Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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File photo of Rep. Tom Perriello, D. Albemarle County. |
Sunday, February 15, 2009
By PAUL COLLINS - Bulletin Staff Writer
The White House estimates 7,600 new jobs be created or saved in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act approved Friday by Congress, 5th District U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s office announced.
Southside Virginia has lost more than 10,000 jobs in the last decade, and recently Martinsville and Danville had unemployment rates at or near 15 percent.
Perriello’s office did not specify where those jobs would be created or saved.
Perriello, D-Albemarle County, voted for the more than $780 billion stimulus package of tax cuts and spending. It passed 246-183 in the House, and the Senate vote was 60-38, according to The Associated Press.
He said he will meet with local governments in the district starting next week to discuss what projects might be eligible for funding. He said he will be working with representatives of state and federal agencies to help determine possible funding for local projects.
The stimulus package includes Perriello’s first bill, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, to help 4 million American working families and displaced workers, according to a release from his office. Perriello co-sponsored the tax credit bill with Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas.
For 2009 and 2010, the bill will provide a tax credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related expenses — textbooks would be included for the first time — paid during the taxable year, according to the release. Forty percent of the tax credit — up to $1,000 — will be refundable. The tax credit will be subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income of more than $80,000 ($160,000 for married couples filing jointly). This will provide an estimated $13.9 billion in tax relief.
“There are no shortcuts to regaining America’s competitive advantage. I believe this tax credit is one of the smartest investments we can make to give enterprising Americans the opportunity to gain new skills and become competitive in this tough job market, while getting our national economy out of the dumps,” Perriello stated in the release.
In addition, his spokesman, Jessica Barba, said Perriello lobbied hard, and successfully, to get $1 billion restored for Community Development Block Grants. They have been used locally for such things as housing and neighborhood rehabilitation projects.
Perriello said the stimulus bill will provide billions in tax relief for middle-class families and small businesses, create or save 3.5 million American jobs, and invest in the future of the country by supporting education and infrastructure projects.
Virginians will benefit from several tax cuts in the bill, according a the release. They include:
• Child Tax Credit of up to $1,000 per child for 269,000 children.
• Making Work Pay Tax Credit of up to $400 per worker ($800 per couple filing jointly), benefiting 3 million Virginians.
• American Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $2,500 for higher-education tuition and related expenses, benefiting 71,000 Virginians.
Virginia also will receive estimated funding for:
• Schools and education: nearly $1.7 billion, made up of: $1.2 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization fund, designed to prevent teacher layoffs and provide funds for school construction and modernization; and $500 million for Title I and IDEA funding. (Title I is a federally funded program that targets low-performing students with economic needs. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures services to children with disabilities throughout the nation, according to Internet sources.)
• Job training and employment services: $39.2 million.
• Unemployment benefits extension: $265.7 million.
• Food stamp benefits: $360.7 million.
• Roads and bridges: $694 million.
• Infrastructure: $890 million.
In a conference call Friday, Perriello said Congress needed to act with unusual speed to address the economic crisis. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “may not be perfect,” he said, but it is a strong investment that he hopes will jump-start the economy, put people back to work, help middle-class families and help transform the economy to regain America’s competitive advantage.
Although he said the bill will provide a solid start for reviving the economy, it’s only part of what needs to be done, and that private businesses and industries need to be involved in addition to the government.
Perriello said it is not the bill he would have written, but he worked to ensure that small towns and cities and rural areas were represented.
Before the final vote on the bill in the House, Perriello unsuccessfully sought to have the final vote be delayed until 48 hours after the bill had been posted online so constituents could study and understand it, the release states. Seventeen other Democrats took the same stand.
Perriello wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “I support the passage of this bill because only urgent and dramatic action can begin to close the $2 trillion contraction in our national economy, but providing for these funds does not exempt us from our responsibility to keep policy-making transparent for our constituents.” |
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