September 19, 2010 – 8:16 pm
Bob Dold Wants to Return to the Failed Bush Economic Policies
During the Presidential race of 1992, the biggest issue facing the country was the economy. And now nearly 20 years later, the economy is something that the GOP still doesn’t get — especially when it comes to creating jobs and providing a safety net for folks who can’t find work and getting this country back on its feet.
Take Dan Seals’ opponent, Robert Dold, who admits that the economy “has been dealt a terrible blow.” Unfortunately, his solution is to return to the kind of policies and programs that led us to the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the first place. Dold wants to turn this country in the hard-right direction of George W. Bush.
Voting for jobs – Seals
Take the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus package, for example. Not a single Republican voted for the bill — all 177 (including Mark Kirk) voted nay. Given his stated goals to return to the failed Bush-Cheney economic policies, it is all but certain Dold would have voted “No.” Dold would certainly have voted against the massive public works projects and other efforts that have resulted in thousands of jobs and millions of dollars that help people in the 10th Congressional District. Without that money, Dold, an estimated 749,142 people nationwide who are now working because of the Recovery bill would be out of work, including 21,693 in Illinois. That doesn’t do much to create jobs.
Helping the unemployed – Seals
Creating jobs is important. But jobs are becoming harder to find for the long-term unemployed, i.e., those out of work for more than six months. That includes hundreds of white-collar workers, even in the 10th Congressional District. An excellent way to help stimulate the economy in hard times and quickly get funds back into the hands of people who need it is extending unemployment benefits. It’s one of the best ways for people to continue to pay their mortgages, put food on the table and buy the essentials for their kids is to extend unemployment benefits.
What was Mark Kirk’s stand? He was part of the same “no we can’t” crew that is trying to tank every piece of legislation that can sew up the social safety net. Incredibly, 142 Republicans voted against extending unemployment insurance benefits in July. What would have Bob Dold done?
Tax breaks for research and development – Seals
Job training is important, and both Dan Seals and his opponent agree on that point. But what kind of jobs would you want to create? Would they be the kind of jobs that can expand the kind of green technologies that can come from the stimulus package? Tax breaks for small business may be important, but the details of these tax breaks are important. Dan Seals would work to make the Research and Development Tax Credit, which must currently be renewed every two years, permanent. Tax breaks for corporations and wealthy individuals are what brought our country to the brink.
For information on the voting totals on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, please click this link: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll046.xml
For the job totals created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, please click this link: http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/JobSummary.aspx
For Dan Seals’ position on the Research and Development Tax Credit and his plan to help small businesses, please click this link: http://dansealsforcongress.com/revitalizing-small-business
For information on the voting totals on approving unemployment benefits, please click this link:
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/111/house/2/463
