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“JOB CREATION IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1423-H1430 on March 15, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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JOB CREATION IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2009, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert materials related to the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you. The Congressional Black Caucus is proud to anchor this hour on job creation in the African American community. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio, and I anchor this hour.
Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to our chairwoman, the Honorable Barbara Lee.
Ms. LEE of California. First, let me take this moment to thank Congresswoman Fudge again for the Special Order tonight, for your leadership, and for bringing to the Congress, really, the understanding of what unemployment is, given the unemployment rates in your district, given what has taken place in Ohio in terms of the recession. Your leadership and your commitment to turn the economy around is remarkable. We can learn a lot by what you have done in Ohio. So thank you again.
As Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, I rise this evening to continuing to sound the alarm about the need to create jobs in America, particularly for the chronically unemployed who are disproportionately suffering the brunt of this economic crisis and, who, as a result, are in desperate need of targeted, concrete, and meaningful relief.
Last week, members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Obama at the White House to discuss our job creation agenda. It was a candid, constructive, and substantive conversation which the CBC had with the President. We reviewed our priorities to create jobs, especially for the chronically unemployed.
We understand very well that President Obama inherited an economy on the brink of collapse and all that he and his administration have done in working with Congress to hold it together. It has certainly been remarkable, and we commend the administration for their efforts. The recovery, however, from this economic crisis has been uneven, at best, and there is a long way to go to put people back to work.
The impact of unemployment foreclosures and the housing crisis are particularly extreme among African Americans and Latinos. People are desperate, as Congresswoman Fudge knows in Ohio. As we try to create jobs, States are laying off people in order to balance their budgets. California has cut $20 billion out of our budget. Virginia will pass a State budget with $4 billion in cuts. If you extrapolate this nationally, we are talking about $200 billion State budget cuts nationwide, after about $350 billion last year. So we need the $200 billion this year just to break even.
Our Congressional Black Caucus member, Congressman Bobby Scott, who's on the Budget Committee, continues to remind us of these very glaring numbers and how we need a major jobs initiative just to break even. That's why the CBC has been and remains laser focused on helping people who are chronically unemployed and on direct job creation.
On Wednesday morning, the CBC will host a hearing focused on job creation. The event is called: ``Out of Work but Not Out of Hope: Addressing the Crisis of the Chronically Unemployed.'' This will be held on March 17 from 9 to 11 in room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. The hearing will focus on data that suggests the chronically unemployed include African Americans and other communities of color with unemployment rates significantly higher than the national average. Youth and adult workers also are in need of enhanced education and training, and those who have lost their jobs as a result of the weakened economy and who have been unemployed for at least 6 months. Wednesday's hearing is part of a 5-week campaign launched by the Congressional Black Caucus at the beginning of this month to seek policy solutions for the chronically unemployed. Our aim is to engage our leadership and our coalition partners in a strategy to put America back to work.
We are all aware of the staggering high unemployment rates facing our communities. In February, the rate of unemployment for African Americans was 15.8 percent, compared with 12.4 percent for Latinos and 8.8 percent for whites. This is according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' March 5, 2010 report.
But the job problem goes deeper for many of our constituents and communities because African Americans are not only unemployed in higher numbers but also stay unemployed significantly longer. Of the people who have been unemployed for over 6 months, 20.3 percent are African American. For those unemployed for a year or more, 22.1 percent are African American. The median duration of unemployment was 23.8 weeks for African Americans, and 18.4 weeks for our national average.
These figures underscore the urgent need to target job creation efforts for those communities hardest hit by the recession. This has nothing to do with directing resources based on race. This has to do with directing resources based on need, based on unemployment statistics, and based on where the unemployed live. These stories illustrate the reality that many of our communities have been disproportionately hit by this recession. That's why we must simply prioritize and deliver, and that's what we talked with the President about. We said specifically we must focus on chronic unemployment. We must have direct and targeted job creation, which can make a real and significant impact quickly for everyone.
For instance, given the unemployment rate of approximately 10 percent, that's 15 million people, one percentage point of the total number of unemployed is about 1.5 million. At $50,000 per job, $75 billion would hire 1.5 million workers and reduce the unemployment rate by one percentage point. For $300 billion we should be able to hire 6 million workers and reduce the unemployment rate by four percentage points below what would have been without any investment at all.
But it's not just enough to create jobs. We must ensure that we include all of our communities in that effort by targeting high areas of poverty, unemployment, and the chronically unemployed. Summer jobs for young people must be part of our direct job creation efforts. We all know that many of our young people have to help pay the rent and help buy food because their parents are unemployed.
We must also invest in infrastructure spending; but when we do so, we must ensure a path to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities in any transportation and infrastructure investments, otherwise we're going to leave communities and millions of people behind.
Finally, we must ensure that contracting and procurement opportunities for minority and disadvantaged businesses are included and that existing provisions in transportation and in other areas are enforced. According to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, which recently released its report on the impact of the Recovery Act, black businesses only received 1.1 percent and Latino businesses only 1.6 percent of all federally contracted ARRA funds.
