[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4535-4539]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MESSAGE HOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure this 
evening to have an opportunity to stand in the well of this wonderful 
House of Representatives on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus 
and our Chair, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.
  This evening I will be joined by several of my colleagues to talk 
about the black community, the African American community, and the 
economy and the impact that this downturn in the economy has had on the 
African American community.
  Before I go to that subject matter, I just want to take a moment. One 
of the things that we have an opportunity, as Members of Congress, to 
do is to travel all around the United States, meeting people who say, 
oh, we watch you on television, we've seen you on television. And the 
fact is this weekend I had the opportunity to be in Orlando, Florida, 
on behalf of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. And I met one of the 
finest families in Orlando, headed by Janet McDowell-Travis and her 
husband, Michael Travis, son Jordan, who is 10 years old, who drew me 
this really, really nice card, Janet's mother, Vergnoustene, my soror 
as well, and Janet's aunt, Aunt Romelda. So, I just want to take a 
moment this evening, Mr. Speaker, to have an opportunity to say hello 
to that McDowell-Travis family and say to them, thank you so much for 
making my weekend in Orlando so great. And hopefully I'll have another 
chance to see you in July, when I come back to Florida for our national 
convention. Hi, everybody. Hope you're doing well.
  Back to the reason that I'm here on floor to talk about the 
Congressional Black Caucus message hour, the declining economy and its 
impact on the African American community.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Madam Speaker, let me begin by seeking unanimous 
consent that my colleagues have 5 days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks, to allow other Members to have the opportunity to submit 
their remarks in writing. In fact, I have in my hand a signed statement 
by my colleague and good friend from the great State of Texas, Eddie 
Bernice Johnson, which I will choose to submit for the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Let me begin with a quote. ``At the bottom of 
education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, 
there must be economic independence.'' Booker T. Washington from 1903. 
These words, spoken more than a century ago by one of our foremost 
African American thinkers and educators, perhaps might be more relevant 
today than they were in 1903.
  For far too long, the current administration has danced around this 
issue, hoping that it would go away. But it is time that we state the 
truth. Our economy is in decline. Today, hardworking African American 
families are struggling to make ends meet in this slowing economy. 
Wages are flat, prices are high, and for many, jobs are hard to come 
by.
  These problems are even greater in the African American community. 
Unemployment rates for African Americans are consistently almost double 
for white Americans. The median family earnings of full-time African 
American workers is consistently over $130 less than white workers who 
are similarly educated and situated.
  The poverty rate for African Americans is almost double the national 
poverty rate, 24 percent versus 12.5 percent. And more than triple, 33 
percent versus 9.8 percent, for children under the age of 18.
  Home ownership for African Americans is 48 percent compared to 72 
percent for white Americans. And African

[[Page 4536]]

