Sen. Dorgan: Senate DPC Hearing Will Examine Competing Job Creation Strategies
Congressional Desk
December 16, 2009
President Obama inherited an economic mess. There´s no other way to describe it.
There´s no doubt that we´ve made some real progress in getting things back on track. But in every recession, employment – jobs – is always one of the last things to recover. That´s the case with today´s recession, as well. We still need to create more jobs.
Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me, and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, to develop legislation to create jobs as soon as possible. I expect the Senate will turn to that legislation after we complete health insurance reform legislation.
As part of that effort, we´re holding a series of Democratic Policy Committee hearings to examine some ideas for what ought to be in that bill. I think our hearing Wednesday is going to be particularly interesting. The hearing will take place at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, December 16. You can watch it LIVE at dpc.senate.gov. Written testimony and other documents from the hearing, as well as the audio-video record of it, will also be available at that address after the hearing.
Some of the top economists from the Barrack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations will appear before the DPC and testify. They will share their competing ideas on what approach we should take to create jobs, and review the record of results from those approaches to help us understand what policies worked and which did not. Most importantly, they´ll share their thoughts on what we need to include in the new jobs plan Senator Durbin and I are putting together.
It´s a rare and unusual opportunity to hear Gene Sperling, Lawrence Lindsey, Martin Baily, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin sit at the table and discuss all this. They have very different ideas about what we ought to be doing.
A little bit about their backgrounds –
Gene Sperling is Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and served as Director of President Clinton´s National Economic Council.
Lawrence Lindsey was Director of the National Economic Council under President Bush. He was really the architect of the Bush economic plan which relied heavily on tax cuts.
Martin Baily was President Clinton´s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin was Director of the Congressional Budget Office and was the Chief Economist at the Council of Economic Advisors under President Bush.
So, we´re going to hear some very different ideas, from people who held key economic policy posts in three different administrations. I expect we´ll hear a pretty strong discussion of which of these competing approaches is best.
Creating more jobs is absolutely vital to the well being of millions of American families. We want to hear a wide variety of ideas, examine the record of what we´ve done in the past, and develop a bill that puts the American people back to work.
There´s no doubt that we´ve made some real progress in getting things back on track. But in every recession, employment – jobs – is always one of the last things to recover. That´s the case with today´s recession, as well. We still need to create more jobs.
Majority Leader Harry Reid asked me, and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, to develop legislation to create jobs as soon as possible. I expect the Senate will turn to that legislation after we complete health insurance reform legislation.
As part of that effort, we´re holding a series of Democratic Policy Committee hearings to examine some ideas for what ought to be in that bill. I think our hearing Wednesday is going to be particularly interesting. The hearing will take place at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, December 16. You can watch it LIVE at dpc.senate.gov. Written testimony and other documents from the hearing, as well as the audio-video record of it, will also be available at that address after the hearing.
Some of the top economists from the Barrack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations will appear before the DPC and testify. They will share their competing ideas on what approach we should take to create jobs, and review the record of results from those approaches to help us understand what policies worked and which did not. Most importantly, they´ll share their thoughts on what we need to include in the new jobs plan Senator Durbin and I are putting together.
It´s a rare and unusual opportunity to hear Gene Sperling, Lawrence Lindsey, Martin Baily, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin sit at the table and discuss all this. They have very different ideas about what we ought to be doing.
A little bit about their backgrounds –
Gene Sperling is Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and served as Director of President Clinton´s National Economic Council.
Lawrence Lindsey was Director of the National Economic Council under President Bush. He was really the architect of the Bush economic plan which relied heavily on tax cuts.
Martin Baily was President Clinton´s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin was Director of the Congressional Budget Office and was the Chief Economist at the Council of Economic Advisors under President Bush.
So, we´re going to hear some very different ideas, from people who held key economic policy posts in three different administrations. I expect we´ll hear a pretty strong discussion of which of these competing approaches is best.
Creating more jobs is absolutely vital to the well being of millions of American families. We want to hear a wide variety of ideas, examine the record of what we´ve done in the past, and develop a bill that puts the American people back to work.
Print
Email
