Democratic State Representative Mike Foley is taking a cue from former president Franklin Roosevelt. Foley wants to put a job creation program in place called the Ohio Works Progress Administration.
Foley - The OWPA would create 5000 jobs in the state of Ohio. It would pay those folks 27,500 with benefit. We'd divide it up so there would be at least 50 workers per county.
Foley says some larger counties could have more jobs.
Foley - We think this is an idea in the midst of a sluggish economy, no doubt about it, with massive unemployment in this state. We think Ohio could be a leader in terms of providing real jobs to real people in providing real jobs with real wages that benefit the community.
The jobs proposed could be in construction, home weatherization, soil and water conservation projects, lake and waterway maintenance, clean up in state parks and more. Foley and fellow sponsor Nickie Antonio say counties would be given input to determine what jobs are needed in their counties. And the democratic lawmakers say the new state jobs could be offered through existing agencies that are doing the work without creating a new big government agency. Antonio says the program wouldn't necessarily even need to be permanent.
Antonio - I don't' think this kind of program needs to be there for the long term but for the short term, it gets people working and going.
Antonio and Foley says the program wouldn't be paid for with new taxes. They say Ohio is currently on track to receive 800 million dollars more in revenue than had been anticipated….and they say this program would only take 400 million of that over a two year period. The Democrats say Ohioans want jobs….and this is one way to get 5000 new good jobs in place by the end of this year. When asked about chances this plan will get serious consideration by majority Republicans, Foley responds this way:
Foley - Probably unlikely. However, I think it's important for us to offer alternatives in contrast to what Republicans offer in terms of economic development in this state which I don't think is much.
Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute of Ohio says he doesn't think it's a good idea for a couple of ideas.
Mayer - Well, one, the stimulus act failed to do that in the first place out of Washington. Why does it now make sense to do a state based program when the first one failed. And two, this money has to come from somewhere. That means it's coming from the pockets of taxpayers. I'd rather keep the money in their pockets and have them creating, whether it's buying goods and services, expanding their businesses and doing things that getting us back to work.
Mayer says he has problems with creating a program like this based on income revenues.
Mayer -This money's not there yet. So again, they are spending money they don't have and we have a two year budget to deal with. Who knows if there's a downturn in the economy. If that money is already spent before we have it in a rainy day fund. We will have that money spent. Then we have to find that money by cutting more programs for vulnerable populations or raise taxes. Either way, it's not a good answer.
But the Democrats say Republicans have failed to create jobs in the first six months of this legislature. The plan the Ohio WPA bill will be filed in the legislature by the end of this week.