Americans are more than two times more likely to have been denied a 
mortgage, and more than two times more likely to receive predatory 
loans.
  In this most recent research around foreclosures, it has been shown 
that African Americans who, in fact, qualified for prime mortgages 
were, in fact, steered to subprime mortgages, predatory loans because 
the advantage for the lender was greater, they could make more money on 
the predatory subprime loan than they could on a prime loan.
  Minority-owned businesses received only 57 cents of each dollar they 
would be expected to receive based on the percentage of ``ready, 
willing and able'' businesses that are minority owned.
  The Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to economic 
empowerment in the African American community. This includes, but it is 
not limited to:
  One, eradicated employment discrimination and ensuring the employment 
of a diverse workforce by employers in the private sector and in 
government, including staff of committees and Members of Congress.
  Two, protecting the rights and working conditions of all employees.
  Three, providing support to enable people to work, such as child 
care, transportation, health care, job retraining, and a living wage.
  Four, promoting the advancement of African Americans into management, 
executive, and director positions.
  Five, providing equal access to capital for individuals and 
businesses, and the elimination of redlining and predatory lending 
practices.
  Six, expanding affordable rental and ownership of housing.
  Seven, achieving aggressive minority business goals and participation 
in government and private contracting.
  So, tonight you will hear from various members of the Congressional 
Black Caucus as we discuss the many economic problems facing the 
African American community, as well as our plans to address those 
issues.
  If I can go back to my experience in Orlando this weekend. I had an 
opportunity to participate in this wonderful ceremony involving 10 
young African American men and women that were juniors and seniors in 
high school. And the experiences and backgrounds of these young men and 
women were just fantastic. And one of the things I reminded them of 
was, no deposit, no return. I talked to them about, we used the 
expression, birds of a feather flock together, and that eagles do not 
fly with sparrows. And I suggested to them that they needed to be 
eagles so that they could fly far above and do more. But even in the 
midst of all of flying higher, doing more, in an economy like we are 
experiencing today it would be difficult for these young men and women 
to be successful.
  So, I'm going to take a break for a moment and yield to my colleague 
and good friend from the great State of California, the honorable 
gentlewoman from California, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, such time as 
she may consume.
  Ms. LEE. Let me thank the gentlelady for her leadership and for 
yielding and for organizing these very important special orders, also, 
really, for reminding us tonight of much of this unfinished business of 
our great country, and laying out the glaring disparities that we're 
witnessing in the African American community; but also, what our 
economic empowerment agenda is of the Congressional Black Caucus. So, 
thank you, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones.
  Millions of Americans are one paycheck, that is, if they have a 
paycheck, away from poverty. Now, the numbers speak for themselves. Gas 
prices are at record levels, averaging, in my district, $3.73 a gallon, 
even as oil is traded at over $100 a barrel and big oil companies are 
reaping in record profits. Foreclosures have skyrocketed, putting 
hundreds of thousands of people out on the street. The American dream 
of homeownership is quickly turning into a nightmare for many 
hardworking individuals and families in our country.
  In my district, in Alameda County, we are projected to lose nearly 
4,700 homes to foreclosures due to the subprime mortgage crisis, 
eliminating $3.2 billion in home equity value. That's equal to a drop 
in home equity by almost $8,500 for each homeowner in my district. 
Meanwhile, food prices have risen, squeezing recipients of food stamps 
even as the number of people expected to enroll in the program will 
reach a record 28 million people in the next fiscal year.
  Health care costs are going through the roof, even as this 
administration is posing massive cuts in funding for Medicare and 
Medicaid, and African Americans continue to be the hardest hit. As of 
February 2008, the unemployment rate for African Americans was over 8.3 
percent, nearly double the national average of 4.3 percent. Among the 
African American community, poverty rates are 2.5 times higher than the 
national average. Even more disturbing, almost 40 percent of African 
American children under 5 years of age live in poverty. And all the 
while, African Americans continue to be the target for, as we talked 
about earlier, subprime loans.
  African Americans are three times more likely to have a subprime loan 
than whites, accounting for 52 percent of all subprime loans. And as 
the housing market has collapsed, estimates indicate that African 
Americans alone will lose between 164 to $213 billion in home equity 
value during this recession.
  It's long past time for Congress to address the burden of this 
economic downturn on the African American community and other 
communities of color and address the ongoing lack of opportunity in 
minority communities in America. Even in the face of this massive 
housing crisis and impending recession, growing unemployment and the 
highest number of applicants for food stamps since the program's 
inception, the Bush administration wants to cut funding, mind you, cut 
funding for the most vital programs so that he can continue to fund his 
failed occupation in Iraq. This is partly due to Iraq, billions of 
dollars that have been spent, this economic downturn. I personally call 
this ``The Iraq Recession.''
  At nearly half a trillion dollars, the occupation of Iraq and the 
resulting Iraq recession has wasted too much of American treasure, 
drained too much of our American resources, and most importantly, 
claimed too many American lives. And we cannot dismiss the toll that 
this occupation has had on the economic security of our Nation and on 
the average American family who will feel the impact of these expenses 
for years to come.
  The Joint Economic Committee estimates the total bill for the war 
through 2008 will cost the typical family of four a full $16,500. Can 
you imagine what a family of four can do with $16,500? This conflict 
has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 brave members of our Armed 
Forces and has resulted in injuries to more than 28,000 others.
  Five years after the invasion and occupation of Iraq, 47 million 
Americans are living without health insurance, 47 million. And more 
than 36 million people continue to live in poverty, at least 2 million 
of which have fallen into poverty since 2003.
  Five years later, it is projected that more than 2 million American 
families will lose their homes to foreclosure, primarily over the next 
2 years. And worse, as the demand is increasing for programs serving 
children, the elderly and the poor, and those facing the loss of their 
income, more than half of our States face serious budget shortfalls 
that will force them to cut back or even eliminate programs that serve 
the most vulnerable of our populations.

