ICYMI: TRIBLIVE OP-ED: NANCY PATTON MILLS: WE NEED JOE BIDEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE

* Here’s the truth of Trump’s economic record. When Trump was elected, the unemployment rate in Westmoreland County was around 5%. Today, after his chaotic response to the covid-19 pandemic and his penchant for playing favorites with the wealthy and well-connected, it’s well over 13%.

* Now, with our economy in shambles, the president of the United States still hasn’t released a plan to get us back on track. But Joe Biden has. His Build Back Better plan is going to do what Trump seems to fear: create an economy that rewards work, not wealth.

* Election day will be here before you know it — and we’ll have a chance to reverse the damage of the past few years. Visit IWillVote.com/PA and make a plan to vote so you’re ready to make your voice heard. We can get our communities back to work with good-paying union jobs. We can elect Joe Biden.


Tribune-Review: Nancy Patton Mills: We need Joe Biden in the White House

By Nancy Patton Mills

September 22, 2020

It’s easy to rattle off all the promises that President Donald Trump has made to Western Pennsylvania.

He promised to bring back manufacturing jobs.

He promised to stand up to China and be tough on trade.

He promised to stand up to a corrupt political system and fight for the working man.

Well, here we are near the end of his first term, and all that list has become is a set of Trump’s broken promises.

After nearly four years, he’s left our region far worse off than before. Today, he’s coming to Pittsburgh to try and sell us on more lies and empty promises.

Here’s the truth of Trump’s economic record. When Trump was elected, the unemployment rate in Westmoreland County was around 5%. Today, after his chaotic response to the covid-19 pandemic and his penchant for playing favorites with the wealthy and well-connected, it’s well over 13%.

Yes, some of that’s due to the ongoing pandemic, where Trump’s disastrous response has led to more than 200,000 American deaths and tens of millions of lost jobs. But let’s go back farther than that, to before any of us had even heard the word “coronavirus.”

At the beginning of the year, Pennsylvania manufacturing was in a recession. There were fewer manufacturing jobs here than there were under the Obama-Biden administration. Why? Because of Trump’s losing trade war and failure to stand up to China. His tariffs caused Western Pennsylvania steel factories to close down, and the price of goods to rise, forcing working families to pay more at the register.

Meanwhile, the president talks a big game about his tax bill, but let’s be clear about whose bill it really is: the Washington Republicans and corrupt lobbyists looking out for their corporate donors and wealthy CEOs. Why else would the majority of Pennsylvania’s share of the tax cut go to the top 5% of earners in our commonwealth? Why will it cause nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians to see their taxes go up rather than down by 2027? And why does the bill attack union workers by making it easier for corporations to ship jobs overseas?

Trump has never been a friend of union jobs, and his presidency has been one long campaign to weaken protections for working men and women. He’s turned the National Labor Relations Board — the body that helped tens of millions of Americans into organized labor and the middle class — into a pawn of anti-worker corporate interests. He’s tried to cut programs that offer training and support to workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing, slash jobs training programs for veterans, and gut funding meant to boost manufacturing in areas like our region.

Now, with our economy in shambles, the president of the United States still hasn’t released a plan to get us back on track.

But Joe Biden has. His Build Back Better plan is going to do what Trump seems to fear: create an economy that rewards work, not wealth. He wants to build a stronger, more inclusive middle class and create millions of high quality, high-skill jobs with the chance to join a union.

Here’s how Biden is going to get the job done:

He’s going to mobilize one of the biggest “Buy American” initiatives our country has ever seen, investing $400 billion in American jobs and products. His infrastructure plan will power new demand for American-made materials and services. And he’ll make sure our tax dollars are invested right here in Western Pennsylvania communities, not foreign countries.

Biden is committed to raising wages and securing stronger benefits for our workers in good union jobs and undoing the damage of Trump’s erratic trade policy.

So while Trump speaks today, remember his record. Remember that Biden is the candidate who cares about working families. Biden is right when he says this election is Scranton vs. Park Avenue. Mar-a-Lago doesn’t need a voice in the Oval Office, but Monessen and Greensburg do.

Election day will be here before you know it — and we’ll have a chance to reverse the damage of the past few years. Visit IWillVote.com/PA and make a plan to vote so you’re ready to make your voice heard. We can get our communities back to work with good-paying union jobs. We can get one of our own in the White House. We can elect Joe Biden.

Nancy Patton Mills is chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

Read the piece here

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