Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to join with students, parents, staff, and friends of the Northview Public Schools to mark the retirement of Mr. Max Colley, Jr. I have had the privilege of attending several exceptional Veteran's Day concerts directed by Max, and I am very pleased to honor him today.

Max Colley, Jr., received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and his Masters of Arts degree from Grand Valley State University. He has taught music at Northview since 1970 and served as a saxophone instructor at Grand Rapids Community College and Calvin College, and was Associate Professor of Music at Calvin where he taught the jazz band.

Throughout his career, Max has received widespread recognition for his considerable talents in directing and teaching music. In 1985, Max was the first teacher in the Northview District to be recognized by the School Board for ``Exemplary Service'' and has been awarded the ``Outstanding Teacher Award'' of Northview High School on three occasions. In 1988, he was selected Michigan's ``Band Teacher of the Year'' by the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA), and he received the ``National Impact Teacher of the Year'' award given by Cedarville University. In 1989, he was selected as conductor of the first West Michigan All-Star Band. In 2006, he was awarded the ``Outstanding Educator Award'' by the Michigan Competing Band Association. In 2009, he was director of the MSBOA Youth Arts All-State Jazz Band. Under his direction, the Northview marching band has placed in the top 10 bands numerous times with the 2009 Marching Band winning 2nd place this past fall. Recently, he was named the MSBOA District X Teacher of the Year.

However, as a devoted teacher, Max is most proud of his students' accomplishments. Northview students have received numerous DOWNBEAT and International Association for Jazz Education awards. His bands have performed at every Detroit Jazz Festival, and the Montreux, Switzerland Jazz Festival two times. They have performed at the Midwest Conference five times, have been on eight European Tours, and have had 48 students selected to the All-State Jazz Band in just the past 12 years. They have won several university jazz festivals in the State of Michigan and have received first-division ratings at every MSBOA Festival since 1975. They also were selected by Lincoln Center of New York to perform at the Essentially Ellington Band Directors Academy.

I sincerely wish Max the best in his upcoming retirement, and commend him for his service to our community. May his music never end!

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 285 I was involved in a meeting off the floor of the House and reached the floor after the voting board had been closed. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today, and especially a pleasure to follow my good friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), who gave us an eloquent warning about what can happen in view of our mounting national debt and the countries that we owe the money to.

If anyone wishes to know more about this, I recommend to you the writings of Mallory Factor, who has written several good pieces on that topic recently. I hope to organize a 1-hour discussion of his writings at some time.

I also want to raise another issue which addresses this problem. One of the first bills to come up today is rewriting and revamping the America COMPETES Act. The original act was generated by President George W. Bush. I had the pleasure of working with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget on that bill, and I believe it is beginning to achieve its objectives, including strengthening American manufacturing. If we do not improve our manufacturing sector in the United States of America, we will continue to borrow more and more and more money from other countries. It is imperative that we pass the America COMPETES Act. If you don't like this bill for some reason, let's change it; but we must pass it, otherwise we will continue to be a debtor Nation over and over again.

I want to thank Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall for all their hard work on this legislation. It is a complex bill. It has been from the start, beginning in 2006, when President George W. Bush developed the idea of the American Competitiveness Initiative, which launched a three-pronged approach by strengthening research at the NSF, the DOE, and NIST. We must continue that effort.

We heard a speech this morning during the 1-minute segment by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Johnson) about his concern about our debt to the Chinese. It's going to get worse and worse unless we generate more wealth in this country. And any economist will tell you that one of the best ways to generate wealth in this Nation is through manufacturing. We must restore our manufacturing operations in this Nation. We must work together to put our country on a more stable fiscal basis. We must stop overspending. And we have to restore manufacturing and other wealth-building mechanisms such as mining and farming.

This bill goes a long way to do that, and I support this bill. It's not everything I wanted. None of us ever get everything we want. But at least we can move this bill over to the Senate. And at the very least, we can go into conference with the Senate and try to resolve the issues such as the veterans issue. I believe that we are in total agreement on what we want to achieve. I just encourage us to pass this bill, and get it into conference, where all the viewpoints can be heard and debated.

