(Washington, DC) - Congresswoman Corrine Brown made the following statement:

"Our nation is facing an economic crisis that is of greater proportion than any since the Great Depression.  In 2008, we witnessed 2.6 million lost American jobs: unemployment nationwide skyrocketed to over 8%, while unemployment in the state of Florida climbed to above 8.6%.  Clearly, our nation is desperately in need of a new direction economically, and we have been told by economists and specialists in the financial industry alike that if we do not act, the economic crisis will worsen, and the unemployment rate will rise even further.

As a response, an economic stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was passed into law, with the goal of saving or creating several million jobs nationwide.  With this funding, the state of Florida will be able to:

• Create or save over 200,000 jobs in Florida over the next two years;

• Provide a Make Work Pay tax cut of up to $800 for nearly seven million Florida workers and their families, designed to start paying out immediately into workers' paychecks, as well as tax cuts to spur businesses large and small;

• Lower health care costs and improve care by computerizing medical records, which will create jobs, and help those who cannot afford health care in these difficult times;

• Modernize roads and bridges and create jobs with an extra $1.3 billion in Florida, along with over billions of dollars in critical infrastructure, and billions of dollars for high-speed rail,

• Modernize schools and make college more affordable with improved Pell Grants for the nearly 400,000 Florida Pell Grant recipients, and a higher education tax credit for nearly 200,000 Florida students;

• Help workers hurt by the economy, including 750,000 Floridians out of work, who have lost their health care, and seniors; and

• Save the jobs of teachers, police officers, health care workers, and protect the vital services they provide.

To ensure that Northeast Florida receives its fair share of the stimulus dollars, Mayor Peyton and I will be holding a summit on Monday, March 23rd, to provide an overview of competitive grant funding in the law.  The event will be held at Florida Community College's Technology Center from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  Participants will be briefed by representatives from various federal agency officials, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Transportation, Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development, who will assist them to access funding in the law.  I will also host a summit that same day at The Jacksonville Transit Authority's headquarters, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., for minority and women-owned business owners on accessing stimulus funds."

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