Dennis Kucinich

You know, when you look at state statutes for manslaughter, let us say you had 100,000 cases of manslaughter nationally, and there were only a few dozen prosecuted, people would start to ask questions about what is wrong with the law.

Workplace safety, which should be a basic right, is not.

There is really a two-class society here when it comes to the concerns of workers and the concerns of corporate executives.

I think that I am hopeful that either in this committee or another committee, we will have OSHA in front of us.

It is an anathema to me as to why, 40 years after the OSHA law was passed... we are sitting here today having a discussion.

When you look at state statutes for manslaughter... people would start to ask questions about what is wrong with the law.

I think we have to be aware of the capabilities of existing law here.

With all this money being available, it seems to me we should be able to hire people to knock on doors to tell people what programs are available.

I voted for the stimulus in the hopes that the money is going to get to help the people for whom it is intended.

I think that the money that could stimulate business in communities like Bedford-Stuyvesant, I have greater concern, because unless there is some intentional mechanism to open up avenues that have been previously been closed, the money is…

What kind of effort is being made so that all this money that's coming doesn't just go to the big name contractors who don't necessarily find a way to link up with minority departments?

So, some of the money that's coming from the Federal Government, in fact, is going into the Treasury and you reinvest that money, right?

Now, the U.S. Government gives you $1.8 billion. What do you do with it? Where does it go, physically?

But what kind of effort is being made? Have you had meetings already with minority business entrepreneurs telling them how they become part of the program?

I want to find out the role of the banks in this chain of custody of the money.

And when will that $4 billion be finally received?

There's no doubt that New York and other cities across the country are experiencing severe declines in their tax revenues, which is creating huge needs and demands.

I want to know if any money is sitting around waiting to find a program while there are people around the country waiting for a job.

I'm only interested where national stimulus funds are going in.

Mr. Skyler, how much funds have the city of New York received already from this program?

According to the revenue architects, we need over $2 trillion in repairs for infrastructure.

I think one of the things that we will be doing with this committee is that we really analyze how much of a stimulus this stimulus package is for the economy.

Even though we're in an economic downturn, we intended to continue with those positions. We did not have the funds to do so until the full stimulus money came through.

So, these stimulus funds, and this goes into a question, and I'm sure it's raised--they're being used to supplement additional spending--you're not substituting for city spending?

How much longer we can go on spending these ridiculous amounts of money, especially in a time when we are adding $4 trillion to our national debt?