[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3686-3693]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THE BOTTOM LINE IS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Klein) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here this 
afternoon as I get together with a number of the members of our class 
of 2006. We've now finished our first 2 years, and we're beginning the 
third year of our service here in Washington, and it's truly an honor 
and a privilege to be serving on behalf of the American people, 
particularly at a time when the challenges are so great.
  Just to boil it down very simply, all you have to do is go home, talk 
to your neighbors, talk to your friends, talk to the people you go to 
church or synagogue with, see people at the grocery store. And what 
you're hearing in Washington is quite different and the people that 
come before our committees, that represent large banks, or people that 
are even coming up before this Chamber. We have a respectful difference 
of opinion. But I think the American people know what the bottom line 
is. The bottom line is they are hurting, and they are hurting in 
numbers like we haven't seen in our lifetimes.
  I spoke to my dad the other day. My dad is 80 years old. He just had 
his birthday, we celebrated. It was a wonderful opportunity for our 
family to be together. And he grew up, he was born in 1928, so he was 
born right at the beginning of the Depression, but he certainly lived 
through the 1930s and '40s, and told me what it was like and how their 
family had to make do, and what it took to save for that last thing 
that they needed, the clothes, the hand-me-downs, all the other things 
they did to make do.
  Well, we don't live like that today, by and large. But more and more 
people are forced to make very, very difficult decisions about how 
they're going to put food on the table, pay for their mortgage, pay for 
their insurance, put their kids through school, buy medicine, all the 
most basic things.
  And I'm just going to take a quick showing of a graph here that was 
prepared, very interesting graph. It's from our United States Bureau of 
Labor Statistics. And it talks about recessions, the last few 
recessions we had. One was in 1990, one was right after September 11, 
and unfortunately, the aftermath of that, and now we have the current 
one.
  If you just look at the lines, here's the beginning of the recession. 
They all start at the same place, and that's zero, at the point in 
which there are no new jobs created but no jobs lost, what they call 
the beginning of the recession. And if you take a look at the blue 
line, that was the one from 1990, it basically, after 10, 11 months it 
began turning around, actually it was 9 or 10 months, began turning 
around; and within about 2 years it was back to normal and on its way 
up in a very nice steep incline, the way we like to see growth in this 
country. And the people that create the growth are the people that have 
small businesses. These are the people we're focusing on.
  The one after September 11 went on a little longer, but still you saw 
this big increase after a period of time, a nice spectacular increase.
  Well, now we take a look at this green one. This is the one, 
unfortunately, we're in right now. This is the recession that started a 
number of months ago, and it is a line that's going almost straight 
down. That's the level and the depth of which we're at right now, which 
is far deeper than the last two recessions.
  Now, you probably heard a lot of people say that this is probably the 
worst it's been since the Great Depression, and it certainly seems that 
way. Thank God that at the present time many people are still working, 
but more and more people are on the edge, and more and more people are 
making decisions on what they can buy and what they can afford and 
decisions about the choices on the daily life of whether they're going 
to make an investment as a business owner or not. And these are the 
things that affect the broad base of our economy.
  So it's interesting when I hear people say, well, we're going to 
spend this; we're going to spend that. But it's also very fascinating 
to me that over the last number of years, there hasn't been that kind 
of questioning when we're spending billions and billions of dollars 
every month in Iraq or other places around the world.
  Well, as far as I'm concerned, yes, of course we have to worry about 
our national security and we're going to do what it takes to protect 
people in America and our interests. But you know something? It's also 
about time we start thinking about Americans and the lives that we lead 
and the roads that we live on, the schools that we build for our 
children, and the universities and opportunities to move our country 
ahead. These are the important things that we're going to have to do, 
and we're going to work very hard, and we've been working very hard at 
trying to get this going.
  What I'd like to do, I've got a number of members from our class to 
join us. I'm going to first ask the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. 
Courtney) to lead off here and just share with us some of your thoughts 
and what's going on in Connecticut.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Thank you, Congressman Klein. Thank you for organizing 
this colloquy which we are, as a Congress, on the verge of one of the, 
I think, biggest votes of the 111th Congress. And it's important that I 
think we take the time to spend a few minutes to explain why the stakes 
are so high and what, in fact, the proposal is before us because 
there's a lot of bad information out there.
  First of all, just to follow up on your point, This is not a normal 
downturn, a normal business recession. As the chart that you just 
showed demonstrates, the drop-off in terms of job losses in this 
economy and the velocity with which it's happened is something that 
again we have not seen as a Nation, certainly at least since the Great 
Depression.
  Just using as a quick snapshot in the State of Connecticut, I talked 
to some companies which have experienced downturns in the past. Pratt 
and Whitney has had layoffs because the commercial aircraft market has 
certainly shrunk in recent months as the economy has closed down. The 
insurance industry has had layoffs as business has fallen off.
  But I was talking the other day to a guy who is in charge of a trash 
collection agency, which trash tends to be sort of recession proof. 
He's never had a layoff in the time that his family has owned this 
trash hauling business that goes back decades. They just laid off 15 
folks there because the volume of trash that's actually being generated 
in the State of Connecticut has turned down, something that he has 
never seen before.
  The price for commodities, in terms of aluminum scrap metal, some of 
the other scrap that they normally, newspaper scrap that they usually 
resell on the market, has completely collapsed because the price for 
those commodities, again, has just vanished.
  We have seen in the casino industry, again, an industry in 
Connecticut with the large tribal casinos that we have, Foxwoods casino 
and Mohigan Sun, again, the first layoffs since those casinos ever 
opened. Mohigan Sun cancelled an $800 million expansion last September.
  The construction trade industry in Eastern Connecticut has completely 
fallen apart. Electricians, sheet metal workers, carpenters, the 
construction trades all across the board, are home basically barely 
getting by collecting on benefits.
  So, given that situation that we're seeing on the private sector, 
this pullback that's happening, causing, again, contraction that never 
has been seen before all across the board, we're seeing local 
governments and State governments as a result feeling the ripple effect 
of shrinking State budgets and

