[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 190 (Tuesday, December 15, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H14961-H14966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              JOB CREATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. SUTTON. I am pleased to be here with my colleague from New York, 
Representative Paul Tonko. I am Betty Sutton, and I proudly represent 
the 13th Congressional District of Ohio.
  I am a member of the Task Force On Job Creation of our caucus and, in 
fact, I am the co-Chair. Mr. Tonko serves on that committee, and we are 
here today to talk about just that. We are here to talk about the need 
to create jobs, jobs, jobs in this country, both in the near term and 
for the long term that will be sustainable for our constituents and 
people across this great country.
  As we move forward, we have to make sure that we secure an economy 
that will work for and with ordinary Americans, because we may recall 
that before the Bush recession began, the Republican recession began, 
the reality of it was we had an economy that wasn't working for many 
Americans already before it went off the cliff.
  As we revitalize our economy, it's incredibly important that we don't 
just go back to the old ways where Wall Street ran rampant and Main 
Street suffered, but that we create and--facilitate, I guess, is a 
better word--facilitate an economy that will work for and with ordinary 
Americans, and that the prosperity of this great Nation and the promise 
of a middle class will be restored. That is what America is at its 
best, where the promise of a middle class is vibrant and well and 
thriving.

                              {time}  1945

  So before the recession, before the Republican recession hit, the 
reality is productivity and profits were up, and as I said, Wall Street 
was reveling. And ordinary Americans, what was happening to them? Their 
wages were flat, at best.
  So the task force is here to say enough is enough. We need an economy 
that offers economic opportunity to people who live in neighborhoods 
across this country, who live in rural areas across this great country, 
not just those who make a living on Wall Street.
  So, though the actions that we've taken already, the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, have been helpful to many, and, in fact, 
the CBO has estimated, actually found that it has already created or 
retained 600,000 to 1.6 million jobs, we still have an unemployment 
rate that is staggering at 10 percent and nearly 16 million Americans 
out of work. So, far too many Americans across the country are without 
a job and far too many more are concerned about what tomorrow will 
bring. Forty percent of those who are unemployed have been jobless for 
at least half a year.
  So we know, Representative Tonko and I, that we have to put people 
back to work, and it is not a simple task but it is an ongoing task. In 
fact, I'd say it's a mission because, you know, I have heard it said 
that we're in a jobless recovery.
  Have you heard that, Mr. Tonko?
  Mr. TONKO. Yes, I have. And that certainly doesn't cut it with the 
American public, with middle class working families across the country. 
It simply does not cut it.
  But, Representative Sutton, I do want to commend you for the 
leadership as co-Chair of our task force on job creation. And I found 
your introductory comments to inspire a thought: Let's really look at 
how this started.
  We went from a record surplus under the Clinton administration to a 
record deficit. Had we stayed the course, the deficit reduction plan of 
President Clinton would have been completed. It would have completed 
its mission this year. We haven't seen deficit wipeout except for one 
Presidency, that of Andrew Jackson. So this could have been an historic 
year if we had stayed the course. What we found was that people will 
talk about the deficit, which the deficit has driven this recession 
which went longer and deeper than any forecasted, and now it's the 
daunting task of all of us who serve here in Washington to stop the 
bleeding. And great indicators out there suggest, many key indicators 
suggest that that has happened, as you alluded to, with 1.6 million 
additional jobs coming into the picture, direct and indirect 
measurement. We have also seen corresponding to that a .3 to a .9 
percent reduction in unemployment. That at least is welcomed news that 
we could stop the bleeding. But now the overwhelming task, the 
challenge, is to grow this economy. And how are we going to do that?
  There are a lot of needs out there that require us to create those 
jobs, to funnel the resource to those jobs so as to improve America's 
competitiveness. We are asking our businesses and our workers to 
function in a global economy, and there are investments that we can 
make, Representative Sutton, that will take us out of this economic 
catastrophe and allow us to climb back.
  But the last 8 years have been devastating. They have put us into a 
deep financial hole. And as we cleaned up the mess, as we put the war 
in Iraq online in the budget, as we took the doughnut hole that was 
created that has hurt our seniors who are Medicare eligible as they 
have had to reach into their pocket to work with Medicare part D's 
doughnut hole, that was not put online in the budget in a way that 
really reflected the costs of these programs. So now we have truth and 
honesty in our budgeting, but that has produced an even deeper deficit 
because we're doing it with fairness and frankness.
  Now, with the task force and many Members in a bipartisan bicameral 
way, we hope, we can then get to the picture of job creation. And 
that's what it's about right now in Washington. How can we create the 
programming that will allow for the increase of jobs, be it in the 
energy-related field, in manufacturing, in our parks, in our municipal 
levels of government with public safety, fire, and police numbers, 
teachers in the classroom? All of these efforts need to be brought in 
and built, if we can, and we must build an innovation economy that will 
be sparked by our growing the competitive edge for our businesses so 
that we can win and retain and grow jobs.
  Ms. SUTTON. Representative Tonko, I know this is your first term, but 
it's hard to believe. I have to tell you, we are very inspired to have 
you here, and you didn't arrive a moment too soon.
  The point that you make about the deficit, turning the surplus that 
was well established under President Clinton into such an extraordinary 
deficit under the last administration is a point that is a reality and, 
unfortunately, is one that we have to deal with; right? Because, you 
know, fighting two wars that weren't paid for and, as you point out, a 
lot of the costs done offline that weren't budgeted for.
  But it wasn't just an economic deficit that was created; it was this 
jobs deficit that was created that we also are here to deal with not 
only tonight but until we resolve it. It has to be our mission.
  Mr. TONKO. Right. Some were shipped off into a foreign economy. 
Others simply evaporated. And we saw in record numbers the losses that 
were out there because they simply could not compete and stay 
effective.
  I meet people every day in my district, and I represent a capital 
region in New York State so that we have the benefit, the buffer, of 
public sector jobs. But our unemployment numbers are hanging near in 
excess of 9 percent. This is unacceptable. We need to do much more work 
as we go forward. And we applaud the efforts to date to take that 
surplus and apply it as a downpayment. But that's as it's seen, as a 
downpayment. There are many more installments to come in order for us 
to build hope in the lives of people, and that's what it's about.
  You hear it. We've talked about it. I hear it in my district. The 
fear with

