Hilda L. Solis

The President's 2012 budget reflects difficult choices but retains the critical investments needed to get America back to work and in safe jobs

We must come together, reduce our deficit, and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt.

But we must do it in a way that protects the recovery, protects the investments we need to grow, create jobs, and helps us win the future.

There is broad agreement that the Federal Government has to start living within its means.

I have been a big proponent of reinstituting the Office of Technology Assessment, this important congressional agency.

We have created 1.1 million private-sector jobs. I am not talking about public sector; I am talking about private sector.

I think the Recovery Act money actually helped to prevent 3 million people from losing their job, where unemployment would have been much higher.

We believe that PLAs actually help to bring down the costs and provide conformity.

There are millions of Americans who have their arms, legs, eyesight, and even lives--and they don't know who they are--they have those because of OSHA, but they don't know that those were saved because of OSHA.

I think at the beginning of my statement I said that I am willing to work across the aisle to achieve the goals to help provide for a recovery, but also underscoring the importance of having worker safety and protections in place.

I look forward to working with you to ensure that we have good jobs and safe jobs for everyone.

But to win the future, we cannot cut in a way that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build our economic competitors.

On-the-job training programs actually let workers earn while they learn.

The budget of the President, announced on Monday, is a responsible plan that shows how we can live within our means, just like a household, and invest in the future.

We are getting our economy back on track with 11--11--straight months of private-sector job growth.

Restoring our economy requires ensuring the world economy is sound and balanced.

The budget before you will help spur new and better job opportunities while fostering safe workplaces.

Workers and their families are hurting in these tough economic times.

Outreach to Veterans who are homeless or are at-risk for homelessness is a cornerstone of VA homeless services.

The Recovery Act will enable the repair and improvement of the country's infrastructure, fund innovative research and development initiatives, create job opportunities for Americans, and propel the growth of 'green jobs'.

Congresswoman Solis has the credentials, judgment, expertise and dedication to America's working men and women to be one of the most outstanding Labor Secretaries in the Department's 95-year history.

We need a Secretary of Labor who understands the struggles middle-class families face and has the know-how to implement solutions.

As our disastrous trade policies result in the loss of millions of good-paying jobs in this country, going to China and elsewhere, one way that we can address that is the concept of employee ownership.

What we're asking for is funding for that program so that we can create good jobs in a desperately needed area.

I think that our situation now is such that we find ourselves where single-head-of-household women are now having to make up the differences for, maybe, an absent spouse.