[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 7, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5956-H5963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MAKE IT IN AMERICA
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia). Under the
Speaker's announced policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Garamendi) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee
of the minority leader.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, it's a great privilege to stand here on
the floor of the House even at this late hour as we prepare to hear,
tomorrow, the President of the United States come before a joint
session of Congress to talk about how America can get back on the right
road, on the road to recovery from this long recession, and how we can
create jobs here in the United States.
For many, many months now, my colleagues and I have been here on the
floor and have submitted legislation time after time and week after
week talking about specific programs to create jobs. I want to thank my
colleague on the Republican side of the aisle for his presentation and
the solution of doing away with regulations as the way of creating
jobs.
He mentioned getting government out of the way, and he also mentioned
the Hoover Dam--which was built with borrowed money. Yes, they borrowed
money to build the dam, and it did in fact create jobs. Now, whether
there were regulations or not, the fact was that the United States
created an enormous infrastructure system in the past, and for the last
decade, we've done very, very little, even though we borrowed a vast
amount of money to build infrastructure projects in Iraq and
Afghanistan but precious few here in the United States. We need to
bring that money back home. We need to build those infrastructure
projects here.
By all expectation, tomorrow, when the President stands here before
us, he will be talking about infrastructure, as he should. It is the
foundation upon which we build any economy, and it's certainly the
foundation upon which the American economy has been built and succeeds
such as it is today.
We need an infrastructure bank. We need to take money that we will
borrow at about a 1 or 2 percent interest rate for a 10-year note, put
that money into an infrastructure bank, let's say it's $20 billion,
reach out to the pension funds--in my State of California, CalPERS and
CalSTRS, the public pension funds--and say, Here, invest in this
infrastructure bank so we can build projects in California, so that we
can put in place the levees to protect us from floods, so we can put in
place the communication systems, the fiberoptic cables, so that we can
build the sanitation facilities, the water recycling facilities, the
dams that we need for a growing population in a State that once again
could be growing if we put in place the infrastructure; nothing modest
but, rather, a bold program, a bold program to build America's
infrastructure, to rebuild the bridges, to rebuild those facilities
that are crumbling as a result of years of inattention. Infrastructure,
construction jobs, putting people to work.
As the President said on Labor Day, there are a lot of construction
men and women out there that are prepared to get dirty on the job once
again to end their unemployment. That's one project that I am sure the
President will be putting forth to this Congress, and the question to
my Republican colleagues: Are they ready to be bold? Are they ready to
step forward and put America back to work or only talk about
regulations and doing away with regulations?
While we're talking about regulations, one of the regulations they
want
[[Page H5957]]
to do away with is one that would prevent mercury from being in our
water and air. It's as though somehow they must think that mercury is
good for children and adults. We don't need more mad hatters around.
What we really need is a safe, clean environment, and those are the
regulations that are out there.
Oh, by the way, if you want to stop our regulations, I suppose you
would stop the President's effort to roll back those regulations that
have no good purpose.
{time} 2040
Yes, indeed, the current administration is in the process of
reviewing the regulations and eliminating, rolling back and modifying
those that no longer serve a good useful purpose in protecting
Americans.
So, here tomorrow, we'll have the President speaking here on the
floor of the Congress, talking about putting men and women back to
work. We're some 250-plus days into this year and, to date, not one
Republican bill has been brought to the floor that would create one
job. A lot of bills have been brought to the floor that would actually
eliminate tens of thousands, indeed, hundreds of thousands of jobs.
What we need to do is not to address the deficit with immediate cuts
that actually constrain and restrict the economy. An austerity budget
is not called for as we limp along in the current economy, but, rather,
a growth budget, infrastructure bank being but one example.
There are numerous other examples; a tax policy, a tax policy that's
rational.
Let me just put this all in the context, for a moment, of what we
talk about on the Democratic side, which is jobs, putting people back
to work. We can do that. And the Make It in America agenda, which I
have here, is just that kind of agenda to put Americans back to work.
We talked already about infrastructure, which is down here. It's not
at the bottom of this list; it just happens to be at the bottom here.
It's the Number 1 thing that's on the agenda.
We also should talk about research. Yesterday I was in Davis,
California, invited there by a biotech company that uses biotechnology
to manufacture bio-herbicides and bio-pesticides. These are naturally
occurring chemical compounds found in plants and animals and bugs that
actually kill bugs or kill other plants. They formulate this, using
research that comes out of the universities in California and around
the nation. That research is extraordinarily important. It's creating a
whole new industry of safe, biologically derived chemicals that are
safe in the environment, that actually come from the environment and
kill bugs in agriculture, or unwanted plants. That's what we need.
That's the research agenda part of making it in America.
Now, I notice that joining me on the floor is my colleague and part
of our east coast/west coast operation, Paul Tonko from the State of
New York. Earlier today Paul and I were talking here on the floor as we
were voting, and he was showing me some pictures of the devastation
that has occurred in his part of New York State. And out of that
conversation came, once again, the word ``infrastructure.''
Mr. Tonko, I'm very sorry about what's happened in your district and
New England and here on the east coast. We've had our disasters in
California in the past. Not this year, and we're thankful for that. Our
hearts reach out to you and your constituents as they go about
rebuilding. I think you were saying even today there may be another
flood.
