Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after the House passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, which includes the following appropriations bills: Transportation-HUD; Labor-HHS-Education; Commerce-Justice-Science; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; Financial Services; and State-Foreign Operations. The House passed the bill this afternoon by a vote of 221 to 202, with all Republicans voting no.
"This legislation honors the first priority of the New Direction Congress: creating American jobs. By focusing on our economy, workers, small businesses, and veterans, this legislation will put Americans back to work and help build long-term and broadly-shared prosperity.
"With key investments in our infrastructure, we are putting more than 1.5 million Americans to work and improving our aging highways, investing in the next generation of rail and transit systems, and making air travel safer and more efficient. For America's small businesses, the backbone of our economy, we are expanding access to capital and credit so they can help jumpstart job creation and share in long-term growth. And for workers struggling in this economy, we are investing in the good-paying, high tech, manufacturing and clean energy jobs of the 21st century and ensuring Americans have the skills they need to compete.
"This also meets our commitment to future generations by being fiscally responsible; this legislation is below the President's budget request. In these tough budgetary times, we have made tough choices.
"As we go forward, we will continue to put forward the best solutions that create the most jobs."