[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 988]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PASS THE PAYROLL TAX EXTENSION

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, last Friday the Department of Labor came 
out with job statistics which no one expected. The U.S. economy added 
243,000 new jobs, and there was a revision upward for December and 
November across the board: manufacturing, service, leisure, service 
industries, health care.
  The U.S. economy, which has suffered its biggest blow since the 
Depression because of the financial meltdown in 2008, is picking up 
strength. But as the President said, Congress must not muck it up.
  We need to pass the payroll tax cut extension, which expires at the 
end of February, fix the doctors' fees, and do an unemployment 
compensation. If we don't do that, the markets are going to head south 
on us again, just like they did last December.
  This Congress wasted the entire month of January with no conference 
committee to resolve this issue. It is time that we fix this and get it 
done right away, and we shouldn't go home this weekend until we pass a 
payroll tax cut extension.

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