Nancy Pelosi: “Mr. Speaker, today our country is at a crossroads, and this debate on the floor clearly defines the choice that we have…”

“Mr. Speaker, today our country is at a crossroads, and this debate on the floor clearly defines the choice that we have to make. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) at that crossroads offers us a path to expand opportunity in our country and to grow community. The gentleman from New York, as we make this important decision, knows that nothing less is at stake than our technological, industrial, and manufacturing base. The path that the gentleman from New York will take us down is one that will stop the hemorrhaging of U.S. jobs overseas. The gentleman from New York will strengthen our base. That is a decision we have to make. Are we going to strengthen that base, which is so essential to our national security, so essential to job creation in our country? Or are we going to abandon it? The gentleman from New York strengthens it. The Republican proposal abandons it. But I have to give the Republicans credit, I really have to give them credit, because they are consistent. They are consistently the handmaidens of the special interests at the expense of the public interest and the public good.”