‘Jobs Not Jails’: Sen. Sanders Calls for Legislation to Employ 1 Million Young People

‘The time has come for us to be investing in jobs and education for our kids, not jails and incarceration’

“Madam President, I applaud President Obama for visiting a federal penitentiary today, to highlight the fact that, tragically, the United States has more people in jail than any other country on earth and one of the reasons that we have so many people in jail is that we have an obscenely high level of youth unemployment. For young white kids 33 percent, for Hispanic kids 36 percent, for African-American kid 51 percent. Madam President, the time has come for us to begin investing in jobs and education for our kids, not jails and incarceration. This bill over two year period would create 2 million jobs for our young people, it is paid for by closing the carried interest loophole that allows billionaires to pay a lower tax-rate than working class Americans. It is high time we address this issue of high youth unemployment. I ask for bipartisan support.”

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