obama jobsplan

8/14/2019 Obama JobsPlan

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THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________ __________________________________ EMBARGOED UNTIL SPEECH DELIVERY December 8, 2009

President Obama Announces Proposals to

Accelerate Job Growth and Lay the Foundationfor Robust Economic Growth

Today, the President laid out some of the broadsteps that he believes should be at the heart of ourefforts to help put Americans back to work and getbusinesses hiring again. This announcement is partof the Presidents ongoing effort to take everyresponsible step to accelerate the pace of jobgrowth. The President views every bill through theprism of job growth and will continue to exploreadditional approaches as well. These measures are

part of the overall policy designed to not just create jobs in the short run but also shift America awayfrom consumption-driven growth to a focus onenhancing the competitiveness of Americasbusinesses, encouraging investment, and promotingexports.

The bold and difficult steps the President took to

stabilize the financial system have reduced the costof TARP by more than $200 billion, providingadditional resources for job creation and for deficitreduction.

I. THREE KEY AREAS FOR ACCELERATING JOB


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GROWTH 1. Helping Small Businesses ExpandInvestment, Hire Workers and Access Credit Tax cuts to support additional business

investment next year with a particular focus onstruggling small businesses with much of thecost recouped over time.

Zero capital gains for small businesses: Toencourage investment by small businesses

and improve their access to capital, theAdministration is calling for a one-yearelimination of the tax on capital gains fromnew investments in small business stock.

The Recovery Act allowed a 75% exclusionfrom capital gains taxes on small businessinvestments.

Extension of enhanced expensingprovisions for small businesses: TheAdministration is also calling for theextension through 2010 of the Recovery Actprovision that allows small businesses toimmediately expense up to $250,000 of qualified investment.

Extension of Recovery Act bonusdepreciation tax incentive: To givebusinesses an incentive to invest, theAdministration is calling for extending theRecovery Act provision that accelerates therate at which business can deduct the cost


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new investments in a wide range of infrastructure,designed to get out the door as quickly aspossible while continuing a sustained effort atcreating jobs and improving Americasproductivity.

Support for merit-based infrastructureinvestment that leverages federal dollars . TheAdministration supports financing infrastructureinvestments in new ways, allowing projects to beselected on merit and leveraging money with acombination of grants and loans as was done

through the Recovery Acts TIGER program.3. Creating Jobs Through Energy Efficiency

and Clean Energy Investments

New incentives for consumers who invest inenergy efficient retrofits in their homes. Smart,targeted investments in energy efficiency canhelp create jobs while improving our energy

security and saving consumers money. ThePresident today called on Congress to consider anew program to provide rebates for consumerswho make energy efficiency retrofits. Such aprogram will harness the power of the privatesector to help drive consumers to make cost-saving investments in their homes.

Expansion of successful oversubscribed Recovery Act programs to leverage private investment inenergy efficiency and create clean energy manufacturing jobs . The Recovery Act includedhistoric investments that have helped to build thefoundation for a clean energy economy. The


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Administration supports expanding programs forwhich additional federal dollars will leverageprivate investment and create jobs quickly, suchas industrial energy efficiency investments andtax incentives for investing in renewablemanufacturing facilities in the U.S.

II. A FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE APPROACH TO JOB

CREATION THROUGH STEWARDSHIP OF TARPAND OVERALL FISCAL DISCIPLINE

These steps are part of the Presidents overall

approach to fiscal discipline. This includes: Freeing up resources from stabilizing Wall Street

and putting them to work on Main Street. Becauseof the Administrations stewardship of the TARPprogram combined with our broader efforts torevive the economy we now expect the cost tobe at least $200 billion less than anticipated as

recently as August. Indeed, since the ObamaAdministration has taken office, only $7 billion hasbeen provided in assistance to banks, comparedto $114 billion in capital that banks subject to thestress test have raised from the private sector.

These savings will allow us to pay down the deficitfaster than was anticipated while also investingfunds that would have gone to banks in job

creating efforts instead. An overall approach to fiscal discipline in the

budget. Although additional resources are neededin the short-run to address the unemploymentcrisis, the Administration is committed to doing


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what we need to bring the medium-term deficitunder control and is exploring a range of stepsto take as part of the FY2011 budget process. Anadditional important component of returning tofiscal responsibility is passing health reformlegislation that not only reduces the deficit butalso reduces the long-term growth rate of healthcare costs.

III. AN ONGOING FOCUS ON JOB CREATION

In addition to the proposals outlined above, theAdministration will be working with Congress toensure that those hit hardest by this economic crisiscontinue to receive the support they need. Thisincludes: extending unemployment insurance forAmericans who are struggling to find jobs, extendingthe Recovery Act provision that helps out-of-workAmericans keep their health insurance through

COBRA, providing an additional $250 EconomicRecovery Payment to our seniors and veterans, andtaking steps to ensure that state and localgovernments are not forced to lay-off teachers,police officers and other key personnel at this criticaltime.

These steps will build on the efforts that the

Administration has already taken to accelerate thepace of job growth, including tax cuts for strugglingbusinesses, an expanded homebuyer credit,additional unemployment insurance to one millionAmericans, and the Cash for Clunkers program. TheAdministration is also continuing to pursue efforts to


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