On the recordMay 5, 2010
I rise this morning to speak about the issue that is before not only the Senate--and, thankfully, we are in the debating process, finally, after many days of discussion about debate--I think this is also an issue that is on the front burner, so to speak, around kitchen tables or wherever families are gathered or small business owners and others. It is about reforming our financial system and making it more accountable. I want to back up a second and put this in the perspective of where our economy is. We have an economy which has resulted in a job loss that is a record of one kind or another. We have heard it over and over again: The recession we are living through right now--even though we are recovering--is the worst economic climate we have had since the 1930s. There are lots of ways to measure that, but, of course, the most important data point or number is the unemployment rate and the number of Americans who are out of work--some 15 million. In Pennsylvania, over 582,000 people are out of work. Our rate is 9 percent. A lot of States would rather a 9-percent rate than 11 or 12 or 13 or 14. But in our State, 9 percent means 582,000 people out of work through no fault of their own. That is the reality with which we are living.
