Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. Thank you very much for kicking us off on a wonderful hour of discussion as to a plan…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. Thank you very much for kicking us off on a wonderful hour of discussion as to a plan to revitalize our economy and to grow the opportunities for our working families across this country. President Obama has ushered forward a wonderful package called the American Jobs Act that will enable us as an American society to respond to the crisis for jobs and to the crisis for economic recovery, all of which are incredibly valuable to the future of this country. {time} 1810 We need to invest, I believe, in a way that allows us to provide the tools that are essential for a modern-day economy and modern-day manufacturing. This proposal stands in sharp contrast to the work done a decade and a half ago, a decade ago. What was done then is this spending frenzy that paid for tax cuts for millionaires and paid for tax cuts for billionaires and bought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and offered a pharmaceutical plan for the Medicare program, all without having a payment mechanism. And so this spending frenzy, which was tremendous, it was a huge bill for the American public, had been done off budget and had no funding sources. There were no pay-fors, as they are addressed today.…”