Joe Crowley: “less than a week after the September 11 attack on America, this Congress passed a bailout package bill for the airline…”

“less than a week after the September 11 attack on America, this Congress passed a bailout package bill for the airline industry overwhelmingly, despite objections from this side of the aisle. We were told to have faith in the leadership of the Republican side of the aisle to address the issues of displaced workers. So much for faith. This bill does nothing to provide an influx of money into our economy, something that should be part of any stimulus package. It provides nothing to take care of the workers who need assistance like the 100,000 aviation employees thrown out of work in the past 6 weeks. It includes nothing to fund hiring and training of 75,000 new firefighters. I am from New York; and I have been to ground zero, as many of my colleagues have been. But the rebuilding of New York has begun, and thanks to this Congress it has begun, but we are nowhere near finished. We need to provide incentive for business to remain in New York City to keep our financial services sector strong. We need to provide assistance to our travel industry to help Americans know New York is open for business. We need to provide funding to rebuild and strengthen the infrastructure of New York. This was an attack on America and not just on New York. Do not further assault New Yorkers by neglecting them. This bill is not a stimulus package but an impediment package. I ask my colleagues to vote it down”