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Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend for yielding.
The hour is late and Members have come back, properly so, to address an issue that we addressed months ago. The Senate sent it to us; we were gone. We thought it our responsibility to ask Members to come back because if we hadn't come back, if we didn't pass this bill, what could happen? 160,000 teachers would be at risk of being laid off and probably would be laid off. What would that mean? It would mean larger class sizes for teachers to deal with, children not receiving the kind of education that they need to be competitive in the global marketplace. What might have also happened? Some 160,000 police and fire personnel, emergency response teams, may have had to be laid off.
That's why we came back. That's why we believe this is so important. And how we paid for this, because we do not add a nickel to the national debt, notwithstanding the previous speaker, we paid for this because we believe if we're going to invest in our future, we also are going to pay for it, not ask our grandchildren to pay for it. Now, that's a concept that was jettisoned under Republican leadership but we've reestablished. So we pay for this.
One of the ways we pay for it is to ask people is, look, if you're going to send jobs overseas we're not going to give you a tax break. I know there are some that apparently are not for that, and they're going to vote against this bill, but my view is what we're doing is making sure that our children have the proper education they need, making sure that our communities are safe, and yes, making sure that we try to keep every job in America so that we can continue to make things in America, so people can make it in America. That's what this bill is all about.
The hour is late. I think everyone knows the issue, and I ask my colleagues, vote for this critical piece of legislation. Keep our teachers, our police, our fire personnel on the job. That's why the Senate passed this bill with over 60 percent majority in a bipartisan vote. Let's follow suit. Pass this bill. Make America better.
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Let's consider what would happen if Republicans had their way and this bill failed. Some 160,000 teachers' jobs would be eliminated.
Some 160,000 jobs for police officers, firefighters, nurses, and private-sector employees would go, as well--a total of 320,000 lost jobs. And the impact would extend far beyond the laid-off employees.
Our children's educations would be shortchanged--bigger class sizes, programs eliminated, and summer school cancelled in communities across our country. In our neighborhoods, we'd find fewer cops patrolling the streets and longer waits before first responders arrive at the scene of an emergency.
More vulnerable Americans--already struggling through the greatest economic crisis of our lifetimes--would go without health care.
And don't think that the economic impact would be limited to the 320,000 laid-off workers alone.
It would mean families struggling to pay the mortgage or their student loans; it would mean local businesses losing customers; it would mean businesses forced into new layoffs of their own as a result.
It would mean, in short, a step closer to a double-dip recession.
I understand that States are obligated to cut spending when times are hard; but the fact that States' revenues are largely tied to sources that dramatically shrink in bad times, such as property and sales taxes, creates a vicious cycle that helps prolong recessions.
When States cut spending, the results include layoffs, less consumer demand, and a struggling private sector--making hard times hard for longer. And if Republicans had succeeded in blocking the Recovery Act and other measures to help pull our economy out of recession, State budgets would be even worse off today.
Preventing another vicious cycle of budget cuts and layoffs is exactly why it is both right and smart for the Federal Government to step in and lend a hand today.
This bill will do so--and it will prevent the dangerous chain-reaction of layoffs and drastically cut services for families that I've described. And this bill will do so in a fiscally responsible way: it includes savings for all of the dollars it spends, which means that it adds nothing to the deficit.
In fact, much of this bill's savings can help keep jobs in America: by passing this bill, we can end the tax loopholes for corporations that send American jobs overseas. And that's another way this legislation strengthens our economy and our recovery.
I don't understand how Republicans can add this bill to their year-and-a-half record of obstructing our recovery.
I don't understand how anyone, Democrat or Republican, can be against keeping teachers in the classroom, keeping cops on the beat, and keeping firefighters protecting our homes.
But some who oppose this bill cynically call teachers, cops, firefighters, and nurses ``special interests.''
That's how they will justify their vote against this bill--but with the very same vote, Mr. Speaker, they will vote to protect corporations that exploit the tax code to outsource American jobs.
How first responders are ``special interests'' and those corporations are not, is beyond me--but I'm eager to hear my Republican friends explain it.
I urge my colleagues to vote for this fiscally responsible bill, which the communities we represent desperately need.
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