[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7951-7956]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JOBS AND THE ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Blackburn). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Cummings) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, it certainly is my honor and my pleasure 
to join with the Congressional Black Caucus in this special order. 
Before I get started, I could not help but hear the comments of my 
colleagues from the other side. I just find it so interesting that the 
chairman said just a moment ago, we should not get caught up in who 
shot John. But over the last hour or so, that is exactly what has been 
done. The fact still remains that John Kerry went to war, that John 
Kerry earned medals, that John Kerry gave his blood, sweat and tears 
for this country, and it is interesting that while John Kerry and 
others fought in Vietnam where, sadly, 58,000 young men and women died 
and he fought alongside of them for what this country is supposed to be 
all about and upholding our Constitution, and the fact is that when he 
came back and he provided his observations, by the way, exercising his 
first amendment rights of freedom of speech, now some many years later 
he is being criticized for what he said.
  Madam Speaker, I think that in this country we have to be very 
careful that if on the one hand we are going to salute the flag, shed 
tears at baseball games when the Star Spangled Banner is played, stand 
up over and over again for our men and women who are in harm's way, I 
think one of the greatest things that we can do to honor them is not be 
about the business of tearing up anyone for doing exactly what those 
men and women in Iraq and in Vietnam and in Korea and in other wars 
have done. What they are there about is uplifting our Constitution. 
John Kerry had the right to come back and express his observations.
  I, too, like the last speaker on the other side, am getting tired of 
this back and forth of who did this and who did that. But the fact 
still remains that when all of the dust clears and when we look at what 
in fact did happen, there was a man named John Kerry that got on a 
plane and went to a foreign land called Vietnam, that he obeyed the 
orders of his Commander in Chief, that he stood up in a war over and 
over and over again. I am not even going to get into what the President 
may have been doing or not been doing. But I do know that another thing 
we should not do, and I think it is as denigrating to our soldiers when 
we go after one of them who has already served and when he comes back 
and expresses his views, is to say to him that there is something wrong 
with you. We must be about the business of upholding this wonderful 
document called the Constitution of the United States of America.
  And so, Madam Speaker, before I begin, I just want to take a moment 
to salute our troops. I salute the young men and women who I see at 
Walter Reed Army Hospital with amputated legs and arms and hands. I 
salute our young men and women, and the Congressional Black Caucus, we 
salute the young men and women who are standing up for us over and over 
and over again and obeying the commands of their Commander in Chief. I 
salute the families of those who have lost men and women, husbands, 
wives, friends, relatives, fathers, daughters, aunts, uncles in this 
war in Iraq.

                              {time}  1915

  So let it not be said that while members of the Congressional Black 
Caucus before this war started stood up and said to the President, 
please, do not go to war, now that we are there, we salute our troops 
and we pray for them.
  Madam Speaker, tonight we come as the Congressional Black Caucus to 
the well of this House to talk about some very interesting situations 
in our country that are domestic as opposed to foreign.
  There are many people in our country who are watching us tonight who 
at the end of the week will have no paycheck. When their daughter or 
son comes and says, mommy, can I go to the movie with my friends, they 
will not have the money to give to them. The reason for that, Madam 
Speaker, is because they have no jobs. So we rise as the Congressional 
Black Caucus this evening to discuss the state of our Nation's economy.
  As you well know, Madam Speaker, we are now approaching graduation 
season. I am sure that you and many other Members of this great 
Congress will be fanning out across the country delivering commencement 
addresses at local colleges and universities. In fact, next Saturday I 
will be traveling to North Carolina to speak to the 2004 graduating 
class of Shaw University.
  Madam Speaker, I have to be honest with you, I really have been 
wrestling with exactly what I am going to tell these optimistic, 
intelligent young people about their prospects of finding a job once 
they have earned their degrees.
  At this very moment, Madam Speaker, there are over 8 million people 
without a job in America. The members of the Congress Black Caucus and 
I have come to the House floor time and time again to remind this 
Congress and the president of this fact.
  Over 8 million people, some of whom are probably watching this 
special order right now on C-SPAN, some of them unable to watch it 
because they cannot afford cable, but those people woke up this morning 
without a job. There are people in small-town America, in rural 
America, in urban America, in black America and in white America that 
have not yet realized the recovery of the economy because they are 
still without a job.
  The truth is, Madam Speaker, our Nation's unemployment situation is 
not just reserved to the service industry or the manufacturing 
industry. All segments of our economy have been affected, and, as a 
result, all segments of our population are feeling the awful sting of 
joblessness.
  So, Madam Speaker, what do I tell these young people at Shaw 
University? Should I tell them to hold on to their degree until 
President Bush's trickle-down economic policies take hold? Should I 
tell them that this President has yet to create one net job, but if 
they just hold on for one, two, maybe three years longer, that will 
change? What do I tell them, Madam Speaker?
  Madam Speaker, it is indeed time for change in this country. It is up 
to us, the stewards of government, to turn this cycle of fiscal and 
economic mismanagement around.
  Next Friday, the Department of Labor will release its monthly report 
on this Nation's unemployment situation. Unlike last month, I hope this 
month's report will reveal a decrease in the African American 
unemployment rate, which is consistently almost double that of the 
national rate.
  So that we will be clear on what those numbers are, African American 
unemployment in this country is 10.2 percent. The national rate is 5.7 
percent. It is interesting that just a few weeks ago the New York Times 
published an article where it said that in New York, 50 percent of 
African American males are unemployed. They did not say the 
unemployment rate is 50 percent. The reason why they did not use the 
words ``unemployment rate'' is because those are people they can 
measure. They concluded there were 50 percent of the African American 
males who did not have a job.
  Madam Speaker, while Wall Street is celebrating a rebounding economy, 
people on Main Street, America, are agonizing over how to simply pay 
their bills.
  In March, more people exhausted their Federal unemployment benefits

