Date: 2011-09-07
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the gentleman for being so prepared with such important statements. This statement. a better deal for America. invest in America. make it in America. I want to acknowledge the whip of our caucus. Mr. HOYER. who has been persistent. We have joined him like a choir because it is important. But let me make this economic point. I want to hold this up. When we had the helm in the 1990s. since I am talking patriotic and saying Im proud to be an American. we understood one economic factor. and even politically. I think. some of us suffered. But under the Clinton administration. if I might say. it was an investment and revenue. and we turned the economy around. And we werent down in the soup. We knew we had to tighten our belt. We even did a budget reform in 1997. if I can bring back ancient history. But 20 million jobs were created. I know there are a lot of pundits and economists who want to say that we are on our last legs. Dont tell that to the American people. Were not on our last leg. Your area is going to be resilient because we are going to help you. You might have thought. as we come to this very somber weekend. that New York and Manhattan were on their last leg in 2001. That might have been our assumption. our conclusion when we were so overwhelmed with grief. Look at them now. Why? Because weve put publicthe Federal Governmentand private partnership together. and they are restored in terms of their infrastructure. This is what were talking about. Another economic point that I want to make very quickly: I have no angst against China and India. but I am disappointed that. again. a number of economic talking heads want to compare economies. Understand what is happening. What they are saying is that the growth in those areas is surpassing us. Do you understand that we have been growing now for almost two centuries? We started the Industrial Revolution in the 1900s. and no one could catch us. Were nowI dont want to say we are coasting. but we have our economic challenges because that is almost what economics is about. The growth that theyre talking about is the fact that there is something to grow. They didnt have anything. And so if they are growing. they are growing because they are developing this new. if you will. level of income in their citizens. their middle class. But at the same time. they have this huge economic pit hole which is the number of poor and impoverished. No one comments on that. What I am suggesting is that America is still the greatest economy in the world. We have challenges. but I am tired of hearing: Deficit. deficit. We have to cut spendingbecause it means we have no vision. And if you really want to understand what we need to do. we need to do this: We need to build the inventors who are out there. When I say "build them." build them up. The President is going to talk about patent bills. and we have to do what you have so eloquently dictated. But I just want everybody to know that America is not broke. nor are we broke of ideas. I believe that Make It In America. with investing in America. with building revenue and deficit reduction. we are the nation that many will still look to for its greatness. I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this particular Special Order. and I just say this: Jobs. jobs. jobs.