I hope my colleagues from both sides of the aisle will support the bill before us today. The National Association of Manufacturers supports it. All others who are involved in wealth generation through manufacturing support it. We absolutely have to restore our manufacturing sector. And the President we have now is trying to do that through the Department of Commerce and through the Manufacturing Council that he has appointed.

We have our work cut out for us, but I think we can come together and continue the work with the Senate and finally develop a really good bill we can all vote for.

I thank the gentleman from Texas, the ranking member of the committee, for being generous with his time again.

I want to point out two additional items in the bill that are going to be of great importance to our country. I've already mentioned that we must become more competitive and that we have to develop a better approach to competing with other countries, if we are going to regain or retain the leadership that we have had for several centuries.

But there is something else as well that's very important, and that is innovation. America has not only led through manufacturing but also through innovation in the products made. We have begun to slip in that category, and that is why it is so important to continue our research efforts at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy.

I am pleased this measure before us today focuses on the challenges faced by our Nation's manufacturers, and it will broaden and strengthen manufacturing extension services which will help corporations be more productive and innovative. This will revive manufacturing innovation through research and development.

I hope my colleagues will be able to support this bill, which will be wonderful for our Nation and our financial status if we become more innovative and creative. This bill provides an opportunity to do that.

So I, once again, say let's resolve the difficulties we have with this bill. Let's get them resolved as quickly as possible so we can pass this bill and begin breathing new life into manufacturing in this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. That stirring speech by Mr. Kennedy, which we have just heard, reminds us of why this bill is so important. Let me also read a few passages which really struck me, in which Congress finds the following: Special Olympics celebrates the possibilities of a world where everybody matters, everybody counts, and every person contributes. The Government and the People of the United States are determined to end the isolation and stigmatization of people with intellectual disabilities and to ensure that such people are assured of equal opportunities for community participation, access to appropriate health care, and exclusive education, and to experience life in a nondiscriminatory manner.

I will stop at that point and simply say I'm very pleased to be one of the early cosponsors of this bill. I have attended Special Olympics events, and I can tell you they are more stirring and more of a blessing to the soul of the spectators than any other sporting event they can possibly go to. The children--and it is primarily for children but adults often participate, too--but they struggle so hard. And they succeed. They succeed admirably in achieving their goals. It just stirs your heart to be involved and help Special Olympics, to watch the Special Olympics, and to share the joy of the participants when they successfully complete the particular activity they're engaged in.

This is a wonderful bill. It's a wonderful opportunity. I had the pleasure of meeting Eunice Shriver a few years ago and discussed the Special Olympics with her shortly before her death. This is a major contribution she has made to the children of this country, and I strongly urge that we pass this bill.

Madam Chair, in 2007, Congress responded to the recommendations of many experts that the federal government must increase its investment in basic research and in science and math education by passing the America COMPETES Act. The reauthorization before us today continues the United States on the path of investing in programs that will keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy.

Beginning in 2006, President Bush's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) launched a three-pronged approach to competitiveness by strengthening research at the National Science Foundation, the Office of Science at the Department of Energy, and the laboratories and construction of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST. The America COMPETES Act of 2007 established a 7-year doubling funding pathway for these agencies and also included some new ideas, such as the establishment of a DARPA-like agency at the Department of Energy. ARPA-E is still in its infancy, but testimony before the Science and Technology Committee indicates that this agency has the potential to overcome some of the greatest hurdles to commercialization of innovative energy technologies. The reauthorization bill provides more flexibility to ARPA-E and increases its authorization in future years.

The reauthorization measure before us today also focuses on the challenges facing our nation's manufacturers by broadening and strengthening manufacturing extension services and reviving manufacturing innovation through research and development. Although manufacturing has experienced tremendous technological gains over the last few years, international competition has exacted a toll on our Nation's manufacturers. Furthermore, today's economy has placed a great strain on States to participate in federal programs like the Manufacturing Extension Partnership at NIST. This bill would temporarily relax the cost-share requirements on States to allow for continued participation of the greatest number of small manufacturers across the Nation who depend on this program to help them continually innovate.

