Portside

“By request” no more.  As Republicans worked hard last week to pass the 40th Obamacare repeal that won’t be considered by the Senate, 11 million people remain jobless in the U.S.   In the wake of GOP obstruction in the House, Rep. Frederica Wilson re-introduced President Obama’s American Jobs Act ten days ago.

Though the unemployment rats is under 8%, it is still not at pre recession levels.  The Black unemployment rate is at its “best” number of the Obama presidency, which is 12.6%.  Black unemployment was never above 11.7% during Bush’s eight years in office, but still, 12.6% is a welcomed number two years after Black unemployment hit 16.5% in 2011.

The overall unemployment rate is 7.4% as 162,000 jobs were added.  The 7.4% was the lowest number in 4 years.
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From Rep. Wilson’s office:

Momentum is building for the American Jobs Act of 2013, an updated and expanded version of President Obama’s 2011 comprehensive jobs plan introduced by Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24).  Seventy-five Members of Congress have joined the bill as co-sponsors.

According to independent analysts including Moody’s Economy, the American Jobs Act would mean up to 1.9 million new jobs.  The bill would provide tax cuts to tens of millions of low- to moderate-income Americans and stop layoffs of teachers, firefighters, and other public workers.  To ensure that the bill does not add to the federal budget deficit, it includes a series of cost-saving changes to the taxation of hedge fund investment income as well as cuts to corporate subsidies.  In addition to the provisions from President Obama’s original bill, the new 2013 American Jobs Act includes a simple provision to cancel the reckless, across-the-board budget cuts known as Sequestration for the coming fiscal years.

“Today’s jobs report demonstrates that we still have tremendous work to do for our nation’s jobless and, in particular, for the long-term unemployed,” said Congresswoman Wilson. “The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer remains unchanged at 4.2 million.  This is a national crisis, and the American Jobs Act presents a sensible and immediate solution.”

Members of Congress co-sponsoring Congresswoman Wilson’s American Jobs Act of 2013 include Democratic Leader Pelosi, Democratic Assistant Leader Clyburn, Democratic National Committee Chair Wasserman Schultz, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Fudge, Congressional Black Caucus Dean Conyers, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Grijalva and Ellison, and Representatives Cicilline, Enyart, Hanabusa, DeLauro,  Holmes Norton, Bass, Butterfield, Sewell, Richmond, Brown, Christensen, Cardenas, B. Lee, Napolitano, Takano, Frankel, Clarke, R. Brady, Tonko, Holt, Sablan, Cartwright, Nadler, Schakowsky, Shea-Porter, Larson, Payne, McGovern, E. B. Johnson, Rush, Moore, Veasey, Beatty, Kelly, A. Green, Bobby Scott, David Scott, H. Johnson, D. Edwards, Rangel, Jackson-Lee, Jeffries, Bishop, Cleaver, D. Davis, B. Thompson, A. Carson, Waters, Watt, Lewis, Gutierrez, W. L. Clay, Cummings, J. Garcia, B. McCollum, Fattah, Meeks, Deutch, Blumenauer, G. Miller, Chu, Maloney, Pocan, Cohen, and Yarmuth.

Organizations including the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of State, Federal, and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, Communication Workers of America, the National Education Association, and the International Association of Firefighters have endorsed the American Jobs Act of 2013