On the recordSeptember 22, 2011
I thank my friend for yielding. Tomorrow will be yet another Friday without a paycheck for too many Americans. For many Americans, this may be the week that their unemployment benefits finally run out and they have no income left whatsoever. For many Americans, this might be the last weekend they spend in their home because the eviction notice or the foreclosure process comes due next week. There has been a natural disaster this summer in America, but there has been an economic disaster in America for a very long time. Fifteen days ago, the President of the United States came to this Chamber and in good faith laid out a plan to put Americans back to work. In those 15 days, this majority has had no hearings, no discussions, and no votes on the President's plan to put the country back to work. Until today, it was accurate to say they had done nothing about the job situation in America. Today, they've done something. They put forward a bill that destroys a program that has created 39,000 jobs in the private sector. My friend from California talked about the new deal that GM may strike to build the new generation of cars in China. With all due respect, that's the point. The purpose of this program is to make sure that the next generation of cars is built by Americans and sold to Chinese, not built by Chinese and sold to Americans. So if we let this bill pass, we are waving the white flag of surrender on the next generation of vehicles.…
