[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    DEMOCRATS LOOK TO JUMP-START THE BUSH ECONOMY BY PASSING SECOND 
                         ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN

  (Mr. PERLMUTTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, you can put lipstick on the failed Bush-
McCain policies, but they are still the same old Bush-McCain policies. 
And those Bush-McCain policies have led our Nation into a recession. 
Americans need a new direction and a change.
  Since taking control of Congress last year, congressional Democrats 
have been working to rebuild the Bush-McCain economy and help families 
struggling to make ends meet. We started by enacting the first increase 
in the Federal minimum wage in almost a decade, directly helping an 
estimated 5.3 million Americans and setting a new wage floor for 
another 7.2 million lower wage workers. When it's fully phased in, the 
pay raise will place an additional $4,400 in the paychecks of these 
workers. This year we extended assistance to unemployed workers who are 
having a difficult time finding a job in a Bush-McCain economy that is 
simply not producing jobs. Now we are preparing to introduce a new 
economic package that will invest in America and create new jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress cannot afford to wait to jump-start this 
economy. We must act this month.

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