                              {time}  2115

  So, Mr. Speaker, we must address the needs and the will of our 
country by bringing an end to this occupation and to the immeasurable 
costs that will continue to be exacted on the physical and economic 
security of the American people for generations to come.
  Forty-one years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was, as he said, 
``compelled to see the war as the enemy of the poor and attack it as 
such.'' Of course Dr. King was referring to the Vietnam War. But his 
understanding of the relationship between the vast sums spent dropping 
bombs in a foreign country, and the resulting lack of funding for

[[Page 4537]]

programs that relieve hunger and poverty are just as true today as they 
were back then, especially now with this economic downturn.
  A recent survey revealed that 68 percent of Americans believe that 
ending the war and occupation in Iraq is an important step the United 
States Government must take to respond to the current economic 
recession. So we must put an end to this occupation, and we must fund a 
real economic stimulus plan that expands unemployment assistance and 
food stamp benefits, provides housing assistance and foreclosure relief 
for homeowners, and expands Medicaid payments to States through the 
Federal medical assistance percentage.
  We need to pass a real bankruptcy reform bill. I believe this one 
that we're working on now is H.R. 3609. It's called the Emergency Home 
Ownership and Mortgage Equity Protection Act of 2007, that will give 
struggling homeowners a fighting chance to stay in their homes.
  We've got to reauthorize and realize that HOPE VI is an important, 
important housing initiative, and pass H.R. 3524, to finally stop 
putting an end to predatory lending. And instead of spending billions 
to bail out Bear Stearns, we should really be investing that money to 
train our workforce and to expand green jobs and eradicate poverty.
  So as we remember 3 years ago, Hurricane Katrina served as a real 
rude wake up call to the Nation and the continuing inequality that 
plagues minority communities, especially the African communities in 
America. Katrina opened the eyes of many Americans about the continuing 
burden of poverty that often isolates and traps generations of 
Americans of color, African Americans, in a cycle of poverty and 
disenfranchisement. So we cannot ignore the legacy of Katrina, nor can 
we ignore the legacy of Dr. King's words.
  So this week, as we approach the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's 
assassination, let us all make a commitment to honor his vision and his 
life's work. We must end this occupation of Iraq, and we must enact a 
real economic stimulus plan, so that the American people can move 
forward, take care of their families, come out of this downturn and 
really begin to live the type of life, the quality of life that they so 
deserve in the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world.
  Thank you, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, for giving us the 
opportunity tonight to talk about the real suffering that people are 
feeling; but giving people some hope that there are many here in 
Washington, D.C. on the battlefield trying to turn this around.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I want to thank my colleague, Congresswoman 
Barbara Lee, for her leadership, and hope that she will decide to hang 
around a little while with me as we go through a few more issues. If 
you can't, I absolutely understand.
  I want to go back to the housing crisis for a moment. The loss of a 
home is both devastating for the family and the community. For a 
family, owning a home is often their only piece of the ``American 
Pie.'' The equity from owning their home is often the only means to 
secure funding for a new business, college tuition or retirement. For 
the community, increased foreclosures often turn neighborhoods that 
once were vibrant into neglected, blighted areas which ultimately raise 
costs for local governments.
  In the State of Ohio alone, 90,000 homes are in foreclosure. In fact, 
one of the things that we often talk about is that working class 
families usually pass their biggest asset from 1 generation to the 
next, and that is a house. So not only are we devastating the income 
and wealth of this generation, we may well be devastating the income 
and wealth of future generations.
