[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2465-H2471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Blackburn). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Cummings) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority
leader.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, it certainly is my honor and my pleasure
[[Page H2466]]
to join with the Congressional Black Caucus in this special order.
Before I get started, I could not help but hear the comments of my
colleagues from the other side. I just find it so interesting that the
chairman said just a moment ago, we should not get caught up in who
shot John. But over the last hour or so, that is exactly what has been
done. The fact still remains that John Kerry went to war, that John
Kerry earned medals, that John Kerry gave his blood, sweat and tears
for this country, and it is interesting that while John Kerry and
others fought in Vietnam where, sadly, 58,000 young men and women died
and he fought alongside of them for what this country is supposed to be
all about and upholding our Constitution, and the fact is that when he
came back and he provided his observations, by the way, exercising his
first amendment rights of freedom of speech, now some many years later
he is being criticized for what he said.
Madam Speaker, I think that in this country we have to be very
careful that if on the one hand we are going to salute the flag, shed
tears at baseball games when the Star Spangled Banner is played, stand
up over and over again for our men and women who are in harm's way, I
think one of the greatest things that we can do to honor them is not be
about the business of tearing up anyone for doing exactly what those
men and women in Iraq and in Vietnam and in Korea and in other wars
have done. What they are there about is uplifting our Constitution.
John Kerry had the right to come back and express his observations.
I, too, like the last speaker on the other side, am getting tired of
this back and forth of who did this and who did that. But the fact
still remains that when all of the dust clears and when we look at what
in fact did happen, there was a man named John Kerry that got on a
plane and went to a foreign land called Vietnam, that he obeyed the
orders of his Commander in Chief, that he stood up in a war over and
over and over again. I am not even going to get into what the President
may have been doing or not been doing. But I do know that another thing
we should not do, and I think it is as denigrating to our soldiers when
we go after one of them who has already served and when he comes back
and expresses his views, is to say to him that there is something wrong
with you. We must be about the business of upholding this wonderful
document called the Constitution of the United States of America.
And so, Madam Speaker, before I begin, I just want to take a moment
to salute our troops. I salute the young men and women who I see at
Walter Reed Army Hospital with amputated legs and arms and hands. I
salute our young men and women, and the Congressional Black Caucus, we
salute the young men and women who are standing up for us over and over
and over again and obeying the commands of their Commander in Chief. I
salute the families of those who have lost men and women, husbands,
wives, friends, relatives, fathers, daughters, aunts, uncles in this
war in Iraq.
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So let it not be said that while members of the Congressional Black
Caucus before this war started stood up and said to the President,
please, do not go to war, now that we are there, we salute our troops
and we pray for them.
Madam Speaker, tonight we come as the Congressional Black Caucus to
the well of this House to talk about some very interesting situations
in our country that are domestic as opposed to foreign.
There are many people in our country who are watching us tonight who
at the end of the week will have no paycheck. When their daughter or
son comes and says, mommy, can I go to the movie with my friends, they
will not have the money to give to them. The reason for that, Madam
Speaker, is because they have no jobs. So we rise as the Congressional
Black Caucus this evening to discuss the state of our Nation's economy.
As you well know, Madam Speaker, we are now approaching graduation
season. I am sure that you and many other Members of this great
Congress will be fanning out across the country delivering commencement
addresses at local colleges and universities. In fact, next Saturday I
will be traveling to North Carolina to speak to the 2004 graduating
class of Shaw University.
Madam Speaker, I have to be honest with you, I really have been
wrestling with exactly what I am going to tell these optimistic,
intelligent young people about their prospects of finding a job once
they have earned their degrees.
At this very moment, Madam Speaker, there are over 8 million people
without a job in America. The members of the Congress Black Caucus and
I have come to the House floor time and time again to remind this
Congress and the president of this fact.
Over 8 million people, some of whom are probably watching this
special order right now on C-SPAN, some of them unable to watch it
because they cannot afford cable, but those people woke up this morning
without a job. There are people in small-town America, in rural
America, in urban America, in black America and in white America that
have not yet realized the recovery of the economy because they are
still without a job.
The truth is, Madam Speaker, our Nation's unemployment situation is
not just reserved to the service industry or the manufacturing
industry. All segments of our economy have been affected, and, as a
result, all segments of our population are feeling the awful sting of
joblessness.
