[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18327-18328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   EBAY PART OF 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, last week, we had a great statement made by 
Vice President Cheney talking about the new 21st century vibrant 
economy. He

[[Page 18328]]

pointed to the fact that there are, in this new economy, 430,000 
Americans who make their income, their living, selling on eBay. They 
are entrepreneurs.
  Over the weekend, there were a number of pundits who criticized him, 
saying, Well, because of the slow economy, that Vice President Cheney 
was advocating that people go down and find something in the basement 
and sell it on eBay, and that will take care of them.
  The fact of the matter is, that is not what he was saying. He was 
talking about an industry that did not exist 10 years ago; eBay did not 
even exist. Today, we have got nearly half a million Americans earning 
their living on eBay. Frankly, if you look at the number of people who 
are selling things on eBay, it is in the millions.
  So, Mr. Speaker, it is important for us to acknowledge that this 
administration and this Congress are helping us build and expand in 
this new 21st century economy.

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