[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 24 (Friday, February 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1773-S1774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              UNEMPLOYMENT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, around midnight last night I was in 
conversation with the President and some others, and the President 
indicated that this morning, unemployment numbers would come out, and 
they would be somewhat scary. That was absolutely true. At 8:30 this 
morning, the unemployment numbers were reported for January, and they 
hit a 16-year high of 7.6 percent. That is averaged across the United 
States. Some places are much worse than that. My State of Nevada is an 
example. We are the fifth highest unemployed State in the country. Some 
States now have over 10 percent unemployment.
  Mr. President, if this were the top and we were headed down, that 
would be one thing, but it doesn't appear that is the case. It appears 
unemployment rates are going to get higher and higher. The business 
crisis is growing worse and worse, housing problems have become more 
complex and more difficult, and the lending freeze has not passed. 
Small businesses are shutting their doors.
  In a Las Vegas paper today, to use an example, a book store in 
Henderson, NV--the second largest city in Nevada--had closed. The 
people had invested their entire life's savings in this little 
business--$350,000--and they are broke and the business is shuttered. 
This is happening all over the country. In January alone, 600,000 
people lost their jobs. In Nevada, the unemployment rate is now over 9 
percent. Leading economists are now comparing today's crisis to the 
early years of the Great Depression.
  Now, Mr. President, we are not in a depression. But as I mentioned 
yesterday, during the Great Depression stock market values went down 89 
percent, unemployment was 25 percent, and millions of others were 
underemployed. We are not there, but we have to do something to turn 
this around or we will be there. That is why the American people are 
looking at us to do something about it--to create jobs. That is what we 
need to do.
  Now, the package that President Obama has come up with is a mix of 
tax cuts and spending, and we are now

[[Page S1774]]

in the throes of trying to work something out to approve that plan. As 
we mentioned yesterday, in the evening, the vast majority of the 
American people know something has to be done. They approve of what 
President Obama is trying to do.
  All economists--conservatives, moderates, and liberals--for example, 
just a week ago we met with Feldstein, Blinder, and we met with Zandi, 
John McCain's chief economic adviser, somebody from the old Republican 
administrations, and a Democratic economist. They all said the program 
has to be bold, and it has to create jobs. Experts at all points along 
the political spectrum agree if we fail to take bold action, this 
recession will last for many years into the future.
  America is waiting to see what we are going to do in the next 24 
hours. The world is waiting to see what we are going to do in the next 
24 hours. Everyone knows this crisis was not created by Barack Obama. 
He has been President for a matter of a couple of weeks. The crisis was 
inherited from his predecessor. When this man, George Bush, took 
office, for over a 10-year period there was a $7 trillion surplus. But 
that is long since gone. Now, President Obama is taking the responsible 
steps we need to take to begin the long road to recovery.
  The first step is the bill before us, called the American Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act, which the House of Representatives has passed and 
we have debated all this week. This is a critical day for our country 
and this Congress. Faced with this grave and growing economic crisis, 
as indicated by the unemployment figures that came out at 8:30 this 
morning, the Democrats and Republicans must decide today whether they 
will work together to come up with a plan and join the President on 
this road to recovery.
  Now, I have been very concerned we shouldn't be talking about names 
on the Senate floor because sometimes it does more harm than good. But 
there is a small group of Republicans who are trying to work to come up 
with a solution. They have been genuine in their efforts. They have 
been responsible in their efforts. And while I don't agree with 
everything they are trying to do, I agree with the efforts they have 
made.
  We have made progress. We have made progress since last night. We 
have been in a number of meetings already this morning. We worked into 
the night last night, and I think we are going to be able to work 
something out. I feel very comfortable we can do that. If we succeed, 
there is going to be a lot of credit to go around. If we fail, there is 
going to be a lot of blame to go around.
  As I have indicated, our entire country will suffer and the world 
will suffer. We are the country that drives the world economy. During 
this week of floor debate, we have embraced good ideas, including tax 
relief and other investments, from both parties. We will continue to 
embrace all efforts borne of good will to reach a bipartisan 
compromise, but we are nearing the time when negotiations must be 
completed and action must begin.
  So I urge my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to dedicate 
this day to responsibly passing this legislation and sending it to the 
President so we can say we have marched down that road, that road to 
economic recovery. There is no perfect solution to what we are 
attempting. There is no book you can check out of the library to say 
this is what should be done. There is no group of economists we can go 
to and tell them to prepare a paper in the next couple of hours to give 
us direction as to what to do. We must do this on our own, and we will 
do this on our own.

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