So, Madam Speaker, what do I tell these young people at Shaw
University? Should I tell them to hold on to their degree until
President Bush's trickle-down economic policies take hold? Should I
tell them that this President has yet to create one net job, but if
they just hold on for one, two, maybe three years longer, that will
change? What do I tell them, Madam Speaker?
Madam Speaker, it is indeed time for change in this country. It is up
to us, the stewards of government, to turn this cycle of fiscal and
economic mismanagement around.
Next Friday, the Department of Labor will release its monthly report
on this Nation's unemployment situation. Unlike last month, I hope this
month's report will reveal a decrease in the African American
unemployment rate, which is consistently almost double that of the
national rate.
So that we will be clear on what those numbers are, African American
unemployment in this country is 10.2 percent. The national rate is 5.7
percent. It is interesting that just a few weeks ago the New York Times
published an article where it said that in New York, 50 percent of
African American males are unemployed. They did not say the
unemployment rate is 50 percent. The reason why they did not use the
words ``unemployment rate'' is because those are people they can
measure. They concluded there were 50 percent of the African American
males who did not have a job.
Madam Speaker, while Wall Street is celebrating a rebounding economy,
people on Main Street, America, are agonizing over how to simply pay
their bills.
In March, more people exhausted their Federal unemployment benefits
than in any other month in the last 30 years. These educated, hard-
working Americans are now unable to find a job and unable to receive
the Federal help that was allowing them to feed and clothe their
families in the interim.
As I travel throughout my district, the number one request that I get
from my constituents is, Mr. Cummings, can you help me find a job?
There are almost 120,000 people in my home State of Maryland that were
unemployed in March. To be honest, I have trouble explaining to them
why it is that, despite their skills, despite their education and their
desire, they are unable to find gainful employment in this great land
of opportunity.
When I think of my constituents who just want to provide for their
families, I cannot help but be bothered when I hear the President and
my colleagues on the other side of the aisle blame all of the country's
economic woes on September 11, corporate scandals and the drumbeat to
the Iraq war.
I realize that my colleagues are probably facing the same questions
from their constituents regarding unemployment as the folks in
Baltimore and Howard County are asking me. But let me remind my
Republican colleagues
[[Page H2467]]
that every President and every administration has had to overcome
significant challenges. How about World War II, the Cuban missile
crisis, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Iran hostage
situation, the Cold War and the first Persian Gulf War?
I could continue on, but my point is that every President has faced
these types of challenges, and still, and still, managed to create
jobs, except one since the Great Depression, and that is George W. Bush
and this Republican House and Senate.
So, Madam Speaker, we either need to change the policies or change
the leadership of this country. I would submit that we should do both.
With that, Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman
from the great State of California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Maryland
(Chairman Cummings) for holding these weekly special orders, which
provide us a forum to speak out on the most pressing issues facing our
constituents, the African American community, and, indeed, our country.
I would like to take this opportunity to commend the chairman for the
outstanding address that he delivered yesterday at the National Press
Club. In his eloquent and very thoughtful message, he outlined the
Congressional Black Caucus' agenda and our priorities on both the
domestic and foreign policy arenas. Part of his address was dedicated
to the topic that is on the minds of millions of Americans today, and
that is jobs and the economy.
Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to discuss the same vital issue. We
know that people are suffering under the Bush economy and we know that
we must reverse the damage done and move forward to grow our economy
and create real, good-paying jobs. We must also protect existing jobs
here at home.
Economic security should really be part of a major national security
strategy. It should be a key component. How do we ensure domestic
tranquility when so many Americans are jobless?
I think most of us are familiar with Bush's less-than-rosy record on
the economy, but I want to just start with some statistics about Bush's
poor record on job creation in minority communities.
As the gentleman from Maryland (Chairman Cummings) mentioned, the
African American unemployment rate in March increased to an astounding
10.2 percent, while Hispanic unemployment rates remained persistent at
7.4 percent. These harsh and telling numbers came during the very same
month, mind you, that the Bush administration was really bragging and
boasting about an economic recovery.
Excuse me? But I just have to ask, just who really is benefiting from
our Nation's long overdue job creation efforts? I cannot tell you how
many of my constituents have asked me that very same question.
Another question I often hear is, what is President Bush's plan for
creating the millions of jobs that he has lost, mind you, that he has
lost on his watch? What is he doing to address the suffering which
jobless individuals have endured during his 3 years in office?
