Charles Rangel: “the President and many national leaders are asking us to stimulate the economy by putting together a package and…”

“the President and many national leaders are asking us to stimulate the economy by putting together a package and presenting it to the President for his signature. Some may remember it was this House that passed the so-called stimulus package, but what was in it? Hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate tax cuts, and little if no notice was given to the hundreds of thousands of people that are unemployed. That is the Republican stimulus package. Yet Members are ridiculing the Senate for not moving. What they fail to realize is that the leadership of the committee is not on the Senate side. The chairmanship of the committee comes from the House side from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. Mr. Speaker, it would seem to me that if we were serious about doing something, the committee would have a meeting. What most Americans and Members do not know, we have not met since last Wednesday. If there is an urgency, let us not blame the Senate. Let us find out where the blame is, and have Members of Congress not having press conferences or fund-raisers, but coming together trying to resolve this difference.”