Creating Quality Jobs

Merkley’s Plan to Create Quality Jobs

1. Cancel or fix unfair trade deals

Gordon Smith has failed to oppose every single one of these bad trade deals, including NAFTA and CAFTA. Jeff Merkley will fight to end unfair trade agreements that have cost Oregon nearly 70,000 jobs. Merkley will demand enforceable environmental and labor standards to protect our planet and protect workers in America and around the world.
[Oregon Fair Trade Campaign]

2. End federal giveaways to companies that ship jobs overseas

Jeff Merkley will end loopholes that subsidize corporations that build foreign operations and let companies avoid paying taxes on the profits from those operations, shipping American jobs overseas. In 2004, Gordon Smith voted against an amendment for tax credits that would have encouraged domestic job growth and discouraged outsourcing of good American manufacturing jobs.
[Senate vote #41, 3/11/04]

3. End billion dollar giveaways to oil companies and invest in a new green economy

When oil companies were reporting historic profits and the price of gas was squeezing families and businesses, Gordon Smith voted in favor of providing billions of taxpayer dollars to pad big oil’s bottom line. Jeff Merkley will work to repeal more than $18 billion in tax breaks given to big oil companies and invest those funds in creating new green-collar clean energy jobs with good wages.
[Senate vote #331, 11/17/05; Senate vote #341, 11/17/05]

4. Strengthen the Buy American Act

Over the last several decades special interests have weakened important safeguards that protect our national security and support American workers. In 2003, Gordon Smith cast the deciding vote for John McCain's amendment to encourage outsourcing by exempting the Department of Defense from the Buy American Act. Merkley will work to strengthen the Buy American Act to ensure that our government is building an American workforce that can fulfill our country’s military and national security needs.
[Senate vote #191, 5/21/03]

5. Provide affordable quality health care to all Americans

In twelve years Gordon Smith has failed to endorse any plan to make quality health care affordable. One of Merkley's first acts as Oregon’s next U.S. Senator will be to sign on as a co-sponsor of Senator Wyden’s Healthy American’s Act, which will guarantee every American universal, affordable, comprehensive, portable, high-quality health coverage that is as good or better than Members of Congress have today.

6. Give tax credits to families to make child care affordable and incentives to companies who provide child care for their workers

While Gordon Smith has opposed efforts to make child care more affordable, Jeff Merkley will work to double the tax break for child care to help families afford the cost of quality care for their children. The average cost of child care for a pre-school-aged child in Oregon is $6,480. With two children, Jeff Merkley knows just how difficult it can be to find and afford child care. Merkley will also fight to create incentives for companies that provide child care for their workers. This will allow more people to go back to work if they choose, safe in the knowledge that their children have quality care.
[Senate vote #90, 3/25/03; National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, “2008 Child Care in the State of Oregon,” 3/08]

7. Invest in public transportation infrastructure

Jeff Merkley will fight for investments in our core transportation infrastructure. For every billion dollars invested in infrastructure projects, it is estimated that between 14,000 and 47,000 jobs are created. Merkley will champion programs like the Small Starts program to invest in local rail transit infrastructure that help Americans get to and from work and support economic growth along the rail lines. Merkley will also support bus rapid transit projects which will help reduce congestion on our highways and will help the flow of commerce. We can spur job creation by investing in infrastructure on a national and local level. [Economic Policy Institute, “Strategy for Economic Rebound,” 1/11/08]

Employee Free Choice

The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers a real choice on a level paying field when deciding whether to form a union. And it will ensure that unions can compete by imposing tougher penalties on those who break our existing labor laws. Jeff worked to do it for public employees at the state level this year in the Oregon legislature, and helped pass a resolution urging Congress to take up the issue. But starting in January 2009, Jeff will work personally to pass it in the U.S. Senate.

Minimum Wage

Jeff has continually fought to increase the minimum wage and protect minimum wage increases indexed to inflation.

Prevailing Wage

One of the big successes of the 2007 legislative session was protecting the prevailing wage on jobs funded by the state. There’s room to expand that and Jeff looks forward to tackling the issue in the U. S. Senate.

Posted November 13, 2007
Issues

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