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

Floor Speech

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

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Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I appreciate his leadership and his intensive knowledge of this legislation and how important it is for us to proceed.

Madam Speaker, I will not speak long because, the sooner we finish debate on this bill, the sooner it goes back to the Senate, the sooner it goes to the White House for signature, and the sooner jobs are created in our country.

I agree with much of what the distinguished ranking member on the committee said about wanting a 6-year bill. Our chairman, Mr. Oberstar, has been advocating for that, and I agree.

I also agree that the language has to be changed, and we have the commitment to do that as we go forward, but that doesn't mean that Americans are not suffering, that they do not need jobs. We should act, and we should act today to bring them closer.

I want to remind our colleagues of places and times. Just over a year ago, this Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As a result of that, more than 2 million jobs were saved or created. Very important. All over the country, as Members go home to their districts, they see evidence of investments in the future: Clean energy jobs for the future, the education of our children, the safety of our neighborhoods, the creation of jobs, the stabilization of our economy, the stabilization of State and local budgets. As a result of that, just think of what has happened in this one year.

In January 2009, the last year of the Bush administration, America lost 779,000 jobs. This January, we lost 20,000 jobs. We don't want to lose any jobs. We want to be on the upside. We want to be creating jobs. The point is that, following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other initiatives taken by the Obama administration and this Congress, there has been a difference of over three-quarters of a million jobs in 1 month--779,000 in January, 2009, and 20,000 in January, 2010.

In the final quarter of 2008, before President Obama took office, America's GDP shrank by 6.2 percent. For that quarter, the GDP was a negative 6.2 percent. Just 1 year later, the GDP grew in the same period by 5.9 percent, over a 12 percent change in the rate of growth of the GDP thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and to, again, other actions taken by Congress.

You know, when we were debating the Recovery bill last year at around this time, earlier in January and in February, the stock market was around 6,500-7,000. It's over 10,000 now, an increase of over 3,000 points. Yesterday, we learned that America's manufacturing base grew for the seventh straight month, and it is now at its highest level in 5 years.

Still, we must be unrelenting in our efforts to create more jobs. Too many Americans are unable to find work. In some cases, we are talking about putting people back to work. In some cases, people haven't had opportunities coming out of school. They've not been able to enter the workforce. So it is not just about putting people back to work. It is about creating a broader universe of jobs to have many more Americans participate in the economic prosperity that we hope for our country.

Today, we are taking another step in creating jobs and in laying the foundation for long-term growth and prosperity. With $15 billion in critical investments, this bill includes a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers, creating some 300,000 new jobs with that provision alone, and an income tax credit of $1,000 for businesses that retain employees.

There is specific support to small businesses with tax credits and accelerated writeoffs. There is the extension of the Highway Trust Fund--this is very, very important--allowing tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

This is a $15 billion bill, but it triggers tens of billions of dollars more by eliminating a recision of last year, by restoring the interest to the trust fund it was deprived of and by triggering further contracting, tens of billions of dollars and probably 1 million jobs in this bill alone.

In December, the House passed our Jobs for Main Street Act, a broader measure for creating good-paying American jobs paid for by redirecting TARP funds from Wall Street to Main Street. Today's legislation is one key element of that legislation, one key element of our agenda to get Americans back to work and to strengthen our economy.

Madam Speaker, I believe that every Member of Congress on both sides of the aisle understands the urgent need to create jobs for our country, and today we have an opportunity to do so.

I know that some people have some concerns on one side of the aisle or the other about this provision or that provision, but the fact is that 1 million jobs will be created by this legislation. Vote for jobs, vote ``aye'' on this legislation.

I thank Mr. Etheridge and all concerned, Mr. Oberstar, the distinguished chairman of the Transportation Committee, and so many others, for making this important legislation possible. It is difficult, it is challenging, and more is yet to be done, but I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote for jobs. Vote ``aye'' on this legislation.

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