Press Conference With Senator Robert Menendez, Senator Bob Casey, Representative Carolyn Maloney

Press Conference

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SEN. MENENDEZ: Good morning, everyone. We're soon going to be joined by Congresswoman Maloney, who is on her way here, but we wanted to get started. And of course we're joined by our colleague, Senator Casey, who's -- sits on all of the important committees that deal with the questions we want to talk about today.

You know, we saw the numbers of people who are unemployed in our country in January, nearly 600,000, the most since 1974. And there is nothing more vital or significant to someone's economic well-being than a job. And there is nothing more indicative of the economic condition of our country than how we are doing with respect to job creation and job losses.

And so today the snapshot of our economy shows that our economic condition is one in which more and more American families are failing to find a job and falling on harder and harder times.

And that's the -- it, plain and simple. They aren't finding work; they're losing it. They aren't adding sources of income; they're being forced to subtract them.

So the sum total of this continuing flood of grim statistics -- 600,000 jobs lost in January, upwards of 600,000 in December, 600,000 the month before -- is more than just a number. It adds up to a country full of hard-working people who are left to wonder how they are going to keep food on the table, a roof over their head for their family and a future for their children.

And when it comes to families facing tough times, whether it be in my home state of New Jersey or anywhere else outside of Washington, there are no thoughts of whether there is Republican versus Democrat opportunity for action. There is only hopes for action to take place. And the people of the country need an economic recovery package in the worst way.

It's not us in Congress who needs the recovery package for any sort of legislative checklist. It's not President Obama who needs the recovery package to have a significant victory. It's the American people who need a recovery package to have a change in their lives so that they can, in fact, realize their hopes and dreams and aspirations. And that's what this is all about, or should be all about.

People are hurting; they are worried; they are counting on us. So now is the time to show our commitment to doing what the people of our country desperately need. Now is not the time to show a commitment to doing only what we think a political party needs. We have to act on the recovery package plan quickly -- again, not for a political victory but because we are in a crisis and it is our responsibility to the American people to do so.

It is important to get a plan that is bold, that is fast-acting and effective enough that it gets people to work repairing our infrastructure, rebuilding our schools and manufacturing low-cost energy alternatives, and to do so in short order. And it is our responsibility to provide tax relief to working- and middle-class families who are minding every single last penny, as well as to small businesses that want to retain jobs and create new ones.

And so I look at this and I say to myself, we seem to have a debate -- you know, across the spectrum, we had just virtually every economist, from the most liberal to the most conservative, who said that you needed a robust plan to spend to create jobs.

I think President Obama said it best yesterday. You know, we had eight years of the belief that tax cuts alone are ultimately going to stimulate an economy and do everything that is necessary to provide for opportunity and prosperity.

And that brought us -- if we did absolutely nothing, if we did absolutely nothing, the president has inherited a trillion-dollar deficit -- doing not one thing.

And we had eight years of that, and those eight years have bought (sic) us in the economic situation that we are in.

So the bottom line is, is to -- and we had an election about that debate, and that debate -- the American people decided that they wanted to move in a much different course.

So that course is about creating jobs, jobs and more jobs. It's about getting people to work. It's about turning this economy around and doing it in ways that create that short-term opportunity of moving this economy forward and creating those jobs, with a long-term opportunity to do it in a way that's intelligent for the country. And that means going ahead and getting our infrastructure ready for our future progress and prosperity. It's about creating new schools with high-tech laboratories and libraries that prepare our children for the 21st century. It is about moving to the green jobs in the new energy environment and economy that will create jobs here domestically and stop our outflows of hundreds of billions of dollars to other countries in the world that have a much different view. It's in our national interest and our national security. That's the crux of this package.

And the final point is, you know, for all of those who just simply think that this package should be more and more tax cuts, and less and less spending, you know, we already started off with a third of this package being tax cuts. But they're tax cuts that are targeted to those who most need it and that will actually create the greatest opportunities.

And so we hope our colleagues will have an opportunity -- will give us the opportunity on the floor to move this package forward for the American people. That's what this is all about.

And with that, let me introduce Senator Casey.

SEN. CASEY: Thank you very much. And I want to thank Senator Menendez and Congresswoman Maloney for their leadership on all these issues.

I've been -- over the last couple of weeks or months been using -- analogizing our economy to a car in the ditch.

The question I have to ask, and the question we all have to ask: Is that any longer an apt analogy, based upon the loss of 600,000 jobs in one month? The question now is whether or not the analogy fits, because, instead of just being in a ditch, this economy may be over a cliff. And if it's not, it seems to be, in my judgment, perilously close to being over the cliff.

If there was ever a time for action, it's now. It's not two weeks from now. It's not two months from now. It is right now. We have to act, and the only way we can act, the only constructive, positive way we can act, is to pass this recovery bill.

