[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 29694-29695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AT&T WIRELESS ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Today in the Wall Street Journal, AT&T Wireless 
announced that they are going to lay off nearly 10 percent of their 
workforce, 3,000 employees, and outsource hundreds of other jobs to 
India. These 3,000 employees will be added to the 9 million Americans 
who already cannot find work and the 2 million Americans

[[Page 29695]]

who are defined as long-term unemployed Americans. This economy, 
although growing, is stalled. As Goldman Sachs recently described, it 
is not a jobless economy, it is a job-loss recovery. As we have reached 
record consumer debt and bankruptcy, long-term record unemployment, 
adding additional employees today by the announcement of AT&T Wireless 
to lay off 3,000 employees, this economy is not working for middle-
class Americans.
  There are some in this Chamber who like to spike the ball on the 40-
yard line and declare the mission accomplished as it relates to the 
economy. This economy is not working for middle-class families who find 
health care costs skyrocketing out of control, college costs 
skyrocketing out of control, their job in a tenuous position, and their 
bankruptcy and consumer debt rising faster than they can meet the 
demands of their family.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise and ask that Members of this Chamber focus on the 
needs of middle-class families and get the economy moving by producing 
jobs.

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