Providing For Further Consideration of H.R. 1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1, AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 28, 2009)

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Mr. POLIS of Colorado. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 and want to thank Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Obey, Chairwoman Slaughter and all of my colleagues for their timely and decisive leadership on this issue.

Like most Americans, I am distressed about the state of our economy and the impact of our recession on hardworking families.

My home State of Colorado and many of our school districts, faced with draconian budget cuts, are seeing reductions in critical services when they are needed most, workers are being laid off left and right, and there is a massive scaling back of statewide investment. Tens of thousands of Coloradans lost their jobs in October and November alone.

The time has come to set aside partisanship and ideology and to forcefully tackle these underlying conditions and factors that have frozen economic activity in our Nation.

That's why we must ensure that this legislation passes the House and Senate and reaches President Obama's desk as soon as possible.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be part of the solution and be part of supporting this measure to rebuild our Nation's infrastructure, both physical and human infrastructure, and renew confidence in our economy.

As some of you may know, before joining Congress I served as chairman of our State Board of Education in Colorado and superintendent of the New America Charter School. As an educator, I can tell you that education is the most meaningful medium and long-term investment that we can make to stimulate the American economy. This bill lays the foundation of an education system and green economy for the 21st century by investing in our future. It builds high-tech green schools, reaches out to at-risk kids and children with disabilities, and increases Pell Grants and Work Study aid to help students afford college. Without it, we risk losing precious ground in our fight to close the gap in education.

In my district, Adams County has suffered enormously from the economic downturn, experiencing the 10th highest unemployment rate out of Colorado's 64 counties with over 16,000 unemployed workers. This historic bill will immediately prevent further job loss in hard-hit places like Adams County. I urge support of this bill on behalf of American families.

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