The Peoria Journal recently sat down with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s President and CEO, Tom Donohue to answer some vital questions about the economy and the Chamber’s values before he spoke to the 2011 mid-year graduating class of Bradley University. Below are some highlights from the Peoria Journal interview:

What's the most important need right now in the country? We need to create jobs that will take people off public assistance and make them more active consumers. There are plenty of opportunities out there - 3.5 million jobs that companies don't have anybody to fill - yet there is a jobs crisis in this country. So how do you get a job? A degree will help. It's also a matter of how aggressive or flexible you are. Where are you willing to go? Looking for a job is a 60-hour-a-week proposition. We hire people (at the chamber) who are hustling.

What's needed on the legislative front? We desperately need an immigration bill. We have people that come here for seasonal work. In California, they can't find enough people to work, so you know what they're doing? They're planting crops in Mexico. We need to be able to have people come back and forth. We have 12 million people here illegally. We don't need to make them citizens; we need to make them legal.

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