[[Page H14962]]

which people speak, the uncertainty of their tomorrow, the need for us 
to provide jobs for the youngest in society who are being released from 
higher ed who are in search of employment. Those who have been 
chronically unemployed, as you point out, before this recession hit and 
as it hit, chronic unemployment in many of our neighborhoods. All of 
this has to be taken into a full-picture view and create those 
situations that allow us to be competitive. And I think we can do it.
  For instance, in the energy-related areas, we can grow jobs of the 
green collar variety. We can reduce demand for energy in this country. 
We're the most gluttonous society as it comes to use of our energy 
supplies. We send hundreds of billions of dollars into the treasuries 
of unfriendly nations, those who inspire terrorist activities in our 
country and around the world. We're sending hundreds of billions of 
dollars there. And do you think we could move forward with an energy 
security agenda, growing our energy independence, providing for energy 
audits, creating energy teams that can go into neighborhoods, allowing 
jobs for those who have been chronically unemployed or those recently 
unemployed, training, retraining programs through our community 
colleges to advance those energy audits and then to do the 
implementation of the audits as they're developed? These are great jobs 
that reduce our demand of energy through an energy efficiency program, 
allow us to create American jobs as we generate our supplies locally 
through embracing our intellectual capacity as a Nation, inspiring 
investments in R&D, research and development, and that will also deploy 
these ideas that are coming from public and private sector R&D centers, 
put those into working capacity for our Nation's people.
  It's the cleverness. It's standing back and having a heart and a soul 
for our working families. And you know we can do it. You know that we 
have the capacity here as a legislative body, as the two bodies of the 
Capitol here in Congress, in working with the White House. We can make 
it happen, and the will must be there because we have the way and the 
means to make it happen.
  Ms. SUTTON. Well, Representative Tonko, you put it well, and I know 
that you speak for your constituents and so many people out there in 
America who are feeling what we're speaking to and about. And you're 
absolutely right. They know that they cannot wait any longer, that we 
can't have inaction because inaction is far too expensive. It's far too 
expensive in not only lost wages, in, of course, being held hostage to 
foreign regimes that are unfriendly to us in the area of energy.
  We need to pass measures, some of which we already know are tried and 
true and are necessary. We need to invest in things like our 
infrastructure, because we know that investment in infrastructure puts 
people to work right away and also is accomplishing the creation of 
real value.
  You know, one of the things that was pointed out by you and is such 
an important fact about how we got to this level of a jobs deficit in 
this country was the loss of manufacturing and the loss of this 
country's investment in creating real value, and, instead, so much was 
put on Wall Street. Wall Street took hold of the opportunity, with very 
little hindrance on greed being the operative way of proceeding, and as 
a result, they ran rampant, creating pretend value, trading and pretend 
value. And as a result, in Ohio, for example, bad trade policies and 
this reckless way on Wall Street, the lack of attention to 
manufacturing and its importance to the strength of our Nation and, in 
fact, the national security of our Nation, Ohio, since 2001, lost 
hundreds of thousands of jobs. That was long before the recession 
began.
  So we know that there are certain things that will help us, and, of 
course, the job creation task force supports this idea, that we have to 
build and strengthen our Nation's crumbling infrastructure. And I'm 
inspired by your words about the innovative spirit and all the 
potential that exists in this Nation. Well, some of that potential 
needs to be applied to our legislation, because while some of the ways 
that we have pursued things in the past are tried and true and we need 
to move forward in those veins that work, we also need to think 
creatively.
  You talked about the environment. Representative Tonko, you're well 
aware that I was the sponsor of the CARS Act, which became known, 
affectionately, I hope, as the Cash for Clunkers bill. But the thing 
about Cash for Clunkers was it shot down the old paradigm that it's 
either about jobs or the environment. It was about jobs and the 
environment. And we shored up the jobs in the auto and related 
industries that people across this country depend upon for their 
livelihood and the ramifications and the ripple effects, taking people 
off of unemployment, giving them the dignity and the opportunity to 
work a job, and at the same time achieving improved environmental 
integrity and helping consumers to get something that they need during 
these difficult economic times, and it went right to them.
  So it matters where you aim. No more just aiming at Wall Street, 
because we can't have a jobless recovery. There is no such thing, in my 
view, is there, Mr. Tonko, as a jobless recovery that's meaningful?
  Mr. TONKO. Not at all, Representative Sutton.
  Again, I applaud your efforts with Cash for Clunkers. You were a 
leader in making that happen. And you talk about the merit that that 
brought, but let's talk about the ripple effects that it inspired. 
Dropping that pebble into the pond and having those ripple effects 
reach into the auto industry, not only did it inspire people to trade 
in an energy-inefficient automobile, but they were now purchasing an 
efficient automobile and they were sparking additional production for 
our auto industry, which is absolutely important.

