Press Conference with Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL); Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR); Liz Freeberg, Unemployed Worker from Minnesota; Dennis Van Roekel, President, National Education Association (NEA); Dave Johnson, Constructi

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL); SENATOR FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-NJ); SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR); LIZ FREEBERG, UNEMPLOYED WORKER FROM MINNESOTA; DENNIS VAN ROEKEL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (NEA); DAVE JOHNSON, CONSTRUCTION WORKER FROM NEW JERSEY

SUBJECT: URGENT NEED TO PASS AN ECONOMIC RECOVERY PACKAGE

Copyright ©2009 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500, 1000 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service at www.fednews.com, please email Carina Nyberg at cnyberg@fednews.com or call 1-202-216-2706.

Back Save transcript E-mail transcript Print transcript

SEN. DURBIN: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning.

I want to particularly thank my colleagues, Senator Lautenberg and Senator Merkley will have statements to make this morning. The President of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, Liz Freeberg who is here from Minnesota, Dave Johnson from New Jersey and other people who are joining us today and Darryl from Minnesota. Thanks, Darryl. Good seeing you, buddy.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create or save between three million and four million jobs throughout America. These are good paying jobs right here in America that we desperately, desperately need. The number one issue on the minds of most Americans is the loss of jobs.

Our unemployment rate is the highest in 16 years, now up to 7.2 percent. More Americans are out of work today than at any point in the last 25 years, 11.1 million Americans unemployed, 500,000 added to the roles in December, 600,000 in January.

More Americans lost their jobs last year than in any year since 1945, 2.6 million jobs lost last year. The bill we hope to pass this week will help create jobs in every state in the union, including 160,000 jobs, I hope, in my home state of Illinois.

The type of jobs we create through this bill are impossible to outsource. These will be good paying jobs right here in America. Just as importantly, these workers are not only going to go back to work, they're going to lay the foundation for our economy to grow in the 21st century. Their work is going to include modernizing our schools, to help our children be better prepared to compete, weatherizing our homes and office buildings to save billions in energy costs, reducing dependence on foreign oil and being honest about the issue of climate change, building a modern transportation infrastructure, which will make our economy more efficient and businesses more competitive and so many other areas.

This bill is structured to get the money out quickly to the states where the jobs will be created. We don't have a moment to lose. This could be the day of decision for America.

President Barack Obama has been in office two weeks and two days. He inherited the worst economy, one of the worst economic crises in 75 years. It is the product of failed policies of the past, but we're not going to dwell on those failed policies. The American people expect us to look forward. They expect us to work together. They want to find solutions. They don't want squabbles and that's what we need to do today on the floor of the Senate.

We will need in order for this reinvestment program and recovery program to go forward for at least a handful of Republican senators to step up and say, all right, I'll be part of change; I will join President Obama and the Democrats to make a difference in this economy. If this ends, sadly, with the same result in the House of Representatives with no cooperation, no involvement by the Republican side, then this economic crisis, sadly, will continue. We can't afford to let that happen.

We've been sent here for a purpose and the purpose is to solve problems, not to squabble.

Let me introduce my colleague from the state of New Jersey, Senator Frank Lautenberg.

SEN. LAUTENBERG: Thanks very much, Senator Durbin, and I'm pleased to be here with Senator Durbin, Senator Merkley.

Fighting to get our economy back on track and we're pleased to have Dennis Van Roekel here, President of the National Education Association, making sure that our teachers are treated like the professionals they are and I'm pleased also to welcome Dave Johnson, an active union member, someone from the construction side of the aisle and very anxious to get to work along with his colleagues.

My friends, we're looking now at a time when we want to get jobs for people, where we want them to get to work and in order to do that, we have to get to work. That's the issue is that people who stand in our way just don't get it and we need everybody's help to get this passed.

President Obama has laid down a course of action that makes sense that will get people back to work and I'll tell you, you know, things are bleak, everybody knows that, but if you're one of the 650,000 people who lost their jobs last month or the ten million almost 11 million who have lost their jobs before, they know things are bleak. If you're one of the people, four million people who've lost their homes, you know that we've got problems. If you're dependent on unemployment checks to keep you going, you know how vast this crisis is, and my friends, there's all kinds of indicators, you don't have to be a statistician. You don't have to be an economist to know how tough things are.

