Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I wish to express strong support for the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, a bill that provides funding to hire and prevent the layoff of tens of thousands of teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Difficult economic times have devastated the ranks of these critical positions. Since 2008, California alone has seen more than 70,000 educators laid off. The resources in this bill will help cities and towns across the country avoid more layoffs and start rebuilding their workforce. Nationwide, some 300,000 education jobs have been lost in the past 3 years, and State and local budget cuts will endanger as many as 280,000 teacher jobs next year. The difficult economy has also strained police departments across the country. In the past 18 months, 10,000 police officers have been laid off around the country, while 30,000 vacancies have gone unfilled. I have heard from many police departments in my home State of California that fear that this understaffing will jeopardize public safety. They are concerned that with fewer officers for patrols, investigations and other critical tasks, crime will increase. Fire departments face similar problems. Thousands of firefighters were laid off in 2009 and 2010, and another 7,000 face layoffs this year. This legislation will help communities address staffing shortages in these critical positions.…”