[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I come from the great State of 
Michigan where we currently have the highest unemployment in the Nation 
and where our citizens have suffered more than most in this economic 
downturn. And every week when I come to Washington, I am constantly 
amazed that this Congress isn't laser focused on creating jobs, because 
the question being asked by the American people is: Where are the jobs?
  When President Obama said he wanted an economic stimulus bill 
principally focused on tax cuts and infrastructure investment, I was 
all for it. But the bill that was passed by the Democrat majority in 
Congress really was unrecognized from what was originally proposed. 
That bill focused much more on expanding the size of government than 
expanding jobs in the private sector. Americans were told that if this 
huge expansion of government were passed, that 2 to 3 million new jobs 
would be created and unemployment would not reach 8 percent. And what 
are the results actually?
  Well, since that time, our economy has shed nearly 3 million jobs and 
the unemployment rate has now reached nearly 10 percent. In my home 
State of Michigan, it is in the 15 percentile.
  Nine months after the passage of the failed stimulus plan, Americans 
are still asking: Where are the jobs?
  After passing a jobs bill that did not create jobs, House Democrats 
passed a cap-and-trade national energy tax. This national energy tax 
will destroy millions of jobs in this struggling economy. 
Manufacturing, which is so important in my home State of Michigan, 
would be especially hard hit when millions more good-paying jobs are 
shipped overseas to nations that are not going to put this jobs-killing 
tax on their manufacturing companies.
  Struggling American families will also be very hard hit. The Obama 
administration's own estimates project that this legislation would cost 
our economy $200 billion every year, which means an increase of $1,700 
for every American household. That means hard-pressed Americans are 
going to pay more for energy while at the same time having their jobs 
put at risk.
  I would ask this, Mr. Speaker, as the American people continue to do: 
Where are the jobs?
  Congress is now considering a health care reform bill that would 
amount to a government takeover and would be funded with job-killing 
tax increases and cuts to Medicare impacting the coverage of millions 
of American seniors. That bill, H.R. 3200, places an 8 percent tax on 
payroll for every business in this Nation that does not offer health 
care coverage to their workers.
  Well, I have talked to countless employers, and they tell you that 
their costs run much higher than 8 percent, so they would end the 
private coverage that they currently give to their employees and dump 
them all out on the public plan.
  Republicans have been accused of being the party of no because we 
have stood against this job-killing agenda, but we have offered 
alternatives, better alternatives, and it is actually the Democrats in 
Congress who have said no to these ideas. Let me cite a few specific 
examples.
  We have offered an alternative to the stimulus plan that, according 
to the formula created by President Obama's own economic team, would 
create twice the jobs at half the cost. We have offered an all-of-the-
above national energy plan as an alternative to the Democrats' national 
energy tax. Our plan would encourage the development of clean 
alternative energy while allowing the development of domestic supplies, 
which would bring energy costs down instead of driving them up. And it 
would create jobs here in America, and it would make America more 
energy independent.
  We have offered commonsense approaches to health care reforms that 
would provide greater competition, increase access to care, and reduce 
costs. We feel that individuals should be able to purchase health care 
across State lines, and small businesses should be able to group 
together to open up more options and reduce costs to protect private 
health care. And we believe we need to enact real medical liability 
reform to end junk lawsuits that drive up costs by forcing doctors to 
practice defensive medicine.
  I raise these points because I truly believe we have to have 
bipartisan consensus to address the challenges that are facing our 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are way ahead of the politicians 
here in Washington. They understand the need for jobs. They understand 
that bigger government will not increase jobs but will put millions 
more jobs at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, it is long past the time we start listening to 
commonsense Americans who continue to ask: Where are the jobs?

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