John Garamendi: “Mr. Tonko, thank you very, very much. Indeed, our best days are ahead of us. Even in the dismal days of the Great…”

“Mr. Tonko, thank you very, very much. Indeed, our best days are ahead of us. Even in the dismal days of the Great Depression in the thirties, Franklin Roosevelt laid it out very clearly when he said: 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. If 95 percent of the wealth that's been generated over the last 5 years winds up with 1 percent, we've got a problem, because the economy isn't going to grow and what will happen is this: hunger in America. Later this week, we'll take up the nutrition bill for this Nation. There are those who want to remove $40 billion from the nutrition programs for our children, for our seniors, for those that are unemployed, and for those that are searching for work. We can do better; we really can. The best days are ahead of us if this Congress and the Senate, together with the President, work together and lay out those plans that have informed us historically that they work. Investment--investments are those things that make America strong-- infrastructure, research, education, those are things that are timeless and work year after year. They're also things that have recently been reduced and cut. We can't let this happen in America. We cannot allow that to happen. Mr. Speaker, with that, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________”