[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3749]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Democratic budget is about three things: 
jobs, jobs, jobs. It is about green-collar jobs, jobs rebuilding 
America, jobs relating to education and job training.
  The one thing my friends on the other side of the aisle never talk 
about is where we are now. They want more of the same. We don't want 
more of the same. We have had enough. The American people have had 
enough. The economy is in a downturn, spiraling down. The housing 
market is in a state of tremendous distress. The stock market is 
dropping as we speak. Oil is now at $109 a barrel.
  Everything you hear from the Republicans is a buzzword for status 
quo--keep things the way they are; the way things are is just fine; 
let's just let things work out.
  We don't believe in that. We have a recipe for change. Is it 
something that has never been done before? No. Look at the Clinton 
years, where we were taking in X number of dollars. If we brought in 
$10, we only spent 8 of those dollars. That is the way it was during 
the Clinton years. We paid down the national debt.
  The budget we have, led by Senator Conrad, who has been chairman of 
the Budget Committee for many years, is a program that creates jobs, 
jobs, and jobs. That is what is important to the American people.

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