[[Page 3687]]

layoffs of teachers at every single school district, certainly in my 
area and I'm sure at other members.
  We have a decision to make as a country about whether or not we are 
going to use the Federal Government's purchasing power to step in and 
stop this precipitous decline and keep us from falling into a further 
downward spiral.
  Now, let's be clear because we just heard a bunch of criticisms about 
whether or not the government is capable of making wise choices about 
spending and actually creating jobs. Well, the fact of the matter is, 
every single day in the American economy, the Federal Government is 
spending money and creating work. In the defense industry, again, you 
can go across the board. And the gentleman from Texas who just spoke, 
we could go through his district, I'm sure, and certainly his portion 
of Texas, and look at military spending that's going on every single 
day and that people are collecting pay checks, whether they're building 
aircraft or military weapons for the Army and our ground forces, or 
whether they're just employing actually military personnel.
  Certainly, in Connecticut where we make nuclear submarines, we build 
aircraft at Pratt and Whitney, the F-22, we build Blackhawk 
helicopters. There are people this morning working two and three shifts 
that are going to work because of the customer that the Federal 
Government acts as to make sure that they have work every single day.
  Every school district, every health care institution receives Federal 
funds that really determine whether or not the doors stay open.
  So what President Obama is doing is using existing programs, existing 
formulas, whether it's Title I, special education, whether it's aid to 
States through Medicaid programs, which we know work because they've 
been in place for decades. But what he's doing is boosting the spending 
back to States so that we, in fact, will not allow the total collapse, 
both in the public sector and the private sector as this economy 
continues in its downward spiral.
  And frankly, in the next day or so, this Congress is going to have a 
choice before it. A ``yes'' vote will be a ``yes'' vote for jobs. A 
``no'' vote, which is the do-nothing Herbert Hoover approach to an 
economic crisis that we have before it will basically condemn millions 
of Americans to further joblessness, to extended unemployment and a 
loser strategy in terms of whether or not this country, this great 
Nation is going to be capable of leading the world out of a global 
recession.
  And I think the President has put forward a balanced proposal, using 
both tax relief and spending programs and State fiscal assistance to 
ensure that we are not going to allow this mess which he inherited to 
become any longer and any more prolonged for working families and 
middle class families than we have the tools and the capability of 
turning around.
  So that's the choice that's before us. We can act, we can save jobs, 
or we can do nothing and follow the failed policies of the last 8 years 
of the Bush administration that got us into this mess to begin with.
  And someone who is from a State that's been hard hit as well, from 
Kentucky, is here to, I think, again, share his thoughts and his 
perspective from his corner of America, Congressman Yarmuth.
  Mr. YARMUTH. I thank my colleague from Connecticut and I'm glad to be 
here today to talk about something that touches every American. I think 
it's never been more true that, in this situation, no American remains 
untouched from, as we've seen very vividly, the giants of Wall Street 
to the citizens in Louisville, Kentucky, to the citizens in Connecticut 
and Florida and Ohio. Everyone is touched in every field.
  Legal practices are making changes and cuts because lawyers can't 
even get business. And you know when lawyers can't get business, you 
know everybody's hurting.
  But this is something that is an intriguing situation. And as I said 
this morning on the floor, I mean, over the past few months we've seen, 
as one after another of the giants of the economy have come before 
Congress to talk about this situation and others, we've seen that all 
of them, these people we worship, these people we thought were the 
masters of the universe, turns out that they're all the wizards of Oz. 
You pull back the curtain and they're normal, fallible people who have 
made mistakes and who could not foresee the predicament that we've been 
in and, in many cases, they contributed to it.
  The point of that is, that we talk about what we want to do to help, 
don't even say stimulate the economy or help us to recovery. I think 
this is a parachute plan. I think we are in free fall, and this plan is 
designed to serve as a parachute to give us a soft landing, because 
before we can recover, we've got to find bottom. And business after 
business that I talk to in my district and elsewhere says, you know, 
times are rough and we're hurting, but what we're really concerned 
about is we don't know if we're at the bottom.

                              {time}  1600

  We were off 10 percent last month. We were off 40 percent this month. 
We can survive that if we're not down 60 percent next month, but nobody 
knows where the bottom is, so we're all, in a sense, looking for a way 
to put a floor under this economy right now.
  I know and I have listened to Members on our side and on their side 
and in our House and down the hall in the Senate talk about things: 
Well, they know what small business does and what will create jobs in 
small business, and these are people who have never been in the private 
sector in their lives. They have no clue what really creates a job in 
the private sector. We've heard people who cannot even balance their 
own bank accounts admonish the bankers of the country. So I think we 
need to be honest with the American people and be honest with each 
other and say that we're in a situation that is unprecedented, that we 
truly are in unchartered waters. We are trying everything we know how 
to do at the Federal level to salvage this economy and to get us on the 
right footing to stage a recovery.
  Are we sure it's going to work? No. Would we all write the bill 
differently? I think it is true; we would all write the bill 
differently. We would write the bill differently on our side. They 
would write it differently. Even among ourselves, we would write it 
differently. We think some things are more effective than others, but 
we have to try everything we know how to do in this situation in order 
to be effective.
  As many on the other side believe, we cannot say, oh, tax cuts are 
going to be the salvation. I mean, as you've mentioned, we've tried 
that. We tried tax cuts in the early part of this decade. Look where we 
are? I have talked to businesspeople, and I have asked them 
specifically, ``Tell me if there is any tax incentive or tax break that 
we can provide that would make you do something that you otherwise 
would not do, i.e., hire people whom you don't need?'' They've said 
there is no such tax cut. The only thing that will help them get going 
again and that will make them do things that we want them to do, which 
is to create jobs and to save jobs, is to provide demand. That is what 
is sorely lacking from this economy. People don't have confidence.
  They say, ``If I'm going to buy a car, not now, not now. I don't know 
whether this company is going to be in business. I don't know whether I 
might be able to get it cheaper in 6 months. I don't know if the rates 
will be more favorable.'' It's the same with housing, the same with a 
suit, the same with a computer, and the same with a flat screen TV. 
There is no confidence, and we need to restore confidence.
  That's why I think it is imperative that as we move toward this vote 
that we get some cooperation from the other side because the American 
people should have confidence that we are working on this together. I 
think we have seen a noticeable reluctance from the other side to work 
with us on this. I know they claim they've not had any input, which we 
know is not true. They've had input. Much of this bill was crafted with 
the other side in mind, but suffice it to say that we are all in this 
together. None of us is getting exactly what we want in this bill.

