[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11230]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   PLAYING POLITICS WITH OUR ECONOMY

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this, the 27th week of this 
session of Congress, and continue to ask the leadership in our House to 
move legislation that will create jobs. Over the course of the last few 
weeks and months, this body has been so obsessed with the debt ceiling 
that it seems to have forgotten the plain and simple truth that the 
American people acknowledged last November and repeat over and over 
again: the best way to grow our economy and drive down the deficit is 
to put people back to work.
  There are plenty of people looking for work. With unemployment around 
9 percent, this body must make jobs and the economy our top priority. 
In fact, a Quinnipiac poll released yesterday found that by a 30-point 
margin, Americans say it is more important to reduce unemployment than 
to reduce the budget deficit.
  But the biggest threat to jobs today: failure to increase the debt 
ceiling and playing politics with our economy. Holding the economy 
hostage in order to protect Big Oil, tax cuts for the wealthy, and tax 
loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas is not only un-
American, it's immoral. Leadership requires difficult decisions and 
compromise. I hope we'll see more of these traits in the coming days, 
not less.

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