Americans Need Work

Floor Speech

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, according to the latest figures available, an estimated 43.5 million Americans are living in poverty. Ladies and gentlemen, that's more than the entire State of California. Unbelievable. Communities of color continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty. The national unemployment rate is 9.2 percent. In my home State of Georgia, it's even higher, at 9.8 percent.

With millions of Americans in poverty and a high unemployment rate, you would think the Congress would do what it was elected to do, which is to create jobs and pass legislation that spurs economic growth. But in the past 7 months, the Republican majority has not moved one single jobs bill. Instead, this House majority is pushing bills through that take away Grandma's Social Security check, dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would provide health care to millions of uninsured Americans, and cut a first-generation college student's Pell Grants. They want to crash our economy by ignoring the need to raise the debt ceiling and ignoring the catastrophe that would occur if we don't. Instead of bringing us opportunities and the American Dream, the Republican majority gives us cut, cap, and kill. Kill Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid. Those are the prisoners who are awaiting execution. It's really about crash, slash, and trash.

Staying committed to safety net programs and health, education, housing, and employment is both a moral and an economic responsibility that we cannot ignore. However, Congress seems to be doing all that it can to keep families from getting back on their feet during times of economic distress. They shouldn't be trying to pull the wool out from under the people of this great Nation, regular working people.

The record debt run up by the Bush administration was a direct result of Republicans' two unfunded wars, failed economic policies, and failed oversight of the financial services sector. And what we need to do is support more programs like Pathways Out of Poverty, which puts residents in my district back to work doing green jobs. But instead, what we want to do is give Rupert Murdoch a tax break and give all of the big oil companies tax loopholes that you could drive a submarine through. Americans need to go to work. So let's focus on getting Americans what they need, which is jobs, jobs, jobs.

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