[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 134 (Monday, September 12, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6081-H6085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                CBC HOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. 
Christensen) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. This evening, I am again pleased to join my 
colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to talk about jobs for 
this first hour, and we are really pleased that we're going to be led 
off this night by our Democratic whip, The Honorable Steny Hoyer, the 
person who has led us in the Make It In America agenda.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I thank her for 
her leadership.
  I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus, which has raised this 
issue to a new height of not only visibility but of hope.
  Emanuel Cleaver, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told 
a wonderful story in our caucus the other day. He said there was a 
little boy and his dad, and his dad was reading the paper. The little 
boy scratched his hand, and as he did so, it obviously hurt. He went in 
front of his dad, shaking his hand. He walked to and from his father, 
and his father kept reading the paper. Finally, his father put down the 
paper and said, ``Son, I know you scratched your hand, but there's 
nothing I can do about it.''
  And the little boy looked at his dad and said, ``You can say, `Ouch.' 
''
  You can understand the pain that I am experiencing. You can 
understand the pain that losing a job is causing me. You can understand 
the pain of a home that is lost because the mortgage cannot be paid. 
You can understand the pain of a family, living in a home, who has seen 
the value of that most important asset of theirs dwindle and be reduced 
so that the mortgage payment they're paying is more than the value of 
the home in which they live.
  The Congressional Black Caucus did two things: It said, ``We hear and 
we say, `Ouch.' We understand the pain you're experiencing. We feel 
your pain.'' But if all we do is empathize and feel pain, that's not 
enough.

                              {time}  1920

  Our President addressed us last week, and he said we can shrug our 
shoulders and say there are 14 months until the next election, but the 
people in pain can't wait 14 months.
  And that's what the Congressional Black Caucus did. Tens of thousands 
of people showed up throughout this Nation because somebody offered 
hope, and not just hope but real deliverables. Jobs were gotten; 
interviews were set up; training sessions for how you apply, how you 
dress, how you talk to prospective employers. Those kinds of seminars 
were given. A difference was made by the Congressional Black Caucus 
traveling throughout this country.
  So I rise to thank the leadership and all the members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus. I see Mr. Davis and Ms. Waters on the floor 
with Donna Christensen, and I thank them for their leadership in 
particular. Maxine Waters was an extraordinarily strong voice for 
saying just that: we feel your pain, and it's not just empathy we're 
going to give you; we're going to give you the help that we can give.
  This President came before us last week and said, ladies and 
gentlemen, it is time to act. It is time to add to the opportunity for 
success for putting America back to work, for addressing the mortgage 
crisis in our country, for putting some more money in the pockets of 
working men and women in this country, for helping small business grow 
and expand, making sure as well that we pay for what we buy.
  Every commission that has met, the Bowles-Simpson Commission and the 
Domenici-Rivlin Commission, said, yes, we have to get a handle on this 
debt and deficit, of which I'm a strong proponent; but in the short 
term we need to grow the economy because if you do not grow the 
economy, you will not get the deficit down because you need people 
working so that they can support themselves and their families and, 
yes, pay taxes, so that their grandchildren will not be deeply in debt. 
So I stand indebted to the Congressional Black Caucus for continuing to 
focus like a laser on creating jobs.
  Mr. Butterfield, another member of the Congressional Black Caucus and 
leader in our House, the chief deputy whip, is here as well and will be 
speaking so that in North Carolina and in America we can create jobs, 
invest in growing our economy, and, yes, give confidence, give 
confidence to every single individual, every family, and, yes, every 
business--small, medium, and large; that this Congress will act 
responsibly to address a challenge, to address the pain that our people 
are feeling, and to make sure in the long term, as we did in the 1990s, 
that our country is on a sound fiscal path leading to growth in the 
economy, jobs for our people, and a stronger and healthier America.
  So I am pleased to join the Congressional Black Caucus, thanking 
them, congratulating them, and saying that I look forward to working 
with them, not just today, but today, tomorrow, the next day, and the 
next week until such time as our people are no longer in the pain they 
now experience.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Democratic whip, for joining us, and 
please come back and join us anytime that we're on the floor. And thank 
you for reminding everyone that the people of this country just cannot 
wait 14 months to go back to work to take care of their families.
  At this time I would like to yield to Congressman Davis from 
Illinois.

