[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 7, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H40]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRESS MUST WORK TO SAVE AND CREATE JOBS DURING THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, last year, nearly 2 
million Americans lost their jobs. Almost half of those job losses came 
in October and November, after the financial collapse of Wall Street.
  The December jobs numbers will be out in a couple of days, but it is 
not likely to be good news. All month long retailers were saying that 
they had to lay off seasonal help because Americans simply were not 
spending their money. And that's not surprising, considering that many 
of our constituents are justifiably concerned about their job security. 
Even those that are confident that they will hold on to their jobs are 
feeling financially squeezed because they are being paid less than they 
were 10 years ago.
  As the 111th Congress begins this week, we are committed to getting 
Americans back to work and preventing further job cuts from happening 
later this year. We also want to provide middle class Americans with 
tax relief so they can better afford their monthly bills.
  Madam Speaker, as change comes to Washington, we should work in a 
bipartisan manner to pass an economic recovery package quickly. We 
cannot afford to wait.

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