Paul Tonko, Representative from the State of New York, thank you for
joining us this evening.
Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us
together on what is a very thoughtful discussion about how we create
jobs, grow jobs in America. And that is such a vital agenda. I thank
you for bringing us together, and I thank you and our colleagues in the
caucus for allowing myself and others to share the woes that we have
faced in our respective districts over the recent district work period.
It's ironic that in my district, in upstate New York, within days, we
suffered from an earthquake, from a hurricane, from a tornado in my
hometown, and now flooding, as we speak. The ravages of the waters of
Irene have produced tremendous consequences for the great communities
and the people that I represent. And as I've said at all of my stops in
the district, I knew, always believed that there was a strength to the
people that I represent. But they have made a profound statement about
that resilience and that strength in the last few days.
I have seen people lose everything they've ever worked for, homes
totally washed into the river, devastation from the floodwaters, cattle
that were lost, harvest season almost at hand, all the investment of
sweat equity and resources and fuel that never will really have the
fruits of that labor captured in harvest.
The heritage infrastructure. As I made mention, in my hometown, the
oldest building dates back to 1766, older than our Nation, a wedding
gift from Sir William Johnson to his daughter. And watching the
velocity of waters tear away the stone of that building and now expose
it to the elements, and it was severely threatened and weakened by the
storm.
I mention this because it is so important for us to put together the
resources that enable us to come back with the skilled labor that can
rebuild communities, the heritage infrastructure that very much trailed
through the waterway path in my district--covered bridges, historic
homes, historic churches, gathering places that have significance, that
speak to the character of the communities that I represent. That
character is forever changed, and we need to have the resources to go
forward and rebuild the infrastructure, the lock system that manages
the waters, the gauging system, the technology that needs to be
incorporated.
Representative Garamendi, my district hosted, hosts the site of the
Erie Canal Barge Canal. They gave birth to mill towns, a necklace of
communities we call mill towns that became the epicenters of invention
and innovation. The progress of which we speak, the agenda that you
bring forward with such passion, is about now a new era of job
creation, where we move it up a notch because of our sophisticated
quality as a society.
We have perhaps shared manufacturing of traditional types with other
nations, and now it's our job to bring in issues like the chip
manufacturing that's done, and all sorts of innovative ideas in clean
energy that allow for renewables to take hold.
But I make mention of that because we have a richness of history that
spoke to job creation, that offered the opportunity to have our
constituents, or constituents of the past, express their God-given
talents and express them in ways that strengthens the larger picture,
that strengthens society and had an impact around the world, coming
right here from New York State, that gave birth to a westward movement
that finally reached the west coast of California that you represent.
So we can do it again.
We should take to heart our history that showed that, as a people, we
have that pioneer spirit; as Americans, we have that uniqueness, we
have that gift, we have those strengths, we have the opportunity to
turn these situations, these challenges into jobs, jobs that are driven
by ideas, that are nurtured by research and development, that translate
into manufacturing, manufacturing of an innovation economy of the
present moment. And we can make that happen simply by the stewardship
of sound public policy and advocacy for resources in our budget
planning.
I firmly believe, and I know you share this belief, we don't cut our
way to prosperity. We don't cut our way to opportunity. We invest our
way to prosperity. We invest our way to innovation, to opportunity.
That's what it's all about, and the Make It In America agenda embraced
by the Democratic Caucus in which we have the pleasure of serving has
adopted that slogan, has adopted the meaning of that passionate
opportunity for us to take the trades, take tax policy, take the energy
challenges, take the strength of labor, reinforced by the underpinnings
of education and higher education and, coupled with research, it all
happens if we put the plan together.
Thank you for opening us up to a discussion that is very meaningful
to the lives of our individual constituents and
[[Page H5958]]
to the fabric of our communities which are really looking for this sort
of involvement, this sort of implementation of strategy.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko so well explained with great
passion the problems that his constituents are facing at this very
moment, as, once again, the floodwaters rise in his district and
throughout the Northeast. Actually, I guess it's most of the east coast
as that tropical storm starting on the gulf is now finding its way all
the way up the east coast.
Our prayers go out to all the people that have suffered thus far, and
our hopes that this will not be a repetition of the devastating floods
of last week.
You also brought to our attention the need to rebuild. This is part
of the community of America. We're a community. We're 380 million, but
we're still a community. We call ourselves Americans. And in these
times of disaster, we must come together as a community bringing what
resources are necessary, not what's available, that are necessary to
rebuild to get people back on the path of living their lives in a safe,
harmonious community with the necessary resources to carry out their
goals so they can have a job, so that they can rebuild their
manufacturing facilities. That fits into the Make It In America agenda.
{time} 2050
As we go about that rebuilding, and we've all seen the pictures of
the washed-out roads you mentioned, and you showed me the picture of
the lock. Was that an Erie Canal lock?
Mr. TONKO. Yes. It was the second stage of the canal when we moved
from the mule-driven barge canal to the Erie Canal, which was
engineered with locks. And again, to see the damage, tens of millions
of dollars worth of damage; infrastructure here, putting the trades to
work to rebuild these communities.
