[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Pages 31721-31732]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS HOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure again to be the anchor 
for the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order Hour. I want to thank 
our chairwoman, Barbara Lee, for talking with us the last week or two 
about jobs and how important jobs is going to be for this nation.
  I would at this time like to welcome and ask our Chair, the Honorable 
Barbara Lee from California, to please now join me. She has directed us 
in so many different ways over this year, I am just especially pleased 
to be a part of this caucus.
  Ms. LEE. Thank you very much.
  Let me take a moment to thank Congresswoman Fudge for really 
consistently raising the alarm and setting forth what the agenda is 
every Monday night of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is an 
agenda that speaks not only to the issues in communities of color in 
the Congressional Black Caucus but issues which really will allow for 
the American Dream to be real for all.
  So thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, and I know you come from a State 
where the unemployment rate is critical. People are suffering, housing 
foreclosure rates are off the scale, and especially in the African 
American community. Communities of color have been hardest hit, I know, 
in Ohio. So thank you so much for your leadership.
  Let me just talk for a few minutes about our economy. We all know 
that

[[Page 31722]]

the economic security of all Americans is extremely fragile. 
Communities of color, especially the African American community and 
Latino communities, have been disproportionately hit by this recession. 
Last week, we released a letter which we forwarded to President Obama, 
Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Miller which outlined our priorities as 
members of the Congressional Black Caucus. We are continuing to work 
with House leaders and the administration to ensure that our priorities 
for job creation and economic growth are included in a jobs package 
which should be finalized hopefully before Congress adjourns this year.
  After the release of our letter, it was interesting to read some of 
the bloggers, some of the pundits. They actually argued that targeted 
relief was unneeded. And what we propose is not based on race. I just 
want to be clear on that. It's based on need. We want to ensure that 
our resources are targeted to areas of greatest hardship.
  For example, here are some of the facts regarding the African 
American community that are indisputable:
  The unemployment rate for African Americans is nearly twice that of 
whites. 49.4 percent of African Americans 16 to 19 years of age were 
unemployed in November.
  Nearly 28 percent of African Americans received food aid compared to 
15 percent of Latinos and 8 percent of whites.
  Recent African American college graduates are unemployed at higher 
rates than their white counterparts and African American workers remain 
unemployed an average of 5 weeks longer than the rest of Americans.
  More than 24 percent of African Americans are living below the 
poverty line and African Americans are 55 percent more likely to be 
unemployed than white Americans.
  African Americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate as non-
Hispanic whites. They are four times as likely to die as infants due to 
complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic 
white infants.
  Additionally, African Americans have shorter life spans.
  The Congressional Black Caucus in its continued role as the 
Conscience of the Congress is morally obligated to address these 
systemic inequalities. Moreover, as members who represent so many 
constituents who are disproportionately suffering, we have an 
obligation as policymakers to write legislation to address these moral 
gaps. That is why I convened a task force to develop targeted proposals 
to address the acutely unemployed and the crisis in our communities and 
throughout the country and also to spur job creation for the 
chronically unemployed who happen to be black and Latino, many are 
white, and many are Asian Pacific Islanders. This task force is chaired 
by Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.
  We must maintain support for vital extensions of unemployment 
insurance and the COBRA health insurance subsidies as millions of 
Americans continue to face job loss and extended periods of 
unemployment. We also must continue to invest in education and job 
training programs that fully support housing initiatives like the 
Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Neighborhood Stabilization 
Program to bring some stability to our hardest hit communities.
  We must raise and index the minimum wage so that every working person 
can be assured that they will earn a wage that will lift them up and 
out of poverty each and every year without having to rely on the 
legislature to keep up with increases in the cost of living. We need to 
ensure access to early education, guarantee a high quality public 
education for every American student, and make sure that every working 
family has access to the affordable, quality child care that they need 
so that they can get to their jobs. Also, we need to reconnect with our 
disconnected youth and the formerly incarcerated individuals with 
increased support for job training and education for a new wave of 
environmentally friendly and economically green jobs which are going to 
be competitive but also which will require skills and the knowledge and 
the qualifications to be able to be eligible for these jobs. That's why 
we suggested a strong training program for these jobs. And we must 
remove Federal barriers to provide for a second chance.
  Last week, President Obama delivered a speech that was another sober 
reminder of the important work we must do and we must continue to work 
to grow our economy and create jobs. And we agree with the President 
that support for small businesses, infrastructure investment and green 
jobs is essential. We also believe that as Members of Congress we must 
do more.
  In order to do this, the Congressional Black Caucus has outlined four 
areas of focus laid out in our letter. They are: Direct job creation 
and training; infrastructure; small businesses; and State and local 
relief. These areas are essential to create real and meaningful 
economic opportunities to provide pathways out of poverty and 
opportunities for all.
  The Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to working with 
President Obama and our congressional leadership--Speaker Pelosi and 
Chairman Miller--to address the real economic crisis gripping our 
nation. We will not shy away from the fight for targeted relief for the 
chronically unemployed. In our letter, we suggested that there be a 
requirement that the amounts appropriated shall allocate no less than 
10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of economic hardship, 
provided that for the purpose of these sections ``qualified areas of 
economic hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering area 
where 20 percent or more of the population is at or below the Federal 
poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the official poverty line 
defined by the Office of Management and Budget.
  So let me be clear. What we propose is not based on race. It is based 
on need. We are asking for no more or no less than what Wall Street 
got. When there was a crisis on Wall Street, the Nation responded with 
a sense of urgency. We're asking for that same sense of urgency to the 
economic crisis that is gripping the hardest hit communities in 
America. There was no problem when that money was targeted to Wall 
Street. We're asking for the same targeted help for communities under 
the gun. It would be a tragedy if the economy recovers and we leave 
communities of color behind. We know money is going to be spent for 
jobs. The question is, where will the money be spent? And we want to 
make sure that we leave no community behind.
  We will certainly become stronger as a nation if we ensure that a 
jobs bill recognizes these huge disparities. I believe strongly that it 
is our moral obligation to tackle poverty and unemployment and that in 
the richest country in the world, we simply have no excuse not to do 
so.
  In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that the members of the 
Congressional Black Caucus are committed to continuing to work together 
with our President and our congressional leaders to fix our economy and 
to create jobs that address the true depth of this recession. There is 
no question that by our collective efforts, we can make a real 
difference in the lives of all Americans.
  Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, for your leadership and for giving me 
a few minutes to speak tonight.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I want to thank you for 
your call to action.


                             General Leave

  Ms. FUDGE. I would ask, Madam Speaker, that Members have 5 
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material for the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, I would now like to yield to my friend and 
colleague from Wisconsin, Representative Moore.

                              {time}  2015

  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Well, thank you, gentlelady from Ohio for 
yielding. And I can tell you that I found the remarks of our Chair 
very,

[[Page 31723]]

