[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31843]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE STIMULUS BILL

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, we are looking at the last week perhaps of 
our session, and I think we can look back at some accomplishments. I 
think we can take some comfort in the fact that when this Congress sat 
in January, 11 months ago, Americans were losing their jobs at 20,000 
every single day.
  Because of the stimulus bill, that has slowed and almost stopped. The 
stimulus bill is rebuilding bridges in my district, rebuilding 
highways, and rebuilding community health clinics. But slowing the rate 
at which Americans lose their job is nobody's idea of a Christmas 
present. We have hard work to do.
  I had occasion in church this weekend to hear the words of Handel's 
``Messiah,'' ``and the government shall be upon his shoulders.'' That 
is prophetic, meaning in the future. Right now, the government is on 
our shoulders. And I hope that when we reconvene in January, we set 
aside the partisanship, the misinformation, and the anger to get back 
to the serious business of creating jobs for the American people.

                          ____________________