[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18482]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        STABILIZING OUR ECONOMY

  (Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, President Barack Obama's chief 
of staff, Rahm Emanuel, reflected on the administration's lack of focus 
on the economy earlier this year when he said that our Nation's 
financial crisis presented an opportunity to accomplish agendas 
unrelated to the economy.
  A good example of that was the so-called stimulus bill that had 
nothing to do with helping to save or create jobs in the private 
sector, but everything to do with expanding government programs and 
pushing our Nation $787 billion deeper into debt.
  The Obama administration and the Congress should be focused on one 
issue and only one issue, and that is stabilizing our Nation's economy 
so that Americans can keep the jobs they have and get back the jobs 
they lost. Only when the economy is stabilized should we be debating 
other issues such as energy policy and health care reform.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are hurting, and it's time that our 
President and the Democrats in Congress stop ignoring their pain and 
get to work on fixing this economy.

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