very compelling, and I guess I would agree with her. But I want to add 
that while a couple of the categories of the Congressional Black Caucus 
include infrastructure jobs and providing funds for local programs, and 
while I believe that there is a general call for these types of 
spending to stimulate our economy, I've heard on both sides of the 
aisle calls for moneys to be used for infrastructure improvements.
  I would say, with a qualification, that we need to make sure the 
funds for infrastructure projects go directly to cities and counties 
and allow those governments the flexibility to determine where the 
greatest infrastructure needs are for their communities. I think that 
while the Recovery Act saved between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs, we 
ought to learn from some of the mistakes that were made there, and I 
think that the Congressional Black Caucus, in its wisdom, has pointed 
out that we need to target our initiatives more and not just give the 
moneys to those States that don't necessarily target those funds, and 
make sure that it gets to the cities and States to work on 
infrastructure programs that are needed.
  The other qualification that I would give, and I think that the Chair 
raised it in her comments, is that we need to make sure that the 
infrastructure projects include those people that--that they target 
them to those communities that are in need. And with that, I would say 
that we need to target, we need to create programs for pre-
apprenticeship programs so that all of the moneys don't go to those, 
all of it doesn't go to those laborers and those folks who are 
typically building within our communities, those people who already 
have some of the skill sets and education that can transition them into 
the new energy-related initiatives, but that we ought to look at pre-
apprenticeship programs so that we can expose individuals with low 
skill sets to other workers with family-supporting jobs by working 
alongside with them nearby and on the same projects.
  From those experienced workers, the pre-apprentice participants can 
learn a pathway on how to move forward and develop those skill sets 
that will move them up the career ladder, and at the same time, provide 
them with sustainable income. To help enforce this, lady from Ohio, I 
believe that contractors could be required to include a certain 
percentage of pre-apprenticeship participants in their so-called 
Federal floor participation of women and minority workers that is 
already required by executive order.
  The reality is that we cannot afford to wait while the unemployment 
rate for minorities continues to rise. Unemployment, reemployment is a 
lagging indicator, and we can't wait until we reduce these numbers. The 
unemployment rate among black males is currently 15.6 percent. And by 
April of 2009, the gap between black and white men grew to a 13-year 
high of 7 percent. The time is now. And I urge my colleagues to 
consider all proposals that present the American people with a jobs 
bill that not only creates jobs, but sets up training programs and 
education programs that will help dislocated workers gain new skills 
that will lead to sustainable employment.
  Now, Madam Chairman, lady from Ohio, I have in fact, mentioned that 
we need to work toward helping women and minorities get into these 
infrastructure jobs and the new energy-related jobs. And there has been 
feedback that we ought not target this specifically toward a particular 
race, or perhaps toward a particular gender. But when you look at the 
framework that the Congressional Black Caucus has laid out, that we 
need to target it toward those census tracks where there is a dearth of 
persons who have these kinds of jobs, or who are unemployed, we will 
find, much to many people's amazement, that there's a great deal of 
poverty among minorities, and there certainly is a great deal of 
poverty among women who find themselves increasingly heading households 
and providing the greatest source of income.
  I thought it was very interesting that Maria Shriver recently did a 
study that really elucidated the fact that women were providing a 
greater and greater amount of the family income. And so this is 
something that I think the Congressional Black Caucus is raising in a 
very timely manner. And with that I would yield back to the gentlelady 
from Ohio.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very, very much. At this time I want to--we've 
got obviously a lot of Members here tonight. I thank you all so much 
for being here. What I'd like to do just briefly is to have 
Representative Jackson-Lee just introduce some points, and I'd like at 
that point for Representative Ellison from Minnesota to join us in a 
brief discussion. Representative Jackson-Lee from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Thank you very much to the distinguished 
convener, Congresswoman Fudge from Ohio. I'm delighted to join the 
chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who has been just superb 
on gathering us together on what is an enormous crisis. I'm going to 
take the liberty of mixing a number of issues that I think are crucial 
to the topic that addresses this question of dealing with homelessness 
and hunger and joblessness. So I want to let the American people know 
that when the Congressional Black Caucus set out its multipoint plan, a 
letter that was sent to President Obama, interestingly enough, the 
broadness of our concepts dealt with the most deprived and devastated 
communities.
  Those communities are American Indians, Native Americans. Those 
communities are Hispanics, Latinos, African Americans, women. And I 
evidence this by the article in The Washington Post on Saturday--it was 
referred to in our recent caucus by one of my colleagues, ``Missing 
More Than a Meal.'' And it cites the families, since they've been 
publicly noted, of Christina Koch, it cites the family of Anajyha 
Wright Mitchell, and it cites--these are children who are suffering 
because parents don't have work.
  It cites the family, I guess Christina Koch is here noted. And the 
quote that I think is most potent says, ``This more nuanced picture is 
emerging as the problem has become more widespread. With the economy 
faltering, the number of youngsters living in homes without enough food 
soared in 2008 from 13 million to nearly 17 million'' children in 
America. If we can imagine--17 million children are going to bed or 
waking up or going to school hungry because these breadwinners, single 
parents, have no jobs.
  And so my message today is that this is not a, if you will, an 
opportunity to do good legislative work. This is a crisis of 
insurmountable definition. This is at a pinnacle. This is the mountain 
top, and there must be nothing that stops us from focusing on the 
necessities of getting work. Let me lay out two or three points that I 
think are interwoven into this circumstance and the arguments that I 
think call for immediate action.
  My focus has been in training, and I have, I think, a unique 
perspective to work with those who may be on unemployment. You say, 
well, they're on unemployment, leave them alone. Well, unemployment is 
at different levels. If you happen to have been a person who had a 
part-time job, you know the level of your unemployment. What I'd like 
to do is to get those people out of those cyclical jobs, one job after 
another, and put them in training, where they keep their unemployment 
and they get a stipend so that the electricity can be turned on, the 
food can be bought. And when they come out on the other end, one, 
they've been kept out of the unemployment lines for a year, and they 
come out as a nurses aid or a technician of some sort to get them 
eligible for these jobs. I think that is imperative.
  This weekend, I met with a nonprofit that has about $22 million in 
weatherization dollars. I gathered small businesses who had never heard 
of the opportunities for weatherization, which would create jobs in our 
community. We also had the General Services Administration, and I think 
it's important to note that that is such a complexity of getting jobs 
to small businesses. What happens is they have what they call GSA 
lists. I believe the Federal Government should be the great job maker, 
and therefore, we should make easy the ability for small businesses to 
access opportunities. So I

[[Page 31724]]

want to see legislation that demystifies the GSA list. I want to see 
legislation that tells the Federal Government that they cannot have one 
narrow way of presenting jobs to America, which is on the Web site.
  If you have a job fair and you have the Federal Government there, 
they don't bring anybody to hire someone on the spot. They tell you to 
go to the Web site. Well, some people are homeless, are qualified, but 
they're in a predicament. Many people don't have access to the Web 
site. So these are simple administrative changes. Let me just add this 
on the Small Business Finance and Investment Act that the President has 
talked about.
  One of the things in the meeting that I had over the weekend, my 
friends, on weatherization--and I know they meant well. They came to 
the meeting, and we had had a pre-meeting, and they came to the 
meeting, 30 or 40 or 50 people in the room, and they said, Here's the 
criteria: Your bank account must be secure, and must be, if you will, 
flourishing. They said that you must have Department of Energy 
experience, Congressman Payne. You must already have had that 
experience. Some of my people in Texas, no disrespect, DOE? They 
thought it was the Department of Education. Then they said that you 
must have, no disrespect to them, you must have past experience. Well, 
weatherization, these dollars are to build capacity. These dollars are 
to get small businesses so that they can build capacity, so they can 
become weatherizers in the future.
  So we need to eliminate all these barriers of being able to work 
under Federal dollars. They're taxpayers dollars. Don't tell them to 
have Department of Energy experience. Tell them do they know how to put 
a window in? Do they have enough money to pay workers? And so this is, 
I think, a way of simplifying. I'm going to yield to the gentleman on 
these two points if I might. This idea of giving money to States is an 
abomination. Those of us who have diversity in state leadership, 
different from the majority party here, see that money going, and we 
never see it again in the hands of our constituents. That is a crisis.
  And then I know that we are on jobs, but let me tell you that this 
issue is, as I yield to the gentleman, we now have a health care bill 
that is making its way through the Senate. In that bill, there is a 
provision about promoting jobs in the health profession, scholarships 
for doctors and nurses and physicians' assistants. I want to ask the 
question: How much longer do we have to wait for the distinguished 
Senator from Connecticut to block health care over and over again and 
block jobs? And so I'm calling today for reconciliation. If that is a 
procedure that can get us moving so that people can have jobs and good 
health care, I believe they're intertwined together. And with that I 
would say, this is a time for a fight, a real fight.
  And I'd be happy to engage the gentleman from Minnesota on some of 
the very points that he has raised. And I am delighted to be part of 
his legislation, which is a magnificent comprehensive jobs effort. And 
I hope he'll join me in the training aspect as well.
  Madam Speaker, I salute my colleagues with the Congressional Black 
Caucus for tackling one of the most important issues of the day facing 
not just African Americans and Latino Americans, but all Americans. Let 
me share with you that in my District, which covers parts of the 
Nation's fourth largest city, Houston, TX, our unemployment rate stands 
at nearly 9 percent. While this rate is more than a full percentage 
point below the national average, we know at least anecdotally, the 
unemployment rates for African Americans and Latinos in Houston are 
much higher.
  Yet, this ``jobs disparity'' is not limited to Houston, data from the 
Department of Labor indicates that African Americans throughout the 
Nation today, in the era of President Obama, are still the last hired 
and the first fired. Specifically, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
reports that the unemployment rate for African American men, 20 and 
older, was 16.5 percent as of October of this year, and 12.4 percent 
for African American women at the same age level.
  Historically, experts have suggested that the anecdote to 
unemployment is education. However, Labor Department statistics appear 
to indicate that education, alone, does not level the playing field. In 
fact, higher education amongst African Americans may strangely enough 
even make it more difficult to obtain a job. For the first 10 months of 
this year, as the recession has dragged on, unemployment for least 
educated workers was the same for African- Americans and the general 
population. However, in 2009, the unemployment rate for African 
American college graduates 25 and older has been nearly twice that of 
their Caucasian American male counterparts, 8.4 percent compared with 
4.4 percent. According to a New York Times article published on 
December 1, even African American college graduates with degrees from 
Ivy League schools such as Yale, my alma mater, are finding themselves 
in the ranks of the unemployed.
  In addition to the racial dimension of this ``jobs disparity,'' the 
recent economic downturn has focused a spotlight on a widening gap 
between employment rates amongst men and women, particularly in the 
African American community. It has been reported that since the 
Nation's slowdown has been most pronounced in the manual labor sectors, 
men with the lowest levels of education have suffered the brunt of the 
unemployment crisis. CNN commentators recently described our current 
economic condition as a ``man-cession.''
  According to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the 
unemployment rate for African American men aged 20 and older was 4.1 
percent higher than the unemployment rate for African American women of 
the same age group, which was 12.4 percent. This gender unemployment 
gap among African Americans mirrors a similar gap between Caucasian and 
Latino Americans, thus demonstrating a nationwide trend.
  Friends, we are in a battle for the hearts and souls of America, 
literally and figuratively. To win this battle, we must take bold 
action, like passing health care reform legislation in both chambers of 
Congress. Madam Speaker, I concur with the assessment that the health 
reform legislation voted out of this chamber last month in fact a 
``jobs bill.''
  As evidence of this, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that last 
month's slight dip in the unemployment rate was caused by the fact that 
for the third straight month, hospitals reported solid payroll 
additions, with 6,800 new jobs created. In the first 11 months of this 
year, the healthcare sector created 249,700 new jobs, an average of 
22,700 new health care jobs each month, according to BLS' preliminary 
data. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, overall 7.9 
million people in America have lost their jobs, while the healthcare 
sector has created 613,000 jobs.
  In an article published in HealthLeaders Media, it was reported that 
the healthcare sector--from hospitals, to physicians' offices, to 
residential mental health homes, kidney dialysis centers, and blood and 
organ banks--grew by 21,000 payroll additions in November and 613,000 
payroll additions since the start of the recession in December 2007. 
The home healthcare services sector reported 7,300 payroll additions in 
November, BLS preliminary data show.
  Recognizing this Madam Speaker, I am working with health care and 
labor leaders to craft a jobs bill that create innovative new 
retraining programs in partnership with our Historically Black Colleges 
and Universities like Texas Southern University in my District or 
Howard University, here in Washington, DC. These training programs 
would focus on retooling workers for jobs in the growth sectors such as 
health, biotech, and information technology. In addition to funding for 
job training, I propose that we provide stipends to those who are 
unemployed and who participate in training programs to assist them in 
caring for their families. Along with this, my jobs bill would allow 
unemployed workers participating in job retraining to continue 
receiving unemployment benefits.
  As a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, I am also working with 
the DOJ to incorporate into my jobs legislation a measure that would 
assist ex-offenders who are returning to the job market with strikes 
against them. In addition to eliminating any barriers for ex- 
offenders, I am also studying how we can encourage States to suspend 
criminal prosecution of fathers and other parents who are delinquent in 
child support so long as they are making good faith efforts to find 
jobs in this difficult employment market.
  Madam Speaker, I also propose that we task the Department of Labor to 
expand its definition of the unemployed to cover not only those 
currently receiving unemployment compensation, but also those who have 
run out of unemployment insurance, known as the long term unemployed. I 
suspect that if we had accurate data that captured the entire 
unemployment picture, we would see jobless figures of upwards of 25-30 
percent.