[[Page 3688]]

  So I would implore everyone, and I would implore the American 
citizens to call their Representatives on both sides and say it is 
important that the American people have confidence in this plan because 
this is the only plan there is. Right now, it is the only chance we 
have, again, to give us a soft landing in this economy and to start us 
on the road to rebuilding.
  So, with that, I thank you for allowing me this time.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Well, thank you. The gentleman from Kentucky 
has hit it right on the mark, the gentleman from Connecticut as well.
  We are joined by Members from all over the country today. Everyone is 
going to have their opportunity. I think I'll just highlight one point 
really fast:
  As we've been working on this for the last number of months, in 
speaking to people at home, to economists, to experts, to 
businesspeople from the Reagan administration or from the Clinton 
administration, and to everything in between, I think the great thing 
about this opportunity is that we've gotten a very broad perspective, 
and the message has been very clear. There is no silver bullet. There 
is no one answer that is going to solve this in terms of creating 
consumer demand and confidence. You're going to have to try a number of 
things--be bold. Move it along because we're hemorrhaging--so we can 
get things stabilized as quickly as possible.
  The great thing is that 90 percent of the jobs being created are 
private-sector jobs. The private sector is going to drive the economy. 
As Mr. Courtney clearly said, the private sector is stimulated at a 
time like this by the government's doing things that are good for us, 
whether it's enhancing school buildings, broadband technology, things 
like that.
  We are joined by the gentlewoman from Ohio, from our Midwest, from 
the heartland, and she has just been a great leader on so many of these 
issues affecting families and small businesses. So, if you could, 
certainly give us your insight from the Ohio perspective.
  Ms. SUTTON. Well, I thank the gentleman, and I thank you for 
organizing this today on the floor.
  It is just so critical--and you have heard it here from every speaker 
thus far--that we get this bill passed. The reason for that is we need 
to get the American recovery going.
  I come from Ohio. I arrived in these halls, and it was shortly 
thereafter that, as I walked down the halls, people started saying to 
me when they saw me coming, ``Jobs, jobs, jobs.'' The reason they said 
that is, from the day I arrived in Congress, I have been fighting for 
economic opportunities for the people whom I am so honored to 
represent, and I know that that need extends beyond Ohio.
  As you have heard, this bill--but it bears repeating--will create and 
will save up to 4 million jobs. We will be doing things like rebuilding 
America. It will make us more globally competitive. We are going to 
give 95 percent of American workers an immediate tax cut that they 
desperately need. We will invest in roads, bridges and mass transit, 
flood control, clean water projects, and other infrastructure projects 
that all need to be done. This is work that has to be accomplished for 
many, many reasons, not just because it will, in effect, also stimulate 
our economy.
  But if you're going to make massive infusions and investments in 
America, doesn't it make sense to invest in doing the work that needs 
to be done that will benefit the good of our whole and that will also 
strengthen our Nation's going forward? That is what this bill does.
  It also contains unprecedented accountability measures. So important. 
So important. We've all seen the news, and those in Congress have 
watched with amazement as we've seen irresponsible behavior in the 
expenditure of funds that are taxpayer funds. We're all very disgusted 
by some of what has happened with the first tranche of the TARP 
funding. So these accountability measures under this new administration 
are critically important to restoring the trust of this Nation and of 
the people whom we are so, so fortunate to represent.
  We have heard also about this bill and its scope. The truth of the 
matter is this is not about being a Democrat, and this is not about 
being a Republican. We just need a bill that will work for the American 
people. There is room for everybody who wants to help. Now, it is true 
that we won't all get everything we want into this bill, and I won't go 
into the things for which I am dismayed may or may not ultimately end 
up in this bill.
  The fact of the matter is it creates those jobs, jobs, jobs that the 
people in Ohio and across this country so need. As for the support of 
this bill, as I said, it's not about being a Democrat, and it's not 
about being a Republican. It has broad support across this country.
  Sometimes we get wrapped up with what goes on here, but you know, 
it's from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, from the National Association 
of Manufacturers, from the Associated General Contractors of America to 
Representatives like Mike Castle, who is a Republican from Delaware, 
who said, ``I am always concerned when the Republican party takes a 
negative position on something that should be moving forward.'' Now, 
I'm not sure that's a statement of support, but I do know that that is 
something that he said about some who may not be willing to act yet 
even though we need so much done.
  Governor Charlie Crist appeared with President Obama to talk about 
the plan and about the hope that it offers for this great country. 
Charlie Crist said, ``This is a time when our country needs all of us 
to pull together.'' We have all heard before that we come here on 
different ships, perhaps, but we are all in the same boat now on this 
thing. It's about jobs, jobs, jobs for Americans and Floridians. The 
list goes on.
  There are people of both parties who are working diligently to try 
and get us to a place that will allow us to pass this bill because 
action delayed is very, very costly as you have already heard here 
today. Even if you have not heard it today, you have seen it because 
you've seen it in your neighborhoods; you've seen it on the streets 
where you live; you've seen it in your neighbors who are losing their 
homes; you've seen it in your friends who are losing their jobs.
  This is a great country. What this bill is really about is our making 
a massive investment in this country and in the people who live here. 
So let us get this bill passed. I am looking forward to it. I invite 
all to join us in that effort who have that opportunity. Let us put 
Americans back to work, doing things that America needs to have done.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you very much. The gentlelady from Ohio 
has hit the nail on the head, and I think we agree with everything you 
said. It really is about Americans first. It is about putting aside 
every bit of the politics. There is a time for jousting and a time for 
debate, and there is a time for action. This is the time for action. 
The next couple of days will be a signal to the American people, to our 
business community, to our consumers that we are ready to turn the 
corner.
  With that, I would like to turn it over to the gentleman from New 
York State (Mr. Arcuri) and get his perspective, please.
  Mr. ARCURI. Thank you. Thank you for organizing this today and for 
the advocacy that you do on behalf of not only your constituents but of 
all Americans.
  I would like to just associate myself with the words of my former 
colleague from the Rules Committee, Ms. Sutton. I think no State has 
been hit as hard as Ohio has over the years, and I think her remarks 
certainly ring true for all of the country, including my district that 
I represent in upstate New York.
  As the economy falls deeper into recession, economists tell us that 
we must act quickly and that we must act boldly. That is exactly what 
the House did last month when we voted on the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009. We must--and I repeat this--we must send a 
final bill to the President's desk this week. Every day that we wait 
and every moment that

