America Recruits Act

Senator Warner's "America Recruits Act," introduced in February 2010, would direct the U.S. Department of Commerce to create and administer a federal loan program to provide an additional incentive for employers to locate IT and manufacturing jobs here in the United States instead of overseas. 

Here is what the "America Recruits Act" will do:

In January, Senator Warner traveled to Danville to preview his proposal. He made the announcement at the Essel Propack manufacturing facility -- an India-based manufacturing company he helped to bring to the region when he served as Virginia's governor. Since coming to Danville in 2002, Essel Propack has create more than 200 jobs and invested close to $100 million in Southside.  For more information about the Danville visit, click here.

• Loans of up to $10,000 per job would be awarded to state, local or regional economic development agencies for use in their overall incentive package. These agencies would be required to provide at least a 25% match.

• Loans would be interest-free, and would be disbursed in two, $5,000 per-job-per-year installments to the employer.

• If the firm lives up to its promise to “onshore” eligible jobs, its initial installment will be forgiven after the first year. It also would become eligible for the second loan installment of $5,000.

• If the firm retains the onshored eligible jobs for the entire second year of the loan, the second installment will be forgiven at the end of the second year.

• If a loan recipient fails to honor its commitments, it must repay the first installment and would not be eligible to receive the second. If it fails to make the second certification, it must repay both installments.

• Loans could not be used to move a job from one state to another. They are designed to provide an incentive to locate jobs in America that potentially or currently are located overseas. 

• The estimated $40 million cost of the program would be more than offset by the economic activity generated by these new jobs. For instance, a job paying $50,000 per year typically results in almost $6,000 in annual federal and state sales and income tax payments.

• In addition, economic development models show that each new high-end manufacturing and IT job typically “spins-off” other economic activity, including the creation of between four and five additional new jobs. A formula used by the U.S. Commerce Department shows Sen. Warner's proposal could result in the creation of nearly 24,000 direct and indirect jobs.