Amy Klobuchar: “I am honored to be here to speak out in favor of the economic recovery plan. Anyone in Minnesota can tell you that when…”

“I am honored to be here to speak out in favor of the economic recovery plan. Anyone in Minnesota can tell you that when it is 20 below, as it has been the last month, and your battery is dead and you need to get to work, your No. 1 priority is to get a jump-start right away, not stand around talking about it and debating and using the old ideas from the past. That is what this economic recovery plan is about, a jump-start. Yesterday, we learned that the U.S. economy lost another 598,000 jobs and the unemployment rate jumped to 7.6 percent. We lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs last month--the largest 1-month decline in 26 years. Since January of 2007, we have lost a staggering 1 million jobs in the construction industry. Industries across the board, from retail, to transportation, to financial services are shedding jobs. In my home State of Minnesota, the unemployment rate rose to 6.9 percent last month--the highest it has been in over 20 years. With each passing day we get more bad news: rounds of layoffs, dropping consumer confidence, and increasing debt. Behind all the statistics and numbers are real families in Minnesota.…”