Dear Mr. Paine:
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the economic recovery plan. I appreciate hearing from you.
The end of the year brought sobering news about the state of our economy. So many working families have suffered under the weight of this recession. In 2008, 3.6 million Americans lost their jobs and unemployment soared to 7.2 percent. In Pennsylvania, 54,300 jobs were lost in a single month between November and December, bringing the state's unemployment rate from 6.2 percent to 6.7 percent. Compounding the bleak employment data is the state's own financial picture. These shortfalls present a danger to communities across Pennsylvania as state and local officials may be required to raise tax rates to meet the looming deficits unless action is taken.
As you are aware, Congress has been working with the Obama Administration over the past several weeks to come up with a recovery plan to begin to reverse the economic downturn. The bill, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes many components designed to accomplish this goal. For instance, the plan will give tax cuts to 95 percent of American workers, putting money in their pockets as they struggle to make ends meet. It will provide an infusion of capital into projects across Pennsylvania that will put people to work modernizing the Commonwealth's roads, bridges and water systems, creating or saving an estimated 3.5 million jobs nationwide and as many as 143,000 here in Pennsylvania. It provides direct aid to the state to help fill the budget gap, stave off cuts to crucial services and provide additional unemployment insurance for workers who have lost their jobs. For greater detail on the funding specific to Pennsylvania, please visit my website at http://casey.senate.gov.
Although I recognize that this recovery bill is not perfect, I voted for it to help President Obama get our economy moving again, to create jobs and to aid those hardest hit by the economy. As you probably know, President Obama recently signed this bill into law.
This bill will not only create and save jobs immediately, but it help us rebuild America for the future, making us more globally competitive and energy independent. The investments it will make in roads, bridges, mass transit, energy efficient building, flood control and clean water projects will have a lasting effect on our economy. The bill's investments in science and innovation will be used to spur new American-made technology, prevent and treat disease, and tackle urgent national challenges like climate change and dependence on foreign oil.
As the Obama Administration moves forward with this plan, I will work with other senators to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent in an effective and efficient manner. The new law contains unprecedented transparency and oversight provisions that will allow taxpayers to see how their government spends their money. I encourage you to visit a new website, www.recovery.gov, that has been established so that you can track the implementation of this recovery plan.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
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