[[Page 7952]]

than in any other month in the last 30 years. These educated, hard-
working Americans are now unable to find a job and unable to receive 
the Federal help that was allowing them to feed and clothe their 
families in the interim.
  As I travel throughout my district, the number one request that I get 
from my constituents is, Mr. Cummings, can you help me find a job? 
There are almost 120,000 people in my home State of Maryland that were 
unemployed in March. To be honest, I have trouble explaining to them 
why it is that, despite their skills, despite their education and their 
desire, they are unable to find gainful employment in this great land 
of opportunity.
  When I think of my constituents who just want to provide for their 
families, I cannot help but be bothered when I hear the President and 
my colleagues on the other side of the aisle blame all of the country's 
economic woes on September 11, corporate scandals and the drumbeat to 
the Iraq war.
  I realize that my colleagues are probably facing the same questions 
from their constituents regarding unemployment as the folks in 
Baltimore and Howard County are asking me. But let me remind my 
Republican colleagues that every President and every administration has 
had to overcome significant challenges. How about World War II, the 
Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Iran 
hostage situation, the Cold War and the first Persian Gulf War?
  I could continue on, but my point is that every President has faced 
these types of challenges, and still, and still, managed to create 
jobs, except one since the Great Depression, and that is George W. Bush 
and this Republican House and Senate.
  So, Madam Speaker, we either need to change the policies or change 
the leadership of this country. I would submit that we should do both.
  With that, Madam Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman 
from the great State of California (Ms. Lee).
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Maryland 
(Chairman Cummings) for holding these weekly special orders, which 
provide us a forum to speak out on the most pressing issues facing our 
constituents, the African American community, and, indeed, our country.
  I would like to take this opportunity to commend the chairman for the 
outstanding address that he delivered yesterday at the National Press 
Club. In his eloquent and very thoughtful message, he outlined the 
Congressional Black Caucus' agenda and our priorities on both the 
domestic and foreign policy arenas. Part of his address was dedicated 
to the topic that is on the minds of millions of Americans today, and 
that is jobs and the economy.
  Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to discuss the same vital issue. We 
know that people are suffering under the Bush economy and we know that 
we must reverse the damage done and move forward to grow our economy 
and create real, good-paying jobs. We must also protect existing jobs 
here at home.
  Economic security should really be part of a major national security 
strategy. It should be a key component. How do we ensure domestic 
tranquility when so many Americans are jobless?
  I think most of us are familiar with Bush's less-than-rosy record on 
the economy, but I want to just start with some statistics about Bush's 
poor record on job creation in minority communities.
  As the gentleman from Maryland (Chairman Cummings) mentioned, the 
African American unemployment rate in March increased to an astounding 
10.2 percent, while Hispanic unemployment rates remained persistent at 
7.4 percent. These harsh and telling numbers came during the very same 
month, mind you, that the Bush administration was really bragging and 
boasting about an economic recovery.
  Excuse me? But I just have to ask, just who really is benefiting from 
our Nation's long overdue job creation efforts? I cannot tell you how 
many of my constituents have asked me that very same question.
  Another question I often hear is, what is President Bush's plan for 
creating the millions of jobs that he has lost, mind you, that he has 
lost on his watch? What is he doing to address the suffering which 
jobless individuals have endured during his 3 years in office?
  I hear former, and, yes, they are former manufacturing workers, talk 
about the decimation of their sector over the past 3 years. It is 
really hard to fathom the reality that since taking office, President 
Bush has lost about 3 million good-paying jobs. Under this 
administration our country has simply hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs, 
and given this administration's support for outsourcing jobs and 
shipping them overseas, the pain and the suffering from job loss will 
likely only worsen.
  We all know that manufacturing is extremely critical for the 
financial security of millions of families. Every manufacturing job 
creates at least four other jobs. It is also critical to our national 
security. Today, manufacturing is at a 53-year low. What a lost 
opportunity and what a sad record this administration has created.
  Does this President and this administration care about the decimation 
of an entire industry? Does this administration have a plan to really 
remedy this mess? And that is what it is, it is a mess, and it is 
creating havoc in the lives of millions of American families. And what 
about the Republican leadership in Congress? Can they explain the 2.8 
million manufacturing jobs lost over the last 3 years?
  Yesterday the Republicans unveiled a proposal entitled ``Jobs for the 
21st Century.'' Like many of their proposals, we know better than to be 
fooled by that name. The plan is really another classic Republican 
example of how rhetoric, rhetoric, mind you, trumps substance, and how 
the monied interest's agenda reigns supreme.
  We should be providing incentives to companies that create real jobs 
here at home, rather than sending them overseas. That is why we have 
launched a discharge petition to bring the bipartisan Crane-Rangel 
manufacturing bill to the floor.
  Our efforts to keep jobs here at home must also extend beyond our 
manufacturing sector, because not only are companies exporting our 
manufacturing jobs overseas, they are also exporting high-paying white-
collar jobs overseas as well.
  According to a recent study by the Haas School of Business, 14 
million white-collar service jobs representing 11 percent of the total 
United States workforce are in danger of being outsourced overseas.
  We should also consider legislation like the Defending American Jobs 
Act introduced by my colleague the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. 
Sanders). This legislation would prohibit companies that lay off a 
greater percentage of U.S. workers than they do overseas from receiving 
grants, loans or loan guarantees from the Federal Government. That just 
makes common sense. The Republican House leadership really should allow 
us to consider these types of proposals.
  Instead of short-term extensions to the transportation bill, we 
should really be voting on a strong highway bill that would create over 
1.8 million jobs. The Republicans' reliance on these short-term 
extensions have cost America thousands of jobs already. And what about 
the Republican leadership's failure to extend Federal unemployment 
benefits for out-of-work Americans? That, to me, is just mean, it is 
unconscionable and it is wrong.
  In March, a record 354,000 Americans exhausted their State 
unemployment benefits, and the number of long-term unemployed Americans 
is rising, with nearly one in four jobless workers out of a job for 27 
weeks or more. That is a long time. By the end of this month, 1.5 
million Americans will have exhausted all of their benefits.
  So I think that the Republicans really should be ashamed of their 
``compassion.'' This compassion is a compassion that I, quite frankly, 
do not understand.

