Clyburn On Obama Speech: Pick Your Mantra And Pitch In
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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WASHINGTON, DC—House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today responded to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.
“Tonight we heard a sobering yet optimistic assessment of the state of our nation. President Obama made clear that we have some
tough choices ahead and that everyone will have to make sacrifices to restore our economic strength and prosperity
“President Obama has made great strides already in the five short weeks he has been president. He has put forward and begun to
implement a 3-pronged plan to put America back on stable economic ground. The Congress approved and the President recently signed into law
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to save or create 3.5 million jobs and provide 95 percent of working households a meaningful tax
cut. The President’s Financial Stability Plan will ease credit so that Americans can buy a home, a car, send their children to college or
help a small business re-stock its shelves. It will also guarantee that money is safe, that banks start lending and that CEO’s are not
paid bonuses with taxpayer dollars. Finally President Obama’s plan to address the mortgage crisis will help families who have paid their
bills and played by the rules stay in their homes.
“This is a bold and decisive start to the challenges we face. I look forward to working with the President as we receive his budget
blueprint later this week. Our federal budget is a moral document that outlines our nation’s priorities. The budget and our path toward a
stronger America should include long-term investments in energy, health care and education that will lead to new jobs, new industries and a
renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. And it must include the least among us.
“I believe that the tone of hope we heard tonight from President Obama came in part from South Carolina. Candidate Obama came to
South Carolina during the primary and was deeply impacted by JV Martin Junior High School in Dillon, SC and the spirit of the students and
faculty who attempted to teach and learn in a century-old school that is falling down. So much so that he has used their plight to promise
reform and investment in education. He adopted a campaign chant in Greenwood, SC where County Councilwoman Edith Childs rejuvenated a
struggling candidate with her ‘Fired up, ready to go!’ chant. And he carried with him to the House chamber today, as I do every day, the
motto of South Carolina, ‘While I breath, I hope.’
“Make no mistake, the challenges our nation and our communities face are great. But I would argue that this generation of Americans
is uniquely qualified to tackle these challenges. We have the spirit, ingenuity and lessons from our forefathers to lead us through the
storm. We recovered after enemies attacked on September 11; we recovered after Hurricane Katrina devastated our shores; and we will recover
from this fiscal and economic crisis.
“As I told the president on Monday at his White House fiscal summit, ‘Mr. President, we can do this.’ In the words of Ty’Sheoma Bethea,
a student at JV Martin Junior High School in Dillon, SC, ‘We are not quitters.’ Pick your mantra and pitch in.”
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