And I said before, you know, there may be -- Congress may have low approval ratings, and there may not be the confidence that there should be in our -- that the American people have or have not in Congress. But they have a lot of confidence and a lot of support for President Obama. He's our new president, and he made a commitment that he would help to get this economy moving. He made that commitment. He's demonstrated that throughout the transition period, and now in the early days of his presidency.

We have to support him in getting this economy moving, in stimulating the economy, so we can recover and create jobs. And also, to invest, because this isn't just about simply generating economic activity now to create jobs. In order to grow, we have to invest. And that's what this bill is all about.

One of the most stunning numbers in today's report, in addition to the 600,000 -- or technically, 598 (thousand) -- was 1.77 million jobs lost in three months. It's hard to comprehend that. Even in the mid-point of 2008, when things looked like they were getting bad, no one would have predicted that in three months we'd lose almost 1.8 million jobs.

So we have to be about the business of getting this recovery bill passed and helping President Obama help dig the country out of this ditch that we're in.

Just some numbers, some final numbers, before I turn it over to the congresswoman.

There's been -- as bad as this recession has been overall, across the country, every state, the unemployment rate is up; every single state. But in addition to that, we have to look at some populations in our country that have had a disproportionately negative or adverse impact, because of what's happened here.

Here are the numbers. Since the recession began until today, so December '07 until today, African American unemployment went from 8.4 percent to 12.6 percent, so well over a 4-percentage-point increase. The Latino unemployment rate, 6.2 to 9.7, 3.5 percent, and for whites, it was 4.4 to 6.9.

So there's no question that minority groups in America, who are often left behind and don't have a seat at the table, have had an extraordinarily difficult time getting through this recession.

And finally unemployment insurance; there's a lot of evidence now that our unemployment insurance system is beyond overloaded and beyond capacity. And the question we have to ask is, if there are people in Washington who say we need more study and more review and more debate, the question is whether or not the unemployment insurance structure in America will break and disintegrate and be unable to handle the flow of claims, the flood of claims, that are being presented across the country, state by state.

And I want to introduce the congresswoman.

REP. MALONEY: Thank you so much, Senator.

I'm very pleased to see my colleagues and join them, especially my colleague from the House, Senator Menendez, my very good friend. And thank you for being here and joining me at the hearing that we just had, on the Joint Economic Committee.

The newest numbers that we heard today, before the Joint Economic Committee, told Americans something they already knew. Things are bad. They are bad all over. In almost every sector of the economy, in almost every section of the country, things are bad. And people are hurting.

What was new about this particular hearing was that the job loss has accelerated very quickly over the past 3 months. For 13 months, which is a very long time, we have been losing jobs. But in the last 3 months, it has accelerated to a dangerous degree.

It also showed that in our economy originally the job loss was focused in housing and certain industries. But now it is across every sector because of the lack of consumer spending.

So these numbers added up to the overwhelming evidence for the need to getting a recovery package to the president's desk as quick as possible. And in today's report, even the (demo ?) spots were discouraging. The two areas that were gaining jobs was private education and health care, but even in those areas, the number of jobs has been slacking off and slowing down.

When I asked the commissioner was there anything in this report that was good news, his response was astonishing to me. He said no, there is not one good economic indicator in the report that he gave to us today. Over six -- roughly 600,000 jobs lost, unemployment at 7.6 percent, and the trend is certainly going in the wrong direction.

We need the economic recovery plan that invests in jobs, in creating jobs. And we need to come together and make a decision and move this package out of Congress and into the pockets and into the working men and women across our country and in our states that desperately need this aid.

So I am here speaking really in strong support of the recovery package that we have passed in the House. We hope that it will pass this weekend and come back to the House and soon get to the president's signature.

Thank you.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Thank you, Congresswoman. And thank you for your leadership in the Joint Economic Committee.

Questions?

Q President Obama last night -- (off mike).

SEN. MENENDEZ: I don't think his bipartisan outreach was a game. I think he was sincere in it. And I give him credit for pursuing the most deliberative, most inclusive process in Washington that I have probably seen in my -- at least my 17 years here. I think he was ernstwhile (sic) in his effort. I just don't believe that many on the other side of the aisle were ernstwhile (sic) in their efforts. I mean, when you have the Republican leader in the House, before the president comes to visit you to have a dialogue about the economic recovery package, two hours before declare it's dead on arrival and no Republican would vote for it, I think that's a pretty -- pretty significant statement.

You think they would have at least engaged him in the dialogue, suggested what their ideas were and see what the response was, but it was dead on arrival before he arrived.

And then here in the Senate, you know, the reality is is that I am convinced, after looking at the slew of amendments that we have had, that the bottom line is this is a lot less about the suggestion of fashioning a package that is better and a lot more about a partisan advantage.

