The House of Representatives came back early from their district work sessions today to pass another important measure for the economy: support to help states stay above water during difficult times and, in particular, to prevent hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs. All told, as many as 900,000 public and private sector jobs could have been lost if this bill weren’t passed – the last thing our economy needs. Keeping these Americans at work, whether they are teachers in the classroom or police keeping our streets safe, will also help ensure that the economic recovery keeps moving forward. With the House and Senate both having passed this legislation now, the President will sign it quickly.
The Recovery Act gets a lot of attention as a centerpiece of the President’s economic agenda — justifiably so given that it’s been responsible for about 3 million jobs — but the legislation the House passed today is only the latest example of the President’s ongoing efforts to boost our economy. Despite the fact that most of these efforts were on issues that have had broad and bipartisan support, the use of parliamentary maneuvers from the Republican Leadership in the Senate has made it a difficult fight for every inch. Many of the President’s initiatives have still ultimately passed over this obstruction as the legislation today did, and he will continue fighting to ensure everything possible is being done to strengthen our recovery and get Americans back to work.
Working with Congress, we have made crucial progress on jobs legislation over the past months. For example:
Fonte: White House