Supporting Economic Growth
In New York City, more than 31,000 private sector jobs were added in January 2012, showing that President Obama’s stimulus plans have made a difference. While this is progress, it is clear that more work needs to be done as many New Yorkers continue to feel the aftershocks of the financial crisis and recession. Representative Velázquez has taken several actions to help the City regain its footing and create new jobs. She supports efforts to retrain workers, support the unemployed, help businesses get more customers through their doors, and directly boost job creation.
Job training is central to helping many out-of-work New Yorkers find not just a new job, but a new career. That is why Representative Velázquez introduced H.R. 325, the Affordable Communities Employment Act, to provide job training and employment opportunities for public housing residents. For these individuals, this training can provide the skills necessary to break into a new industry, allowing them fresh opportunities to succeed and support their families.
For those that are continuing their job search and remain out-of-work, Representative Velázquez has consistently voted for legislation extending unemployment benefits. With hundreds of thousands of New York City workers unemployed, action was critical to prevent many of from losing their benefits. By keeping money flowing through the economy, these steps have a multiplier effect, further spurring job creation.
It is also important to help our local businesses by encouraging customers to comes through their doors. For this reason, she has strongly supported legislation to put more money in the pockets of working New Yorkers. In fact, Representative Velázquez helped override Republican attempts to block the payroll tax-cut that gives the average New York City family an extra $1,000. She also was staunch supporter of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), in which New York is expected to receive more than $34 billion. These funds are being used for a wide range of stimulative activities, from building roads and bridges, to enabling seniors to keep their drug coverage, to retaining jobs. As a result, the payroll tax cut and ARRA have combined to give New York City a much-need shot in the arm. This extra money will help boost our economy, enabling our local businesses to benefit from this extra spending.
Finally, Representative Velázquez recognizes that more stimulus is needed to bolster hiring in the City. This is why she championed President Obama’s American Jobs Act (AJA), which would have assisted New York’s first responders and teachers, helping preserve their jobs. New York State would have received $1.55 billion, supporting 15,500 educator and first responder jobs - and in New York City, this could have supported up to 6,552 education-related jobs and maintained 1,057 first responder jobs. The AJA also would have provided $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure. Separately, Representative Velázquez also supported proposals to provide a $25 billion investment to modernize schools. As a result, NYC would have received funding to support more than 27,000 construction jobs.
New York City’s economy is at a turning point, with hopeful signs of strength on several fronts, but still an underlying weakness on the labor market. To overcome these hurdles, incentives and smart investment are necessary to spur consumer demand and ramp up hiring. This multiplier effect of these stimulus efforts are essential to not only driving short term employment gains, also for providing New York City’s economy with broad-based dividends for years to come.
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