I hear former, and, yes, they are former manufacturing workers, talk
about the decimation of their sector over the past 3 years. It is
really hard to fathom the reality that since taking office, President
Bush has lost about 3 million good-paying jobs. Under this
administration our country has simply hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs,
and given this administration's support for outsourcing jobs and
shipping them overseas, the pain and the suffering from job loss will
likely only worsen.
We all know that manufacturing is extremely critical for the
financial security of millions of families. Every manufacturing job
creates at least four other jobs. It is also critical to our national
security. Today, manufacturing is at a 53-year low. What a lost
opportunity and what a sad record this administration has created.
Does this President and this administration care about the decimation
of an entire industry? Does this administration have a plan to really
remedy this mess? And that is what it is, it is a mess, and it is
creating havoc in the lives of millions of American families. And what
about the Republican leadership in Congress? Can they explain the 2.8
million manufacturing jobs lost over the last 3 years?
Yesterday the Republicans unveiled a proposal entitled ``Jobs for the
21st Century.'' Like many of their proposals, we know better than to be
fooled by that name. The plan is really another classic Republican
example of how rhetoric, rhetoric, mind you, trumps substance, and how
the monied interest's agenda reigns supreme.
We should be providing incentives to companies that create real jobs
here at home, rather than sending them overseas. That is why we have
launched a discharge petition to bring the bipartisan Crane-Rangel
manufacturing bill to the floor.
Our efforts to keep jobs here at home must also extend beyond our
manufacturing sector, because not only are companies exporting our
manufacturing jobs overseas, they are also exporting high-paying white-
collar jobs overseas as well.
According to a recent study by the Haas School of Business, 14
million white-collar service jobs representing 11 percent of the total
United States workforce are in danger of being outsourced overseas.
We should also consider legislation like the Defending American Jobs
Act introduced by my colleague the gentleman from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders). This legislation would prohibit companies that lay off a
greater percentage of U.S. workers than they do overseas from receiving
grants, loans or loan guarantees from the Federal Government. That just
makes common sense. The Republican House leadership really should allow
us to consider these types of proposals.
Instead of short-term extensions to the transportation bill, we
should really be voting on a strong highway bill that would create over
1.8 million jobs. The Republicans' reliance on these short-term
extensions have cost America thousands of jobs already. And what about
the Republican leadership's failure to extend Federal unemployment
benefits for out-of-work Americans? That, to me, is just mean, it is
unconscionable and it is wrong.
In March, a record 354,000 Americans exhausted their State
unemployment benefits, and the number of long-term unemployed Americans
is rising, with nearly one in four jobless workers out of a job for 27
weeks or more. That is a long time. By the end of this month, 1.5
million Americans will have exhausted all of their benefits.
So I think that the Republicans really should be ashamed of their
``compassion.'' This compassion is a compassion that I, quite frankly,
do not understand.
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It does not extend to helping jobless workers feed their families or
pay their utility bills until they can find a job. Even Federal Reserve
Chairman Greenspan has expressed his support for extending unemployment
benefits to long-term unemployed workers, saying that it would be, I
think he said it would be a good idea because of the exceptionally high
number of exhaustions.
Chairman Greenspan has also admitted that he does not have all the
answers when it comes to the economy. As a member of the House
Committee on Financial Services, I have the opportunity to question the
chairman on a regular basis, and in March I asked him, I said what do
we tell our young people? And the gentleman from Maryland (Mr.
Cummings) I think said this very eloquently tonight as he reflected
upon what he is going to talk about at these graduation speeches.
I asked Chairman Greenspan, what do we tell our young people after
they have gone to school, after they have played by the rules, after
they have done everything we have told them to do to realize the
American dream, what do we tell them when they cannot find a job? What
do we tell them in terms of where are the jobs of the future? We have
lost manufacturing jobs, the service industry is decimated, and now the
high-tech industry will soon be gone. So what in the world do we tell
our young people? Where are the jobs? Where are the jobs? We are trying
to get our young people focused on how to stay off the streets, how to
be productive citizens, how to engage in productive work, and yet there
are no jobs out there for them.
Chairman Greenspan's response was he just simply did not know. He did
not have the answer. That is in essence
[[Page H2468]]
what he said. And I must say that the answers, quite frankly, are not
to be found in the policies of this Bush administration or this
Republican-controlled House. We must answer these questions and take
action to reverse the loss of jobs that we have seen under this Bush
administration.
Democrats have a plan to do exactly that. We have a plan to create
jobs, to keep jobs on our shores, and to prevent the shipping of jobs
overseas, a policy that the Bush administration has totally, mind you,
totally embraced.
