Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today said news that 162,000 jobs were created last month is a sign that the economy is on the mend.

Bingaman pointed out that just over a year ago, the country was shedding more than 700,000 per month.

"We've come a great distance in a year's time.  Before Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last year, the economy was in freefall.  We were losing an average of 750,000 jobs each month and the economy was shrinking.  By the end of 2009, the economy was growing at nearly 6 percent," Bingaman said.

"Today we learned that the country gained 162,000 jobs last month, a swing of nearly one million jobs from last year.  The Recovery Act stopped the freefall and is helping businesses put more people back to work.  As difficult as this time has been for American families, there is no telling how much worse it would have been had we not taken bold action," Bingaman said.

"We are nowhere near where we need to be, but I believe that we are getting back on track – in large part because of the Recovery Act," he added.

But Bingaman said there is much more work to do to stimulate the economy.

Last month, Congress gave final approval to the HIRE Act – a new law that cuts taxes for businesses and enables investments in infrastructure.  It includes:

• Payroll Tax Exemption for businesses that hire new employees.  In addition, businesses would get up $1000 for each new employee who is kept on for one year.
• Helps small businesses grow by letting them write off up to $250,000 of new investments
• Extends authorization for highways and transit programs to allow for billions of infrastructure investments
• Expands the Build America Bonds programs to help local governments finance infrastructure projects in their communities

The Senate has also approved the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act, which was sent to the House of Representatives on March 10.  This measure includes:

• Extenders package of tax cuts for businesses, incentives for renewable energy, and tax cuts for education
• Also extends UI through the rest of this year, which economists agree is the most effective way to boost the economy.  UI supports consumer demand and helps families make ends meet.
• Provides another $25 billion in federal Medicaid dollars to help states close budget shortfalls so that they don't have to raise taxes