Brothers and sisters, these are tough times.  According to a recent Gallup poll, 65% of Americans think the economic situation is “poor” – and they are right.   It is stunning to think about how the Bush Administration has managed to turn a 10-year $5.6 trillion budget surplus into a $2 trillion budget deficit – nearly an $8 trillion turnaround.
 
And what do we have to show for it?  Are we better off?   No.  Not in terms of jobs.  Since Bush took office, 1.8 million workers lost their jobs.  Not a single net private sector job has been created.  8.2 million Americans can’t find work.  Many more have given up looking and are no longer even counted in the statistics.

The Bush record on creating jobs is a total disaster but no one in this Administration seems to be very interested in turning that record around.  In fact, their major response has been to simply stop publishing monthly reports of mass layoffs so that no one is reminded about what a horrible job they are doing.

What do we get as an economic stimulus plan from the President?  A plan that – by their own numbers – would create only 190,000 jobs this year.  In other words, the Bush job creation plan would create jobs for only 2.3% of the 8.2 million men and women who are currently looking for work.
 
Why is this plan so bad at creating jobs?  Because it gives 40% of the benefit to the top 1 percent.  Under the Bush plan, a millionaire gets $90,000 a year.  Nearly half of all tax filers get less than $100.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t know any millionaires who are putting off major purchases and need dividend relief before they are able to go shopping.  But I know plenty of laid-off workers, minimum wage workers, working couples and senior citizens who would immediately put money back into the economy if they had it.
 
The Bush plan fails because it ignores the $86 billion in deficits facing the states and would even add $4.3 billion to those deficits by cutting federal taxes that also affect state revenues.  I guess President Bush – who may have forgotten that he used to be a governor – is unconcerned that states will be shutting facilities, laying off workers, postponing investments, and cutting services – actions that will only make our economic crisis even worse.

After 9/11, we heard a lot from the Administration that we needed to provide a $15 billion bailout for the airline industry, because the nation’s business demanded air travel.  We were so interested in helping the industry, we couldn’t even stop to help airline workers.   

But, apparently, President Bush doesn’t think that investing in transportation makes sense in terms of an economic stimulus policy – even though every $1 of investment provides $6 of economic stimulus and every $1 billion in federal highway and transit spending creates 42,000 jobs.  I guess it’s too obvious and direct a way to stimulate the economy to make its way into the Bush proposal.
  
 The $8 trillion wasn’t used to create jobs.  But not much of it was used to take care of unemployed workers and their families – even though we finally got the Bush Administration and the Republican leadership to agree to an extension of emergency benefits, they refused to help the 1million workers and their families who had already run out of the 13 additional weeks.
 
The $8 trillion also wasn’t used to make sure that no child is left behind in education.  The Bush budget is $7 billion short of what is needed to fund last year’s education bill – schools are still crumbling and we still don’t have enough teachers for our children.  It wasn’t used to make sure that families can afford to send their children to college.  With college tuition skyrocketing, Pell Grants will actually be cut by $400 per student on average.   It certainly wasn’t used to make sure that senior citizens have affordable prescription drugs.  And, since it raids Social Security and Medicare, it certainly doesn’t help there.

It didn’t go to pay for a possible war in Iraq – those costs aren’t even factored in yet.  It also didn’t go to improve homeland security.  This year, we’re spending only about $1 billion in new money for homeland security – last August, President Bush effectively vetoed a $5.1 billion in emergency funds for first responders and froze existing funding in December.

The fact is that the majority of the $8 trillion is going for tax breaks for those who don’t need them.  We are being told to tighten our belts but the wealthy are gorging themselves at our expense. 

It is clear whose side the Bush administration is on when it comes to the economy.  It’s also true whose side they are on when it comes to other issues.  I don’t have to tell you, my brothers and sisters, that President Bush is not on the side of working men and women.  As a UNITE member myself, I know that they are not only not on the side of organized labor – they have positioned themselves firmly in the other camp.

In the early days of this Administration, President Bush overturned a Clinton executive order requiring that federal contract reviews include looking at whether bidders had violated labor laws.  President Bush refused to sign a Department of Homeland Security bill until he was given full authority to ban collective bargaining rights and union representation for its workers – and reserve for himself the right to cut salaries and benefits without appeal.  

Ken Lay is still at large, Harvey Pitt is still active at the SEC and companies are still raiding worker pension funds, but the Bush Administration is focusing on onerous rules requiring itemization of every union expenditure over $2,000.  The reason:  to force unions to spend $1 billion on unnecessary paperwork, $1 billion that can’t be used to organize, to lobby against their anti-worker policies or to campaign for candidates who will stand with labor.

CEOs are now making 411 times more than the average hourly worker (up from 85 times that amount ten years ago), but the Bush Administration still won’t increase the minimum wage, which – in real terms – is at its lowest value in almost 50 years.

Corporations are still stashing profits in Bermuda to avoid taxes, but whose patriotism is attacked by Republicans?  – firefighters, police, machinists, and other union members.  Tom DeLay is raising money not just for the National Right to Work Foundation but for the GOP by falsely and unbelievably charging union leaders with using 9/11 for their own advantage.

Clearly, we are going to have many challenges in the 108th Congress and many opportunities.  The challenges will be many – stopping tax cuts for millionaires so we can create jobs and invest in our nation; stopping the privatization of Social Security, Medicare and air controllers; passing a real prescription drug benefit and lowering prices for everyone; preventing more assaults of unions like voluntary “comp” time and the Team Act.
 
One of our greatest opportunities is TEA-21 reauthorization, an initiative that will create jobs, spur the economy, and make long-term improvements in business opportunities.  I will be with you in fighting for at least $60 billion, in protecting labor rights, and in preventing privatization.  We will not give up your members’ rights.

Brothers and sisters, these are hard times and the Bush Administration is not on our side.  But I believe that the American public is on our side.  They want us to create more good jobs.  They want to know that working 40 hours a week means that you get good wages and good benefits, with retirement security through pensions, Social Security and Medicare.  They want affordable health care and quality education over tax cuts for the already-wealthy.  They want U.S. corporations to pay taxes in the U.S.  They want to be able to move around their communities and the country on safe and accessible highways, mass transit, railroads and airlines. 

Unfortunately, having the public on our side is not enough.  The President has a bully pulpit that can only be countered by an education, organizing, and mobilization campaign on a massive scale.  

In preparing to speak with you today, I learned that your motto is “United – Invincible.”   With that motto, with your skill and commitment, and working in solidarity with all who share our goals, we will win.  I am pleased to be a partner with you in this fight.  “United – Invincible.”