                              {time}  2000

  So some of these actions that we take have positive follow-up 
actions. There are direct and indirect hits, and all of that grows 
jobs, grows opportunity and speaks accordingly--favorably--to an energy 
plan, to an environment plan, and to an economic recovery plan. So, 
across the board, all of these plans are responded to in a progressive 
fashion.
  The same is true, as you made mention, of the infrastructure issue. 
We think traditionally of roads and bridges. Well, many of those 
bridges that are measured ``deficient'' need to be addressed for public 
safety purposes. It also responds to the ironworkers across America who 
will have to provide for the supplies, and it responds to all of those 
who work in the industries, in the trades, who are connected to the 
ordinary transportation construction projects out there. It is the 
cement manufacturers and those who are providing all of the resources 
that are required. All of that produces more than just construction 
jobs on the scene. There are many ancillary industries that are 
favorably bolstered simply by this investment.
  When we talk about infrastructure, we can't stop just with roads and 
bridges. We need to look at the most efficient form of travel, that 
being rail, and we need to look at building into that today's ahead-of-
the-curve sort of responses with high-speed, energy-efficient rail. 
Again, that requires embracing R&D so that our brightest science and 
tech minds can create efficient braking systems and efficient cars that 
can be utilized in the rail transportation corridors. All of that 
inspires progress, and it allows us to take some of the brightest minds 
who can help us with the intellect and with the discoveries that we 
require, but it also involves a full spectrum of employment--from 
trades individuals over to the Ph.D.'s. So we cover the full spectrum 
of jobs out there, and we provide, again, hope for American families.
  You know, I think it is important also for us to look at the measures 
that we can inspire and encourage that find us working with the 
deployment of these wonderful innovative and ingenious measures that 
are used now by other nations.
  Recently, the SEEC Coalition in Congress, of which I'm a founding 
member--and it's a brand new vehicle this year, the Sustainable Energy 
and Environment Coalition--has been bringing in guest speakers. We had 
the most recent former Energy Minister of Denmark in to speak to the 
group to talk about the innovation that Denmark was doing with its 
economy on energy-related matters. Afterwards, I spoke to him. 
Representative Sutton, what he said to me was so telling.
  I asked him, What was the inspiration? Where did you reach to get 
these

