On September 11th, terrorists attacked not only the people of the United States, but they also did extensive damage to the world's leading economy. Clearly, our great nation was already facing an economic downturn last summer, but the events of September 11th triggered significant lay-offs nationwide, damaged consumer confidence and shook our financial institutions. Congress has a responsibility to help America's citizens during difficult times and President Bush urged us to act.

The U.S. House of Representatives responded and on October 24, 2001 passed the "Economic Security and Recovery Act" to help stimulate economic growth and create jobs. While this bill was immediately criticized by the Left as granting too much tax relief for the wealthy, Tennessee would have received approximately $252.94 million in benefits for workers who found themselves unemployed.

Unfortunately, the Senate leadership chose to not even debate this legislation.

In an effort to reach a compromise, the House passed another economic stimulus bill on December 20, 2001 that removed many of the provisions that the Senate leadership did not approve of. Again, the Democrat-controlled Senate refused to even consider the bill.

More and more Americans were losing their jobs and Congress needed to act fast to provide immediate help to get them back on their feet. After making even more compromises and changes, the House of Representatives offered yet another stimulus package on Valentine's day of this year.

Even though by this time almost two million Americans had lost their jobs and many economic indicators were still negative, the Senate failed to act for a third time.

On March 6th following additional talks with Senate leadership, the House passed an economic assistance package for the FOURTH time. The Senate finally decided to debate the legislation and passed a much smaller economic stimulus package about six months after the economy had bottomed out.

President George W. Bush signed the bill on March 9, 2002. The stimulus package provides among other things, a 13-week extension to unemployment benefits and greater tax incentives for businesses to expand and create jobs. $5 billion in tax relief was included to aid in the recovery of lower Manhattan by helping businesses get back on their feet so they can start hiring again.

Pressure and perseverance by the House of Representatives and President Bush's determination finally paid off for the American people, our economy and the workers who had been laid off. Today, we are encouraged by the testimony of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan about the future of our economy:

"Although there are ample reasons to be cautious about the economic outlook, the recuperative powers of the U.S. economy have been remarkable. The U.S. economy has experienced a substantial shock, and, no doubt, we continue to face risks in the period ahead. But the response thus far of our citizens to these new economic challenges provides reason for encouragement" (In the February 27, 2002 testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives)

I am hopeful that with the combination of tax incentives provided by Congress and the positive outlook projected by Chairman Greenspan, Americans will be confident and invest in our nation's future. America's sprit is enduring and with time our economy will come back even stronger than before.