[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10104]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




PEOPLE IN THE 32ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT ARE NOT BETTER OFF THAN FOUR 
                               YEARS AGO

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask, Are we better off now than we were 4 
years ago? Unfortunately, for people that I represent in the 32nd 
Congressional District, including the San Gabriel Valley in East Los 
Angeles, it is a resounding ``no.''
  Nearly 20,000 people have lost jobs in my district. Unemployment has 
hovered from 9 to 10 percent for 3 chronic years. Thirty-three percent 
of the people I represent have no health insurance, and a good number 
of those people are young children under the age of six.
  Yet the House Republican leadership continues to push for wealthy 
families' tax breaks.
  This week, the House will vote on a bill that would provide new tax 
breaks to rich families earning over $309,000 a year. Most of the 
people in my district do not make that much. They actually make 
anywhere around 20 and $10,000 a year. People making $10,000 a year 
would get nothing in this tax break, $150 at the most, compared to 
those at the very wealthy end who will get more money.
  We need to do better, and our folks are not better off now. Four 
years ago they were.

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