WASHINGTON – In response to the news that the unemployment rate rose to 6.1% and that the US economy only added 266,000 jobs in April, Ellen Sciales, Press Secretary of Sunrise Movement, issued the following statement:

Today’s news makes clear that Biden must drastically expand the American Jobs Plan. The American people – the ones who worked like hell to elect him and invested their hope and their future in his agenda—cannot afford to wait any longer. It is time for Biden to pull us out of this economic spiral. Jobs are not going to magically come back. We need action now. 

“If Biden intends to take this economic crisis seriously, he will include a $10 trillion investment over the next decade into the American Jobs Plan to end the unemployment crisis and put millions of people to work in good, union jobs stopping the climate crisis. Specifically, Biden must include Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey’s Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) in the package and call on Congress to swiftly pass it, creating good jobs for 1.5 million people across the country, while helping them put food on the table, revitalize their communities and boost our economy. 

“Millions of people are out of work, and the unemployment rate is rising. The real risk isn’t doing too much—it’s doing too little.”

Sunrise Movement has demanded the administration make a $10 trillion investment over the next 10 years, or a $1 trillion investment per year, in infrastructure, both material and social, to take on the crises the nation is facing. In April, they released an explainer on Why $10 Trillion, expressing the need for legislation like the BUILD Green Act, the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, Clean Cars and Clean Transit for America, and more. This would also account for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey’s Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), a $132 billion investment over the next 5 years.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.