[[Page H6082]]

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Let me, first of all, thank you, my classmate, 
Donna Christensen. We got here about the same time, and it seems as 
though the longer we're here, the more alike we think. So I want to 
thank you for your leadership.
  I also want to commend the Congressional Black Caucus because we have 
just completed what I will call a very successful tour, a tour where 
some people were able to actually obtain jobs, where other people were 
able to renew their faith and hope that out there somewhere waiting for 
them is a job.
  As the minority whip talked about pain and frustration, it reminded 
me that there are thousands of people in my congressional district who 
are experiencing that pain just as there are millions across the 
country.
  I dug out an old record of mine the other day. I was going through my 
collection, and there was a fellow singing a song about getting a job. 
He says, Every morning about this time, she brings my breakfast to the 
bed, crying, ``Get a job.'' He says, When I read the paper, I read it 
through and through, trying to see if there is any work for me to do--
get a job.
  But he kind of ends by saying, It was difficult to get a job that did 
not exist. It was difficult to get a job that he couldn't find.
  So I was pleased a few nights ago when a job plan was articulated and 
presented. That's a very simple kind of plan in a sense. I couldn't 
find much controversy. I couldn't find much that one couldn't buy no 
matter which side of the aisle they were on, no matter what their 
political stripes.
  I mean, who can argue with rebuilding roads and bridges and highways 
and giving people the opportunity to just ride on roads that are not 
bumpy or to ride on streets that are not filled with potholes--
meaningful kinds of work that anybody can know is an investment and is 
not any kind of giveaway?
  Who can argue with unemployed teachers getting an opportunity to 
work? Who can argue with small businesses being able to receive 
incentives if they hire people who have been unemployed for more than 6 
months? Who can argue with that? I don't think anybody that is serious 
could argue with any of that.
  So jobs must be found. Jobs must be had. And I am pleased to join 
with my colleagues to say that we must turn around that there are no 
jobs so that the guy can sing, I got a job, I got a job.
  Thank you, Congressional Black Caucus.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Danny.
  This morning I was with the postmasters at their convention, and 
they're facing some difficulties and are having to downsize. And those 
are some jobs that we know that you and Elijah Cummings, Eleanor Holmes 
Norton, Ed Towns, and Lacy Clay have been working to protect; and we 
thank you for that.
  At this time I yield to the gentlewoman from California, 
Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

                              {time}  1930

  Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Christensen. I would 
like to thank you for taking this time this evening so that we could 
focus on this issue of jobs. It's extremely important.
  I would like to thank Steny Hoyer for coming to the floor to 
recognize the work that we are doing, to increase job opportunities for 
people in this country.
  The Congressional Black Caucus is to be commended because they heard 
the cry. They felt the pain of so many people out there who have lost 
their jobs, who do not know how they are going to pay their mortgages, 
who do not know how they are going to provide for their families.
  So despite the fact that the Congressional Black Caucus organized and 
introduced over 40 bills dealing with this issue, the Congressional 
Black Caucus decided to do something more, recognizing, yes, that we 
have a public policy responsibility, that's why the 40 bills. But 
beyond that what else could we do?
  So the Congressional Black Caucus took to the streets and went out 
into America and hit five cities: Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; 
Atlanta, Miami, and then my city of Los Angeles. And what we saw was 
mind-boggling. Even though we understood that 16.7 percent is a huge 
number for people to be unemployed, we did not realize the thousands 
upon thousands of people who really were hurting out there.
  They came. They came by the thousands in every city that we were in. 
They were young, they were middle-aged, they were the unemployed, they 
were people who had been looking for jobs for over a year. And it was 
awfully painful to see all of these young college graduates who 
happened to be African American, who went to school, graduated, and 
looked forward to going to their job, who had no jobs. And so we saw it 
firsthand.
  In my own city of Los Angeles where we organized one of these job 
fairs, there were over 10,000 people who showed up. Luckily, we had a 
venue, the Crenshaw Christian Center, where they had a dome, a faith 
dome. They could hold 10,000 people, and people didn't have to stand in 
line.
  In Atlanta people got ill standing in line 3, 4 hours trying to get 
connected. The employers are to be commended. They came and they 
listened, they interviewed, they took applications, they assisted 
people in learning how to get an opportunity with their companies. We 
would like to thank all of those employers who participated with the 
Congressional Black Caucus in trying to help connect people with jobs.
  We have to continue with this push for jobs. The press has done a 
relatively good job of shining a light on the devastation that's going 
on in these African American communities. We support all people getting 
an opportunity for jobs, but we must target our resources to those 
communities that are most in need.
  We are talking about rural communities where there's unemployment and 
poverty, and we are talking about these urban areas. We believe that 
the resources must be targeted, the attention must be paid, not only to 
the entire population in this country of unemployed, but those areas 
that are absolutely suffering.
  We need to continue to do this. And while the white unemployment rate 
stayed the same last month, black unemployment increased by 4 
percentage points to 16.7 percent. Today in The Wall Street Journal 
they noted that black teenage unemployment is bordering on 50 percent. 
Fifty percent.
  These figures don't even take into account the discouraged workers, 
involuntary part-time workers, and underemployed workers. Moreover, let 
me just tell you about the wealth gap. It is at its largest levels in 
more than a generation.
  The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black 
households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew 
Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.
  These lop-sided wealth ratios are the largest since the government 
began publishing such data in 1984 and roughly twice the size of the 
ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two 
decades prior to the Great Recession that supposedly ended in 2009.
  The median wealth of white U.S. households in 2009 was $113,149 
compared to $5,677 for blacks and $6,325 for Hispanics.
  The percentage of African Americans with no wealth has increased. 
About 35 percent of black households and 31 percent of Hispanic 
households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15 
percent of white households.
  So while unemployment and the housing crisis is impacting everyone, 
it is hitting minority communities the hardest. That is why we must 
continue to push. I am so pleased that the President presented a huge 
opportunity to focus on job creation, and so now the devil is in the 
details.
  It must be targeted. The public policies must take into consideration 
targeting these efforts so that these resources are put where its most 
needed. The Congress must have hearings and markups for the American 
JOBS Act. We must work together to ensure that its stimulative 
investments are protected and strengthened through greater targeting.
  Our entire jobs-creation agenda can't simply be the tax cuts alone. 
We need to focus infrastructure repair in the communities with the 
bridges, roads and sewer systems that are most in need.

[[Page H6083]]

  We need to rebuild schools in urban and rural areas that have long 
been neglected.
  We want housing, a national housing trust fund to produce, 
rehabilitate, preserve, and operate rental housing in areas where our 
homeless veterans and seniors are concentrated.
  We need targeted aid to the unemployed, who are the most likely to 
spend their money and stimulate the economy. If we do not pursue 
targeted public policy, I predict that the African American 
unemployment will hit 20 percent. The American economy will never be 
stable if we have one segment of our population, particularly a segment 
as large as the African American population, that faces a systemic jobs 
crisis.

  So, again, my appreciation and my thanks to our chairman, Emanuel 
Cleaver, and to the entire Congressional Black Caucus for having the 
courage to step up and make this a priority issue, not only for our 
caucus but for their Congress and for their country. We cannot sit idly 
by in silence and watch what is happening as this devastation is 
continuing in these communities.
  Thank you one more time for allowing us to be here this evening.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Waters. We want to thank 
you for your leadership in leading the jobs task force for the CBC and 
for being such a strong voice for those who are continually being left 
out and left behind.
  At this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from North 
Carolina.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Let me thank you, Congresswoman Christensen, for all 
of your work, not only here in the House of Representatives, but what 
you do for the Congressional Black Caucus all across America.
  What hasn't come out tonight is you are actually the first vice chair 
of the Congressional Black Caucus, and you work so hard for all of us 
and we want to thank you very much. We want to thank you for convening 
this Special Order tonight. You work so hard to make it happen.
  I also want to extend my appreciation to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, 
who worked so tirelessly to help make successful the tour that we had a 
few weeks ago. She and her staff worked so very hard, and I want to 
publicly thank them for all that they did.
  I had intended to go to two of the five events, but because of 
Hurricane Irene in my district, I did not make it to Los Angeles, but I 
did go to the first one. I was there in Cleveland with Congresswoman 
Marcia Fudge when we had the jobs fair and the town hall meeting, and 
it made such a powerful impression on me for us to get up that morning 
and to drive over to the community college and to see thousands of 
people lined up trying to get an interview for a job.
  There was no question about it that these people were sincere, they 
were jobless through no fault of their own. Many of them told us that 
they had been jobless for more than 2 years, and they were standing in 
line hoping to get an opportunity to be interviewed by some of the fine 
companies that had come with the jobs in hand.
  So I want to encourage us to continue our work. We have so much work 
to do. The national unemployment now is 9.1 percent and African 
American unemployment is at least 16.7 percent and probably more. As 
Congresswoman Waters said a few moments ago, among African American 
youth the number now approaches 50 percent, and so we have work to do.
  The President has announced a very bold jobs plan that I hope that we 
can come together on as a Congress, both Democrat and Republican, House 
and Senate. I hope that we can come together and pass that package, the 
complete package, in just a few days because the American people are 
demanding that we do it.

                              {time}  1940

  We have a deficit panel that has now begun its work, 12 Members 
equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, half from the Senate 
and half from the House; and we are hoping and praying that deficit 
panel will be able to come together and present bold ideas to this 
Congress by November 23 so that we can demonstrate to the American 
people that we are serious about trying to create jobs.
  But you know, Congresswoman, we as a Congress cannot do this alone. 
We as the CBC cannot do this alone. We have got to have shared 
sacrifice from people all across America, and that includes America's 
corporations. I have been disturbed over the last few days that 
America's companies are sitting on more than $2 trillion in retained 
earnings, and that is so disappointing.
  So when we talk about creating jobs, American corporations have a 
responsibility, too, to put people to work and to start spending and 
investing in their own companies. So we go forward now, and we have a 
lot of work to do. We have a short term, as the minority whip said a 
few moments ago, and he is absolutely right; and I want to thank Steny 
Hoyer for his willingness to come to the floor tonight and to make the 
statements that he made. But we must have a short-term solution and a 
long-term solution. In the short term, we have to create jobs and we 
have to grow the economy. We have got to help businesses innovate, and 
we've got to improve the infrastructure so we can start getting more 
revenue from American workers. And, hopefully, in the long term we can 
begin to pay down the deficit.
  So thank you for allowing me to come to the floor tonight and thank 
you for your leadership, and I thank the chairman of the Congressional 
Black Caucus who works tirelessly. I don't know when he goes to Kansas 
City. He is from Kansas City, Missouri, and a good friend of all of 
ours. I don't know when he rests. He is our tireless leader. I 
understand that he may be next in the queue to speak, and I will 
eagerly await the statements from our chairman.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congressman Butterfield, and thank you 
for pointing out the fact that America's corporations are sitting on 
billions of dollars. They have an obligation. As I understand it, they 
claim there is uncertainty, and so they are holding onto their funds. 
But there can't be any more uncertainty in our corporations than in the 
families around this country who are hurting because they need a job.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Without question.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you again, Congressman Butterfield, for 
joining us. At this time, it is my pleasure to yield to the leader of 
our Congressional Black Caucus, Reverend Emanuel Cleaver. And thank you 
so much for your work and reminding this Congress and this country on 
the importance of job creation for America's families and for leading 
us on that tour over the August recess.
  Mr. CLEAVER. I thank the vice chair of the CBC. And to follow 
Congressman G.K. Butterfield, who I think hit on all of the proper and 
necessary areas of concerns, it has been written that ours will be the 
last generation in this country to experience surpassing the previous 
generation, that our children will not achieve what we have achieved 
and the jobs are not there. And while the individuals who have written 
about this and presented research on it are certainly brilliant and 
wise, I will gently rebuke them and disagree with their prediction.
  I am not in any way willing to accept the fact, the fatalism, that 
the United States will inevitably fall to number two in the world 
behind China. Yesterday there was a news story that said at best there 
will be two superpowers equal in terms of influence and their 
economies: China and the United States.
  This Nation that placed men on the Moon, this Nation that creates a 
new technology almost hourly should never surrender its place in the 
world to any other nation. And, further, I don't think that it is in 
our best interest to even give a hint that we believe that we can't 
continue to create jobs for the next generation.
  The jobs tour that we had during the month of August was eye-opening 
and Earth-shattering. When we walked from our cars inside the Cleveland 
State University place where we held the jobs fair, there were people 
who had been in line since 5 a.m. that morning. And so it always 
troubles me to hear people say, and say baselessly: Well, you know, 
some people don't want to work. So 5 a.m. in the morning, standing in 
line. And at best, of the 5,000 or 6,000 people who were there, we only 
had about 2,000 jobs. But people stood patiently in line.

[[Page H6084]]

  One of the things that happened that I think some of you may already 
know about who are in the CBC, an Anglo gentleman, and there were 
people from every race in every city, but this particular gentleman 
caught my attention because he said: Look, I listen to black radio. He 
said, I just like R&B and I heard about the jobs fair and I thought I'd 
come over since I'm unemployed. And he said, Is it all right? And of 
course our position is, has been, and shall always be, one of including 
everybody, particularly in a time of crisis. But even if we're not, 
that is what we would want. And so he remained in line. I'm not sure 
what happened, whether he was one of the successful applicants or not.
  The point I want to make is that the pain that is being experienced 
in this Nation is not just being experienced by African Americans. It 
is true that our numbers are higher, but our numbers are higher for a 
variety of reasons. Number one, African Americans historically have 
tried or sought employment in government. One of the reasons 
Washington, D.C. is predominantly black is because African Americans 
from the South came to Washington by the tens of thousands because it 
was believed that if you could get to the capital of the United States, 
you would experience far less bigotry and discrimination. And so by the 
thousands they came to Washington.
  The same thing holds true with government. African Americans have 
sought employment with State, local, and the Federal Government. So 
every time people read in the paper or cheer that some State laid off 
200 or 300 people, they need to understand that those are 200 or 300 
real human beings, and chances are also great that they are 
disproportionately minority. So that is one of the reasons why our 
numbers are swelling like they are.

  But also I think we have got to realize that there are some other 
factors through no fault of people who are unemployed. I served as 
mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, from 1991 until 1999, two terms, 8 
years. One of the things we always had to fight was expanding. Urban 
sprawl is what it is called sociologically. Kansas City is a city that 
stretches 322 square miles. To show you how large that is, you can 
place the entire city of San Francisco inside the city limits of Kansas 
City 30 times, or the city of Washington, I think it is like 42 times. 
It is a huge city.
  Now while many politicians brag about that, the truth of the matter 
is we stretched out our resources. One of the things I learned during 
the jobs fairs--we started out in Cleveland, went to Detroit; left 
Detroit and went to Atlanta; left Atlanta and went to Miami; left Miami 
and went to Los Angeles--and there is one thing that was present at all 
of those that this Congress needs to deal with and it is this: the jobs 
that were brought to our fairs were not new jobs. The truth of the 
matter is they were jobs that already existed except they were in the 
suburbs.
  And so as the cities have expanded, the jobs have moved to the 
suburbs. And so we cannot speak of creating jobs without dealing with 
the issue of transportation. There's an inextricable connection between 
jobs and transportation: how do you get people in the highest 
unemployment areas to the areas where the jobs are.

