[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            A NEW DIRECTION

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. To hear our Republican colleagues, you'd think they have 
an idea or a plan on how to put people back to work.
  Remember, it was the failed deregulatory policies of the Bush 
administration and of the Republican majority that ultimately led to 
the collapse of Wall Street, to the emptying out of people's savings 
accounts and to the destroying of businesses across America. It was 
also their failed free trade policies that exported 3 million 
manufacturing jobs during the Bush-Republican era.
  But, yeah, they always say tax cuts will cure everything. I would say 
that the worst part of the stimulus bill they are criticizing--and I 
voted against that bill--was the $340 billion in tax cuts insisted upon 
by three Republican Senators. How many jobs have they produced?
  What did you do with your tax cuts? last week I asked my 
constituents.
  They said, I didn't get a tax cut.
  I said, Oh, yeah, you did. You got $8 less withholding.
  They said, Well, that's not going to do anything. That's not going to 
put my neighbor back to work. That's not going to create any jobs.
  Their nostrum is more tax cuts, more deficits, more debt, more 
deregulation, more failed free trade. We need a new direction. Yes, 
this administration hasn't done everything I've wanted, but it's a heck 
of a lot better than the disasters they've visited upon us.

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