Put People to Work

Floor Speech

Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, we just heard a very interesting 1-minute presentation that didn't make much sense. We have a world of hurt. People are unemployed. People are going to lose their jobs in local governments and State governments, and teachers are going to be laid off across this Nation. And to simply say we need fiscal discipline doesn't solve this problem.

The Democrats put out, without one Republican vote, an American Recovery Act a little more than a year ago, and it really worked. People did get jobs. Things were done. Infrastructure was built. We need to continue that, and we need to keep people working.

Yes, we need fiscal discipline, and I would be welcoming any idea from the Republicans on how they are going to do that other than simply say there ought to be. Yes, there ought to be, but we need right now to put people to work.

There is a program that's available that will be coming up that will stimulate small businesses. It puts forward major programs for the Small Business Administration to support loans. We also need to support the local governments. Yes, it's going to cost us some money in the short term, but we have a choice: We are either going to put people to work or we are going to have welfare. I want people to work. I want them to be taxpayers.

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