Peter Visclosky: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I rise in opposition to the measure. During the debate on the rule on this…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I rise in opposition to the measure. During the debate on the rule on this measure, Joplin, Missouri was mentioned quite often. But I would mention that there is an emergency as far as Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is concerned; Hamburg, Iowa, is concerned; Cairo, Illinois, is concerned; Springfield, Massachusetts, certainly; Joplin, Missouri; Smithville, Mississippi; Williston, North Dakota; States like Vermont. Subsequent to the rains and floods of this spring, we've had earthquakes, we've had wildfires, we had hurricanes. The current need of the Army Corps is about $2.257 billion, so the first observation I would make is the offsets that are set aside in this bill are certainly inadequate to cover that amount. But there is a further emergency in this country, and that is the fact that, as of August of this year, there were 13,967,000 Americans who were without work. In the year 2000, 8 percent of the people who live in the great State of Indiana were living in poverty. Today, 16 percent of the people in the State of Indiana are living in poverty, and for those we represent who are working today, for 1 hour's worth of their labor, they're making 53 cents less today in real purchasing power than they did in 1977. {time} 2340 Today, there are 6,643,000 less Americans working in manufacturing making a living wage than there were in 1977.…”