You made an interesting observation that the impacts of natural
disasters and manmade disasters never ask about political persuasion or
philosophy or geography. We've been impacted from coast to coast.
And with pride the other day, we in upstate New York, some colleagues
in government, were talking. When the Midwest needed us, we were there.
When the West Coast needed us, we were there, as you have been for
other regions in the country. When the Southeast needed us, the Gulf
States needed us, we were there. We're the family of America, the 50
States speaking as one.
Now it's the turn for us to ask for your help. Thanks to the goodness
of folks like yourself, we're going to make it happen. We're going to
be able to rebuild. And I think the greatest commodity that we can
bring to individuals at times like this where they're enduring, they're
coping with tragedy, is to deliver hope to their doorstep. That hope
goes a long way, and the hope to recover, the hope to rebuild, the hope
to reestablish the character of these communities which is so replete
with history and heritage expression: covered bridges, historic homes,
historic churches, lock systems that define not only developments of
New York State but this Nation and the global impact it had with
quality of life being enhanced simply by the genius of oftentimes blue
collar workers.
Make It In America came to mind for me over this past week. The
greatness of how we developed jobs and products in this country now
finds us a century later challenged with new dynamics. How do we draw
ourselves away? How do we wean down this dependency on fossil-based
fuels? How can we grow America's energy independence? How do we grow
high-tech jobs that impact the quality of health care services or
communications? We've seen it.
Our whole Sputnik moment drove us to land a person on the moon before
any other nation. We need that passion again, we need that resolve here
today, and Make It In America does it.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You're talking about real patriotism. You're talking
about real American patriotism, the great strength of this Nation.
First of all, our compassion for each other that we're willing to
sacrifice today so that you can rebuild in the Northeast. The Northeast
has done that or all of America has done that many, many times for
California because it seems to have more than its share of disasters.
But across this Nation, this year we've seen natural disaster after
natural disaster occur with billions of dollars of loss. As Americans,
it is our patriotic duty, it is our community to reach out to help
rebuild. As we rebuild, if we keep in mind these seven principles of
the Make It In America agenda, we'll not only put people back on their
feet, but we will strengthen the American economy.
You mentioned that lock that was taken out, the historic nature of
it. It's been rebuilt. I saw the picture. It's a modern piece of
equipment. But if that equipment is made in America, it's not only
going to help the economy and your community once it gets back into
place and the commerce that results from it is restarted, but it will
also mean jobs for steelworkers who are making the steel, the
fabricators who are building the lock, the engineers, and even the
regulators that are making sure the lock goes in in a safe and
appropriate way. Those are all American jobs.
So part of the rebuilding of America is the Make It In America, so
that Americans can make it once again.
Mr. TONKO. I think what this tragedy reminds us of is that we come
together at times of tragedy in a way that really brings out the best
expression of America's spirit. This is about a sense of urgency. It's
about a sense of justice. People have been brought down by this
tragedy, but their resilience, their strength of character is driven by
the belief that we can work together to rebuild.
I was so inspired today in caucus to hear so much support for a
supplemental and to say no, no idea of offsets. We're not going to have
offsets here. This is tragedy. If this Nation were being attacked by a
foreign enemy, we wouldn't sit around and play partisan games or have
political dialogue over what to do, but we'd go right to the table and
say this is what is needed and let's make it happen. That's what I
think we need to have here.
We need the American response to come forward and react in a way that
really has that American spirit all about it. This is how we built
America one community at a time, putting together the strengths that
are all released here in this country enabled to be expressed in
magnanimous terms. This is what's so important.
We're going to rebuild America by making it in America. Our workers
are raring to go, and there are jobs that can invest the power of that
genius in all sorts of ways, infrastructure needs that are out there in
the traditional sense or in the more creative or updated sense with
broadband and a transmission grid system that needs to be upgraded so
as to speak to what is a vulnerability in our system.
So there is a lot of work there waiting to happen. We need to invest,
and we need to do it in a way that doesn't have us groping for offsets.
There's no more important issue right now than jobs. Jobs, jobs, job
creation, job retention. Let's make it happen. And as we do it, let's
make it respond to the tragedies that I've seen in my district over the
last week and a half and that we heard about today in caucus from other
colleagues.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much.
You're quite correct about how we pay for all of this. We know that
we're going to be borrowing money to rebuild these communities, as we
should and as we must and as it is our purpose in a community. But in
doing that, we must be very careful not to offset that expenditure in
some way that harms others, for example, the educational system.
Now, tomorrow, we have a bill on the floor dealing with charter
schools and the funding of charter schools, both the physical plant as
well as the educational programs in charter schools. It seems to me
that if a charter school is to be built, or any school for that matter,
it's our tax money, either local or Federal or State tax money, that
that money ought to be used to buy American-made equipment--American-
made roofing, American-made concrete and steel--so that our tax money
is used to buy American made.
If you want to use your own money, and anybody out there that wants
to go buy a solar cell for their house and they're using their own
money, fine, buy anything you want to buy. But if
[[Page H5959]]
you want to use our tax money as a subsidy for that solar system, then,
by golly, it ought to be an American-made solar panel; not one made in
China but, rather, one made in the United States.