And so, you know, I think it's unfortunate, but I give the president all the credit in the world. And I'm glad that he finally at least on the policy side of this has made the point, as he did last night, that, look, you know, this is, in essence, a stimulus plan. What does that mean? You want to stimulate something. You want to stimulate something; you want to create, you know, action. When you want to create action, how do you do that? In this case, economists across the spectrum say you do it by spending in ways that are -- that will get you jobs out there quick and that will also produce some short and long-term benefits.

I think that was the plan that was largely devised and that's why, you know -- and that's why I appreciate, at least, that he's being forceful in that respect, because we had an election about this. The American people had a great debate. President Obama and Senator McCain had a debate about what are their respective visions. People in America overwhelmingly voted for President Obama's vision as to how we move this country forward. And that's what he's trying to do.

Q Senator --

REP. MALONEY: Could I just -- could I just add that some economists -- Paul Krugman and others -- are saying that the package is not large enough. There was a letter circulated in Congress last week signed by five Nobel laureates and 146 economists from across the board -- conservative, Republican, Democrat and independent -- all in support of moving this package forward as quickly as possible.

A third of the package is tax cuts. Ninety-five percent of working men and women will receive a tax cut. There are business tax cuts, there -- the earned income tax cut expansion; child tax cut. And so a third of it is tax cuts, but what creates the jobs is the spending. And with these job numbers, we need to move quickly to get these -- the recovery act to create new jobs moving in our economy.

Q Senator Menendez, there are about 10 Democrats negotiating with Ben Nelson and Susan Collins to alter this package, maybe cut off $100 billion from it. Is this a tough vote, this package? (Off mike) -- tough vote for senators from Arkansas and Virginia and Democrats from red states? And when push comes to shove, are they going to vote for this package, if it only, let's say, a modest $50 billion cut -- (off mike)?

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, look, you know, the process is unfolding. I think creating jobs in America, whether they be in the East or the West or the South or in the heartland of America, is a good vote. I believe that breaking our dependence on foreign oil and starting down that road is a good vote. I believe, as the congresswoman said, giving 95 percent of all working families in this country -- that's a good vote.

Q Then why are these senators --

SEN. MENENDEZ: And so -- and so the bottom line is, is I think that overall it's a good vote.

Now, having said that, you know, we still -- and here's a good example of why -- you know, we still don't have 60 votes in the Senate. We don't have a filibuster-proof majority. And that means there is an attempt to work in earnest with the other side to try to get there. And so the efforts of many of our colleagues in the Democratic Caucus is to work with colleagues on the other aisle to get to a point where we can get to those votes and move the process along to a conference. And that's what I would expect to see later today.

Bob?

SEN. CASEY: I'm just going to add -- look, there -- we don't know where the state of -- up-to-the-minute state of negotiations yet. We'll see what happens later this morning.

But we've got to get something passed. That has to be the objective here. I would hope that those who are in both parties who are negotiating don't put on the backs of vulnerable people all of the heavy lifting. I would hope they would at least be cognizant there are a lot of people that are hurting right now, for whom this bill can mean the difference between staying out of the hospital and being able to get a job, and all of the concerns that we have about people that are particularly vulnerable in this economy.

But this is going to be a tough vote. There will be things that -- a lot of things that each of us would change or don't like. But in the end, I think the most important thing, other than getting it passed, is making sure that after the fact we -- Congress looks in the rear view mirror and examines job creation effectiveness. Did we -- did we keep the promise that we made when we said we had to pass this? Because the worst thing that we could do is get this done and then down the road the American people have a sense that it didn't work because we weren't checking on it.

So we've got to do a lot of oversight and a lot of review.

Q Senator, assuming that the group comes up with -- (off mike) -- would you expect to support that? Do you anticipate any problems voting for the bill if the amendments -- (off mike)?

SEN. CASEY: Well, we'll see what the -- I'll speak for myself. We'll see what the proposals and what the cuts are. But I really believe we've got to get something done right away. These numbers are jarring enough, and we know that next month's numbers, and the month after that, probably are not going to be any better. I hope they're not worse. But I think we have to act, as difficult as that might be.

Q Congresswoman -- Congresswoman, can I ask, if there's been another cut, say 100 billion (dollars) or 80 billion (dollars) or whatever -- there are various numbers being thrown around -- how is that going to fly in the House?

REP MALONEY: Well, I can only speak for myself. These numbers are riveting. We need to pass something. We need to get this economy moving. And I would be supportive. I would like it very much to go to a conference committee so that -- the input from the House is part of in response, is very important.

But I would expect that there would be Democratic support, but what I'd like to see is some Republican support in the House. The bill passed the House with not a single Republican vote. This has been an effort where we have reached out for inclusion, both in the committees where it was fully debated and the floor where it was debated. Republican amendments came to the floor and in the committees. And I would like to see some Republican votes coming out of the House. And we need to get this package moving.

SEN. CASEY: Thank you.

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