If the house is on fire, the fire is confined to the basement; we can't ignore it and let the whole place collapse in front of us. So we've got to get to work and for people on the other side of the aisle, Senator Durbin said it, to be so uncooperative, to look for ways to obstruct this, to use dilatory tactics and just waste time, we want to work and we want you to work and we want your colleagues and your friends to work and we want families to think better about their future and not worry so much about their kids whether they have health insurance or whether they can get an education.

So that's why we're here. We thank you all for being here and we want to get to work and we hope that you'll encourage your representatives, whatever state you're from, we have a nice assortment of states here, but everybody has the same problem. People need jobs and we have to get going and we want to do that now.

Thank you all for being here.

SEN. DURBIN: Senator Merkley.

SEN. MERKLEY: Well, I'm absolutely delighted to join Senator Durbin and Senator Lautenberg to address this issue and we are certainly in unparalleled times. We have an extraordinary lending crisis and then we have on top of that an extraordinary mortgage crisis, and on top of that, we have an extraordinary jobs crisis and if we don't act boldly, if we don't dive into these three crises together to conspire to create a downward cycle that will touch every family in America as it did during the Great Depression.

Now, there were those during the Depression that said stand aside and the economy will cure itself and there are those today that say stand aside and the economy will cure itself. Well, I'm here to say that it didn't work in the 1930s and it isn't going to work in 2009.

Bold action is needed. We need to act quickly and responsibly and as boldly as the challenge we face.

I'll tell you, Oregon certainly understands this problem. In the last three months, every single month we've had a one percent increase in our unemployment. We've gone from six percent to nine percent in just 90 days and people are wondering is that going to be an additional four percent increase, so the increase has gone from six to nine, will it go from six to ten at the end of this next month? Where is the bottom?

So this is why they are expecting us to stand forward and these issues, they are not issues of gender or race or party, they affect us all. We are all Americans together in this crisis and we need to all stand together to address this crisis.

This bill does four things, it creates new jobs. It cuts taxes for our working families. It invests in America's future and it demands transparency, oversight and accountability that we know the American people want to have in this bill.

Now, right now, we have a state budget crisis in Oregon as we do in state legislatures across this country, and in Oregon, they're talking about options such as shutting down the schools a month early, options such as shutting down eight prisons and setting inmates free.

Well, those type of actions won't be right for our children. They won't be right for our public safety. They certainly won't be right for jobs. This bill says we are going to break this cycle together. So let's do it. Oregon is ready to be part of the solution and we need all of our folks from across this country to work together to be part of the solution.

SEN. DURBIN: Liz Freeberg is from Minnesota. Liz, come on up and tell us your story.

MS. FREEBERG: I'm here to represent the millions of families who are suffering from every aspect of this crisis. My family has a house in foreclosure. We have been without medical insurance. Now, that we are about to have medical insurance again it is going to take over a third of my husband's income.

I have children who receive special ed services from their schools and we are looking at all of those services being cut. This crisis has spiraled out of control.

My family is now looking at the possibility of my mother who had plenty of investment income left to her by my father as part of his retirement package dwindle from being able to support her for the rest of her life to possibly lasting less than three years.

I can't find a job right now because most of the businesses in our area have had to lay off and cut even the smallest of jobs. My husband is a student. We're looking at the possibility of him not being able to receive any type of scholarships or tuition reimbursement because of the economy. If something isn't done about our health care system -- he's studying to be an RN, he may not have a job in two years when he comes out.

I've heard that we have hospitals in crisis in our area. This policy that we need to get into action will help save families like mine, families like my friends who are looking at possibly running out of their income in the next six months. I have a friend whose husband was laid off a year ago and his severance package has ended and if he does not find full-time employment with benefits by June, his family will suffer the same consequences that my family is facing.

We never expected this to happen. Our family has tried to do everything right. We have followed the rules. We did what the banks told us when our house -- when we began to not to be able to make our house payments. Our house has been on the market for two and a half years.

This crisis needs fixed and with the help of Senator Durbin and all the other senators, I'm hoping that my family has a brighter future.

Thank you.

SEN. DURBIN: Thanks, Liz.

Dennis Van Roekel is President of the National Education Association. Dennis?

MR. VAN ROEKEL: Thank you, Senators Durbin, Lautenberg and Merkley. Thank you for your leadership on this very important issue.

