THE ISSUES

STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMY

When Barbara Boxer was first elected to the Senate in 1992, the U.S. economy was stuck in a severe recession. California was particularly hard hit. Over the next eight years, Senator Boxer supported policies that resulted in the longest period of economic expansion in the nation's history. Now, however, the economy is again at a low point, and the American people are hurting: jobs have been lost (in many cases overseas), wages have declined, college tuition and health care premiums are rising, and the federal budget has the largest deficit ever. Senator Boxer is working to strengthen both California's economy and America's -- and to help middle-class families cope with the tough times.

• Senator Boxer and Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada are the authors of the Invest in the USA Act. This legislation, which was signed into law in October 2004, encourages American companies to bring overseas profits back to the United States to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. According to one economic estimate, the Invest in the USA Act will create over 600,000 new American jobs.
• Along with Republican Senator George Allen of Virginia, Senator Boxer authored the Jumpstart Broadband Act. This bill would make more spectrum available for use by devices that incorporate new broadband technology, such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), thus helping to reinvigorate California’s high-tech industry and give consumers new ways of accessing the Internet. The Federal Communications Commission has implemented the Boxer-Allen bill. Boxer also supported legislation to provide a 20 percent tax credit for expanding broadband to rural areas.
• In March 2004, Senator Boxer offered an amendment to the federal budget to create a $24 billion jobs reserve fund. The amendment would set aside funds for a variety of investments to improve the economy and create jobs by establishing a manufacturing jobs tax credit for companies that create jobs in the United States, expanding investment in science research and development, providing a tax credit to small businesses to pay for health insurance for their employees, and expanding trade adjustment assistance to help those who lose their jobs because of foreign trade. The Boxer amendment would also end the tax break that companies receive for moving plants overseas.
• Senator Boxer is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is the primary committee charged with writing the six-year transportation bill. The version of the bill that was approved by the Committee and passed by the Senate would more than double annual federal transportation funding for California since Boxer first came to the Senate creating tens of thousands of jobs in California
• Senator Boxer wrote a bill to make permanent the Research and Development tax credit, which creates jobs by encouraging companies to invest in innovative research.
• Senator Boxer offered an amendment in 2004 to increase the national minimum wage to help those working families struggling to make ends meet. Boxer’s amendment would have increased the minimum wage in three stages from the current $5.15 an hour to $7.00 an hour.
• To help those who have lost their jobs in this economic downturn, Boxer supports a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and expanded job retraining programs.
• Boxer authored three bills to make it easier for families to afford health insurance, one of the biggest strains on family budgets today. First, she wrote the bill to provide a $2,000 tax deduction for the costs of premiums. Second, she introduced legislation to give Americans access to the same health insurance program that members of Congress have. And third, she introduced a bill to provide a health insurance tax credit to small businesses in states that require companies to provide health benefits to their employees.
• The strength of America’s economy depends on a highly-skilled and well-educated workforce. Recognizing this, Boxer has been a leader in promoting the use of technology in the classroom. She wrote legislation to provide an enhanced tax deduction for companies that donate new and nearly new computers for educational purposes. Her concept became law. She is also an outspoken proponent of fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act and supports increasing the tax deduction for the costs of a college education.
• To help states like California that were hard hit by the recession, Senator Boxer supported providing direct federal grants to states to help cover budget shortfalls. She continues to push to supplement state health care budgets by expanding federal Medicaid grants. In addition, Boxer is the author of legislation, which passed the Senate, to help state and local governments pay the salaries of first responders who are members of the National Guard and Reserves and are called to active duty.
• The entertainment industry is one of California’s major industries and one of America’s largest exports. However, in recent years, film and TV production itself has been exported, costing American jobs. Boxer pushed legislation, now law, to provide a tax break to encourage film and TV production to stay in the United States. In addition, Boxer is working to protect the intellectual property of our film, music, and software industries through her support of anti-piracy measures. Theft of intellectual property, both here and abroad, is having a devastating impact on the entertainment industry.
• To reinvigorate the high-tech industry in California, Senator Boxer has been a leading opponent of imposing access and sales taxes on the Internet, co-authoring a bill with Republican Senator George Allen in 2001 to extend the Internet tax moratorium for five years. She also co-authored of bipartisan legislation to protect the stock options that many high-tech companies offer to their employees to recruit and retain a talented workforce.
• Boxer has been an outspoken advocate of California’s farm economy, particularly for reducing trade barriers and eliminating unfair foreign trade practices. She has fought for California’s garlic, almond, tomato, and grape farmers, among others. Boxer has also been a leader in fighting to preserve and expand the Market Access Program, which helps promote California farm products overseas.
• Senator Boxer is fighting to keep California’s bases open and is working to ensure that already closed bases are cleaned up so that they can be used by local communities for economically beneficial activities.
• Boxer is a strong advocate for stem-cell research, which has the potential to help those with diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, spinal cord injuries, and other diseases. Expanded stem-cell research would be a boon to the California biotech industry and would attract world-class scientists to California’s universities.
• To make it easier for local communities facing economic troubles to create jobs and stimulate growth, Senator Boxer authored legislation to eliminate the local match that hard-hit communities must pay to receive federal funding for airport improvements.