this is a pretty straightforward vote for us today. In essence, everything in this jobs bill is bipartisan. Everything in it is bipartisan. I can tell my colleagues right now that my Republican colleagues tell me they want to reauthorize this highway trust fund through the end of the year. They want to make sure the trust fund has the dollars it needs. Well, then, what is the reason why one might not vote to end the filibuster? Some say we didn't get everything we wanted in this bill. Well, neither did I. There are many things I would like to see in a jobs bill, believe me. I didn't get them in this bill because Senator Reid said we have to go slowly. We are going to have these smaller packages. They are more understandable. I think he has a point. But each of us could write our own jobs bill. Senator McConnell could write his. I could write mine. The fact is, what Senator Reid has done is to take four provisions that are bipartisan in nature and put them in this jobs package. Frankly, I don't know how anyone could face their constituents in a time of unemployment that we are seeing now. Even though we have certainly gone from bleeding--600,000 jobs a month, 700,000 jobs a month--to very few in comparison, we have a long way to go. Building the infrastructure of this Nation is done by the private sector. We hear the Republicans on the other side say: Well, we want this to be built by the private sector. That is how this program works.…
On the recordFebruary 22, 2010
Editor's note · Context
The speaker addresses the bipartisan nature of a jobs bill and the need for infrastructure investment.
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