February 24,2010

Press Contact:

Scott Mulhauser/Erin Shields
(202) 224?4515

Baucus Comment on Passage of First Jobs Bill

Act includes tax cuts, infrastructure investments to create good?paying American jobs

Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today applauded
Senate passage of H.R. 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The bill,
which passed the Senate today with bipartisan support on a vote of 70 to 28, is the first in the
Senate jobs agenda. The tax cuts for job creation passed today were originally proposed by
Baucus and Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) as part of a job
creation package earlier this month.

“In Montana and across the country many folks want to work, but can’t find good-paying
employment, so we must do everything we can to continue to create jobs,” Baucus said. “The
HIRE Act is a targeted approach that will cut taxes for businesses, helping them grow and hire
more employees and create new jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. Today’s
passage of the HIRE Act is the first step in the Senate’s jobs agenda to put Americans back to
work and strengthen our economy. We will continue working in the coming weeks and
months to create jobs for out-of-work Americans and ensure that America can compete in the
global economy.”

The HIRE Act includes four key provisions:

  • New Jobs Payroll Tax Exemption: offers an employer exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for every worker hired after February 3, 2010 and before January 1, 2011 that had previously been unemployed for at least 60 days. It also allows an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s income tax return.
  • Section 179 Expensing: helps small businesses grow by allowing them to write off more of the cost of their 2010 expenditures in lieu of recovering those costs over time through depreciation.
  • Highway Trust Fund Extension: extends existing highway programs which provide states and localities with the certainty they need to make decisions on projects. It allows for billions more to be invested in infrastructure throughout the nation and saves one million jobs.
  • Expanding Build America Bonds: allows state and local governments to borrow at lower costs to finance more infrastructure projects and put people to work.

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