                              {time}  1950

  For those who live on the eastern seaboard, you have a little better 
situation because you have, as we do in Washington, the Metro. But when 
you start moving toward the western part of the United States, or the 
Caribbean, there is no mass transportation that is as effective as it 
is on the east coast. Therefore, if jobs are in suburban Kansas City 
and people who live in the urban area are unemployed and do not have a 
car and do not have any way of getting to the jobs, there is no way 
they can get there. Remember, Kansas City is a city of 322 square 
miles, which means that people could need to go essentially 30, 40, 50 
miles to get a job.
  Now, let me also say that nothing has been discussed thus far dealing 
with transportation. The jobs bill is seeking to have what I think most 
of us would support, which would be some kind of transportation bank 
where it would end up that the government would put money in and 
hopefully the private sector would come in and we would be able to get 
these infrastructure jobs going. But the amount of money that is being 
discussed is woefully inadequate, and there's probably little chance 
that we're going to be able to create any new mass transit programs in 
the country. In fact, UMTA, the Urban Mass Transit Administration, is 
broke virtually broke. So there's very little in the way of help coming 
forth.
  Now, there's some politics involved, and we're all in the political 
environment. And the people at home may not even understand what's 
going on.
  Tragically, I have watched our country move to a state where people 
are constantly angry. They're being told to hate their government, and 
then both sides of the aisle use inappropriate language to discuss 
things with the other side of the aisle. It's continuing to ratchet up, 
and it's getting worse and worse. And the people around the country are 
not only participating in it, they are encouraging it.
  This is the United States of America. My hope and my dream is that 
this Nation will be around for my children and my grandchildren. But 
I'm telling you that what our children are seeing is not a pleasant 
sight because they are looking at a Nation that is becoming more and 
more divided. You can't look at television or radio without this 
constant attack, attack, attack, and it's just sickening to see this.
  As we're moving into an election cycle, we're going to see ``thermal 
nuclear'' campaigns. And the American public needs to come to grips 
with the fact that if people will run a nasty campaign where all they 
do is attack, chances are when they come to Congress they're going to 
do the same thing. And the more we bring people in here who come for 
the sole purpose of fighting against the other side, the less business 
we're going to take care of for the people of this country.
  I said last week there are some people who'd like to defeat the 
President of the United States. Fine. Campaign against him. Get your 
spouse, your children, your grandchildren, your friends, and everybody. 
Vote against him. If you can vote twice, vote twice. Do everything you 
can to defeat the President. But right now, vote for the American 
public. Fight him later. Vote now for the American public.
  And the American public is in trouble. We've got to create 
opportunities for jobs to grow and develop or we're going to find 
ourselves faced with a new normal, a new normal where unemployment is 
considered normal at 8 percent rather than 3.5 percent, which is what 
our predecessors decided that we're going to keep unemployment at, 3.5 
percent. So we can't allow this to happen. I think we've got to fight 
against it. But, more than that, what we've got to do is quit fighting 
each other. Nothing is going to happen worth anything if we're fighting 
each other.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. CLEAVER. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Cleaver, you brought up the subject of 
infrastructure in your remarks. That's a very important conversation 
that we've got to have in this country. You have served 8 years as 
mayor of a major city. Would you again speak to the importance of 
infrastructure and what it can mean to job creation and economic 
development in communities all across America?
  I'm from a rural community. I have 88 small cities and towns in my 
district and they don't have access to money to build infrastructure. 
The infrastructure bank that you made reference to would just bring new 
life to rural communities. I know you served as a mayor. Just talk 
about the relationship between infrastructure and job creation.
  Mr. CLEAVER. What is generally said is that you get, four to one, 
jobs to money spent if we do infrastructure projects, and those jobs 
are long lasting.
  Now, most of the infrastructure in this country is in decrepit 
condition. Most of the storm water sewers, wastewater sewers in cities 
around the country are over a century old. Roads are collapsing. Our 
bridges are collapsing. We saw in Minnesota 2 years ago what happens 
when we neglect our own infrastructure.
  And the worst thing about it, Congressman Butterfield, is that we're

[[Page H6085]]

building roads and bridges right now in Iraq, new roads and bridges and 
schools in Iraq right now. I'm just a dumb Methodist preacher, but 
something doesn't add up. We're doing all of this in Iraq and our roads 
are crumbling?
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. And we have American workers ready to do the work if 
we can create the opportunities.
  Mr. CLEAVER. And we can with the infrastructure bank. But we've got 
to put enough money in the bank to attract the private sector dollars. 
And that's a part of the President's plan, and hopefully people will 
buy into it. But I don't think we have a lot of time to waste. 
Americans are sitting around now hoping, many of them even praying, 
that we will do something to help them out of the economic doldrums in 
which they find themselves.
  So, I appreciate the opportunity to come and share tonight in this 
discussion because I think people around the country who are watching 
this need to know at least there are some people in Washington who are 
looking out for their best interests. And I think, based on what we're 
doing, we are part of it. I'm not going to suggest that other folks are 
not interested in helping folks. They are. I'm saying that sometimes, 
maybe even unintentionally, we allow political ideology to trump 
anything and everything else, and at some point we ought to be more 
Americans than we are Democrats or Republicans.

