Dear Friends,

I voted “yes” today on a bill to save hundreds of thousands of essential jobs while reducing our deficit and closing tax loopholes that ship jobs overseas.

As I wrote yesterday, the bill will save 140,000 teaching jobs from being eliminated and will create or save 150,000 jobs in fields like police, fire, and nursing. It is completely paid for, and will cut the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next decade. Reasonable people from both sides of the aisle can agree: this is a good, common-sense piece of legislation, and I was pleased to support it.

At a time when education has never been more essential for the future of our children, we need to do all we can to keep good teachers in the classroom where they can make an impact. For Michigan, the bill means over $310 million in education funds, which is equivalent to 4,700 average teacher salaries – 242 of which are right here in the 15th District. Voting yes on this bill means that those 4,700 teachers, including the 242 teachers in our communities, will stay in the classrooms for the new school year, instead of on the unemployment line.

I will continue to stand up with Democrats who are moving America out of the ditch where the last decade of Republican rule left us, and back on to the road to prosperity. We’ll keep fighting to create good American jobs, to provide the lowest taxes in the last 60 years for the middle class and small businesses, and to close tax loopholes that ship our jobs overseas.

With every good wish,

John Dingell