Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Clinton Announces Plan To Create Three Million Jobs

Job Creation Will Result From Investments In Infrastructure

At the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Convention in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton announced a plan to create three million new jobs through increased investments in the nation's infrastructure. Hillary would create these jobs over 10 years by combining emergency initiatives like fixing the immediate safety risks of the I-95 bridge in Philadelphia along with long-term investments to create a greener, sleeker 21st century highway and transit system.

"President Bush has stood by and watched as we've lost 3 million manufacturing jobs. And he's done nothing about the loopholes in our tax code that actually encourage companies to ship jobs overseas," said Clinton. "It's time for a different approach. I'll fight for every single job in America – and create millions of new, high paying jobs that can't be outsourced. We're trying to run today's economy on yesterday's infrastructure – and we're jeopardizing tomorrow's prosperity. So I will rebuild America – by rebuilding, repairing and modernizing our infrastructure."

In addition to her discussing her infrastructure jobs plan, Clinton reinforced her positions on promoting strong unions and fair trade. Hillary also noted that her Republican opponent in the general election does not have a plan to solve the challenges that face the American economy.

"John McCain admits he doesn't understand the economy – and unfortunately he's proving it in this campaign. He looked at the housing crisis, and he blamed consumers. And his plan for the economy is to extend George Bush's tax cuts for billionaires and give a new $100 billion corporate tax cut," said Clinton. "But don't take my word for it. Even Republican Senator Mel Martinez gave Senator McCain's economic plan an 'incomplete.' He said: 'where I think he fell short...is the fact that we need to do some things that can help families, that can help people.'"

Hillary started her day with a tour of the Wm. J. Donovan Company, a local sheet metal products and systems firm. It has been in the business of designing, fabricating, and installing products for the HVAC and related industries for eighty-five years. Hillary was led on the tour by President Edmund Bransfield, Vice President Thomas DeMusis and Shop Foreman Henry Hilt.

Throughout Hillary's fifth day of her "Solutions For The American Economy" Tour, she will discuss the type of president that American workers and families need. At a time when the economy is sliding into recession, Hillary noted that the nation needs a president who will fight to help create good, high-paying jobs here in the U.S., support unions, stand up to special interests, and enforce trade laws. Over the past three months, the economy lost more than 140,000 private sector jobs. Pennsylvania lost 13,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year; and nearly one-in-four manufacturing jobs since January 2001. At the same time, corporations have seen their profits grow at their fastest rate of any economic expansion on record. And unlike past expansions, these record profits have not been shared. The typical Pennsylvania household's income has remained virtually flat since 2000 – while health care costs have doubled, college tuition rates have increased by 66 percent, and gas prices have tripled to nearly $3.30 a gallon.

Hillary believes that we need to restore balance to our economy by putting the needs of working families first.

• Creating Three Million Jobs Here at Home Through Investments in Infrastructure. Hillary's plan to repair and modernize our nation's infrastructure will help generate at least three million new jobs over the next decade. Her plan combines emergency initiatives with long-term investments to create a greener, sleeker 21st century highway and transit system. She will:
• Address immediate safety risks like the I-95 bridge in Philadelphia. She will establish a $10 billion Emergency Repair Fund that tackles the backlog of critical repairs, and prvide funding for Emergency Assessment Grants so that states and cities can determine their risks and needs.
• Ensure a sustainable, long-term commitment to a modern and efficient infrastructure. Last August, she announced her commitment to creating a $60 billion National Infrastructure Bank – a federally-backed independent entity that will evaluate and finance large infrastructure projects that are of regional or national significance. The bank will finance projects through the issuance of bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, direct subsidies, and loan guarantees.
• Expand public transportation networks. She will increase federal funding for public transit by $1.5 billion per year and devote an additional $1 billion to intercity passenger rail systems over five years. She will also invest in cutting-edge technological solutions to the growing problem of traffic congestion.
• Promote the "greening" of our highways and transit systems. Hillary will ensure that funded projects incorporate eco-friendly strategies for repairs and upgrades, including: using recycled materials to reduce the energy required for building roads and other infrastructure; leveraging multi-modal transportation opportunities; linking regional transportation plans with local land use policies; and deploying cutting-edge technologies and materials to protect critical ecosystems.

• Turning investments into jobs. Hillary's Rebuild America plan and National Infrastructure will help create 3 million new jobs over the next decade. [Calculation based in part on a Federal Highway Administration study by Thomas F. Keane, "The Economic Importance of the National Highway System," adjusted for inflation.] These will be high-wage jobs with good benefits, including: general construction; engineering, design, architecture, and other specialty work; manufacturing and supply of building materials; and research, development, and production of new green infrastructure technologies.

  Hillary also discussed her plans to promote strong unions and fair trade:

  • Empowering American Workers and Ensuring That Our Unions are Strong. Hillary knows that unions have played a vital role in forming and sustaining America's middle class. She will end this Administration's practice of harassing and bureaucratizing our labor organizations and appoint people to the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and throughout the government who are actually pro-labor. She will:
  • Sign into law the Employee Free Choice Act so that unions can fairly organize for just wages and safe working conditions.
  • Improve enforcement of the Davis Bacon Act. The Act requires contractors for federal projects to pay their workers no less than the wage rates prevailing in the local area. Hillary's Davis Bacon Improvement Act will allow workers to monitor Davis-Bacon compliance by giving them access under the Freedom of Information Act to the payroll records that contractors file with the federal government. The legislation would also increase penalties for certain violations.
  • Cut the number of contractors working for the federal government by 500,000 over the next ten years through an Executive Order. Hillary wants to roll back outsourcing our government to private companies that are too often less qualified – and less accountable – than government employees.
  • Making Trade Work for Working Families. Americans need a president who will fight for fair, pro-American trade policies that will not trap them in a race to the bottom. Low wages in other countries are costing America jobs and putting pressure on wages here at home. With approximately one quarter of our gross domestic product linked to international trade, we need smart, pro-American trade policies that help our workers and families. As president, Hillary will make trade work for working families:
  • The only candidate with a detailed, 4-part plan to fix NAFTA. As President, Hillary will dramatically strengthen NAFTA's labor and environmental provisions; change its investment provisions that grant special rights to foreign companies; strengthen its enforcement mechanisms; and review NAFTA regularly.
  • Demand strong labor and environmental provisions in all trade agreements.
  • Appoint a new trade "prosecutor" and double the enforcement staff at the USTR so we can truly enforce our trade laws again, and get tough with countries like China for allowing the piracy of intellectual property.
  • Crack down on China's currency manipulation. Hillary is a co-sponsor of legislation that will require the administration to take definitive steps to stop China and other countries from harming American interests by undervaluing their currencies.

  • Implement a trade "timeout" to formulate a genuinely pro-worker and pro-American trade policy.