Now, I have two bills that deal specifically with that. One in the
energy that says, hey, you want an energy subsidy to put up this big
energy clean, green solar power plant, good. We need that clean energy.
But use that tax subsidy to buy American-made equipment. That way, we
can rebuild our American manufacturing base.
Similarly with transportation. In transportation, we all pay 18\1/2\
cents on every gallon of gas beyond the Federal excise tax. It's
billions of dollars. It's used to build the roads. It's used to repair
the bridges. Not enough now to keep us going but, nonetheless, billions
of dollars a year. Is that tax money used to buy American-made buses
and American-made trains and American-made steel and concrete? Not
really. But we need legislation that says our tax money is going to be
used to buy American-made equipment.
{time} 2100
Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, thank you again for bringing us
together.
I noticed in the listing of dynamics that you have research indicated
there, and education and, I'd say, slash higher education, but I
witnessed testimony of those investments yesterday in my district with
a group called Ener-G-Rotors. And they're actually taking the waste
heat market in this country and retrofitting it so that they capture
that as a byproduct in different industries, and they make certain that
it's utilized to add to the energy supplies that that industry might
need.
Now, what happens there? Well, the genesis of that story is that
ideas, again, were thought up because of the investment in higher
education. This brain was ignited to come forward with this idea that
would capture heat and that waste heat market is a precious commodity
now. So instead of it just going up into waste, it is captured,
recaptured, brought into the energy grid for that particular industry.
We're addressing greenhouse gas emissions to the positive. We're
reducing those. And we are reducing the energy supply that this
industry needs, and we're creating jobs in this incubator startup. They
came up with this idea. This took investment in research dollars. It
took tax credits from the Federal Government to buy in the commitment
from the private sector. It produced the equity that they needed simply
with the tax credits that were provided. And all lived happily ever
after. There is a win-win-win scenario here that was produced, and
that's grounded here in America, and we can export this intellect, this
concept, to people around the world, and we begin to be the agents that
deal with the waste heat market. What a wonderful concept. And that's
how you grow jobs. And they're projecting within a few years 120 jobs
in this concept. This is wonderful. This is what we're talking about at
the Democratic Caucus, investing in the intellectual capacity of this
Nation in a way that responds to challenges that confront us this very
day and where we can grow our energy independence, grow jobs through
investing in ideas, moving ideas along.
Research equals jobs. Research equals jobs. You can't say it over
enough and often enough.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You're absolutely correct on that.
I want to give just a couple of very quick examples of the way in
which that policy finds its way into legislation, and then I want to
turn to our colleague who just arrived from the great State of Texas.
Sheila, thank you so very much.
But let me just give a couple of examples. Tax policy. You're talking
about a system to capture waste heat and to use it in a productive way,
to generate it for electricity or for some other purpose. That's a
capital investment.
When the Democrats controlled this floor, we passed legislation that
allowed a business such as you've described to put that equipment into
place and to write off the total investment in 1 year, in the very
first year, an immediate writeoff, giving an enormous incentive to
businesses to make a capital investment. Now, that's very wise tax
policy put forth by the Democrats, signed by President Obama, and it's
one of the kinds of tax policies and tax breaks that we think needs to
be in place to grow the economy.
There are many other examples, and I can go on for several hours, but
I would rather yield to my colleague from the great State of Texas.
Please tell us what's going on in Texas besides fires here and there
and, once again, another disaster area in which, as America, we need to
reach out and support Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Let me thank my good friend from California
for carrying on, if you will, the clarion cry that all of us heard
throughout our districts and around the country.
To my good friend from New York, let me just turn and say to you what
deep concern the American people have. Do not listen to the jangled
noises of cuts and not having the potential to assist our fellow
Americans. We were all pained to see Prattsville and to see what had
happened to unsuspecting people. That's Mother Nature. To see what
happened to Vermont and all up and down the coast as we listened to our
colleagues.
And as I was driving in Texas, I want you to know that I saw the
smoke. This is not something that is distant and far away. We've seen
the pain of Congressman Doggett's district, and I want to thank him for
his leadership there, as I mentioned the leadership that the Members
have given; that you go to a place where 500 homes are gone and more
and, as he indicated, maybe even a thousand.
So I happen to be proud to be an American. And when I listened to my
friend from California with the list of assets and credentials that you
bring to the table, your leadership in the State of California, the
leadership of Mr. Tonko in New York, I know that we are all wearing
that brand of proud to be an American. That's why Democrats proudly
wear the insignia dealing with Make It In America. Frankly, I can't
project what the President might say, but I would hope that a good
portion--and I want the American people to hear me because when we
traveled across the country with the Congressional Black Caucus and the
Congressional Progressive Caucus--Minnesota, Oakland, Miami, Detroit,
Cleveland, Los Angeles, Atlanta--thousands were in line from all walks
of life, and what they said was they wanted a job. And I want the
President to hear that as he passionately speaks to the Nation
tomorrow, and I want the President to lift his pen. Make It In America
could be part of an Executive order. Make It In America could be part
of instructions.