  Predatory lending is the leading cause of the foreclosures across 
this country. And I need not go on and on about the issue, but let me 
just point out a few statistics.
  The Nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending projects that as this 
year ends, 2.2 million households in the subprime market will either 
have lost their homes to foreclosure or hold subprime mortgages that 
will fail over the next several years. The real dilemma that many of 
the families face is the amount of mortgage that they own on the home 
far exceeds the real value of the home.
  Additionally, only about 1.4 million of 15.1 million loans analyzed 
from 1998 through 2006 were for first-time home buyers. Most were 
refinancing. And all of us got those calls from people calling up, Mrs. 
Jones, you have a unique opportunity right in your community to 
refinance your home, and this program is just for your neighborhood. 
And a lot of people got fooled by those calls. To date, more than 
500,000 of those subprime borrowers have lost their homes to 
foreclosure. An additional 1.8 million are likely to follow as the 
market deteriorates. That's nearly 2.4 million lost homes.
  And predatory lending has expanded its reach beyond mortgage lending. 
Predatory practices are becoming increasingly prevalent in refund 
anticipation, auto and payday loans. There were over 12 million Refund 
Anticipation Loan borrowers in 2003. In other words, anticipating what 
your income tax checks would be, people borrowed on those tax checks.
  Tax preparers and lenders strip about $1.57 billion in fees each year 
from the earned income tax credits paid to working parents, according 
to the 2005 study by the National Consumer Law Center.
  And imagine what the new programs are going to be as we come up with 
these rebates that the President has proposed for working families in 
order for us to shore up Wal-Mart or Target or one of these other 
stores. In fact, I think it is pretty scary that we are now going to 
try and shore up the economy by taking the money of people who have 
worked hard for it.
  I bet that many people are going to pay attention; they're not going 
to stick it back in the economy. They, in fact, may in fact put it in a 
savings account or try to make some money on behalf of their families, 
or pay off an existing debt.
  In December, the Congress enacted the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt 
Relief Act which, for 3 years, stops the tax on phantom income when a 
lender forgives some part of the family's mortgage in foreclosure. 
Under prior law, the debt forgiven following mortgage foreclosure or 
renegotiation was considered income for tax purposes, resulting in a 
tax liability for individuals and families meaning, at a time when 
people were down and out, they were then required to pay tax on 
something that was forgiven by a lender. It was crazy, and thank God 
this whole Congress understood the impact, and we passed that 
legislation.
  In December, the Congress included $180 million for housing 
counseling in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill to 
assist many distressed homeowners who are trapped in unaffordable loans 
in avoiding foreclosure on their homes.
  The Economic Stimulus Bill, which the President will sign this week, 
increases the FHA loan limits up to $729,750 to expand affordable 
mortgage loan opportunities through the FHA for families in danger of 
losing their homes. This was done because in areas like the area in 
which Congresswoman Barbara Lee lives in, housing, middle income 
housing costs as much as $800,000 to $1 million. In Cleveland, an 
$800,000 home would buy you a lot of house, but not California.
  Both the House and Senate have passed an FHA reform bill which would 
enable FHA to serve more subprime borrowers at affordable rates and 
terms to attract borrowers that have been turned to predatory lenders 
in recent years.
  The House has passed a mortgage lending reform bill which cracks down 
on predatory lending, making sure that consumers get mortgages they can 
repay, strengthening consumer protections against reckless and abusive 
lending practices, and giving consumers the ability to seek redress.
  I have to say that in 2001 I introduced the Predatory Lending 
Reduction Act, and this act was focused on mortgage brokers. And the 
reason I focused on mortgage brokers was because mortgage brokers were 
not licensed, they

