Political Quotes

“we have an important vote in this body tomorrow, an important vote that has a major economic impact. Our Nation is in a recession. When President Bush became President, he inherited a weakening economy. In fact, his White House housewarming was essentially a weakening economy, and it turned into a recession. Under the President's leadership, we passed a tax cut. We decided to take 20 percent of the budget surplus that resulted from our efforts to balance the budget and take that 20 cents on the dollar, the surplus, and give it back to the American people in tax relief. That tax cut was signed into law in June. By August, economists were noting that the economy was beginning to get better, and then the tragedy of the terrorist attack on September 11 occurred, the terrorist attack that cost thousands of lives, and since September 11 has cost over a million Americans their jobs. This House has responded, and of course we twice have passed an economic stimulus plan. I would note that on December 21 this House passed and sent to the Senate an economic stimulus plan to revive our economy. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to act. The bad news today is, and it was announced by the Senate majority leader, that the Senate was going to shelve any effort to revitalize this economy. That is bad news.”