Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Federal job guarantee.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 145 Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Federal job guarantee. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 22, 2021 Ms. PRESSLEY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor RESOLUTION Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Federal job guarantee. Whereas Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that ‘‘everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable condi- tions of work and to protection against unemployment’’; Whereas a job guarantee was a central demand and unfin- ished legacy of the civil rights movement, such that— (1) at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King, Jr., joined A. Philip Ran- dolph and Bayard Rustin in demanding a job guarantee; (2) in the subsequent decade, Coretta Scott King led a grassroots movement to enact a job guarantee; (3) these leaders all built on and advanced the work of earlier pioneers like Sadie T.M. Alexander, the Na- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 145 IH tion’s first Black economist, who advocated a job guar- antee to address racial discrimination against Black workers, while improving labor market conditions for all workers in the 1940s; and (4) throughout the past 100 years, activists and in- tellectuals like Ella Baker and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party have all seen a Federal job guarantee as a key element of racial justice; Whereas the right to a ‘‘useful and remunerative’’ job was the first and most fundamental right in President Frank- lin D. Roosevelt’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights and is a core plank of the Green New Deal movement and the People’s Justice Guarantee; Whereas a job guarantee is essential to any effort to close the racial and gender income and wealth gap; Whereas the United States has, on multiple occasions, includ- ing from 1945 to 1946, 1977 to 1978, and more recently, introduced legislation in an attempt to establish a full employment economy; Whereas the commitment to full employment has been em- braced by Congress and is part of the statutory mandate of the Federal Reserve System; Whereas the United States has experienced decades of in- creasing inequality, racial economic exclusion and in- equity, stagnant wages, declining union membership, and deteriorating workplace protections and conditions; Whereas the United States has experienced decades of chron- ic underinvestment in its communities, workforce, infra- structure, public services, agricultural and industrial heartland, and natural environment; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 145 IH Whereas the United States has, for decades, perpetuated a punitive, racist, ineffective criminal legal system that has systematically excluded millions of individuals from the workforce, failed to effectively promote reentry for pre- viously incarcerated individuals, and forced incarcerated individuals to work in oppressive and exploitative condi- tions for effectively no pay; Whereas the United States is experiencing a long-term eco- nomic crisis in which many workers are overworked, un- derpaid, and experience job and economic insecurity, with at least 100 million Americans living in or near poverty, and 28 percent of full-time workers earning less than $15 an hour according to the National Equity Atlas; Whereas the United States is facing a weak economy and sluggishly facing a grossly unequal recovery in the after- math of the global financial crisis that has benefited few at the expense of many; Whereas the United States presently fails to recognize, sup- port, or adequately remunerate the household and care work of millions of women, parents, and familial care- givers; Whereas economic prosperity in the United States has been highly unequal since its founding, largely falling on racial lines, with Black and indigenous Americans consistently earning less, owning less, and experiencing greater rates of economic precarity and poverty than White Americans; Whereas the United States has not increased the minimum wage for years, and maintains subminimum wage carveouts for incarcerated people, people with disabilities, and tipped workers; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 145 IH Whereas the United States presently exploits millions of un- documented workers, by forcing them to work in sub- standard conditions and below prevailing wages; Whereas the United States is presently experiencing a generational crisis, as millions of younger and older work- ers face structural barriers to meaningful participation in the workforce; Whereas the United States is underinvesting in creative, cul- tural, scientific, and knowledge industries, including high- er education, libraries, public art, and journalism; Whereas the United States is facing four overlapping and compounding crises, namely the COVID–19 pandemic, climate change, systemic racism, and extreme economic inequality, that together require a large-scale mobilization on the scale of World War II to address; Whereas the United States is experiencing a sustained eco- nomic depression, in which low-wage workers, and Black, Latinx, Native American, and other communities of color, as well as women and people with disabilities, have suf- fered disproportionate employment and income losses and face mounting debts; Whereas the United States is facing growing demand for care work and social services as the baby boomer generation retires from the workforce, and the senior population is expected to nearly double between 2018 and 2060; Whereas the United States is facing new workforce challenges relating to privacy, worker autonomy, data gathering and surveillance, and automation, as a result of new tech- nologies and the rapidly changing nature of industry, and these challenges have been accelerated by the COVID–19 pandemic; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 145 IH Whereas the United States currently suffers from high levels of underemployment, persistent joblessness among marginalized populations, and the growth of primarily low-quality jobs, resulting in— (1) the loss of millions of hours of potential output, as well as deterioration of skills and productive capacity; (2) lower community living standards, increased lev- els of working poverty and homelessness, and higher rates of individual and family suffering, including phys- ical and mental health problems; (3) higher rates of workplace discrimination, harass- ment, and a ‘‘last hired, first fired’’ approach that dis- proportionately affects vulnerable populations, including Black workers, women, LGTBQIA workers, workers with disabilities, formerly incarcerated workers, and young and elderly workers; (4) an effective minimum wage of zero for those who cannot obtain employment; and (5) an increasing fraction of the workforce forced to undertake multiple jobs, or engage in dangerous