[[Page 4538]]

were not required to be registered. They were not required to give 
notice to a purchaser or a borrower that they were not representing 
that borrower; they weren't their agent. They were not required to tell 
the borrower that they were going to get a percentage or a commission 
on the loans that they made. So you had a lot of mortgage brokers 
operating out here without any licensing, without any registration, 
without being required to give notices to, like banking persons, to 
borrowers. So it was very important for us, and that was included in 
the Mortgage Lending Reform Act, number 3915.
  In October, the House passed the National Affordable Housing Trust 
Fund Bill, 2895, which establishes a trust fund, at no cost to the 
taxpayer, to build or preserve 1.5 million affordable homes or 
apartments over the next 10 years. The trust fund is financed by fees 
paid by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and by increased FHA loans.
  The fact is that we have needed a national affordable housing trust 
fund for many, many years and finally, in 2007, 2008, we have one 
that's available.
  At this time, if my colleague is interested, I'd like to yield to her 
for some additional commentary, Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE. Thank you. And you know, as I was listening to your very 
clear presentation, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones, I kept thinking of all 
of the people who really believe in the American dream, who want to 
send their kids to college, who perhaps may want to start a small 
business and who know and recognize that the path to wealth in our 
country is through home ownership. And now, given that the equity has 
just about eroded, their dreams being shattered.
  You know, most Americans don't play in the stock market. You know, 
the only way they can acquire wealth is through home ownership. The 
only way they can live the American dream is through leveraging the 
equity in their homes to realize some of their dreams. And now, given 
this fiasco that we're experiencing, so many people will not realize 
their dreams. And so the legislation that you mentioned and more that 
are being talked about and introduced, will, in many ways help stop the 
hemorrhaging.
  But, you know, we have to look at this not only in the short-term 
perspective, but also the long term has to be addressed. And some of 
this has to do with the deregulation of the financial services 
industry. And we really need to look at some regulatory reform also in 
the long haul to make sure that this never happens again. It's almost 
been the ``Wild West'' in terms of the financial industry.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I'd like to thank my colleague. There are just a 
few more things that I'd like to point out and point to, and if there 
is another person coming behind me with some, a special order, I would 
suggest that we should probably be finished in about 15 minutes.
  I, first of all, would like to focus in on some of the legislation 
I've been working on around wealth building, because one of the most 
difficult things for families in the downturn of an economy is to try 
and put aside savings. And one of the things that we see happening 
right now in our country are a number of companies that are closing 
down, and people are placed in a situation where they are now being 
required to retire and they're being given lump sum benefits in order 
to lessen the weight or the impact that the retirement has on them.
  And as a proponent of wealth building, I've been working on a couple 
of pieces of legislation in that area. One of them is the Retirement 
Security for Life Act.
  Last year I, along with Congressman Philip English, a Republican from 
Pennsylvania, reintroduced the bipartisan tax legislation that would 
encourage Americans to select life annuities and ensure requirement 
security. The Retirement Security for Life Act provides a tax incentive 
available to all retirees when they elect to receive a guaranteed 
stream of income for life from their annuity. The bill will exclude 
Federal taxes on half of the income generated by the annuity, up to a 
maximum of $20,000 annually. For the typical retiree, it would provide 
a tax break of up to $5,000.
  The bill is designed to help Americans who have savings maintain 
their pre-retirement standard of living. Research indicates that many 
future retirees, including an estimated 77 million baby boomers, will 
have difficulty maintaining an adequate standard of living. By 
providing incentives, the Retirement for Security for Life Act will 
encourage Americans to invest in their own retirement.

