Congressman Tonko today joined a coalition of House members in calling on Senate Republicans to pass critical jobs legislation that has made it through the House but has yet to be acted on in the Senate. The members held a news conference at the House Triangle in Washington, before walking over to the Senate where they staged a sit-in on the Senate Chamber Floor.

"The failure of Senate Republicans to consider jobs legislation already passed by the House is a denial to human dignity, a denial to true economic turnaround, a denial to the American spirit, and a denial to rebuilding America," said Congressman Paul Tonko. "Unemployment is one of the largest factors driving our deficit – if Republicans were serious about deficit reduction and helping middle class Americans they would get to work immediately on creating jobs."

In this session, the House has passed the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, the Home Star Jobs Act, the America COMPETES Act, the Jobs for Main Street Act, and the Small Business and Infrastructure Act. None of these bills has come up for a vote in the Senate. If passed and signed into law, these bills would help create at least 1.5 million new jobs for Americans.

About a dozen House members took part in the demonstration, including Congressman John Larson of Connecticut, who is Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, and Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland.

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