"Giannoulias Lays Our Plan to Help Unemployed"

Press Release

Last week, Alexi visited Peoria, IL, where nearly 1 out of every 10 people are out of work. There, he laid out his plan to jump start our economy and create jobs. The Peoria Journal Star reports:

Dave Lowder is an electrician from Bartonville who's been laid off for two years. Holly Schmitt of Peoria has not worked since February and has no money saved up, and Curt Lathrom worked only two months this year.

Lathrom of Washington said he doesn't want unemployment, he needs it. "Unemployment saves us from losing everything we have worked for."

Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, a former banker and one-term state treasurer, met with a small group Friday at the Peoria Bread Co., 1404 NE Monroe St., to discuss unemployment and what role the federal government can play in putting people back to work.

"People don't want bailouts or handouts, they want jobs," Giannoulias said of the estimated 14 million unemployed in the U.S. "This is a microcosm of what's happening across the state."

If elected, Giannoulias said he would support extending unemployment benefits, increase small-business owners' access to capital, support a job-creation tax credit for small businesses and a payroll tax holiday for low- to moderate-income workers and invest in infrastructure to create jobs.

"We're functionally obsolete when it comes to our national infrastructure," he said.

To offset costs of those proposals, Giannoulias said he would repeal "the corporate tax loophole that rewards the shipping of jobs overseas."

Source