                              {time}  2130

  The periodic payments from a life annuity would guarantee income 
throughout retirement as a complement to Social Security and pension 
benefits. A life annuity provides beneficiaries with guaranteed 
lifelong monthly payments. After-tax dollars, such as the proceeds from 
the sale of a house or small business, can be used to purchase the 
annuity. Income from employers' sponsored plans that already enjoy a 
tax advantage, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, are not eligible. This 
bipartisan legislation encourages Americans to select lifetime annuity 
payments, thereby generating a steady income for life and helping them 
manage their savings.
  One of the limits that happens when people receive a lump sum is it 
seems like a lot of money at the time when you receive it, but it very 
easily wanes away by the time you lend your cousin $2,000, your son 
$5,000, your aunt or uncle a couple of dollars, and that $50,000 is 
gone very quickly. And that is one of the reasons that I'm encouraging 
our Retirement for Security for Life Act.
  Another piece of legislation is called Savings for Working Families 
Act. This legislation was introduced, and it's H.R. 1514. It provides a 
tax credit to financial institutions that match the savings of low-
income families through individual development accounts, or IDAs. The 
individual savings in an IDA are matched on a one-to-one basis, up to 
$500 per person per year; although, personal contributions into an IDA 
are not limited. The match only goes up to $500. It is a unique way and 
a great way that we could have low-income families begin to understand 
the importance of saving and receive a match for their dollars.
  Thousands of working families across the country currently take 
advantage of IDA matched savings and asset accumulation. They are run 
by community-based organizations in partnership with a qualified 
financial institution that holds the deposits. IDA funds can be used 
for college and post-secondary education, purchasing a home or starting 
a small business. Those who save in IDAs also receive financial 
planning education. Nationally, 500,000 Americans are presently 
enrolled in 500 IDA programs. In the State of Ohio, nearly 5,000 
benefit from 15 IDA programs.
  The goal of the Savings for Working Families Act is to encourage low-
income families to save.
  Cleveland's Save program, which is a program in the City of Cleveland 
where I live, is a national social marketing campaign that encourages 
individuals, particularly low and moderate income, to save. It was 
launched in 2001 in the City of Cleveland. America Saves now has 53 
local and State national campaigns which include locations in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Diego, California; and New York State. 
More than 1,000 nonprofit organizations participate. They recently 
celebrated American Saves Week, which is a new and expanded effort 
which is aimed at reaching more institutions.
  Let me now give any further time to my colleague and friend, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE. Let me applaud you for laying out these very important and 
very thoughtful bills. Hopefully, people who are listening to the 
Special Order tonight will understand the importance of them and ask 
their Members of Congress to support them because they actually should 
be passed and signed into law.
  Also, I think it's important that we recognize tonight we are talking 
also with regard to the Congressional Black Caucus' economic 
empowerment agenda, and what you have laid out is central to an 
economic empowerment

[[Page 4539]]

