Bill Delahunt: “if I can just interrupt for a minute, I think the question you are posing is, what are our national priorities in a time…”

“if I can just interrupt for a minute, I think the question you are posing is, what are our national priorities in a time like this where people are pressed and there is a tremendous degree of economic uncertainty? One only has to take a look at the Dow Jones today. The Dow Jones went down another 100 points today. Last week it was around 300 points. The week before that it was 200 points. Most Americans are looking at their 401(k), Mr. Speaker, and they are noticing that they are slipping behind. I dare say, Mr. Speaker, if you compared the Dow Jones Index today with the Dow Jones Index in the last several months of the Clinton administration, you would discover that after 6 years, after some 6 years of economic policies that only favor not just the middle class and the upper middle class, but the super- rich, you will discover that the Dow Jones hasn't moved. All of those people who were planning on the customary growth in the Dow Jones so they could retire are now finding themselves compelled to work more years so that they can sustain themselves, so they simply can sustain themselves. Our friend from Ohio, Ms. Kaptur, she can tell you that in terms of the old-time pensions when somebody worked for years for a company and then they retired, they got a pension every month that they could count on, plus their savings, those pensions are gone. They no longer exist. They are gone.…”