I recognize that many of my colleagues are concerned that this bill authorizes spending more than $80 billion over the next 5 years. Indeed, our economy is suffering, we are deeply in debt, and fiscal restraint must be exercised. However, if there is ever an investment that will guarantee an economic return, this is it.

The reality is that if we are unwilling to spend this money now, we are deciding to pay it later to other countries that make these investments today and produce the products that we will need tomorrow. A recent article in The Economist focused on emerging international markets, and noted that:

Last year productivity in China grew by 8.2%, compared with

a rise of 1.0% in America and a decline of 2.8% in Britain. A

few years ago Airbus and Boeing were willing to outsource

only basic work to Indian firms, but now they entrust some of

their most complicated tasks to them.

Other countries are now competing with us not only on cost, but also creativity. We have thought for years that there are certain innovative activities that will only happen in the United States, but I feel less certain that is still the case. To keep on the cutting edge of creativity, we must make these investments in science and technology, or we will simply be left behind.

Science and technology are the fundamental movers of our economy, and if we want to remain globally competitive, this bill is the surefire way to guarantee results. The dividends paid by training scientists, engineers, and teachers will multiply throughout all sectors of our economy.

I want to thank Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall for working on this legislation. I hope my colleagues will support this investment in our Nation's future.

Madam Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to join with the past and present members of the Creston Christian Elementary School family to ``Celebrate God's Faithfulness,'' and mark over 120 years of devotion to the education of young people in Grand Rapids. As a state senator, I had the pleasure of recognizing Creston Christian Elementary School for its first 100 years of service, and now, as their Representative in the United States Congress, I am delighted to again honor them for their tradition and success.

``By faithfulness we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.'' Saint Augustine eloquently captures the mission of Creston Christian Elementary School as they have worked to develop an inclusive community, believing that one body is made up of many parts. Through unity, Creston Christian has sought to learn from one another and grow closer to God.

On the eve of my retirement and Creston Christian's consolidation this fall to a new, comprehensive elementary school, it is not only a time of celebration, but also an occasion for remembrance. As we both close out one chapter and open a new one, I am reminded of God's faithfulness and that great things happen when we glorify Him and model our lives after His teachings. As Creston Christian joins with other schools in the area, I suspect the changes will be bittersweet for many families and staff members. I hope you will take the time to reflect on the many years of service provided by the dedicated staff and families connected to Creston Christian, and know that not only have you prepared many young people to make a living, but you have also taught them how to make a life--one that is focused on God and centered on Christ.

I am thankful for the many years of service so willingly given. I hope that Creston Christian has a joyous, memorable celebration, and may God's blessings continue to shine upon you.

I thank the gentleman for yielding and I also want to recognize that Mr. Graves has been a real stalwart on the Transportation Committee, particularly the Aviation Subcommittee, with his wealth of experience in flying. The knowledge that he brings to it has just been invaluable. I really appreciate all that Mr. Graves has done for aviation in the Congress. That's very important because last year the Congress developed a negative impression of flying. You all recall, I suspect, that some corporate leaders came in asking for government funds, and they flew here in their private jets. That made headlines across the country. Unfortunately, the news media didn't leave it there, but continued to pursue the entire issue of flying and presented the portrait of the average flyer as being very wealthy and having an airplane as a toy to play with. That is far from the truth. Most pilots do not have a lot of money. Very few of them own their own airplanes. This negative impression that was formed here by the Congress and in the Congress really troubled those of us who know something about flying.

I am not a professional pilot. I would love to be, but I've never had either the time or the money to do it. But I recognize injustice when it takes place. It took place right here in the Congress of the United States. And that led to a lot of activity on our part to try to educate the public about flying, about who the pilots are, what they accomplish for the economy as a whole, and in particular, what good works they do. A good example of that is the tremendous amount of effort the private pilots of the United States exerted in helping the island of Haiti.