[[Page 31725]]

  In addition, Madam Speaker, I also plan to propose we offer 
assistance to the underemployed, including thousands of lawyers and 
other professionals who work as part-timers or temp workers. Many of 
these professionals split their time between working for others and 
operating their own small firms. Furthermore, it has been noted that 
while larger firms are enjoying the benefit of government funded 
bailouts, our African American law firms, accounting firms, investment 
banking firms and media outlets are being left out of the funds 
directed at stimulating Wall Street. As Comcast and NBC Universal and 
other firms seek government permission to merge, I intend to work with 
these companies to ensure that our African American businesses are 
included, not left out of the deal flow.
  Another jobs initiative would focus on creating apprentice and 
internship programs managed by cities and nonprofits like the Urban 
League. This is a take off of a Department of Labor that was very 
successful in the 1970s, which helped our Nation rebound from its last 
recession.
  Madam Speaker, during the 1930s-40s, the FDR administration developed 
the Work Progress Administration, WPA. The WPA created thousands of 
jobs and helped lift our Nation from depression. I am drafting 
legislation that would create a WPA for the 21st century. This concept 
involves providing stimulus dollars to several Federal agencies such as 
Interior, Transportation, and HHS to fund large-scale projects.
  Under my legislation, the new WPA would include modern-day 
infrastructure and other projects including making broadband wireless 
Internet service available for all Americans, not just in wealthier 
suburban and downtown districts. In addition, we should create high-
speed rail and environmentally friendly highways and byways.
  Finally, I plan that we work with HHS and the Energy Department to 
build new Green Hospitals across the country. This project would ensure 
that our Nation's healthcare facilities are themselves healthy.
  Madam Speaker, many of our unemployed constituents in Houston and 
around the Nation are asking us a simple question: how long, how long 
before I can find a job? I say to them, not long . . . help is on the 
way. With the introduction and passage of jobs legislation offered by 
myself and the rest of the Congressional Black Caucus, help for the 
unemployed and underemployed, help for small businesses, is on the way.
  I appreciate the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus on this 
issue and dedicate to my constituents in the 18th Congressional 
District of Texas that it can count on me to work with my colleagues to 
deliver in this time of great need. How long, not long, with the help 
of the Almighty and hard work of my colleagues, help is on the way.
  Mr. ELLISON. Let me just say that I just want to tell a story. You 
know, I was home this weekend, and I was walking along one of the 
trails that we have in Minneapolis. You know, we've got a lot of parks 
in Minneapolis. It was cold, and I wanted to get my legs stretched from 
working so hard last week, so I was walking a long one of our many 
trails. And I decided to sit down at a park bench, and it looked like a 
pretty old-looking park bench. You could tell the rust was there.
  And when I sat down I noticed that it was sturdy. And we sat there 
talking to a few friends. But when I got up to leave, I noticed that 
there was a little plaque about the size of this phone, and it said on 
it, WPA, 1934. For 75 years that park bench had been sitting there. For 
75 years, that thing has been giving comfort to people who are just 
walking by. But 75 years ago we had a job crisis then. And our country, 
our Congress, responded to the needs of unemployed Americans.

                              {time}  2030

  We need to respond to the needs of Americans today as people are 
putting pressure on food shelves, as people don't have money for heat, 
for lights, as folks who had two and three jobs that were part time now 
have lost them; now they have no lifeline. We've got to respond to a 
generation of Americans looking for work today. And where there's extra 
hurt, there needs to be extra help.
  And that means that the Congressional Black Caucus--and other 
caucuses as well--are focusing on a targeted-jobs bill calling for jobs 
now, calling attention to an appalling condition where people are 
unemployed at rates of 25, 30 percent in some communities.
  I just want to ask the gentlelady--and I'll ask any of my colleagues. 
I like the dialogue. I'm not going to give a 20-minute speech.
  I will ask the gentlelady, what have you heard as you were standing 
in the grocery store line? What have you heard when you were walking 
around your parks in places like Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Ohio, 
Cleveland? What have you heard? What have you gone through? And what 
are your folks telling you? Don't give me a bunch of stats. Tell me 
what your people are feeling. I'd like to know that.
  I yield back to the gentlelady.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much.
  Does the gentlelady from Wisconsin or Texas or California wish to 
respond?
  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. I just want to mention to the gentleman from 
Minnesota, we're neighbors in the Midwest, and of course you know there 
have been hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been 
lost in the Midwest over the last 30 years. But since 2008, we have 
lost more jobs during 2008 than in any--for the last 70 years that 
these data and statistics have been collected. And so that, I think, is 
really telling about the attrition of jobs.
  I hear people often talking about how horrific the 10.4 percent 
unemployment rate is. If there were a 10.4 percent unemployment rate 
within the confines of the city of Milwaukee, we would be dancing in 
the street with delight.
  We have a researcher named Marc Levine from the University of 
Wisconsin, Milwaukee who has kept data of the discouraged workers--
those people who are not officially unemployed because they're no 
longer standing there, discouraged workers. And among white men in my 
community, we have a 17 percent unemployment rate. And we have a 40 to 
50 percent unemployment rate among white men, and of course a 
staggering statistic, about 30 percent among Hispanic men. But about 17 
percent among white men in our community. So it's really a crisis of 
gargantuan proportions.
  Mr. ELLISON. Will the gentlelady yield?
  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Yes.
  Mr. ELLISON. Have you ever talked to somebody who's been unemployed 
for 12 months, 18 months? What does that do to their psyche? What does 
that do to their spirit? What does that do to their level of joy?
  Can anybody answer the question for me?
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. If the gentleman will yield.
  Mr. ELLISON. I will yield.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. You are right. And statistics, of course, 
help to lay the framework for how devastating it is for so many of us 
who are listening may not have the broadness of it because our 
constituency goes across all lines.
  And what I'll tell you is that people are more and more going to 
places where there are mass feasts and feeding. And when you go among 
those people, you hear the stories of mothers and fathers who have lost 
work. There are now more families coming into these broad feasts or 
open feeding that we've had. I just participated in one yesterday in my 
district. And you see the families with little children who you know 
are dependent--and you made a very good point. I heard it on this 
floor. These people may have had two and three jobs. That's the kind of 
person we're looking at when we see these parents whose children are 
now going to bed hungry, 17 million across America. And what they're 
saying is that not only can they not make ends meet, but they can't 
find the ends for the means.
  So we have to bypass State governments to get funds directly into the 
hands of these individuals by way of work. They want work. We've got to 
break down the attitudes about not building capacity and small 
businesses, because they could hire these very mothers to do minimum 
work on weatherization. They could be skilled. We have to pass the 
health care bill that gives us the kind of work that is available for 
these mothers.
  And I will conclude on this. Do you know, Congresswoman Fudge, 
because you're from this area, there is some, I want to call it 
silliness--and I ask deference for any disrespect that using

