As Congress reconvenes this week, union leaders are calling on lawmakers and President George W. Bush to enact an agenda that creates jobs and lifts the economy for all working families, not one that rewards the wealthy and corporate interests while leaving low- and moderate-income Americans behind.
With unemployment at an eight-year high and 1.7 million workers unemployed for more than six months, Bush and Congress should approve a plan that will "put more money in the hands and pockets of families who need it and will spend it now," says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
Union leaders are proposing a five-point plan to boost the economy, including:
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Extending emergency unemployment benefits and health care coverage for the unemployed—retroactively;
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Aiding states in paying for health care, homeland security, education and vital public services;
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Accelerating federal investments in schools, roads, bridges, transportation, clean water and industry to create jobs;
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Rebating some taxes to all workers, with benefits concentrated toward low- and moderate-income taxpayers; and
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Increasing the federal minimum wage.
"The fairest and most effective way to reverse 22 months of layoffs and decline and restore vitality to the American economy is with an economic recovery program designed to help those hit hardest by the downturn, create good jobs and improve wages and benefits for all working families," says the AFL-CIO report, Recovery for All, Not Just for Some: An Agenda to Create Jobs and Lift the Economy released Jan. 6.
The plan would cost about $260 billion over one year, less than half of what Bush’s anticipated plan would spend. The president is due to unveil his plan on Jan. 7, and it is expected to include more such tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations as cutting taxes on dividends from investments. Economists say it won’t stimulate the economy and 63 percent of benefits go to 9 percent of taxpayers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The union plan for economic recovery would be funded by modifying Bush’s 2001 tax cut which disproportionately benefited the rich.
"Congress and the president owe it to working families to act quickly and decisively in adopting a program that will put the nation on track toward genuine economic recovery in a way that works for all of us," the report says.
More
Download a copy of the AFL-CIO plan,
Recovery for All, Not Just for Some: An Agenda to Create Jobs and Lift the Economy.
AFL-CIO news release on the economic plan.
Check out the Economic Policy Institute’s briefing paper, Generating Jobs and Growth: An Economic Stimulus Plan for 2003.
Read Principles for Economic Stimulus from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
