Bob Filner: “We have heard the expression, ``It's the economy, stupid.'' Well, it's the infrastructure, stupid. It's jobs, stupid. I…”

“We have heard the expression, ``It's the economy, stupid.'' Well, it's the infrastructure, stupid. It's jobs, stupid. I know that the chairman, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), thinks about jobs all the time, as does our ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski). It is jobs, jobs, jobs. And that is what the infrastructure of this country provides. We have a bill here that is $100 billion less than it should be. To my simple math that works out to a loss of 4.5 million jobs. We are losing $600 billion worth of economic activities over the next 5 or 6 years. I do not understand an administration that is a ``donor'' administration in terms of its jobs that it has not created. By supporting a bigger bill, it could be a ``donee'' administration and actually create jobs, and that is what we need in this country today. There is a controversy, I understand, about donor-donee. There does not have to be. The gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), both want a 95 percent guarantee for every State, and they had it in the bill that we should have passed. And I say to the people who want to have that 95 percent guarantee, do not change this bill; vote for a bigger bill. We can afford it. We can be fiscally responsible.”