So in closing, Mr. Speaker, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are committed to continue to work with congressional leaders and President Obama to fix our economy and create jobs to address the true depth, mind you the true depth, of this recession. There's no question that by working together we can make a real difference in the lives of all Americans. So as we work to turn the economy around and create jobs, the Congressional Black Caucus will continue to fight to make sure that no one is left behind. That is our moral responsibility as the conscience of the Congress.
Thank you again, Congresswoman Fudge. Let me thank Congressman Emanuel Cleaver who has led our Jobs and Economic Recovery Task Force since last January and has done a marvelous job in doing that and getting us to this point.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you. I want to thank you as well, Madam Chair, just for keeping our caucus focused on jobs and poverty and, of course, pushing for the fundamental fairness we all deserve and what is expected of all of us in this House. I thank you for your work and for your leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to my friend, Mr. Cleaver, the Representative from Missouri.
Mr. Cleaver.
Mr. CLEAVER. Thank you, Ms. Fudge. Thank you for getting this hour tonight for us to talk about one of the most significant issues facing the American public. And I would also like to thank Oakland's Barbara Lee for her leadership. She has been myopic in making sure that not only the Black Caucus, but none of the caucuses nor the Democratic Caucus stray too far from the main theme that we have been pushing, which is that we need jobs, and we need them now.
Mr. Speaker, there's little question that the economists believe that the U.S. economy is in fact in a recovery mode. There are signs all around that we are coming out of the recession, but the recession continues to take its toll on the American public. We know that jobs always lag in the recovery. In fact, if you look at some of the Wall Street banks, you will find that many of them actually are showing huge profits, some of the top 10 banks--actually, the top 25 banks, some of whom received money from the taxpayers to help bail them out.
And so the question today, when we still have an anemic economy, is: Who's going to bail out the American public? Well, what we do know is that the jobless rate is now still hovering at about 10 percent. And if you break it down, as did our Chair, Barbara Lee, you will find out that many African Americans are the ones who are suffering. Why is that? Well, it's kind of simple. The weak labor markets in our country are in areas where we generally have high black populations. South Carolina is one. Michigan is the other. African Americans migrated to Michigan to work in the automobile industry. African Americans have been in South Carolina almost since 1619, when we came to this land. And so it is somewhat misleading to believe that we can address this issue of unemployment without some special emphasis on what's happening to African Americans who are also unemployed.
When you just look at the statistics, the economists say that we need to create 100,000 jobs a month just to absorb the new people coming into the job market. We are not creating jobs. In fact, we have not created the kinds of jobs that we need for the last three decades. We have not been able to generate a hundred thousand jobs a month.
I think the President was wise when he submitted to Congress the stimulus package. I think Congress was wise, or at least we were wise, to vote for it. Because inside this stimulus package is at least the opportunity for jobs for all people, but it provides minorities with a unique opportunity to connect with what I believe and what many others believe to be the next job creator, and that is in the field of energy.
We have significant dollars placed in the Department of Energy, where men and women who are citizens of our country can in fact seek new opportunities in that field. For example, I am convinced that in the days to come, men and women will call people to come out to do weatherization in their homes like they call a plumber today. People will call a weatherization specialist, who comes out, he surveys the place, he finds where there's a leak, where there's an energy leak, and they will seal it up. That's an entirely new arena--a whole new job area that we have not had before.
But it's also important to keep in mind that technology is eliminating jobs even as we try and produce them. I used to tell my staff members how frustrated I was when I go to the airport, as we all do twice a week, and look at the kiosk which all of the airlines now have, and the clerks behind the counter will direct you to the kiosk. I told my staff, I said, Do you realize what's happening? The people who are directing us to use the kiosk to get our ticket are also eliminating their jobs.
It's just a matter of time, Mr. Speaker, before we're going to go to airports that are not going to be ``peopled'' by the ticket clerks, as we see today. And everybody will simply go use a credit card or some special card and they will be able to get their tickets. For most of the Members of Congress, most of us go to the airport with our tickets in hand anyway, because you can now get your ticket printed on the computer. So I think we're eliminating jobs and there's a need for us to do something, and do something significant.
Now there are those who are saying, Look, the job market will take care of itself. The markets will always engage in self-correction. That is what has gotten us into the economic collapse that we have experienced over the last year and a half, is waiting for the markets to do the right thing and waiting for some of the institutions that were able to function without strong regulations to do the right thing. They did not. And they hurt us. And we were hurt perhaps more than any other group.
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So what I think we are going to have to do is do a jobs bill, a serious jobs bill. And by the way, I was delighted that in our meeting with the President last week that he said to us that he strongly supports a summer youth jobs program. I thought that was the most significant thing that came out of the meeting. Why? Because in about 8 weeks, schools will turn out all over the United States. Everywhere in this country kids will be going home, and these kids this summer will be going home unemployed to unemployed parents.
Now, it does not take a physicist or a nuclear scientist to look at that situation and see that it is going to be chaotic at the very least, and so we need a summer youth jobs bill, and we need it now. We need it quickly so that the bureaucrats can have things in place by the time school is out, so that there won't be a long period of time during which kids are just aimlessly walking up and down the streets. Because we all have been kids, and we all know that we were not at our highest level of thoughtfulness and can do dumb things at that age. So I'm thinking that it might be helpful if we move that summer youth jobs program to the forefront.