work with insufficient labor protections; Whereas reliance on private investment alone has never his- torically succeeded in establishing a true full employment economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake paid work can do so; Whereas reliance on education, skill development, job train- ing, and other ‘‘indirect’’ policies alone have never his- torically succeeded in establishing a true full employment economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake paid work can do so; Whereas untargeted, demand-increasing stimulus alone has never historically succeeded in establishing a true full em- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 145 IH ployment economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake paid work can do so; Whereas the Federal Government has the unique legal and fi- nancial capacity, relative to the local and State govern- ments and the private sector, to credibly commit to fund- ing the programs and institutions necessary to establish a true full employment economy, in which every indi- vidual wishing to undertake paid work can do so; Whereas the Federal Reserve, on its own, has never histori- cally succeeded in establishing a true full employment economy, in which every individual wishing to undertake paid work can do so, and by its own admission, lacks the necessary tools and capacity to do so; Whereas Congress and the Department of the Treasury have a demonstrated track record of successfully funding and administering direct job creation programs, including the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conserva- tion Corps during the New Deal, which created over six million jobs in less than a year; Whereas Congress and the Treasury have a demonstrated track record of mass-scale mobilization of the economy, including during World War II, when the United States maintained an average unemployment rate of under 2 percent, and successfully doubled real output of the en- tire economy in under 6 years in the face of an unprece- dented existential threat; and Whereas President Biden has taken Executive action on the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, in need of dedicated, permanent funding on a nondiscretionary basis, to mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers and maximize the creation of accessible VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 145 IH training opportunities and good jobs: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that— 2 (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to 3 create a Federal job guarantee— 4 (A) to finally eliminate the moral and eco- 5 nomic scourge of involuntary unemployment; 6 (B) to establish a true full employment so- 7 ciety, in which anyone who wants to undertake 8 paid work in the service of the community and 9 the environment has ample opportunities to do 10 so; 11 (C) to collectively achieve the greatest pos- 12 sible level of socially and ecologically sustain- 13 able prosperity, and share the fruits of that 14 prosperity equitably among all people; 15 (D) to empower the working class by offer- 16 ing every worker, regardless of his or her back- 17 ground, capacity, or status, the opportunity to 18 earn a fair, living wage, and to organize with 19 fellow workers to advocate for common inter- 20 ests; 21 (E) to ensure every person in America has 22 genuine and meaningful opportunities for edu- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 145 IH cation, training, career advancement, and choice 1 with respect to workforce participation; 2 (F) to update and expand our under- 3 standing of socially necessary or useful work to 4 include historically underrecognized and uncom- 5 pensated labor, including domestic and social 6 care, ecological preservation, and cultural, sci- 7 entific, and creative work; 8 (G) to promote justice and equity by stop- 9 ping current, preventing future, and repairing 10 historic oppression and discrimination of indige- 11 nous peoples, communities of color, migrant 12 communities, deindustrialized communities, de- 13 populated rural communities, the poor, low-in- 14 come workers, women, the elderly, the 15 unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth 16 (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘frontline and 17 vulnerable communities’’); 18 (H) to complete the unfinished legacy of 19 the civil rights movement and the New Deal, 20 and meet the contemporary challenges posed by 21 the climate crisis identified in the Green New 22 Deal resolution; and 23 (I) to meet the broader social and eco- 24 nomic challenges of the 21st century through 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 145 IH appropriate public investment, socially coordi- 1 nated planning, and industrial cooperation; 2 (2) the goals described in subparagraphs (A) 3 through (I) of paragraph (1) (the ‘‘job guarantee 4 goals’’) should be accomplished through an imme- 5 diate national mobilization— 6 (A) to establish and honor a legally en- 7 forceable right to fair, dignified, and decently 8 remunerated employment for all eligible individ- 9 uals living in the United States (hereafter the 10 ‘‘right to employment’’); 11 (B) to establish and honor a Bill of Work- 12 ers’ Rights, as a complement to the right to 13 employment, that addresses issues related to 14 worker exploitation, discrimination, harassment, 15 compensation, privacy, autonomy, choice of em- 16 ployment, working conditions, the right to orga- 17 nize and collectively bargain, suitable accommo- 18 dation for people with disabilities, protection 19 and expansion of existing safety net programs, 20 and other related concerns (hereafter the 21 ‘‘Workers’ Bill of Rights’’); 22 (C) to establish, implement, and admin- 23 ister a comprehensive and diverse range of so- 24 cially necessary and useful public projects, re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:50 Feb 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR145.IH HR145 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HRES 145 IH flective of community and regional needs, in- 1 cluding direct public job creation programs, and 2 to support related education, training, 3 credentialing, and career development pro- 4 grams, to ensure workers enjoy meaningful 5 choice and appropriate opportunities for growth 6 and advancement in their chosen area of em- 7 ployment (hereafter the ‘‘enabling programs’’); 8 (D) to design and implement the right to 9 employment, Workers’ Bill of Rights, and ena- 10 bling programs through transparent and inclu- 11 sive consultation, collaboration, and partnership 12 with frontline and vulnerable communities, 13 labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil society 14 groups, State and local governments, academia, 15 and businesses; 16 (E) to take ecological and equitable con- 17 cerns into consideration when designing and im- 18 plementing the right to employment, Workers’ 19 Bill of Rig [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]