Issue Position: Ensuring Economic Fairness and Security

Issue Position

Too many New Jerseyans are still hurting. They need someone in Washington who understands that -- someone who will fight for them, someone who has a proven record of delivering results. As your Senator, my number one priority will be ensuring economic security, fighting for economic fairness and putting New Jerseyans back to work in good-paying jobs.

While the economy has started to come back from the worst economic downturn in generations, New Jersey was the last state in the country to join the jobs recovery, and we continue to lag behind. Even among those who are employed, too many are finding that jobs aren't paying like they used to. Paychecks are getting smaller and bills are piling up.

*Occupations in fields such as construction and manufacturing, with median hourly wages of $13.84 to $21.13 -- the middle third of the pay scale -- accounted for 60 percent of job losses during the worst part of the recession, according to a study by the National Employment Law Project.
*As the recovery progressed, however, those jobs didn't come back. Instead, it was lower-wage occupations -- those with median hourly wages of $7.69 to $13.83 -- that accounted for 58 percent of all job growth

Washington, however, doesn't seem to get it. Our deficit challenges are very real and must be addressed, but we will not be able to cut our way out of the jobs crisis. The defeat of many aspects of President Obama's jobs plan, on the basis that it meant a short-term spending bump, is emblematic of Congress's inability to reconcile smart spending and investment now with long-term deficit reduction efforts that will help ensure our economic prosperity.

We must act to empower those who are suffering now, removing roadblocks that prevent them and their families from getting back on their feet. Doing that is about more than simply protecting the most vulnerable or those at risk of falling from the middle class into poverty. It means providing help to people who are likely to spend the extra money they have in their paychecks every month -- a hand up that will create benefits throughout the economy.

And as the unpredictability and hardship of the last five years has made even clearer, we must make good on our promise to seniors and fight to protect Medicare and Social Security benefits.

It is critical that we work towards fairness by ensuring that everyone, at home and abroad, plays by the same rules and pays their fair share. We should be able to reach across the aisle and agree on that.

As mayor of Newark, I helped steer my city through the pain felt across New Jersey over the last five years. We stopped at nothing to put Newarkers back to work. The results speak for themselves:

*In the midst of continued statewide and national economic hardship, Newark experienced the biggest period of development in more than a generation, with over $1 billion of projects underway in 2011 and 2012, and $2 billion of additional projects in the pipeline for this year and next;
*With only 3 percent of New Jersey's population, Newark is now home to more than 30 percent of all commercial and multifamily development in New Jersey;
*We just opened our first new downtown hotel in 40 years, with a second to open later this year;
*Panasonic is moving its North American headquarters to a tower it is building in Newark's downtown -- the first new office tower in 20 years. Prudential's new tower isn't far behind, and Cablevision is moving forward with a new tower of its own. Manischewitz has opened their international headquarters here, and many other companies from Audible.com to Bartlett Dairy have moved their operations to our city;
*A focus on small businesses and entrepreneurs has included the creation of an economic development corporation that has lent over $14.6 million to local small businesses and developers and provided technical assistance and training to over 500 aspiring entrepreneurs since 2011;
*Created a Foreclosure Taskforce that assisted 14,000 at-risk Newark households and connected displaced families to community networks, services, and resources;
*We focused on grassroots economic empowerment. We have now opened free tax centers all over the city and the state's first financial empowerment center, which has helped residents improve their credit, buy homes, and better afford college.

The levers available to bring development and job growth to New Jersey may be different for me in the Senate than they were as mayor of our state's largest city, but my approach will not change. Joblessness and underemployment must be our nation's number one priority, and I will stop at nothing to find common ground with my colleagues, work to change the conversation about investing in our present to grow our future, and to put New Jerseyans back to work.

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