On the recordMarch 4, 2010
I thank the distinguished gentlelady from California, and I rise to thank the Rules Committee. This is a tough business. They had to do their work in the backdrop of Senator Bunning, who didn't care about the unemployed, thousands upon thousands and millions, and held up this bill and the negotiations for this bill for as long as he thought it was relevant. And so here we stand trying to address this question. I would offer to say, there are some good things: the fact that employers have a $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee that continues to work for 52 weeks; the fact that there is an incentive to hire new employees and to keep them hired; the fact that there is an extension of the small business expensing to allow small businesses, the backbone of America, to be able to write off certain capital expenditures so they can hire new people. The SAFETEA-LU, the infrastructure bill, is a good thing that deals with the rebuilding of the infrastructure that is so important and, of course, protecting minority-owned business that likewise go into those hard-hit communities and should be hiring people. Yet we are dealing with a Senate bill. The other body has a different understanding so that some States, for example, are not getting the money that they should--Texas. It raises a lot of concern. Then I have to rise on this floor to talk about young people and the summer youth program. Why isn't that in the bill?
