On the recordSeptember 8, 2011
When the President steps into this Chamber tonight, he will be addressing an American public that has grown weary of unfulfilled promises and empty, prepackaged rhetoric. He will be speaking to a restless Nation that grows louder than ever in its demand for strong, visionary leadership from its government leaders. They want solutions. Not one job was added during the entire month of August. I will remind all of us that it requires 150,000 new jobs each and every month for this country's economy just to break even. For 31 straight months, the unemployment rate has been above 8 percent, the lowest percentage of Americans holding a job in 28 years, over half of my lifetime. Two hundred nineteen newly planned regulations are on tap for the American people if not stopped, costing over $100 million each. The average small business with fewer than 20 employees faces yearly regulatory costs of over $10,000. {time} 1040 Total yearly regulatory costs equal $1.75 trillion, according to the Small Business Administration. And according to the EPA Numeric Nutrient Criteria Standards, these standards would cost the State of Florida, my home state, over 14,000 agriculture jobs alone. And a GDP, I might say, that grew this year at just 0.4 percent in the first quarter. The American small business people, Mr. President, deserve real results. They will expect that tonight. They will expect that from this entire body from this point forward.…