[[Page H14963]]

ideas that transformed the energy outcomes for Denmark?
  He smiled broadly and said, Many of them are American patents.
  We have not provided for that funding mechanism to take the whiz-kid 
ideas in the lab and in the R&D centers--both public and private and at 
academia. We have not provided the funding to deploy those into 
manufacturing or into retail use so that we can get the return on 
investment that was made. The Angel Network, the venture capitalists--
that ``valley of death'' as it is labeled--needs to be addressed. If we 
do that, we are providing more jobs, not just in R&D, but by inducing 
wiser manufacturing operations.
  You know, you talked about manufacturing and the heyday of which we 
all know of the manufacturing that was here. I represent a series of 
mill towns, which is a necklace of communities along the course of the 
Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. They were the Westward Movement. They 
were the epicenters of invention and of innovation, staffed many times 
by immigrant labor that created those ideas, which allowed us to rule 
the world. We created the Westward Movement with that sort of canal 
activity and those mill towns. Today, those mill towns have gone rusty, 
but we can save manufacturing in America if we do it smarter. We don't 
have to do it cheaper. We need to do it smarter.
  With the emergence of nanoscience in this country, there is a 
nanoscience center in the capital region of New York, which I 
represent, that just 2 days ago introduced an investment that will 
allow them to provide for precision characterization and inspection of 
product line development and manufacturing. This will take us a long 
way to being the best and the smartest, and that's the sort of 
investment that American workers deserve. America's families can have 
that hope brought into the fabric of their families simply by the 
wisdom that can be inspired with sound public policy here and by the 
investment of resources that can make things happen.
  Ms. SUTTON. That's exactly right, Representative Tonko.
  As you point out, these initiatives have massive effects for the good 
of the whole. You get the benefit of the R&D jobs, and you get the 
benefit of all of the spinoffs and the manufacturing. I mean, that is 
what built this country. That is what built this middle class that we 
aspire to.
  I'm the youngest of six kids from a working class family. My dad 
worked in a boilermaker factory his whole life. Somehow, from those 
roots, in this great country, I was able to come to the House of 
Representatives of the United States. I take that responsibility so 
seriously because I know it's an unlikely story. It's an unlikely story 
that someone not born to wealth and privilege can sometimes come, in 
this great country, to a place like this to be a voice for people out 
there who only want a chance to do a hard day's work for a fair wage. 
We've gotten away from that in this Nation.
  As to manufacturing, though, we might not make all of the things we 
used to make, but we will make other things--green energy products. We 
used steel to build the windmills, but right now, we're not using steel 
or our ingenuity, but there are so many out there in the United States 
with the capacity to do it and the desire to do it. They're just 
looking for a government that will work with them. That's what we're 
about--finding ways to work with them to accomplish these goals, to 
create the opportunity and to build the potential of this country that 
we all know that it has and that it shall always have.

