transportation, energy, education, health care, child and elder care, and many other necessary public and human services. (7) Unemployment and underemployment expose many workers and families to significant, social, psychological and physiological costs, including disruption of family life, the loss of individual dignity and self-respect, and the aggravation of physical and psychological illnesses. (8) Persisting unemployment and underemployment have devastating financial consequences, resulting in the loss of income and spending power for families, and interfering with their ability to save and accumulate assets for a secure family life and retirement. High levels of unemployment and inadequate consumer demand also contribute to poor conditions for retail businesses, manufacturers and many other firms to grow and prosper. In the real estate sector, the Congress finds that continuing high levels of unemployment contribute to foreclosures, evictions, and commercial vacancies, undermining the quality of neighborhood and community life, and hampering prospects for economic recovery and national prosperity. (9) The historic promise of this earlier legislation has not been fully realized, and we re-declare and reaffirm our support for achieving a national goal of jobs for all at living wages. (10) The United States has a duty under Articles 55 and 56 of the United Nations Charter to promote “full employment” and the “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”. The human rights the United States has a duty to promote pursuant to this obligation are set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration states that “Everyone has the right to work” and to “just and favorable remuneration” that insures for his or her family “an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection”. (11) The Congress has a strong interest in