America Must Now Turn to Solving Job’s Deficit

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 2, 2011) After the House and Senate passed legislation raising the debt ceiling and cutting as much as $2.4 trillion in spending over the next decade, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director David Foster:

“With more than 14 million Americans out of work, and with sluggish job growth over the last few months, immediate action is needed to put people to work and to ensure that the U.S. stays competitive in the 21st century.

“Unfortunately, the resolution to the manufactured debt-ceiling crisis does nothing to address the heart of America’s long-term economic problem: job creation. Slashing spending will not create jobs, it will not spur economic growth; it will only make it more difficult to solve America’s jobs crisis.

“Congress must now turn to solving America’s jobs deficit.

“Securing the jobs we have now and investing in the industries of the future — renewable energy, energy efficiency, advanced transportation and infrastructure, a smarter electrical grid, broadband internet, safer chemicals, and recycling — require market-based incentives and broad public-private partnerships. Our economic competitors have all adopted similar initiatives that are spurring job creation in manufacturing, construction, education and other sectors. This is our path to economic growth, global leadership, and to putting America back to work.

“The BlueGreen Alliance urges Congress to pass the strategic economic policies that will spur job creation in the industries of the future. If we don’t take action now, we risk taking the backseat as other countries like China take the lead in a global 21st century economy.”

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The BlueGreen Alliance is a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. Launched in 2006, the strategic partnership now brings together 10 major U.S. labor unions and four of America's most influential environmental organizations and unites 14 million members and supporters in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a green economy. Visit www.bluegreenalliance.org.