Capitol Hill telephone lines have lit up. Tens of thousands of voters across the country have been calling their US Senators demanding passage of President Obama's economic recovery package without any more delays.
The president's economic recovery package will provide new funding for job-creating programs in infrastructure and public services. It will give financial assistance to states facing budget shortfalls that will allow them to avoid massive layoffs, cuts in education, or higher taxes. The package also will allocate aid and health care for the growing number of unemployed workers as well as new long-term investments in the renewable energy industry in order to promote job growth down the line.
With over 1 million jobs lost in the past two months alone, President Obama told reporters this week, Congress has to develop a sense of urgency on passage of the stimulus package.
A coalition of grassroots organizations such as USAction, the Coalition of Human Needs, Jobs with Justice, Every Child Matters, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, and many more are urging their members and supporters to call their Senators demanding swift action this week on the economic stimulus package.
The labor movement and other progressive organizations have produced TV ads targeting wavering Republican Senators who now have to choose between partisanship and doing what's right for American working families.
This week, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is absolutely essential to turning around this downward economic spiral. This is no time for weak excuses – Congress must act decisively to create jobs and rescue the economy."
For its part, the White House released state-by-state estimates of the impact of the stimulus package. According to data compiled from government and other expert sources, a state like Arkansas, for example, would see more than 32,000 jobs created or saved as a result of the job-creation programs in the package. Additionally, almost 1 million workers in Arkansas would get a tax break of up to $1,000.
In Florida, the White House estimated, over 218,000 jobs could be saved or created over the next two years, with almost 7 million Floridians saving as much as $1,000 in taxes. The stimulus package would modernize at least 485 schools in that state as well.
If Georgia's Republican Senators, Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, voted against the president's economic recovery bill, they would be saying no to saving or creating over 113,000 jobs over the next two years, tax breaks for 3.3 million Georgia workers, and renovating 323 Georgia schools.
Missouri could see over 73,000 jobs saved or created with the stimulus package, in addition to making 2.7 million Missouri workers eligible for new tax breaks in the bill.
If Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky successfully leads a filibuster against passage of the bill, he will be filibustering over 50,000 jobs in his home state along with tax breaks for more than 1.6 million Kentucky workers, and reconstructing at least 151 Kentucky schools.
The White House released such details, as well as estimates of the number of families in state who will be eligible for college tuition tax credits, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (Find full details here.)
A national poll released this week showed that three in four Americans support the stimulus package.