[[Page 3689]]

we hesitate come more and more layoffs to regular people. These are 
working people in our backyards. These are people who we go to church 
with on Sundays. These are people who we work with and who we see at 
the supermarkets. These are people who we know are losing their jobs. 
Let me just talk a little bit about that because, to my way of 
thinking, nothing is more important and nothing is more significant 
than trying to help the people who have lost their jobs.
  In my district, I represent about eleven counties, all or part of 
eleven counties, actually, in upstate New York. Broome County, which is 
where Binghamton is located, has an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. 
Almost 7,000 people are unemployed there. Tioga County has 7.2 percent. 
In Herkimer County, it's 7.7 percent. In Oneida County, it's 6.7 
percent. Nearly 7,500 people are out of work in Oneida County. In 
Cayuga County, it's 7.4 percent. In Chenango County, it's 8.2 percent. 
In Otsego County, it's 7.3 percent. In Seneca County, it's 6.9 percent. 
In Ontario County, it's 6.8 percent. In Tompkins County, it's 4.7 
percent, and in Cortland County, it's 9.1 percent.
  These are real people. These are more than 35,000 people in my 
district in upstate New York who are out of work. This is why we need 
to stop talking, why we need to stop debating and why we need to put a 
bill on the President's desk.
  Last year, more than 2.6 million jobs were lost here in the United 
States, and economists warn us that without immediate action here in 
Washington those numbers will and can be significantly higher in 2009. 
In fact, we have already seen a significant jump in the number of job 
losses over the last 3 months. The numbers that I just gave you were 
for December. That's the frightening thing. They were for December when 
employment is supposed to be lower as a result of people going to work 
at the holidays.
  What will the numbers be like in January? Congress must support an 
economic recovery package that creates and saves 3 million to 4 million 
jobs over the next 2 years.
  You know, I want to talk about something. I was in my office, 
listening to my colleagues just a little while ago. I don't like to 
point fingers, but there was a point when I just had to respond. They 
talk about the deficit's being $9.7 trillion. They're right. It's very 
high. But where have they been? We've been talking about that deficit 
for years. We've been talking about the problems of spending, spending, 
spending. Yet they continue to vote for it.
  The thing that troubles me so much is that they had no problem at all 
in voting to build roads in Afghanistan, that they had no problem in 
voting to fix the water systems in Iraq and that they had no problem in 
voting to build schools to help educate children in Iraq and in 
Afghanistan. That is noble, but you know what? It is just as important 
to educate and to make sure that our children have the very best 
schools, that our roads are safe, that our bridges are safe, and that 
our water systems work. This stimulus plan not only will employ 3 or 4 
million Americans, but it will restore the infrastructure in this 
country to the degree that it needs to be. It will help to fix our 
education system.
  Domestic spending is important. How is it that people on the other 
side of the aisle have absolutely no problem whatsoever in voting for 
funding for foreign countries, and yet, when it comes to domestic 
spending, they stand up here and poke fun at it and say it's not 
necessary? I would submit it is critically necessary to this country, 
that it is critically necessary to our future and that it is critically 
important to the 35,000 people in my district who are out of work.