Just last week, we had Harrison Ford here to describe what he had done. He owns several airplanes and did a number of flights into Haiti transporting doctors, medicines, and so forth. He is an example of what I'm talking about. Not everyone who took part is a movie star, as Harrison Ford is, but he was representing a lot of people who expended a lot of their own money to aid the people in Haiti through the use of airplanes flying goods in and out, flying patients out to the United States for medical treatment when they were in serious trouble, etc. And this is just one example of the many things that pilots and aviation in general do to help the public at large.

So I'm very proud to stand here and say we have to help aviation and private pilots in every way that we can. And one good way is to encourage them to learn to fly. Many individuals normally would not think of flying, but when they see that they can accomplish so much good with aviation, we hope that they will take the time to learn how to fly and to at least join a flying club or perhaps eventually own their own airplane so that they can really go forth and help a lot of people.

It's amazing how many people do this sort of thing in various fields. For years, I was interested in ham radio. Again, a tremendous help to the economy and to the people at large is done during emergencies by ham radio operators. It's very similar with pilots. When the need is there, they will rise to the occasion and they will provide the transportation that's necessary.

In my area, we have an Angels of Mercy program, which has done tremendous good work flying people to hospitals. The patients cannot afford to take a commercial plane to get distant medical treatment. They're not in good enough shape to travel by car. And so the Angels of Mercy fly individuals at essentially no cost or very low cost so that the patients can get medical treatment in the right place at the right time.

It is high time that we recognize the good service that these pilots provide and that we do everything we can to help them in that effort. This resolution is part of that--simply encouraging people to learn to fly. I know there's a local group in my district that has taken advantage of this to publicize flight lessons in my area. They have a number of people signed up already who are willing to learn to fly so that they can accomplish good for other people.

So I strongly urge that we adopt this resolution and recognize the good work that aviation does for the general welfare of our Nation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I said much of what I could say on this particular resolution when I discussed the previous one, and noted that it is important to recognize that general aviation is very, very important to our Nation. It serves so many people so well. I will not bother to repeat all the points I made earlier, but I simply want to say that I think this is an excellent resolution, and I hope that everyone in this Chamber will vote for it and that it will go into effect.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of House Resolution 1338, a resolution recognizing AmeriCorps Week. This year marks the fourth annual AmeriCorps Week, which is May 8 to May 15. As a co-Chair of the National Service Caucus, I am honored to recognize the individuals who participate in the AmeriCorps program and dedicate their time and effort to helping others in local communities. Last year, President Obama signed the latest reauthorization of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Serve America Act. This act aims to ensure additional accountability to national service programs, helps smaller organizations participate in national service, and works to ensure America's veterans can participate in service.

Americans have a long history of service to each other and to their country, and AmeriCorps creates a web of opportunities for Americans to serve. I saw ample evidence of this just yesterday when I participated in a ceremony in Grand Rapids, Michigan, my hometown. It was just striking to me what a multiplier effect we have with the AmeriCorps program. The room was filled with volunteers, but not all of them were AmeriCorps members. AmeriCorps had energized a lot of different organizations and a lot of different volunteers to put in time during the course of the past year, and many of them received rewards because of the quality of work they did. I was not only happy to see that the Federal Government had assisted in the formation of this group but also that we were getting so much for so little Federal money because the AmeriCorps people working there who did receive some Federal funds had, in fact, recruited a large number of other people to work with them, and so we accomplished a great deal in my community with very, very little Federal funding. I think that serves as a model for the Nation.

Nationwide, AmeriCorps provides 85,000 opportunities annually to serve communities from across the Nation and gives Americans the opportunity to offer their services in tutoring and mentoring disadvantaged youth, fighting illiteracy, building affordable housing, and assisting communities in times of natural disaster. In fact, there was a group of volunteers yesterday who were supposed to receive a reward for all their good work with Habitat for Humanity, and they were not there to receive it because they were putting up another house. That's an example of how these efforts are multiplied throughout the different communities.

