Stay Informed!

Notice: Undefined variable: Miscellaneous1 in /var/www/vhosts/solutionmedia.net/httpdocstemplates/BJ-detContent.php on line 13

Back to List

With up to 120,000 Pa. jobs at risk, Josephs asks: 'Where is Senator Specter?'

HARRISBURG, Dec. 17 – As the national economy continues to decline, state Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., is calling on U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter to take strong action.

"As the national economy continues to struggle, its impact is being felt in all of the country, including here in Pennsylvania," Josephs said. "Recent reports estimate that if the Big Three automakers go bankrupt, as many as 120,000 jobs could be lost in Pennsylvania. Yet Senator Specter was ineffective when it was the U.S. Senate's turn to act on the House-passed bill that would have offered GM and Chrysler a $14 billion rescue plan.

"Senator Specter says that he's concerned about the collapse of the American auto industry and how it could impact the country, but then why can't the senator -- with all his seniority and clout -- talk his fellow Republicans into taking steps that will rescue the jobs and savings of hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians?"

According to the study by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania would rank ninth among the states in negative impact from the bankruptcies. Nationally, the negative impact would equal 2.1 million jobs. Pennsylvania's loss of 120,100 jobs would account for 2.1 percent of state employment, estimated by the Keystone Research Center, and would include both direct job losses and jobs impacted by the reduction in consumption and investment.

"Senator Casey has been very vocal and out in front in support of helping our auto industry and its workers," Josephs said. "Where is Senator Specter?"

###