DEMOCRATIC ‘AMERICAN JOBS PLAN’

Lower tax rates on all domestic producers, including small businesses and farms. We are fighting to pass the bipartisan Rangel-Manzullo-Levin bill (HR 1769), which would revitalize our manufacturing base by cutting taxes for U.S. companies, including small businesses and farms. The Democratic proposal would help all farmers, while the GOP bill would discriminate against family farmers, and farms incorporated as S corporations.  Under the bipartisan proposal backed by Democrats, companies with 100 percent domestic production, including all farms, would see their tax rate reduced by 10 percent or up to 3.5 percentage points.  These tax cuts are important to keeping jobs here at home, and helping American family farmers, who grow the safest, most abundant, lowest priced and finest food and fiber on the planet.

Remove incentives that reward companies for sending jobs overseas.  Democrats would end multi-billion dollar tax breaks and subsidies that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas, and will close loopholes – corporate tax shelters and foreign tax havens – that allow corporations to avoid paying their fair share. Democrats would also give priority for government contracts to companies investing in American jobs.

Infrastructure and economic development for rural America.  We would also create more than two million jobs by modernizing and rebuilding our national infrastructure, including highways, and clean water, which would benefit rural America.  Without good roads and the good jobs and commercial activity that go with them rural, America will be left behind. More than 3 million households in the rural U.S. continue to have inadequate or no water or sewer service, so investment in rural water and sewer systems is key to rural America.  We would also invest in economic development in rural America through the Economic Development Administration, Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority, and the Northern Great Plains Regional Commission that puts in place the infrastructure needed to attract business and better jobs.

Broadband to connect rural America.  Democrats would develop a national broadband policy to build the technological infrastructure needed to stay competitive in the 21^st century.  Broadband high-speed telecommunications service helps link rural America to the digital economy, and yet less than five percent of towns of 10,000 or less have access to either broadband or cable technology, compared to 56 percent of cities with populations over 100,000.