It's no secret the difficulties that face families and communities all over America and education is, obviously, one of those areas. But the members of my organization, some 3.2 million people who work from pre-K education through colleges and universities see it in two very distinct ways, number one, is the human side, first of all, they see both the students and the parents, the parents who have lost their homes, who have lost their jobs. We see the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch or who are homeless rising every single month.

We see it in the looks of parents who feel so inadequate they can't provide the simplest and barest essentials for their students. But our members see it from another viewpoint, too, and that is from their own role as an employee. There are some 46 states that are suffering right now or potential cuts in education. There are 25 that are looking at proposed cuts in K-12 and 30 states that are looking at cuts at community colleges and four-year institutions.

We need to do something about that now. We can't continue this. In terms of education, the ones who are laid off, it's not just that they've lost their jobs. When you lay off 1,000 or 2,000 or 5,000 teachers, the students don't go away; they're still coming to those schools and where do they go? We increased class size and all of the remaining class sizes, which makes it more difficult for students to learn. We lay off our education support professionals as if we don't believe they're essential.

You know, one of the deadly diseases in terms of dread in school districts is the norovirus. If a student gets ill on Monday at noon, you can -- the CDC estimates there will be 400 out of school by Wednesday if there is not proper cleaning of the surfaces in that school. We need the people who are there for safety and for health of our children. But that's not the only way it impacts all of us. The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act does something for education that makes a difference, first of all, in the short-term, it invests in infrastructure. We have buildings that are over 50 years old. It provides jobs in the local communities, it provides income for the local and state governments through taxing of those incomes and it provides a 21st century environment for our students and they need that to learn.

It also provides long-term. There is no investment of tax dollars that has a greater return on investment than investing in people and education. So we are here because we believe this is not a time for partisanship; it is a time for partnership and we are here to partner with the three senators leading this here today because we believe now is the time to pass the Economic Recovery Act. Now, is the time to do that.

We are ready to partner with them. We want to get the bill passed and we want to get America's economy moving again.

Thank you very much for your leadership, senators.

SEN. DURBIN: Dave Johnson come up here. He's a construction worker from New Jersey.

MR. JOHNSON: Thank you.

My name is Dave Johnson, I'm here representing the half million members of the Laborers International Union of North America. I live in South Brunswick, New Jersey and would like to give kind of a ground perspective here today.

There's a lot of work to be done in our country, building roads, bridges, schools and new energy systems and one aspect of new energy systems is the retrofitting of millions of buildings and homes throughout America and our union has taken an approach in New Jersey, in Newark, New Jersey, the largest city in New Jersey, to work with the community and train local residents in weatherization and we've got a pilot program going now where we've trained 25 local residents, people with -- (inaudible) -- in weatherization and we have weatherized 30 homes in the city of Newark and I've got to tell you, the homeowners have seen immediate improvement from this work. Their heating bills are already are lowered than what they were and these homes are in desperate need of weatherization. However, for us to keep these workers working and to weatherize more homes that would help the citizens of New Jersey, we need the Economic Recovery Act passed, the bill passed and we need good, green jobs. At the end of the day, that's what we need.

America has a lot of work to do and Americans desperately need work and the only thing missing presently are jobs and if this bill passes, that's what will be created are jobs.

SEN. DURBIN: Thanks, Dave. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Q (Off mike) -- permanent spending program rather than a temporary stimulus measure?

SEN. DURBIN: Well, there are permanent investments, I mean, when we talk about building the libraries and laboratories and classrooms at the schools that is a permanent investment. It means that jobs are created immediately, but over the long-term, the schools are going to be served and the children in those schools will be served for a long period of time.

The infrastructure jobs that we're talking about are going to build roads and bridges, highways, mass transit, that we're going to take advantage of, the money invested in Amtrak which is near and dear to Senator Lautenberg and, to me, as well, is going to pay off for years to come.

So we started off with this notion that everything has to be spent in a hurry, but the American people cautioned us, make sure that it's not just shovel-ready, but shovel-worthy. Make certain we make investments that may not pay out in the first 18 months, but will pay back for years to come.

So we're trying to be thoughtful in both respects, inject money into the economy, but make investments that pay off for a long time.

Frank, do you want to say a word on that?

SEN. LAUTENBERG: An investment today means an opportunity for tomorrow. It improves the functioning of our society, lifts friends in addition to the real situation and that is concern about your income, concern about health care, concern about keeping your families together.

