Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on a more bipartisan note than the speech from the minority leader, we are now moving toward some legislation that has two bits of good news for the American people; one, it will help create jobs and employ those who have been out of work for too long a time; second, it is bipartisan. For the first time in a long time, we have a bill that is supported by both Democrats and Republicans. I would like to salute the five Republicans from the other side who joined us in moving the bill forward. I am very hopeful there will be a large number of those from the other side of the aisle who will join in this bipartisan measure that will show the American people that, at least when it comes to jobs, we can--and must for their good--work together.

First, let me discuss the proposal, the part of the proposal authored by Senator Hatch and myself. It is very simple. It is a holiday from the payroll tax for any employer that hires a worker who has been out of work for 60 days.

Let me discuss why I think it will work. First, it is immediate. Most businesses, particularly small businesses, if you tell them they will get some kind of tax credit if they hire someone, but they will get that credit a year from April, are not very interested. This occurs immediately, the minute the worker is hired.

Second, it is simple. Again, you tell a businessperson, particularly a small businessperson, they have to fill out 30 pages, maybe hire an accountant to get a tax credit for a new worker, that is not life. They are going to tell you to forget it.

But here all the new employee has to show is that he or she was out of work for 60 days. It is very easy to show 60 days of unemployment compensation, and it immediately takes effect.

Third, it goes right to small business. So this is not a large government program. The money goes right to small business and is cost effective, which is the fourth point. If 3 million people are hired by this tax credit, it will cost $15 billion. That is a lot of money. But compared to the stimulus of $880 billion, it is much smaller. The money is cost effective. It goes right to where it should.

Finally, my last point is, it is bipartisan. The country is asking us to come and work together. Obviously, there are diverse views, both within the parties and certainly between the parties. But that does not mean, on areas that are getting close to emergencies, we cannot work together.

This proposal, let it be the start. But let this proposal be the start of a coming together on issues we can agree on. There are some job proposals my colleagues on this side of the aisle would support and my colleagues on the other side would not and vice versa. There are some they would support and we would not.

But there are a large number we can all agree on. We ought to endeavor to do them because what the American people want is not us just talking at one another and accomplishing nothing but us getting something done.

Finally, going back to the merits of this proposal, it should not be sold as a panacea. This is not a magic wand that is going to be waved and all our joblessness will decline.

But what it does do is harness the economic growth we have seen in the last quarter, 5.7 percent, and translates it into the creation of jobs. Let me explain. In the last quarter, there was economic growth, 5.7 percent, but hardly a job was created. You cannot sustain an economy and get an economy moving upward unless jobs are created.

But the growth gives us an opportunity--not every employer but a significant number of employers are getting new orders. They are thinking to themselves: Should I hire that new worker or should I just extend overtime or cut back somewhere else?

This job provision, a payroll tax holiday, says to the employer--to some, not all but to many--I am going to take that gamble and hire that worker and hire them now so it will help jump-start our economy. It will work for businesses, not those that see declining sales or flat sales but those that are beginning to see sales go up and will translate those increased sales into increased jobs, which will then, hopefully, create the virtuous cycle of more jobs, more money in the economy, more jobs still, more money in the economy still, and we can get out of this awful recession.

In conclusion, I wish to save enough time for my friend from New Hampshire. I traveled around my State this last Presidents week break. In every corner of my State, I sat with the unemployed. It was heartbreaking. Think of those people and those faces, what they had to say late at night.

A woman from Rochester had worked for 20 years for Xerox, lost her position in human services up in Rochester. She has been looking for 2 years, close to 2 years, for a job. She made a very good salary. She did not have a family. Her job was her life. She has turned things inside out to try and find comparable work. She cannot.

I met a man who was a blue-collar worker. He had risen to the top of his craft, tool and die. He thought he had a great life--worked hard, had six children, a good marriage. A year ago he lost his job and is still paying the mortgage. His wife cannot work to support him because of the six kids, one of whom was 2 years old, as I recall.

What is he going to do? You meet people like this again and again. Young college students get out of college, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and cannot find work. How disillusioning at the beginning of their career.

So we have an imperative to do something. We have an imperative not to say: It has to be my way or no way. We have to put those people back to work.

That is what Senator Hatch and I attempted to do with our proposal. To our leader, I wish to pay him a tremendous tribute. He was focused on getting this done. He took brickbats left and right. But the ultimate wisdom of what he did is now being seen as we move this bill on the floor today.

Hopefully, it will go through the House and be on the President's desk shortly. I thank Senator Hatch and all my colleagues who, hopefully, in a few minutes, will come together in a bipartisan way and tell the workers who are
unemployed: Yes, there is some hope. Tell the voters from Massachusetts: Yes, we have heard you. We are focusing on jobs.

I yield the floor.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we have had so much partisan gridlock. Today we have a real opportunity to show that this new legislative year can break through that with something meaningful to the American people, a jobs bill. I am hopeful that many colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us. There has been great input from Senator Inhofe and Senator Hatch. These are people who are conservative, have different voting records than I, but they say we have to do something. I thank the new Senator from Massachusetts for leading the way and breaking through the miasma. This is a good, focused bill. It is a modest bill, but it will do some good for the hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions who are looking desperately for work. When they find jobs, our economy begins to move forward. That is long overdue.

Both sides of the aisle can show the American people we have heard them by overwhelmingly passing this well-crafted, well-honed, modest piece of legislation aimed at issue No. 1: jobs and the economy.

I yield the floor.

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