So it is up to the American people now to wake up. November really
cannot come fast enough. We must ensure that the tide is turned as we
move together to create economic growth and good-paying jobs for all.
So I thank the chairman again for the opportunity for the
Congressional Black Caucus to talk to America to try to raise these
issues with regard to how we see the deal going down, as it relates to
the American people and the jobless rates and the job loss and the
shambles that many people find their lives in.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her
statement. Sometimes people ask the question, why is it that members of
the Congressional Black Caucus continue to stand up on these issues.
Somebody asked, they said, well, you may stand up on these issues, but
you may not win. And one of the things that former Congressman Gray of
Pennsylvania said, and I will never forget it, it is embedded in the
DNA of every cell of my brain. He said, ``You may not win every battle,
but you set the trend.''
If we do not speak up on these issues, the fact is it seems like a
train is going down the track and it seems like we are just kind of
going along with it, but what we do week after week and day after day
is stand up and say, we have a greater vision for America and we want
to do everything in our power to bring that vision into reality. So I
really appreciate what the gentlewoman has said.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, it would be morally irresponsible of us if we
did not fight these battles and, hopefully, one day we will win the
war.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield to the
gentlewoman from the State of Ohio (Mrs. Jones).
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, at this point I would like to
commend my good friend, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), for
his leadership, his tenacity, and his great performance as the
chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus. I call him my brother,
and he is doing such a fantastic job, and I am so pleased to be part of
his team.
Earlier, before we began our hour, I came in at the end of the
Republican Special Order, and I was just stunned. I could not believe
what I heard my colleagues saying about Senator John Kerry.
I spent yesterday, all day, with Senator Kerry. He visited the State
of Ohio, and we talked about jobs, jobs, jobs. We started in the City
of Youngstown, where a little company that used to make wire hangers
went out of business because wire hangers were being made cheaper in
China and in Youngstown these poor folks were out of jobs. I have spent
quite a bit of time over the past 2 years in Youngstown because of the
steel companies that were going out of business and the steel workers
in Youngstown who are losing their jobs. They all were out at this
rally looking for an opportunity to talk to someone who understood what
it meant to be out of work and without a job.
We moved from the City of Youngstown on to the City of Cleveland,
where mayors from all across the State of Ohio were talking about the
issue of loss of jobs. We had the mayor of the City of Columbus,
Michael Coleman, we had the mayor of the City of Cleveland, Jane
Campbell, we had the mayor of the City of Parma, Dean DePiero, we had
the mayor of the City of Toledo, Jack Ford, and we had the mayor of
Chillicothe and other suburban mayors seated out in the audience, and
all of them talked about the impact of the policies of this Bush
administration on their ability to administer their own cities: the tax
cuts, the lack of jobs, which meant lack of income to their budgets.
In the City of Cleveland alone, since George Bush took office, we
have lost 70,000 jobs. In the State of Ohio since he took office, we
have lost 160,000 jobs. As we talk about that, we talk about the impact
that it has on a school system. In the City of Cleveland, our public
school system has a $100 million deficit as a result of loss of income
from people out of work in the City of Cleveland, as a result of loss
of income of businesses who are losing their tax dollars, or losing
income and, therefore, not able to pay the tax dollars.
We talked about the fight that cities across this country, because
their budgets are low, are having to lay off firefighters, are having
to lay off police officers, and at a time when we are fighting the war
on terrorism one would think that this administration would have an
economic policy that would allow the frontline defenders, the first
responders to be able to handle the jobs that they have to handle. It
is a terrible situation. We are talking about laying off teachers as
well.
Well, the thing that I will say is that John Kerry has an economic
plan to deal with job loss in this country. He is unveiling a
comprehensive economic agenda that will unleash the productive
potential of America's economy to help create jobs, 10 million jobs in
his first term. He believes that Americans should not subsidize moving
jobs overseas. He will eliminate tax breaks for companies that create
jobs overseas and use the approximately $12 billion in annual savings
to cut the corporate tax rate. Under his plan more than 99 percent of
tax-paying companies will see their taxes go down. He would jump-start
manufacturing job creation with a new jobs tax credit that would pay
the employers' share of the payroll taxes for any net new jobs created
by the manufacturers and other businesses affected by outsourcing and
small businesses in 2005 and 2006. As President, he will take our
country into a different direction on trade enforcement. Rather than
turn a blind eye to clear trade violations when American jobs are on
the line, he will make clear through his actions that when the U.S.
enters into a trade agreement we will expect our partners to live up to
their side of the deal, unlike what we are dealing with right now
where, for example, with steel, we are having steel dumped into our
country and there are no policies through the World Trade Organization
that will support our country.
