[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 108 (Tuesday, July 19, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5155-H5156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  JOBS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, as we go home to our 
districts, I am certain that no constituents have said they wake up in 
the morning wondering about what we're going to do with the debt 
ceiling. In my district, most wonder how they're going to get a job, 
how they're going to take care of their families.
  So many Americans have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. 
They didn't commit any wrongdoing. They lost their savings. Many are 
homeless. They've lost their self-esteem. They've lost their health 
benefits, and they're looking toward this Congress to kind of put 
America on the right track--to restore the middle class that made us 
such a great and successful Nation.
  Instead of talking about jobs, we find ourselves holding the 
President hostage by saying, unlike other Presidents, we're not going 
to increase the debt ceiling. This is a technical way of saying that we 
owe $14.3 trillion to people whom we borrowed from for unnecessary 
wars, for tax cuts that shouldn't have been there, and for a variety of 
things that unemployed people throughout the United States are just not 
responsible for. Instead of talking about jobs, they will tell you we 
have to cut spending.

                              {time}  1020

  So the people who have lost their jobs may lose their Medicaid, those 
who are poor enough to be eligible for it; the older people that soon 
will be or are entitled to Medicare and the hospitals and the doctors 
and the nurses; and, of course, Social Security that so many millions 
of Americans have come to depend on. Cutting these benefits are not 
just cutting benefits for the vulnerable, but we're cutting jobs. You 
can't cut benefits without cutting hospital workers, without cutting 
off nurses and doctors and those that provide the services for the 
vulnerable.
  Is this the only way we can go? Of course not.
  Pastors and rabbis and imams all over the country ask: Why are you 
picking just on the vulnerable? Why are you picking on the sick and the 
poor and the aged?
  Is there another way that we can resolve this problem? You bet your 
life there is. Because, just as in biblical days, we have among us 
those who really God has blessed with riches that our parents and 
grandparents never thought could be accumulated. Are we asking them to 
pay just a little bit to ease the pain for those that are vulnerable?
  I don't know about you, but our pastors and rabbis have spoken out. 
And for those of you who don't have pastors and don't have rabbis or 
don't have time to listen to our obligation morally, to the people that 
can't speak for themselves, the people who have no lobbyists, I will 
place into the Record what 4,000 pastors have said is not just our 
legal and political obligation but, more importantly, our moral 
obligation. I will place this into the Record for when we come back and 
try to decide what is our responsibility.
  Some people have come to this Congress with a commitment not to raise 
taxes no matter what, whether we're attacked, whether the revenue's 
coming from obscene tax offenses, whether the Tax Code could be 
improved.
  For those of you who remember kamikaze pilots, these were people who 
were prepared to lose their own lives in fighting our forces during 
World War II even if it meant that they were destroying somebody.
  There are people here that are prepared to destroy the fiscal 
reputation of the United States of America so that they can go back 
home and say they fulfilled their commitment about not raising revenues 
and about slashing and cutting those people that made this great 
country the great country that it is.
  So I see on television no one talking about the poor. But thank God 
we do have ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, and of all of the 
religions and people that have come together, most of whom from foreign 
lands, that say this land is my land and in this country a poor person 
can make it, and we never, never, never will forget where we've come 
from.
  Some people have managed to get out of poverty. Others have enjoyed 
the middle class. Let's hope that our kids and grandkids will be able 
to enjoy the benefits of doing the right thing.

       [From Faith in Public Life and Sojourners, July 19, 2011]

  An Open Letter to Congress and the President--Listen to Your Pastors

       More than 4,000 of them believe the federal budget is not 
     just a fiscal document, but a moral one.
       We are local pastors. We work, pray, and do whatever we can 
     to remain faithful to the responsibility of every Christian 
     to help the poor. Still, we can't meet the crushing needs by 
     ourselves.
       Programs like SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, and Head Start aren't 
     just abstract concepts to us; they serve the same people we 
     serve. There are changes that can be made or efficiencies 
     that can be found, but every day we see what government can 
     do.
       We have seen government support allow young people to be 
     the first members of their families to get college degrees, 
     ensure mothers can feed their children a healthy diet, enable 
     those with disabilities to live fulfilling lives, give much 
     needed medical care to those who can't afford it, support 
     seniors, provide housing for families, and help people in 
     finding a job.
       As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate 
     is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at 
     every budget proposal from the bottom up--how it treats those 
     Jesus called the ``least of these'' (Matthew 25;45). They do 
     not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling 
     claim on our consciences and common resources.
       As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal 
     responsibility and shared sacrifice. We want to support you 
     in reducing the deficit. There is more need today than 
     churches can meet by themselves. This is why we join in the 
     ``Circle of Protection'' around programs

[[Page H5156]]

     that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at 
     home and abroad.

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