WASHINGTON – Tonight, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after the President’s speech:
“Everyone in Washington should be focused on creating jobs, and I applaud President Obama for laying out a bold plan to tackle unemployment. We need aggressive action to put people back to work.
“There is a lot to like in the President’s plan. Improving our transportation sector and other infrastructure can be an engine for job creation now, with over a million unemployed construction workers looking to get back to work, while at the same time making investments we will need to make for the long term. Updating our nation’s crumbling public schools is another common-sense way to improve safety while putting our hardest-hit workers back on the job.
“I am also glad to see the President recognize that foreclosures and a weak housing market are hurting our families and our economic recovery. This recession started with collapse of the housing market and won’t end in earnest until we address the foreclosure crisis.
“Tonight the President put the focus where it should have been all along: Jobs. Congress must act quickly and boldly. American families are counting on us.”
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