Bill Expected to Create Up to 3.5 Million New Jobs, Including Almost 400,000 in California

Washington, DC – Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) hailed the signing today of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, critical legislation to create and save 3.5 million American jobs.  President Obama’s job creation package passed Congress last Friday, and will rebuild America, making us more globally competitive and energy independent, and transforming our economy for long-term growth.  In addition the bill will give about 95 percent of American workers an immediate tax cut; and invest quickly in the economy.

“Today, President Obama signed into law his historic plan to create and save 3.5 million jobs and start to get the American economy back on track,” said Rep. Baca.  “With the unemployment rate in our Inland communities at 10% and rising, I am extremely pleased President Obama and Congress got this done just three weeks after his inauguration.”

Of the $789 billion included in the package, $26 billion will be used by California to create new jobs in the areas of clean, efficient energy, science and technology, school improvement, and road and bridge modernization.  In addition, the jobs and economic recovery plan contains the following strategic efforts in California:

• Creating or saving 396,000 jobs here in California over the next two years;
• Providing a Making Work Pay tax cut of up to $800 for over 12 million workers and their families, designed to start paying out immediately into workers’ paychecks, as well as tax cuts to spur businesses large and small;
• Transforming Our Economy With clean, efficient, American Energy and innovation and technology that will create more than 1 million  jobs;
• Lowering health care costs and improving care by computerizing medical records, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and helping those who cannot afford health care in these tough times;
• Modernizing roads and bridges to create jobs with an extra $2.5 billion in California along with other critical infrastructure like high-speed rail, the boldest investment since the creation of the interstate highway system a half century ago;
• Education for the 21st Century, modernizing schools and making college more affordable with improved Pell Grants for over 744,000 Pell Grant recipients in California and a higher education tax credit for 522,000 students in our state;
• Helping Workers Hurt by the Economy, including 1.7 million Californians that are out of work;
• Providing over $1.6 billion to California in SNAP funding (formerly the Food Stamp Program) to put food on the table for more needy families; and
• Saving the Jobs of teachers, police officers, health care workers, and protecting the vital services they provide.

“It will take time to turn our struggling economy around, but I am confident that this package will make our economy stronger and more resilient,” concluded Rep. Baca. “This jobs and recovery plan will create or save almost 400,000 jobs in California by the end of 2010, including over 52,000 jobs here in the Inland Empire.  We will continue our efforts with the President to keep more Americans from losing their homes, and bring common sense to Wall Street.  Americans have always come together in the face of challenges and we will once again under the swift and bold leadership of President Obama.”