                              {time}  1615

  We cannot afford to wait, as some of my Republican friends suggest. 
Economic experts have warned us that the longer we wait, the more 
difficult it will become for the economy to turn around. The time for 
talk is over; the time for action is upon us.
  Madam Speaker, we cannot afford to delay. Congress must act this week 
to begin the long process of saving and creating jobs.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I appreciate the personal experiences and 
personal observations from your district. I think we share that same 
experience from all of the people we're talking to. And as we had in 
the Financial Services Committee today, we heard from a lot of the 
large New York banks, and they talked about how the fact that--if you 
listen to them, that they're lending, they're doing this, they're doing 
that. I don't understand why it's not translating to our communities. I 
mean, if you believe what they're saying, it sounds like everything is 
okay.
  And we know the lifeblood of the economy is credit, consumer credit, 
people being able to buy automobiles or consumer goods or student 
loans, things like that--and not to mention small businesses that 
needed just to invest in their small businesses to keep their business 
going. It's not happening. And that needs to change, and that's part of 
this goal of fixing the economy, stimulating it, and getting the 
financial system fixed.
  We have a gentleman, Mr. Walz. We really appreciate your being here 
and being part of the explanation and the experience that you've had up 
to this point. I know you've been hearing from your people back home. 
We were just talking about it over the weekend.
  And why don't you share some of that with us.
  Mr. WALZ. I thank the gentleman from Florida, and I thank you for 
leading this conversation.
  I think the American public, what they're seeing is they're seeing a 
cross-section of this country. Listening to the gentleman from New 
York, listening to the gentlewoman from Ohio, from Connecticut, from 
Kentucky, talk about what they're hearing amongst the people. And I can 
tell you when we go back home--and I live in a small house in Mankato, 
Minnesota, in southern Minnesota. The house in front of me has been 
foreclosed for a year and a half. The property value on my house has 
dropped about 50 percent. We're seeing that across the country.
  The pinch of this economy coming down and the frustration amongst the 
American people is palatable. You can feel it. They are frustrated, and 
they are angry. And the questions they are asking is this: ``How come 
it seems like I'm working harder and getting further behind, and when I 
turn on the television, somebody else is taking a trip to the spa? 
Somebody else is getting a private jet? Somebody else is getting 
something for failing when I seem to be making the right decisions? I'm 
paying my mortgage. I'm trying to save money to send my child to 
school, and I'm not asking for the lottery. I'm not asking for a ten-
bedroom house. I'm asking to try and achieve the American dream.''
  And I think it's important to remember, we're as frustrated as you 
are. The Members you hear speaking today come from that. This is the 
people's House. This is where the voice of regular Americans is 
expressed.
  Before coming to this House, my job in May of 2006, I was teaching 
high school and had done it for 20 years and never made more than 
$50,000 a year. I have proudly served our Nation in the National Guard, 
but I asked the same questions, too. How are we not getting further 
ahead? When I talked to someone about trying to get my two small 
children, Hope, age 8, Gus, age 2, how do I save for college? I said, 
``Well, then I will have to sell my house and live in a box because 
that is impossible for us to do that.''
  The lifeblood and the ladder to success of the middle class was the 
ability to educate our children, to get a good public school education, 
to go to a good trade school or to a good college to try and move up. 
Those things are becoming further and further from us.
  And the frustration that is felt in this country is because we have a 
system that did not respect those things, that did not put things in 
place to help the middle class. We were told if we helped and gave tax 
cuts to the wealthiest, wisest amongst us, they would rain down on us 
all of those blessings to get us there.
  Well, what's happened is the average worker has lost $2,000 in real 
salary

[[Page 3690]]

over the last 10 years. We are working longer hours. The American 
people deserve better. They are the most productive, most innovative 
people in the world. The middle class that built this country is now 
feeling the pinch. This piece of legislation is the down payment on 
putting things back in balance.
  We're not against a free market. You will hear people come in here 
and talk about it. But there is no free market when those at the top 
are benefiting from everything, when those at the top are not being 
held to the same standards as those who are actually doing the labor.
  And this piece of legislation and the gentleman--we've heard from 
many of them--I heard the gentleman from Kentucky talking about this 
being a parachute. My colloquialism, coming from a land of 10,000 
lakes, is it's a life preserver. And that's what it is.
  This isn't going to get us to where we need to go. What's going to 
get us is people standing in this people's House and hearing these 
Members talk: talk about the truth, talk about where the issues are, 
make real sacrifices. Don't ask the American people to believe talking 
points. Don't regurgitate the same old stories to them. Tell them where 
the economy is at. Speak to them as President Obama spoke to us about 
where we need to go, and then have the courage to say, ``If it's not 
working, we need to readjust.''
  This piece of legislation is going to be about $1,000 for 95 percent 
of the public. It's going to refund education and make sure that we're 
doing the things we need to do to build for the future. It's going to 
start moving us off our dependence on foreign oil and the tyranny of 
oil that drags us into conflicts we have no business in. Those are the 
types of things we can adjust. We can bring this back in, and we can 
debate in this House how we get there. Very valid points. I can tell 
you this deficit troubles me deeply.
  But the fact of the matter is right now the private sector is not 
creating jobs. The private sector doesn't have capital, and we were 
slowly spiraling down. More layoffs, more people that are going to go 
hungry, more people that are going to depend on the government to get 
things that they don't want to. These are proud people. They want to 
work hard, be compensated fairly, and do the things that they enjoy 
doing with their families trying to move forward.
  This piece of legislation can do that.
  I say it time and time again--I heard the gentleman talk about it 
from New York--you stand here long enough and you listen to this long 
enough, and you will hear people re-talking about the issues and trying 
to frame it in a certain way.
  The fact of the matter is this: our economy is not working correctly. 
The middle class is feeling the brunt of this. We are bleeding jobs, 
and we are slowly pulling things down making it more difficult for the 
middle class to achieve the American dream. This piece of legislation 
stops the fall or throws the life preserver, yet let's us readjust, get 
a handle on health care costs, make it easier to invest in education, 
make sure people are rewarded for doing the right thing--not for simply 
speculating--and get back to innovation and entrepreneurship.
  So the gentleman from Florida, I want to thank you for continuously 
hosting these discussions, for gathering people from across this land, 
for making sure the people's representatives stand here and speak 
what's happening in southern Minnesota, what's happening in 
Connecticut, what's happening in Ohio, and to get the American public 
to understand this is not about politics; this is not about games; this 
is not about who's winning the House and how we can drive down support 
of the House. You people have a 14 percent approval rating.
  Here is what I'm here to tell you. If we have a 14 percent approval 
rating, our Democracy is in trouble. We must speak the truth, we must 
be bold, we must move this legislation, and we must find solutions for 
the American people. That's what our purpose is. That's the greatness 
of this country. And the gentleman has brought together people who 
express that from across the country.
  With that, I appreciate the gentleman's time.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank you for your passion and your 
expression of what's going on in Minnesota.
  I think we're seeing that the same situation is going on in all 50 
states. For those of us who lived during recessions before, some 
recessions were tied to real estate, some were tied to manufacturing, 
different parts of the country. But you know something? People from 
every corner of this country are feeling this right now, which is why 
we have to act now. Do the right thing. We'll adjust as we go along. 
But every economist has told us that this is the right combination: 
some tax cuts, some investments, but all towards the future.
  I want to express my appreciation to the President who has expressed 
it this way because I think he's right on the mark.
  What I'd now like to do, if I could, is introduce my friend, the 
gentleman from Connecticut, who's been a great leader also on small 
business incentives and making sure small business has all of the 
opportunities to grow, and we know this is the moment for that.
  So why don't you give us some expression on that issue.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you very much, Mr. Klein, and I 
always enjoy hearing our friend from Minnesota speak on the floor.
  Mr. Klein, let me talk about one small business in particular. Let me 
talk about Angelo's Deli in New Britain, Connecticut. Angelo's has been 
serving the people of New Britain, where my great-grandparents came to 
work decades ago, for 60 or 70 years. Now, Angelo doesn't own the place 
anymore.
  Now, for the last 20 years, it's been owned by a guy by the name of 
Joe Tropea. Joe is not a political guy, doesn't get involved in 
political fights very often; but he sees as clearly as any business 
owner out there--small, medium, or large--what's happening to this 
economy.
  Joe's holding on. He's doing all right. But he's having to cut back 
hours. He's starting to think about layoffs. This is a business that 
has been doing business in New Britain for decades, for decades, and is 
feeling the crunch right now along with everybody else.
  Now, why is that? Well, sometimes when people think of Connecticut, 
they just think of the big houses along the coast where all of the 
investment bankers, folks coming back and forth from New York live.
  Well, in New Britain, Connecticut, before this recession began, our 
employment rate was 11 percent. It was 11 percent to start. It's up to 
about 12 or 13 percent right now. Why? Because as Ms. Sutton has talked 
about so many times on this floor, we have allowed the kind of jobs 
that built up New Britain, Connecticut, and Waterbury, Connecticut, and 
Meriden, Connecticut, to filter out of this country because for the 
last 8 years in particular, we have had no strategy to try to build our 
manufacturing base in this country. We were weak already before we 
lurched into this economic downturn. Jobs have been really hard to come 
by for a long time in New Britain. Now it's getting to a crisis point.
  And the folks that have been coming in for weeks and weeks and years 
and years to Angelo's Market aren't coming in any longer. The folks who 
used to come in for a sandwich every couple of weeks are now coming in 
once every month. The people who used to come in every day are now 
coming in one day a week. And this story can be told over and over and 
over again.
  And so the important parts of this bill to Joe Tropea and Angelo's 
Market are the parts that start inspiring consumer confidence again.
  Now, we may not know all of the keys to unlock consumer confidence, 
but we know that if we start putting money back in people's pockets--
and the right people's pockets--we can start to make them feel good 
about spending again. That's why 30, 40 percent of the stimulus bill is 
dedicated to tax cuts but targeted tax cuts to middle class families 
and to small businesses like Angelo's Market.

