Charles Rangel: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really can't understand how this discussion is dealing with Republicans and Democrats. When…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really can't understand how this discussion is dealing with Republicans and Democrats. When someone loses his job and loses his health care, loses his dignity and pride and ability to take care of his or her rent or pay the mortgage or tuition in school, when they make applications for unemployment compensation, I really don't think that people ask: Are you a Republican or a Democrat? And this is true of health insurance as well as it is for education and job training. This is what makes America great, not the majority or minority party. At the end of the day, what have we done as Congress and a part of government to allow people to put their hopes and dreams together so that we can get a full recovery? For those who are critical of this bill for what it hasn't done, it's only one step as we attempt to move forward to get America back to work. That's what we all want. For those who say that too much is given to government, my God, we're talking about putting people back to work so that they have the ability to buy from small business people. We eliminate taxes for capital gains if you invest in small businesses. We provide incentives for startup funds so that people can have the small businesses. And there's not a mayor, there's not a Governor, who doesn't truly believe that putting people to work on infrastructure, building schools, getting involved in low-income housing--we're talking about jobs.”