Sen. Brown Announces Passage of Bill Estimated to Create or Save One Million Jobs Across the Country

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced passage of The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act), bipartisan legislation that would provide tax incentives to businesses that hire unemployed workers and free capital for small businesses to expand operations. The bill, which will now head to President Obama's desk to become law, is estimated to create one million jobs across the country.

"This is about working alongside the private sector to put people back to work and help our small businesses expand operations," Brown said. "The HIRE Act will provide direct incentives to businesses that hire and retain unemployed workers while freeing up capital for small businesses."

The HIRE Act would provide a payroll tax holiday to businesses for each worker they hire who has been unemployed for at least 60 days, allow small businesses to write-off expenses so they can expand operations and hire new workers, and create jobs through investments in highway and transportation infrastructure. A more detailed summary of the legislation can be found below.

The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)

Incentives for Hiring and Retaining Unemployed Workers: The bill would offer employers an exemption from Social Security payroll taxes for each worker they hire in 2010 who has been unemployed for at least 60 days. The maximum value of this incentive is $6,621, which is equal to 6.2 percent of wages paid in 2010 up to the FICA wage cap of $106,800. This means that the longer a business has a new worker on its payroll, the greater the tax benefit it will receive. In order to promote long-term employment, there would be an additional $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks.

Freeing Up Capital for Small Business So They Can Expand Operations, Hire New Workers: To help businesses make the investments they need to grow and hire more workers, the bill would extend a Recovery Act provision on expensing. This would allow small businesses to deduct up to $250,000 of the cost of qualifying property in the year it is purchased, rather than waiting to recover their costs through depreciation deductions over a number of years.

Investing in Transportation Infrastructure, Highways, and Public Transportation: The HIRE Act would extend surface transportation projects - investing in our nation's infrastructure and helping states and localities make capital-intensive decisions. The bill would also transfer $20 billion to the Highway Trust Fund. By investing in infrastructure, the HIRE Act would boost the manufacturing and construction sectors. Under the HIRE Act Ohio would receive an estimated $1.39 billion in funds for critical infrastructure improvements.

Expanding Build America Bonds: Under current law, Congress provides tax credit bonds to state and local governments for certain school and energy projects - rather than getting interest payments from the bonds, investors get tax credits. Build America Bonds (BAB) is a separate program that helps state and local governments fund government works projects. When state and local governments issue these bonds, the Treasury pays a portion of the interest that the state/local government ordinarily pays to the bond holders. The HIRE Act would allow state and local governments to finance more projects that put people to work.

A list of Build America Bonds issued by Ohio entities follows:

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