                              {time}  1930

  It does not extend to helping jobless workers feed their families or 
pay their utility bills until they can find a job. Even Federal Reserve 
Chairman Greenspan has expressed his support for extending unemployment 
benefits to

[[Page 7953]]

long-term unemployed workers, saying that it would be, I think he said 
it would be a good idea because of the exceptionally high number of 
exhaustions.
  Chairman Greenspan has also admitted that he does not have all the 
answers when it comes to the economy. As a member of the House 
Committee on Financial Services, I have the opportunity to question the 
chairman on a regular basis, and in March I asked him, I said what do 
we tell our young people? And the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Cummings) I think said this very eloquently tonight as he reflected 
upon what he is going to talk about at these graduation speeches.
  I asked Chairman Greenspan, what do we tell our young people after 
they have gone to school, after they have played by the rules, after 
they have done everything we have told them to do to realize the 
American dream, what do we tell them when they cannot find a job? What 
do we tell them in terms of where are the jobs of the future? We have 
lost manufacturing jobs, the service industry is decimated, and now the 
high-tech industry will soon be gone. So what in the world do we tell 
our young people? Where are the jobs? Where are the jobs? We are trying 
to get our young people focused on how to stay off the streets, how to 
be productive citizens, how to engage in productive work, and yet there 
are no jobs out there for them.
  Chairman Greenspan's response was he just simply did not know. He did 
not have the answer. That is in essence what he said. And I must say 
that the answers, quite frankly, are not to be found in the policies of 
this Bush administration or this Republican-controlled House. We must 
answer these questions and take action to reverse the loss of jobs that 
we have seen under this Bush administration.
  Democrats have a plan to do exactly that. We have a plan to create 
jobs, to keep jobs on our shores, and to prevent the shipping of jobs 
overseas, a policy that the Bush administration has totally, mind you, 
totally embraced.
  So it is up to the American people now to wake up. November really 
cannot come fast enough. We must ensure that the tide is turned as we 
move together to create economic growth and good-paying jobs for all.
  So I thank the chairman again for the opportunity for the 
Congressional Black Caucus to talk to America to try to raise these 
issues with regard to how we see the deal going down, as it relates to 
the American people and the jobless rates and the job loss and the 
shambles that many people find their lives in.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her 
statement. Sometimes people ask the question, why is it that members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus continue to stand up on these issues. 
Somebody asked, they said, well, you may stand up on these issues, but 
you may not win. And one of the things that former Congressman Gray of 
Pennsylvania said, and I will never forget it, it is embedded in the 
DNA of every cell of my brain. He said, ``You may not win every battle, 
but you set the trend.''
  If we do not speak up on these issues, the fact is it seems like a 
train is going down the track and it seems like we are just kind of 
going along with it, but what we do week after week and day after day 
is stand up and say, we have a greater vision for America and we want 
to do everything in our power to bring that vision into reality. So I 
really appreciate what the gentlewoman has said.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, it would be morally irresponsible of us if we 
did not fight these battles and, hopefully, one day we will win the 
war.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield to the 
gentlewoman from the State of Ohio (Mrs. Jones).
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, at this point I would like to 
commend my good friend, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), for 
his leadership, his tenacity, and his great performance as the 
chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus. I call him my brother, 
and he is doing such a fantastic job, and I am so pleased to be part of 
his team.
  Earlier, before we began our hour, I came in at the end of the 
Republican Special Order, and I was just stunned. I could not believe 
what I heard my colleagues saying about Senator John Kerry.
  I spent yesterday, all day, with Senator Kerry. He visited the State 
of Ohio, and we talked about jobs, jobs, jobs. We started in the City 
of Youngstown, where a little company that used to make wire hangers 
went out of business because wire hangers were being made cheaper in 
China and in Youngstown these poor folks were out of jobs. I have spent 
quite a bit of time over the past 2 years in Youngstown because of the 
steel companies that were going out of business and the steel workers 
in Youngstown who are losing their jobs. They all were out at this 
rally looking for an opportunity to talk to someone who understood what 
it meant to be out of work and without a job.
  We moved from the City of Youngstown on to the City of Cleveland, 
where mayors from all across the State of Ohio were talking about the 
issue of loss of jobs. We had the mayor of the City of Columbus, 
Michael Coleman, we had the mayor of the City of Cleveland, Jane 
Campbell, we had the mayor of the City of Parma, Dean DePiero, we had 
the mayor of the City of Toledo, Jack Ford, and we had the mayor of 
Chillicothe and other suburban mayors seated out in the audience, and 
all of them talked about the impact of the policies of this Bush 
administration on their ability to administer their own cities: the tax 
cuts, the lack of jobs, which meant lack of income to their budgets.
  In the City of Cleveland alone, since George Bush took office, we 
have lost 70,000 jobs. In the State of Ohio since he took office, we 
have lost 160,000 jobs. As we talk about that, we talk about the impact 
that it has on a school system. In the City of Cleveland, our public 
school system has a $100 million deficit as a result of loss of income 
from people out of work in the City of Cleveland, as a result of loss 
of income of businesses who are losing their tax dollars, or losing 
income and, therefore, not able to pay the tax dollars.
  We talked about the fight that cities across this country, because 
their budgets are low, are having to lay off firefighters, are having 
to lay off police officers, and at a time when we are fighting the war 
on terrorism one would think that this administration would have an 
economic policy that would allow the frontline defenders, the first 
responders to be able to handle the jobs that they have to handle. It 
is a terrible situation. We are talking about laying off teachers as 
well.
  Well, the thing that I will say is that John Kerry has an economic 
plan to deal with job loss in this country. He is unveiling a 
comprehensive economic agenda that will unleash the productive 
potential of America's economy to help create jobs, 10 million jobs in 
his first term. He believes that Americans should not subsidize moving 
jobs overseas. He will eliminate tax breaks for companies that create 
jobs overseas and use the approximately $12 billion in annual savings 
to cut the corporate tax rate. Under his plan more than 99 percent of 
tax-paying companies will see their taxes go down. He would jump-start 
manufacturing job creation with a new jobs tax credit that would pay 
the employers' share of the payroll taxes for any net new jobs created 
by the manufacturers and other businesses affected by outsourcing and 
small businesses in 2005 and 2006. As President, he will take our 
country into a different direction on trade enforcement. Rather than 
turn a blind eye to clear trade violations when American jobs are on 
the line, he will make clear through his actions that when the U.S. 
enters into a trade agreement we will expect our partners to live up to 
their side of the deal, unlike what we are dealing with right now 
where, for example, with steel, we are having steel dumped into our 
country and there are no policies through the World Trade Organization 
that will support our country.
  I was just stunned, as I came in this room earlier today, and the 
speaker on the Republican side was talking about John Kerry. He could 
not be talking