A couple of examples of this ongoing service include AmeriCorps members assisting the American Red Cross in managing shelters for residents who

have evacuated their homes due to the flooding brought on by the heavy rain in Nashville, Tennessee, and partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank in greater New Orleans to assemble and ship emergency food boxes bound for the Louisiana coastal fishing communities whose livelihood is being impacted by the recent oil spill.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues Ms. Matsui, Mr. Platts, Mr. Price and others for introducing this resolution with me.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to praise the students, their families and educators at East Kentwood High School, located in my Congressional District, who won the Region Three Award during the national finals of the 2010 ``We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution'' competition. The students and teacher participating in this year's program have shown the nation the high standard of talent and education found in West Michigan.

The students studied for months before coming to Washington, DC, for the national finals. The team participated in a mock congressional hearing to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles in the U.S. Constitution. The team won local and state ``We the People'' contests to qualify for the national competition.

I would like to recognize the following students from East Kentwood High School for their outstanding performance: Tacy Allan, Heather Anderson, Brandan Bilski, Sam Broecker, Austin Calloway, Jessica Dippel, Christian Erwin, Natalie Eyke, Brandon Gafford, Alex Giarmo, Gurgen Grigoryan, Erin Letherby, Ian Macneil, Gwenevere Mueller, Brynley Nadziejka, Julia Nguyen, Taylor Sanchez, and Roger Taylor. Their teacher, Deb Snow, also deserves a great deal of recognition for instilling these students with a passion to learn and providing them with the knowledge they needed to succeed.

I would also like to commend the Center for Civic Education for putting on the ``We the People'' program and providing resources to schools in my district to help educators teach students about the U.S. Constitution. I cannot overstate how important it is for students to graduate from high school with a comprehensive understanding of how our government works. ``We the People'' programs should be recognized for promoting civic education, and I am pleased that it has had such a big impact in my district. Also worthy of special recognition are Linda Start and Jim Troost, the state coordinators, and Susan Laninga, the district coordinator who are responsible for implementing the ``We the People'' program in my district.

I am very proud of the students, their families and teacher at East Kentwood High School for winning the Region Three Award in the ``We the People'' competition, and I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating them for their achievement.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me a generous amount of time.

I rise to speak, because I am the principal Republican--in fact, perhaps the only Republican--cosponsor of the bill. But it's a very worthy bill, and I believe we should present that side of it as well.

I must say, I share the concerns of my Republican colleagues about the cost and where the money is going to come from to pay for it, but I have to also say that I think the value of this bill is so much greater than many of the other bills we pass that I'm certain we could find the funds for it if we need to.

Let me just comment as a physicist, which is what I am, and say a little bit about energy. First of all, energy is the most basic resource that we have, and there's very little we can do without energy. If you look back through history, you find that the great changes in the history of our planet and the people living on our planet arose with new developments in energy. For example, agriculture never really succeeded until people discovered they could hitch a plow to an oxen or a horse, and use animal energy to supplement human energy. Later on, the Industrial Revolution took place. Why and when did that happen? Because people in developed countries had discovered they could use energy in other forms to perform the work that people had been doing. I'm talking about, for example, hydropower, getting energy from water running over mill wheels and so forth. But also, other types of energy were developed about that time; such as burning coal to extract energy from it or using coal to generate electricity, and use that power to drive the machinery that was necessary in the mills and the factories at that time.

We are now in an era of multiple uses and multiple sources of energy, but the energy we are using is not that abundant. We are depleting our supplies of fossil fuels, particularly oil and coal, and also natural gas. Even though we have found some new gas resources recently, if you look at the numbers you can calculate very precisely when we are going to run out.

The cheapest way to develop new sources of energy is by conserving the energy we use now. I'm just going to say that again because it's so important. If we simply use our energy efficiently, and we conserve energy when we can, we can solve most of our energy shortage problems for the next 30 to 40 years. That's why I think this bill is very important, because it stimulates the use of our ingenuity to reduce the amount of energy that we need to use.

I have had personal experience with this. Some years ago, I got tired of paying exorbitant gas bills to keep our home warm, and so I did the things that this bill advocates; in other words, proper insulation, and doing exactly what you can to prevent loss of energy, et cetera. It worked. Since then, my gas bill for heating my house is down about a third of what it was before. Now that's a lot of money we're talking about, and every American would love to save that amount of money on their utility bill every year. That's what this bill will provide. It also helps educate or train the people who will be installing the energy-saving technology in individuals' homes or in factories, plants, and so forth.