[[Page 31726]]

the word ``silly'' on this floor might suggest. But we put a tax on 
steel that China is bringing in and, okay, that's by America. Then we 
have black businesses who are in the business of transporting pipe or 
giving pipe to various companies--and when I say ``pipe,'' giving steel 
to various companies, steel pipe known as oil company tubular goods, 
pipes. And can you believe that these small businesses that have 
workers and truck drivers, minority companies that transport this 
steel, cannot buy any steel from American companies.
  So what I would say to the gentlemen, Yes, I hear the pain in our 
houses of worship. I hear the pain in grocery stores, and I hear the 
pain when we go to these mass feedings that more people are coming to 
now in more numbers than I have ever seen before. It just reemphasizes 
the fact: Are we going to answer the pain, the call that is being made 
upon us? And I would hope the Congressional Black Caucus will be front 
and center on doing that.
  Ms. FUDGE. We have been joined by another one of our colleagues, 
Laura Richardson from California. I'd like to yield to the 
Congresslady.
  Ms. RICHARDSON. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I especially 
want to thank our chairwoman, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and 
Congresswoman Fudge, who's been leading, really, this delegation on an 
hourly basis weeks on end whether the issues are popular or not.
  Tonight I'd like to talk about small business and the impacts of 
unemployment and what it means to our country and really where the jobs 
are in this country and why we must address small business.
  The unemployment crisis is hurting every region of our country--not 
just one State, east coast, west coast. It's everywhere. In the 
district that I represent, unemployment is ranging anywhere between 15 
and 21 percent. That's well above the national unemployment rate, and 
clearly we can no longer stand by idly waiting for someone, even if 
it's in our other body, to act.
  The American people need jobs now. They've already asked it, they've 
already helped to fund it, but unfortunately the jobs have not been 
seen on Main Street and on the side streets where many of our 
constituents live. So let's talk a little bit about small business and 
why they're so important in this equation.
  There are 26.8 million small businesses in the United States 
accounting for more than 99.7 percent of all employer firms. Those are 
regular people like you and me who are trying to survive who didn't get 
a bailout 6 months ago.
  Small businesses employ just over half of all of our private sector 
employees. And likewise, in the second largest district in this United 
States--which is California, where I'm from--small businesses are an 
integral part of our economy comprising 90 percent of all of the 
businesses in our State. More than 50 percent of the employees in 
California work for small businesses, and there's an estimated 3.7 
million small businesses in California.
  So why would you ask that I would even talk about that? Let's talk 
about women and how women are impacted with small business.
  Privately held, women-owned businesses in California, where I'm from, 
generate more than $406 billion in sales and employ over 2.8 million 
people. And when you look at those particular figures and then you 
break it down to minorities, minorities even further own 4.1 million 
firms and generate $694 billion and employ 4.8 million people.
  So what is the problem and what is it that I brought to the CBC to 
contribute in terms of a proposal of what we could do to help? We could 
help small businesses, and we already have the current framework to do 
so. It's called the SBA. But unfortunately, as with many government 
agencies, just because something exists doesn't mean it should stay 
that way. We can always work to make it better.
  So when we consider the SBA that was really established in 1953, 
there are changes that have to occur. And the one that I'd like to talk 
about tonight is not all of the wonderful training, not all of 
counseling--all of that we desperately need--but there's a program 
today that can change and it can be done now. That's our section 8 
services.
  Section 8 was established to include access to business development 
opportunities for businesses within that particular financial area, but 
there's a problem with it. As far back as 1992, magazines and other 
individuals have highlighted the problems with the section 8 program. 
The problem is, instead of creating multimillion-dollar business 
success stories, the section 8 program consistently graduates companies 
before they're ready to flourish. It gives them a short period of 
time--7 years, 9 years--to begin to utilize contracts, and then it 
throws them out without an umbrella or without a safety net.
  I would say if we could do a safety net for some of these other Wall 
Street firms and financial industries, why aren't we holding our hands 
out to small business?
  This has led to a surprising result that many of us have seen, that 
companies who were able and who were succeeding with the section 8 
program, when they were then bumped out, of course, what were the 
results?
  In 1991, SBA studied 645 former 8(a) companies that were doing fine, 
but prior to them being kicked off, after that point, 42 percent fell 
through. We can stop that, and we can change it today by four simple 
proposals that I have for you.
  I propose that we reform and modernize the section 8 program to help 
more small disadvantaged business enterprises, DBEs, to remain in 
business and to hire more workers--we were talking about over 4 million 
workers--by doing the following:
  One, extend at least 2 years the 9-year program in which section 8(a) 
certifies businesses to participate.
  Number two, we can reinstate those who already did their 7 or 9 
years, and they're kind of at the brink, and with a couple more years 
of help, they could be back on a level ground. We should extend their 
time as well.
  And then thirdly, we should create a new program that's kind of in 
the middle ground, not of a major company that's bringing in billions 
of dollars, but clearly a small business that's hiring 10 people, 20 
people in your neighborhood. We need for them to exist.
  And finally, we should consider that under this program, eligible 
companies who are able to participate, we should really grow that 
revenue, because what was $100,000 yesterday that somebody made is not 
nearly enough in terms of keeping a viable company going.
  So, in closing, what I'd like to say to our Chair, Ms. Barbara Lee, 
and also Ms. Fudge from Ohio, I applaud the efforts that we've taken. 
The American people want to know what we're doing. What we're doing is 
caucuses like the CBC are coming together. We're meeting. We're talking 
about direct jobs. We're talking about keeping teachers and police 
officers employed. We're talking about helping small business owners 
stay alive. That's what we're doing, and we're bringing those proposals 
to the Speaker, to the President of the United States, and we're asking 
them to act now.
  We're ready to vote. We're ready to do our part. But we need to make 
sure that these dollars go to the American people, which is where they 
started from.
  Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, my good friend and colleague, 
Representative Richardson from California, did bring up some 
interesting points, and I can assure you that the passion she showed 
today is the same passion that the rest of this caucus has, and that is 
why, in fact, our caucus did indeed send a letter to the Speaker of the 
House to talk about our jobs initiatives, what we believe should be in 
a jobs bill.
         Congressional Black Caucus of the 111th United States 
           Congress,
                                 Washington, DC, December 9, 2009.
     Hon. Barack Obama,
     President of the United States,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear President Obama: As you work with House and Senate 
     Leadership to structure the jobs package, we respectfully 
     request that you include and prioritize the following 
     proposals in the legislation:

[[Page 31727]]




                    Direct Job Creation and Training

       Utilize language that states that the $139.3 billion of 
     unobligated funds authorized for expenditure by the Troubled 
     Asset Relief Program should be reprogrammed to be used to 
     create jobs for United States citizens.
       Reauthorize language from the Humphrey Hawkins Act, Public 
     Law 95-523, with a new provision establishing a ``Green Jobs 
     and Training Trust Fund.'' The trust fund would be funded by 
     a financial transaction tax similar to that proposed by 
     Congressman DeFazio. If the targets established in the 
     Economic Reports mandated in Title I are not met, funds would 
     automatically be disbursed from two separate trust funds to a 
     list of: (1) training programs enumerated in the bill; and 
     (2) a direct public sector jobs program. The training 
     programs would include, amongst other programs:
       The Department of Labor's Green Construction Careers 
     Demonstration Program (not yet authorized).
       The Department of Energy's Labor's Efficiency and Renewable 
     Energy Worker Training Program (EEREWTP) (authorized in the 
     Green Jobs Act of 2007)--specifically, the Pathways Out of 
     Poverty Demonstration Program.
       The Department of Energy's Weatherization Program.
       The Job Corps Program.
       Grant programs that promote state and local hiring of 
     police, firemen, and other public servants.
       Additional programs identified by the Secretary of Labor 
     that: (1) promote energy efficiency consistent with the 
     EEREWTP Program or promote clean energy creation; and (2) 
     provide sustainable employment in the public or private 
     sector.
       The government would provide grants to states and 
     municipalities to set up ``Green Corps, ``Urban Corps,'' and/
     or a form of expanded Americorps. These jobs would be low 
     human capital jobs where the ratio of government spending to 
     job creation would be very low. Some activities these 
     individuals would engage in include:
       Home and public building weatherization;
       Greening of public spaces;
       Municipal waste and recycling;
       Public building solar installation and maintenance;
       Forestry; and
       Tutoring or mentoring.
       Utilize language throughout the bill that will provide a 10 
     percent for areas with high levels of poverty such as: Of the 
     amounts appropriated in this [section] the following projects 
     or programs, shall allocate at least 10 percent for 
     assistance in qualified areas of economic hardship: Provided, 
     that for the purposes of this [Title/Section], In general, 
     the term ``qualified area of economic hardship'' means any 
     census tract or block numbering area, where 20% or more of 
     the population is at or below the federal poverty line. The 
     term ``poverty line'' means the official poverty line defined 
     by the Office of Management and Budget.