So as I listened to you, I wanted to come and frame it in this way:
The American people are looking for work now, and I would like the
President to listen to our dialogue, as he finishes the finishing
touches, to show the American people what can be done now by an
agreeable Congress, maybe, but by the President with the support of
those of us who believe we owe an obligation to those who are suffering
in this disaster, to declare it an emergency and that this funding is
an emergency. I don't want to hear the chatter that talks about deficit
spending. Everyone knows that when you declare an emergency, it is off
the account, if you will. It's off the balance sheet. So that's one
thing.
The second thing is, let me just give four points of what I would
like to see. You mentioned, Mr. Garamendi, about buying. What a
brilliant idea. I want to go further or to complement that legislation.
Let's get together. And that is even though we think America buys
America, if the Federal Government needs a paper clip, it should be the
paper clip company in Illinois, in California, in New York, in
Mississippi, in Texas, because if the government buys something for
you--you've got a business with 20 or 30 employees. Let the Federal
Government lead. Let the President announce tomorrow that he is asking
his agency, barring any legalities or contracts, to buy America. You
mentioned buses and all others, I assume, with Federal funding.
Excellent because that is not happening now.
The second thing is the criticism that there are workers not trained
to the work. It's a new day now. It's technology, it's medicine, it's
various new jobs, it's simple logistics, et cetera. Allow someone to
train to a new job and have a stipend while they're training that
allows them to be like they're
[[Page H5960]]
working and to get paid. Then I would like to see our private sector
stand up--I'm proud to be an American, born in the USA--step up and
stand up. I want them to provide the President within a period of time
a 6-month to 12-month plan--it's called the I'm An American Plan--of
how their industry can hire the qualified unemployed.
I come from energy territory. I know we've had a lot of discussion
about that. But they exist and they hire. Somebody else might be coming
from technology. Somebody else is in health care. Somebody else is in
industries that we're not even aware of. Of course we've talked about
the whole renewable energy. But there are a lot of energy industries
that can be asked to come to the table. You need hires; I understand
that you have not, but I need you to be an American, proud to be an
American, the private sector.
Finally, let me just say that I have a man in my area who is making
solar flashlights. Not solar panels. He doesn't have to worry about the
panel issue. What a brilliant idea. He can't get a bank to lend him
money. He wants to build his company in and around my area and hire
people. He can't get a bank loan. Well, I want the President, within
reason, to be Mr. De-reg, take the challenge of the banks and ask them,
So what is the reg that keeps you from lending to a credible,
legitimate businessman who has a proven product?
Let me just say this: He's making it in China. He wants to bring it
home. So I want the President, through an Executive order, to insist,
put a criterion in, that our banks have been given a gift, and they
need to turn that gift back as proud Americans and lend to small
businesses.
So I wanted to come today to answer the question of Americans who
say, I need a job now. And even though there will be some legislative
initiatives, and I want to applaud the President for his leadership in
coming forward and putting it to us, but we know that the Democrats are
ready to travel down the job road and to give the American people their
jobs now.
Mr. President, if you're going to run into obstacles--not the
Democrats--then you stand up and use that executive power.
{time} 2110
I know that the Members on this floor, I'm going to speak for
California and New York, will stand alongside of you and behind you,
that you will provide jobs for the American people.
So I am delighted to have the opportunity. I want to offer again any
help that we can give. I'm a member of the Homeland Security Committee.
We've done this for Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane
Rita. We are helping the tragedy in Joplin, Missouri. I went to Alabama
to see what a tornado can do. There was damage with the earthquake that
went on right before on the east coast.
I ask, what are we than the Federal Government to be the rainy-day
umbrella when you are in need? There is no excuse to block any funding
for those that are in need, and we are going to be behind you and we
are going to create jobs.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, you are a true
leader. Your State of Texas is under a fiery assault and will also need
direct Federal assistance, not only in fighting the fires but also in
the eventual recovery, and that's certainly going to be the case in New
York.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I mentioned Congressman Doggett, but what I
wanted to say on this point that I think is so important, and I will
state, it is documented that our Governor has cut the volunteer
firefighters. Those are great heroes. We even lost a firefighter just a
few months ago when our wildfire started in the spring. Of course, it
sort of--I won't even say the term died down--but it has now risen
again and attacked a whole new area.
We are going to have to ask for Federal aid and we have just, as I
understand the facts, through Congressman Doggett, the Governor has
just indicated, Governor Perry, that the Federal Government has a role.
He has just asked that Texas be declared a national disaster.
My question to my fellow colleagues is, then, what will be our
response? Prattsville was washed away. There is nothing but ashes. They
can't even find a picture book.
So are we going to tell them it's off budget, that we're not able to
fund it, that it's deficit spending? I think not. I thank you for
reminding the American people that Texas is facing its own mount of
decline, and those fires, by the way, have not yet been extinguished.
They are visible to all of us.
Mr. GARAMENDI. We understand. There are many different kinds of
disasters. There are natural disasters that we have discussed for
several minutes here on the floor. There is also the disaster of not
having a job, of losing your home, not being able to care for your
family and seeing all of your dreams just basically disappear for lack
of a job.
As we reach out, as we think about these natural disasters and our
human desire to be helpful, we would also think about those millions of
Americans, and we are probably talking well over 20 million, maybe 25
million Americans that do not have a job, and they are facing their own
personal disaster. They need help. They need help from many different
places, certainly their communities, wherever it may be, but also the
Federal Government.
