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Congressman Connolly Floor statement February 9, 2011
Mister Speaker, I rise today to ask my Republican friends a simple question.  Where is the job creation agenda?  In the first month of the 112th Congress, this body has not taken up a single piece of legislation that will create jobs and put Americans back to work. 

Let’s look at what we have done:

H.R. 2 to repeal the protections of health insurance reform.  Created no jobs.

H.R. 359 to eliminate public financing for Presidential campaigns.  Helped foreign corporations.  Created no jobs.

H.Res.38 to establish a budget with no numbers.  Created no jobs.

H.R. 519 is on the floor today to reduce our annual payment to the United Nations.  Again, it will create no jobs.

Mister Speaker, my Republican friends claim that job creation is their number one priority.  The American people said loud and clear that job creation should be our number one priority.  During the previous Congress we made job creation the priority – which is why we are in the midst of 12 straight months of private sector job growth.  But it’s not enough.

So again, I ask a simple question.  Why have the Republicans completely ignored job creation?

Congressman Connolly Floor Statement February 10, 2011 On Build American Bonds program

Mister Speaker, we are more than 5 weeks into this Congress and the majority has yet to bring to the floor even a single bill aimed at job creation.  Yesterday I asked:  where is the job creation agenda?  The American people have said loud and clear that job creation should be our top priority and the Republicans have pledged a “laser-like focus” on the issue.  Yet today they are planning 10 hours of meaningless debate to instruct committees to conduct oversight, which they should be doing anyway.  Let me offer an alternative.

Today I introduced H.R. 11, legislation to extend the successful Build America Bonds program – a jobs bill.  During the last 2 years, $4.4 billion from the Recovery Act leveraged $181 billion in bonds.  $181 billion in needed school construction, bridge and road repairs.  $181 billion in job creation. 

My own state of Virginia issued $3.3 billion in bonds for 45 projects, and nationwide, hundreds of thousands of jobs were created, helping maintain a strong American infrastructure and growing our economy.  We can create hundreds of thousands more if we extend the program.  So I ask my colleagues, if you’re serious about job creation, support H.R. 11.  Extend the Build America Bonds program.  Create jobs.  It’s time to move forward and get something done for America.

Tea Party-Backed Freshmen Stir Things Up In House
by Andrea Seabrook
February 9, 2011
All Things Considered

It's been about a month since Republicans took charge of the House of Representatives. The "cut and grow majority," as they called it, charged in full steam ahead, ready to change the way the Congress runs and to slash federal spending across the government.

But somewhere in the past few weeks, things started to get difficult for GOP leaders. Now, they seem to be having trouble running the House floor and even keeping their own members united.

Perhaps the first sign of real problems within the House GOP was its response to President Obama's State of the Union address two weeks ago. Or rather, the two responses: one from Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Budget Committee chairman; and another from Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a Tea Party favorite.

But if that was the first sign, this week is the confirmation.

First, the Republicans had to yank a trade bill from the House schedule when they realized they didn't have the votes to pass it — even though the GOP has a 49-seat advantage in the House.

Then Tuesday night, Republicans actually lost a vote on extending some Patriot Act provisions that allow the government to get roving wiretaps, track lone-wolf terrorists, and get records from libraries and businesses.

And on Wednesday afternoon, Republicans lost another vote — this time on cutting funds to the United Nations.

So the GOP is having a terrible week.

"We've been in the majority four weeks. We're not going to be perfect every day," House Speaker John Boehner said.

He brushed off the problems, especially losing the Patriot Act vote. Republican leaders brought it to the floor under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority for it to pass, so they only have to reschedule it under regular rules, and it will likely go through. Basically, they miscalculated. And that's probably because they didn't expect 26 of their own Republican members to vote against it — most of them freshmen or Tea Party members.

Republicans are also retooling their message. It turns out the banner "cut and grow" wasn't resonating as much as they had hoped — because it was missing an important word: jobs. Democrats picked up on this and started hammering.

"I rise today to ask my Republican friends a simple question: Where is the job creation agenda?" Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly said. "In the first month of the 112th, this body has not taken up a single piece of legislation that will create jobs and put Americans back to work."

So now Boehner and other Republican leaders are trying to explain how their "cut and grow" agenda really is about lowering unemployment.

"Republicans are continuing to be focused on creating an environment that will get economic activity moving in America and help create jobs," Boehner said.

On top of all this, another storm is brewing within the Republican majority, even as it unveils what should be a signature piece of legislation: the bill to fund the federal government for the rest of the year.

The chairman of the Appropriations Committee has released proposed budget cuts to everything from job training programs to food safety inspections to zeroing out the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which contributes to NPR and public radio stations. But within the GOP, lawmakers want to cut deeper.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says it's not a bad problem to have.

"We said we were going to change the culture in Washington, and I don't think any of us can really remember a time in which we were really bickering about the levels of spending cuts," he says.

So what is it that's making things so difficult and messy for the new majority?

It's largely the bloc of voters who won them the majority in the first place. Those upstart freshmen, many of whom rode the Tea Party wave into victory last November, came ready to fight — with anyone, including their own party leaders.

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/09/133629818/Tea-Party-Backed-Freshmen-Stir-Things-Up?ft=1&f=1001

Listen to the audio here.