Jobs Are Priority

Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the importance of continued support for jobs for Americans.

When America faced massive unemployment in the 1930s, our government stepped up with the WPA and the CCC. It's time to continue that drive, as the Democratic Congress has been doing without much help from our Republican colleagues.

The fact is that local governments have been hardest hit in the area of job cuts. Local governments have lost over 140,000 jobs in 2008 and 2009, and the number keeps growing. Another 53,000 jobs will be lost by July 1 if we don't act. Another 128,000 will be lost by fiscal year 2011 if we don't act.

So, Mr. Speaker, I'm asking our colleagues to step forward for people who need to do work. This summer we are looking at young people not having enough jobs, and we need this Congress to act. We've seen job creation, we've seen job growth, we've seen 290,000 jobs created last month; but this drive needs to stay alive. The Democratic Caucus is committed to it. We hope our Republican colleagues join us, but jobs must continue to be the first order of business.

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