On the recordMarch 21, 2012
I thank my friend for yielding. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or conservative, no matter where you live, I think most people agree that the number one issue confronting our country is the lack of jobs for the American people. It is the central issue of our times, central problem of our times. The American people want us to look forward and work together and solve that problem rather than looking backward and relitigating political debates. One hundred ninety-five days ago, the President of the United States came to this Chamber and set forth a series of specific ideas to put Americans back to work. One of those ideas was to put construction workers back to work in repairing and building our roads and bridges, building schools, wiring schools for the Internet, and in putting our construction industry and transportation industry back to work. We're going to spend 6 hours debating whether to repeal part of the health care bill--again. We're not going to spend 6 minutes debating a bill that would put our construction workers back to work fixing our roads and bridges. The Republican leadership of the House is kind of isolated on this because Democrats in the other body voted for a bill to put our construction workers back to work; and Republicans in the other body voted for the same bill. Three-quarters of the Senate voted for a bill to put our construction workers back to work. The Democrats are ready to vote for that bill.…
