Labor

Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) made the following remarks on the floor Thursday regarding the extension of unemployment benefits:

I rise today in support of extending unemployment benefits to the people of our Valley hit hardest by the recession.

These benefits are critical to hard-working Valley families as the unemployed in our community continue to search for work during these tough economic times.

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For generations, Americans have looked to our manufacturing sector as a source of pride, a source of economic vitality and a source of good-paying jobs. Along with every part of our economy, manufacturing has taken a severe hit from the recession — but more than that, many Americans worry that industry and the jobs it provides are gone for good.

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Next week, I will introduce the Strategic Manufacturing and Job Repatriation Act to develop a national strategy to bolster our manufacturing base and create American jobs by “repatriating” jobs that have gone overseas during the last decade. My legislation will build on recent congressional efforts, including my language in the fiscal year 2011 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill directing the Commerce Department to launch a job repatriation initiative.

Nearly everyone recognizes that a strong manufacturing and technology base is critical to job creation and the economic competitiveness of the United States. However, for too long the federal government has turned a blind eye to our worsening manufacturing sector. With unemployment hovering just below 10 percent, Americans are reminded just how important manufacturing is to overall job creation.

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Last week, as we celebrated the 234th anniversary of our nation's birth, we marked another significant date in our country's history — the 75th birthday of the National Labor Relations Act.

It is a quiet commemoration — no cake, no fireworks. Having gone nearly eight decades without a meaningful update, the NLRA has long shown signs of its legislative decrepitude.

As usual, it is workers who pay the price.

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Under some circumstances, a decline in the unemployment rate from 9.7 percent to 9.5 percent would be welcome news. But the Labor Department’s jobs report for June showed the labor force shrinking by 652,000 workers, as discouraged workers left the labor force. The department’s broadest measure of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers, is 16.5 percent. The percentage of Americans who participate in the labor force, now 64.7 percent, has declined to levels of the summer of 1985, midway through the decade when women moved into the labor force in record numbers.  This decline was concentrated among low-skilled adults, those without a high school diploma, who are having the hardest time finding work with the higher minimum wage and future requirements for employers to provide healthcare.

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 What we do here on this Senate floor has consequences far beyond this building.  We know that our work carries real-world costs far beyond the Beltway.

 But it’s not just what we do here that touches our constituents’ lives and livelihoods – it’s also what we don’t do. Read more...

President Obama is facing pressure from Members of Congress and the nation’s largest labor unions to use his power to issue an Executive Order and enact what amounts to another handout to Big Labor at the expense of small businesses.  If this sounds familiar, it should, because it’s been the norm in this administration, handouts and favors from the President to his chief political benefactor, union bosses.

Congress must address the jobs crisis with the same focus and energy they brought to rescuing our banks.

When Congress returns this week, one of the first items on its agenda will be to work on a broad bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), to extend jobless benefits and boost infrastructure programs in an effort to stimulate the economy. Lawmakers are seeking to raise tax revenues to pay for these jobs initiatives.

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The Department of Labor today reported a slight increase in jobs for the month of May.  While I am pleased with any job creation, it is disconcerting that 96 percent of the jobs created are temporary,