Hilda L. Solis: “while the President and his Republican colleagues continue to focus their attention on foreign policy, they regretfully…”

“while the President and his Republican colleagues continue to focus their attention on foreign policy, they regretfully leave behind a very important issue, one that affects millions of families across the country; that is, the economy. In the past 2 years 1.6 million people have lost their jobs, and 1.4 million more people lost their health care insurance last year alone. Americans have lost over $4.5 million in the stock market since this President took office. The massive Republican tax cut passed last year was supposed to help working families. It actually left us in a major recession. We need to increase the minimum wage. We need to extend unemployment insurance for the hardest-working people in our country that lost their jobs because of this recession. Unemployment is at 5.5, and among Hispanics in our country it is a staggering 7.4 percent. In my district alone it is 10 percent. This problem is real, and it is serious. We need to get to work on it. I ask Congress and the President to stop ignoring this issue and to come up with an economic stimulus plan for working families.”