[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26258]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, when I travel home to Los Angeles County, the 
people ask me, where are the jobs? Where are the extended unemployment 
insurance benefits?
  When we look at this chart, we can see that since January of 2001 we 
have not made any progress. In fact, in the San Gabriel Valley the 
unemployment rate is still above 10 percent, and it is double digit in 
areas that are unincorporated in East Los Angeles where we have high 
minority populations. These are working people that are looking for 
relief. They are waiting for unemployment insurance. And they are also 
asking why is the Republican Party not doing more to strengthen our 
economy.
  The Democrats want to provide pay increases for our Reservists and 
our military families. I am ashamed to say these are the same families 
we represent that are in waiting lines to get food, these Reservist 
families in my district; and I think that is abominable.
  We need to provide a tax incentive to encourage companies to keep 
jobs at home, not abroad, like Halliburton and Bechtel. We need to 
raise the minimum wage. We need to pass a highway infrastructure bill 
that will keep good-paying jobs, not minimum-wage jobs, but jobs that 
pay above minimum wage.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to consider proposing those 
incentives that we are talking about today to restore the economy for 
Americans.

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