Political Quotes

“I think what he has said this morning is further evidence of the efforts that have been made on this side of the aisle to try to enact an economic stimulus package that is balanced and fair and really will help America move forward. Whether we live in South Dakota or Illinois or in the State of Georgia, we know we have faced a downturn in the economy which has cost us thousands of jobs across America. I have met with some of these workers. Since August 21, more than 800,000 of them have exhausted their unemployment insurance benefits. They still remain unemployed. In the week following September 11, the Department of Labor reported that unemployment insurance claims reached a 9-year high. So the economy was soft going into the tragedy of September 11 and certainly aggravated by that terrible event. We have seen a dramatic loss of jobs across America in so many different industries. As to the airline industry, where we tried to make an heroic effort to provide a lifeline to that industry to keep the planes flying, we may have given them some hope, but certainly they have had to lay off employees and cut back schedules.”