                       Job Creation and Training

       Increase funding for Youthbuild and the 2010 Youth Summer 
     Jobs Program, to allow for the employment of 5 million teens, 
     with a requirement that of the amounts appropriated in this 
     [section] the following projects or programs, shall allocate 
     no less than 10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of 
     economic hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this 
     [Title/Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of 
     economic hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering 
     area, where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.
       Creation of a federal assistance program through the 
     Department of Labor to prepare economically disadvantaged 
     unskilled adults or adults needing retraining for full-time 
     jobs, for a period of 12 to 24 months in public agencies or 
     not-for-profit organizations. The intent is to impart a 
     marketable skill that will allow participants to move to an 
     unsubsidized.
       Fully fund the Green Jobs Act, the Energy Efficiency and 
     Conservation Block Grant Program, as authorized by the Energy 
     and Independence Security Act, of the amounts appropriated in 
     this [section] the following projects or programs, shall 
     allocate no less than 10 percent for assistance in qualified 
     areas of economic hardship: Provided, that for the purposes 
     of this [Title/Section], In general, the term ``qualified 
     area of economic hardship'' means any census tract or block 
     numbering area, where 20% or more of the population is at or 
     below the federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' 
     means the official poverty line defined by the Office of 
     Management and Budget.
       Increase funding for the National Service Corps programs 
     with an emphasis on current college students and recent 
     college graduates.
       Direct funding to career colleges, technical, and trade 
     schools, community colleges, and universities to train 
     Americans in high-growth industries and healthcare 
     professions, particularly focused on entry-level training and 
     nursing programs, which allow participants to be able to 
     continue to collect unemployment benefits through the period 
     of training and/or allow them to receive a livable wage 
     stipend during the period of training, with a requirement 
     that of the amounts appropriated in this [section] the 
     following projects or programs, shall allocate no less than 
     10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of economic 
     hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this [Title/
     Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of economic 
     hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering area, 
     where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.
       Increase funding for High Growth Industries and/or grants 
     for job creation in occupations identified by the Department 
     of Labor as ``the ``fastest growing occupations and 
     occupations projected to have the largest numerical increases 
     in employment between 2006 and 2016,'' with a requirement 
     that of the amounts appropriated in this [section] the 
     following projects or programs, shall allocate no less than 
     10 percent for assistance in quaffed areas of economic 
     hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this [Title/
     Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of economic 
     hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering area, 
     where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.
       Increase funding for Employment and Training 
     Administration, Training and Employment Services, with a 
     requirement to that of the amounts appropriated in this 
     [section] the following projects or programs, shall allocate 
     no less than 10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of 
     economic hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this 
     [Title/Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of 
     economic hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering 
     area, where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.
       Increase funding for Welfare to Work program.
       Increase funding for the Second Chance Act (replaced and 
     expanded Prisoner Reentry Initiative) and include language 
     that eliminates or mitigates the bar on ex-offenders from 
     receiving Federal financial aid programs, job-related 
     training, public benefits, and public housing.
       Increase funding for pre-apprenticeship programs and the 
     National Apprenticeship programs through the Department of 
     Labor, Employment and Training Administration, with a 
     requirement to that of the amounts appropriated in this 
     [section] the following projects or programs, shall allocate 
     no less than 10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of 
     economic hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this 
     [Title/Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of 
     economic hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering 
     area, where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget. Language modification to allow for Americans to 
     continue to collect unemployment benefits and/or TANF 
     benefits while in an authorized job training program for up 
     to 12 months.
       Expand the Title V Senior Community Service Employment 
     Program (SCSEP) under the Older Americans Act to provide job 
     training and employment for older job seekers by lowering it 
     to age 50, eliminate requirement of unemployment--allowing 
     participants to be underemployed, and changing the cap to 35 
     weekly hour cap employment allowing.


                             Infrastructure

       Provide for Hope VI, green projects through the Energy 
     Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.
       Rehabilitation of housing through Neighborhood 
     Stabilization Fund which provides for additional construction 
     jobs.
       Funding for the Department of Transportation-Federal 
     Highway Administration to allow state and local agencies to 
     move forward on infrastructure projects, of the amounts 
     appropriated in this [section] the following projects or 
     programs, shall allocate no less than 10 percent for 
     assistance in qualified areas of economic hardship: Provided, 
     that for the purposes of this [Title/Section], In general, 
     the term ``qualified area of economic hardship'' means any 
     census tract or block numbering area, where 20% or more of 
     the population is at or below the federal poverty line. The 
     term ``poverty line'' means the official poverty line defined 
     the Office of Management and Budget.
       Discretionary funding for Clean Energy technology and 
     manufacturing through the Department of Energy, with a 
     requirement that of the amounts appropriated in this 
     [section] the following projects or programs, shall allocate 
     no less than 10 percent for assistance in qualified areas of 
     economic hardship: Provided, that for the purposes of this 
     [Title/Section], In general, the term ``qualified area of 
     economic hardship'' means any census tract or block numbering 
     area, where 20% or more of the population is at or below the 
     federal poverty line. The term ``poverty line'' means the 
     official poverty line defined by the Office of Management and 
     Budget.

[[Page 31728]]




                             Small Business

       Language modification to allow the Community Development 
     Financial Initiatives Fund to access capital markets via the 
     Department of Treasury Guaranteed Bond Issuance program.
       Expand and expedite the Small Business Administrations 
     Community Express Loan program by reducing the interest rate 
     to 1 percent, particularly focused on areas where local 
     unemployment rates exceed the state and/or high rates of 
     long-term unemployed.
       Long-term extension of Build America Bonds, to result in 
     liquidity and a lower interest rate.
       Reform and modernize the Section (8) program to assist more 
     small and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) remain in 
     business and hire more workers by doing the following:
       Extend by at least 2 years the 9-year period in which 
     Section 8(a) certified businesses can participate in the 
     program.
       Reform the Section 8(a) program to permit reinstatement of 
     companies who were graduated from the program after nine 
     years.
       Reform the Section 8 program to create a new program for 
     small businesses that did not qualify for admission to the 
     8(a) program or were graduated from the program before the 9 
     year period expired because their financial resources 
     exceeded maximum limits. Under this new program, an eligible 
     company would be permitted to participate for a period of 7 
     years or until its financial resources exceeded 300 percent 
     of the maximum amount allowable under Section 8(a).
       Language modification to the Workforce Investment Act 
     performance measures in entrepreneurial training to allow for 
     microenterprises to receive Self Employment Training and 
     Technical Assistance from Workforce Investment Boards with a 
     ``successful/positive outcome'' in order to support and spur 
     further growth of small businesses/microenterprises.
       Language to support an appropriation to support payment of 
     Black Farmers claims.


                       State/Local Fiscal Relief

       With each provision, we would urge you to direct funding 
     through the federal agencies directly to localities: county/
     city/municipality/college/university or nonprofit 
     organizations, rather than through the state, to be quickly 
     disbursed and used by most economically depressed 
     communities.
       Our Nation has suffered substantial unemployment and 
     underemployment over a prolonged period which has imposed 
     significant economic and social costs, particularly in 
     communities of color. We appreciate your attention to these 
     prescriptive measures and look forward to working with you.
           Sincerely,
     Rep. Barbara Lee,
       Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus.
     Rep. Emanuel Cleaver,
       Chairman, CBC Taskforce on Economic Recovery.

  Ms. FUDGE. At this time, I'd like to bring up a colleague, Donald 
Payne from New Jersey. Representative Payne has joined us many 
evenings, and it's a pleasure to yield some time to him this evening.
  Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much.
  Let me certainly begin by thanking the gentlelady from California, 
our distinguished Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for anchoring this evening's Special Order 
on job creation. And Ms. Lee continues her diligence in addressing 
issues that confront our Nation in general, but in particular, the 
African American community, which has been a laudable effort, and let 
me again commend her for her diligence.
  Let me also commend the gentlelady from Cleveland who comes to us, 
Representative Fudge, as a former mayor, and I look at her as the mayor 
of the CBC.

                              {time}  2045

  Why would I call her the mayor of the CBC? Well, because a mayor has 
to have hands on. The mayor has to deal with all the issues. The mayor 
has to listen to see what's going on in education and jobs. The mayor 
is concerned about health care. And it's where the rubber meets the 
road. And you need someone who has the understanding and the 
perseverance. And so I would like to commend you again for the 
outstanding work that you do.
  To the Chair of this important job creations committee, Congressman 
Emanuel Cleaver from Kansas City, he does an outstanding job in this.
  Since the time is relatively late, we have several more Members, it's 
a good thing to do, when you have too many, therefore I will cut my 
remarks short. But let me just say in November we approved a historic 
bill to reform our health insurance system to expand access to 
affordable quality health care for nearly every American. The 
Affordable Health Care for Americans Act offers security and stability 
to all Americans, reduces costs and improves our choice.
  Let me say that you cannot hold a secure job if the fundamentals are 
not there for everyone to be able to benefit. And one of the great 
provisions in the health bill is that there will be an emphasis on job 
creation because of the expanded health care that will be provided.
  After a White House jobs summit on December 3 and a trip to 
Pennsylvania to meet with citizens of this country who have been 
affected by this economy, on December 8, as you know, President Obama 
announced steps that he believed should be at the heart of our efforts 
to put Americans back to work, to get businesses hiring again. I 
commend the President's focus on small businesses, infrastructure, and 
clean energy to provide an influx of jobs in this economy, as well as 
his emphasis to not just create jobs in the short run, but to also 
shift America away from consumption-driven growth to a focus on 
enhancing the competitiveness of American businesses, encouraging 
investment and promoting exports.
  I would, however, push further and urge the President and my 
colleagues in Congress to expand our focus to address the portion of 
our population who were already in vulnerable economic positions before 
the onset of this recession. Prior to December, 2007, the African 
American unemployment rate was 8.9 percent. In this economy, it has 
climbed to a disproportionate 15.6 percent.
  Madam Speaker, in the great State of New Jersey, unemployment has 
reached 9.7 percent. However, the largest concentration of unemployed 
falls in the cities of Trenton and Newark, New Jersey, where I live, 
where a large portion of our State's minorities live, and the 
unemployment rate surpasses 14 percent. While New Jersey reached its 
highest level of unemployment in 34 years, Newark, a part of my 
district, has experienced the same rate of over 14 percent since 1994.
  These startling facts call attention to the need to not simply 
restore our Nation to its pre-recession state, but to create a 
stronger, more inclusive plan to address the intersection of 
unemployment and poverty, and develop long-term strategies to confront 
this.
  Madam Speaker, I believe that the key to our strategy is education. I 
urge the development of a multipronged approach not only aimed at 
creating new jobs but infused with education and job training. We must 
work diligently and deliberately to harness the skills of all people. 
The absence of this particular focus will cause severe and lasting 
damage to generations of Americans, particularly of color.
  And so therefore, as I just shorten my remarks, I think that 
education, training, and expansion of current programs like the Job 
Corps, where we have an infrastructure, where we can have intensive 
training, where we can have health care, where we can go on to have 
GEDs, would be one way to create jobs and train people.
  I have much more, and I would hope that we can have the remainder put 
in the Record. But I will yield back the balance of my time in 
deference to my colleagues.
  Madam Speaker, let me begin by thanking the gentlelady from 
California, our distinguished Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for anchoring this evening's Special Order 
on job creation. Her continued diligence in addressing issues that 
confront our nation, in general, but in particular the African 
Americans communities and she has been laudable, and let me commend you 
again for your diligence.
  Let me congratulate the gentlelady from Cleveland, Representative 
Fudge, who comes to the Congress as a former major and knows well of 
everyday problems, where the rubber meets the road. Let me also 
congratulate Representative Emanuel Cleaver from Kansas City for his 
leadership as Chairman of the CBC jobs task force.
  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join the other Members tonight to talk

