This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
President Barack Obama is right to challenge House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on the proposed American Jobs Act.
It's been three weeks since the president called on Congress to take meaningful action on jobs and the economy, but the Republican majority leader is blocking the bill from coming up for a vote in the House.
What exactly in the bill is Cantor opposed to? Is it tax cuts for small businesses, measures to help veterans and teachers, or investments to rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges?
The American Jobs Act is fully paid for. It puts teachers, firefighters, first responders and veterans back to work. It invests in schools and infrastructure, modernizing tens of thousands of classrooms and hiring construction workers for critical jobs right away. It cuts payroll taxes in half, allowing workers to keep more of their hard-earned money.
These are not Democratic or Republican ideas. They're common-sense measures that are desperately needed to put people back to work.
We deserve to know where the people we elected to serve us stand on the jobs bill.
Nisha Burke
Salt Lake City