Hundreds Rally to Urge Senators Snowe and Collins to Support Maine Jobs and Families

More than one-hundred Maine Can Do Better coalition members gathered in Portland’s Lobsterman’s Park yesterday, calling on Maine’s U.S. Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, to support the H.R. 4213, the Jobs Bill that has stalled in the Senate.

“Failure to pass the Jobs Bill would have devastating consequences to critical health services, unemployed workers, school funding, jobs, and Maine’s economic recovery,” said Ana Hicks of Maine Equal Justice Partners, who spoke at the event, “Maine cannot afford to lose any more jobs.”

The Jobs Bill would extend unemployment benefits and health care subsidies, provide vital funding for affordable housing projects, and extend enhanced federal Medicaid funding to states. Without this funding, the Maine Center for Economic Policy estimates Maine would lose more than 2000 private and public sector jobs and the U.S. Department of Labor says that more than 30,000 Mainers would lose their unemployment benefits in the next six months. Thousand have already lost benefits this week because of the Senates failure to act.

“Failure to pass this legislation now is not an option,” said Mark Sullivan of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, “The economic security of thousands of Maine families hangs in the balance. Maine’s fragile economic recovery is at risk.  Congress needs to take action now before we slip even deeper into an economic recession.”

Already the Governor’s office is preparing itself for another budget crisis. Just yesterday Ryan Lowe, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, announced that Maine will face a $100 million budget shortfall without this federal funding, putting the jobs of educators, health care workers, and public safety officials at risk.

“What we’re really talking about when we say that Congress needs to pass this Jobs Bill is families,” said Jill Saxby of the Maine Council of Churches, “We’re talking about Maine families who are struggling to get by through the worse economic time since my grandmother was a single parent, raising two children in New York City during the Great Depression. As a nation we learned, even back then, that extraordinary times call for us to respond in extraordinary ways.”

“Keeping families working and giving them the supports they need to provide for their children are two of the best weapons we have to defend against some of the long-term consequences of this recession,” said Ellie Goldberg of the Maine Children’s Alliance.

Following the event, the coalition hand delivered more than 150 hand written post cards and letters to the Senators from Maine citizens telling of their personal stories of why the Jobs Bill is important to them and urging them to support H.R. 4213.