[[Page 31729]]

about job creation, specifically in the African American community.
  In November, we approved a historic bill to reform the health 
insurance system to expand access to affordable, quality health care to 
nearly every American. The Affordable Health Care for America Act 
offers security and stability to all Americans, reduces costs, improves 
coverage and preserves our choice of doctors, hospitals and health 
plans, BUT holding a secure job is the foundation of many of the 
provisions decided upon in the bill. That being said, in addition to 
the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate, it is clear why the 
President has placed strong emphasis on job creation in the past few 
days. After a White House Job Summitt on December 3rd and a trip to 
Pennsylvania to meet with citizens of this country who have been 
affected by this economy, on December 8th, as you know, President Obama 
announced steps that he believes should be at the heart of our efforts 
to help put Americans back to work and get businesses hiring again. I 
commend the President's focus on small businesses, infrastructure, and 
clean energy to provide an influx of jobs in this economy, as well as 
his emphasis to not just create jobs in the short run, but to also 
shift America away from consumption-driven growth to a focus on 
enhancing the competitiveness of America's businesses, encouraging 
investment, and promoting exports.
  I would, however, push further and urge the President and my 
colleagues in Congress to expand our focus to address the portion of 
our population who were already in vulnerable economic positions before 
the onset of this recession. Prior to December 2007, the African 
American unemployment rate was 8.9 percent. In this economy, it has 
climbed to a disproportionate 15.6 percent.
  Madam Speaker, in the great state of New Jersey, unemployment has 
reached 9.7 percent; however, the largest concentration of unemployment 
falls in the cities of Trenton and Newark, where a large portion of the 
state's minorities live and unemployment has surpassed 14 percent. 
While NJ has reached its highest level of unemployment in 34 years, 
Newark--part of my district--has experienced the same rate of 14.3 
percent as recent as 1994.
  These startling facts call attention to the need, to not simply 
restore our nation to its state pre-recession, but to create a 
stronger, more inclusive plan to address the intersection of 
unemployment and poverty and develop long-term strategies.
  Madam Speaker, I believe that the key to this strategy is education! 
I urge the development of a multipronged approach, not only aimed at 
creating new jobs but infused with education and job training. We must 
work diligently and deliberately to harness the skills of all people! 
The absence of this particular focus will cause severe and lasting 
damage to generations of Americans, particularly those of color, and 
the future of our workforce.
  Madam Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to develop policies that will expand our focus to 
offer additional support for communities that have long been affected 
by high unemployment rates.
  With that, thank you once again, Congresswoman Lee for the 
outstanding work that you are doing.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so much. And I want to commend Representative 
Payne, not just for his words, but the fact that he is indeed the 
historian of our caucus. And it's just always a pleasure to have him 
put things in perspective for us. Thank you so much.
  At this time, I would like to yield to our friend and colleague from 
Georgia, David Scott, Representative Scott.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you so much, Ms. Fudge. I just want to 
say how proud we all are of you and your leadership that you are 
providing on the floor for this hour, that you have been going forward 
with all of this year. And I certainly want to single out for special 
praise our distinguished chairlady of the Congressional Black Caucus. 
The good Lord has surely brought us the right person at the right time 
to lead this caucus in a very serious sea of turbulent waters. And so, 
Ms. Barbara Lee, I just want to personally thank you for that 
leadership as we go forward.
  Let me start at the very beginning, because I think that we need to 
understand what we are referencing when we use the words ``targeting'' 
and ``focus.'' Let me just say clearly, yes, we are the Congressional 
Black Caucus. But we are talking about targeting and focusing our 
efforts on the basis of need, no more, no less, than what they did for 
Wall Street. You all may remember, I serve on the Financial Services 
Committee, and it was Secretary Paulson, the Republican Secretary of 
the Treasury, who rushed over here to Capitol Hill with just two pieces 
of paper, two pieces of paper. And said that the sky is falling down on 
Wall Street, and we needed to target and focus $700 billion or $800 
billion he said, on Wall Street.
  And then he went on to say, not only targeted to Wall Street, but 
targeted to specifically 12 to 15 bank and financial houses. Targeted, 
because that was where the source of the problem he felt. And he 
analyzed that source of the problem by saying it's because the credit 
markets are frozen. There is no lending. And we have to move.
  Well, we sent him back, and we said, well, we can't do that; we have 
to have something more moving. And he came back and said, Well, let's 
target it to troubled asset relief, or TARP, so that we can relieve 
these troubled assets with these financial institutions. Again, 
targeted. The point I'm trying to make is that we know the value of 
targeting where the problem is.
  All we are simply saying here is we have troubled assets. What more 
troubled assets in our financial institution can we have than the job 
and our homes? And it is more troubled assets than the 12 or 15 houses 
to unfreeze the credit, which we did, and which we moved to. We must do 
the same here. We are advocating strongly that we take the remaining 
$200 billion of this TARP money and focus it on where these troubled 
assets are now, jobs, and to saving our homes. This is what the 
American people want and need.
  Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say, we have a soaring economy. But 
we must understand that it, too, is targeted. We have roughly 300 
million people in this country. Eighty percent of those are targeted at 
the bottom one-third of the economic wealth stream of our economy. That 
means roughly 80 percent of that 300 billion, that is 270 million 
people, are targeted there.
  And I bring that point up because, simply, our economy runs on mass 
consumption. Stores require spending. And it means that you need as 
many people going in that store buying that carton of milk or going 
into that auto dealership buying that car as possible. That is why this 
effort now--we've taken $700 billion, we've targeted the top; we need 
to take this $200 billion and target it at the bottom, and target it 
for jobs, and target it related to housing because they are so 
interconnected.
  The most immediate thing we can do is what, again, we in the 
Congressional Black Caucus, 10 of us stood firm on the Financial 
Services Committee and said, no, no. No more. You're going to have to 
respond to this. If we did no more than anchor our movement in terms of 
providing moneys and target it into those areas that have high 
foreclosure, high closed and abandoned buildings and homes, and target 
money into those communities to fix up those homes, get them back on 
the market, that will save the housing prices and stop them from 
falling but will also create jobs in the most meaningful way for the 
very people we are trying to target it for. We need to also target 
money to help people who are losing their jobs to stay in their homes.
  And secondly, we've got to target jobs to those people who no matter 
what you say about a rising tide lifts all boats, it doesn't. Many 
people are left behind. And nowhere is that more specific than in the 
African American community of African American males.
  I will just recall in my closing to you this evening, we realized 
this, and we put the Manpower Training Act, and we targeted that. We 
realized this point, and we put forth what was

[[Page 31730]]

known as the opportunities and industrialization centers into these 
communities where we paid for the salaries and the training, and for 
the individuals to go on to the jobs so that they not only are trained 
for the jobs that are existing, but they are actually placed in those 
jobs. There are new jobs coming, and they've got to be trained for 
them.
  Madam Chairwoman, I just want to thank you again. I appreciate this 
opportunity, and again, I'm very proud of my colleagues and what we are 
doing. Thank you.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very, very much, Representative Scott. We so 
much appreciate your thoughtfulness, quite frankly, and showing a real 
difference between what is happening on Wall Street and Main Street.
  I would like to now, Madam Speaker, yield to our chair, our Chairman 
Rangel, to give us some words of wisdom which I'm sure he is going to 
do this evening.
  Mr. RANGEL. Once again, I want to thank Judge Congresswoman Fudge for 
taking the time out as well as our leader, Barbara Lee, for showing the 
depth of commitment that we in the Congressional Black Caucus have not 
only for our communities, which traditionally, historically have borne 
the blunt of historic economic setbacks, but for the entire country, 
because in my experience, it appears as though our great Nation's 
national security is at stake.
  We can talk about the terrorists, we can talk about those that are 
out to destroy our way of life, but we can destroy our own way of life 
because what made America great is not the bankers. It is those people 
that thought in this great country that they could aspire, that they 
could work hard and there would be no limits on what they can achieve.
  But unemployment is more than a statistic. Loss of a job means more 
than losing your house and losing your health care. It also means 
losing your dignity. And I cannot foresee how it's possible to have an 
economic recovery and have a jobless state of the economy. It seems to 
me that more important than the exchange of stock showing that America 
is willing to take risk is, what does America think about its hope, its 
future for its children? It seems to me that what makes America so 
great is what we think we can achieve. And whether you talk about 
current unemployment, you have to consider those people who had no hope 
before the setback. What happens to a person that is not included in 
the statistic? What happens to a person that knows there's no job at 
the unemployment office? What happens to a person that has given up 
hope?
  Even if the so-called economy recovers, where will their will be to 
exercise the skill that perhaps has been lost? And how do you regain 
hope once that is lost.

