Political Quotes

“I am fortunate to have heard the remarks of the Senator from Maine. They are excellent, and I find so much of it I agree with. I am a brandnew Senator, but I have been around the Senate for 36 years. I think in those 36 years, this is truly one of the historic moments in all the years I have been following the Senate. We are about to embark on a task that will test this institution, as we begin the debate on the response to the profound economic crisis we face. Last Monday, as my first full week as a U.S. Senator began, thousands of American workers lost their jobs. In a single day, tens of thousands of families lost their breadwinners, men and women lost the dignity that comes with work, and States and cities across the country lost the productive labor and the tax revenues those workers have provided. This was just a single bad day. But over the last couple years, the news from our economy has been increasingly disturbing. American payrolls shrank by over 2.5 million jobs last year, including 524,000 in December alone, touching every corner of this country. The accelerating pace of unemployment tells us there is more bad news to come. Along with laid-off workers, we have unused productivity capacity. Thirty percent of our manufacturing strength is idle. It is no wonder that Americans are cautious about spending. But their caution, as we know, is reinforcing the slowdown.”