*American Jobs Act

Make It In America does mean success but Make It In America also means make it in America – manufacture it in America, grow it in America, sell it here and around the world. So that we can build our manufacturing sector, grow jobs in the manufacturing sector, and make sure our inventors, innovators, and developers don't migrate, as some fear, overseas where products are being taken to scale. So we believe that focusing it making it America so that the label will read ‘Made in America’ is very important as we grow our economy, sustain that growth over time and provide the kind of good paying jobs with good benefits that Americans need and want.

With no comprehensive jobs plan and little action taken to help put more Americans back to work, Republicans signaled willingness in September to find common ground on job creation after hearing from their constituents over August that they wanted to see bipartisan cooperation.

As the fiscal year comes to an end today, it’s time for a fiscal new year’s resolution to bring down our nation’s deficit in a balanced way and restore fiscal responsibility. Democrats are committed to deficit reduction, and it will require tough choices for both parties as well as shared sacrifice by all Americans.

 America is still recovering from the worst economic crisis many of us have seen in our lifetimes. For many African-Americans, recovery is not coming nearly fast enough. We have made some progress since the worst days of the crisis -- President Obama inherited an economy that was losing nearly three-quarters of a million jobs each month, and we now have had eighteen straight months of private sector job growth -- but more needs to be done.

Undoubtedly, the current economic crisis has had very negative effects on the Hispanic community. The overall unemployment rate among Hispanics is 11.3 percent, and among Latino youth, it’s even worse at 19.3 percent. Similarly, Hispanic small businesses have also suffered tremendously.

This time, President Obama did not compromise with himself beforehand, or put out a half measure in hopes of luring nonexistent Republican support. This time, he issued an unabashed call for economic fairness in cutting the federal deficit, asking as much from those on the economy’s upper rungs as from those lower down whose programs may be trimmed.

During Hispanic Heritage Month, we are reminded of the important contributions of the Latino community to our economy while at the same time we reflect on the fact that the Latino community has been one of the hardest hit communities by the recession. Democrats are committed to addressing this challenge by focusing on the Make It In America plan – a plan to support job creation by revitalizing American innovation and industry, rebuilding our communities and investing in education and our workforce.

The deficit reduction plan put forward by the President is a balanced approach to reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen entitlement programs and ensure that all Americans pay their fair share. But rather than work with Democrats on a balanced plan, Republicans immediately rejected the President’s proposal because it calls on all Americans to do their part. By opposing a plan that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share, Republicans will be forced to answer the question: Who do they stand with?