Political Quotes

“It is good to be back on the floor once again as we have for most every week to talk about jobs in America, to talk about the unemployed, to talk about those who are less fortunate and those who need a strong Federal program to create jobs. I often start with this because it is kind of the compass, the touchstone of what, at least, I would like to think we ought to be doing. This is from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is actually on one of the marble slabs at his memorial here in Washington, D.C. It reads this way: The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. All across America today there are far too many that have too little. A couple of weeks ago, I did a jobs fair in Fairfield, California. It was about 38 degrees outside that day, and we had just under 1,000 people come to that jobs fair--there were about 50 employers--and maybe 50-70 people actually got jobs. This is a picture of the men and women that were lined up waiting to get in to have a very quick interview with one or more of those 50 potential employers. I have used this photo before here on the floor to point out the need for a jobs program here in America. The President 2 years ago in his State of the Union put forth a proposal. It had several elements--and we will probably cover some of those today--but it has not been enacted.…”