[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 131 (Monday, September 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7455-S7456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CREATING JOBS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, the most important part of our jobs as
Senators is to create jobs in our States. That is especially true in
times such as these, when so many are reeling from so much economic
pain.
Right now, as I speak, the President is signing into law our small
business jobs bill. As soon as he does, $15 billion in tax relief and
hundreds of millions of dollars in loans will be on the way to
America's small businesses, which we all know are the engines of our
economy, engines that will power recovery.
Every penny of that help is paid for, and it will not add a single
dime to the deficit. I spoke to the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration on Thursday or Friday--I don't know the exact day. She
indicated to me that there were 1,000 applications for small business
loans that will be completed within hours of signing that bill. The
resources have simply not been there for her to do the work that is
necessary. One thousand small businesses will be able to go forward on
programs they have, programs dealing with retail sales, wholesaling.
There will be businesses that will be exporters, importers, and any
variation of small
[[Page S7456]]
businesses that you can imagine--restaurants. This will create many
jobs immediately. So I was happy when I heard that from her. I knew
that was going to be the case, but I wanted to hear it from her.
When that funding gets to where it is going, as many as one-half
million people who are looking for work today will soon be on their way
to a new job. We fought so hard for this bill against such stubborn
minority opposition because we know we have to do everything we can to
get people back to work. That means we have to work just as hard to
create new jobs as we have to protect existing ones. It means that when
a corporation tries to take away someone's job in Nevada and send it
halfway around the world, we have to stop them. We cannot let the
greedy CEOs do that anymore, and that is exactly what we are going to
do this week. We are going to take away the incentives that our
corporations have to send our jobs overseas and give them powerful new
incentives to keep the jobs right here in America.
Right now, our Tax Code actually rewards corporations for offshoring
jobs. It is hard to comprehend that, but it is true. It helps them pay
the costs of closing their plants and offers them tax breaks if they
move production to other countries. The current system even encourages
companies to ask their employees to train their foreign replacements.
Think about how an American feels about that. That is a slap in the
face to hard-working Americans. It is no way to get our economy back on
its feet and certainly no way to get Americans back to work.
Our bill rights this wrong, and it is going to help revive our
Nation's manufacturing industry. We are giving companies the right kind
of tax cut, a payroll tax holiday as a reward for bringing jobs back
home. So far, we have seen little to indicate that our friends on the
other side of the aisle have any interest in protecting American jobs.
Instead, we have seen them fight with great enthusiasm to keep
corporate tax loopholes as wide open as possible.
Let's use this week to remember whom we work for: middle-class
families and the hard-working people who built this country and will
rebuild it toward recovery; middle-class families and not corporations
that take advantage of tax loopholes at their expense; American workers
and not foreign companies that want to take away their jobs. That is
the most important thing we can do.
Nothing is more important to me, as a Senator, than the work to
create jobs in our States.
Will the Chair now announce morning business.
____________________