Paul Tonko

What I think has been sparked here is a sense of optimism. We see the confidence growing. And so that can't help but grow the economy and get a fresher feel. Because people were weighted down by this recession, which was extremely painful…

The change is working. The contrast is stark. The choice is clear. It has been a climb out of the toughest times America has known, but we need to continue to pursue in the direction, I believe, that has been strengthening our economy and…

It is important for us, I believe, Madam Speaker, to talk about the changed order of policies, the new direction, the opportunities that we believe are essential if we are going to grow this economy after having witnessed what many would…

Well, I think the contrast is clear. You know, when it came to whether you want a watchdog in the equation, when it comes to Wall Street behavior, Democrats in the House say yes. Republicans say no. Do you want to have consumer protection…

And I think the results here are driven by a number of things, choices, contrasts. The choice here was to put American families, American workers, small business, as a high priority. No more alignment with Big Oil, big banks, insurance…

The Wall Street reform legislation gave us a golden opportunity to fix what is broken on Wall Street, to deal with consumer protection when it comes to predatory lending, when it came to addressing executive bonuses and salaries, when it…

As these instruments were invented to circumvent regulation, the Democrats have said yes, we're concerned about that. We want to fix it. Republicans say no. The vote was clear. No to Wall Street reform. You look at the GDP growth. You look…

You are so very right. The gentleman from Ohio outlined the greed that was allowed to take over because there was no watchdog in the equation. Tonight, in this Special Order hour, we are sharing with the American public the sharp contrast…

If the gentlewoman would yield, what the Representative is pointing to in the red is 18 months' worth of activity, $17.5 trillion worth. That is $1 trillion per month.

And obviously the decline did not happen overnight. We saw that there were months upon months upon years of activity that really did not respond favorably to the needs of America's consumers, America's business community, in particular her…

Thank you, Representative Dahlkemper, and thank you, Representative Wasserman Schultz, for bringing us together this evening to share the facts and just the facts, which I think is an important bit of exchange and messaging that needs to…

One can't help but wonder what would have happened if these economic policies were continued to rule the outcome. If they had continued to rule the outcome, we would have probably hit the Great Depression level. And so I think the effort…

I believe that, to the messaging out there, there could be those critics that want to resort to phantom statistics. But when you look at what is happening out there, there is no denying that these bits of fact that we are sharing here this…

You know, when I spoke of the small town, the small city that we shared in the good news with yesterday, the city of Waterbury in Albany County in Upstate New York, that is one expression of what could be repeated, is being repeated over…

Absolutely. And thank you again for bringing us together this evening. It's a pleasure to join with our colleague from New Mexico and you from the State of Florida to really share these regional observations because it's happening across…

I rise today in support of H. Res. 1280, a resolution that I introduced to recognize National Healthy Schools Day. National Healthy Schools Day recognizes the importance of having a clean, healthy and safe indoor environment in our…

In the aftermath of health care reform, one can't help but ask rhetorically why there would be forces out there that would deny progress? Why promote misinformation? Why refuse to set up exchanges for the business community? Why promote a…

And I think there's such a coupling here. I think if we can speak to the focus, the vision, that the Democratic majority in the House embraces, it's pushing efforts the way of small business. So many of these entrepreneurial efforts, the…

I think it is interesting, as you pointed out, this whole Earth Day celebration covers a multitude of needs, but a multitude of opportunities that transcends a number, just travels over so many dynamics out there, from agriculture, to…

Thank you, Chairman Inslee, and thank you for your leadership with SEEC, the Sustainable Energy and Environmental Coalition. I think as we reference our comments this evening to Earth Day as a celebration tomorrow, we think back to 1970…

I certainly think that this move to innovation, which can be a job growth factor, if that's being denied simply because of an association, a kinship, a partnership with Big Oil, with industries out there as an industry, with big oil…

Just recently my district hosted the only stop in New York State, actually in Schenectady, of the Operation Free Tour. As you know, it's a bus tour being conducted by veterans for American power and they are doing a coast-to-coast tour…

I think both you and I see the merit that is brought forth by working through SEEC as a coalition to provide that green outspokenness and to work with our partners in government to make sure we respond to their, perhaps, district concerns…

Well, this evening, we are going to be speaking about those advancements in public policy terms that allow us to go forward with a very meaningful agenda to continually respond as an American public to the dynamics of Earth Day. It is hard…

Yes. I was just going to indicate that when we look at the impact of the Recovery Act, the stimulus package on our State economies, Dr. Kagen, Representative Kagen, is very correct that the whole effort here was to provide that job growth…