[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            DEMOCRATS AT WORK PUTTING AMERICA BACK TOGETHER

  (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, the 111th Congress and the President 
have pulled the economy back from the brink. After 8 years of the 
previous administration's lax oversight of Wall Street, tax cuts for 
the very rich, and dishonest budgets that hid the true costs, this 
Congress and President Obama are busy reversing the damage.
  The House passed a Wall Street reform bill that will protect 
consumers and ensure that taxpayers are never again on the hook to bail 
out big Wall Street banks. We also passed Cash for Clunkers, which 
helped to jump-start the U.S. auto industry and get new, cleaner cars 
on the road. And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has 
invested in Main Street America, creating jobs and building 
infrastructure projects. These projects will serve their communities 
for decades to come.
  When the President took office in January, the economy was shedding 
over 700,000 jobs a month. Last month, there were 11,000 job losses. 
Every job loss is a tragedy, though; and that is why we have been 
working to create jobs while we also extended unemployment benefits to 
those still seeking work.
  We are still turning America around, but in just 1 year we have come 
a long way.

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