Date: 2010-03-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I thank the Congresswoman from Ohio. And I rushed back because I was listening to you and this debate on the floor of the House. Let me bring you greetings from NBCLEO. which is the component of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. city council members and many mayors. And I mentioned you and Congresswoman BARBARA LEE. who I know was already on the floor. and Congressman EMANUEL CLEAVER and others that came. Let me add to the cry and the desperate need for work for the chronically unemployed. This is a time when we must focus on this effort. I met with my local governmental agency that receives Federal funding. and they are begging not only for the chronically unemployed. which they are familiar with. but summer youth jobs. And this is the work of the Congressional Black Caucus. to focus on those who have been left along the wayside. We are grateful for the leadership of this President that understands the value and importance of making sure that everyone has a job. I stopped calling the Recovery Act "stimulus." I call it an investment. an investment in people. I dont let anyone tag me with a stimulus bill. Stimulating. It is investing. It is building roads and bridges. It is putting people back to work. We want to make sure that those people who have been unemployed for a long period of time. who still have hope. who still have abilities to be able to work. want to make sure that those who have paid their time. who are rehabilitated. who have families. who may have had a. if you will. a start that wasnt the best start. may have deviated from the straight road but are now trying to ensure that their families are taken care of. exfelons. should be able to have training. We want to work with unions to ensure that they open vastly the opportunities for people to be trained in apprenticeships. And we want to make sure that small and minority businesses. who in fact are the backbone of this economy in terms of employment. get the opportunity through our transportation infrastructure rebuild to be able to both participate in the contractual process of rebuild and then at the same time go into our communities and build. I want to say also that the faith community can be a real partner to us. They can be the sources of recruitment. I have spoken to my pastors in my own congressional district. They are eager to work with us to provide resources and sites and populations of those who can be employed. This is a crucial effort that the Congressional Black Caucus is initiating. our day on Wednesday when we will be speaking. in essence. truth to power. where we will be talking about the chronically unemployed. summer youth jobs. and public jobs. Maybe we cannot do the WPA as we did in World War II. but we can have a focus to ensure that there is an opportunity for every single American to have a job. And I would say in closing that the challenge is not hard. because we are talking about census tracts. And census tracts have people from all walks of life. They are Caucasian. they are Latino. they are African American. they are Asian. We are talking about going into the census tracts that are documented as impoverished. We want to get those people who want to work. who can work. If we lift their boat. if we provide them with the opportunity for income. they are renting. they are buying. they are circulating the dollar inside our community. If we give small businesses the opportunity. they are growing. they are multiplying. and they are placed inside those communities. And if we give the summer youth job program the boost that it needs to have. what an amazing opportunity to get young people not only to be committed to work and understand what work is. but to be able to invest in the community. to be able to buy school supplies. school uniforms. and also to be able to help their family. I think that this effort is long overdue. I look forward to working with President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to thank the chairwoman. BARBARA LEE. I want to thank Congresswoman FUDGE and the economic task force. which I am proud to be working with. And. finally. what I would say is I am going to speak about them later on this week. but Jack Yates won the State championship for basketball. and they are rated as the number one high school basketball team in the Nation. I only cite them to say that our young people are not our yesterdays. They are not our todays. Excuse me. they are not our future. They are our todays. And as they play sports and they are academically geared as we want them to do. lets give them an opportunity to work and to invest in themselves and to help them go forward in their college education. Im excited about what we are doing. It is something that cannot be left along the wayside. We cannot forget those who have been forgotten for too long. I believe that our theme should be the chronically unemployed not yesterday. and not even in the future. but today. We must answer the question to provide opportunities for them.