[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5348]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          INVESTING IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I want to follow the chain 
of thought of the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio and indicate the 
importance of focusing on employing America.
  I am very proud to be able to salute a businessperson in my community 
by the name of Anthony Chase, who speaks directly to the comment of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) about call centers, which really 
have become the engine of economic opportunity for many citizens here 
in the United States. There happen to be occasions for banks, credit 
card companies, and a number of other businesses in America to use 
these call centers.
  I just want to emphasize that we are a world economy, we are an 
integrated world. But I also think it is important that we look to 
recruit not only American businesses, but American workers, to be able 
to do work that is viable for uplifting our own inner city and rural 
communities. Mr. Chase has a company that hires hundreds of persons who 
work in a call center and secure business for a number of our companies 
in the Nation, and he hopes to recruit companies from around the world.
  We have to balance the responsibilities of making sure that Americans 
are at work, of keeping American jobs, of rebuilding a manufacturing 
economy along with our international economy and international 
friendship.
  In particular, I want to talk about Houston, Texas, because one of 
the reasons I am concerned about the journey that this Congress is 
taking of not being concerned about jobs and not being concerned about 
infusing moneys into the domestic economy is because Americans are 
growing, and the communities are diverse, but the work is not growing 
commensurate with the population. The needs of America are growing, one 
in particular, and I will cite Houston, Texas because we are a 
microcosm of the struggle of improving the transportation and mobility 
of this Nation.
  For over 20 years, Houston has been fighting to secure the 
opportunity to have light rail. It is located in a 3-million-to-4-
million-person metroplex, and I cannot cite for my colleagues the 
traffic jams in Houston, Texas. We are trying to get better.
  Unfortunately, we have had great opposition fighting against us in 
getting light rail right in our own community. But I am very proud of 
Houston because in November 2003 we voted to put in place light rail, 
first a 22-mile and then a 39-mile light rail track.
  Why am I speaking about it? Because just yesterday, the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, under the gentleman from Alaska 
(Chairman Young) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the 
ranking member, gave Houston one more step toward completion of its 
light rail.
  What does that do for Houston? What does that do for America? It 
creates jobs and provides the opportunity for people in this Nation to 
help build trains, to help build tracks, to help build a system, the 
technology, and to increase mobility.
  I hope that in our effort to secure funding for our light rail and 
the authorization for our light rail, that we will have Members of our 
congressional delegation, House and Senate, who will pay attention to 
the vote of the people of Houston. They have voted, they have spoken, 
and we want to have a unified effort in fighting for light rail in 
Houston, Texas.
  Madam Speaker, I look forward to working with the mayor of the city 
of Houston, Mayor White, and the chairman of the Metro Board, Mr. 
Wolffe, who I inquired of the board's commitment to continue our light 
rail effort. I wanted to thank the previous board and thank the 
previous or existing Executive Director, Shirley Delibro, who will be 
passing the mantle on to another director.
  But in this climate of lack of jobs, it is imperative that we support 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as it looks to 
rebuild highways and freeways and roads in America in our urban and 
rural areas. That is where we can insist on jobs in America, with the 
buses, the trains, the airplanes that are covered by this 
transportation bill. We can encourage the utilization of American 
companies in providing for the improvement of our transportation 
system, putting America back to work, utilizing the backdrop of World 
War II and the aftermath of the depression, when the phrase was, a 
chicken in every pot and that was all that you would get.
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt came in with a wise vision, putting people 
back to work and rebuilding America's infrastructure, and it worked. So 
many of us know those whose children, their economic opportunity was 
built upon the WPA, sweeping the streets, paving the streets, looking 
toward the visionary of new visions and roads.
  Madam Speaker, it is imperative that we do that today, and I hope 
this Congress will support TEA 21 and vote to invest in America and 
create jobs.

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