Political Quotes

“And I think the gentleman might be in opposition. Last year he voted to increase by $80 million to EDA as we went through this process; and today he comes and says he wants to zero it out. Let me just put this in some context. We have seen gas prices go down for the last 5 weeks in a row; 200,000 homeowners today have their principals being reduced. We have 4.25 million jobs created over 26 months by the private sector. Our economy, unlike those in Europe-- Britain has slumped into a double-dip recession; we have 25 percent unemployment in Spain--America is coming back. So this notion that somehow we need to kind of just stop trying to help communities move in the right direction I don't think makes a lot of sense to me. So I join the chairman on the majority side asking that we oppose this amendment. If there are some people somewhere who don't want economic development assistance from the Federal Government, they don't need to apply. These are merit-based competitive grants, locally decided; and it is helping communities all across our country. We had testimony in the Appropriations Committee from Members on both sides of the aisle about work being done by EDA in Alabama and all across our country. So the notion that we should support this amendment to zero this Agency out, to me, doesn't move us in the right direction. We want to go forward as a country. I move to oppose this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. McCLINTOCK.…”