Alan Lowenthal: “Thank you, Congressman Takano. Our economy, as you pointed out, is being held hostage by Speaker Boehner for his refusal…”

“Thank you, Congressman Takano. Our economy, as you pointed out, is being held hostage by Speaker Boehner for his refusal to put forth a clean budget funding bill, what is called a ``continuing resolution,'' after we Democrats agreed to use his number. This is keeping us from really dealing with the real job of Congress also, which is to create jobs and to grow the economy. I've been talking to people in my district to get some specific examples of some of the impacts of this irresponsible shutdown. Then I would like to also talk about some of the personal experiences that people have called me and told me about. For example, in terms of one of my cities, the largest city in my district--the city of Long Beach--I will talk about the Small Business Administration, the SBA. In the 47th Congressional District, the SBA gives approximately $308,000 in loans per day. It has not given out one loan to small businesses in California's 47th Congressional District since the government was shut down. What about Women, Infants, and Children, the WIC program? In Long Beach alone, 25,000 women and children use WIC vouchers. That is to keep people from starving. That is to provide food. That funding runs out this month, and there is no other money to provide any funding for the WIC program. What about housing? There are 23,000 people in the city of Long Beach, and 6,600 housing units receive section 8 vouchers.…”