On the recordJune 19, 2012
I thank my friend, and it's so good to see her energy and enthusiasm back on this floor with us today. We welcome her. 286 days ago, the President of the United States came to this Chamber and addressed the number one problem that I hear about from my constituents, which is jobs for the American people. I know that this bill raises very serious and important issues, and I applaud its authors and sponsors for bringing it to the House floor, but I think it's the wrong bill on the wrong day. The President said that we should cut taxes for small businesses if they hire people. But we haven't taken a vote on that proposal, and we're not going to take one today. The President said that we should put construction workers back to work building bridges and roads and our electric infrastructure, our intellectual infrastructure, but we're not voting on that proposal today. The President said that firefighters and police officers and teachers who have been taken off the job should be put back on the job so they can spend money in the stores and the restaurants, but we're not voting on that proposal today, and we haven't voted it on it on any of the 286 days since the President proposed it. Instead, we have the proposal in front of us that, again, is very serious, raises a lot of issues.…
