House GOP Advances Areas Of Common Agreement On Jobs

House Republicans Advance Areas of Common Agreement on Jobs Agenda

On September 16th, the House Republican Leadership issued a memo to Members outlining potential areas for agreement with the President on a jobs agenda. The House this week will act on two areas identified in that memo:

From the September 16th Memo:

Incentives for Hiring Veterans: Current law includes employer tax credits for hiring disabled veterans (up to $4,800) and unemployed veterans (up to $2,400). These tax credits will expire at the end of 2011. The President has proposed expanding these credits. The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is considering a more comprehensive effort to assist returning heroes, examining the range of challenges they face entering the workforce, including the need for education and training assistance and to address other barriers to employment. We believe there is an opportunity to make meaningful and significant progress in this area.

This Week’s Legislative Agenda:

This week the House will consider the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, which:

• Provides access to education and training funds for up to 100,000 unemployed veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 in high-demand occupations;

• Improves the transition assistance program to assist departing service-members in finding civilian employment; and

• Establishes new reporting requirements so we can evaluate the effectiveness of federal programs that assist veterans in finding employment.

From the September 16th Memo:

Free Trade Agreements: The President stated in his speech that, “Now it’s time to clear the way for a series of trade agreements that would make it easier for American companies to sell their products in Panama and Colombia and South Korea…” He also characterized this as a step that, “will require congressional action.” We agree. We will take action. But first, we need the President to take action and send us the agreements for our approval. We have repeatedly called on the President to unlock these agreements and clear the way for the creation of hundreds of thousands of new American jobs, while ensuring that we do not lose any more ground in our global competitiveness. In fact, last week we passed a bipartisan measure to extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). We hope this action, and pending action in the Senate, will allow us to move forward on all three agreements.

This Week’s Legislative Agenda:

This week the House will consider the Panama, Colombia and South Korea free trade agreements.