The Fed Is Stepping Up To Help The Economy – Will Congress Help America’s Jobless?

The Federal Reserve recently announced it’s considering taking further steps to stimulate the economy and will meet in September to officially discuss its new plans.

The Fed is taking action to address the national jobs crisis. Why isn’t Congress?

The American economy produced a paltry 80,000 jobs last month. That’s after a May that logged an even more dismal 69,000 new positions.

The government can’t continue to stand idly by as the employment market flatlines. We need swift, serious action.

However, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke himself has recognized, it should not be up to the Fed alone to resuscitate the economy.  Any Fed action would take at least nine to 15 months before its effects are felt. Congress needs to do its part and pass the public policies needed to create jobs and bring down unemployment – immediately.

Perhaps lawmakers need to be reminded that fully 27 states suffered increases in unemployment last month. National news is now pockmarked by depressing headlines like “Rochester-area unemployment rate rises to 8.4 percent as more search for work” and “Unemployment rate up in metro Atlanta in June.”

It is unacceptable for our elected officials to allow this situation to linger on unabated.

As I’ve said before, a guaranteed way to stimulate job creation would be to create a modern iteration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). This program ran from 1935 to 1943 and employed some 8.5 million Americans for major public infrastructure projects.

Throughout the country, people were put to work at jobs ranging from building roads to writing books. Congress should realize the need for a similar program now to finally end the unemployment crisis.

The Federal Reserve is willing to take action to better the economy. Congress needs to do its part too.

Policymakers, though, seem content to continue to sit on the sidelines.

Voters need to make them feel the heat. This inaction and apathy is not acceptable. Millions of Americans can’t find work. The government needs to take action — now. Our country can’t wait any longer.