[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2] [House] [Page 1679] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]THE SUCCESS OF STIMULUS I The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I keep hearing this discussion that the stimulus didn't work. I don't know what people are looking at, because, in my district in California and in the State of California, the stimulus has been of utmost importance in maintaining at least a base. California received some $63 billion from the stimulus. Where did the money go? Well, $9 billion went to the school systems in California so we didn't have to lay off teachers and janitors and bus drivers. Those people continue to be employed, and they continue to do an extremely important piece of work. That is investing in our children. Along the way, we also invested in those schools. In my district, some nearly $100 million went into repairing schools--painting, fixing, improving their energy efficiency. $197 million backfilled money that the State of California couldn't put up to build a tunnel through the Caldecott mountains. Six thousand jobs will be underway now and into the years ahead as people work on building the tunnel, and we are going to eliminate one of the great traffic jams in the Bay Area. It goes on and on and on. The University of California and the State university system, instead of laying people off, received stimulus money, so they were able to continue to provide classes. I don't know where all of this talk that the stimulus doesn't work comes from. It certainly doesn't come from the reality of what is taking place in California. I've also noticed on television many of my Republican colleagues, who come here on the floor and say the stimulus does no good, who then go home and show some huge checks, taking credit for the stimulus money's providing jobs in their districts. So perhaps there is a speech on the floor, and then there is the reality out in the country. Yes, we do need a second stimulus, and we need it to be a big one. People want to work. They don't want to take unemployment insurance. They don't want to have to be tax takers. They want to be taxpayers. The first stimulus did that. A second stimulus should do that. I would also point out that, around the world, every industrialized Nation in the world, including China and India, did the same thing that we did in America, and they did far more. They actually put up a larger percentage of their GDP. Most of them borrowing as we did here in America. It is required that we put people to work. Otherwise, you are going to have tax takers. You are going to have greater unemployment. Let's give people a chance to have a job. Yes, it is deficit financing, but the second stimulus is going to be paid for fully by taking back the money that was given to the Wall Street rip-off. So, Mr. Speaker, I think we need to understand that the stimulus, which is 1-year- and 1-week-old, actually worked. The second one is desperately needed because there is a world of hurt out there. If you are listening to your constituents, you know that they want to work. That is what the stimulus I did, and jobs for Main Street will do the same, using Wall Street money for Main Street jobs. ____________________