Results tagged “economicrecovery”

Chrysler will start a temporary second shift at its Belvidere, Illinois plant later this month to boost production of its popular Dodge Caliber line. The company wanted to increase production in October, but delayed the move due to supplier shortage, no surprise as the auto parts industry has been wracked with shutdowns and bankruptcies since the economic crash last year. Chrysler currently employs about 1,700 workers at that plant, and the additional shift is expected to put another 1,000 back to work.

When he isn't warning Chinese government officials of the duplicitous ways of the current White House administration, Mark Kirk has been fairly vocal about how we should handle the current economic downturn. Kirk, who is running for the U.S. Senate Seat that is up for grabs next year, has been a critic of how the money in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being spent. One of those key criticisms is that there is too much "social spending" and not enough focus on infrastructure spending. Few would disagree that capital spending on transit and buildings has a direct impact on putting people to work. And the debate over social spending - such as student loans, extended unemployment benefits and education spending - is as valid as the divide between fiscal conservatives and their counterparts in the progressive camps.

The Illinois Tollway Authority announced last week that it is issuing a $500 million bond to pay for on-going rehab work, a $6.3 billion program now in its fifth year. The bond issue is one of the first Build America Bonds in Illinois, the result of a provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which includes a federal tax-credit to states and municipalities to issue taxable bonds. The deal, which is still being finalized, will issue $400 million in taxable Series A Build America Bonds, and $100 million of Series B tax-exempt bonds. Both bonds mature in 2034.

Mayor Daley and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced that O'Hare won a $12 million dollar grant for improvements to the airport, as part of the city's first economic recovery program. About $5 million of those funds will be used to replace runway pavement, and nearly $7 million will be used to widen a taxiway. "Both of these projects are important for the safe and efficient operation of this airport," Daley told CBS2. "They couldn't have been done at this time without the assistance of the federal grant." The mayor also pointed out that none of the funding will be used for the O'Hare Expansion Project, which is currently behind schedule and about $130 million over budget.

The mayor plans to spend $260 million on education, for after-school programs and teacher recruitment and training, as well as expanding Head Start for some 10,000 children. Daley also plans to rebuild 43 miles of pothole-filled arterial streets, while upgrading the fleet of police cars, including the installation of more cameras and finance more police overtime. The mayor also plans to spend about $144 million to convert existing condominum stock into affordable rentals, and $31 million to rehabilitate the Altgeld Gardens and Phillip Murray Homes on the South Side. “There are many opportunities to create jobs and protect people in their quality of life,” Daley said.

On Tuesday a European Union trade committee approved temporary anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of biodiesel from the United States. One of the companies affected by this decision is Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which is headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM will face a tariff of 26 euros (about $32) per 100 kg of biodiesel imported, beginning March 13. The tariffs are the latest salvo in an ongoing trade dispute that has been simmering between Brussels and Washington. "If ... these duties will be imposed, then this proves our complaint was well founded," Raffaello Garofalo, secretary general of the European Biodiesel Board, told Reuters. "This will re-establish a level playing field and put an end to unacceptable and artificial prices created by U.S. biodiesel producers."

Serious Materials, a California-based manufacturer of eco-friendly building materials, completed the purchase of the Republic Windows and Doors factory in bankruptcy court late last week, announcing that they would rehire all of the 250 workers that lost their jobs when the plant abruptly closed last December. The site, which was the center of a sit-in by the workers, who are members of United Electrical Workers Local 1110, is expected to begin operations again in a matter of months.

After a long night of congressional aides and clerks working on the specifics and minutiae of the bill, as well as assurances from three key Republicans in the Senate - Arlin Specter of Pennsylvania, and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday afternoon that the House and the Senate had reached a compromise on the Obama administration's centerpiece economic recovery bill. “Like any negotiation, this involved give-and-take, and if you don’t mind my saying so, that’s an understatement,” Reid said.

Caterpillar confirmed Tuesday that President Obama will tour one of their plants Thursday in Peoria before heading to Springfield for a dinner to honor Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan told the Peoria Journal Star that Cat has been "working closely the last two days with the White House and the Secret Service," and that they are thrilled and honored to be hosting President Obama this week. It is a great honor for Caterpillar and our employees to see and hear the president."

President Obama held a prime time national press conference last night, addressing the American public about the state of the economy and the need for a recovery plan that is "big enough and bold enough to meet the size of the economic challenge we face right now." Speaking of the people he met in Elkhart, IN today, "a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America," and faces 15% unemployment, Obama urged swift action to bring the first piece of major legislation to his desk in days, not weeks.

The White House announced Thursday that President Obama will hold a prime time press conference on Monday, February 9, at 7 p.m. Chicago time. The President will also address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24. That address is being billed as his first State of the Union, and that he will submit his first budget to Congress by the end of February or the beginning of March. No word yet on how this will impact his ability to drive the discussion on his economic recovery legislation.

Earlier this week the White House released its fact sheet (PDF, see page 27) on the "immediate, tangible impacts" of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, Barack Obama's centerpiece legislation to address the economic crisis. Among the billions of dollars proposed to be pumped into the economy, Illinois would stand to benefit from transit and infrastructure projects, green jobs and a mix of tax credits and government benefit extensions.

Mayor Daley addressed the media Wednesday evening in his typically candid fashion, taking on lazy city workers, "shovel-ready" projects for the pending federal economic recovery bill and criticism from Fith Congressional District candidates over his plan to privatize Midway Airport. Defending his sell of off city assets, including Midway, Daley said city workers are "clock watchers" who don't care about customers. "They're not customer-related. They're gonna leave at 5 o'clock. They're gonna leave at 4:30 or 4:00. I'm sorry. We're on a time clock. They walk out. But, in the private sector, when you have a customer, you're gonna stay there making sure they're happy and satisfied," Daley told the press. "We can't compete with the private sector. The private sector has a complete idea of who your customers are. Government doesn't have customers. They only have citizens."