  So it is really a pleasure in the sense that the challenges are hard 
but that the potential is greater. The potential that we have before us 
outweighs the difficulties that we face, and we have to make that the 
case. That is our job here in Congress.
  So I am glad to be down here tonight to talk about these issues with 
you because, among all of the highest of high priorities, in my view 
right now, as a Member of Congress, for the people whom I represent, 
it's jobs, jobs, and jobs.
  Mr. TONKO. Well, Representative Sutton, anyone who knows you picks 
that up as the mantra. You share that vision of a renewable form of 
energy in wind turbines that could be established.
  You know, we don't have the luxury to sit around and let this 
opportunity pass us by. We will have failed generations of Americans if 
we do not advance a sound agenda for jobs in the energy arena and 
across the board with all of these aspects and dynamics of job 
creation. It's not like someone else isn't going to take over, because 
we are now seeing robust activity in India, in China, in Japan, in 
Germany, and in other centers around the world. So we have no choice. 
We cannot be lulled into a false sense of security. As if the 
recession, deep and long as it is and was, isn't enough and as if the 
job loss was not enough, we now are challenged by the actions of others 
who are moving past us.
  So, for many, many fair and just reasons--and maybe it's something we 
don't want to acknowledge--we need to move forward aggressively with a 
sound jobs agenda that will speak to the heart and soul of this Nation: 
the working families of this country.
  Now, when you talk about energy transformation and jobs that can be 
created, isn't it ironic that we will hear on this floor debates about 
whether carbon emission is a reality in our lives, all while these job 
opportunities are passing us by? Delay here is costly, perhaps into the 
millions and billions of dollars. Carbon emission? Let's talk about job 
emission. Let's talk about the job loss because, as we go forward, it 
will be critically valuable if we can put that focus onto this job 
package as well as the infrastructure.
  While we are talking about energy, water/sewer systems and water 
treatment centers, I would also say that, in my former life just before 
Congress--after my years of service in the legislative body of the New 
York State Assembly--I went over to NYSERDA and led that authority. It 
is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. 
NYSERDA had many problems it had worked on with energy-efficient water 
treatment centers. So here are ways to help local communities. Water is 
the commodity. They say, in the next 30 years, it will be 
transportation, water, and energy. We need to invest in that 
infrastructure. Let's do it in a state-of-the-art fashion where we are 
creating energy-efficient water treatment centers. Let's invest in 
these centers, and let's help local governments grow their job 
opportunities. One of the marketable strategies is to have an abundant 
and up-to-date water supply, a sewer treatment center so that you can 
have these facilities, that infrastructure, in your midst. I think that 
is so very important.
  As you talk about the American Dream that your dad allowed you to 
dream that took you to noble levels, it began with education and higher 
education. So investing in the human infrastructure of education, 
investing in green schools and in improved schools at the school 
infrastructure, all of this needs to be part of our package. We know 
that leadership is responding to that jobs agenda. We know that, as a 
task force, there is a lot of homework to do.
  You have rolled up your sleeves as co-Chair with Representative 
Hastings. The two of you are leading us, along with the chairman of the 
caucus, John Larson, and along with many of our standing Chairs, like 
George Miller and, certainly, Speaker Pelosi. All of us working 
together can make this happen. There are great ideas that every Member 
is feeding this body, and we need to move forward aggressively but 
effectively and intelligently so as to create the package which is the 
greatest pronouncement of economic recovery that we can imagine.
  Representative Sutton, it is great to work with you. I am inspired 
because of the sort of intellect that you bring to the discussion, and 
there are many people with whom we have partnered who have it within 
their hearts and souls and minds to make a difference.
  Ms. SUTTON. Well, I am humbled by your words. You are very generous.
  I have to say that there are those out there who, on the other side 
of the aisle--and sometimes we hear about how bad things are and, Oh, 
my goodness, but we don't hear solutions. You know what? It doesn't 
take a lot to identify the problems. The American people know what this 
recession has brought us. They know what happened as the deficit 
skyrocketed under the

[[Page H14964]]

last administration and when the Democrats took over from the 
Republicans, who were in control of everything for many, many years. 
Now all we hear sometimes is just about how bad it is. Well, how do you 
think we got here?

  So we are about solutions, and we are about continuing to work on it 
until we accomplish what we need to for the American people, because 
nothing ever gets done just by identifying problems. We have to make 
things happen because we get the results that we create.
  Right now, we are living and are trying to fix the results that were 
created, not by the party of ``no,'' as sometimes people refer to those 
on the other side of the aisle--because they weren't the party of 
``no.'' They were the party in control. They were in control when wages 
were flat for the American people, when productivity was through the 
roof and when the GDP was rising as well. So people were working 
harder. They were working longer, and they were getting less.
  In fact, Representative Tonko, I'm going to go down to the well here 
because I have a graph that will show exactly what was going on.
  Mr. TONKO. It's rather dramatic, and to think of what was happening 
with productivity on a curve and as to what was happening with GDP and 
with its curve and then contrasting that with the average American 
incomes, with the household incomes, it is a very painful but telling 
story.
  Representative Sutton, now that you are by the chart, explain for the 
American public, if you will, just exactly what was happening through 
this time frame. Again, there was a lot of work to be done to stop the 
bleeding. People ask, Well, what are you doing about jobs? What are you 
doing about the recession? Wait. This took a while to clean up, and now 
it is time to move forward with the Progressive agenda.
  Describe for us, please, where this great recession began and just 
what the curves tell us on that chart.
  Ms. SUTTON. Representative Tonko, last year, when the so-called 
``meltdown'' occurred, there were a lot of people where I live, as they 
listened to the experts say, Oh, we didn't see this coming, who were 
all saying, What? Are you kidding me? Because we've been living this 
for quite some time in Ohio.
  Part of the reason they felt that way is that, if you look at this 
chart which is right here, it is entitled: Everyday people were 
struggling before the great recession began. Productivity, GDP, and 
median household incomes are reflected on this chart.