I know that those of us on the Democratic side of this aisle have for
the last 3 years attempted and succeeded in developing programs that
actually have created millions of jobs. A lot of people talk about the
American Recovery Act not working. In fact, it did work. Some 3 million
jobs were created. Those are not my estimates, those are estimates by
the Congressional Budget Office and others. Give or take 100,000, we
are talking about thousands and tens or hundreds of thousands, millions
of jobs that were actually created.
We cannot go through an austerity period at this point, because
people are hurting. They need help, they need jobs, and we can do it
and simultaneously build the American economy by the infrastructure,
putting in place the foundation, by educating, a great example. Just
yesterday, I talked earlier about this biotech company that's creating
bioherbicides and biopesticides. They need to hire technicians in their
laboratories and in the manufacturing. They can't find them.
The education bills that we put forth that have been stopped and
actually reduced by our Republican colleagues are necessary for the
community colleges and other educational institutions to provide the
skills needed for those people that have lost their jobs to become
technicians, high-paid technicians in that new biotechnology field.
So there is where these things come together. We need to always keep
in mind the millions of personal disasters that are out there as people
have lost their jobs and struggled.
Representative Tonko, I know you're facing natural disasters, but
when we were here in August, in early August and July, you were talking
about jobs and the need for jobs in your area. Please come back and
let's just pick this up again and carry it.
Mr. TONKO. Sure. I want to pick up on the importance of education as
a role for our comeback, but before I do that, I want to thank two very
good friends and two very sensitive hearts for the empathy that you
have expressed on behalf of the people of my district and neighboring
districts in the northeast.
So Representative Garamendi from California and Representative
Jackson Lee from Texas, thank you for bringing out the neighborliness
in all of us. That is our best expression as an American people, and we
do it through the auspices of our Federal Government when one amongst
us hurts. We respond in a way that enables us to come back and
strengthen the fabric of our entire Nation.
But to the point of education, recently the district I represent, the
region that I represent, was dubbed the fastest-growing hub in America
for green collar jobs and the third-fastest growing jobs for high-tech
jobs by two independent surveys. The reason that happened was because
we invested through Federal Government, State government, and private
sector and academia in an agenda that speaks to cutting-edge
technology, and it happened because there are three basic formats of
infrastructure that need to be reinforced and responded to, that being
[[Page H5961]]
your physical infrastructure; your fiscal infrastructure, your capital
infrastructure; and human infrastructure.
Representative Garamendi and Representative Jackson Lee, you both
referenced the education issues. They are very important to the
comeback of this Nation, to growing jobs and retaining jobs. What I
witnessed through the efforts in our region, we have a clustering
happening as you have this strength.
We have the largest ship manufacturing plant construction going on
right now in all of America in the region that we call Capital Region,
New York. I know that as other industries come in, other businesses
come in, there is a demand for workers. Now, it's great to grow jobs,
that's our first step in the process, but we have to make certain that
jobs are responded to with the skill sets required, and those skill
sets need to be brought to and enhanced for all neighborhoods, all
communities.
It has to be the coalition of a mosaic of workers brought to the
table. And how do we do it? It's an investment in education beginning
as early as pre-K and right through the college setting.
Now, I witnessed what happens at our community colleges. We have
grown programs for clean-room science. We have those investing in solar
application to construction majors, those who are going to be building
residences and businesses in our region. They are going to have State
of the art know-how to retrofit those buildings with renewable
concepts, from solar to wind to geothermal, whatever. So that cutting
edge is being offered.
We have an incubator in the region, several incubators. But we have
one that incorporates a business that has produced automation in their
manufacturing. At Kintz Plastics in Schoharie County, New York--which,
by the way, absorbed some of the greatest blows from Mother Nature this
past week--but right there in rural Schoharie County, New York, just
absolutely replete with heritage and history, in that county, in a
rural county, they are providing for automation and advanced
manufacturing. That took place because we invested in the CAT concept,
an incubator, a Center for Advanced Technology. And there we are
getting ideas again that are then put into prototypes that are then
further developed into a manufacturing concept that enables us to be
competitive with this automation.
But then you need now the skill set to operate these automated
networks that are now part of the assembly process. So it's that
investment again in the worker, in the brain power. This country will
be competitive if we put the tools together, if we provide the tool
kit.
And how does it happen? It happens by doing it smarter, and that
enables us to cut costs and be competitive in the global market. It's
as simple as that. And Make It in America is a pronouncement of a
commitment by the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives
that says let's do the tax packaging, let's do the resource advocacy,
let's see the research development incentives that bring together the
strongest force of manufacturing.
Manufacturing as a sector was ignored in the last decade and a half.
Now this President has said we are going to be about an innovation
economy, we are going to be about a clean energy agenda. We are going
to be about bolstering our manufacturing sector.
I know there is growing expectation. We are going to hear about Make
It In America. We are going to hear about an infrastructure bank. I am
convinced that's what we will hear tomorrow, and that will produce for
us a far stronger outcome for America's workers and America's
potential.
