Date: 2010-05-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. TONKO. I really appreciate your comments. I know that the folks listening do as well. Madam Speaker. I think one of the important facts that we need to talk about tonight. as well. is the stark reality that we are in an election year. and in a few months our constituents are going to have a choice. Elections are. after all. about choices. And we have an opportunity here to present the choice that the American people are going to have to make decisions on. They can go back to the ways of the last 8 years prior to President Obamas inauguration in which the taxcutting policy in America was focused exclusively on the wealthiest few and the middle class was essentially left out of the discussion. There was absolutely no focus on making sure that middle class tax cuts and job creation. targeted tax cuts and job creation would be focused on the middle class. I served in the minority and the majority during the Bush administration. and I can tell you that in neither 2year period was there any discussion of how to get the middle class back to work. how to get small business back. Small business was never discussed under the Bush administration or the Republican leadership. Their focus was big business. corporate interests. as we saw with the collapse of Wall Street and. as a result. the collapse of our economy. And now when. as President Obama said. we have come in. President Obama was inaugurated and he is trying to clean up the mess he was handed. the Republicans refuse to even grab a mop. I mean. he is here mopping away. and not only do they refuse to grab a mop. to quote President Obama. but they also criticize the way he is holding the mop. I mean. its just reallywell. its nothing short of brazen behavior. There is an expression for it. but on the House floor I wont use that expression. I think another important point. Mr. TONKO. that cant be overlooked is when I have been out there at home. I come from a State that does not have a manufacturing base. We are a servicebased economy. a tourismbased economy. and our economy was quite focused and dependent upon housing. We had a tremendous bubble in Florida. The bubble burst. and now. because the housing market has not rebounded at the same rates as the rest of the economy. we are still struggling with a higher average unemployment rate. You will hear our friends on the other side of the aisle. Mr. ALTMIRE. talk about. well. you can talk about all this fabulous job creation. but the unemployment rate still ticked up last month. Well. its important to understand that the reason that the unemployment rate ticked up is because you have about 800.000 people who began looking for work again who had taken themselves out of the process because it was hopeless. because there was absolutely no chance of a recovery in their minds. And if they looked for a job. in their mind. it would have been pointless. So in an odd way. its actually a good thing in the short term that the unemployment rate ticks up a little bit. because we know the unemployment rate has been artificially a little bit lower because of the people who have simply not been looking for work. And now because. as Mr. ALTMIRE noted. U.S. consumer confidence in April reached its highest levels since September of 2008. we have an increase in the GDP. an increase in the manufacturing base. pending home sales up for the fifth straight month. All of these economic indicators are moving dramatically in the right direction. And as a result. we are going to be able to really begin to ramp up our progress. and its very exciting. I want to spend some time tonight talking about. besides the Recovery Act. the other things that we have been doing to really put small businesses back in the black. make sure that they can have an opportunity to make hiring decisions and add to their workforce. With that. if the gentleman from New Mexico is ready. its a pleasure to be joined by Mr. HEINRICH of New Mexico.