[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H914]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          IN THESE DIRE ECONOMIC TIMES, MICHIGAN IS LISTENING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. In these dire economic times, Mr. Speaker, I try to 
remind my colleagues that, when Washington is talking, Michigan is 
listening because, again, we are living your nightmare now.
  Last week, the House passed what I believe to be a $1 trillion fiscal 
obscenity at taxpayers' expense and at the expense of the unemployeds' 
hope, but you need not take my word for it because, again, Michigan was 
listening, and when I had the chance to talk to a gentleman named Greg 
from Milford, this is what he said about the supposed stimulus bill.
  Greg said, ``I worked for a company that just lost 700 jobs 
nationwide, and the stimulus package just amazes me, that Congress is 
trying to push this thing through--the $600 million and everything 
going on, things that are not going to stimulate the economy. I have 
enough money to last a month.''
  At this point, Greg's voice started to break.
  ``Try telling your kids at the dinner table that you just lost your 
job. It is devastating when you tell your daughter you cannot even buy 
her a school yearbook because you just do not have the money. You have 
got money that you were going to spend on something just to let your 
kids celebrate something that you did, and now that is going to go to 
the grocery store because you cannot do otherwise or you are going to 
try to pay your house bill,'' and again, Greg paused.
  ``When we are sending money overseas to pay for abortions for people 
who are not even in this country, we are not supporting our own people. 
They need to change it. I am just one person. They do not listen. If we 
can have everybody call them and just say, 'We have got to do something 
different. We cannot throw this money in the garbage. What can we 
do?'''
  That was Greg's view of a bill that was intended to help him and his 
struggling family. When Greg was listening to what Washington was 
saying as it passed the, quote/unquote, stimulus bill, he heard about 
billions for national parks, about the hundreds of millions for 
artists, about the smoking secession programs, and about the prevention 
of sexually transmitted diseases. When this bill was explained back 
down in Michigan, here is what Greg heard.
  He heard that, if you are a hiker who is artistic, who is trying to 
quit smoking and who is trying to avoid STDs, the House Democrats' bill 
was for you. If you were in a manufacturing State and you had just lost 
your job and you were worried about your family, like Greg, you fared 
far more poorly.
  I just want Greg to know that we are listening out here, that when 
the $1 trillion stimulus bill that will not help him came to the House 
floor, the entire House Republican minority and 11 Intrepid Democrats 
said no. They recognized that this would not help him, that it would 
not help his family and that it would not help any American family that 
is struggling in straits such as his.
  That is why House Republicans responded to President Obama's proposal 
for bipartisanship early on and produced a package that would have 
created twice the jobs at half the cost, and this is why we will 
continue to work in as bipartisan a fashion as is allowed in this 
Chamber to do what is right for Greg and for his family and for all 
American families in these very dire times.

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