{time} 2120
Mr. GARAMENDI. Representative Tonko, as you were talking, I reached
back and I found this display that we sometimes use. These are critical
investments. Yes, infrastructure, the dams and the roads, those are
critical investments. But here is the most critical investment of all.
These are American workers being educated, getting prepared for the new
technology jobs, carrying on the jobs of the future. This is where we
need to make a critical investment in America, and this is a key part
of the Make It In America agenda--that is, the education, labor and
education, making sure our labor force is well educated and well
prepared for the jobs of the future.
Sheila Jackson Lee, you were looking like you wanted to get in the
middle of this.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I thank the gentleman for being so prepared
with such important statements. This statement, a better deal for
America, invest in America, make it in America.
I want to acknowledge the whip of our caucus, Mr. Hoyer, who has been
persistent. We have joined him like a choir because it is important.
But let me make this economic point. I want to hold this up.
When we had the helm in the 1990s, since I am talking patriotic and
saying I'm proud to be an American, we understood one economic factor,
and even politically, I think, some of us suffered. But under the
Clinton administration, if I might say, it was an investment and
revenue, and we turned the economy around. And we weren't down in the
soup. We knew we had to tighten our belt. We even did a budget reform
in 1997, if I can bring back ancient history. But 20 million jobs were
created.
I know there are a lot of pundits and economists who want to say that
we are on our last legs. Don't tell that to the American people. We're
not on our last leg. Your area is going to be resilient because we are
going to help you. You might have thought, as we come to this very
somber weekend, that New York and Manhattan were on their last leg in
2001. That might have been our assumption, our conclusion when we were
so overwhelmed with grief. Look at them now. Why? Because we've put
public--the Federal Government--and private partnership together, and
they are restored in terms of their infrastructure. This is what we're
talking about.
Another economic point that I want to make very quickly: I have no
angst against China and India, but I am disappointed that, again, a
number of economic talking heads want to compare economies. Understand
what is happening. What they are saying is that the growth in those
areas is surpassing us. Do you understand that we have been growing now
for almost two centuries? We started the Industrial Revolution in the
1900s, and no one could catch us.
We're now--I don't want to say we are coasting, but we have our
economic challenges because that is almost what economics is about. The
growth that they're talking about is the fact that there is something
to grow. They didn't have anything. And so if they are growing, they
are growing because they are developing this new, if you will, level of
income in their citizens, their middle class. But at the same time,
they have this huge economic pit hole which is the number of poor and
impoverished. No one comments on that.
What I am suggesting is that America is still the greatest economy in
the world. We have challenges, but I am tired of hearing: Deficit,
deficit. We have to cut spending--because it means we have no vision.
And if you really want to understand what we need to do, we need to do
this: We need to build the inventors who are out there. When I say
``build them,'' build them up.
The President is going to talk about patent bills, and we have to do
what you have so eloquently dictated. But I just want everybody to know
that America is not broke, nor are we broke of ideas. I believe that
Make It In America, with investing in America, with building revenue
and deficit reduction, we are the nation that many will still look to
for its greatness.
I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this particular Special
Order, and I just say this: Jobs, jobs, jobs.
Mr. GARAMENDI. It is jobs, jobs, jobs, Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you so
very much.
This is America. This is America, the strongest country in the world
today. There are others that are growing, and thankfully they are. But
this is America. We talk about patriotism. Some people say we are
broke. We're not broke. We have troubles, to be sure, but we have an
extraordinary strength in America, and that is the American worker, and
they need a chance. They need a governmental system that is supporting
them with education, with programs such as infrastructure, with using
our tax money to buy the products that they make.
[[Page H5962]]
This is America. We're Americans. We are the people who get things
done. Nobody has been at it longer than upstate New York. The
Industrial Revolution started in your territory, Mr. Tonko, and I see
the strength that you have and I see the strength your people have to
rebuild after this devastating week.
Mr. TONKO. Right. Their strength, their resilience is infectious.
They motivate me. They fill my voice with passion.
Again, I thank you for the wonderful support you have expressed today
in caucus to do a stand-alone supplemental bill for the people of this
recent tragedy. My district was in the midst of that, as were many
others. Forty-seven, I believe, districts were impacted by it. But,
Representative Garamendi, I couldn't help but think, as Representative
Jackson Lee spoke with such eloquence, that America's most shining
moments are when we invested in America, invested in a canal system,
invested in an infrastructure program with rail. We invested in a rail
system and an interstate system and invested in a race to the moon that
unleashed untold amounts of technology. That investment had a
bipartisan spirit to it under Republican and Democratic
administrations. We were at our shining best when we invested in
America.
What do we hear now? Let the free market rule. Well, go tell it to
companies whose countries are co-investing with them. We hear it all
the time. They are co-investing in these other countries. In fact, the
private sector investment in renewables used to be placing America
number one. We slipped to number two to China, and recently slipped to
number three after China and Germany. The America I love, the America
we all love is not about being number three; we are about being number
one, and that's the investment we are talking about.
Mr. GARAMENDI. You mentioned something that just caught me like that.
Public policy, public laws make a difference. I want to give you an
example. You mentioned Germany and the advances that they've made in
green technology.
