[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H1162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE BEST SOCIAL PROGRAM IS A JOB

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, the best social program is a job. A job 
provides a person not only wages but also confidence in themselves and 
their future.
  Over the last 4 months of the Bush administration, the U.S. economy 
hemorrhaged jobs, over 2 million from August to December 2008. In 
Connecticut, one of our largest employers, Mohegan Sun, suspended 
construction in September of a one-half billion dollar addition and, as 
a result, carpenters, electricians, sheet metal workers, and the entire 
construction trades are now barely getting by collecting unemployment.
  We have a choice in the Congress in the next few days--to support 
President Obama and pass his Recovery Act, putting thousands of 
construction workers back to work building roads, bridges, and green 
energy buildings; or we can listen to the Do Nothing Herbert Hoover 
crowd who want to trip up our new President only a few weeks in office 
who is only trying to clean up the mess he inherited.
  I say vote ``yes'' for jobs, and tell the Do Nothing crowd, as they 
say in the military: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

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