And I am not, Mr. Speaker, convinced that we don't need something else. I don't think we need another $876 billion stimulus, but I do believe that we've got to do something that would create jobs directly. And Paul Krugman, the economist who also is a columnist in The New York Times, has suggested--and I agree--that perhaps we need to think about the fact that the United States Government can create jobs that people can actually use. I'm not suggesting that we need to approve money at the level that we did for the WPA during the Great Depression, from 1929 through the thirties, but I am saying that there can be some kind of direct jobs program put in place that will enable folks to get jobs quickly. If we don't, we're going to find that this job market is going to continue to hemorrhage.
When you think about the fact, as Congresswoman Lee mentioned earlier, that the States are laying off employees, cities are laying off employees, by the time we find employment for those government workers on the local level who lost their jobs to get some kind of job, we still have not done much, because we haven't dealt with the people who have been on the unemployment rolls.
In my committee last week, Ms. Fudge, we had a person who testified before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming who said that he was opposed to giving employment insurance. He also went on further to say that if you give unemployment insurance, it will make people lazy. Now, somebody like me who spent time growing up in public housing and heard people saying that welfare people love to have babies so they could get another $100 a month is almost laughable, but it is also believed by many. So we need to keep in mind that there will always be push-back against what we are trying to do.
But the American public needs to go to work, right now start going to work. And most economists believe that unemployment will continue at at least 8 percent or higher into 2012. We can't afford to have that size of our population without employment. It is dehumanizing when you can't take care of yourself, and we're going to find more and more people doing what I have seen in Kansas City at the church my son pastors, where middle class people, people who were in the U.S. middle class, are now unemployed. We have had Ph.D.'s coming to my office, trying to get an internship just so they can get in and hopefully get a job. So when people say, Well, there are jobs out there for everybody; they just need to go and get them, that's absolutely ludicrous. It is ridiculous, and it plays the American public as fools, because there are real human beings with real families who are losing their homes.
What people don't realize is, when you lose your job, you can't make your mortgage payment. If you can't make your mortgage payment, you lose your home. If you lose your home, your credit is ruined. You can't buy a car. You can't hardly buy anything. Even today, with an 800 credit score, you are barely going to be able to buy a new car. So I think we are having a recovery, but the recovery is not strong enough, and it's not moving quickly enough.
So, Congresswoman Fudge, I appreciate the fact that this issue--
through you getting this before the American public tonight--is going to resonate with a lot of people who are unemployed, but it will also resonate, I hope, with men and women of goodwill who believe that the American public must always take care of the American public.
Ms. FUDGE. I want to thank my friend, Mr. Speaker, for just saying to us in a clear and concise way that it is time to be honest about where we find ourselves as a Nation, and that it is important that people be given an opportunity, just an opportunity--not a handout, an opportunity--to find work because, if we don't, we will have more problems than we can ever imagine. Not only does it take a toll on the wallet and on your home, but on your physical and on your mental health. So I certainly do hope that we will take heed to the things that were said by our Chair tonight as well as by Representative Cleaver and start to move in a direction that is going to positively impact the people of this country. I thank you both for being with me tonight.
Mr. Speaker, the CBC believes that stable employment at a fair wage is a fundamental right for all Americans. In times of economic weakness, such as this recession, government should empower our Nation's workforce by providing training and placement opportunities for dislocated workers. During the month of March, the CBC will engage in a 5-week campaign to seek policy solutions for the chronically unemployed, engaging President Obama, Congress, and the coalition partners in a strategy to put Americans back to work.
The chronically unemployed are not counted by labor statistics, Mr. Speaker. They are not counted in the Workforce Investment Act, which is designed to get people back to work. Congress inadvertently sent them a message that they don't count. But they do count, and they want to work.
The CBC's agenda, Opportunities for All--Pathways Out of Poverty focuses on six areas: education for low-income communities, increasing the reach of economic security, eliminating health disparities, providing affordable housing options, reforming our judicial system to break the cradle-to-prison pipeline, and addressing global poverty. During tonight's Special Order, Chairwoman Lee discussed with you some of the progress we've made in our efforts in this endeavor. If you wish to receive additional information or ask for updates, you can email the Congressional Black Caucus at congressional black
[email protected]
I want to just talk a bit about some of the things that you've heard tonight but maybe in a different way. We know that national unemployment is somewhere around 9.7 percent. There are currently 15 million people seeking employment in this Nation, up from 7.5 million in December of 2007. There are 2.5 million people out of work, and 9 million are employed only part time rather than the full-time employment they prefer and need. With the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent, U.S. labor market conditions are certainly grim. We all, I think, can agree with that.
The unemployed who have been out of work and searching for a new job for at least 6 months remains at a record high, at or above 27 percent, and hitting a record 41 percent in January of this year. If we examine unemployment rates by demographic information, you will see proof of the inequality of which we speak tonight. While all major groups have experienced substantial layoffs during this downturn, communities of color, particularly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, are experiencing the worst of these job losses.
