[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1270-1271]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           VISION OF FAIRNESS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, last night the President of the United 
States laid out an agenda to strengthen the middle class and expand 
upon our economic progress. He outlined an agenda that will restore the 
core value that makes this Nation great: fairness.
  Senate Democrats stand ready to work with the President to make this 
vision--a vision in which every American shares the prosperity as well 
as the responsibility--a reality. President Obama's agenda calls for 
commonsense investments in our future, investments which will breathe 
new life into a struggling middle class, investments which will make 
America a magnet for jobs and manufacturing once more, investments 
which have been deferred for too long due to the worst recession since 
the Great Depression.
  The President's plan will give American manufacturers the support 
they need to thrive, while ending giveaways to companies that ship jobs 
overseas. His plan will create jobs building world-class roadways, 
railways, and bridges which our economy may rely upon tomorrow.
  The plan will prepare current and future workers to compete in a 
global economy by making K-12 schools the best in the world again and 
college affordable for every graduate. His plan will break our 
addiction to foreign oil and encourage investments in reliable energy, 
a change which will be good for the environment and for the economy.
  As he said last night, it will be done without adding a single penny 
to the deficit. These investments in a strong middle class are not just 
right for our country, they are right for our economy as well. Our 
efforts to restore prosperity will mean little unless Congress acts 
immediately to deal with arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts set 
to take effect.
  If the looming sequester strikes, 70,000 young children would be 
kicked off Head Start and 10,000 teaching jobs would be at risk. The 
Small Business Administration will be forced to reduce loan guarantees 
to small businesses by up to $540 million. Democrats believe we should 
replace this harsh austerity with a balanced approach that targets 
wasteful spending, tax loopholes, and asks the wealthiest among us to 
contribute a little more to reduce the deficit.
  The American people know we can't cut our way to prosperity. They 
agree. We can't ask the middle class to bear the burden of the entire 
deficit reduction. Later this week Democrats will release a plan to 
avert the so-called sequester.
  Republicans say they agree the deep cuts they voted for will be 
damaging to our economy and to national security. Republicans would 
rather cut Medicare, education, and medical research than close a 
single wasteful tax loophole or ask a single millionaire to contribute 
a little more. The Republicans should stop protecting millionaires, 
billionaires, and wealthy corporations and start working with us to 
pass an alternative to these terrible cuts that protect the middle 
class. We want to start to do something to begin changing this so we 
protect the middle class. We must not jeopardize the progress of the 
last 4 years.
  Even though our work to restore economic prosperity must continue, we 
should take pride in the 35 months of private sector job growth and 6.1 
million new American jobs. Imagine how many more jobs could be created 
with just a little cooperation from our Republican colleagues.
  Now our friends across the aisle have another opportunity to engage 
constructively. They have a second chance to work with Democrats to 
rebuild the middle class by investing in that which in the past has 
made Americans strong--world-class roads, bridges, dams, peerless 
schools, industrial factories, and creative entrepreneurs who are the 
best in the world.
  President Ronald Reagan, in his first address of a joint session of 
Congress, spoke of these building blocks of prosperity. Ronald Reagan 
said:

       Substance and prosperity of our Nation is built by wages 
     brought home from the factories and the mills, the farms, and 
     the shops. They are the services provided in 10,000 corners 
     of America: the interest on the thrift of our people and the 
     returns for their risk-taking. The production of America is 
     the possession of those who build, serve, create, and 
     produce.

  He didn't say the substance of our Nation is built on profits gleaned 
from shipping jobs overseas. He didn't say

[[Page 1271]]

the prosperity of America is the possession of investment banks or 
wealthy oil companies alone. Rather, he said, our substance and 
prosperity are earned in factories, mills, farms, and shops. The 
rewards belong to all those who build, serve, create, and produce--not 
only to the few strong enough or rich enough to take for themselves.
  It is time to return to those roots. It is time to remember fairness 
is not just a principle for which to strive but a powerful engine of 
growth and prosperity for all Americans.

                          ____________________