Norton Returns from Recess to Save Jobs and Medicaid Funding (08/10/2010)

Norton Returns from Recess to Save Jobs and Medicaid Funding

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) returned to the House of Representatives from recess today for a rare special session that resulted in preserving 200 education jobs for the District, with the number of jobs still being calculated for first responders and nurses, as well as another $54 million in Medicaid funding for the District.

Norton said, "This funding is a multi-purpose lifeboat, saving jobs while providing the most necessary services in education and Medicaid. The District is like state and local governments around the country in that it continues to experience revenue shortfalls because of unemployment, which in turn has reduced consumer spending and, with it, business profits, sales taxes, and other revenue. This cycle was fed by the mortgage crisis, the genesis of the recession, which, of course, has produced a decrease in property tax revenue, another vital source of revenue for cities such as the District. At the same time, the need among residents has only escalated, causing a sharp spike in the Medicaid rolls. States and localities have made severe cuts and reduced spending to meet the need for balanced budgets, and now are left with few alternatives. Considering the consequences for the poor, for our kids, and for our localities alike, Congress had no real alternatives to today's funding either."

Nationally, H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, will provide a total of $10 billion for an Education Jobs Fund and $16.1 billion in additional Medicaid assistance to states and the District of Columbia, saving and creating 320,000 jobs.

Congresswoman Norton has a record of providing job opportunities to D.C. residents. The hiring season is about to begin at the new Department of Homeland Security headquarters site in Ward 8, where truckers, 70 percent of whom are from the District, have been hauling away dirt and rocks round-the-clock. The nearly $3.4 billion project is expected to produce 38,000 jobs over seven years and to bring 14,000 federal jobs east of the Anacostia River for the first time.

Each year, the Congresswoman hosts a job fair with recruiters representing more than 100 employers from across the public and private sectors with confirmed job openings. This year more than 4,000 residents attended, with many of the attendees receiving job offers on the spot.

Later today, Norton's Commission on Black Men and Boys will hold a hearing entitled Black Men & Employment: What Black Men Need to Do in the Toughest Job Market in History, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 901 G Street NW.