Senators Should Be Ashamed of Themselves for Blocking Consideration of the American Jobs Act

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil
and Human Rights, issued the following statement following today’s filibuster
that denied the Senate the opportunity to consider the American Jobs Act:

“The senators who voted to keep the Senate from debating the American Jobs
Act should be ashamed of themselves. No issue is more pressing than the jobs
crisis. Yet instead of the bold action that Americans are demanding, the Senate
today delivered only more procedural gamesmanship.

The American Jobs Act is a serious and comprehensive plan to reduce
unemployment in the short term and put our nation on a more solid economic
footing in the long run. It’s a plan that should receive strong bipartisan
support – even in today’s contentious political climate. Even senators who
disagree with parts of the plan should be willing to debate the bill on the
Senate floor and to work, in a bipartisan fashion, to improve it.

It’s long past time for Congress to take the steps necessary to get our
economy working by helping to create the good paying jobs that Americans depend
on to support their families and their communities. The Senate had a chance to
do so today, and if failed miserably.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on
Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more
than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all
persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America
as good as its ideals.