[[Page 7954]]

about the John Kerry I traveled with yesterday. He could not be talking 
about the John Kerry that fought in Vietnam, that was in a boat, and he 
got ready to leave and he heard that one of his crew was back there and 
harmed and he went back to pick up the crew member that he had lost and 
got shot in the process. He could not be talking about the John Kerry I 
know that received bronze medals, that received Purple Hearts, and came 
back to this country to speak up on behalf of all of those fighting 
over in Vietnam.
  He has been supportive of a strong and responsible military his 
entire career. I would challenge, when we are going to compare records, 
Vice President Cheney or President Bush to compare the type of record 
that John Kerry has of serving in the military.
  Madam Speaker, I could go on and on and on, but what I want to say 
here is I am so pleased to be here this evening with my colleagues from 
the Congressional Black Caucus. We are the voice of the people who are 
left out and locked out of this process. We are the voice of those who 
need an extended unemployment tax benefit. We are the voice of those 
who have been perhaps in trouble with the law and need an opportunity 
to get gainful employment and have an opportunity to make their lives 
right. We are the voice of the people who are not heard, who need the 
support of Members of Congress like the Congressional Black Caucus to 
make a difference.
  I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the chairman, and I 
will be here every time he needs me. But I want the people who are 
listening to us to understand that it is about jobs. It is about jobs. 
It is about jobs.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, if the gentlewoman will yield just for a 
moment, as I listened to the gentlewoman I could not help but think 
about the fact that so often when people hear the words ``Congressional 
Black Caucus'' they automatically assume that this is a caucus that 
just speaks for African American people. When the gentlewoman talked 
about the rally and all of the people who had been laid off up there in 
Ohio, I could not help but think, and the gentlewoman can tell us, were 
we talking about a rainbow of different colors? It is not just, I am 
sure it was not just African Americans.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Absolutely not. And that is one of the things 
that as a Congressional Black Caucus, we represent the Congressional 
Black Caucus but we also represent constituencies that are not totally 
African American. My congressional district in the City of Cleveland is 
probably 50 percent African American, but I represent Latinos, I 
represent Caucasians. There are 84 different ethnic groups in my 
congressional district that come from all over. I represent a district 
that is very, very poor and some of it is very, very rich.
  But at that rally in Youngstown yesterday there was a rainbow of 
folks, all kinds of people, all out of a job. And when you are out of a 
job, your color, when you start talking about the issues of being 
unemployed and locked out, the color, there is a rainbow of colors. It 
is not just black folks, it is not just white folks, it is not just 
brown or yellow folks. All people, a lot of people of all races are out 
of jobs and they were there at that rally yesterday saying jobs, we 
need jobs, we need jobs.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, the gentlewoman said something else that 
was really quite telling. When the gentlewoman talked about the deficit 
in the school system, we in Baltimore, we have a deficit too of about 
$58 million, if I remember correctly. When we are talking about 
educating children, one of the things that we have consistently said in 
the Congressional Black Caucus is that while we want to make sure, we 
do not want people to be confused, that we do not want to ever see 
another 9/11 happen again. So we believe in fighting terrorism, but we 
also want to make sure that we take care of the people here at home.
  One of the things, and I have said it many, many times, I think the 
greatest threat to our national security is our failure to properly 
educate our children. And if the money is not there for teachers, not 
there for the janitors so they can have clean schools and clean 
buildings, I say that it is their turn. In other words, it is our 
children's turn. We had our opportunity to get our education and we got 
it or we would not be here. But now it is their turn. And then they 
have to go through this deficit. Why? And they are suffering because of 
it, because I know in Baltimore we just had a proposal where we are 
going to increase class sizes. Why? Because we have to lay off 
teachers.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, the same issue is being raised by 
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the CAO of the Cleveland Municipal School 
District, the need to have to raise class sizes. It is so very 
important that we educate our children.
  One of the things that we have learned since 9/11 is that one of the 
reasons that terrorism happens or flourishes in many countries is 
because people are uneducated or they have been brainwashed into one 
direction, that they feel like they are left out and locked out of the 
process that they have no control over, so they figure out who are they 
going to point the finger at, and if they start pointing the finger 
they start pointing it at the United States.
  But as important or more important is that we must educate our own. I 
want to see the people in Iraq, I want to see them get better. I want 
to see them have a school system and health care and roads, but not as 
much as I want the people of the United States to have a health care 
system, to have education, and to have roads.

