Education

"I’ve spoken to dozens of recent graduates in my district, and they all say the same thing: there are very few jobs available for them, and the ones that exist aren’t paying well," Congressman Garamendi said. "Our country is weakened when we have an entire generation of graduates saddled with debts they can’t afford to pay back. President Obama is wise to offer relief to Americans with excessive student loan debt."

"Today's jobs report offers a veneer of positive news that while encouraging cannot obscure the crisis at hand: Americans need jobs and they need them now. By adding well over a million jobs to the economy, the American Jobs Act is our best shot at preventing another painful recession. We should pass this jobs bill right now."

"Americans need jobs. This is my first priority in Congress, and I was encouraged by President Obama's speech in which he laid out a robust plan to put Americans back to work."

"Americans need jobs. Yet, the Republican majority, which has been in control of the House for 247 days, has not brought one job-creating bill to this floor. My amendment would create jobs by giving the Secretary of Education the authority to prioritize charter school investments that Make It In America," said Rep. Garamendi. "We must educate our youth to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges, and there is a role for charter schools in achieving this goal. However, without my amendment, this charter school bill fails to notice that millions of Americans are right now out of work through no fault of their own."

I support the ongoing negotiations to use the legislative process to raise the debt limit and responsibly reduce the deficit. However, If Congressional Republicans insist on gutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, student aid, and food safety as an absolutist precondition to raising the debt limit, then I encourage the President to simply pursue the Constitutional option fail-safe already available to him.

"Americans want jobs," said Congressman John Garamendi. "They want to go back to work and support their family. Additionally, the only way to address our long term deficit problem is by creating jobs. It is incumbent upon all political leaders to develop a jobs agenda. The elements of a successful program are in this report and in the Make It In America agenda. Now, let's get to work, putting people back to work."

"Here we have what was once a bipartisan energy standard that is creating thousands of jobs and is expected to save American consumers more than $12.5 billion every year, and the radicalized Republican majority wants to turn off the lights,” Garamendi said. “This is not a bright idea. If you think the puns about this legislation are bad, the bill is much worse."