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Chairman Cleaver, and thank you for the 
perspective that you always bring to these discussions, helping us to 
focus on the important issues, sometimes the underlying issues that 
often get overlooked.
  Yesterday and today, we've taken time out of our daily routine to 
remember the over 3,000 people who went to work on a bright, sunny 
morning and whose lives were snuffed out in three dastardly acts of 
terrorism. We remember and honor them and their families and the first 
responders who returned to help and also met their death on September 
11, 2001. We pay tribute also to the men and women of our Armed Forces 
who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing our fight 
against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and those who are still 
there protecting us and the world from attack.
  Today, I had the honor of addressing our postmasters at their annual 
convention and remembered Thomas Morris, Jr., and Joseph Curseen, who 
died after being exposed to anthrax sent in the mail in the weeks after 
as they worked at the Brentwood postal facility here in Washington. We 
didn't look at those who died or talk about those who died as 
Republicans or as Democrats or Independents. They were workers in both 
the public and private sector, who some groups today are trying to pit 
against each other. We honor them all and their families for their 
sacrifice.
  Tonight, we've been focusing on the workers that remain with us, but 
most especially we are singling out for our attention--to the attention 
of this Congress and for all Americans--those who have no job and for 
whom, until now, it had appeared as though there would be no 
legislation to come to their aid. But thanks to our great President, 
there's now a bill before us, and we're calling on both bodies to pass 
it as soon as possible and without taking it apart. The 1.9 million 
jobs and the 2 percent economic growth projections are dependent on 
those two things--that we pass it promptly and that we pass it intact.
  Most importantly, as President Obama said, and all of us know, the 
American people cannot wait 14 months until after the next election. 
They have already been hurting too long and they need those jobs. They 
need our help today.

                              {time}  2000

  As you heard, the Congressional Black Caucus did not wait either. We 
felt the pain and anxieties in our communities and communities across 
the country and used our August recess to partner with the private 
sector and some government agencies to bring jobs that are needed so 
desperately into our communities now. People of all ages, all 
educational backgrounds and levels came out in the thousands everywhere 
that held those job fairs.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of this country are crying out to us to put 
them back to work, to allow them to make it in America and to be able 
to take care of their families and our Nation once again. Sure, there 
are things in the President's draft bill that some of us are not 
particularly fond of that we're willing to accept for the integrity of 
the entire package and for the good of our country. And others, like 
Social Security and Medicare, we accept the President's goals and hope 
that we can work with him to achieve them through any alternative 
measures wherever our approaches might differ.
  The ladies in the markets in the Caribbean at home in the Virgin 
Islands used to what we call ``marry'' different fruits and vegetables 
for sale. You had to buy the two of them, whether it was limes and 
peppers or yams and okra, you had to buy the two; the vegetables were 
married. The purpose of that, of course, was to get everything sold by 
tying something everyone wanted to something that might not be as 
popular. Now I know that was not our President's approach, but he did 
put together a package that could best appeal to us so that we could 
all come together and buy it as a package. And so, Mr. Speaker, and 
colleagues, that is exactly what we should and must do.
  Creating jobs and stimulating our economy is critical not just to our 
present, but to our future. This is not an issue that's about the 
President, and it ought not to be about the next election. Neither is 
it about the CBC or Members of Congress, or about Republicans or 
Democrats or Independents. It's about the welfare and the well-being of 
the American people and of our country, which I know all of us care 
about.
  We are in a crisis. In crises, people always come together to the aid 
of each other, as we did on 9/11/01 and in the weeks and months after. 
So it's our hope and prayer that this Congress can do the same thing 
now.
  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of our time.

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