                              {time}  1945

  And we need to be directed towards an agenda or a policy that will 
allow our people to back to work, that will allow our people to rebuild 
our own country, the roads, the sewer systems, the bridges. That is a 
back-to-work agenda. That is what we need for the United States.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, finally, let me just say this: I cannot 
help but be moved by your words with regard to Senator Kerry. And I 
understand you were with him yesterday. It pains me tremendously, as I 
said a little earlier, that our military can go and fight for this 
Constitution and can fight for America to maintain its strength, can 
fight for our freedoms, can fight for the conventions and opportunities 
that we have, but then to hear people slam him because he comes back 
after doing all the things my colleague said, and I am glad he made it 
clear, all the things he said, he could come back and express his 
views, and thank God we have a country that says you have freedom of 
speech; but then he gets slammed for the very freedoms that he placed 
his life on the line for. Something is wrong with the picture.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, time will show and time will tell 
that the John Kerry that I know and the John Kerry that I have worked 
with and that I traveled with is a man of substance, a man of strength, 
a man who wants to see this Nation back on its feet and wants to see 
this Nation be a leader in the international arena that will lead other 
countries back to greatness and not be misled by other countries as 
well. In that strength, I am sure he will do well.
  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for this exchange of words.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I will yield to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis), my good friend, such time as he may consume.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
for yielding. I also want to take this opportunity to commend the 
gentleman for his outstanding leadership as chairman of the caucus. And 
especially was I pleased to be at the National Press Club as he laid 
out in sharp relief for the national press what it really takes to get 
people involved in our country where African Americans stand, what we 
believe in, and what it is going to take to convince us that we need to 
be supporting different individuals who run for office.
  And I was very pleased with the eloquence with which he displayed 
that information and conveyed it, and I want to thank him.
  I am also pleased to join with him tonight and my colleagues to 
discuss the

[[Page 7955]]