According to the Department of Labor, although the national unemployment rate was 9.7 in February, the rate for African Americans was 15.8 and the rate for Hispanics was 12.4. Not only is the unemployment rate for African Americans nearly twice that of Caucasians, the gap in some important demographics has widened rapidly over the past 14 months. Over those months, the unemployment rate for Caucasian college graduates under 24 years of age grew by about 20 percent. The rate for African Americans in the same demographics grew by almost twice that much.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the gap in unemployment rates for communities of color is widening. As a result, minority children and families are entering poverty at an increasingly alarming rate. More than 24 percent of African Americans live below the poverty level and are 55 percent more likely to be unemployed than other Americans.
As then-Candidate Obama said in a speech during the Democratic primary, ``Race is an issue that I believe this Nation cannot afford to ignore right now.'' In a speech to the Hispanic Caucus Institute earlier this year, President Obama said that when unemployment reaches over 10 percent among Hispanics, that was not just a problem for them, it was a problem for the Nation. We believe it is the same for African Americans. The Congressional Black Caucus, in its continued role as the conscience of the Congress, has a moral obligation to address inequality and injustice as never before in our history.
And I have been joined by my colleague and my dear friend from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison). How are you, sir?
Mr. ELLISON. Doing all right. If the gentlelady will yield, let me just point out that the gentlelady coming down here Monday after Monday, speaking to the Nation about the agenda of the Congressional Black Caucus, is so meritorious. I salute you. Thank you.
But I just want to say that, look, jobs are an essential component of a good quality of life; and lack of a job not only means you don't have any money, it means that your life is not ordered well. It means that you are living a life where you want respect, you want to be productive, you want to make something, create something and put some value into the world, but yet, because you don't have that employment opportunity, you're denied that.
When we talk about a direct creation of jobs, yes, we're talking about stimulating demand; we're talking about putting money and food on the table, but we're talking about giving people a sense of value, of worth, a sense of purpose. And you know what? That's one of the best things you can do for anyone.
This is absolutely true, that in the black community, unemployment levels are elevated three times the national rate. And as the gentlelady from Ohio pointed out, President Obama's right when he says that making sure that the black, brown, and people of color throughout America are working is good for the whole country, because if people of color have money, they spend it. Where do they spend it? In the economy. And if somebody spends money, then that means that somebody's making money. And if somebody's making money, that company can use that money to then hire somebody else. So this circular interconnected nature of the economy tells us that opportunity for one means opportunity for all.
I just want to yield back to the gentlelady because I just want to thank you again. I'm going to stick with you, but I want you to know that I want to commend you for your service and your fidelity and your persistence and your commitment.
Ms. FUDGE. I thank you so much.
I just want to say that in addition to some of the things that you said is that I see our job as making sure that we protect all Americans. That includes us. I see our job as a Congress, as a governmental body, to protect the people who sent us here. I believe the job of government is to serve its people; and until we do that, we've not done an effective job. So that is why it is so important that we continue on this path to make sure that all Americans who want a job, who need a job, have the opportunity to find a job.
I mean, certainly we're not going to ever create the kinds of jobs that many of us had as we were growing up. I mean, our parents had jobs they kept for 30 years. They've got good retirements. They still can afford to pay their bills. Those days may be gone for many people in this country, but I think it is our responsibility to make sure that people can provide for their families, that people can live in a decent home. I think the bare necessities are something that we should guarantee that all Americans can receive.
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Mr. ELLISON. Well, if the gentlelady would yield back, I would say that, you know, the days of high wage, the high-wage sector can come back if we have a national commitment to manufacturing, and we don't take the position that manufacturing is something that happens overseas or something that your father or grandfather did.
Manufacturing is what young people today can do. We can make the windmills. We can make the solar generators. We can do retrofitting on buildings and manufacture the tools to make them more efficient. We've got to just be a little bit more creative. We can make cars in Ohio and in Michigan and Minnesota and all over this country in a way that is fuel efficient so consumers want them. We can do these things.
As a matter of fact, the American automakers are late to the game, but they've started to make fuel efficient cars. We need to make sure they continue to do that.
I yield back to the gentlelady.
Ms. FUDGE. The one thing that you said that is just so very true--if at some point we don't start to make things in this Nation again, we are never going to dig ourselves out of this hole. I mean, you talk about the middle class. I'm from Ohio that has been hit especially hard, one of the biggest manufacturing States in the United States. We made our living making cars, clothes, widgets, whatever they were; we made a living manufacturing.
But what has happened over the last few years? I mean, we've lost more than 60 percent of our manufacturing. And a lot of it did go overseas--there's absolutely no doubt about that. And then the other thing is it became more high tech, and so people were not then retrained to maintain those positions. A lot of it became automated, and so they downsized. But we have taken significant losses. In our State alone we lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs over the last 2 years. So we have to find a way to get those people back into the work force.
I yield.
Mr. ELLISON. Well, the gentlelady is right. I mean the fact is the high-wage sector has been the manufacturing sector historically. And there's really no reason that America cannot make great things. Like I said, the solar panels, the windmills, the things that--the fuel efficient vehicles. There's all kinds of things in the tech area. We need training, and we need the government to invest in an industrial policy, a manufacturing policy that says, hey, you know what? We're going to make sure America makes things. Let's get the label ``Made in America'' stamped on some stuff again, just like it used to be. It can be.