This does work. The EPA did it some years ago, with their Green Lights program. The EPA went around to most of the business buildings in this country, factories or stores or whatever, and did an analysis of the energy that was used to provide lighting for the buildings, and they discovered that they could save a tremendous amount of money. They also calculated what the payback time would be if the owner of the factory or the store implemented their recommendation. The average payback time was on the order of 2 to 3 years. Now, you show a businessman how he can save money and in the process get a payback time for his investment of only a few years, they're going to do it. That program was exceedingly successful. And it worked. That's exactly the type of model we're dealing with here.

So I urge the passage of the bill. I hope it is successful. I hope we can resolve the issue of where the money is going to come from so that we have uniform support of this on both sides of the aisle, all across our nation.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 229 I was detained in the Attending Physician's Office, and arrived on the House floor too late to be recorded on this rollcall. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding.

I am a great believer in volunteer efforts, and I believe that is what makes our Nation tick. And I think it is especially appropriate to educate children and young adults at a very early age to become involved in volunteer work.

Global Youth Service Day is a major means of implementing that, and bringing to children the awareness of and importance of volunteer work, and also developing ways to make volunteer work seem interesting and fun to the youth of our Nation.

I do have to warn them, however, as I have learned myself, volunteer service can lead to the halls of Congress. I would have never been elected to office, never even would have become politically active without my volunteer activities. But I soon learned when engaging in volunteer activities and helping people that much of the problems I was trying to solve should have been solved by the local elected officials. And with some friends we got together and got some very good people elected. Never did I suspect that I might myself someday be called upon to do the same thing and follow a path that led to Congress.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is a wonderful device to give recognition to the youth of this Nation, gives an opportunity for us to recognize the service that they have rendered, and also calls on the President of the United States to encourage people of the United States to observe this day and make it clear to young people what marvelous opportunities for volunteerism they have.

There are many different ways in which the youth can contribute to the functioning of the Nation, but two that come to mind as being especially useful are, one, helping the elderly who often have trouble adjusting to new homes or who simply don't know how to handle the electronics of the new abodes that they've moved into. Another method is working with the young people of this Nation, with the very young people--the children who are having trouble with how to read or who are having trouble learning math. This is a wonderful opportunity for younger people who have more experience with science and mathematics and who are able to communicate their love of science and mathematics to help the young people around them.

So it is with pleasure that I rise. It is with great pleasure that I am a cosponsor of this resolution. I think it is an extremely important issue.

I thank Ms. DeLauro and Ms. Woolsey for their working on this as well.

This is a golden opportunity for all of us to express our gratitude to the young people of this world who continue to act as volunteers in so many different ways and in meaningful ways which will direct their careers as well as will help the Nation.

Madam Speaker, I rise to urge the House to take up and pass H.R. 1132, which would extend the short line railroad tax credit as soon as possible. This credit creates immediate jobs, leverages significant amounts of private infrastructure investment and helps preserve much needed rail service to rural and small town America.

This credit has produced significant results since its enactment in 2004. Unfortunately the credit expired at the end of 2009. Nationally there are over 500 short line railroads operating 50,000 miles or nearly one quarter of the country's rail network. In my own state of Michigan, short lines operate 52 percent of the states total rail network and almost all of that is in areas no longer served by the large Class I railroads. The majority of Michigan's agricultural products that move by rail move by short line rail.

Today's short lines are small businesses that saved the track the large national railroads would otherwise have abandoned. This tax credit has played a critical role in helping preserve this valuable transportation infrastructure. If we do not extend it soon, the 2010 work season will be lost and with it we will lose a very cost efficient way to create jobs and rehabilitate our rail infrastructure.

Currently, H.R. 1132 is co-sponsored by a bi-partisan majority of the House, 259 Members. Surely with that kind of support we can find a way to enact this legislation before it is too late to enjoy its benefits in 2010, a year in which Michigan desperately needs new jobs.