state of our economy and look at the job loss in America. I will not 
focus on the nearly 3 million jobs that have been lost since the 
President took office; but I will take a look in a micro-fashion just 
at my city, the City of the Big Shoulders, the city of Chicago, the 
city that sits by the lake.
  In February, the Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago finished first 
as the job-loss Capital of America. The nine-county region lost nearly 
58,000 jobs last year, outpacing every other major metropolitan area in 
this country. New York, the runner-up, lost 45,000 jobs, according to 
the U.S. Department of Labor.
  The job loss in Chicago and throughout the State are troubling 
because Illinois represents mainstream, middle-of-the-road America. 
Major employers in Illinois have cut jobs. The hardest hit industry has 
been the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing jobs statewide are at 
their lowest levels since World War II, falling from 936,000 in 2000 to 
870,000 today.
  A number of job losses in Illinois and throughout the country can be 
attributed directly to this administration's policy of outsourcing. I 
could not believe it when a senior administration official suggested 
that that was a good and appropriate thing to do, NAFTA and cheaper 
wages overseas. Obviously, Chicago can never compete with the lower 
wages paid in China. However, our workers are the very best when it 
comes to productivity.
  It is a shame that we do not manufacture dress shirts for men in 
America. Think of all the people who used to work in the garment 
industry, people who could go to work, knowing that they were helping 
to dress America. Now every time you look in the label, the back of 
whatever garment that you wear, you will find that it is produced 
somewhere other than in our country.
  Therefore, we must utilize every effort to persuade companies to keep 
their manufacturing operations in America.
  Even more troubling is the devastating job loss and high unemployment 
rate among African American males. We have a way of saying that if 
other parts of the community sneeze, then the African American 
community catches pneumonia.
  When it comes to work opportunities, black men are seriously 
disproportionately unemployed. The Department of Labor statistics 
suggest that nationwide unemployment for African American males is 32 
percent. In the city of Chicago more than 50 percent of young African 
American males between the ages of 16 and 22 are out of work and do not 
go to school, do not have a job.
  The New York Times recently cited a study by the Community Service 
Society, a non-profit group that serves the poor. The study showed that 
in 2003 one of every two African American men between 16 and 64 was not 
working. Mark Levitan, the report's author, found that just 51.8 
percent of black men, and I am not talking about Chicago, I am talking 
about the Nation, 51.8 percent of black men ages 16 to 64 held jobs in 
New York City in 2003. The rate for white men was 75.7 percent, for 
Hispanic men 65.7 percent, and for black women 57.1 percent.
  The employment population ratio for black men was the lowest for the 
period Mr. Levitan has studied, which goes back to 1979. The tragedy is 
it is not just New York. It is Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and other 
major cities in America.
  I grew up in rural America where folks were hard-working, Bible-
reading Christians. And my mother used to tell us that the Bible said 
that idle hands and an idle mind were the devil's workshop. And so we 
have to ask the question, if young African American men are not 
working, how are they surviving? Are they being driven to participation 
in the negative underground economy selling drugs and joining gangs?
  It is for this reason that I, along with other members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, the 100 Black Men of America, the NAACP, 
The Urban League, National Association of Black Psychologists, and 
others have begun to focus attention on the state of African American 
males. We have selected barriers to employment as an area of focus. And 
we hope over the next year to examine these issues in detail and 
provide some recommendations for needed changes.
  Clearly, every segment of our society must be able to enjoy the 
American dream. I appreciate my colleagues for taking the time out to 
shed light on this subject this evening. And as I listen to different 
people talk about jobs that you cannot find, it reminds me of the song 
that we used to listen to some years ago that talked about a man who 
would get up in the morning and the writer wrote that 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.''
  The reality is that in too many instances the answer is absolutely, 
no. And if you cannot find a job, then you lose hope. You feel like a 
failure. You feel like you do not have a place.
  Well, I believe that this administration is failing. This 
administration is failing because it has produced a feeling of 
hopelessness and helplessness among too many people. And when you fail, 
you ought to get a failing grade. And when you get a failing grade, 
sometimes you get put out.
  Well, I believe the remedy, Madam Speaker, is to put this 
administration out and let us get in another group who can bring hope, 
who can bring to the American people a feeling that yesterday is dead 
and gone but tomorrow is something that we can look forward to. And 
what we want to look forward to is the ability to get up in the 
morning, go to work, have a job, produce for our families and children, 
and move America on to becoming even greater than what we have known it 
to be.
  So I thank my colleague for taking out this Special Order and have 
welcomed the opportunity to participate in it.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his 
statement and for his eloquence. He said something when he was talking 
about African American males and the unemployment rate. One of the 
things that I talked about in my district was coping skills. But when 
we talk about, as my colleague just said, in the Chicago area 50 
percent unemployed black males, we have to find a way to create hoping 
skills.
  And as he said, when people lose hope, that is a major problem. And 
when they do not have any money and have children to feed, and have to 
take care of themselves, that is a rough situation to have hope around.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I certainly agree with my 
colleague. I thank him for that observation. I think in many instances 
what has happened, many of the jobs that traditionally were held by 
African American males no longer exist in this country.
  For example, African American males worked in production. First it 
was in farm production. Then with the industrial revolution, they went 
into the factories and worked in production again. Now that we are 
becoming more and more of a high-tech service economy, we have not 
provided a thinking process where young African American boys have 
recognized in many instances that the jobs their grandfathers had and 
fathers had that they could expect to get no longer exist, so they have 
fallen behind in many instances in school because their father did not 
have to get an education, they did not get an education.
  My father did not have much education, my uncle who I celebrate right 
now, he just became 100 years old, neither one of them had any 
education; but they were two of the smartest men I have ever known in 
my life. And they had these coping skills. They developed these coping 
skills to deal with the environment of which they were a part.
  So we have to find ways to help bring all of our society into the 
21st century so that everybody can have an opportunity to play on an 
even playing field. And that is what the gentleman has been doing as he 
has led this caucus. That is what the Congressional Black Caucus is 
trying to do is bring hope to all of America.

[[Page 7956]]



