Stimulus Package II: No Checks But Other Items Of Interest To Workers
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (PAI)--Don’t expect another individual rebate check from “Stimulus
II,” the financial boost to the slumping economy now being designed by
congressional Democrats. But there’ll be other items of interest to workers.
News reports and other sources indicate House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
(D-Md.) has already ruled out a second round of checks as part of the package.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said “the need to jump-start the economy is
crystal-clear.”
So union leaders are pushing other provisions to help struggling workers who
have lost their jobs, and those items are likely to make it into the measure.
Whether they will make it past potential GOP opposition, from a Senate
filibuster or anti-worker President George W. Bush, is highly dubious.
The GOP roadblocks, plus the crowded congressional calendar--adjournment is now
scheduled for Sept. 29--have led at least one union, AFSCME, to mobilize its members to lobby for “Stimulus II.”
Among the items that can be expected in the new stimulus package are:
* Longer jobless benefits. This is a key cause of the AFL-CIO, with joblessness
rising sharply. It’s now up to 6.1%, and 38.6% of the jobless have lost their
positions permanently, federal figures show. The extension would give the
jobless 39 weeks of benefits, up from the present 26. One-fifth of the jobless
have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks, meaning their benefits ended.
Democratic leaders also want to expand eligibility for food stamps.
* More spending to repair roads, bridges and airports. Construction union
leaders especially push for that, noting the perilous state of many structures.
That peril is symbolized by the I-35 bridge collapse in the Twin Cities a year
ago and the Mississippi River levees that failed in Hurricane Katrina and in
more-recent floods.
But they also note that infrastructure spending is a way to put people to work
quickly at high-paying jobs. Unemployment in construction is 8.2%. AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades
President Mark H. Ayers said more construction spending is “the most obvious
strategy for dealing with a recession and rising unemployment is to invest in
the building and repairing of our nation’s infrastructure. Such spending puts
money in the pockets of hard-working people. Jobs directly created by this
spending have a beneficial ripple effect as contractors purchase materials and
employees spend their salaries. All of which helps to address government budget
pressures.”
There is one potential hazard to more construction spending: Anti-worker Rep.
Steve King (R-Iowa) wants to use the legislation to demand the avis-Bacon Act,
which guarantees prevailing wages on any federally funded projects, be waived
for projects in the stimulus package--and elsewhere. Bush initially waived
Davis-Bacon for Katrina reconstruction three years ago, but union and GOP
pressure forced him to retract.
* Aid to help the auto industry convert its factories to producing hybrid and electric cars. A provision in last year’s energy law,
which Bush signed, authorized--but did not actually set up--$25 billion in loan
guarantees to auto companies to help them retool. The loan guarantees would help
Detroit’s automakers get private credit to modernize their factories to produce
vehicles that contribute less to global warming, UAW Legislative Director Alan
Reuther told PAI. Now the union is lobbying lawmakers on both sides of the aisle
to actually allot the money, he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “has made a number of statements of
general support” for the money, Reuther adds. “But the details are still being
ironed out” and it may go in the stimulus or in a money bill to keep the
government going, he added. The auto industry, including Ford, GM, Chrysler and
U.S. plants of foreign-owned companies, employed 863,000 workers in August, down
120,000 in one year.
In a statement in August, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger not only said the loan
guarantees would help produce auto jobs, but he tied the plan to the presidential race. Sen.
Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Democratic nominee, supports aiding jobless auto
workers, Gettelfinger said. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his GOP rival, does not.
Obama “is supporting our effort to fund the Advanced Technology Vehicles
Manufacturing Incentive Program, which will help automakers build the cars of
the future here in the United States,” Gettelfinger said of the loan guarantees.
“And as president, Obama has pledged $4 billion in investment and low-interest
credit for America's auto companies to help them re-tool facilities to build the
next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S.,” he added.
“McCain, judging by his campaign statements, is content to rely on the failed
policies of Bush, which resulted in the loss of millions of good-paying
manufacturing jobs,” Gettelfinger continued. “First, McCain said NAFTA was a
good idea. Then he said jobs are not coming back to Michigan. Now he has slammed
the door on any real support for the domestic auto industry. McCain is offering 'prizes,' which
will not bring any jobs or production to Michigan or anywhere else.” Going back
to the advanced technology vehicles program, Gettelfinger said the auto industry
and the union focus on it to “free us from our dependence on foreign oil while
creating good-paying American jobs. Obama is committed to making these changes
happen; McCain has nothing to offer but more of the same--which means more lost
jobs."
* Aid to state and local governments, especially to deal with rising Medicaid
costs and increased spending for jobless benefits. AFSCME is pushing $12 billion
to cover those items. “The policies of the last eight years have driven America
into a recession and made it hard for working families to make ends meet. State
and local governments are getting crushed by budget shortfalls. Congress needs
to act fast to protect services and jump-start the economy by passing short-term
aid to states,” AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said Sept. 9.