Economic Recovery

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I think it's time for a little bit of a history lesson.

Before President Obama even got into office, that first January, we were losing almost 800,000 jobs a month; the stock market was at 6,000, and the Republican policies had all been implemented on energy, on health care, on budget, on foreign policy, with tax cuts for the wealthiest, with borrowing the money, and with running our country and our economy off the cliff.

We are turning the country around. We now have positive job growth. The stock market went up to 11,000 and now up past 10,000. 401(k)s are returning. Jobs are coming back. We do not need to go backwards with the Republican economic policies that drove us off the cliff in the first place.

I ask my friends on the other side, Mr. Speaker:

What are you going to tell the police officers, the firefighters, and the teachers who will get laid off if this country doesn't step up to bat and reinvest back in America? What are you going to tell them? What are you going to tell them?

We have enough money for the wealthiest to get tax breaks, but we don't have enough money for police, for firefighters, and for road projects in the United States.

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