Providing for Consideration of H.R. 7110, Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act of 2008
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 1507 provides for the consideration of H.R. 7110, the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act of 2008. The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion equally divided and controlled by the Committee on Appropriations.
Mr. Speaker, the past 8 years have not been kind to American workers and their families. Since President Bush was inaugurated 8 years ago, people's wages have stagnated while the cost of food and energy have skyrocketed.
Over the past 8 years, more people have been forced into poverty. Over the past 8 years, student loans have become even harder to get, denying access to a college education. Over the past 8 years, more people have trouble putting food on their table. Over the past 8 years, more people have lost their jobs. Over the past 8 years, our infrastructure, our roads and our bridges and levees have deteriorated, and in some cases have collapsed. I hope that the American public sees a pattern here.
And these problems didn't just magically happen. We're in this mess today because of the way the Republican party has turned their backs on anyone not fortunate to make millions of dollars, because of President Bush's insistence on tax cuts for the wealthy, and because of the reckless spending originating from the then Republican-controlled Congress.
My friends, we are in this mess today because of reckless fiscal and financial mismanagement proposed by this President and rubber-stamped by the Republicans in Congress. And now that the past 8 years has led us to the biggest and most desperate financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Republicans in the House are proposing more tax breaks for their rich friends on Wall Street. Their answer to a frozen market is more tax cuts for the people who got us into this mess in the first place.
When the times get tough, the Republicans try to cut taxes for the rich. That's not leadership, Mr. Speaker; that's just more of the same bad policies that got us here. There is a different way, a way that looks out for Main Street.
We recognize, those of us in the Democratic Caucus, we recognize that everyday Americans, not the Donald Trumps of the world or the big oil companies, need help in these very tough times. We know that rising food prices are causing people to cut back on the food that they're putting on their tables. We know that jobs are increasingly hard to find, and that unemployed Americans are exhausting the unemployment benefits that are helping them scrape by as they look for new jobs. We know that the crumbling infrastructure in our Nation must be fixed, that we cannot risk another bridge collapse like the one that took place in Minnesota last year. And we know that investments in infrastructure will create new jobs and make our people safer.
The people who are calling our offices angry about the bailout for Wall Street are saying, ``Wait a minute. What about us? What about us?'' And that is exactly the question we are here to answer today. Today, Democrats are saying to the American people, to the people of Massachusetts, ``We hear you.'' That's why we have an economic stimulus bill that will provide a $60 billion jump start to the economy.
In this bill, Democrats will provide almost $37 billion in infrastructure development. That means more highway construction, funding for passenger rail improvements, increases in clean water and flood control. There is funding for school modernization and public housing in this bill. These are not just improvements in our infrastructure--which are badly needed after years of neglect by this President and his allies in this Congress, these are jobs programs. More funding for infrastructure programs will mean more people being hired to build roads and bridges, to repair schools, and to improve our waterways.
Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased that we are providing funding for communities like those in my district that are struggling with complying with clean water requirements and are looking to the Federal Government for just a little bit of help.
As a Member of Congress who represents a regional airport, I know how important airport improvement grants really are. In this bill, Democrats provide $600 million for AIG grants to help regional airports alleviate the massive congestion at our major hubs.
In this bill, Democrats provide $1.6 billion for development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. In particular, $1 billion will be dedicated to an advanced battery loan program, which will allow for U.S. companies to invest and develop technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
In this bill, Democrats provide an increase in the Medicaid matching rate to prevent cuts in health insurance and health care services for low-income children and families.
And in this bill, Democrats provided an additional 7 weeks of extended benefits for workers who have exhausted regular unemployment compensation. Extending unemployment benefits is one of the quickest, most cost-effective forms of economic stimulus because workers who have lost their paychecks spend benefits quickly.
And very importantly, Mr. Speaker, in this bill, Democrats provide $2.6 billion to address rising food costs for seniors, people with disabilities, and very poor families with children. We know that millions of our fellow citizens are struggling to put food on the table. Seniors are being forced to choose between eating and taking their medications. And we know food stamps will provide a targeted stimulus to the economy. We know that every Federal food dollar generates twice that in economic activity. Experts at CBO and Moody's, as well as economists from across the political spectrum, agree that increasing money for food stamps is a powerful economic stimulus that can reach the low-income families who may not have benefited from the first stimulus package.
Mr. Speaker, I am extremely grateful to Chairman Obey for including this provision in this bill. I am also grateful for the leadership of Congressman JESSE JACKSON, Jr. and Congresswoman ROSA DELAURO for their advocacy on behalf of food and nutrition programs.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I expect many of my friends on the other side of the aisle to oppose this package. I expect them to say that it's too much money and that it's unnecessary. Well, if I'm right, then it will show the American people just how out of touch they really are.
Mr. Speaker, we need a stimulus package today, not just for Wall Street, but for Main Street. People are struggling, and they need and deserve our help. They don't need your empathy, they don't need your sympathy, they don't need your kind words, they don't want you to feel their pain, what they want is your vote, your vote on a stimulus package that will help them, that will benefit everyday people on Main Street.
So I hope the Republicans, Mr. Speaker, will finally join us in meeting the real needs of the working families of this Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I would just say that I think my friends on the Republican side just don't get it. This President, with their help, has driven this economy into a ditch. And we need to take the responsibility to get us out of that ditch. And that is what this stimulus package in part is about.
People are hurting, not just people on Wall Street, but people on Main Street. People are hurting all over this country. People have lost their jobs. There are more people after 8 years of this President who are unemployed. There are more people who are hungry. There are more people without health care. I could go on and on and on. And our infrastructure is crumbling. This is an attempt to help those people.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me just say I have a great deal of respect for my friend from Arizona, but I have to respond by saying that another tax cut is not going to rebuild a broken bridge in Massachusetts that because of years of underfunding and years of a lack of commitment by the Federal Government is now dangerous. A tax giveaway to an oil company, another tax giveaway to an oil company is not going to build a school in California or Arizona or anywhere else, and another corporate tax break is not going to provide anybody health care.
The bottom line is that I will respectfully say to the gentleman that this Democratic Congress has been way more fiscally responsible, by light-years, than his party has been. Bill Clinton left office and left this country with a surplus. We now have the biggest debt in the history of this country. We have a war in Iraq that is $10 billion a month, and nobody on the other side believes that we have an obligation to pay for it. It goes on our credit card.
We cannot neglect the basic needs of this country, which we have been doing, unfortunately, for the last 8 years. We need to get back to basics.
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Mr. McGOVERN. I appreciate the gentleman's comments, but again I disagree with him. What I am talking about is investing in infrastructure to make our roads and our bridges safer, to create more jobs, to help stimulate this economy. So we have a very different approach.
We need to do something. We are in a fiscal emergency. The President is asking for $700 billion, don't pay for it, $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, and what we are saying is, look, we have to do a little something for Main Street, in the area of infrastructure, education, health care.
I don't think that is too much to ask. Yet this is a big deal to my friends on the Republican side, that we can't do this. It is too much. No, we can't do this. Everyday people don't deserve the same consideration that the President of the United States is now asking that we give to big companies on Wall Street.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee.
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