[[Page 3691]]

  That is part of what is going to start getting people to spend again, 
start getting people to walk into places like Angelo's Market again and 
get this economy moving again.
  A lot of attention has been given to this spending provision of the 
bill or that spending provision of the bill. Those are important parts. 
But a large part of this bill is dedicated to putting money back into 
the pockets of hard working Americans for them to begin to feel the 
confidence in this economy that's been lacking for too long.
  But what also matters to Joe is getting jobs to people of New 
Britain. Nobody's going to come in and spend money in his business or 
anybody else's business in New Britain if the unemployment rate in that 
city continues to lurch upward to 14 and 15 percent.
  So that's why the 4 million jobs that are preserved or created in 
this bill are so critical to Joe and the thousands of other business 
owners in my district.
  And it's also why he cares about the provisions of this stimulus bill 
that apply to State government because right around the corner from Joe 
is the Connecticut Works Office, the arm of the State government that 
retrains and trains workers for the next economy.
  If the State of Connecticut continues to face a $6 billion 2-year 
budget deficit, as it does, it is going to be forced to cut jobs at our 
worker training programs, to eviscerate the very safety net that's 
going to help people who are losing jobs find new ones. It makes 
absolutely no sense to take money away from States that they're going 
to use to try to train and retrain workers as this economy transforms 
itself.
  So Joe and other small business owners like him look to what the 
Republicans are proposing as an alternative. And when they look to this 
retread of Bush economics, when they look to the alternatives sponsored 
by the Republicans, which, in essence, seems to amount to an excuse to 
simply perpetuate the policy of the Bush administration where tax cuts 
seem to be the exclusive domain of the people at the upper 1 or 2 
percent of the income echelon, he knows that does nothing for him. He 
knows that for the businesses that line West Main Street in New 
Britain, that that policy hasn't worked for the last 10 years, and it 
is not going to get us out of this recession. It's not going to get 
people coming back into his shop. It's not going to create jobs again.
  As President Obama has said over and over again, we cannot use this 
economic recession as an excuse to go back to the policies that have 
not worked up until now.
  So I think it's incumbent upon all of us to spend our time, as we try 
to chart a course forward, spend time in those small businesses that 
are trying to survive, that are trying to figure out a way forward.
  The tax cuts in this bill for middle class families, the money to go 
help States keep that safety net strong, and the 4 million jobs that 
will be created or saved are instrumental to our economy at large, but 
are important to small business owners like my friend Joe across this 
country.

