Paul Tonko: “Thank you, Representative Yarmuth, and thank you for leading us in this discussion. It is rather interesting to hear…”

“Thank you, Representative Yarmuth, and thank you for leading us in this discussion. It is rather interesting to hear you, with your introductory comments, speak of the approach to one side of the ledger. What has been advertised out there, what has been messaged, is that what we have are these cuts that translate into savings: we're going to save at the expense of the middle class. We're going to cut programs for seniors, for veterans, for children, for working families, for small businesses. That will produce savings--this propensity for tens of billions of dollars' worth of cuts, for $100 billion worth of cuts, and an insatiable thirst for cutting domestic programs that really provide the dignity factor for many families as well as provide for job creation and retention. We saw what happened when we invested in job creation, which was to gain over 2 million private sector jobs in just over the last year. So we know that those investments oftentimes will lead to lucrative dividends. They will relate to programs that are required for our working families, for our middle class Americans across this great country. Also, they provide for an opportunity for job creation, which produces the sort of mix--that down payment, the priming of the pump, if you will--that makes it all happen. So, Representative Yarmuth, you are correct in talking about this as a one-sided approach.…”