Jobs and the Economy
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FUDGE. Madam Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour on jobs and the economy.
Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.
CBC members are advocates for the human family, nationally and internationally, and have played a significant role as local and regional activists. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress, but we understand that all politics are local. Therefore, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens and to the congressional districts we serve. The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus to promote the public welfare through legislation, designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens, continues to be a focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.
I would now yield to our leader, our chairwoman, the Honorable Barbara Lee from California.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you so much, my friend and colleague, Mr. Johnson, who is always on top of issues. I so much appreciate you joining us this evening. It is always a pleasure to hear your views on the various topics that we cover. Thank you so much.
Madam Speaker, I would now like to take an opportunity to, as well, yield to a person who has been very active in discussing the issue of jobs, who understands very, very well some of the legislation that has been passed by this House.
My friend and colleague from the State of Maryland has been active in every single issue that we have addressed in this body to deal with jobs and on the economy. And it's just, indeed, a real pleasure for me to yield some time to her this evening, because she is always very, very prepared and very knowledgeable, and I think very informative.
At this time, I would yield to my friend and colleague, the gen tle lady from Maryland (Ms. Edwards).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FUDGE. I absolutely agree with you 100 percent. If we don't start to make things again in this Nation, we may, in fact, have a permanent underclass of people who will never work again, people who grew up in blue collar communities like mine who work with their hands and by the sweat of their brow. It is going to be very difficult if we don't start to make things again.
It's going to be very difficult to come out of this recession if we don't start to look at some of the mistakes we've made in the past and try to correct them. We know how to create jobs. I know in the 8 years of the Clinton administration we created over 20 million jobs, less than 2 million under the Bush administration. We know what we're doing, if they would just allow us to do the work that the people have sent us here to do. I thank you so much.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FUDGE. I want to thank my friend for being here. She always does bring a different view. Just to see those photographs says an awful lot, you know. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and it's just important for people to understand that these are real people that we are talking about.
You talked about we need a jobs bill. We just don't need one; we need it now.
So I thank you for saying to our colleagues in the other body, especially the Republican Senators, it is time for them to understand that the American people need them now more than ever, and I thank you so much for being here.
Madam Speaker, in the fall of 2008, our economy was in its worst shape since the Great Depression. Predatory and subprime lending were at an all-time high. The housing bubble had just burst and many of our largest financial institutions had gone bankrupt. Retirement and savings accounts were cut in half, forcing many to stave off retirement and continue working well into their golden years. Over 200,000 American workers were being laid off each month. In the State of Ohio, unemployment was growing rapidly, quickly approaching double-digit numbers. In my district, the unemployment rate was even higher.
In October of 2008, I arrived in Congress with the goal to help struggling Americans. My number one priority has been to promote policies that create jobs and spur economic development. I have consistently advocated for such policies. The Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic leadership made it our duty and our responsibility to advocate for jobs.
Earlier this year, the House passed H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Congress Tax Loopholes Act. In Ohio alone, Madam Speaker, this legislation would have extended unemployment and COBRA benefits to 86,000 workers. It would have provided college tuition deductions to 153,000 students and allocated over $42 million for youth summer jobs.
For the Nation, H.R. 4213 would have provided $500 million to restore credit to small businesses, the same small business that are creating most of the jobs in this Nation. It would extend the research and development tax credit. And, finally, it would have granted $25 billion in bonds for infrastructure development. However, Madam Speaker, there has been no action on the part of the Senate while Americans continue to suffer.
In May of 2010, the House Appropriations Committee drafted a war supplemental that included necessary funding that protected our soldiers abroad and our workers at home. This thoughtful legislation included $23 billion to save jobs for teachers, $5.7 billion for Pell Grants, $1.2 billion for COPS grants, and $500 million to save firefighter jobs. However, once again, Madam Speaker, the Senate passed the legislation without any of these necessary job creation measures. The Senate must act now to help hardworking Americans.
The Congressional Black Caucus and the House Democratic leadership fought to keep creation and job-saving measures in this bill. We fought back and sent legislation that included $10 billion to save teachers' jobs, almost $5 billion for Pell Grants, $4.6 billion for settlements of the Pigford and Cobell discrimination cases. On Thursday, this past Thursday, the Senate once again rejected these measures.
I have always believed that it is the job of government to help its people. If we are not helping the people that we represent, I don't know why we are here.
I asked the Senate, Where is your job creation legislation? What are you doing to help teachers, to help police officers and firefighters? What are you doing to get the American people back to work?
We cannot allow American families to suffer through these difficult times any longer. They are counting on job creation measures, and we cannot let them down. I urge the Senate, Madam Speaker, to move quickly to help create jobs to get Americans back to work.
If we do not allow Americans to go back to work and make people believe that because you are unemployed you are lazy, to make people believe that because you are unemployed that you don't want to work, it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. The people I meet in my district every day, every weekend that I am home, they talk about wanting jobs. They talk about how they have been laid off. They talk about wanting to get jobs for the young people.
Do you know, this may be the first summer in history where young people's jobs may, in fact, be feeding their families, but yet we can't pass a jobs bill that will allow young people to work for the summer. If young people have things to do, maybe we wouldn't have the kinds of issues that Marcy Kaptur talked about.
We have to find a way to say to the American people that we do, in fact, hear you; that we do, in fact, know that you are our neighbors, our friends; that we know that you are the people who are in most need.
If we can't help those who need it the most, we really are a group of people who has lost sight of what our role is. I mean, yes, there are people doing very, very well here. Corporations have made more money in the last year, I think it's something like 43 percent, their profits are running 43 percent higher than they did the year before, but yet we can't take care of the everyday person on Main Street? They are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and something needs to be done.
And so I would, at this time, Madam Speaker, yield back my time with the caveat that I expect that the Senate will do its job because certainly those of us in the House will continue to do ours.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source