                              {time}  1630

  So I thank my friend from Florida for bringing us together today. I 
think you're hearing different versions of the same story. To borrow 
Ms. Sutton's words, it's jobs, it's jobs, it's jobs.
  Ultimately what gets people feeling good about this economy, back 
spending again, is a sense of security about their own job and the 
knowledge that their neighbors and their friends and their families are 
going to have their jobs preserved as well.
  This stimulus bill gets us there. It is not the salvation, but it 
puts us on that road.
  I thank Mr. Klein very much for giving us the time this afternoon
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Connecticut, and I 
think we all have a number of Angelos in our communities, whether 
they're little bake shops or barbershops or supermarkets or florist 
shops or little machine shops. I grew up in a variety store. My dad 
worked 6 days a week, like most of our parents did. And I worked with 
him alongside, like a Woolworth type of little local store, and he 
taught me about what it takes to make a budget, and I think most 
Americans understand that right now when we know that we have to get 
jobs back on target here.
  I'd now like to add another State to the mix here. The gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes), if you can give us your understanding and your 
thoughts, I'd like to yield to Mr. Sarbanes.
  Mr. SARBANES. Well, I thank the Representative from Florida for 
convening us to talk about this incredibly important stimulus package.
  The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act is our opportunity to put 
America back to work in the short run and to invest in things that make 
sense in the long run, and I really look at that package through four 
different lenses.
  The first is that it's going to save jobs. It's going to save a 
tremendous number of jobs, just the State stabilization portion of this 
bill. What many people don't appreciate is that all across the country 
States right now are making their budgets. They are constitutionally 
obligated under their State charters to balance those budgets. If they 
don't get the assistance that is represented by this stimulus package, 
they're going to have to make Draconian cuts to their budgets. That 
means police officers losing their jobs, safety officers, fire officers 
and others, teachers. All the people that make the economy work, that 
make these States function are going to be potentially in jeopardy. So 
the first element of this that's so critical is that we're going to 
save hundreds of thousands of jobs across this country.
  The second lens to be applied is that we're going to create new jobs, 
and that's going to be done both directly and indirectly. Directly it's 
going to happen, for example, through these infrastructure projects. 
That is going to put a lot of people to work. It's going to create a 
lot of new jobs, and it's also going to invest in things that we need 
to be doing.
  We need to be repairing our bridges and our tunnels and our highways. 
We need to be improving mass transit. All of that can happen as a part 
of this stimulus package, but it's also going to create jobs indirectly 
because it's investing now in a green economy. It's investing in new 
energy technologies that are going to create the next generation of 
jobs in this country, and that can happen very quickly.
  So, again, it meets this prescription of having two impacts: one, to 
create jobs in the near term; two, to invest in things that we want to 
do anyway in this country.
  The third important element of this, of course, is to stimulate 
demand more broadly, and that can be done through the tax cut component 
of the bill. There is significant tax relief that is being offered to 
the working families of America. Ninety-five percent of the working 
families across this country are going to receive a tax cut. That means 
more money in their pocket. It means they can go out and they can 
purchase the things that they need, not purchase in excess which 
unfortunately was what has been happening in recent years, but to go 
out and purchase the things that they need and to stimulate the economy 
in that fashion.
  And the final piece of this, which in my mind is almost the most 
important, is that it's going to help people get through this very, 
very difficult economic period that we're in. We are facing a grave 
situation in this country, and there are many people that are living on 
the edge. There are many people that have fallen over the edge.
  This bill includes needed resources to support Medicaid programs 
across the country, to extend unemployment benefits and unemployment 
insurance to people who have lost their jobs. There are a lot of people 
that are suffering. There are a lot of families that are hurting right 
now across America, and one of the goals of this legislation is to help 
them get through this very difficult period.
  Yesterday, I was with Secretary Salazar, the new Secretary of the 
Department of the Interior. We did an event at the Patuxent Wildlife 
Refuge, which is located in my district in

[[Page 3692]]

