Senate Republicans voted down a bill from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have provided funds to state and local governments to create 1 million new jobs for nation’s struggling young workforce.
The Senate voted down the legislation that was an amendment to the education bill by a 43-55 margin. The legislation would have provided $5.5 billion to state and local governments for jobs and training programs. Republicans objected to the bill because it would have been paid for by closing a tax loophole for billionaires.
Before the vote, Sanders urged his colleagues to support the bill, “I applaud President Obama for visiting a federal penitentiary to highlight the fact that, tragically, the United States has more people in jail than any other country on earth and one of the reasons that we have so many people in jail is that we have an obscenely high level of youth unemployment. The time has come for us to begin investing in jobs and education for our kids, not jails and incarceration. Let’s create productive citizens in America, not more criminals.”
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When it came time to vote, Republicans sided with their billionaire benefactors. After the vote, Sanders said, “I am disappointed but not surprised that so many Republican senators opposed this common-sense approach to dealing with an overlooked national crisis.”
Youth unemployment is a crisis. According to a report from The Economic Policy Institute, youth unemployment (age 17-20) among African-American high school graduates is 51.3%. Among Hispanics, the unemployment rate for this same age group was 36.1%, and among white youths the unemployment rate was 33.8%. The nation’s young workers are in the midst of a depression level employment crisis, but Senate Republicans voted to not make the wealthiest Americans pay a penny more in taxes.
Senate Republicans demonstrated again today that ordinary Americans aren’t a priority to them.
What the Republicans in the Senate did was an absolute disgrace. The Republican presidential candidates claim that they will “fix” broken Washington, but the problem isn’t in Washington. The problem is the broken and billionaire-owned Republican Party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
