Americans Speak for Jobs

Over the course of the last week, Congresswoman Slaughter solicited suggestions from her constituents and followers on Facebook and Twitter, asking them to submit their thoughts about how to create American Jobs. On Thursday she read their words on the House Floor. She said:

M/ Speaker,

I want to take a minute today and share the voices of the American people directly with this distinguished chamber. In the last few days, many Americans have contacted me through Facebook and Twitter with their thoughts on how we, as a body, can create American jobs.

Their message was singular, and their message was clear. They want jobs, and they want them now. On behalf of these Americans, I urge the leaders of this House to respond by passing major legislation that will create high paying American jobs.

What follows is the voice of my constituents talking about the importance of jobs. They write:

"I hope you mean living wage jobs that are meaningful, filled with dignity and generated locally.

"Job creation begins at home. Close the loopholes that both send jobs overseas and make it tougher to bring the profits and products back here.

"An additional suggestion would be to fund a Works Program Administration modeled after the first one that was implemented by FDR- A new deal for the new millennium.

"We need to stop the manufacturing drain going out of the country, revisit the WPA to jump start the economy, and fix our aging infrastructure.

"Heck, we need someone to clean weeds out of sidewalks. We need an energy policy and concrete plans to accelerate the use of renewables. Too much of our fuel costs end up in our trade imbalance. If we keep the money here we will be better off and generating our own energy along with investments in efficiency will create jobs. Its a win, win, win.

"We need to commit to rebuilding our infrastructure; roads, rail, and power grid. Part of that should be an educational piece similar to the CCC & the WPA that trains and pays the personnel to implement this effort. It must be a real partnership with private entrepreneurs that puts people to work in the short and long term.

"If we lived by the economic rules our country was built on then we would already be investing in our infrastructure, education and green energy because that is what is needed for our country to progress and continue to lead."

M./ Speaker, I couldn't agree more. I'm proud to share these words from my constituents and the American people. They confirm what many of us already know- that it is time for this Congress to take bold action to put Americans back to work.

The time is now. I urge this chamber to pass major jobs legislation as swiftly as possible, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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