And let me just tell you. We need to address manufacturing policy. We need to address trade policy. But this time around, when we rededicate ourselves to manufacturing, let's not say that it's only for some; let's say it's for all. Let's not say it's green for some; it's green for all. Let's not say that the manufacturing renewal is for one group, one segment of the community; let's say it's for all segments of the community. And let's invest in making things again in Ohio, in Minnesota, in Michigan, in Florida, and Texas, and all over this country.
And let's also say that we can work in our educational system where we can make manufacturing and creativity a value system all over again. So see, this thing is connected to how we educate our youngsters. We've got to say, you know, STEM--science, technology, you know, math, and we've got to get into the schools, and we've got to make sure that that curriculum is available for all the kids.
Ms. FUDGE. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. Absolutely.
Ms. FUDGE. I think you just really hit the nail on the head. We have to, at some point, prepare our young people for a job once they leave high school. All children are not going to college. We have to prepare young people to be able to do something when they leave high school because really all college does is prepare you to work anyway. So we need to prepare all young people to work as soon as they leave high school. And the only way to do that is to start to train them in the new green technologies, in the weatherization programs that we've put out there, to put them in positions where they can sit at a computer and do manufacturing jobs, where they can assist people who need help, maybe if it's just training them to do other things.
We can put in windows. We can build homes. We can do so many things. But young people have never been geared in a direction to think about work after high school. We just keep talking about college.
And I think college is important. I am a very, very strong proponent of education, and I am passionate about education. But the reality of our lives is that less--that fewer young people, especially young people of color, are going to college. And if this trend continues with their parents unemployed, with them not being able to find jobs themselves, then that number is going to continue to decrease. So we do have to address that in a very, very, serious way and in a very timely manner.
Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady would yield back, I'd also say, you know, America's crumbling. You know, in Minnesota, August 1, 2007, we had a bridge collapse. I-35 collapsed. It went over the Mississippi River, and it fell into that river. We lost 13 Minnesotans. They lost their lives. And 65 people--no, 100 people--had back injuries as they fell 65 feet.
You know what? I bet you in Ohio and Minnesota and Michigan we've got more potholes than we can shake a stick at. We need--our buildings are crumbling, our infrastructure is crumbling. We need to put broadband all over this country. We need to rebuild in America. It's not like there's not enough work to do. It's not like, oh well, everything's done and nothing needs to be maintained or made. We need to rebuild America. There's enough work to be done; we've just got to get about doing it.
And so I just want to point out, you know. Don't be thinking that there's not work in America, you know. We've got work to be done here.
And you know what? I just want to draw another point out, Mr. Speaker, and the gentlelady from Ohio. You know, the fact is I was walking along the Cedar Lake in Minneapolis, and if you're not from the Twin Cities you may not know about Cedar Lake. It's the land of 10,000 lakes. We've got lakes everywhere. You can hardly walk anywhere without stepping in one of them.
And I was walking along a trail at Cedar Lake, and I sat down at a picnic table, and it was a sturdy table. And I sat there, and I ate some chicken or something. But when I got up I saw a little plate on that table and it said, WPA 1934. That table was made by another generation when Americans were out of work, Americans of all colors.
This time we've got Americans out of work again. And at that time, that generation responded to the needs of employment and to the needs of the country to be built up, and we can't do any less in this day and in this time and in this age. We need a WPA-style, CCC camp. We need direct government job creation to help work ourselves up out of this recession.
And let me tell you, when the economy finally turns around, we're going to have some picnic tables that people in 2050 are going to be sitting on. We're going to have some trails that people in 2050 are walking on. We're going to, you know, have some bike paths that people are on. We're going to have some stronger bridges. We're going to have some broadband cable laid so people can talk all over this country and be on the computer.
So I yield back to the gentlelady. This is a vision we need to pursue
Ms. FUDGE. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me just take that WPA one step further. I happen to have given a speech in Memphis, Tennessee, on Saturday, and had found out that over the 8 years WPA was in existence in the State of Tennessee, more than 240,000 people were hired. Those people built the stadium, the zoo, the juvenile center. I mean, there is so much that still exists.
And I also want to take the training part one step further. We're going to have to do more targeted training. I come from an area that, in my opinion, has the best health care in the world. But there is a shortage of nurses; there is a shortage of primary care physicians; there is a shortage of technicians. There is a shortage of people to just--orderlies, cooks, I mean, everything that you can think of that goes into a hospital or a community center, there is a shortage.
We have community colleges. We have some of the best educational institutions. Why are we not focusing more on filling in for the shortages that we need? Because the jobs are there for them to take.
That's what we need to be focusing on as opposed to some of the things that, in my opinion, are not going to be especially helpful. I certainly believe any skill you have can help. But if we know jobs are available in the health professions, then we need to be focusing on health professions. If we know the jobs are available in steel, which we don't have a lot of anymore, but we still do have some of those things, let's train in those areas because I think we've got the training money.
We put all this training money into the Recovery Act. Let's make sure that once we spend it, the outcome is going to be what we want it to be.