The one thing that we have to keep in mind is that once people get working, once we initiate the start, the Economic Recovery Act will do those things today so that in the years ahead we can educate our kids, we can keep them healthy and get on with our lives and it's not a plan to have government supplementing personal incomes from now on through the years ahead.

This is a start and we've got to begin almost immediately.

SEN. DURBIN: Yes. Yes.

Q (Off mike.) Senator Durbin -- (inaudible) -- compromise.

SEN. DURBIN: I support any effort of compromise if it's reasonable and it brings the votes to pass the package. I've yet to see the specifics. We've been asking and I'm not being critical of Senator Nelson, he's been very helpful and cooperative, but he hasn't produced the amendment yet for us to take a look at it. But keep in mind, those who are talking and I hope his amendment doesn't go too far, those who are talking about cutting massive amounts of money out of this bill are also cutting massive amounts of jobs.

This has been a bill that's been put together by the Obama administration to save or create three to four million jobs. On the floor right now is a Senator McCain amendment that cuts it in half, which means one and a half to two million Americans will not have a job as a result of the McCain amendment if it were to be adopted.

So we've got to be careful that as we clean up on the edges of this bill, the periphery of this bill that we don't end up destroying the heart of this bill, which is to get this economy moving. I don't want to come back three months from now with people saying, well, you did a little bit, it surely wasn't enough. If we're going to toss a teacup of water on this fire today, we'll be back with fire trucks in months to come.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. DURBIN: I don't know, and some of them criticized the Pell Grants. I've heard that said and some criticized putting money into schools. I just have to tell you that Pell Grants go to the neediest kids in college and their families are struggling to get by, and what's happening as I talk to presidents of colleges and universities and I'll invite Senator Merkley to comment on this, they are scared to death of the declining student enrollment because of the state of the economy and if giving those students from the lower income families a little bit more help will keep them in school, that is great for them and great for America.

It's bad enough to graduate with a massive student loan. It's horrible to not graduate with a massive student loan. And so we want to make sure those young people can stay in school.

Q (Off mike) -- jobs.

SEN. DURBIN: Of course, it does. If you have more people educated in America, those are the people, well, of course, it's going to stimulate the economy by helping these families in the lower income categories.

SEN. MERKLEY: And I'll say it's also a long-term investment in the intellectual infrastructure of this nation. We are now the first generation of adults whose children are getting less education than we got. That is a circumstance that does not prepare the United States for a strong economy 10, 20, 30 years from now and it's absolutely worth addressing, these Pell Grants are very significant at a moment when students are unable to go because their parents are losing their jobs, their circumstances are getting worse and we're going to reach out and try to make sure that more students can, in fact, make it to college.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. DURBIN: We're going to work this out, and Senator McConnell, I think, made a very constructive statement in suggesting a conference committee, we may go that route. It would be a healthy thing if we could do it and do it responsibly, but it's a large bill and we have a limited amount of time.

I think that the House members are anxious to sit down with us. We want to get this done. We have to do something and do it quickly, boldly and let this go on for a long period of time is unacceptable.

Q (Off mike.)

SEN. DURBIN: You know, the housing crisis, mortgage foreclosure crisis, those who are under water with the principle in their home mortgage being greater than the actual value of the home and many people who are struggling to make mortgage payments, we need to address that. I think that's at the core of this issue of why the economy started to decline and continues to decline, and I'm not opposed to a renegotiation proposal, but I don't want it to be at the expense of job creation and that appears to be what the Republicans are saying. They are willing to take half of this bill and two million jobs and set them aside in the hopes that mortgage principal and interest reduction will breathe life back into the economy.

I don't take it off the table, but I hope that they'll stay with us through the stimulus and we can then join them in a housing discussion, a larger housing discussion. Some of you know I have this bankruptcy change that I'd like to see. I think it's long overdue and there are other proposals, but I don't argue with the premise that housing is an important part of it, but this is really focused on jobs, focused on job creation and I hope we don't sacrifice that goal in an effort to create this.

Yesterday, incidentally, we gave Senator Isakson, a Republican of Georgia, a major amendment in terms of $15,000 or ten percent of the value of your home in terms of a tax credit. I hope that Senator Isakson, a Republican who has now been successful in amending this bill will consider voting for this bill. I don't think that's an outrageous suggestion.

I hope that more Republicans, realizing that we are reaching out in their direction will come across and make this a success.

Thank you all for being here today.

END.

Source