Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to House Amendment to Senate Amendment to H.R. 4213, Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Florida, for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in opposition to this closed rule providing for consideration of H.R. 4213, a bill extending unemployment insurance. Republicans know that we must reduce the deficit, and if the underlying bill had been paid for, Republicans would have gladly supported it, but it is not.

Undoubtedly, the American people are suffering from the actions of this Democrat-controlled Congress. We go home every weekend and our constituents tell us that their concerns are both jobs and the debt. In fact, they tell us every weekend they are frightened to death for the future of this country. I've never had constituents tell me that before this year.

The simple truth is that while the liberals have repeatedly claimed their $1 trillion 2009 stimulus plan was the right thing to do, it's hard to tell that from looking at the job situation across the U.S. The American people are facing high unemployment rates and economic uncertainty. In fact, we have a quote from our distinguished Chair of the Federal Reserve, ``Economic future unusually uncertain'' is the headline in The Washington Times today. But we need to go back to the drawing board and come back to the American people with real, commonsense solutions to their real problems that we must be willing to pay for.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I have to remind my colleagues across the aisle again that the Democrats have been in control of Congress since January 2007, and we have had a Democrat in the White House for almost 2 years. So the Democrats have been in control and Republicans are in the minority, and the Democrats can do what they want to because of their numbers in Congress.

While the Obama administration continues its so-called summer of recovery, Mr. Speaker, claiming the Democrats' stimulus bill saved or created 3 million jobs, the facts are 47 out of 50 States have lost jobs since the stimulus passed. Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee released a report on Tuesday that showed this data, and I would like to insert this report into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, this report compares the number of jobs created in each State that the administration currently claims in a White House report issued July 14 with the actual change in jobs since the stimulus became law as documented by the administration's own Department of Labor. It shows that only Alaska, Kentucky, and North Dakota, along with the District of Columbia, have shown any real job growth since the stimulus passed. And even in those States, the official job creation has fallen far short of administration claims.

The administration claims that every State and the District of Columbia have seen a positive job growth. This is simply not true when you look at the actual numbers from the Department of Labor.

And let me say that in Alaska, only 2,200 jobs have been created since the stimulus passed. In Kentucky, 2,400 jobs; and in North Dakota, only 5,100 jobs. And most of us know that in North Dakota it's because of the discovery of energy. And that compares with what the administration has said they created 8,000 in North Dakota, they claim 41,000 in Kentucky, they claim 7,000 in Alaska. So the numbers are quite different.

But let me point out that in the District of Columbia where there are government jobs that have been created and lobbyist jobs that have been created as a result of this administration's policies, there are 7,800 jobs. So the bulk of the jobs that have been created are government jobs.

Republicans don't think this is right, neither do the American people think this is right. We need real jobs in the private sector.

47 Out of 50 States Have Lost Jobs Since Democrats' Stimulus Law--Tuesday, July 20, 2010

While the Obama Administration continues their so-called ``Recovery Summer'' tour claiming the Democrats' stimulus bill ``saved or created'' three millions jobs, the facts show 47 out of 50 States have lost jobs since stimulus passed. The table below compares the number of jobs the Administration currently claims its stimulus has somehow created in each State (center column) with the actual change in jobs since stimulus became law (right hand column), as documented by the Department of Labor. It shows that only Alaska, Kentucky and North Dakota, along with the District of Columbia, have shown any real job growth since stimulus passed and even in those States the official job creation has fallen far short of Administration claims.

``Americans are asking where are the jobs, but all Washington Democrats are showing them is more unemployment, debt and higher deficits,'' said Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI).

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I need to point out to my colleagues once more that when the Democrats took over the Congress in January of 2007, the deficit was about $200 billion. There was a wonderful situation under Mr. Clinton, they like to point out, but that was because Republicans were in control of Congress and were controlling spending.

When the Democrats took control of Congress, that's when things started going downhill for this country. It's when unemployment started going up and bad things happened.

Let me say, Republicans have repeatedly called for cutting unspent stimulus spending to offset spending, but we're not alone.

The majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, said on June 13 there's spending fatigue across the country and that, if we have dollars not yet expended in the Recovery Act, they should be redirected to pay for new spending like this.

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. Obey, hailed amendments to the supplemental appropriations bill made on July 1 that were paid for by repeatedly cutting unspent projects in the stimulus bill.

In the other body, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Baucus, has suggested the same, pay for new spending by cutting stimulus.

Mr. Speaker, I enter the sources for my comments in my remarks for the Record.

Republicans have repeatedly called for cutting unspent stimulus spending to offset this spending. We are not alone. The Majority Leader, Mr. Hoyer, said on June 13 there is ``spending fatigue'' across the country and that ``if we have dollars not yet expended in the recovery act'' that they should be redirected to pay for new spending like this. The Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. Obey, hailed amendments to the supplemental appropriations bill made on July 1 that were paid for by repeatedly cutting unspent projects in the stimulus law. In the other body, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Baucus, has suggested the same--pay for new spending by cutting stimulus.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

You know, I've often said that being here in Washington is like being Alice in Wonderland. I didn't know that there are a lot of other people who feel the same way.

I did want to ask my colleague from Massachusetts who made the contention that if we get $1.90 back for every dollar we spend, we don't understand why the Democrats are stopping at spending $34 billion for these unemployment benefits. But I do want to come back to the issue of being Alice in Wonderland.

And recently, there have been several articles that have been published that have talked about this being Alice in Wonderland and the tea party, and I would like to quote from one of those articles from The Washington Times this Monday.

``A recent CBS Poll reports that 74 percent of the population thinks the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package either hurt or had no impact on the economy. Simply put, that means three-fourths of the American people think the stimulus package was a $1 trillion waste of money. The same poll reports that 2.5 times as many people think the health care reform bill signed into law by Democrats will hurt them (33 percent) rather than help them (13 percent).''

It goes on to say, ``Many Americans are seized with fear as what might normally be a benign, lame-duck session of Congress looms in November.''

Another quote: ``In Lewis Carroll's story, Alice finds herself in a bizarre, nightmarish world where the basic laws of logic no longer apply and familiar beings take on strange, unreasoning personas. More and more, many Americans view our progressive leaders on Capitol Hill and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the insane hosts of an ongoing Washington-style mad tea party.''

I think that's what many Americans feel. I agree with them. That is what we are hearing when we go home to our districts and talk to the people there. They're seeing Washington as Wonderland and that there is a mad tea party going on.

I would like to also point out that there's another article which came out in Bloomberg Opinion which talks about the discrepancy in the job numbers that have come out.

Mr. Speaker, we know Americans are hurting. We know there's a lot of unemployment and we're sympathetic, but this is not the right way to go.

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