I yield.
Mr. ELLISON. Well, I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I'm glad you mentioned steel. Now you know there is no reason in the world we can't make more steel in America. In Minnesota we make steel. We've got taconite mines in Minnesota. It's in an area called the Iron Range, and we make steel. And you know what? We make some of the highest quality steel in the world. And if you really want to make something that's going to have to last and the steel that's going to have a lot of integrity, this is the place you want to get the steel from.
Yet, we're making bridges and roads all over this country importing the steel from other places. Let's make the steel here. Let's adjust our trade policy to make sure we've got a fair, even, level playing field
Ms. FUDGE. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. Yes, ma'am. Yield back.
Ms. FUDGE. You've talked about infrastructure twice, and I think it's so significant, because one of the things that we know we need across this Nation is to shore up our infrastructure. We know we need to do it.
We need more apprenticeship programs for young people to learn how to build roads and bridges. We need more apprenticeship programs to teach people how to paint bridges, to repair bridges, or to lay asphalt and concrete and steel and rebar, whatever it is that we need to do. That is happening all across this country. And we need to make sure that there are programs in place for young people to learn how to do those jobs because they are well-paying jobs. They are jobs that they will have for a lifetime because there's always, as you say, from our communities, we're always going to be fixing roads, and we're always going to be fixing bridges.
And so I think it's really important that we start to try to say to these people that it's important that this be an opening for young people to get into these trades.
I yield back to the gentleman.
Mr. ELLISON. Will the gentlelady yield for a question?
Ms. FUDGE. Yes, I yield.
Mr. ELLISON. Do you think that the Congressional Black Caucus has a vision for America to put America back to work? And do you think that constituents of all colors, all faiths, all cultures, can be trained to do the work that needs to be done to rebuild America?
Ms. FUDGE. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. Yes, ma'am
Ms. FUDGE. Without question. There is no doubt in my mind that if the plan we have presented, not only to the President, but to other Members of this body, to other institutions and agencies that we have worked with and collaborated with, we have come up with something that I think is a can't-miss, and I do, in fact, believe that it is time for our plan to be reviewed and to be moved forward. I mean, we have a good plan. We can put people back to work. And I just hope that others, our colleagues, will join with us in making sure we do that
Mr. ELLISON. Will the gentlelady yield for another question?
Ms. FUDGE. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. ELLISON. So the plan that the Congressional Black Caucus is offering, it's not just a plan for African Americans; it's a plan for the whole country, is that right?
I yield to the gentlelady.
Ms. FUDGE. Absolutely, you're right. And I thank you for yielding. The only thing that I would say about this plan is that this plan not only talks about how we get all Americans back to work, but it also says to us, how do we get those people who have been unemployed for so long or those people who are in such pockets of poverty that they don't have the same opportunities, how do we lift them to the same level as all the others?
Mr. ELLISON. Will the gentlelady yield back?
Ms. FUDGE. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. ELLISON. So that kind of vision, that is the kind of thing that we need more of around here. The Black Caucus does believe, you know, that we--that opportunity doesn't know a color, doesn't know a culture, doesn't know a faith, that we all have to do better when we all do better, and that we, America, must make sure that we're tapping the talents of everyone, whether that person is an African American person, living in the inner city, or a rural area, or a suburb, or any person, that we can't leave our talent behind.
We don't know where the answer to curing cancer is. It might be locked up in the mind of a little Black girl in Cleveland somewhere, and she just needs some development of her talents. Does the Black Caucus believe that's true?
Ms. FUDGE. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ELLISON. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. FUDGE. In this global economy in which we live, we need every single American to bring that which they are good at, that which they have trained for, worked for, that which they know, because if we don't, then we are going to start to find ourselves not being the number one Nation in the world anymore. We're not going to be the Nation that brings forth all of the new technology, all of the new research, all of the new things that we know are going to move and drive this country. So I think it is imperative that every single individual, and we know every individual has worth, but we certainly need to say to them, whatever it is that you can do, we need it as a Nation. That is what's going to make us strong. That is what keeps the chain strong. I think that we are in a place where we just must continue to work with every single person in this Nation.
Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady would yield. I just want to offer the idea that, you know, so tonight we are talking, it's the Congressional Black Caucus hour, we're talking about jobs for Americans. We've talked about infrastructure. We've talked about manufacturing. We've talked about the need to address trade policy. We've talked about a progressive vision that the Congressional Black Caucus is offering for America to address joblessness, but also long-term joblessness.
But also, I think we should make a mention that we're relying on our small business and entrepreneurs to help get into this fight and get people employed again as well. And that's why I was very pleased to hear certain members of the Congressional Black Caucus raise an issue with the President regarding streamlining and loosening up the SBA to make sure, because if we can get the small businesses into this, they're going to hire quicker than some of these big businesses are.
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A lot of big businesses, when they hire somebody they are going to just give the people they already have overtime. And they are going to give the people they already have, make them work more hours often. And that is why we often see employment as a lagging indicator even when the GDP is improving.
But if we can get the small businesses to get some loans, that might be something that can really spark up the economy. So I was very pleased to hear Chairman Bennie Thompson make this point, because I think small business development has got to be a key strategy we pursue in getting America back to work.
