[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11678]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICANS NEED WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Johnson) for 3 minutes.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, according to the latest figures 
available, an estimated 43.5 million Americans are living in poverty. 
Ladies and gentlemen, that's more than the entire State of California. 
Unbelievable. Communities of color continue to be disproportionately 
affected by poverty. The national unemployment rate is 9.2 percent. In 
my home State of Georgia, it's even higher, at 9.8 percent.
  With millions of Americans in poverty and a high unemployment rate, 
you would think the Congress would do what it was elected to do, which 
is to create jobs and pass legislation that spurs economic growth. But 
in the past 7 months, the Republican majority has not moved one single 
jobs bill. Instead, this House majority is pushing bills through that 
take away Grandma's Social Security check, dismantle the Affordable 
Care Act, which would provide health care to millions of uninsured 
Americans, and cut a first-generation college student's Pell Grants. 
They want to crash our economy by ignoring the need to raise the debt 
ceiling and ignoring the catastrophe that would occur if we don't. 
Instead of bringing us opportunities and the American Dream, the 
Republican majority gives us cut, cap, and kill. Kill Medicare, Social 
Security, Medicaid. Those are the prisoners who are awaiting execution. 
It's really about crash, slash, and trash.
  Staying committed to safety net programs and health, education, 
housing, and employment is both a moral and an economic responsibility 
that we cannot ignore. However, Congress seems to be doing all that it 
can to keep families from getting back on their feet during times of 
economic distress. They shouldn't be trying to pull the wool out from 
under the people of this great Nation, regular working people.
  The record debt run up by the Bush administration was a direct result 
of Republicans' two unfunded wars, failed economic policies, and failed 
oversight of the financial services sector. And what we need to do is 
support more programs like Pathways Out of Poverty, which puts 
residents in my district back to work doing green jobs. But instead, 
what we want to do is give Rupert Murdoch a tax break and give all of 
the big oil companies tax loopholes that you could drive a submarine 
through. Americans need to go to work. So let's focus on getting 
Americans what they need, which is jobs, jobs, jobs.

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