Conyers: Congress Must Pass Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act

Conyers: Congress Must Pass Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act

For Immediate Release

Date: Friday, November 4, 2011

Contact: Matthew Morgan – 202-226-5543

Conyers: Congress Must Pass Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act

October Unemployment Numbers Demonstrate the Continuing Need for Comprehensive Job Creating Legislation

(WASHINGTON) – According to the U.S. Department of Labor monthly unemployment report for October the unemployment rate fell from 9.1 percent to 9 percent and the U.S. economy added just 80,000 jobs.  Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the following statement in response to the October report:

“Congress must pass comprehensive job creating legislation now”, Conyers said.  “We are in the midst of the most significant nationwide economic upheaval since the Great Depression of the 1930's.  That is why I have introduced H.R. 870, the “Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act.”  Yet, the Republican majority here in the House has still not presented a comprehensive jobs plan that will put Americans back to work.  This is why I urge my colleagues to take up President Obama’s jobs bill, H.R. 12, the “American Jobs Act.”  Congress cannot continue to stand by as working and middle class Americans struggle to find work.”

Conyers Calls for Increased Focus on Education and Jobs for At-Risk Youth at Historic National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention

Contacts: Nicole Triplett, 202-226-5543

Date: April 4, 2011

Conyers Calls for Increased Focus on Education and Jobs for At-Risk Youth at Historic National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention


Decries Mindless Budget Cutting as Penny Wise and Pound Foolish


(Washington)—Today, at the first National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued the following statement emphasizing the need to increase funding for education and jobs programs for at-risk youth:

“Getting tough” on crime may have seemed logical or at least politically expedient, but research and experience clearly demonstrates that we cannot “arrest our way out of the problem” of youth violence. Our nation has the highest incarceration rates in the world -- with more than 2.3 million people behind bars -- a disturbingly disproportionate share of whom are poor and minority. In fact, 1 out of 9 African American men between the ages of 20 to 34 in this country are in jail or prison at this very moment.

That is why I have co-sponsored and strongly supported legislation that provides for training and jobs for at-risk youth, such as “Youth PROMISE” Act (The Youth Prison Reduction for Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support and Education Act), the new Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act, and the Second Chance Act.

Today’s conference illustrates the folly of mindless budget cutting at the federal, state, and local levels that reduce or eliminate important critical juvenile justice and youth violence prevention programs. These penny-wise, but dollar-foolish cuts will inevitably lead to much higher costs associated with increased expenditures to deal with greater incidents of crime and victimization, more substance abuse, exacerbated mental health conditions, higher unemployment, and the need for more prisons. As Congress and the President attempt to work together on the budget for the next year and one half, I would urge them to heed the lessons of this conference.

I am very pleased that among the cities selected to participate in this forum, Detroit is here. I welcome the presence of Mayor Dave Bing, who will describe Detroit’s Youth Violence Prevention plan, which is built on strategies that have a distinct focus on building opportunities for youth, promoting positive youth development and preventing youth violence.

Rep. Conyers offered welcoming remarks today at the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, a two-day conference in Washington D.C. The Conference offers an opportunity for federal, state, and local officials as well as legislators to come together and share experiences about programs that work to prevent youth violence. Representatives from DOJ as well as the cities of Detroit, Boston, Chicago, and Memphis offered specific presentations about their at-risk youth programs. For more information on the Conference’s youth violence prevention initiative and how it affects cities like Detroit, please refer to http://www.findyouthinfo.gov/topic_preventingViolence_detroitBrief.shtml.

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Petition your member of Congress to Become a Co-sponsor of H.R. 870.

Petition your member of Congress to Become a Co-sponsor of H.R. 870.

 

DSA supports H.R. 870, The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced into the House of Representatives by John Conyers, U.S. Representative from Detroit, and friend of DSA. This bill introduces several strategies to generate jobs, including the establishment of a National Full Employment Trust Fund to create employment opportunities for the unemployed, and a tax on securities transactions.

