Max Baucus: “I say to my friend from Alabama, I don't plan to take a lot of time--maybe 10 minutes total. Mr. President, in 1934…”

“I say to my friend from Alabama, I don't plan to take a lot of time--maybe 10 minutes total. Mr. President, in 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. President Roosevelt said these words at a fireside chat nearly 80 years ago. Our economy was slowly on the path of recovery after suffering the worst financial crash in American history. Roosevelt had turned his focus to helping the ``permanent army of unemployed'' Americans--those Americans who didn't have jobs. His resulting investment in America's human resources put millions of people back to work. Today, we face a similar situation. After a significant financial crisis, our economy is in tough shape. Our economic recovery is fragile but improving. Housing foreclosures have slowed and investors are looking for new opportunities. We have a long way to go. But 14 million Americans are still looking for work--and that is just unemployed. If you add the underemployed, it is probably closer to 20 million, and maybe more than that. Like President Roosevelt, we must bolster our investment in American human resources because, as in 1934, America's strength is in its people. When people are denied the opportunity to work, they are denied the dignity that comes with that work--let alone the income, let alone providing for their families.…”