I was just stunned, as I came in this room earlier today, and the
speaker on the Republican side was talking about John Kerry. He could
not be talking about the John Kerry I traveled with yesterday. He could
not be talking about the John Kerry that fought in Vietnam, that was in
a boat, and he got ready to leave and he heard that one of his crew was
back there and harmed and he went back to pick up the crew member that
he had lost and got shot in the process. He could not be talking about
the John Kerry I know that received bronze medals, that received Purple
Hearts, and came back to this country to speak up on behalf of all of
those fighting over in Vietnam.
He has been supportive of a strong and responsible military his
entire career. I would challenge, when we are going to compare records,
Vice President Cheney or President Bush to compare the type of record
that John Kerry has of serving in the military.
Madam Speaker, I could go on and on and on, but what I want to say
here is I am so pleased to be here this evening with my colleagues from
the Congressional Black Caucus. We are the voice of the people who are
left out and locked out of this process. We are the voice of those who
need an extended unemployment tax benefit. We are the voice of those
who have been perhaps in trouble with the law and need an opportunity
to get gainful employment and have an opportunity to make their lives
right. We are the voice of the people who are not heard, who need the
support of Members of Congress like the Congressional Black Caucus to
make a difference.
I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the chairman, and I
will be here every time he needs me. But I want the people who are
listening to us to understand that it is about jobs. It is about jobs.
It is about jobs.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, if the gentlewoman will yield just for a
moment, as I listened to the gentlewoman I could not help but think
about the fact that so often when people hear the words ``Congressional
[[Page H2469]]
Black Caucus'' they automatically assume that this is a caucus that
just speaks for African American people. When the gentlewoman talked
about the rally and all of the people who had been laid off up there in
Ohio, I could not help but think, and the gentlewoman can tell us, were
we talking about a rainbow of different colors? It is not just, I am
sure it was not just African Americans.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Absolutely not. And that is one of the things
that as a Congressional Black Caucus, we represent the Congressional
Black Caucus but we also represent constituencies that are not totally
African American. My congressional district in the City of Cleveland is
probably 50 percent African American, but I represent Latinos, I
represent Caucasians. There are 84 different ethnic groups in my
congressional district that come from all over. I represent a district
that is very, very poor and some of it is very, very rich.
But at that rally in Youngstown yesterday there was a rainbow of
folks, all kinds of people, all out of a job. And when you are out of a
job, your color, when you start talking about the issues of being
unemployed and locked out, the color, there is a rainbow of colors. It
is not just black folks, it is not just white folks, it is not just
brown or yellow folks. All people, a lot of people of all races are out
of jobs and they were there at that rally yesterday saying jobs, we
need jobs, we need jobs.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, the gentlewoman said something else that
was really quite telling. When the gentlewoman talked about the deficit
in the school system, we in Baltimore, we have a deficit too of about
$58 million, if I remember correctly. When we are talking about
educating children, one of the things that we have consistently said in
the Congressional Black Caucus is that while we want to make sure, we
do not want people to be confused, that we do not want to ever see
another 9/11 happen again. So we believe in fighting terrorism, but we
also want to make sure that we take care of the people here at home.
One of the things, and I have said it many, many times, I think the
greatest threat to our national security is our failure to properly
educate our children. And if the money is not there for teachers, not
there for the janitors so they can have clean schools and clean
buildings, I say that it is their turn. In other words, it is our
children's turn. We had our opportunity to get our education and we got
it or we would not be here. But now it is their turn. And then they
have to go through this deficit. Why? And they are suffering because of
it, because I know in Baltimore we just had a proposal where we are
going to increase class sizes. Why? Because we have to lay off
teachers.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, the same issue is being raised by
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the CAO of the Cleveland Municipal School
District, the need to have to raise class sizes. It is so very
important that we educate our children.
One of the things that we have learned since 9/11 is that one of the
reasons that terrorism happens or flourishes in many countries is
because people are uneducated or they have been brainwashed into one
direction, that they feel like they are left out and locked out of the
process that they have no control over, so they figure out who are they
going to point the finger at, and if they start pointing the finger
they start pointing it at the United States.
