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CONTACT: Congressman Dennis Kucinich Nathan White (202)225-5871 |
Kucinich: Time for White House to Get Real on Jobs; August not September
“Does the White House Have a Real Jobs Program or are They Just Making This Up as They Go Along?”
WASHINGTON - August 18 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today called upon the White House to ‘get real’ on jobs and not wait until September to announce plans to get America working again. Kucinich’s statement comes as President Obama wraps up a Midwestern ‘jobs tour’ that lacked specific proposals, but included a push for the passage of free trade agreements. Aides to the President Obama have stated the President will deliver a ‘major address’ in September, after Labor Day.
“Fourteen million Americans are desperately searching for work. In my own state of Ohio, nearly 9% of the people are unemployed. The American Society of Civil Engineers' latest report card told us we need $2.2 trillion in infrastructure repairs. Just two days ago a record 700 water mains broke in Houston during a heat wave. One million families are losing their homes every year. Millions of Americans are watching their retirement security vanish. We are fighting three wars that we can’t afford and the President’s response is to promise a speech in September?
“The chattering classes who follow the President can wait until September; they have jobs, but what about people who are trying to figure out how they will pay their mortgage and feed their family? Americans cannot wait until September for a jobs plan. It is time for this White House to get real NOW.
“The President of the United States has been in front of the American people on a so-called jobs tour. Why has he not used this opportunity to rally support for concrete steps that will truly put Americans back to work? Does the White House have a real jobs program or are they making this up as they go along?” asked Kucinich.
Kucinich added, “Americans need solutions that work. Free trade agreements are alleged to be part of the jobs plan, but the facts on free trade indicate that they result in job loss, not gain. Since 2001, the U.S. has lost 5.3 million jobs in the manufacturing sector as a result of our trade policies. More free trade agreements will send more American jobs overseas.”
Congressman Kucinich is readying legislation to create millions of jobs using the engineering and technical expertise of NASA to develop concepts and to design and engineer wind and solar micro-technologies for license and/or auction to the private sector for manufacture, distribution and maintenance. He is also promoting a second jobs program based on a new WPA which he is now sharing with colleagues. He is also working with Congressman Mike Michaud (D-ME) to challenge free trade agreements.
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8 Comments so far
Show AllOh, cut the crap, Dennis. The time for the President to "get serious" about jobs is not "NOW," but 2009. "NOW" is much too late, not only because there's nothing he can do about jobs now, but because he never had any intention of doing anything about jobs.
Dennis, Keep it up. Let everyone know that there are options that are not even being considered.
Still waiting for Dennis to call for impeachment.
Obama's Free Trade that is in the works will Kill the last
Shoe Making Factory in the USA, located in Maine.
Time to do away with Nafta and Rebuild our Industrial base
and bring it back from China. Also time to Impeach Obama who like Slick Willie Clinton has been selling out the base of the Democrat Party, the working classes.
Unless something is done about Obama, the next election will be handed to the Republicans again. Forget the WPA and the CCC. We need real jobs.
You are absolutely right! Everyone that agrees that those free trade agreements shouldn't be signed into law should write their congress person and let them know how you feel.
It seems to me that the republicans figured Obama out right away, that he was "all talk", and now the people that believed his lies are just starting to figure him out too. He is a liar, plain and simple. Everything that he wrote about and promised, that the people believed, was a lie. I hope the people of this country finally learn this, that you cannot believe what any politician says. "Talk is cheap", "actions speak louder than words", like the old sayings go, and Obama ought to be the "proof of the pudding". (another old but true saying). If he has to look to the left and right at a teleprompter while he is talking, means that he is just talking and doesn't know, or doesn't believe, what he is saying. Again, "the proof is in the pudding".
As a concerned citizen, I very much appreciate Rep. Dennis Kucinich for working to solve our nation's problems - unlike so many others - who create the problems and ARE the problem. I also appreciate his courage in speaking out against the unauthorized Libyan War and the ever-expanding American National Security Police State. This should concern everyone!
Regarding Job Creation: Would it be feasible to have a five-year moratorium on job outsourcing while the U.S. builds a full functioning, full-employment economy?
We could rebuild our manufacturing base, "develop wind and solar micro-technologies," build clean energy equipment, and what about building a high speed rail system throughout the United States?
What I also appreciate about Rep. Kucinich is that he argues from the perspective of the middle class and unions, whereas the President argues from the perspective of the upper class where he is comfortable and doesn't have to fight.
An enlightened progressive always has to fight for his/her beliefs, because they are threatening to the status quo, and the status quo will retaliate. To the status quo, these acted-upon-beliefs are "lost causes." Even so, they must be squelched lest the status quo should lose power and control. So-called "lost causes" keep a country from remaining stagnant and repressive, and are the only causes that push society to new evolutionary levels: America's revolutionary fight for independence; the fight for women's right to vote; the fight for unions and workers' rights; the fight for Blacks' civil rights, equality and justice; the fight for equal rights for women, gays, immigrants, the ecosystems and the environment. The fight for "lost causes" will continue wherever and whenever there is gross unfairness, injustice, inequality, corruption, overreach and unsustainability.
Thank you, Rep. Kucinich, for fighting for our enlightened DEMOCRACY - once also considered a "lost cause!"