Senate Proceeding on Oct 28th, 2009 :: 7:12:45 to 7:21:55
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7:12:45 to 7:13:06( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: recovery act was not enacted, unemployment would be less than 8% in the first half of this year, would peak at 9% in 2010. theseere estimates in the recovery act was not enacted, yet we know that unemployment rate was already 8.1% in february, it grew to 8.5% in

7:12:45 to 7:21:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jeff Bingaman

7:13:07 to 7:13:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: march and 9.5% in the second quarter. even with the recovery act, the unemployment rate is worse than anyone predicted it would be without the recovery act. so in january, the administration said that enacting the recovery act would keep the unemployment rate below 8%. critics are trying to score political points based on that

7:13:29 to 7:13:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: estimate, but as i've said, the unemployment rate was already 8.1% in february where there had hardly been enough time for the ink to dry on the recovery act, let alone for the stimulus funds to be obligated and spent. in short, with perfect hindsight, it's obvious that this recession is much worse

7:13:51 to 7:14:11( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: than economists had woulde. more jobs have been lost than economists predicted. i say this not to disparage those professionals, only t point out that we need to do more to create jobs because the situation is worse than almost anyone thought it would be. the recovery act is working, but

7:14:12 to 7:14:32( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: the problem is bigger tha the recovery act was designed to solve. we must all recognize this. congress and the administration need to work together to enact additional policies to create jobs. we need a combinaon of policies both to encourage hiring and to increase the demand for goods and services.

7:14:33 to 7:14:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: i want to talk briefly about four ideas that have been proposed that congress needs to look at and look at them hopefully sooner rather than later. the first is a job-creation tax credit. last week the economic policy institute released a new and noteworthy version of this idea developed by john bishop of

7:14:55 to 7:15:17( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: cornell and timothy the uptech institute. it proposes to give businesses a tax credit worth 10% to 15% of the cost of creating new jobs. such a credit would help businesses to choose to take the risk of expanding and hiring more workers. the authors estimate their job-creation tax credit would

7:15:18 to 7:15:38( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: create 2.8 milon new jobs in 2010 bu that would not otherwise be created. in addition, 2.3 million jobs would be created in 2011 under their proposal, as they predicted. for a total of 5.1 million new jobs over a two-year period. and their proposal is to put

7:15:39 to 7:16:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: is job-creation tax credit in place for two years. according to e.p.i., the cost to the taxpayers for each job would be between $4,600 and $15,000. that's expensive, but its well worth considering if their analysis is correct. critics say that the job-creation tax credit will not

7:16:02 to 7:16:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: work, that only more demand for a business's products and services will cause the business to hire more employees. well, there's some truth to this. it is also the case that entrepreneurs frequently start new businesses or expand existing businesses before having a steady stream of new orders.

7:16:23 to 7:16:43( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: that is fundamental ide behind innovation. in other words, businesses often create new jobs before there is a confirmed increase in demand. moreover, a similar but more difficult -- a similar but more difficult-to-use tax credit was enacted in 1977 and is thought to have created 700,000 jobs by

7:16:44 to 7:17:05( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: the end of 1978. critics also say that businesses will use tricks to game the system and fraudulently claim the tax credit. this is certainly possible. if congress pursues this idea, we need to take care to design the credit to eliminate that problem. already the authors of the proposal recommend that the credit be based on the increase

7:17:06 to 7:17:27( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: in the business's social security beige base s that a -- wage base so that a business no coo not fire and rehire in order to claim the credit. some of these slaild but there is enough promise in the idea that we need to take the time to explore it. the second idea i want to mention is the possibility of

7:17:28 to 7:17:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: enacting an investment tax credit for manufacturers. such a credit would subsidize the cost of building new factory space or purchasing new machinery. this credit could be tied to research and development that has been done in the united states in order to ensure that americans get the maximum benefit from that research and development. or the credit could be more

7:17:49 to 7:18:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: broadly designed and made available for all mufacturing investments. manufacturing jobs are critical to the long-term health of our economy, and we need additional policies to create those jobs. third, we in congress need to consider providing additional aid to states. this could be accomplished

7:18:13 to 7:18:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: through the expansion of the federal role or the federal are of medicaid. as we've done in the past it could be done through additional education funds or other direct grarchtses. -- grants. the recovery act including $144 billion in aid to states and localities. now we know that states' total

7:18:34 to 7:18:58( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: budget shortfalls are projected to be nearly $360 billion over the next two years. 39 states will face budget shortfalls in 2011. without additional help, states will have to cut services and raise taxes, making the recession worse and slowing job creation even more.

7:18:59 to 7:19:21( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: no bell laureate paul krudman has written that i think states will become "50 little herbert hoovers" by cutting back on spend and laying off workers and raising taxes, all at the worst possible moment. enacting additional aid to states could have immediate benefits by cu curtailing plans to cut state programs.

7:19:22 to 7:19:45( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: direct aid to states would complement the new tax credits that i've mentioned. it would be a fast and effective way to stablize and increase the demand for goods and services. finally, congress should explore the idea of providing emergency bridge loans to families to help families stay the government did provide

7:19:46 to 7:20:07( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: bridge loans to wall street. american homeowners should get the same assistance. the amount of the loan could be equal to up to two years of the mortge payments and could be repaid over 10 to 15 years. these bridge loans would also complement the job-creation tax credit and the manufacturing investment tax credit that i've

7:20:08 to 7:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: mentioned by preventing a falloff inhe demand for consumer goods and services. senator jack reed and congressman barney frank have proposed similar ideas to propose bridge loans to homeowners and all of these ideas should be fully discussed and considered. over the longer term, congress and the administration immediate to consider proposals -- need to

7:20:29 to 7:20:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: consider proposals to address the structural flaws in our economy, including reforming the financial regulation in our economy, fixing our unemployment compensation system so that it assists more workers in our economy, creating additional countercyclical economic policieshat would

7:20:51 to 7:21:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: automatically be triggered during a recession. i hope to discuss some issues in the coming weeks. but the four proposals i've outlined today are ideas that could create jobs in the short and medium tm. congress could hold hearings on these and other job-creating proposals. we should act quickly to address this issue.

7:21:13 to 7:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: if the trend this year continues, another 15,000 jobs will be lost each day that we wait. if we do nothing, unemployment is projected to climb past 10% next year. more familiesill lose their homes, our economy will grow weaker, making it more difficult for the united states to compete in the global market. even as congress continues

7:21:36 to 7:21:55( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Bingaman: working on other strategic challenges like health care, like energy, like climate change, and i support ting action in those areas, we must give renewed priority to job creation in order to strengthen the long-term competiveness of the united states and the prosperity of the american