[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18472]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Pence) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today at a time of a 
great moment in the life of this country. The American people are 
hurting. We are facing in this country the worst recession in a quarter 
century. We have lost 2 million jobs since this Congress and this 
administration enacted a stimulus bill. The unemployment rate at the 
time we passed the stimulus bill was 7.5 percent. We were told that we 
had to spend that nearly $800 billion, borrowed from future generations 
of Americans, so the unemployment rate wouldn't go over 8 percent. It 
is now 9.5 percent and rising.
  We saw this Democratic majority pass a budget that will double the 
national debt in 5 years and triple it in 10, and that's if the economy 
starts to grow again, which sadly, few economists believe it will in 
the near future.
  Now this summer we saw this majority, in the name of global warming, 
pass a national energy tax that will essentially raise the cost of 
energy for businesses and individuals by thousands of dollars per year.
  And now comes health care reform, a government takeover of health 
care in this country financed with nearly a trillion dollars in tax 
increases. Yet my colleagues, many of whom I deeply respect, come to 
the floor this week to talk about something called PAYGO, fiscal 
discipline. Well, the truth is that in this majority and this 
administration, PAYGO means you pay and they go on spending.
  The truth is we have got to come to terms with these difficult times. 
We have got to begin to demonstrate the priorities that businesses and 
family farms and working families are demonstrating at this time of 
national challenge and economic recession. Families and businesses are 
sitting down and prioritizing what should come first.
  We ought to have national energy legislation to set us on a pathway 
toward energy independence. We ought to have health care reform that 
brings real competition into our economy and lowers the cost for 
consumers. But the first thing we ought to be doing is coming together 
and creating jobs.
  We know how to create jobs. John F. Kennedy knew it, Ronald Reagan 
knew it, George W. Bush knew it when the towers fell: fiscal discipline 
in Washington, D.C., and tax relief for working families, small 
businesses, and family farms.
  The last thing we need right now is one more massive tax increase, 
one more government takeover of one more American industry. What we 
need is focus, and we need to prioritize what this Congress is working 
on. We ought to be asking what the American people are asking today 
with a heavy heart as they look at Washington, D.C.: Where are the 
jobs?
  Health care, energy independence, other priorities, other talking 
points on Capitol Hill are not going to get the American people back to 
work. Congress should come together, men and women of goodwill and 
strong principle, and work in such a way that can restore this economy, 
and then work in a bipartisan way on the other major issues facing our 
country, so help us God.

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