The events of September 11th left an indelible mark on our country and its already weakening economy.  When Congress returns to Washington later this month, we must help those workers who are out of work and having a hard time making ends meet, and we must make sure that our country is prepared for and protected from future terrorist attacks.  

In early February, President Bush will be announcing his annual budget request for the fiscal year 2003.  Next year’s budget will set the priorities for our nation and map out a course for the fiscal state of our federal government.  As we negotiate the nation’s budget, we need to put all of our priorities on the table, see how much money we have, and all be willing to sit down, roll up our sleeves, and work together to come up with a compromise that is good for all Americans.

As we begin this New Year, the future of our economy remains uncertain.  In the past year, we’ve seen record budget surpluses give way again to federal budget deficits.  A year ago we were arguing over how quickly we could pay off our $5.7 trillion national debt; now, we are looking at a national debt that could increase to ??? trillion in the coming decade.

I was one of a number of Democrats who supported President Bush’s tax cut plan last year.  As a Democrat, I believe that hard working families in America deserve tax relief, and I stand by my vote to provide this tax relief to the American people.  No one at that time could have foreseen the tragic events of September 11th and their impact on our economy.  

Now, with the current economic situation, it’s critical that we maintain our fiscal responsibility and not allow the national debt to continue to grow.  This debt, right now, costs our country $1 billion each day in interest alone.  That’s money that we could be investing in education, in modernizing Medicare to include medicine for seniors, in homeland defense, or in tax relief for working families.  It’s wrong for us to shoulder that debt on our children and grandchildren.

We have many important priorities that need to be addressed in next year’s budget.  As a result of September 11th, we must provide new resources to win our war against terrorism and fund homeland security measures to ensure the safety of the American people—something that Democrats strongly support.  Our country today faces new challenges in aviation security and threats of bio-terrorism, such as the anthrax that was discovered last fall on Capitol Hill and in New York.  We must make sure that our people can feel safe to go about their normal everyday lives—to open their mail, to travel to business meetings and conventions, to take vacations with their families, and to actively participate in our economy.

We want to work together to provide a budget that boosts our economy, one that helps our working families and spurs investment in jobs and small businesses.  In recent months, millions of Americans have been forced out their jobs.  Many of these workers are out of work for the first time in their lives, through no fault of their own, and some have seen their retirement nest eggs that they worked their entire lives to build evaporate in a matter of days.  These men and women have families to support, and they need to be able to afford to put food on the table and pay for health coverage for themselves and their families.

We as Democrats believe that our first priority should be to extend unemployment and health insurance benefits to these laid-off working families who need it most.  Doing this will increase demand and move money quickly into the economy.  And we need to provide incentives for small businesses to create jobs.  As a small business owner myself, with twelve employees back home in Prescott, Arkansas, I know first-hand that small businesses are the backbone of our communities and our country.  We can help small businesses create jobs, and we can do it through incentives such as the Jobs Creation Tax Credit that Senator Daschle proposed last week that would be available to every business in America, large and small.  If a business hired new people, restored hours that have been cut, or gave workers a pay raise, under this proposal the business would be reimbursed for all of the extra payroll taxes they would pay.

We do not, however, think the answer to improving our economy is to provide a welfare bill to big corporations and special interests, as some politicians in Washington are trying to pass off as economic stimulus.  And we think it is wrong to raid Social Security and Medicare to pay for it, as the GOP stimulus plan does.

These are new times for America.  Our country stands united in a war against terrorism.  Democrats stand behind President Bush and his leadership in waging our military campaign in Afghanistan and other areas throughout the world, and we will continue to ensure that he has the resources necessary to win the War on Terrorism.  

While we wage this war, we must not forget important priorities at home like strengthening homeland defense, continuing to improve education through smaller class sizes and better schools, providing quality and affordable health care to all citizens, strengthening Social Security, and modernizing Medicare to include a meaningful prescription drug benefit for our seniors.

Congress has proven that we can come together to work in a bipartisan manner with the President to find common ground on important issues, as we have in the war against terrorism and as we have on education and other issues.  Now is not the time to play politics; now is the time to do what’s right for the American people by ensuring our economic security and maintaining our fiscal discipline.  America has the talent and abilities to get our economy back on track and to meet the challenges facing our great nation.  Working together, we will meet those challenges.

This is Congressman Mike Ross from Arkansas.  Thank you so much for listening.