Williams: No. 1 priority is help get Obama jobs bill passed

BOARDMAN — Jay Williams, who resigned last month as Youngstown mayor to take a job in the Barack Obama administration, said his No. 1 priority is helping get the president’s proposed $447 billion jobs bill passed.

Williams is the director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers.

When fully implemented, the jobs bill will help the economies of urban industrial cities, such as Youngstown, Cleveland and Detroit, Williams said.

“There isn’t any city [like those] that wouldn’t have significant benefits from infrastructure investments and the immediate benefit of more jobs as well as tax cuts for small businesses,” Williams said of the Obama proposal.

The bill would increase federal spending on public-works projects, give a tax break to small businesses who hire the unemployed, extend and expand the Social Security payroll cut, and extend unemployment benefits.

Republican leadership and some congressional Democrats aren’t sold on the bill, saying it’s too costly and more details are needed.

“The fact that the president is crisscrossing the country explaining the bill, how it gets funded and trying to make sure it doesn’t get bogged down shows how important it is,” Williams said.

Williams was at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman tonight at a dinner in his honor, sponsored by the Youngstown Warren Black Caucus, a regional political organization.

It was his first public appearance in the Mahoning Valley since he started working in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 8.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com