Maryland, to highlight the upgrading of facilities that can occur at 
that wildlife refuge in the near term using some of this stimulus 
resource. It's going to create jobs there. It's going to upgrade those 
facilities, which is a long-term investment in our wildlife refuge 
system across the country. So there are many different objectives that 
are being satisfied as a result of this investment.
  A hundred thousand jobs in Maryland are projected to be saved or 
created as a result of this legislation. That is too critical for me 
and the other Representatives of my State to look away from. That's why 
we're going to so strongly support this bill.
  And in closing, let me say that President Obama is not going to lead 
us out of this economic recession, and this Congress is not going to 
lead us out of this economic recession. What we are going to do is we 
are going to give the American people the tools and the opportunity and 
the hope so that they can lead us out of this economic recession. I am 
so confident that if we put our hopes and dreams into the American 
worker and we give them the tools to do the job, they're the ones that 
will lead us through this thing. And that's what this stimulus package 
is all about: giving the American worker the resources, the 
opportunity, the tools to lead us out of this difficult, difficult 
economic time.
  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Maryland.
  You're absolutely right, and if we think about it, we're 
approximately 3 weeks from the inauguration of President Obama, and 
right now, we're on track for a historic Economic Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act that he laid out principles before, during and after 
that inauguration. And I think all of us are very dedicated as 
Americans to making sure that we get it right.
  It's not a question of how much time it takes to pass the bill. It's 
a question of getting it right, and I think that after weeks and weeks 
and weeks of getting experts and lots of people from back home and up 
here to help us understand what we need to do, the combination of the 
right tax cuts, the right investments will help us get it right.
  Madam Speaker, I'm going to yield back to the Chair, and I want to 
thank you.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. 
Courtney) will control the remainder of the hour.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, we have a few minutes left in Mr. 
Klein's hour that he's allotted for discussing the Economic Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act, and I think a lot of the speakers who have 
already had a chance to weigh in are going to kind of give their final 
closing arguments.
  Again, we are hours away from the decision that's before this 
country, about whether or not to support President Obama's effort to 
turn this economy around, and I think it's so important, again, for the 
facts really to have an opportunity to be heard before that vote takes 
place.
  Back in Connecticut, the head of The Carpenters Union, Chuck Appleby, 
once said at a hearing we had the other day on the need for 
infrastructure investment that the best social program is a job. A job 
provides people with wages. A good job provides people with wages and 
benefits, but even more importantly, it gives people dignity and 
confidence in themselves and their future, and that's what's missing 
right now.
  We have seen an economy that's lost 3.6 million jobs in the last 13 
months, and people are just hunkering down and pulling back because of 
a legitimate fear about not knowing where the future is headed and 
whether or not that future has a place for them. And President Obama 
gets that, and that's why this measure is aimed directly at stopping 
that hemorrhaging and making sure that we inject not just investment 
but also confidence back into the American economy.
  I'd like to yield again for his final comments to the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth).
  Mr. YARMUTH. I thank my friend from Connecticut, and all of our 
districts and all of our States have similar problems, but I'd like to 
just in closing bring reality once again to the American people.
  In my district of Louisville, Kentucky, my mayor faces a $20 million 
shortage in his budget. He's trying to exact concessions from 
firefighters and police officers and sanitation workers.
  My school district, one of the 20 largest school districts in the 
country, has a $32 million deficit they're facing this year. He's 
looking at the prospect of laying off teachers and important staff and 
thereby jeopardizing the education of the children in my district.
  In my State of Kentucky, the governor is facing an almost $500 
million deficit this year, and vital human services are having to be 
cut.
  These are not because our State or our school district or our city is 
being mismanaged. In fact, they are being managed extremely well. The 
economy has just come to that situation in which everyone is suffering, 
and unfortunately, we in the Federal Government are the last resort.
  This is a kitchen sink approach, I concede. We don't know for sure 
that it will work, but it is the only plan on the table right now. I 
think the best minds available have come to the conclusion that this is 
what can help us begin the road to recovery and providing jobs and a 
higher standard of living for our citizens.
  That's why I strongly support this and urge my colleagues on both 
sides to vote for it. As my colleague from Maryland said, I know the 
American people will join us in the shared sacrifice and the shared 
effort it will take to restore the American economy. And I am not a 
pessimist. I am an optimist, but it is important that we instill and 
restore confidence in the American people by what we're doing. I think 
this plan is the right way to do it, and I look forward to voting for 
it.
  Mr. COURTNEY. I thank Mr. Yarmuth for demonstrating what the stakes 
are in this vote that's coming up again in a few short hours.
  Again, for closing comments, I'd like to yield to the gentlelady from 
Ohio, Congresswoman Sutton.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman from Connecticut and all of my 
colleagues who have risen here today to talk about what is so important 
for this country.
  It's been said so well, but it bears again, as I've mentioned, 
repeating. Time is of the essence, and so here we are 3 weeks and 1 day 
from President Obama's inauguration, and we're on track to reach 
agreement on an historic Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We 
know it's going to create millions of jobs. We know that it is going to 
help 95 percent of American workers with tax cuts. It will begin the 
process of transforming our economy, and it contains that necessary 
unprecedented accountability and transparency.
  But in its simplest form, in its simplest summary, this bill is all 
about restoring the promise of the middle class, restoring the promise 
that this country is founded on and has grown to greatness because of. 
You know, this is about our workers, and this is about our businesses. 
This is about our States and our communities and all the families and 
the people who live there.
  It has components about health care. It has components about putting 
people to work, building things, our infrastructure that we all know is 
crumbling and has resulted in tragedy. And my good friend from 
Minnesota knows that all too well, as we watched that bridge crumble 
and lives were lost.
  This is a great, challenging time for this country. But we do have 
opportunity in this moment, and this bill is the beginning of it 
because this is our beginning on the path back to restoring the promise 
of the middle class.
  Mr. COURTNEY. I thank Congresswoman Sutton for your, again, eloquent, 
colorful plea for manufacturing jobs and the middle class of America.
  Here to bat cleanup and to finish the colloquy that has lasted over 
the last hour, again, is our good friend from Minnesota, Congressman 
Walz.
  Mr. WALZ. I thank the gentleman, and again, it's a privilege for me 
to speak with each of these Members who represent this great country: 
435 congressional districts, 300 million Americans, all with a dream 
that this country, by working hard, by making good

[[Page 3693]]

choices, you can achieve those things that are not asking for the 
world, maybe have a home, be able to own that, be able to have a job 
that pays a living wage, be able to send your kids to college and see 
them live that dream. That's what we're asking for, and as the 
gentlewoman said, now is the time for opportunity.
  All of us grew up in this Nation hearing the stories of whenever it 
got tough, the perseverance of the American spirit survived. Whether it 
was Valley Forge, whether it was Gettysburg, whether it was the 
deepest, darkest days of segregation in this country, we come out the 
other end.

                              {time}  1645

  Well, the American people need to know this chapter is not yet 
written. The end is not guaranteed. We have come to be somewhat 
complacent that it will work its way out. We need leaders like 
President Obama. We need the American public to stand up and say, We 
can get this right.
  And, as the gentlewoman from Ohio said, I am optimistic. In southern 
Minnesota, we are leading the way in wind production. My district is 
the home of the Mayo Clinic. We are going to find a cure for the 
diseases that cause so much anguish in this country. We have groups 
like the Hormel Institute, public-private partnerships teaming together 
to find the cures for cancer, for diabetes, for other things down the 
road.
  Those innovations will bring this country back. Those innovations 
will take us off this dependency on cheap imported goods while American 
jobs are outsourced and a living wage is crushed down. We heard that 
the auto industry failed because people made a living wage.
  Those are the type of things that aren't solutions. They are talking 
points for politics. The group of people who got here today, here's 
what they care about: Making sure the voice of the people in their 
district is heard, making sure that we have a level, fair playing 
field, and we reward work and creating something. That is what we are 
asking for. This piece of legislation moves us in that direction.
  I thank the gentleman for his passion and the gentlewoman from Ohio 
and all others who gathered. We're all in this together. The 
opportunities are there. But the time to do something is now. This 
piece of legislation is it.
  I yield back to the gentleman.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Thank you, Mr. Walz. If we have a few seconds left, 
maybe we can squeeze in final comments from Congressman Sarbanes. I 
yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. SARBANES. I think I have about 45 seconds. I just wanted to say 
this. I have been here 3 years. I don't know how long my career in this 
body will be. None of us do.
  I am convinced that this is the most important vote I will ever cast 
on an economic measure that faces our country. And I will have to 
explain that vote for many years to come. And what I will say to people 
is, I did what I thought was right. And I think it is the right thing 
to do to pass this, for the American worker, for families across this 
country who are suffering, for people who just want a job so they can 
contribute. And that is why I am going to support the Economic Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act.

                          ____________________