agenda of the African American community throughout our country, but 
also, in addition, we have talked a lot about the disparities and why 
we have to have this economic empowerment agenda because we are still 
faced with many, many disparities in health care and education and 
economic development.
  And when you look at the African American business community and the 
lack of capital, when you look at the small business administration and 
the type of problems and difficulties we have had over the years, you 
can see that, in many ways, many of the initiatives that have begun 
over the years that would have helped during this economic recession 
have been just about cut out. So it is about time we go back to the 
drawing board and regroup and not only resurrect some of the strategies 
that actually work but come forth with new legislation such as we are 
talking about tonight.
  So, in closing, I just want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus, 
again under Congresswoman Kilpatrick's leadership, for making sure that 
the overall agenda of the CBC is put forth every Monday night under 
Congresswoman Tubbs Jones' leadership, because this is so important. In 
fact, we were in recess over the last couple of weeks, and I ran into 
many, many people who thanked us for getting the word out, sounding the 
alarm, providing the information with regard to what we are doing here 
because so often, the American people, the public, our communities, 
have no idea what type of legislation is being proposed to help with 
some of the burdens that they are forced to bear at this point in our 
history.
  The $16,500 I mentioned earlier that this Iraq occupation is costing 
the American people, just think of what they could do with $16,500. And 
so I have to say, part of what we have to continue to do is to try to 
end this occupation, end this $3 trillion that's being projected with 
regard to the war in Iraq and make sure that immediately the American 
people though can realize some benefits from their tax dollars and also 
make sure that we can expand unemployment compensation and food stamps 
and just help them survive through this until we can do something big 
and something that makes their lives much better.
  Thank you again.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I want to associate myself with the comments of 
my colleague with regard to ending the war in Iraq and the devastation 
that it has had not only on more than 4,000 families but as well as the 
economy of America and the infrastructure of America. All you need to 
do is pick up a paper any day and see that in any city there is a 
bridge that's fallen down, there's a sewer that's blowing up, there's 
streets that are in trouble, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I 
want to close on this particular note.
  It is so important to the improvement of this economy and the status 
of America that we make sure there are good-paying jobs that come back 
to America. I keep hearing these discussions about, well, there are 
jobs, and there are not people in America who want to do these jobs. 
That is not correct. There are good, hardworking people. The people of 
America work harder than people in any other country. They have less 
vacation, less time off, and they work very, very hard.
  The dilemma that's faced is the offering of jobs that do not pay good 
salaries; that do not, in fact, provide appropriate benefits. And the 
people of America are going to want go to work, and the innovation 
agenda that was passed last fall in this Congress and signed into law 
by the President speaks to some of those issues.
  And it is so important that we do things to improve the education of 
our young people so they are better qualified to work on jobs, and that 
was done through the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008.
  It is also important that we encourage young men and women to go into 
the sciences. The statistics show that, in 2000, only 4 percent of the 
science and engineering jobs in the United States were held by African 
Americans. Nearly 40 percent of Americans under the age of 18 are 
African Americans or other minorities. So we need to do more and more 
and more to encourage young people to go to college to be able to get 
the kind of degrees where they can get a great job such as we talked 
about with the children in Orlando in the Eminence Program.
  And finally, we need to support and strengthen small businesses. Two-
thirds of American jobs are supported, are given by small business, and 
we need to encourage small business to continue.
  African Americans own an estimated 1.2 billion small businesses with 
annual revenues of more than $88 billion. Legislation enacted in 2007 
included provisions cutting taxes for small business by $4 billion over 
the next 10 years. And the economic stimulus package also speaks to 
those issues as well.
  I want to close with this. The Congressional Black Caucus is 
tirelessly working on issues that are important to the African American 
community but as to the greater community as well, and the economy is 
the issue that's in the forefront of everybody's mind right now, 
regardless of their color, regardless of their background. And this 
evening, it was our job to point out to America, those of you listening 
here on C-SPAN, to the issues that are facing the African American 
community and the economy and to help people understand that, if it 
hits the greater community in one way, it doubly impacts the African 
American community.
  And on behalf of my colleagues at the Congressional Black Caucus and 
our Chairwoman, Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, I'm pleased to close this 
message hour out and thank the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for the 
opportunity to present.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, for millions of 
American families it is becoming more and more difficult to make ends 
meet. Our economic outlook is grim in light of the recent housing 
crisis, fluctuating interest rates, and increasing prices. Working 
Americans are feeling a serious squeeze on their family finances, 
because for too long, Republicans and this administration ran up big 
deficits and ignored priorities here at home.
  With the economy continuing to decline, African American households 
are suffering disproportionately. In 2006, African Americans were two 
times more likely to get high-cost subprime loans. In my district, more 
than half of loans given to working Americans were subprime; of these 
loans, 80 percent were African American. One in six resulted in 
foreclosure; this is unacceptable.
  In 2007, the Democratic led Congress passed an increase to the 
minimum wage, but this does not help Americans who cannot find jobs. 
The African American unemployment rate has climbed from 8 percent this 
fall to 9.2 percent in January, with 1.6 million African Americans 
currently looking for work.
  I applaud the Congressional Democrat Leadership for their rapid 
agreement on an economic stimulus package to aid families across 
America. While I feel that this stimulus package is a step in the right 
direction, I am disappointed that there was no aggressive plan for job 
training programs such as: adult education and literacy, welfare-to-
work, and vocational education.
  As a senior member of the House Science Committee, I feel it is 
important to invest in our children's futures. This Congress has led 
the fight to address access to higher education, enrichment programs in 
STEM fields, advancement in educational programs for minorities, and 
spur critical research and development to meet the needs of the 
country. Education is the foundation to building a better and brighter 
future for all Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, honest, hard-working men and women are struggling to 
make a decent living as they go about their daily routines. The 
economic disparities of African American and other minorities are truly 
hurting this country. I am hopeful that the President will join this 
Congress to help find long-term, comprehensive measures as opposed to a 
temporary bandaid to our economic problems.

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