Rep. Keith Ellison Challenges Progressives: Get 216 Cosponsors For Jobs Bill

Progressive Caucus member Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., has an Easter recess assignment for activists: Get 216 cosponsors for the Local Jobs for America bill, perhaps the most important action Congress can take this year to help lower the unemployment rate and jump-start the economy.

The legislation, HR 4812, already has 92 cosponsors in the House, and Ellison, working with the bill's sponsor, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., is working to build momentum for the legislation in the coming weeks. The bill would authorize $75 billion, which would be distributed through state and local governments to create or save from 750,000 to 1 million jobs over two years.

Ellison said if supporters succeed in getting 216 cosponsors, "that makes it pretty much a slam-dunk to pass the bill," he said.

This week, Ellison and Miller met with members of the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and members of the Jobs for America Now coalition. In addition to cosponsor support, the coalition is working on getting endorsements for the legislation from mayors and other elected officials from both parties. That bipartisan grassroots support may prove particularly important in the Senate, where conservatives have been working to block previous jobs measures on the grounds that they are not "paid for."

(The latest, unfolding today, is a threat to once again block an extension of unemployment insurance benefits that Democrats in Congress want to pass before the recess. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is, as the Politico puts it in a headline, considering "pulling a Jim Bunning" in an effort to force Democrats to cut spending elsewhere in the federal budget to pay for the unemployment benefits, just as Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., attempted to do four weeks ago.)

Ellison says, in effect, bring on the "pay for" argument. First, "deficit spending in a recession is wise economic policy" to get the economy moving until private-sector spending and investment can take over. He adds that the spending in this jobs bill will help preserve essential services—including public safety and education—that would otherwise be cut by state and local governments that by law must balance their budgets.

"Aren't our children going to have to pay for increased class sizes, fewer teachers, poorer facilities to learn in, fewer textbooks ... Aren't our children going to suffer because of that refusal to invest in our education?" Ellison asked.

Finally, it makes more fiscal sense to keep people working than to stand by and watch workers get laid off and then pay them unemployment compensation, he said.

But if conservatives insist on pressing the "pay-for" argument, "it allows us to examine waste, fraud and abuse in our defense budget" and the taxpayer dollars used to prop up Wall Street financial institutions, Ellison said.

An Economic Policy Institute brief notes that the Local Jobs for America bill "is likely to be especially helpful in creating jobs for black Americans" because, unlike the funding in last year's economic stimulus bill, a large percentage of funds in this bill would be targeted to areas of high unemployment. Unemployment among African Americans, at 15.8 percent, is nearly double the unemployment rate among white people. The Congressional Black Caucus recently held a summit to discuss the unemployment crisis among African Americans and how the Local Jobs for Americas bill could help.

The Jobs for America Now Coalition plans to launch a formal campaign next week to generate calls and messages of support for the legislation. But you don't have to wait to call your representatives in Congress and register your support for the Local Jobs for America Act.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future