I would yield to the gentlelady.
Ms. FUDGE. You are absolutely right. But the one thing we have to stress is that small business growth, that is where most of our people are employed. We know how important it is, but it has to be fair. We have to do it fairly.
For those people who might be watching us for the first time, do understand that we don't represent just African Americans. We don't represent just minorities. There are very few of us in this entire caucus that represent just African Americans. I don't know of any. So no one should feel that we are excluding any other group of people. We want all of our people in need to be served by what we do.
So it is important that we talk about small businesses, that we talk about contractors and how they are handled and treated in this country, minority and non-minority. We talk about women-owned businesses. We are advocating for all of them to be treated fairly and equally as we dole out the resources that we think are going to help bring this country back. So I thank you for mentioning that, because we do represent so many people. We represent all people.
Mr. ELLISON. If the gentlelady would yield, I only have about 10.2 percent of my constituents who are African American. I would say clearly 80 percent of my constituents are white. We have a diverse community. We have new Americans, we have Latinos, we have different people from Russia coming into our community. We welcome them. The Black Caucus is made up of African American members. This is rooted in the 1960s. But the truth is there are a lot of people who are white in the U.S. Congress who represent a great deal more black people than I do.
So we always have a focus on what is good for the whole country, what is good for America, persistently unemployed. But it is also true that our country does have a particular history as it relates to opportunity. And when we work for opportunity for all people, it enhances America, makes America better, and also helps people who have been on the more challenged end of the lack of opportunity. So this is something that we stand up for.
I yield to the gentlelady.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you. I am very proud to say that I probably represent one of the most diverse districts in this House, and I am very proud of that. What I know, though, is that the people who have the least are the people who need me the most. So I do focus more on the poor, I focus on children in need, I focus on the hungry. But so do all of the other people in my district, which makes me so proud. When you look at how we pull together to try to help the neediest people, all of us as a district, that is what has so impressed me about all of the people that I serve. So we all, I think, really understand the necessity of pulling up and helping our neighbor. And I am very proud that I represent people such as that.
I yield back.
Mr. ELLISON. The gentlelady is right. We have dynamic districts. You know, we have got a lot of smart people in the districts we represent, good ideas coming from all places all the time.
In fact, even this morning I was lucky enough to talk to some people representing the business community, listening to some of their good ideas. They were telling me some of their views about how we might be able to generate some employment. And, actually, these are folks who work in small businesses, but also some Fortune 500 companies. All of them, I am proud to say, want to help deal with this job gap we have.
One of them pointed out and said, look, you know, we used to say that 5 percent unemployment was a natural rate of unemployment. But, in fact, some economists say it is going to be 7 percent unemployment is going to be the natural rate of unemployment. It would be a shame if we tolerate that. We need to be the people who fight that and say, look, we are trying to get every American who wants to work a job.
Let me yield back to the gentlelady. And I see we are joined by one of my favorites.
Ms. FUDGE. Thank you for yielding. I am going to make this comment, and then I am going to yield to our colleague from Texas.
I do want to say that certainly there is some recovery going on in this country. We just don't want for people who need it the most to be left out of it.
And I thank you so much, Representative Ellison, for sharing this time with me. I am always impressed by your passion. I am always impressed by your ability to articulate your position. And I thank you so much.
Mr. Speaker, I would now yield to my colleague from Texas, the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I thank the Congresswoman from Ohio. And I rushed back because I was listening to you and this debate on the floor of the House. Let me bring you greetings from NBC-LEO, which is the component of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, city council members and many mayors. And I mentioned you and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who I know was already on the floor, and Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and others that came.
Let me add to the cry and the desperate need for work for the chronically unemployed. This is a time when we must focus on this effort. I met with my local governmental agency that receives Federal funding, and they are begging not only for the chronically unemployed, which they are familiar with, but summer youth jobs. And this is the work of the Congressional Black Caucus, to focus on those who have been left along the wayside.
We are grateful for the leadership of this President that understands the value and importance of making sure that everyone has a job. I stopped calling the Recovery Act ``stimulus.'' I call it an investment, an investment in people. I don't let anyone tag me with a stimulus bill. Stimulating. It is investing. It is building roads and bridges. It is putting people back to work.
We want to make sure that those people who have been unemployed for a long period of time, who still have hope, who still have abilities to be able to work, want to make sure that those who have paid their time, who are rehabilitated, who have families, who may have had a, if you will, a start that wasn't the best start, may have deviated from the straight road but are now trying to ensure that their families are taken care of, ex-felons, should be able to have training.
We want to work with unions to ensure that they open vastly the opportunities for people to be trained in apprenticeships. And we want to make sure that small and minority businesses, who in fact are the backbone of this economy in terms of employment, get the opportunity through our transportation infrastructure rebuild to be able to both participate in the contractual process of rebuild and then at the same time go into our communities and build.
I want to say also that the faith community can be a real partner to us. They can be the sources of recruitment. I have spoken to my pastors in my own congressional district. They are eager to work with us to provide resources and sites and populations of those who can be employed.