But as important or more important is that we must educate our own. I
want to see the people in Iraq, I want to see them get better. I want
to see them have a school system and health care and roads, but not as
much as I want the people of the United States to have a health care
system, to have education, and to have roads.
{time} 1945
And we need to be directed towards an agenda or a policy that will
allow our people to back to work, that will allow our people to rebuild
our own country, the roads, the sewer systems, the bridges. That is a
back-to-work agenda. That is what we need for the United States.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, finally, let me just say this: I cannot
help but be moved by your words with regard to Senator Kerry. And I
understand you were with him yesterday. It pains me tremendously, as I
said a little earlier, that our military can go and fight for this
Constitution and can fight for America to maintain its strength, can
fight for our freedoms, can fight for the conventions and opportunities
that we have, but then to hear people slam him because he comes back
after doing all the things my colleague said, and I am glad he made it
clear, all the things he said, he could come back and express his
views, and thank God we have a country that says you have freedom of
speech; but then he gets slammed for the very freedoms that he placed
his life on the line for. Something is wrong with the picture.
Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, time will show and time will tell
that the John Kerry that I know and the John Kerry that I have worked
with and that I traveled with is a man of substance, a man of strength,
a man who wants to see this Nation back on its feet and wants to see
this Nation be a leader in the international arena that will lead other
countries back to greatness and not be misled by other countries as
well. In that strength, I am sure he will do well.
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for this exchange of words.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I will yield to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Davis), my good friend, such time as he may consume.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
for yielding. I also want to take this opportunity to commend the
gentleman for his outstanding leadership as chairman of the caucus. And
especially was I pleased to be at the National Press Club as he laid
out in sharp relief for the national press what it really takes to get
people involved in our country where African Americans stand, what we
believe in, and what it is going to take to convince us that we need to
be supporting different individuals who run for office.
And I was very pleased with the eloquence with which he displayed
that information and conveyed it, and I want to thank him.
I am also pleased to join with him tonight and my colleagues to
discuss the state of our economy and look at the job loss in America. I
will not focus on the nearly 3 million jobs that have been lost since
the President took office; but I will take a look in a micro-fashion
just at my city, the City of the Big Shoulders, the city of Chicago,
the city that sits by the lake.
In February, the Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago finished first
as the job-loss Capital of America. The nine-county region lost nearly
58,000 jobs last year, outpacing every other major metropolitan area in
this country. New York, the runner-up, lost 45,000 jobs, according to
the U.S. Department of Labor.
The job loss in Chicago and throughout the State are troubling
because Illinois represents mainstream, middle-of-the-road America.
Major employers in Illinois have cut jobs. The hardest hit industry has
been the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing jobs statewide are at
their lowest levels since World War II, falling from 936,000 in 2000 to
870,000 today.
A number of job losses in Illinois and throughout the country can be
attributed directly to this administration's policy of outsourcing. I
could not believe it when a senior administration official suggested
that that was a good and appropriate thing to do, NAFTA and cheaper
wages overseas. Obviously, Chicago can never compete with the lower
wages paid in China. However, our workers are the very best when it
comes to productivity.
It is a shame that we do not manufacture dress shirts for men in
America. Think of all the people who used to work in the garment
industry, people who could go to work, knowing that they were helping
to dress America. Now every time you look in the label, the back of
whatever garment that you wear, you will find that it is produced
somewhere other than in our country.
Therefore, we must utilize every effort to persuade companies to keep
their manufacturing operations in America.
Even more troubling is the devastating job loss and high unemployment
rate among African American males. We have a way of saying that if
other parts of the community sneeze, then the African American
community catches pneumonia.
[[Page H2470]]
When it comes to work opportunities, black men are seriously
disproportionately unemployed. The Department of Labor statistics
suggest that nationwide unemployment for African American males is 32
percent. In the city of Chicago more than 50 percent of young African
American males between the ages of 16 and 22 are out of work and do not
go to school, do not have a job.
The New York Times recently cited a study by the Community Service
Society, a non-profit group that serves the poor. The study showed that
in 2003 one of every two African American men between 16 and 64 was not
working. Mark Levitan, the report's author, found that just 51.8
percent of black men, and I am not talking about Chicago, I am talking
about the Nation, 51.8 percent of black men ages 16 to 64 held jobs in
New York City in 2003. The rate for white men was 75.7 percent, for
Hispanic men 65.7 percent, and for black women 57.1 percent.
The employment population ratio for black men was the lowest for the
period Mr. Levitan has studied, which goes back to 1979. The tragedy is
it is not just New York. It is Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and other
major cities in America.
