Responding to the continuing massive jobs deficit,Chicago Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky proposed to create 2 million jobs,introducing the “Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act.” Surrounded by Chicago JwJ coalition leaders and other groups,Schakowsky declared:
“Unlike the long disproven claims that more tax breaks for wealthy corporations will lead to more employment,I have a bill that will actually work. How can we guarantee this bill will get 2 million people back to work? By hiring them!”
The proposal,which could be more than paid for by taxing millionaires or financial speculation,establishes:
1) School Improvement Corps – Creates 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs through new funding to public school districts for needed school rehabilitation improvements ($100 billion)
2) Park Improvement Corps – Creates 100,000 jobs for youth between the ages of 16 and 25 through new funding to the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service’s Public Lands Corps Act. Conservation projects on public lands include restoration and rehabilitation of natural,cultural,historic,archaeological,recreational and scenic resources. ($400 million)
3) Student Jobs Corps – Creates 250,000 more part-time,work study jobs for eligible college students through new funding for the Federal Work Study Program. ($850 million)
4) Neighborhood Heroes Corps –
- Teachers:Direct funding to states to hire,re-hire,and prevent lay-offs of 300,000 teachers. ($40 billion)
- Cops:New funding to hire 40,000 police officers. ($10 billion)
- Firefighters:New funding to hire 12,000 firefighters. ($2.4 billion)
5) Health Corps –Grants to hire at least 40,000 health care providers,including physicians,nurse practitioners,physician assistants,nurses,and health care workers to expand access in underserved rural and urban areas. ($8 billion)
6) Community Corps – Creation of a new Community Corps that will create 750,000 jobs to do needed work in our communities,including energy audits and conservation upgrades,recycling and reclamation of reusable materials,urban land reclamation and addressing blight,including foreclosure and disaster-affected areas,rural conservation work,public property maintenance and beautification,housing rehabilitation,and new housing construction. ($60 billion)
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
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In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
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