Marathon Pundit: Kinzinger travels IL 11th district, asking small business owners: What will it take to create 1 more job?

Walnut, IL, 11th cong. district

Illinois' unemployment rate is 10.0 percent. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) is asking small business owners, "What will it take to create one more job?

From a Kinzinger press release:

Joliet, Ill. - Today, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) continued talking with small business owners across the 11th Congressional District in Bourbonnais, Bloomington and Ottawa, asking them what Washington can do to help their business create one more job. Kinzinger spearheaded the "one more job" initiative earlier this month along with his Illinois freshman colleagues Congressmen Dold, Hultgren, Schilling and Walsh.

"The November jobs report showed minor progress toward tackling our nation's high unemployment, but with more than 13 million Americans still out of work, we still have a great deal of work to do," Kinzinger began.

"Here in Illinois, one in ten of our neighbors are out of work. We constantly hear about a company that is looking to leave or is already on its way out the door. And what are some of the reasons for business leaving? Taxes are too high and regulations are too burdensome.

"Since coming to Congress in January, my Illinois freshmen colleagues and I have taken a direct approach to change the 'Washington knows best' agenda, to talking to those who actually do know best about what it will take to get Americans back to work and our economy moving: small business owners.

"I'm not a small business owner. So if I went to Washington, D.C. and acted like an expert in small business but never talked to small business owners, then I would be disingenuous. In order for me to know how to advocate for exactly what needs to be done, I need to hear from them. Today we are here to offer a new approach - one that a fellow freshman colleague began in Colorado - we are asking small businesses to tell us what Washington must do to empower their business to create one more job."

On December 12th the five freshmen Congressmen launched the initiative, seeking out ideas from small business owners in each of their districts via mail, email, phone and other means. Business owners are asked to take a moment and send their congressman an email or letter to let them know what action Washington must take in order for their business to be able to create one more job.

Small business owners in the 11th District can send Congressman Kinzinger an email at IllinoisJobs11@mail.house.gov or a letter to the Joliet Office (2701 Black Rd, Joliet, IL 60435) by January 6, 2012 and tell him what it will take for their business to create one more job.

Once all of the ideas and suggestions are collected, the conngressman will take them directly to Senator Durbin, Senator Reid and the president.

NOTE: While 120,000 jobs were added in November, much of this was due to temporary holiday hiring and it was still 30,000 jobs short of the total needed in November just to keep up with population growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 150,000 jobs must be added every month in order to keep up with the growth in population. In addition, 315,000 more people completely gave up looking for work in November.