Home >
News
Rep. McDermott Introduces American Worker Security Resolution
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) September 22, 2008
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), chairman of the House Ways and
Means Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, took the first step
today toward introducing comprehensive legislation to modernize many of the
social safety net programs that have remained largely unchanged since they were
written over 50 years ago.
McDermott’s resolution in the House of Representatives identifies
many specific economic and social programs that need to be modernized: “Expressing
the sense of Congress regarding the need to re-weave America’s social safety
net to responds to the needs of the 21st century economy and labor market.”
Since becoming chairman of the Income Security and Family
Support Subcommittee at the beginning of the current Congress, McDermott has
worked on a bi-partisan basis to address economic, security and safety net
issues that affect the American people.
Hearings before McDermott’s subcommittee laid the groundwork for significant
new legislation that has passed to address a number of key issues, from
extending unemployment benefits to reforming foster care.
McDermott said it has become increasingly clear that many safety-net
programs meant to help protect and assist the American people during tough
economic times have left large holes in the safety net because they no longer
reflect the workplace or workforce in America today.
“Many Americans who are falling victim to the current
economic crisis are going to fall right through the social safety nets meant to
catch them,” McDermott said, “because America in 2008 looks very different than
America in 1935, and we need to both recognize this and fix it.”
McDermott’s resolution, says the American people are falling behind in many ways and the
resolution identifies many of the social and economic programs that need to be
modernized, including: child care, health care, wage stagnation, sick leave, savings
and pensions, and education and training to keep Americans competitive in the
global economy.
|