The Economy

Floor Speech

THE ECONOMY -- (Senate - November 19, 2008)

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, next week Americans across our country are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving. It is a time that we reflect and give thanks for our families and friends and all that we have. But far too many of our families across my State and across this country have far less than they did just a year ago. They lost their homes, their cars, their health care, their 401(k)s, and their jobs. Just this month, we learned that this country has lost a total of 1.2 million jobs this year. Over half of that decrease came in the last 3 months alone.

Across this country, people are hurting, and some of the hardest hit have been our veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of our veterans are still recovering from physical or psychological injuries that make it very hard for them to pay their bills or to find a job, and too many find themselves sliding quickly into bankruptcy or foreclosure. Yesterday, in fact, the New York Times reported that advocacy groups have seen a huge increase in the number of veterans asking for financial help over the last year.

Americans made it very clear on election day that they want a new direction in this country. They want action that will help pull us out of this economic crisis. President-elect Obama has already announced that his first priority will be an economic recovery plan that invests in our country's infrastructure. As chair of the Appropriations Transportation and Housing Subcommittee, I stand ready to help with that. But, as the latest jobless reports show, we can't afford to wait even until January, when we have a new President, to start providing the help Americans need today. That is why I have come to the floor. We need to take action that will create jobs, diversify and modernize our economy, and help our families cope with this economic downturn.

This week, Senator Byrd and our majority leader, Senator Reid, proposed an economic stimulus bill that would do just that. Their bill is targeted at the biggest needs in our country today. It will create more than 635,000 jobs by investing in infrastructure and green energy development, and it would help our most vulnerable citizens put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.

Congress can make a real difference for millions of families across our country. If there was a mandate given on November 4, it was for Government to work for the people once again. America's working families want a government that will turn our economy around and end this war, and they want true progress on health care and on education. That is our mandate. We have an awful lot of work to do, and we need a bipartisan effort to do it. But we cannot just sit around waiting until we have a new administration and a new Congress. Americans are hurting today.

We have the ability in this Congress to come together across party lines and pass a bill that will put Americans back to work and stabilize our communities across this country. I wish to take a couple of minutes this morning to outline how that package will help get our country moving again and help those most in need.

First of all, it is critically important that we help families who have already lost their jobs and are drawing unemployment today. Especially with employers cutting jobs each month, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who need help for basic needs while they look for work. This package reaches out to those families by extending unemployment benefits by 7 weeks across the country and 13 weeks in States where the jobless rate is the highest. It also brings relief to communities, since every dollar of unemployment benefits generates $1.64 in additional economic activity. This helps everyone.

This bill also provides help for the millions of families who are struggling today to find safe and secure housing. Across the country, public housing is badly in need of repair and improvement. This bill will allow communities to rehabilitate vacant public housing units, improve energy efficiency, and jump-start construction of new projects that will serve those tenants. It will also help address a growing problem in our community: renters who lost their homes because their landlords were foreclosed on. This bill will help protect these innocent victims of the foreclosure crisis and help them find immediate shelter and long-term housing.

One reason we need this bill badly is because it offers help to those who need it most, those who have lost their jobs and homes who are struggling to find housing today. But this bill will also help our communities and jump-start our economy by creating more than 635,000 jobs, investing in new technology and repairing our infrastructure. For example, this package would make investments in highway and bridge construction in every single State--all 50 States--by providing $10 billion to help fund projects that are ready to go today. We know that for every $1 billion we spend on highways, we create more than 34,500 good jobs. So this package will create more than 345,000 jobs.

Additionally, it is important to note there are no earmarks in this bill, no special projects as part of the highway funding in this bill. All highway dollars will be spent according to the formula that has been established for the Surface Transportation Program in our SAFETEA-LU highway bonds. States would have to put this money to work in 180 days.

We also know that roads are not the only area where communities need transportation dollars. Cities across our country are struggling to repair and expand their bus and rail systems as demand for mass transit and public transportation is skyrocketing. So this bill will improve and expand mass-transit systems so that millions of commuters can get to work smoothly and on time. It will help repair and improve our Nation's airports. It will make needed investments in our Nation's ferry transportation system and modernize our Nation's shipyards to make them competitive and efficient.

While creating these jobs will help get our economy going again, we also need to work to make sure our workers are prepared to compete for the jobs of the future. So this package does that by helping 160,000 dislocated workers and youth get education, training, counseling, and job assistance. This is particularly important for young people who are disengaged from school and for disadvantaged teenagers who are often hurt the most when our unemployment rates are high. It is critical that we enable these young people to get work experience now because if they lose out, they are less likely to move successfully into a career later.

We know teens without jobs are more likely to turn to crime or join gangs which cost our communities millions in law enforcement and lost productivity. Not only will the programs this bill supports pay off as the economy picks up over time, they will help stimulate the economy in the short term too, because, you know, teens spend immediately all the money they make. So that will help everyone.

This package also recognizes that we need to start investing in new and healthy industries that will help create new, good-paying jobs and help strengthen our economy for the long term. I think one of the most promising fields is green technology. That is why this package would invest almost $7 billion in research and development that would help us create new energy sources and improved energy efficiency.

Not only is the research and development absolutely vital in order to create the technology and the new jobs that come with it, but research and development and clean technologies are critical if we are going to become energy independent.

So these are parts of the package which I believe will be a shot in the arm, that will help our economy for many years to come.

Before I finish today, I do want to address the provisions in this bill that would help the country's struggling auto industry. I want the auto industry to remain viable and continue to support the millions of jobs across this country which depend on its success. But I cannot support any more funds without concrete assurance the automakers have a strategy to restructure and become viable, competitive companies. The auto industries cannot continue to follow a failed business model and then come here and ask for help.

I supported the $25 billion with strong restructuring language for the auto industry in the continuing resolution we passed a month ago. I will need to be convinced that adding funding will not only save jobs but the industry leaders will take seriously the issue of restructuring and work to reinvigorate an industry that continues to teeter on the brink of failure.

I am also, I have to say, very concerned about the blame being laid at the feet of the hard-working men and women in this industry. The auto industry's current financial industry crisis is the result of many financial factors, not the result of the cost of employee health care and negotiated contract benefits upon which numerous working families and retirees depend.

If the Federal Government, funded by working and taxpaying families, is expected to explore financial aid to ailing corporations, then I expect to hear about sacrifices industry management will make during these tough times. I am very hopeful we can do that.

A month ago this Congress came together and passed a bill to help restore stability in our financial markets. Well, we need this bill to provide stability for our communities and for our working families at home. We need it to help the most vulnerable among us to keep food on their table and a roof over their head.

We need it to help unemployed workers pay the bills while they start another job search. We need it so that we can create jobs, invest in our communities, and support new developments in sustainable and emerging industries.

We can start solving this economic crisis now. We can provide our families with the help they need for the holidays and before this economic situation gets worse. I hope our colleagues will join together, work across party lines, pass this stimulus bill, and offer hope this year to millions of struggling families across this country.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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