>> mr. welch and i are operating in concert. >> i can't help but be puzzled by how my good friend mr. pence can't point out that these tax cuts are expiring. if the expiration ferry landing congress, 10 years ago, as a stunt, as a tactic to avoid true accountability, our republican friend passed and on affordable tax cut that was not paid for and set in order to make it appear as if it does not have long-term budget impact, we will have labs at this point. that insecurity, that uncertainty, that lack of assuredness was written into the bill. perhaps it was a blessing because it gives us the opportunity here to say -- what is the best policy for the united states of america today and was the best policy for our kids? one thing is for sure, it is inconsistent to say that you support tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and then say you are concerned about the desperate you can't do it. this is a question of whether or not we will give tax cuts to billionaires' and borrow from our kids to get i

slaughter: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from environment, mr. welch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. welch: i thank the gentlewoman from new york. america faces two great challenges. we have too few jobs. over 15 million americans looking for work can't find it. millions more are so discouraged they don't go out. number two, too much debt, aproaching $14 trillion in this bill would -- and this bill would add $58 billion more. president obama was right in proposing legislation, absolutely right. legislation is needed to are revive our economy. president obama is right, he's absolutely right that we should extend the middle class tax cuts for folks up to $250,000. they need the money and we can't shrink their paycheck. but this legislation creates too few jobs and too much debt. the cost per job is in the range of $390,000. the cost of this is largely because of the success of the senate republicans who insist on $200 million, both in estate tax reductions in high-end tax reductions that will go to the wealthiest

mr. welch: what we have before us is two problems facing america, one is too few jobs, 9.8% of americans who want work are out of work. millions more so discouraged that they are the underemployed, we have got to find a way to put them back to work sm the second probm weave is too much debt. and without going into the history of how we went from a record surplus to a record defit, we went from the inton tax rates to the bush tax rates, from that surplus of 20 million jobs createdto eight million jobs lost, we have a debt now that is approaching $ trillion and with the passage of this bill, will be approaching $15 trillion. and the question for us to the american people is if we are going to borrow a dollar for any reason, will there be a job bang for that dollar borrowed? that dollar borrowed is coming from china and what this legislation will do is literally ask the amican middle class to borrow $200 billion to pay for tax cuts. this is not an objection to wealthy people. they are generous and

kagen: the person who is elected to congress faces how do you challenge the institution, but -- mr. welch: how do you stretch the limits and see its importance. and david obey has done it. he came here at age 30. when he came here and saw what was here, he didn't like what he saw. and he did challenge it. and he moved up in the hierarchy here, out of turn, faster than many people thought he should. he did challenge it but rment respected what the congress had to do as an institution. but he leaves this body -- people talk about his temper or -- but he leaves with the same passion to challenge the institution, to challenge its limits, but to respect that this institution has institutions that we are custodians of. and david obey, you have done that and thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. . the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. obey: i yield one minute to the distinguished the gentlewoman from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. kaptur: hard to find an honest man in life, but i would like to place on the rec

mr. welch: what we have before us is two problems facing america, one is too few jobs, 9.8% of americans who want work are out of work. millions more so discouraged that they are the underemployed, we have got to find a way to put them back to work sm the second problem we have is too much debt. and without going into the history of how we went from a record surplus to a record deficit, we went from the clinton tax rates to the bush tax rates, from that surplus of 20 million jobs created to eight million jobs lost, we have a debt now that is approaching $14 trillion and with the passage of this bill, will be approaching $15 trillion. and the question for us to the american people is if we are going to borrow a dollar for any reason, will there be a job bang for that dollar borrowed? that dollar borrowed is coming from china and what this legislation will do is literally ask the american middle class to borrow $200 billion to pay for tax cuts. this is not an objection to wealthy people. they are

mr. welch: what we have before us is two problems facing america, one is too few jobs, 9.8% of americans who want work are out of work. millions more so discouraged that they are the underemployed, we have got to find a way to put them back to work sm the second problem we have is too much debt. and without going into the history of how we went from a record surplus to a record deficit, we went from the clinton tax rates to the bush tax rates, from that surplus of 20 million jobs created to eight million jobs lost, we have a debt now that is approaching $14 trillion and with the passage of this bill, will be approaching $15 trillion. and the question for us to the american people is if we are going to borrow a dollar for any reason, will there be a job bang for that dollar borrowed? that dollar borrowed is coming from china and what this legislation will do is literally ask the american middle class to borrow $200 billion to pay for tax cuts. this is not an objection to wealthy people. they are

mr. welch: what we have before us is two problems facing america, one is too few jobs, 9.8% of americans who want work are out of work. millions more so discouraged that they are the underemployed, we have got to find a way to put them back to work sm the second problem we have is too much debt. and without going into the history of how we went from a record surplus to a record deficit, we went from the clinton tax rates to the bush tax rates, from that surplus of 20 million jobs created to eight million jobs lost, we have a debt now that is approaching $14 trillion and with the passage of this bill, will be approaching $15 trillion. and the question for us to the american people is if we are going to borrow a dollar for any reason, will there be a job bang for that dollar borrowed? that dollar borrowed is coming from china and what this legislation will do is literally ask the american middle class to borrow $200 billion to pay for tax cuts. this is not an objection to wealthy people. they are

mr. immeld came to his position in the footsteps of the former c.e.o. of g.e., jock -- jack welch. what jack welch was famously quoted as saying -- "ideally -- this is the guy who was the head of general electric before immelt. he said -- "ideally, we would have every plant we own on a barge. "end of quote. remember that quote? he said we would have ideally every plant we owned on a barge. what did he mean by that? what he meant by that is if you're on a barge, you can move your plant to any part of the world where the labor is cheapest. so if it gets too expensive in china and you have got to pay people 75 cents an hour, you go to vietnam. if it gets too expensive in vietnam, maybe you can go to north korea and have people work under the martial law, i don't know. what he was saying was his goal was to make sure that g.e. would create jobs in those countries in the world where workers were paid the lowest possible wages. and former g.e. executive vice president frank doyle said, and i quote -- "we did a lot of violence to the expectations of the american work force. we downsized,