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Mayors Discuss the American Jobs Act with White House Officials

September 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM ET by David Agnew
Summary: 
Over 40 bi-partisan mayors met at the White House Tuesday to discuss job creation with Senior Officials.

On Tuesday, over 40 bi-partisan mayors  from across the country joined National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and Senior Advisor David Plouffe for a discussion on the economy and the local impact of the American Jobs Act.

Gene Sperling thanked the mayors for their significant input of ideas during the design of the American Jobs Act and pointed out that many of the proposals were included in the U.S. Conference of Mayors jobs plan.  Sperling then highlighted the many different components of the Act that would help cities directly including:

  • $30 billion to prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs
  • $5 billion to support the hiring and retention of public safety and first responder personnel to keep communities safe from crime and maintain critical emergency response capabilities
  • $30 billion to modernize at least 35,000 public schools, supporting new science labs, Internet-ready classrooms and renovations at schools in rural and urban areas across the country, with 40 percent of the funds directed toward the 100 largest high-need public school districts - along with another $5 billion to modernize community colleges
  • $50 billion in immediate investments in infrastructure - along with a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank - to modernize our roads, rail, airports and waterways while putting hundreds of thousands of workers back on the job
  • $15 billion for a New “Project Rebuild”, which will put people to work rehabilitating homes, businesses and communities, leveraging private capital and scaling land banks and other public-private collaborations
  • $5 billion to expand job opportunities for low-income youth and adults through a fund for successful approaches for subsidized employment, innovative training programs and summer/year-round jobs for youth

David Plouffe stressed the President’s commitment to fighting hard for passage of the American Jobs Act, and asked the mayors to continue to make their voices heard so their citizens will clearly understand the benefits of the proposal for their community.  Plouffe also thanked the mayors for standing with the President in support of the proposal.

Mayors from Louisville to Los Angeles to Des Moines to Philadelphia shared their local stories on the need to invest in deteriorating roads and bridges while creating much needed construction jobs in their cities. The mayors also talked about the importance of modernizing schools so students can compete in the global economy.  As several mayors noted, creating jobs is a bi-partisan issue that every city in America can support.

We encourage you to share your local stories on the need to invest in American jobs at iga@who.eop.gov.

David Agnew is Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs