President Obama Signs Jobs Bill; Groups Call for More Comprehensive Legislation

Today, President Obama signed a jobs bill into law.

Many experts believe the $18 billion bill, which includes tax breaks for small businesses, will have limited effect on the nation’s unemployment and underemployment rates, but nonetheless think it’s an important first step toward more federal action to address the jobs crisis.

Civil rights groups have been calling for a comprehensive jobs bill that “rescues Americans from job loss and foreclosure, and that lays the foundation for a more prosperous future for all” for months. 

Many groups and experts are pushing for Congress to pass the Local Jobs for America Act, introduced by Rep. George Miller, D. CA, earlier this month, arguing that it is the comprehensive jobs bill that the U.S. needs. 

The Miller bill authorizes $100 billion in funding over two years for preserving state and local government jobs, creating local government jobs, and creating jobs in the non-profit sector.  It is estimated to save or create more than one million jobs.

The Economic Policy Institute called the Miller bill “exactly the kind of bold response we need to address the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression.”  The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in a letter to the House of Representatives, said the bill is “urgently needed” and pointed out that it “includes tools that ensure that funding will go to the places and people most in need.”

“With this legislation, Congress is finally taking action to create jobs. We thank Chairman Miller for introducing legislation that will directly fund one million jobs. This is an important step to putting our country back to work,” said Alan Charney, campaign manager for Jobs for America Now, a broad coalition of groups that includes The Leadership Conference.