Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Blog

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley: 19,000 Reasons Why the President’s Plan is a Win

Governor Martin O’Malley echoes the President’s call for Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, by explaining just how much the Presidents’ plan would benefit citizens of Maryland. The Governor agrees that passing the American Jobs Act is vital to growing our economy and creating jobs, will put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. In fact, in Maryland alone, an estimated 19,000 people would be put back to work and a typical household would receive a tax cut of approximately $1980.

Watch Maryland Govenor Martin O'Malley, here. 

Learn more about the impact of the American Jobs Act on Maryland and other states here.

Jewel James is the Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs

Your Local Questions about the American Jobs Act Answered

Since President Obama introduced the American Jobs Act last week, we have heard from many state and local elected officials on how the American Jobs Act would help create jobs in communities across America. Today, we take a moment to answer some of the most frequent questions we've received about the Act.

1. How will the American Jobs Act create jobs?

The American Jobs Act puts more people back to work and puts more money in the pockets of working Americans.  It includes five key components:

• Tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire and grow– The American Jobs Act provides a tax cut for small businesses to help them hire and expand now, with a full payroll tax holiday for small businesses that grow their payroll by hiring new workers or increasing their wages.
   
• Investments in jobs and infrastructure to rebuild and modernize America– The President’s plan puts more people back to work, including educators laid off due to state budget cuts, first responders and veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and construction workers repairing or modernizing bridges, roads and more than 35,000 schools. It will repair and refurbish hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes and businesses in communities across the country.
   
• Pathways back to work for Americans looking for jobs– It helps out-of-work Americans by extending unemployment benefits to help them support their families while looking for work, while also reforming the system with work-experience programs that build real skills, connect to real jobs, and help the long-term unemployed.  It bans employers from discriminating against the unemployed when hiring, and provides a new tax credit to employers hiring workers who have been out of a job for six months or longer.  And it expands job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults.
   
• Tax relief for every American worker and family– The American Jobs Act puts more money in the pockets of working and middle class Americans by cutting in half the payroll tax that comes out of the paycheck of every worker, saving typical families about $1,500 a year.
   
• Specific offsets and long-term deficit reduction to fully pay for itself– Lastly, this legislation is fully paid for. The legislation includes specific offsets to close corporate tax loopholes and asks the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share that more than cover the cost of the jobs measures. The legislation also increases the deficit reduction target for the Joint Committee and voids these specific offsets if the Committee reaches the higher target.

2. How can I learn more about what the American Jobs Act means for my state?

A state-by-state look at the American Jobs Act (with PDF fact sheets) is available at www.WhiteHouse.gov/JobsAct.