This is a crucial effort that the Congressional Black Caucus is initiating, our day on Wednesday when we will be speaking, in essence, truth to power, where we will be talking about the chronically unemployed, summer youth jobs, and public jobs. Maybe we cannot do the WPA as we did in World War II, but we can have a focus to ensure that there is an opportunity for every single American to have a job.
And I would say in closing that the challenge is not hard, because we are talking about census tracts. And census tracts have people from all walks of life. They are Caucasian, they are Latino, they are African American, they are Asian. We are talking about going into the census tracts that are documented as impoverished. We want to get those people who want to work, who can work.
If we lift their boat, if we provide them with the opportunity for income, they are renting, they are buying, they are circulating the dollar inside our community. If we give small businesses the opportunity, they are growing, they are multiplying, and they are placed inside those communities. And if we give the summer youth job program the boost that it needs to have, what an amazing opportunity to get young people not only to be committed to work and understand what work is, but to be able to invest in the community, to be able to buy school supplies, school uniforms, and also to be able to help their family.
I think that this effort is long overdue. I look forward to working with President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to thank the chairwoman, Barbara Lee. I want to thank Congresswoman Fudge and the economic task force, which I am proud to be working with.
And, finally, what I would say is I am going to speak about them later on this week, but Jack Yates won the State championship for basketball, and they are rated as the number one high school basketball team in the Nation.
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I only cite them to say that our young people are not our yesterdays. They are not our todays. Excuse me, they are not our future. They are our todays. And as they play sports and they are academically geared as we want them to do, let's give them an opportunity to work and to invest in themselves and to help them go forward in their college education.
I'm excited about what we are doing. It is something that cannot be left along the wayside. We cannot forget those who have been forgotten for too long. I believe that our theme should be the chronically unemployed not yesterday, and not even in the future, but today. We must answer the question to provide opportunities for them.
Ms. FUDGE. I thank you so much again for joining me. It is always a pleasure to have your insight. You are just so very good at making the American people understand what the situation is and how we might correct it. And I thank you, as always, for helping me to formulate some of the ideas that I have as well.
And I do want to reinforce something, Mr. Speaker, that my colleague said, and that is, we have to really pay some particular interest and concern to ex-felons and unskilled workers, because they are the ones who are, right now, at the bottom of the barrel. And we have to find a way, indeed, to get them gainful employment and to just make them feel useful to society again as well as to provide for their families. I think it's so important. I thank you for raising that.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I want to quickly make two points. The community college system we have heard now is expanding because everyone wants an opportunity to be there and be trained. I hope that we will be able to have, in our package, the unemployed who are getting unemployment, keeping their unemployment but getting a scholarship to be trained which helps their income and, therefore, does not deprive of them that unemployment while they are getting a stipend to go to school. And I also hope that in the Houston community--I'm sorry. Let me cite the Houston community college system that I have on my mind. They do a great job, but that in our community college system, that those ex-felons that we have just spoken about can also be trained and be given opportunities. Let's not close any door to the chronically unemployed.
Ms. FUDGE. And it is one of the things we discussed with the President, how do we make sure that ex-felons in particular are included in programs that we are funding throughout our States. So I think it is very, very important that we bring that to the attention of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for, again, allowing me to anchor this hour. It has, as always, been an interesting discussion amongst my colleagues about how we do the work we do, how we continue to be the conscience of the Congresses. I thank you so much.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are at least 13 private companies in the $1 billion revenue bracket and 19 companies listed in Fortune 500 in North Texas. Dallas is also known as the Silicon Prairie of the United States and is proud to house the largest hi-tech employment centers in the nation.
The 30th Congressional District in Texas, where I represent, concentrates on electronics, hi-tech industries, manufacturing, and has a very large concentration of global headquarters.
However, current global economic trends force large high tech companies to lay off their workforce and it is apparent the industry has no immediate plans to rehire.
I do believe job creation will occur through small businesses. Small businesses, infrastructure, and clean energy are areas in which we can put Americans to work while putting our nation on a sturdier economic footing. The foundation for sustained economic growth must be our continuing focus and our ultimate goal which includes capitol lines of credit for small businesses. It continues to concern me that banks are currently not lending.
(a) Establish public interest free loans for small IT companies to get new products on the market. Loan time should be in the range of 7 to 10 years;
(b) Encourage banks to be more generous reworking home loans to prevent more foreclosures;
(c) Because our economic future depends on a financial system that encourages sound investments, honest dealings, and long-term growth, I believe jobs can be available if small businesses can get help. Small IT companies can be leaders in achieving electronic medical records;
(d) And because our economic future depends on our leadership in small business we can help them create jobs and employ more people through enhancing their abilities to lead in the installation of energy saving windows, weatherization, water-saving plumbing, etc. I am encouraged that the current administration's policies will help investing in basic and applied research, as well as to create the incentives to build a new clean energy economy.
As one of the Senior Members in the U.S. Congress, I will work with the administration and my colleagues in the House to make sure that the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) occurs in this Congress. The Workforce Investment Act addresses retraining and training issues. I believe in work force training through local government or community colleges so opportunities can be fairly practiced.
Ms. FUDGE. I yield back the balance of my time.
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