[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 30, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  KICKING THE RECOVERY INTO HIGH GEAR

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, during this final week before the spring 
break, the House will cap off a strong winter of work helping the 
American people grow the economy and create jobs. With positive 
economic news continuing to come in, we can be sure times are good, yet 
equally sure they are not perfect.
  More Americans are working today than at any time in our history. 
Unemployment and interest rates remain low, the budget we passed last 
week is pointing the way toward fiscal accountability, and every day 
that passes brings us another day closer to victory in the war on 
terror.
  But, Mr. Speaker, our manufacturing industry continues to feel the 
squeeze of outsourcing; and certain segments of the population have not 
yet come to fully enjoy the economic recovery evidenced in all this 
economic data. People are still hurting. But thankfully, more help will 
soon be on the way. This week the House will consider the long-awaited 
Federal highway reauthorization bill, which will set and deliver on the 
highway transportation investment priorities for the rest of the 
decade. It is estimated that every billion dollars spent on highways 
creates 47,500 jobs. The TEA-LU bill we will take up this week will 
authorize $275 billion over the next 6 years.
  This is a jobs bill, plain and simple. When a new highway is built, 
new neighborhoods follow, then businesses to serve those neighborhoods, 
and then businesses to serve those businesses. A highway does not just 
mean asphalt. It means families and car pools and schools and office 
parks and grocery stores and shopping malls. It means more new jobs, 
from waiters and convenience store clerks to doctors and stockbrokers. 
Added to the tax relief Congress passed in 2001 and 2003, the highway 
bill will further grow the American economy, creating jobs, expanding 
opportunity, and changing lives along the way.
  Less than a week since we passed one of the strongest, most pro-
growth budgets in history and less than a week before we receive March 
job creation numbers, now is the perfect time for us to move on the 
highway bill. It is time, Mr. Speaker, to help the American people kick 
our economic recovery into high gear.

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