Bipartisan JOBS Package - Feb. 28, 2012

Thank you, Mr. Leader, and thank you all for being here today.

I am really excited to be here for this bill for two reasons. Number one, last week when I was home, many of us were home, I went to our tech park. It formerly had been a huge research facility for what was then Union Carbide. The community leaders got together when they downsized, and they thought, "What are we going to do with this area?" What it is, is exactly what we are talking about today. It is for entrepreneurs, new ideas to create the businesses of the future for a state like West Virginia as they are transitioning away from some of the more traditional economies of our state. The question that I got in this meeting, at the Chemical Alliance Zone, is "What are you doing for entrepreneurs and startups?" I talked to people about the bills that we had passed through committee, through the Financial Services Committee, and some that we had passed through on the floor.

The other reason I am excited about this today is the other question I got is "Are you guys ever going to do anything together?" I don't think they are meaning "us" together, I think they mean "us" as Americans, yes, but as Republicans and Democrats. This is something we agree on. We have shown it on committee. We have worked through the bumps and bruises in committee, and we have done it on the floor. I think we can do it. The President is supportive of this because he knows it will relate in job creation.

I know I only said two, but I have one other thing. The other thing I like about this bundle of bills is it does look to the future. It looks ahead at how to use the internet, how to use the newer technologies to create capital, to eliminate regulations, and to be more efficient, and to reward those bright young minds that are trying to find a way to not only provide for themselves but provide for members of their community.

Speech from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jksvleIa8SU&list=UUftKT5ENIKjqidj9Xz6b_Yw