[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16070]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague 
that spoke previously. America needs to be a voice for freedom in the 
world. America is a great nation.
  I find it interesting that we talk about the need to be engaged, with 
which I agree, but then we talk about the need to leave Iraq before we 
can know for a fact that we are leaving a very stable country.

                              {time}  1010

  I find it interesting people are rushing to the exits in Afghanistan, 
and I understand that's a tough and difficult war. But in the process, 
we have brought millions of people freedom; we've brought to women the 
ability to go to school; we've brought to people the ability to live 
their lives in freedom and not under an oppressed regime.
  America is a great country. We are an amazing country that is a force 
for freedom in this world, and it's a country I am very proud of. 
Having served in the military and continuing to serve as a pilot in the 
Air National Guard, I understand that the people I serve with are part 
of that great country.
  Right now one of the concerns in our country, though, is that, in 
order to back up and to support a great military and to support a great 
force for freedom, you have to have a great economy. What bothers me is 
that in 2009 in this Chamber a stimulus was passed which cost in just a 
few minutes of debate as much as the war in Iraq has cost in 8 years. 
In just a few minutes, we were promised that unemployment would not go 
above 8 percent, and, in fact, unemployment has never gone below 8 
percent since the passage of the stimulus.
  But do you know what has gone up? Not employment. Debt and deficits, 
more and more of a burden that we're piling on our children.
  Now the President is coming out with a plan that says we can't wait, 
that we can't wait to pass stimulus version 2. Really, if you look at 
the depths of what the jobs plan is, it's stimulus 2. It's, in essence, 
a carbon copy of stimulus 1 but a little bit smaller. I've heard people 
in this Chamber argue, actually, that the problem with the first 
stimulus is it wasn't large enough. Now, I disagree. I think that's the 
wrong answer, but let's say for a moment that that's right. Let's say 
the problem is it wasn't large enough. Why would you introduce a second 
stimulus that's even smaller and say, This is the miracle bullet right 
here, this is how we're going to pull ourselves out?
  I don't know how many times we have to do the same thing over and 
over and over again until we realize it doesn't work. The American 
people are hurting. The definition of insanity, by the way, is doing 
the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
  House Republicans have a plan for America's job creators. We've had a 
plan for America and America's job creators and our economy for many, 
many months. Despite that people can get on television and say 
Republicans have no plan doesn't make it true. You're entitled to your 
own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own set of facts.
  The fact is, at jobs.gop.gov, we have a plan. That plan includes 
empowering small business and reducing regulation on job creators but 
not to a dangerous level, as some on the other side of the aisle will 
have you believe that we want to take away all regulation. We don't. 
What we want to do is find that balance between allowing the free 
market to breathe and allowing people to come in and say, I want to 
hire people; I want to create more jobs; I don't need the heavy hand of 
government to come in and give me the permission to do what I'm doing.
  We do have to fix the Tax Code. I think both sides of the aisle agree 
that there have to be Tax Code reparations go on to make it better and 
easier to do business. We have to boost competitiveness for American 
manufacturers. Look, American manufacturers aren't leaving because it's 
nicer in China and the weather is better. They're leaving because they 
simply can't afford to access the 95 percent of consumers who live 
outside of our country and do it competitively.
  But with all these things, and, again, with the Republican plan for 
America's job creators, I think we have to acknowledge areas where we 
have found success and bipartisanship. One of those happened just a 
week ago when we passed the three trade agreements with Colombia, 
Panama, and South Korea. We've shown that this Chamber has the ability 
to work together.
  So, yes, we can't wait. We can't wait until the end of the election 
for the President to come up with a real plan and to work with 
Republicans. We want to stand together. I get it. An election is coming 
up next November. We all understand that. You're going to hear about it 
on television. But let's not miss the next 14 months. Let's not miss 
this opportunity to really stand up and govern and get the American 
people back to work.

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