John A. Boccieri: “When President Barack Obama came to town, he brought hope and promise: hope that our best days were still ahead of us…”

“When President Barack Obama came to town, he brought hope and promise: hope that our best days were still ahead of us and that we would work together; promise that if we invested in our country and in our people, we could overcome any challenge in our country. However, my friends on the other side have come with hope and promise as well. They hoped that the President would fail and they promised to vote against every piece of legislation that he offered and that we offered in this House. My friends, when President Clinton left office, there was a $5.6 trillion projected surplus. What we have been left with is a $13 trillion debt. Our economy was in free-fall: two undeclared, unfunded wars; a banking system in chaos and greed on Wall Street. Now, if you don't stand with the stimulus that's going to invest in our country, in our people, and you voted against us, what did you stand for? Well, we don't know what they are standing for but we certainly know what they are against: a cost of living adjustment for seniors on Social Security, extensions of unemployment for out-of-place workers, extensions of COBRA insurance so that folks who lost their jobs can have insurance, and the largest tax cut in America's history. The world is changed not by critics but by leaders, Mr. Speaker.”