[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4556-H4557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ACTING TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY STRONGER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boccieri) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Speaker, it has often been said that leadership is 
about action, not position. Leadership is about action, not position, 
and the people from the 16th District of Ohio entrusted me to come to 
Congress to act, to restore and rebuild our economy, to help create 
jobs, to transition to a clean energy economy, and to make health care 
more affordable for all our citizens, and they asked us also to improve 
education so that every child in America has an opportunity to succeed.
  Over this last district work period I had the opportunity to visit 
some very unique people in my district, for them to hear from their 
Congress on their corners, and also listen to our leaders back at home 
who are trying to put our economy back on track. And you know those 
smokestacks that often sent smoky signals of prosperity and success 
back home? They are becoming few and far between in the Midwest.
  Just last week, Alliance Castings in my hometown announced that 400 
jobs would be lost because of the downturn in our economy, and we will 
lose countless other jobs across our district because of some of the 
policy decisions

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we are making right here in Washington, D.C.
  I stand here before you today in the House of Representatives 
suggesting that some of the economic indicators in Ohio are outpacing 
the national average. In Ohio, we have an unemployment rate of 9.7 
percent, but yet in the counties that comprise the 16th Congressional 
District, Stark County outpaces by that nearly 1 percent more, at 10.7 
percent, outpacing the national average. In Ashland County we are at 
nearly 13 percent unemployment, and in Wayne County we are almost at 10 
percent unemployment.
  The people of Northeast Ohio are demanding success stories, and 
Washington, D.C., has a part in playing a substantial role.
  We visited the Heinz plant in Stark County. We also had the 
opportunity to visit another name brand factory in our district, the 
Smucker factory. The success stories that are there are clearly 
evidence that the entrepreneurial spirit of America is alive and 
strong.
  What I heard as the common theme from these great individuals and 
great Americans was that America will recover and we will rebound, but 
we have to believe in our leadership, we have to believe in our process 
of dialogue, and respect that we have in the dialogue, that we have in 
debate, which will restore our economy, and they expect us to demand 
public policy that will make America stronger.
  I was visiting the Defense Metals Technology Center and also meeting 
with the Blue Green Alliance on energy back home, and they suggested 
that we have the right tools with the right leadership in Washington to 
recover and restore jobs back in Ohio, and I talk to you with the 
respect and dignity that we should have in this chamber here.
  We may differ on ideas. We may differ on opinions about how to move 
our States and our economy and our country foward. But at the end of 
the day we all want to see prosperity for our Nation. We all want to 
see Americans get back to work. And those Americans, like the ones at 
Alliance Castings that punched the time clock every day, played by the 
rules, brought a lunch pail to work and believed they were contributing 
to the future success of their family and their loved ones, are now 
going to be left on the streets with an unemployment check and a pink 
slip.
  We have got to do our part here. We need a manufacturing policy in 
America, one that helps us embolden those small employers back home 
like the Heinz factory and Smuckers, two of the big names that we all 
recognize, but many more, like Sarah Plastics.
  I visited with a CEO and a gentleman that has countless numbers of 
ideas, but he doesn't have the resources to bring his products to 
market. We have got to help him, and that is what this Congress is 
aiming to do with helping small businesses. A tax reduction for 95 
percent of the Americans in this country. That is significant. The 
largest tax reduction with the economic stimulus package, the largest 
tax reduction in our Nation's history, for every American in this 
country and small businesses who help rebuild our economy day-to-day.
  I also heard from Project Rebuild, folks who are giving opportunities 
and second chances to Americans, those students back home that maybe 
dropped out of school and are now finding success stories working to 
build a skill and trade that they can take back and use in this great 
and diverse economy to help build America and make America stronger.
  I heard from Walsh University students, giving their speech for one 
of their business luncheons, the fact that we have young entrepreneurs 
in that audience who are looking to make America stronger by bringing 
their innovative ideas and working with the local businesses. I believe 
that is going to be the key to success in our education stories back 
home, is that we marry up our local economies to the industry and 
talent that we have at our local universities.
  Leadership is about action, and that is what they expect in this 
Congress, that we will act on the ideas of public policy to make our 
country stronger.

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