Gwen Moore: “I will not repeat the many cogent remarks that my colleagues have made, but I would like to address some of the things…”

“I will not repeat the many cogent remarks that my colleagues have made, but I would like to address some of the things that the gentleman from Florida has said. First of all, minority- and women-owned businesses are very, very proud to have contributed to this economy. The 3 million businesses with close to 5 million workers have generated close to $600 billion in revenue. My concern is that there will be a serious attrition because, in fact, the programs that have helped to create these businesses are being gutted and have not been improved in 17 years. As a result of our not modernizing these programs, there has been a loss of $10 billion in Federal contracting opportunities. I would also like to address the gentleman's remarks about no one having a complaint about things in this bill. I suppose, Mr. Speaker, that the welcome for me, a new Member of Congress, is that I was not even allowed to debate my amendment, something that I regret, because I feel that I am a great contributor. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to share a few of the staggering economic statistics in my district of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the past 5 years, the city of Milwaukee has lost 33,000 manufacturing jobs. We have had an 80 percent unemployment increase among residents in the city of Milwaukee. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 59 percent, 59 percent of African American males are unemployed, and 92 percent of them live in the city of Milwaukee.…”