                              {time}  2100

  And so what I hope that we understand as a Nation is that it is not 
just those who are suffering out there, who are losing sometimes their 
family as well as their jobs, but it happens to be something that's 
going to affect the well-off, because the more we expand those people 
who have no money to spend, the more our small business people have no 
reason to be in existence.
  And so we can talk about the stock market, but the world is not 
turning on our stock market; it's turning on the will of the American 
people. Internationally, if we begin to look, as we have in so many 
communities, as a developing nation, not having the will, not having 
the resources, not being able to feed our children, not being able to 
provide health care for our children, what is the difference in a 
mother or father's heart whether you are in a developing country, 
whether it's in the Middle East, whether it's in Africa; the love for 
your children has to be the same no matter what country you're in. If 
you can't feed your child, if you can't encourage your child, if you 
can't educate your child, if you can't point out how great your country 
is in terms of opportunity, then what makes us different as a great 
nation from those who are trying to achieve economic leverage?
  And so, even though the hour is late, and I am late in getting here, 
make no mistake about it that you will be hearing from the 
Congressional Black Caucus every day, whether it's going to be on the 
floor, whether it's going to be in our districts, because there is 
something that brings us here more than just our conscience; it's that 
most of us know exactly what unemployment and the pain of unemployment 
is, the loss of dignity of unemployment. And then we have our families, 
and then we have our communities.
  And so we really believe that for those people that believe that we 
don't understand, before this Congress ends, the President and this 
Congress, we truly understand that this is a threat to our national 
security, and as Americans, as patriots, and as those who advocate a 
strong economy and a strong workforce, we will be glad to let you know 
that we will be doing all and everything that we can, and we've got to 
get the job done.
  Thank you so much for yielding me this time.
  Madam Speaker, the recent November jobs report offers encouraging 
signs that the Recovery Act is indeed working and that the economy has 
started to grow. Over the last three months, job losses have come down 
to the lowest level in two years. But the report is also a sobering 
reminder of the need to continue to advance policies that stimulate job 
creation and support the needs of American families and businesses that 
are struggling.
  Nearly 16 million Americans are jobless, up 558,000 from last month. 
Unemployment is more than just a number--it's a measure of suffering. 
It's that many more children living in poverty. It's that many more 
families subsisting off of food stamps, which now feed 1 in every 8 
Americans and nearly 1 in every 4 children.
  An economic recovery plan focused on salvaging Wall Street, credit-
frozen banks, and slumping American automakers--while all right and 
good--is not a meaningful recovery if it does not help struggling 
families.
  That's why the Obama Administration, in addition to all of its great 
work in turning this economy around, hosted a jobs summit last week 
aimed at putting Americans back to work, and I am looking forward to 
working with the President to do just that. President Obama's Recovery 
Act has already resulted in as many as 1.6 million Americans gaining 
jobs.
  But unemployment remains at crisis levels. In New York City, the 
jobless rate for people 16 and over has increased over the past year by 
73.7 percent. Half of the city's residents who are near poverty report 
experiencing three or more hardships at once, including falling behind 
on rent, not filling a prescription, or being unable to purchase enough 
food. The President's efforts to stave off depression and economic 
collapse have helped, but millions of Americans are saying, ``Tell that 
to my landlord.'' Rebounding economic statistics mean little when so 
many Americans are still struggling economically.
  Over the course of the next few weeks, creating jobs will be my first 
and foremost priority. I look forward to working with the President and 
my colleagues in Congress, including members of the Congress Black 
Caucus.
  African American and Latino families are among those that suffer the 
most from a recession because they are disproportionately impacted by a 
weak economy and do not have the safety net enjoyed by others. The 
unemployment rate for all African-Americans is about 50 percent higher 
than the nation as a whole, and more than 1 in 4 low-income Latinos in 
New York reported losing their jobs in the past year. We must offer 
fresh and bold solutions to cultivate an economy that works for us all. 
Not just the wealthy. Not just the politically connected. But all of 
us.
  Not only is America hurting; so are our kids. New York City has 
200,000 disconnected youth on its streets, kids ages 16 to 24 not in 
school and without employment. New York houses more kids in state 
prisons than it does on college campuses. Nowadays, it isn't just high 
school dropouts who are out of work. Americans from all economic groups 
are falling prey to a shrinking workforce, whether it's the hospital 
worker laid off after toiling at the same job for decades, or the 
college graduate having a tough time finding a job. In fact, Black 
college graduates are having a tougher time finding employment than 
their White counterparts, both those with and without a degree. We are 
all vulnerable, and we all deserve a helping hand in pulling through 
these difficult times.
  There can be no excess of good ideas to combat this crisis sweeping 
our nation. One thing we can do, and do immediately, is extend 
unemployment insurance. It is urgent that we provide out-of-work 
Americans with instant

[[Page 31731]]

