BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much. I'm very appreciative, Congressman, for your taking this time out on the floor this evening and sharing this time with your colleagues to talk about the American Jobs Act.

What I'm going to say will take a little bit of a different tack. As you know, we just had a contest about the use of social media in our caucus, and I devised a program where I promoted a campaign on #ourspeech, which asked our followers, if they had the opportunity to speak to Congress, what would they say, using the 140 or so characters on Twitter. We got a lot of comments in. We combined them, and now I'm going to share them. A lot of it is about jobs, but they speak about it in a little bit different way. If you would indulge me, I would like to take a few minutes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. WATERS. Thank you very much.

Today, I'm delivering what is known as #ourspeech--a speech composed of words solely from my followers and friends on Facebook who posted their thoughts about the economy and jobs online. This is a part of my effort to bring Americans closer to Congress.

To the people that sit on Capitol Hill:

As Members of Congress in the greatest country in the world, you are very well aware of the concerns expressed by the American constituency--jobs, stable economic environment, education, crime, war, et cetera. You are not Republicans. You are not Democrats. You are not an independent. You do not belong to any faction. Stop worrying about party and do something for the people. Pass the jobs bill. Pass the American Jobs Act. We all need to work.

A child with no food doesn't care about your power struggle with those who are across the aisle. You must represent the most downtrodden people in your district, not the most successful business nor any special interest. Big money donations from corporations and the financial industry have purchased our democracy. America elected the House, not corporations. It is time they represent us. You have an obligation as a public servant to ensure that the underprivileged of our society will be protected. Don't forget the poor, a group that continues to grow while the rich get richer. We have to trust you to make the right decisions for us. Support and pass the American Jobs Act.

My Facebook followers continue by saying:

We labor to right our small, overturned coffers to replace what was lost. We labor and pay three and four times over for substandard services.

We have become the disenfranchised while billionaire executives live and work in very comfortable environments. We are bludgeoned with partisan rhetoric that detracts from the real American issues and Representatives who feel they may act without giving heed to the desires of their constituents.

Put partisan politics aside, they say. Start serving your citizens with measured focus on supporting the people. Congress must support jobs. Congress must support the American Jobs Act. We need jobs so that we can pay our reasonable share for life activities and services. We want the right to realize the promises of our founding documents.

The middle class have been the legs this country has stood on. The lack of meaningful action in D.C. has crippled us. We have not been able to save for our children's college education as we live paycheck to paycheck. We worry about the more immediate dilemma--will we be able to keep our home? We are 2 months behind in our mortgage. Bank of America, our lender, was bailed out with our tax money. Now who is going to bail us, who played by the rules and worked hard, out? Please don't give another dime of our money to save the banks, they do not care about us.

Americans are sick of hearing Congress bicker about who is to blame for our issues. While Congress pontificates and filibusters, Americans are starving, losing their homes, working multiple jobs if they can find them, and puzzling over ways to balance our incredibly shrinking budgets against the rising costs of tolls, gas, food and corporate thievery in the guise of bank fees and loan rates. Good, hardworking Americans shouldn't be rubbing nickels together and shouldn't have to pick food over medicine.

My Facebook followers wrap up by further saying: We wonder how we will pay our taxes and student loans, avoid answering our phones, leave our mail unopened as we struggle. The system, if it ever was for us, has failed at this critical juncture in history to safeguard us. The global Occupy Wall Street movement illustrates beautifully the consciousness of the people which has been missing from the political landscape. Congress must support jobs, education and health care. People are hurting out here. Our silence has finally and irrevocably been broken. Those of us who have been awakened are now willing soldiers in the fight.

The voice of the people occupying around the Nation will not go unrecognized. Our strength, our passion and our vision can, and should be, harnessed to power change.

Thank you so very much for allowing my Facebook followers to have a word on the floor tonight. They are watching us. They will be responding. But I think they are very appreciative that you have allowed me this time to condense those comments and the words that they gave to me to bring to the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. WATERS. I thank you. That is well said. You are absolutely correct. And the young people are waiting on us to act. They are burdened with debt. They can't get careers started. They can't get families started. This will be very helpful to them. The consolidation and the reduction of the interest rate is extremely important.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT