[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 168 (Wednesday, November 19, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H11519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AT&T WIRELESS ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Today in the Wall Street Journal, AT&T Wireless 
announced that they are going to lay off nearly 10 percent of their 
workforce, 3,000 employees, and outsource hundreds of other jobs to 
India. These 3,000 employees will be added to the 9 million Americans 
who already cannot find work and the 2 million Americans who are 
defined as long-term unemployed Americans. This economy, although 
growing, is stalled. As Goldman Sachs recently described, it is not a 
jobless economy, it is a job-loss recovery. As we have reached record 
consumer debt and bankruptcy, long-term record unemployment, adding 
additional employees today by the announcement of AT&T Wireless to lay 
off 3,000 employees, this economy is not working for middle-class 
Americans.
  There are some in this Chamber who like to spike the ball on the 40-
yard line and declare the mission accomplished as it relates to the 
economy. This economy is not working for middle-class families who find 
health care costs skyrocketing out of control, college costs 
skyrocketing out of control, their job in a tenuous position, and their 
bankruptcy and consumer debt rising faster than they can meet the 
demands of their family.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise and ask that Members of this Chamber focus on the 
needs of middle-class families and get the economy moving by producing 
jobs.

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