Hello. I am Congresswoman Corrine Brown, the representative of Florida's third congressional district, an area which includes Jacksonville, Orlando and Gainesville. I have been in the House of Representatives for 17 years now, and am the Chair of the House Transportation's subcommittee on Railroads, and the second highest ranking Member on the House committee of Veteran's Affairs.

I would like to begin this week's address by remembering the great Senator Edward Kennedy, who passed away earlier this week. Along with millions of my fellow Americans, I have the family of Senator Kennedy in my thoughts and prayers. Indeed, the American people have lost a great leader, while the Kennedy family has lost a beloved family man. And the accomplishments that were achieved by the great Senator, the "Lion" of the Senate, are items the Congressional Black Caucus has worked to achieve in every legislative session since the Caucus' inception back in 1971: proper health care for all Americans, rich or poor; educational opportunities for all; poverty alleviation, civil rights, equality for people with disabilities, and security for our nation's senior citizens, among many, many others. Our nation owes a tremendous amount to this great man, and on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, I send my sincere condolences to the family, and a tribute to Senator Kennedy for all he has done to make our nation a better, more inclusive place for all Americans.

Changing course slightly, I'm certain everyone listening today knows that our nation is in the midst of an economic crisis that is of greater proportion than any since the Great Depression. In fact, the unemployment rate in our country is projected to hit 10% by the end of this year, while unemployment in African American communities across the country has spiked to over 14%! As I always say, when America gets a cold, African Americans get pneumonia. With our country in desperate need of solutions to turn the economy around, together, the Obama administration and Congress came up with a plan to inject billions of dollars in federal money into the economy to get people back to work and give the economy a jump start. Known as the stimulus package, this funding has allowed states to save or create employment in the areas of education (for teachers, school construction workers, school administrators and so on), health care service workers (hospital administrators and others), transportation and infrastructure (construction workers, road builders), and police and fire departments employees, just to name a few.

Yet to ensure that we are successful, it is imperative that the administration ensure ALL stimulus funding is distributed and utilized in a proper and timely manner. And individual states must do their part as well. In my state of Florida for example, we are dead last in the disbursement of federal stimulus dollars, which is quite ironic given that Florida has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates and worst foreclosure rate in the country! So even though this urgent funding has been sent to the state to improve our economy and create job for Floridians, the Governor, Charlie Crist, has moved way too slowly in disbursing the funds. So I ask today's listeners: what good is it for the federal government to send billions of dollars to the states if the state leaders don't do their part and properly distribute the dollars to get the local economy moving and put people back to work?

And since this is not a problem unique just to Florida, I urge everyone listening today across the nation to contact your local state representative, state senator and governor's office to encourage them to make sure they are following through in getting the dollars flowing in your state, so that together we can fight unemployment and put Americans back to work, especially in our African American communities, where investment and job creation are so desperately needed.

Thank you and God bless.