[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 299]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              JOB CREATION

  (Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, during the Bush administration, 
the unemployment rate nearly doubled. We hemorrhaged millions of jobs, 
including 743,000 jobs that we lost in January 2009 when President 
Obama was sworn in. They made the mess, but we have to fix it.
  Thankfully, this President and the Democrats in Congress have put 
measures in place to stabilize our economy and to begin to create jobs 
for the more than 15.3 million people who are unemployed. To those who 
are actively seeking a job but who can't find one, the economy has 
begun to move again.
  We have extended unemployment. We have extended COBRA benefits for 
those who are unemployed to help them make ends meet, but that's not 
enough. We have to continue that until we stabilize the economy 
significantly and until unemployment falls. During this Congress, we've 
really helped our job creators: small businesses. We have to do more 
for them to make sure we steer equity and investment to start-ups in 
high-growth fields like clean energy and information technology, and we 
have to strengthen microlending from the Small Business Administration.
  Look, we are not finished until millions of Americans who want to go 
to work go back to work. Our job isn't done until Americans achieve the 
American Dream.

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