Press Releases: 2011

The plan put forward by the President today is a balanced approach to create jobs in the short-term and bring down the deficit over the long-term. It asks everyone to pay their fair share, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid for future generations while protecting beneficiaries, and emphasizes the need for immediate job creation. It lays out how the Joint Select Committee can go beyond their mandated deficit reduction requirement, which I believe is essential to getting a handle on our nation’s deficit. I also support the President’s call for tax reform that would help grow the economy and reduce the deficit by lowering rates and closing wasteful loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and special interests.

What the President offered was a getting jobs now bill. He wants American jobs to be created as soon as possible and offered a comprehensive package, which is related to one another, putting money in the hands of businesses so they can hire and grow jobs, putting money in the hands of consumers so they will be able to purchase goods.

I am pleased that Republicans have agreed to work with us to fund our nation’s critical highways, mass transit, and aviation systems and not place nearly one million jobs at needless risk. However, legislation extending the FAA and Highway bills is in no way a substitute for responsible long-term authorizations of both these measures. Democrats have long advocated for improving our infrastructure in order to help America to compete with the world and create jobs here at home. Investing in infrastructure is a key component of our Make It In America plan.

I want to thank the Progressive Caucus for their tireless focus on putting Americans back to work. Americans across the country continue to struggle in a weak economy, and the Progressive Caucus has made sure that those Americans are not forgotten. While Republicans have not taken strong action on jobs this year, the Progressive Caucus continues to advocate for job creation measures. I look forward to working with them to create jobs through the President’s American Jobs Act, House Democrats’ Make It In America plan, and the Rebuild the American Dream Framework.

I am pleased that today the House was able to amend the Intelligence Authorization bill in order to ensure bipartisan support for this critical legislation. This bill makes smart choices that will help eliminate wasteful spending while still ensuring that our intelligence community personnel have all the tools they need to keep America safe. As we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and confront new threats to the homeland, we are reminded of the challenges we face and honor the brave men and women in the intelligence community who work around the clock to protect us.

I thought it was a good speech. I thought it was a very pointed speech. And I thought it was a speech that offered alternatives, as that the President pointed out, both parties have supported over the years. Republicans talk about putting money in people's pockets. The President’s [plan], clearly, most of it is tax cuts to put money not only in people's pockets but in the pockets of small business so they can grow businesses and hire people.

All of us have just returned from the summer break and a lot of us didn't get breaks, per se, but we visited with a lot of our people, both in our own districts and throughout the country. It's no surprise that they are very, very concerned about our economy, about jobs, and yes, they continue to be concerned about the fiscal posture of their country. We need to address jobs and fiscal responsibility.

Today, we received word that our economy added 17,000 private-sector jobs in August. This marks the 18th straight month of private sector growth, and a rebound from the days, in early 2009, when we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. Nevertheless, there was no net job growth last month, and today's numbers are deeply disappointing to millions of unemployed Americans, as well as to all those concerned for the future of our economy.

I welcome the President’s speech before a Joint Session of Congress next week to discuss the critical issues of putting more Americans back to work and getting our fiscal house in order. While Republicans have yet to put forth a comprehensive jobs plan, I look forward to hearing President Obama’s ideas and to working with him to implement the Democrats’ Make It In America plan to revitalize our economy and get more Americans back to work.

Yesterday marked the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when more than a quarter million people came to our nation’s capital to demand equality for all Americans, regardless of race, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his landmark ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech. Armed with the power of nonviolence, their efforts helped end a system of racial discrimination. Let us mark this anniversary by honoring the legacy of these civil rights activists who pursued justice for all Americans and rededicate ourselves to equality and fairness. While we have come a long way in achieving racial equality since the March 48 years ago, disparities in employment and opportunity still exist today. Democrats are committed to closing that gap and promoting equality and opportunity through our Make It In America plan, an effort to create well-paying, middle-class jobs so that every American has the chance to succeed.

Today, Christopher Shays and Mark Thibault, co-chairs of the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, previewed their commission’s findings in a Washington Post op-ed. Among their most sobering conclusions: ‘At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted.’ This alarming finding is just one more reason our nation needs stronger oversight of defense spending—so that taxpayer dollars can be spent efficiently on keeping our country safe and fulfilling our military’s missions. As the bipartisan select committee on deficit reduction begins its work, it is essential that the committee’s members focus on all of the contributors to our deficit, on both the revenue and spending sides. The findings detailed today remind us that all of our nation’s spending, including defense spending, deserve to be closely scrutinized.

"I believe that Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke was correct today when he observed that partisan brinksmanship over the debt limit damaged financial markets and the American economy. Now that both parties have named the members of the bipartisan joint committee on the deficit, it is time to address our nation's serious budget challenges with less concern for partisan advantage, and more concern for the common good and our shared fiscal future...