relief. Additionally, the White House has committed itself to expanding 
green job opportunities through the Recovery through Retrofit program. 
These are good green jobs that can't be outsourced.
  We must enact aggressive measures aimed at employing our young people 
at this critical time. The Administration is launching its ``Educate to 
Innovate'' campaign to improve participation and performance in the 
sciences through partnerships with foundations, nonprofits, and science 
and engineering societies. National service programs must be well 
funded, and we must develop an ambitious strategy to urge our youth to 
participate in them.
  In the House, I am working with my Democratic colleagues on a jobs 
package that would include additional funding for infrastructure 
projects, like highway construction and renovation, bonds for building 
schools, and the expansion of the successful Build America Bonds 
program, already funding several infrastructure projects across the 
country. These projects are designed to put Americans immediately to 
work, all while making America safer and stronger.
  In an effort to boost small business creation and tackle credit-
freeze, we are anticipating expanding small business loans, providing 
fixes for community banks, and extending small business and bonus 
depreciation provisions from the stimulus package. Even the creation of 
green empowerment zones--those areas where at least 50 percent of the 
population has an unemployment rate higher than the state average--
would provide tax incentives to businesses that hire individuals who 
live and work in those areas that are most suffering.
  We are in the midst of a national emergency, but as a unified people, 
looking after each other, we will get through this stronger and far 
more prosperous.
  Ms. FUDGE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We so much appreciate 
your being with us.
  Now I would like to yield to the person who has really gotten me 
through most of this year, our representative from the Virgin Islands, 
Donna Christensen.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge. And thank you for 
the great job you're doing in pulling us together every week.
  We had a press conference last week--and I agree with Al Green when 
he said we shouldn't even have to call it, not when unemployment in our 
communities is over 15 percent, even over 30 percent in some, and 50 
percent when we look at young African American males, not when our CBC 
foundation can tell us about the lack of jobs for black males who have 
not completed high school or who have just completed high school 
compared to other people with similar educational levels.
  The stark gaps in unemployment for African Americans, American 
Indians, Latinos, and Asians cry out for a remedy, one that responds to 
those who are most in need and at risk. If no one else will answer 
tonight, the Congressional Black Caucus is answering, and we will 
answer every day until we turn the unemployment rates and every other 
inequity in our communities around.
  I've had the opportunity, on a small scale, to see what can happen 
with programs like these because we don't have to go through the State 
and the local distribution. We will soon graduate 26 formerly 
unemployed men and women who knew nothing about solar water heaters who 
can now build them from scratch and install them. They have an 
opportunity, through the ARRA, the program created by our government, 
our utility, and a not-for-profit to put their training to work in real 
jobs. And what these young men have told us is please continue these 
programs and expand them for us. That is what we are here to say on 
behalf of them and the millions of others who need work today.
  I want to just say that the same thing applies to health care jobs; 
they are needed in all of our communities on every level. This is a job 
industry that is growing and will continue to grow as we pass health 
care reform. There is a great opportunity for our communities in health 
care to create jobs.
  I want to take this opportunity to thank Rev. Emanuel Cleaver, 
Congressman, and our Chair, Barbara Lee, for being so aggressive in 
working and moving the Congressional Black Caucus and using us to move 
our caucus towards the creation of these jobs, and to thank our 
President for making job creation a central part of his agenda. We are 
his strongest allies and supporters and advocates. And advocating, as 
we do for our community, we are working to ensure that the benefits of 
his Presidency reach everyone in this Nation.
  Democrats don't plan to go home until we do something meaningful to 
create jobs. The Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa season must be one of 
hope for everyone. That is our commitment as Democrats and as the 
Congressional Black Caucus; our commitment is to make sure that these 
benefits extend to everyone, especially those who are suffering most, 
especially those in the African American community and other 
communities of color, not just for a few, not just for some, but for 
everyone living in this country.
  I yield back.
  I am pleased to join our Chairwoman Barbara Lee, Congresswoman Fudge 
who does such a great job of organizing these special orders every week 
and my other CBC colleagues to speak to the critical importance of 
creating jobs for the American people, as we Democrats are poised to 
do, but particularly in the hardest hit African American communities 
who when America sneezes gets pneumonia, when a breeze blows elsewhere 
we get a hurricane, and when surf is high for everyone else we get a 
tsunami.
  We had a press conference last week, that as Congressman Al Green 
said and I agree, we should not have had to call.
  Not when the unemployment in African American communities is over 15 
percent, even over 30 percent in some areas and higher in some age 
groups. Not when the projections are as they always have been that 
joblessness will continue longest for us--especially for African 
American males.
  Not when the CBC foundation issued issues a very telling report that 
has clearly demonstrated the severe gaps in employment for black male 
high school graduates or who have not finished high school even in 
unskilled jobs compared to every other group with the same educational 
levels.
  And not when universities and others across our country have reported 
studies that clearly demonstrate racial bias in hiring and all of this 
is only the tip of the iceberg.
  The stark gaps in employment for African Americans and Latinos cry 
out for a remedy--one that responds to those who are most at need and 
at risk and, if no one else will answer, we the Congressional Black 
Caucus is answering today and every day until we turn around the 
unemployment rates and every other inequity in our communities.
  There is just no way that we will stand by and let our community be 
left behind as the country recovers from the recession and the focus 
turns, as it must, to job creation. And, we are determined that our 
community will not be left behind as we turn the page to a new green 
economy and as we embark on a reform of our healthcare system. Both 
will require massive training programs and a major expansion of our 
workforce on every level. This is an opportunity that we cannot afford 
to let pass us by--we won't!
  I have had the opportunity to see on a small scale what can happen 
with programs funded thru ARRA because in my district--the US Virgin 
Islands--state and local are treated as one entity, so I do not have to 
depend on the state to distribute funds at the local level.
  We will soon graduate 26 formerly unemployed men and women who knew 
nothing about solar water heaters soon who can now build and install 
several models from scratch. They are now in their practicum installing 
them in government youth and senior facilities. I was so impressed as 
they explained things I will never understand. They have an opportunity 
now with a program created by government our utility and a not for 
profit to put their training to work in real jobs.
  But what the student-trainees we met with Paul Larsen, Dean Doctrine 
and Kahlil Simone--begged us was that we continue this program and 
provide them with even greater opportunities.,
  This is what we--on their behalf and on behalf of millions of 
others--are asking this Congress and our President to do now.
  And the same applies to health care jobs. They are needed in all of 
our communities. Community health workers, allied health techs and 
nurse techs will be needed to meet the demand of the newly insured, 
they will be the key to eliminating health disparities in our 
communities, and open a door to even more opportunities. Right now the 
Department of labor has 200 million dollars available for training for 
healthcare jobs our of the ARRA, we need to continue and expand that 
going forward in the jobs bill this body will pass and we

[[Page 31732]]

need to ensure that the communities that suffer the greatest 
disparities are targeted with these programs for job creation in this 
industry where the demand will only continue to grow.
  Health care provides a great opportunity for the now un- or under-
employed to lift themselves out of poverty, to improve the health of 
their communities and to raise our nation's standing for all of the 
health indicators for which--like infant and maternal mortality as well 
as general health status we lag behind everyone of our industrialized 
global partners.
  I would like to thank the Jobs Taskforce led by our colleague, 
Reverend Emanuel Cleaver, and our Chair Barbara Lee for aggressively 
moving to ensure that communities like ours which are distressed and 
the people who live there will not continue to be marginalized by post 
racial wannabees.
  As was said at the press conference in response to those who would 
make this a racial issue--if it is, it is not because we made it so. It 
is made so by the fact that the communities with the highest 
unemployment and the highest rates of poverty are African American, 
American Indian and other communities of color.
  And for those who want to make this a fight between the CBC and the 
President--nothing could be further from the truth!
  The White House unfortunately has too many advisors to whom the 
distress and misery in our communities are if not invisible, are not 
clearly seen and definitely not felt!
  It is our responsibility to be the advisors and the advocates on the 
other side, on the side of those who have felt and borne the brunt of 
every hard time, every recession or depression long before and a whole 
lot longer than anyone else in this country.
  We are our President's allies, supporters and strongest advocates. In 
advocating, as we do for our community, we are working to ensure that 
the benefits of his presidency reaches every corner of this nation, and 
that his presidency surpasses every other through the prism, not just 
of history, but of what happens today to improve the lives of those 
most in need.
  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, we thank you for, once again, allowing the 
caucus to come and share with you our views. I want to thank all of the 
members of the caucus who came tonight. I think it was a very, very 
interesting and dynamic discussion.
  Mr. Speaker, the Nation's unemployment rate is alarming--over 10 
percent of our citizens are unemployed. However, African Americans have 
been hit harder by the recession. Nearly 15.6 percent of African 
Americans are unemployed. My congressional district has an even higher 
unemployment rate, of 17.1 percent, and is one of the poorest 
communities in the country. Many parts of the Greater Cleveland area 
suffer from abject poverty and unemployment. Nearly one in every four 
Cuyahoga County residents lives below the poverty line. These 
unemployment rates demonstrate that Americans need and deserve a more 
concerted federal effort to reduce poverty and create jobs. We must do 
more to help curb our Nation's problem and create jobs for our people.
  One reason I came to Congress was to help struggling Americans in my 
district. My number one priority is to promote policies that create 
jobs and spur economic development. I have consistently advocated for 
such policies this year.
  In the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, Representative 
Loebsack and I introduced the sectors amendment, which helps 
individuals and businesses by bringing together multiple stakeholders 
with a common interest in developing and implementing workforce 
development strategies that contribute to local and regional growth. 
The purpose of Sectors is to prepare individuals for jobs that are 
available in their communities now. Sector approaches draw upon the 
expertise of many partners who improve worker training, retention, and 
advancement by developing cross-firm skill standards. It promotes 
career development, job redefinitions, and shared training, while 
supporting capacities that facilitate the advancement of workers at all 
skill levels, including the least skilled. An emerging body of research 
demonstrates that sector strategies can provide significant positive 
outcomes, including job attainment, increased wages, and greater job 
security.
  As we work to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable 
health care, I authored an important provision in the Affordable Health 
Care Reform Act. This provision requires the Advisory Committee on 
Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment, established by the bill, to 
monitor the adequacy of the health care workforce and report workforce 
shortages. This will ensure the creation of job opportunities, where 
necessary, for constituents of the Eleventh Congressional District of 
Ohio. My provision will guarantee a rapid response to shortages in the 
health care workforce, such as Health Information Technology, nursing, 
primary care physicians, pediatrics and other specialists.
  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $19 billion for 
the U.S. to take the lead in health information technology. It 
establishes standards for a nationwide electronic exchange and health 
information to improve quality and coordination of care by 2010. 
Earlier this year, I introduced the Health Information Technology 
Public Utility Act. This bill will assist all health facilities 
transition to computerized health records. Ursuline College, an all-
women's school in my district has created a curriculum responding to 
this need. Sister Diana Stano, President of Ursuline, has a health IT 
program that facilitates the expansion of my district's health 
information technology workforce. This program is more important at a 
school like Ursuline, because nearly 30 percent of the population is 
comprised of students from lower socio-economic groups or first 
generation college students. These students will now have an 
opportunity to move straight from training to sustainable employment.
  Currently I am working with Chairman Towns and Representative Patrick 
Murphy on legislation that will not only assist students with private 
education loans but also create jobs following college. The proposal 
allows college graduates to swap a portion of their private student 
loan debt for a federally subsidized loan with a lower interest rate. 
As a result of the conversion, the federal government would earn $9 
billion for school construction, improvements for primary and secondary 
education facilities and institutions of higher education.
  We must provide financial support for students to complete trade 
certifications or college degrees. Education is the only way to end the 
cycle of poverty.
  We must encourage innovation in lending so small business and those 
in minority communities have access to capital.
  We must aggressively advocate for loan modifications to reduce 
foreclosures and keep Americans in their homes.
  In short, we need a concerted effort from the Federal government to 
expand access to the critical services and resources for minority 
communities. The exaggerated rate of Black unemployment is problematic 
for the entire Nation. These families, and those in disproportionately 
affected regions, need a solid pathway out of poverty.
  By re-training workers in expanding industries, instead of those that 
are shrinking we can move people out of poverty.
  Targeted assistance to Americans disproportionately suffering from 
the recession is crucial to reducing the unemployment rate for all.

                          ____________________