bill « Main Street

House Passes Jobs Bill

The House of Representatives passed a preliminary jobs bill Wednesday, which now moves to the Senate:

The bill would provide $48.3 billion for infrastructure projects that promise to get workers back on job sites by April. Highway construction projects would get $27.5 billion, while subway, bus and other transit systems would get $8.4 billion.

As in the earlier stimulus bill, steel and other products used in these projects would have to come from the United States.

The bill would also help cash-strapped state and local governments avoid layoffs of public employees.
States would get $23 billion to pay 250,000 teacher salaries and repair school buildings, and $1.2 billion to pay for 5,500 police officers.

In other words, the bill not only creates and saves jobs but provides teachers and well-kept school buildings for kids, and makes our bridges safer and improves transit around the country. Also, much of it is already paid for by excess bailout money.

This is a great step. But, as Seth Michaels writes,

The bill must next be approved by the U.S. Senate. But unless we light a fire under that august body, nothing will move before the end of the year and the unemployment insurance for millions of jobless workers will expire.

Tell senators to pass the Jobs for Main Street Act (H.R. 2847), which invests $154 billion to create and save jobs.