I grew up in rural America where folks were hard-working, Bible-
reading Christians. And my mother used to tell us that the Bible said
that idle hands and an idle mind were the devil's workshop. And so we
have to ask the question, if young African American men are not
working, how are they surviving? Are they being driven to participation
in the negative underground economy selling drugs and joining gangs?
It is for this reason that I, along with other members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, the 100 Black Men of America, the NAACP,
The Urban League, National Association of Black Psychologists, and
others have begun to focus attention on the state of African American
males. We have selected barriers to employment as an area of focus. And
we hope over the next year to examine these issues in detail and
provide some recommendations for needed changes.
Clearly, every segment of our society must be able to enjoy the
American dream. I appreciate my colleagues for taking the time out to
shed light on this subject this evening. And as I listen to different
people talk about jobs that you cannot find, it reminds me of the song
that we used to listen to some years ago that talked about a man who
would get up in the morning and the writer wrote that every morning
about this time she brings my breakfast to the bed crying, get a job.
He says, ``When I read the paper, I read it through and through, trying
to see if there is any work for me to do.''
The reality is that in too many instances the answer is absolutely,
no. And if you cannot find a job, then you lose hope. You feel like a
failure. You feel like you do not have a place.
Well, I believe that this administration is failing. This
administration is failing because it has produced a feeling of
hopelessness and helplessness among too many people. And when you fail,
you ought to get a failing grade. And when you get a failing grade,
sometimes you get put out.
Well, I believe the remedy, Madam Speaker, is to put this
administration out and let us get in another group who can bring hope,
who can bring to the American people a feeling that yesterday is dead
and gone but tomorrow is something that we can look forward to. And
what we want to look forward to is the ability to get up in the
morning, go to work, have a job, produce for our families and children,
and move America on to becoming even greater than what we have known it
to be.
So I thank my colleague for taking out this Special Order and have
welcomed the opportunity to participate in it.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his
statement and for his eloquence. He said something when he was talking
about African American males and the unemployment rate. One of the
things that I talked about in my district was coping skills. But when
we talk about, as my colleague just said, in the Chicago area 50
percent unemployed black males, we have to find a way to create hoping
skills.
And as he said, when people lose hope, that is a major problem. And
when they do not have any money and have children to feed, and have to
take care of themselves, that is a rough situation to have hope around.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I certainly agree with my
colleague. I thank him for that observation. I think in many instances
what has happened, many of the jobs that traditionally were held by
African American males no longer exist in this country.
For example, African American males worked in production. First it
was in farm production. Then with the industrial revolution, they went
into the factories and worked in production again. Now that we are
becoming more and more of a high-tech service economy, we have not
provided a thinking process where young African American boys have
recognized in many instances that the jobs their grandfathers had and
fathers had that they could expect to get no longer exist, so they have
fallen behind in many instances in school because their father did not
have to get an education, they did not get an education.
My father did not have much education, my uncle who I celebrate right
now, he just became 100 years old, neither one of them had any
education; but they were two of the smartest men I have ever known in
my life. And they had these coping skills. They developed these coping
skills to deal with the environment of which they were a part.
So we have to find ways to help bring all of our society into the
21st century so that everybody can have an opportunity to play on an
even playing field. And that is what the gentleman has been doing as he
has led this caucus. That is what the Congressional Black Caucus is
trying to do is bring hope to all of America.
{time} 2000
I thank the gentleman for your leadership and I welcome the
opportunity to participate this evening.
Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentleman very much.
Madam Speaker, I yield to my good friend, the gentlewoman from the
great State of Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the time we
have on the floor to be able to make an important statement.
I have some very dear and respected constituents who have had the
opportunity to join us today, experiencing the legislative process,
meeting with their Senators, meeting with their Members of Congress.
They wanted to know what this process was. And I said the gentleman
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) called this special order in order to make
the Record, because if we do not make the Record for those who cannot
speak for themselves, if we do not make the Record so that all might
read in the largest story of the United States, as long as this
Congress's doors have been open there has been a Congressional Record,
if we do not enunciate the Record and let people know on this night,
April 28, 2004, we stood on the floor to claim a clarion call for those
who cannot speak for themselves and to be able to insist that this
Congress address the question of loss of jobs.
The numbers are 3 million. Each of our respective States have
experienced the pain of manufacturing jobs being gone. Some of us have
had on occasion businesses moving from one State to the next so there
have been broad headlines. A new company opens up in Texas, and those
jobs are there, but those jobs are lost from the State they moved from.
