Al Franken: “I thank the Chair. That is too bad. I was going over what happened, reviewing what happened once the stimulus package…”

“I thank the Chair. That is too bad. I was going over what happened, reviewing what happened once the stimulus package had been passed in February, when unemployment was over 8 percent. And we can see as it started taking effect we lost less and less jobs and have since had 30 straight months of private sector job growth. I said we could ask economists. Most reputable economists, including those of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, agree the Recovery Act created or saved anywhere from 2.5 million to 3.5 million jobs. In the words of Mark Zandi, the economic adviser to Senator John McCain in his 2008 Presidential campaign, the Federal policy response to the financial crisis, including the stimulus, ``probably averted what could have been called the Great Depression 2.0.'' But we don't have to take the word of Mark Zandi. We don't have to take the word of all the other reputable economists. We don't even have to take the word of the Congressional Budget Office, although the CBO sort of exists for those of us in Congress. We can ask Jamie, Cecil, and Sheila. This is Jamie, working on the Duluth Lift Bridge a couple years back. This is a picture of Cecil, who is working on a highway extension project. Let's give Cecil his due. He is working on a highway extension project in Brooklyn Park in the suburban Twin Cities. Then we have Sheila. This is Sheila in front of her Bobcat working the night shift on an I-94 improvement project.…”