The most urgent challenge for the 113th Congress is to help restore the jobs that were lost in the recession. I supported the steps taken in 2008 and 2009 to prevent a depression and begin our economic recovery, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; federal assistance for the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler; the HIRE Act and Small Business Jobs and Credit Act; and emergency unemployment benefits.

I will continue to search for ways to support our economic recovery. That means support for manufacturing, which is the heart of the Michigan economy and crucial to the strength of the national economy. I believe that continued federal support for development of next-generation energy technologies is important not just for the environment, but for creation of new and long-lasting jobs.

I also believe the tax code should be changed to end incentives for companies to move jobs overseas and to encourage job creation in the United States.

A dynamic and growing economy is fully compatible with fair wages, worker safety and collective bargaining rights. I am concerned that incomes at the top of the U.S. economy have grown rapidly while the earnings of working families have stagnated. I am an original cosponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would protect the rights of employees to bargain collectively and is in keeping with the positive historic role organized labor has played in raising living standards for working families.

And as a senior member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, I support the important role small businesses play in creating jobs and growing the economy, and will work to give them the tools they need to succeed.

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