[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 19, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S5739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MOVING AMERICA FORWARD

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I want to spend time talking about the 
Defense authorization bill. Before I do, I want to respond to this 
question, are we better off? I think it is a good question.
  But the question has to be phrased: Are we better off today than we 
were after the impact of September 11? My colleagues across the aisle 
continually block out of their minds the impact of the devastating 
attack on American soil of September 11 and the challenges this country 
faced--both emotional, from the scars of the terrible loss of life, as 
well as the economic impact. That is the question.
  Are we better off today with the Taliban not operating freely in 
Afghanistan? Are we better off today with Saddam Hussein no longer 
supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, no longer operating the torture and 
rape chambers?
  Are we better off today fighting terrorism in Iraq rather than again 
back on our shores? Are we better off economically?
  Mr. President, I have in front of me an article in today's 
Minneapolis Star Tribune, and I will refer to a couple sections. It 
says, in April, Minnesota broke all kinds of job records, led by the 
State's largest drop in unemployment, to 4.1 percent from 4.8 percent. 
Economists used words such as ``spectacular'' and ``breathless'' to 
describe the job gains they say were part of the national turnaround.
  The U.S. economy added 625,000 jobs in March and April, a turnaround, 
I note, that was fueled by tax cuts, was fueled by bonus depreciation, 
was fueled by increasing expansion, fueled by lowering the top rate to 
give small business a tax break. The article notes that the 0.7-percent 
drop in the unemployment rate was the biggest since the State started 
keeping records in the late 1970s.
  Are we better off economically today than we were after the impact of 
9/11? Absolutely. With the $18,000 job decline and the number of 
unemployed people, also going back to the 1970s, that was 13 percent 
fewer than the 140,000 unemployed in March. The 4,500 new manufacturing 
jobs is the biggest monthly increase since the State started tracking 
the statistic in 1992.
  Are we better off today, post-9/11, than we were right after that 
attack? Absolutely. Completing Tuesday's figures, success in more 
hiring suggests fewer firings. New unemployment claims dropped 14.1 
percent in April. They talk about in this article the manufacturing 
sector.
  We would be better off if we didn't have the other side filibustering 
an energy bill. We would grow more jobs. We would be better off if my 
colleagues on the other side were not blocking asbestos reform, if my 
colleagues were not blocking class action reform, so that we could grow 
more jobs. We would be better off if my colleagues on the other side 
were not blocking the appointing of conferees to the highway bill. That 
is a jobs bill. Have we moved forward? Absolutely. Have we recovered 
from 9/11? Absolutely. But rather than criticize, my colleagues should 
come together and stop the obstruction and blocking and let's move 
America forward.

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