                              {time}  2015

  And what you will see is that while we saw for many, many years, 
while here is where our recession hits in a big way, according to the 
experts, what was happening as we built up to our big recession? 
Productivity and GDP were going through the roof, and this line down 
here with this big gap in between these two, this is what household 
incomes were.
  Mr. TONKO. If you will suffer an interruption, if the gentlelady will 
yield, I think in simple terms what that is saying is some people were 
doing quite well and maybe perhaps realizing a bonanza and others were 
asked to live with what they've got and they stayed flat-lined.
  Is that perhaps an easy way to place it?
  Ms. SUTTON. That's a very descriptive way of explaining what 
happened. Wall Street was having a party and the American people were 
in many cases in the position of using credit even to pay for their 
most basic needs. Then, of course, we know what happened. There were a 
lot of people in this country who also were subject to ever-escalating 
fees and all kinds of issues that they faced as those credit issues 
mounted or they, for goodness sake, got hit with a health issue. Even 
those with insurance, we know so many were forced into bankruptcy. Why? 
Because their wages and everything were way down here. As productivity 
and GDP, somebody was making a lot of money, but it wasn't the American 
people.
  Mr. TONKO. And whose pocket was it coming out of but the American 
working families. And so when we think about this, the work that we 
have to do, you know, somebody approved that there be no regulator, no 
watchdog over the financial sector. Somebody approved that. Somebody 
said, Let's create a doughnut hole and let people make a record bonanza 
on the pharmaceutical needs that our American seniors require. Somebody 
said, Let's give a tax break to the upper income strata and that will 
trickle down. Somehow that chart is telling us that was a fairy tale; 
it was fiction, not truth.
  A number of these elements now come to haunt us. So bringing about 
regulatory reform in the banking industry, in the financial sector, a 
step done just a few days ago; making certain there was a tax cut for 
middle-income America in the stimulus package, an historic, largest tax 
cut for middle-class America, part of the stimulus package; making 
certain that we now start putting down payments onto those issues like 
our energy infrastructure, which failed miserably in 2003, where we 
didn't invest in a domestic agenda; ending this off-line, off-budgeting 
of a war in Iraq that now is finally brought on-budget, to have truth 
and honesty in the budget.
  All of this hit at once. And then investing in a stimulus to stop the 
bleeding. We had to bring things under control and now talk about the 
progress that needs to be made, needs to be struck, in not only 
bringing about jobs but inspiring an innovation economy, those 
meaningful jobs that will be uniquely American or provide for America's 
needs through her own workers and allow us to clean the environment, 
respond to a favorable progressive energy agenda and make smarter 
outcomes, the outcome at our manufacturing centers, and inspire 
investments in our public safety workers, our firefighters, our police, 
and bring back a strength in our education process that won't deny our 
future workers; our children are our present and our future.
  All of this needs to be brought into one intelligent package, as you 
lead us, along with Representative Hastings, Representative Larson and 
the leadership of the House under Speaker Pelosi. As we go forward, 
this will be very important now to create a smart investment out of 
what was a huge catastrophe where we went again, to repeat myself, from 
the largest surplus to the lowest deficit, the greatest deficit, and 
where we could have, had it stayed on course, reduced the deficit to 
zero in this given calendar year. What a tragedy for all of America, 
and now the task of building a smart response has begun through the 
task force and through the leadership of the House.
  Ms. SUTTON. Representative Tonko has put it very well in identifying 
that there are many facets to what we have to do to provide the 
economic opportunity that the American people need and deserve.
  What we see here is that even before the recession, they weren't 
getting the economic opportunity that they need and they deserve, 
because their wages were flat, while those at the top were, as I say, 
reveling in the process and their productivity, the productivity of the 
American worker.
  Mr. TONKO. If I can just ask you to point on the chart what year 
where we're starting to see the dip for the average household income 
for Americans. It's in the year 2000, 2001, where it really begins to 
dip and just continued to decline throughout that 8-year period or so 
that really inflicted pain upon American households.
  Ms. SUTTON. The gentleman from New York is right. It goes completely 
flat before it falls off the cliff. It has been a struggle for a long 
time, in no small part because of what you point out. I have heard it 
said that there was no sheriff and so people robbed the banks. Well, 
then there was no sheriff and the banks robbed the people. We saw some 
of that in recent times.
  And the American people are smart. They know what was going on, and 
they know how the economy was working for them. Now it was working a 
little better than it is for a lot of people now, but the reality is 
they still deserve better. And so we don't really want to necessarily 
go back to this place where there's a big gap and all the wealth is 
concentrated necessarily up here with the American people still not 
able to get by working two or three jobs.
  But it doesn't have to be that way. We want people to make money in 
this country. We want capitalism to flourish in this country. We want 
to facilitate that. But people who work and

