Rob Andrews: “I thank my friend for yielding. 174 days ago, the President of the United States came to this floor and made a series of…”

“I thank my friend for yielding. 174 days ago, the President of the United States came to this floor and made a series of proposals to help small businesses and big businesses create jobs for the American people. Only one element of that jobs plan has been dealt with, belatedly, which is the extension of the middle class tax cut. There has been no vote on a bill to create construction jobs, on the rebuilding of our libraries and schools; no vote on a bill to cut taxes for small businesses that create jobs; no vote on bills that would put our police officers and firefighters back on the job or our teachers back in the classroom. Nothing. Now, the bill that is before us today is very important, not just for California but for the country, and it is something that needs to be taken up. I respect all views on all sides, but I think it's time that the House leadership respected the urgent economic problems of this country. Since the President came here, there has been another increasingly urgent economic problem, which is the manipulation of gasoline prices by speculators, and Americans are seeing the consequences of this at the pump every day. Members on our side have some ideas to stop this speculation and to stop the pillaging of the wallets of American consumers at the gas pumps every day. Not surprisingly, that's not coming up for a vote either. The priorities of the House are misaligned with the priorities of the American people.…”