Complete information about this legislation is at the Library of Congress THOMAS web site at:    http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112hr870

Every bill in Congress uses co-sponsors to demonstrate its level of support. You can check the THOMAS H.R.870 web page to see if your member of congress has signed on as a co-sponsor. If they have not yet done so, contact your member and urge them to sign on. We have created a petition urging your Representative to co-sponsor the bill. You can collect petitions in your district and submit them to your Representative early in the legislative calendar. Make sure you make photocopies before you send them off.

DSA supports H.R. 870, The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced into the House of Representatives by John Conyers, U.S. Representative from Detroit, and friend of DSA. This bill introduces several strategies to generate jobs, including the establishment of a National Full Employment Trust Fund to create employment opportunities for the unemployed, and a tax on securities transactions.


John Conyers Talk: DSA at ONWT from Frank Llewellyn on Vimeo.

Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act or Work Opportunities and Revitalizing Our C...

Conyers: Michigan Bill Attacks the Hard-Earned Contract Rights of Public Workers

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Conyers:  Michigan Bill Attacks the Hard-Earned Contract Rights of Public Workers and Hurts Minority Communities by Stripping Away Collective Bargaining Rights and Removing Elected Leaders

                                                               

(Washington) Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) criticized the Michigan Senate for passing yesterday an amended version of Michigan House Bill 4214 that would authorize the Governor to appoint an “emergency manager” who could then replace duly elected local officials and terminate contractual obligations, including collective bargaining agreements, if a so-called “financial emergency” exists.

Mr. Conyers released the following statement:

This bill is an opportunistic power-grab by Republican state legislators who are taking advantage of Michigan’s temporary financial distress in a thinly disguised attempt to attack hard-won public worker protections and benefits, including their right to organize and represent themselves.

The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies -- implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity. 

Worse yet, this bill raises serious constitutional concerns.  Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits any State from impairing a contract, which is exactly what this legislation does.  As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law “which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them. . . .  Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order.” 

            Further, the bill empowers this financial czar with the Governor’s approval to force a municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from hardworking public sector workers.  And, by making the risk of bankruptcy a reality, the bill will make it more not lessexpensive for municipalities to obtain financing given this risk, which will make the financial circumstances of municipalities even worse.

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Conyers Introduces Deficit-Neutral Full Employment and Training Bill

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Conyers Introduces Deficit-Neutral Full Employment and Training Bill 

(Washington)- Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) today introduced H.R. 870, the “Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment & Training Act,” a comprehensive and innovative federal and local government job creation and training bill that would create millions of new jobs for the nation’s unemployed. Local jobs would be created through a partnership between the Department of Labor, state, and local governments, non-profit community organizations, and small businesses. Under the Act, jobs would be created in the fields of construction, infrastructure repairs, green jobs, education, health care, and neighborhood renovation. The Act’s Full Employment Trust Fund would provide federal funding for local community-based job creation and training initiatives until full employment is reached in the United States.  The Act is deficit neutral and fully funded through a modest tax on Wall Street stock and bond transactions.

“Today, there are millions of Americans who want a job, but can’t find one,” said Conyers.  “The inability to find meaningful and sustainable work strips our fellow citizens of their basic right to have access to food, housing, health care, freedom of movement, and perhaps, most importantly, the ability to pursue life with a sense of dignity and meaning.  High levels of unemployment are unacceptable and immoral in the wealthiest nation in the world. Thus, I believe it is critical that the federal government empower states, local governments, non-profits, and small businesses to create jobs during an economic downturn.      

“My ‘Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act’ would allow local government officials to work with community leaders to come up with an effective job creation program, based on each community’s respective needs—be it improvements in infrastructure, housing, energy efficiency, education, or health care. The private sector will also benefit if millions of new jobs are created through improvements in our nation’s aging and crumbling infrastructure.  New orders for brick, concrete, steel, aluminum, and plastics mean new jobs in America’s plants and factories and a rebirth of American manufacturing.

“Lastly, because we exist in a period when concerns about government debt loom large in many minds, my legislation will be fully funded by a tax on Wall Street speculation and will not add a dime to the federal debt.  Wall Street was responsible for the financial crisis that began in 2008 and continues to affect us today.  Having already received significant assistance from the federal government, it is only fair that Wall Street now pay Main Street back by helping put America back to work.”     

#03-02-2011#