Political Quotes

“I seek recognition as in morning business to address the Senate in reference to the state of the economy. I think most of us have read the press reports about what happened to the stock market yesterday. We certainly hope that was an anomaly and that it will not continue and that our economy rebounds quickly from what apparently has gone beyond a soft landing and is now headed toward what appears to be a harder landing. The news out of my home State of Illinois is not encouraging. This morning, Motorola announced it is cutting 7,000 more jobs in its cellular phone division, increasing to 12,000 the number it will have eliminated in operations since December. These reductions to its global workforce of more than 130,000 will take place over the next two quarters. We have seen this phenomenon not just at Motorola but at other industries across America. It raises a very important question about our responsibility in Washington to respond to what is clearly an economic challenge, if not more. I hope we in the Senate, as well as the House, working with the President, can take the current debate over a tax cut and make it part of a much larger question about economic growth in America. What is our plan? What are we, as a nation, prepared to do to turn around this economy and to start it moving forward again?…”