Rob Andrews: “The country has a job crisis. We have the same private sector jobs we did in 2001 and 14 percent more people looking for…”

“The country has a job crisis. We have the same private sector jobs we did in 2001 and 14 percent more people looking for work. One of the ways to solve that job crisis, not the only way, is to try to keep interest rates stable and low so entrepreneurs can invest. Today represents a terrible wasted opportunity. On the other side of this Capitol this very morning, three Democratic Senators and three Republican Senators came together and said they were ready to embrace a plan that begins by cutting spending about $3 out of every $4. It cuts social programs. It would cut defense, get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It would take a serious look at Medicare and Social Security, which are in many cases contributing to this deficit. And it would say that those who benefit from ethanol subsidies and oil company tax breaks, the wealthiest people in this country would have to pay a little bit more to pay their fair share. Something like that is what should be on the floor here this afternoon because it can pass, the President can sign it, and it can solve the fiscal problems of this country or take a step in the right direction. But we don't have something like that. Instead, we have a plan that says the following and puts it in the Constitution: The guy who runs an ethanol company who gets massive public subsidies to make profits is completely left alone. He doesn't have to do anything.…”