[[Page H14965]]

contribute should be paid a fair wage, and they need to know the 
security of a job that is going to be there, that opportunity will be 
there for themselves and for their families, that they will have access 
to the health care coverage that they need.
  That's a point I will yield on.
  Mr. TONKO. Representative Sutton, I will say this. Interestingly in 
that flat-lining of the red curve on your chart is that period, that 
10-year stretch, where we saw health care insurance premiums more than 
double while that income, that average household income, remained flat. 
What a painful experience.
  And then we all know through anecdotal evidence of the many stories 
of catastrophic situations where people were hit with--I can think of 
an example quickly--a 37 percent increase in insurance premiums over 2 
years, and left with now one wage earner in a married couple household 
where they have to pick up $18,000 in medical expenses.
  This recovery requires bringing health care into a reformed 
situation, where there's affordability, accessibility, quality health 
care, making certain that our Nation's employers and the families are 
all benefited by flattening and then bending that health care insurance 
premium curve. There are so many pieces to the puzzle that are coming 
into play that this House, this majority, has advanced as high 
priorities: energy reform, health care insurance reform, job creation 
and retention, making certain that services are provided in our 
communities, relief to State governments. All of this is part of a 
package that will be put together in a very academically, sound manner.
  And when we do that, I think the working families will be inspired by 
the sort of attention that they will get because they have not received 
that degree of empathy, that sensitivity to their struggle and we have 
allowed this to go far too long. Finally now the recession, we hope, 
has stopped, the bleeding has been stopped, and we go forward now with 
the act of rebuilding, rebuilding an economy, but we need to do it 
cleverly. We need to do it in a way that responds to many of the 
policies out there that will drive this Nation in terms of smart 
outcomes, smarter manufacturing investment, stronger energy outcomes, a 
better and more sustainable health care insurance program. All of these 
underpinnings of support, along with the job creation, are essential so 
that the jobs we develop are going to be there for generations and 
where they will be cutting-edge jobs that have not yet been on the 
radar screen. If we can do that with the traditional mix of job sector 
out there, job elements that will be available for our families, then 
we will have responded in most wholesome fashion. Then we can step back 
and say that we have begun the process that now will bring a 
sustainable outcome, a recovery opportunity, and a strong sense of hope 
that we can build into the fabric of this country.
  I think that we're onto the start of a long process. I chuckle when I 
hear people say, What have you done? The unemployment rate is so high. 
The people losing jobs are at this count. Where have you been?
  I'm a new arrival. You have been working on these issues for the last 
term and a half. We have witnessed a major collapse that, as you 
indicated, was very predictable. All the indicators were telling us 
what was going on. But turning our backs to a situation does not offer 
comfort to America's jobless or even those who hold a job with great 
trepidation that they may not have that job much longer.
  So, Representative Sutton, your leadership in this regard, 
Representative Hastings, working with Representative Larson and Speaker 
Pelosi, Chairman Miller and our Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, everyone 
coming together, working through the committee structure, putting this 
together in a forum that allows us to share openly and with great sense 
of vision, keen vision, we're going to make this happen. We're going to 
have a wonderful comeback, I believe.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman again for his generous words and 
his points that are right on the mark.
  You started out by talking about the costs of health care and how 
they've been just skyrocketing as the American workers' wages and 
American families have been flat; the burden that that has placed on 
people and the fact of the matter has led so many into bankruptcy. We 
all know these stories. We all know about those who can't get the care 
they need when they need it, and it is because of cost.
  We hear people out there, some of the same people who brought us the 
Republican recession and this economy where wages were so flat for 
ordinary Americans, and they talk about how we shouldn't do this health 
care reform. The reality of it is, well, you know, no health care 
reform really wasn't working for the American people whose costs 
continue to skyrocket; and if we do nothing, the costs are going to 
continue to skyrocket.
  The same is true about energy. There are those who may argue about 
the merits of what we do, but to do nothing is going to result in the 
same results that we've gotten from doing nothing, or not taking 
aggressive action, that brought us the Republican recession. And energy 
costs are going to go up and up and up while this economy has remained 
down here.
  The good news is, as we take action to fashion this mission of job 
facilitation for the ordinary American families in this country that 
are its great strength, that it doesn't have to be this way, that we 
can all prosper, those who make the most as well as those who are in 
the middle and those who aspire to the middle class. That's the great 
promise of this great country.
  You've pointed out a lot of the things that we need to do, in 
investing, research and development and innovation and infrastructure. 
You've pointed out how other countries in the midst of this global 
recession are doing that. That, too, is a factor that we can't ignore. 
We cannot stand still in these days. And to those who participated in 
bringing us the Republican recession that ended not only in such an 
increase in the deficit in this country but also resulted in the jobs 
deficit in this country, some of those same people, Representative 
Tonko, will stand here and say that it should be all about jobs, that 
we should be working on jobs.