The economy may be percolating but it is not boiling.
I think it is shameful that in the midst of the terrible turmoil in
Fallujah, Marines now in bunkers under siege, fighting for their lives,
in a war that was declared over over a year ago, that these brave
Marines and these brave military personnel, these civilians who are
there as contractors, are in a turmoil fighting for their life.
Yet, they may return home and not have a place to live and not have
food to eat and not have a job. And so I ask the question to the
President, I ask the question to this Congress, why cannot we rally
around in a leadership of this Nation or proposing leadership issues
that would answer the loss of jobs.
Let me cite for you an example that I would think bring shame and
certainly pain to this body. I pay tribute tonight to Nicole Goodwin.
Nicole Goodwin is a former member of the
[[Page H2471]]
United States military. Not one of 10 years ago or 6 years ago or 8
years ago or 3 years ago but a recent returnee from the combat zone of
Iraq. I wanted everybody to get a chance to meet Miss Goodwin.
She has a new and wonderful baby. She was dishonorably discharged.
But let me tell you her story because she is, in fact, not just a
former war veteran, someone who spent nights with missiles and
explosives around her surroundings, someone who was serving as other
were fallen or wounded. This is how Nicole Goodwin travels these days,
with a one-year-old daughter pressed to her chest in a snuggly, a heavy
backpack strapped across her shoulders and a baby stroller crammed with
as many bags of clothes and diapers as she can hold.
When and you are a homeless young mother these are the things that
you carry. The story goes on to say, as it is called ``Home From Iraq
and Homeless,'' that now every day she soldiers on to find a residence
where the rent is not covered by payment in kind of late bus rides and
early morning rising to move from one shelter to the next. All the
while she keeps in mind the acronym she earned or learned in the Army.
Leadership. L is for loyalty. D is for duty. R is for respect. S is for
selfless service. H is for honor. P is for personal coverage. And I is
her favorite and that is for integrity.
A homeless veteran. A young woman with a child. A combat veteran is
homeless and without a job. What can America say to its best and
brightest who have come home from a war and they cannot find a job.
Let me just finish her story by saying a war veteran wearing a
backpack, pushing a stroller and carrying a baby, stayed in another
strange hotel room last night, mostly because the city of her birth
does not know how to welcome her home.
Mr. Chairman, I would ask you tonight as we know that Miss Goodwin
probably still walks the street and is homeless and is without a job. I
would like to see the Congressional Black Caucus rally around her with
certainly the members from her constituency to be able to ask the State
why they cannot help an Iraqi war veteran, a young woman who now walks
the street as we speak homeless with a daughter, without a job.
I yield to the gentleman for the opportunity to respond.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I wanted to make it clear that we will
do that. We will rally around Miss Goodwin, but the sad part about it
is Miss Goodwin is only one, and I am sure that there are many, many
others and then the question becomes how do we make sure we rally
around all of them. Because as you just said, with our men and women in
bunkers in Fallujah and with them fighting and giving up their blood,
sweat, tears and lives, and then for those who are able to come back
and end up in situations like this or somewhat similar is a shame.
So, yes, we will rally around here but we must find ways to rally
around the many others who are voiceless, who the New York Times never
interviewed, the ones that will never appear on the front page of the
Washington Post, the ones that you will never hear about on ABC News,
those who we have to find and help.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman. As we
discussed, you were absolutely right. She is symbolic of millions, and
what I would like us to be reminded of is we have a job, and that is
why we need to have a leadership change in this country because in the
State of Texas we are talking about 500 jobs lost in the month of
March, but we are talking about 175,200 jobs lost since January of
2001.
We are talking about a Congress that is struggling to pass a
transportation bill that will create jobs. We are talking about those
who are incarcerated, African American males who come out having paid
their time and not able to find jobs.
We are speaking as well about programs that have been cut, the Small
Business Administration funding which creates jobs, and yet the budget
from the Bush administration refuses to refund or add monies back to
create those jobs that would come about. We need a common sense plan to
recognize, one, that the budget and the economy is failing, but as well
that we need a change in government, one that allows a President to
promote jobs and to claim that he is concerned about people like Miss
Goodwin and other homeless persons and others who are educated, without
cause.
As I close, let me say that I thank the Chair for allowing me to
speak and I thank the gentleman for having this special order to talk
about the importance of jobs in America.
Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much.
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