Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled the first of several job creation bills as part of the larger Senate Democratic jobs agenda. With millions of Americans struggling to find work, creating and saving jobs and strengthening the economy is priority one for Senate Democrats.
This bill, which is fully paid for, includes provisions that will accomplish the following key objectives:
Ø Create Tax Incentives to Spur Immediate Job Growth
Ø Help Small Businesses Grow and Hire More Workers
Ø Rebuild Our Nation’s Infrastructure
Senate Democrats are hopeful to build strong bipartisan consensus to move forward with this bill. Each of the ideas adopted in this initial bill enjoy bipartisan support.
This bill represents the first action on job creation this year, but Senate Democrats will work throughout the year to pass legislation to strengthen the economy, support out-of-work Americans and encourage businesses to hire more workers.
“People in Nevada and all across the country are struggling to find work and go to bed each night without the peace of mind that they deserve,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. “This is a simplified, focused bill that addresses our core priority: putting millions of Americans back to work by helping our business community thrive again. Each piece of this bill enjoys bipartisan support, and I look forward to swift action on this measure that will create and save dependable jobs.”
SENATE DEMOCRATIC JOB CREATION BILL
This Senate Democratic job creation bill is a simplified, focused effort that is geared toward making our economy thrive again. The provisions of this bill will encourage businesses hire more workers, give tax breaks to strengthen small businesses and invest wisely to rebuild America’s infrastructure.
The following is a specific package of ideas that will be introduced in this proposal:
Ø Schumer-Hatch Jobs Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an exemption from social security payroll taxes for every worker hired in 2010 that has been unemployed for at least 60 days. There would also be an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s 2011 income tax return.
Ø Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of their expenditures
Ø Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs which provide states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects. It allows for billions more to be invested in infrastructure throughout the nation and saves one million jobs.
Ø Expanding Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work.
