Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I very much thank Senator Harkin, the chairman of the HELP Committee, for his advocacy always for the middle class, advocacy always for those who aspire to the middle class, and especially the jobs bill. I particularly appreciate his comments about school construction. That is a major component of the jobs bill. My State has gone through a pretty good period under Governor Taft, who is not in the same political party as I am but he is a friend of mine who launched a program 10 years or so ago in Ohio to begin to replace--to give incentives to local governments, local school districts, to vote bond issues where there was a lot of State matching funds that built a lot of new schools but nothing close to what we need yet with all of the progress we made. We tell our children that education is the most important thing in their lives and our lives and our country, and then we send them to lousy, decaying, falling-apart school buildings. I do not think that quite clicks in kids' minds. So the school construction part of this bill, first of all, puts construction workers to work in their high- unemployment rates, as Senator Harkin said. Second, it puts steelworkers and cement workers and concrete workers and people who are making the products--the glass makers, the glass companies, and all manufacturers--to work for the materials.…”