Rep. Young offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 178.

            A resolution to urge the United States Conference of Mayors to revisit and update their study of the impact of federal jobs programs in urban areas.

            Whereas, In its seminal work on urban development and renewal, Rebuilding America's Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors outlined a policy agenda that clarified the federal government's role in supporting our cities, and, in particular, the enhancement of employment opportunities in our urban cores. This study, in part, called for a "…thorough, comprehensive private and public sector response to the nation's structural unemployment and underemployment problems." Now, nearly twenty years later, the unemployment rate is back up to the levels experienced at the time of the study. Unemployment and underemployment particularly plague many of those in our urban areas; and

            Whereas, Indeed, the United States Conference of Mayors study found near Great Depression levels of unemployment in our nation's cities. This problem was widening for minorities, women, youth, and the economically dislocated who, without federal job assistance, were being left out of the knowledge and technology-based employment sectors. As our state and our nation undergo an economic transformation to the new economy, this situation is more serious now than it was in the 1980's. Clearly, it is imperative that the federal government step up and renew its support of federal jobs programs that will allow the unemployed and underemployed to become a part of the workforce of the future; and

            Whereas, The United States Conference of Mayors study found that discrimination, demographic trends, worldwide inflation, energy crises, international competition, and domestic microeconomic forces all contributed to the expansion of unemployment and underemployment. These forces are with us today, and, without federal jobs programs, they will continue to thwart the state's efforts to promote jobs. Indeed, the report went on to state that "…employment is basic to the health and welfare of U. S. citizens and, consequently, can be viewed as a constitutional responsibility of the federal government."; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we hereby urge the United States Conference of Mayors to revisit and update their study of the impact of federal jobs programs in urban areas; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the United States Conference of Mayors.