                              {time}  2030

  Well, we are working on jobs. And I know that the CBO has said that 
through the ARRA, that we have saved or created 600,000 to 1.6 million 
jobs. And I say to those who have been complaining about jobs, who 
didn't vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, who brought 
us the skyrocketing deficit and the jobs deficit of the Republican 
recession, you didn't vote for the ARRA, so how many jobs have you 
delivered or saved for the American people in this short time as we 
pursue, as Americans, not as Democrats and Republicans, but as 
Americans, a path to recovery for ordinary families who need and depend 
upon us?
  Mr. TONKO. Representative Sutton, you're on to a very key factor. The 
third quarter of this calendar year saw most of the growth, if not all 
of it in our economy, as something related to the stimulus, inspired by 
the stimulus, not as great as we would like, some 3 percent, perhaps 
growth, with a reduction of .3 to .9 percent in unemployment. But it's 
a start. And I think that when we talk about the transformation that we 
can do with our energy agenda, with generation, with reduction, 
efficiency should be our fuel of choice, what we can to do to reduce 
demand. All of that inserted into a sector like the manufacturing 
sector allows more jobs because we can reduce the cost of production 
which, again, the company is competing in a global marketplace.
  We hear the stories. We hear the sad tales that are difficult. One in 
five children lives in poverty in this country. That is driving pain in 
the lives of so many families. When you hear stories like people having 
a job for 15 years in the manufacturing sector, now losing it; when I 
hear a dairy farming couple tell me that they don't think they can 
afford their daughter's high school graduation ring. We need to address 
all sectors of the economy, including our agriculture as a sector. The 
dairy industry needs to be responded to in a way where we provide those 
who work 24/7 a fair return for the market, for the product, the 
produce they bring to the market. There are so many challenges that 
behoove us to be at our very best. And now is the time, after all of 
this neglect, all of this destruction that was allowed to happen, it's 
a

[[Page H14966]]

huge mess to have cleaned up. And now we go forward and, inspired by 
the many stories that are real in the lives of people that will inspire 
our process to respond to people, I think is so key, is so elemental. 
Elementary statements out there that are made about various factors 
that drove job reductions in certain communities can be addressed 
simply by doing it in a wise and sensitive manner.
  There are the tools at our fingertips. We are creating that package 
that will respond to it. This will not be, if we have our say as a 
majority, I believe, a jobless recovery that is not going to render any 
sort of hope for people. It resonates with a flatness, with a pain more 
than a flatness. And so the charts tell it all. The American workers 
tell it even better when they are left without a job, the dignity of 
work. We need to be inspired by the past history that spoke to us, the 
years of Franklin Roosevelt, when a CCC and a works program, a WPA were 
developed, and they built this Nation and it responded infrastructure-
wise to the needs of communities across this country, coast to coast. 
We have a pioneer spirit of which I spoke that was centered in the mill 
towns along the stretch of the Erie Canal that gave a westward 
movement, that brought itself first to Ohio, our neighbors to the West, 
and then inspired an entire world. We created product designs and 
invention and innovation that drove a wonderful agenda.
  Our hearts are full of the pioneer spirit. It's the American way to 
solve problems. That's truly the American spirit, and we can do it with 
the great agenda here.
  Representative Sutton, it has been so wonderful to be able to join 
you this evening and to work with you side by side on the task force 
for creating jobs. We have a voice that will resonate on behalf of the 
working families in this Nation, and we will talk about taking that 
curve and swinging it upward so that it's not a flat line in the lives 
of people, because while that red line looks painful, it's even more 
painful in the pocket when people realize that the job lost and the 
dollars lost and the opportunities lost are simply so real in their 
lives that they're counting on us to do our job and do it with 
tremendous sensitivity. I thank you for your leadership. It's been a 
pleasure to join you this evening.
  Ms. SUTTON. Representative Tonko, we thank you for your leadership of 
all those you represent in New York and all those you speak for across 
the country. This is something that we can do in this great Nation, and 
we can do it together. We can do it. All of us within this Chamber have 
an interest in seeing our country prosper, and that's what the job 
creation task force is all about. And we will be back. We will be 
working in the meantime to make sure that we realize and we do our part 
to put forward the economic opportunity that the people that, as I 
said, we're so very honored to serve and represent, what they need and 
what they deserve.

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