On the recordDecember 1, 2010
first of all, let me congratulate you on your victory and welcome you to the Senate. I know you will be a great addition to the Senate. I have already enjoyed serving with you on the HELP Committee this morning. Mr. President, I rise for just a few minutes to talk about three issues--jobs, the economy, and housing--that I think all of us around the country will recognize are the three biggest problems thwarting our recovery. There are some realistic solutions that are out there that I think we could all come together on if we would just take the time to realize that working on disagreement rather than finding agreement is not serving the Senate very well right now. One of the reasons we have had a slow job recovery is because of the uncertainty American businesses and American wage earners have in what their tax rates are going to be. I ran a company. It started out as a small company, and it became a pretty good-sized company. This was the time of year--every December-- when we had our managers' retreat, and we would plan what we would do the next year. We would do our budget, we would talk about new hires, new departments, and new ideas. Right now, corporations and small businesses in this country that are sitting around their planning retreats and talking about next year do not know what their tax rates are going to be, they do not know what their regulatory environment is going to be.