                              {time}  2000

  I thank the gentleman for your leadership and I welcome the 
opportunity to participate this evening.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. I thank the gentleman very much.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to my good friend, the gentlewoman from the 
great State of Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the time we 
have on the floor to be able to make an important statement.
  I have some very dear and respected constituents who have had the 
opportunity to join us today, experiencing the legislative process, 
meeting with their Senators, meeting with their Members of Congress. 
They wanted to know what this process was. And I said the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) called this special order in order to make 
the Record, because if we do not make the Record for those who cannot 
speak for themselves, if we do not make the Record so that all might 
read in the largest story of the United States, as long as this 
Congress's doors have been open there has been a Congressional Record, 
if we do not enunciate the Record and let people know on this night, 
April 28, 2004, we stood on the floor to claim a clarion call for those 
who cannot speak for themselves and to be able to insist that this 
Congress address the question of loss of jobs.
  The numbers are 3 million. Each of our respective States have 
experienced the pain of manufacturing jobs being gone. Some of us have 
had on occasion businesses moving from one State to the next so there 
have been broad headlines. A new company opens up in Texas, and those 
jobs are there, but those jobs are lost from the State they moved from. 
The economy may be percolating but it is not boiling.
  I think it is shameful that in the midst of the terrible turmoil in 
Fallujah, Marines now in bunkers under siege, fighting for their lives, 
in a war that was declared over over a year ago, that these brave 
Marines and these brave military personnel, these civilians who are 
there as contractors, are in a turmoil fighting for their life.
  Yet, they may return home and not have a place to live and not have 
food to eat and not have a job. And so I ask the question to the 
President, I ask the question to this Congress, why cannot we rally 
around in a leadership of this Nation or proposing leadership issues 
that would answer the loss of jobs.
  Let me cite for you an example that I would think bring shame and 
certainly pain to this body. I pay tribute tonight to Nicole Goodwin. 
Nicole Goodwin is a former member of the United States military. Not 
one of 10 years ago or 6 years ago or 8 years ago or 3 years ago but a 
recent returnee from the combat zone of Iraq. I wanted everybody to get 
a chance to meet Miss Goodwin.
  She has a new and wonderful baby. She was dishonorably discharged. 
But let me tell you her story because she is, in fact, not just a 
former war veteran, someone who spent nights with missiles and 
explosives around her surroundings, someone who was serving as other 
were fallen or wounded. This is how Nicole Goodwin travels these days, 
with a one-year-old daughter pressed to her chest in a snuggly, a heavy 
backpack strapped across her shoulders and a baby stroller crammed with 
as many bags of clothes and diapers as she can hold.
  When and you are a homeless young mother these are the things that 
you carry. The story goes on to say, as it is called ``Home From Iraq 
and Homeless,'' that now every day she soldiers on to find a residence 
where the rent is not covered by payment in kind of late bus rides and 
early morning rising to move from one shelter to the next. All the 
while she keeps in mind the acronym she earned or learned in the Army. 
Leadership. L is for loyalty. D is for duty. R is for respect. S is for 
selfless service. H is for honor. P is for personal coverage. And I is 
her favorite and that is for integrity.
  A homeless veteran. A young woman with a child. A combat veteran is 
homeless and without a job. What can America say to its best and 
brightest who have come home from a war and they cannot find a job.
  Let me just finish her story by saying a war veteran wearing a 
backpack, pushing a stroller and carrying a baby, stayed in another 
strange hotel room last night, mostly because the city of her birth 
does not know how to welcome her home.
  Mr. Chairman, I would ask you tonight as we know that Miss Goodwin 
probably still walks the street and is homeless and is without a job. I 
would like to see the Congressional Black Caucus rally around her with 
certainly the members from her constituency to be able to ask the State 
why they cannot help an Iraqi war veteran, a young woman who now walks 
the street as we speak homeless with a daughter, without a job.
  I yield to the gentleman for the opportunity to respond.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I wanted to make it clear that we will 
do that. We will rally around Miss Goodwin, but the sad part about it 
is Miss Goodwin is only one, and I am sure that there are many, many 
others and then the question becomes how do we make sure we rally 
around all of them. Because as you just said, with our men and women in 
bunkers in Fallujah and with them fighting and giving up their blood, 
sweat, tears and lives, and then for those who are able to come back 
and end up in situations like this or somewhat similar is a shame.
  So, yes, we will rally around here but we must find ways to rally 
around the many others who are voiceless, who the New York Times never 
interviewed, the ones that will never appear on the front page of the 
Washington Post, the ones that you will never hear about on ABC News, 
those who we have to find and help.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman. As we 
discussed, you were absolutely right. She is symbolic of millions, and 
what I would like us to be reminded of is we have a job, and that is 
why we need to have a leadership change in this country because in the 
State of Texas we are talking about 500 jobs lost in the month of 
March, but we are talking about 175,200 jobs lost since January of 
2001.
  We are talking about a Congress that is struggling to pass a 
transportation bill that will create jobs. We are talking about those 
who are incarcerated, African American males who come out having paid 
their time and not able to find jobs.
  We are speaking as well about programs that have been cut, the Small 
Business Administration funding which creates jobs, and yet the budget 
from the Bush administration refuses to refund or add monies back to 
create those jobs that would come about. We need a common sense plan to 
recognize, one, that the budget and the economy is failing, but as well 
that we need a change in government, one that allows a President to 
promote jobs and to claim that he is concerned about people like Miss 
Goodwin and other homeless persons and others who are educated, without 
cause.
  As I close, let me say that I thank the Chair for allowing me to 
speak and I thank the gentleman for having this special order to talk 
about the importance of jobs in America.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much.

                          ____________________