I had the opportunity over the recess to go to a manufacturing plant
owned by Siemens, a German company, one of the biggest manufacturing
companies in the world, in Sacramento, California, and they are
manufacturing in Sacramento, starting with just pieces of steel, and
building light railcars and heavy-duty locomotives for Amtrak. I mean,
this is the heaviest manufacturing that occurs in any country. It's a
German company located in Sacramento, manufacturing from start to
finish for American transportation systems.
Why are they doing that? Why is that German company investing
millions upon millions of dollars in California to manufacture trains
and locomotives? They are doing it because the American Recovery Act,
the stimulus bill, said that the money must be used on American-made
equipment. The laws we make on this floor, the work done here in this
Capitol, will determine the future of America's manufacturing.
If we ignore the necessity of putting in place laws that say make it
in America, use American taxpayer dollars to buy American-made
equipment, if we ignore that, then we will see those jobs go offshore
and we will see that equipment come onshore. That's not what I want.
That's not what the Make It In America agenda is all about. It's about
a set of policies, trade policies. Free trade, no; fair trade, yes.
China, you're manipulating your currency. There is a bill that's
being held up in committee by our Republican colleagues that would
force China to deal with its currency manipulation. They have a 25 to
30 percent advantage in cost simply through an unfair trade practice
that China is foisting upon this Nation and others.
Taxes. We haven't talked about tax policy much, but there are tax
policies that are critically important.
{time} 2130
Energy we touched on. We'll come back to energy in the days ahead,
because this is about national security. Labor, education, research,
infrastructure. We've touched on that today.
We've got about 5 to 7 minutes. Let's do our lightning rounds here
and we'll go round and round. That Invest in America, I like that one.
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas, tell us about it.
Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Let me say to my friend from California,
because I know California has itself faced some of those travails when
it had a natural disaster, and let me say to my friend from New York,
you are absolutely right, we are committed for that supplemental to
those in New England, to those along the east coast, and to my fellow
Texans. I know there's a time and a place for America to stand with
you.
I want to see the President with those of good faith. There's a
little comment here: Congress, the Autumn of its Discontent. I want the
gentleman from California to know that I have no discontent. I have
excitement. I have enthusiasm. I just ask my friends on the other side
of the aisle to join me and walk down the aisle and celebrate the idea
that we are the Congress of action. Take the Democrats' ideas about job
creation, about investment, about infrastructure, about educating our
people, about research; take my ideas about getting people trained to
jobs, paying them while they're training. They have an income. Take the
idea of buying a paper clip from a small company that's here in
America, and take the idea, if you will, to ask our fellow Americans--
corporations, I heard they were people--to stand up and give us their
6-month plan to put people to work. If they've got openings, let's ask
them to join us as patriots and put Americans to work however they want
to frame it, but Americans will then be back to work and then we are
then healing that economy. Because everybody says: People working,
people buy. That means they're buying furniture, that means their
buying paper clips, that means they're buying cars. That's what I would
like to see.
I will finally say this. Mr. President, if you've got a pen and you
want to sign it into law or into action as an executive order, we are
standing with you and the American people. We want jobs.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you, Sheila Jackson Lee.
Mr. Tonko.
Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, I'll try to do this in lightning
speed. I think of two things here. People that were impacted by the
storms in my district that need to rebuild are also impacted with the
loss of jobs. Small businesses that have shut are losing jobs for the
community. So it makes sense to bring back those jobs. The dignity of
work is what should drive us, what should motivate us. And oftentimes
in this equation, as has usually been the tradition, people of most
modest means--neighborhoods, communities, people, businesses of modest
means, farms of modest means have been impacted here. So we need to
respond, and we need to respond with that dignity of work, for the
young college grad who has college loans to pay off and is told to come
back when you have experience; for the middle-aged person who lost a
job through no fault of her own who now needs to continue to work and
maybe at the age of 55 is having a tough time landing that work; or
seniors who need to supplement their income. Across the age spectrum,
we need to be there to provide the dignity of work.
Again, let's give America it's newest shining moment. Let's invest in
jobs. Let's make it in America. Let's invest in manufacturing as a
sector. We are still perched at the top of the list with manufacturing
jobs. We lost too many because the manufacturing sector was ignored.
Let's shine that moment again for America.
Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you, Mr. Tonko and Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee. Your
representation of your constituents and for America is unparalleled.
You are fighters. You are fighters for those people that have faced the
personal disaster of losing their job, losing their home, and many of
their dreams.
Tomorrow, here on the floor of this Congress, the Senate and the
House will meet and we'll be listening to our President talk to us and
to the American people at a moment in time that is of critical
importance to the very future of this country; a moment in which we
will choose a path, an aggressive path, to deal with the disaster of
unemployed Americans. He will come to us with a plan. I believe it will
be a
[[Page H5963]]
bold plan. It will be comprehensive. It will cover probably many of the
issues that are here on our Make it in America agenda. But I want all
of us, Democrat and Republican, to take those ideas and to put them
into law so that Americans can have a job so that once again they can
become taxpayers, and in doing so, bring to America's Treasury the
money that we need to deal with our deficit. It's a very, very
important moment.
We're going to need to reach across the aisle, right down this middle
aisle, reach across it, and say, okay, our colleagues here were talking
earlier about regulation. There's some good that needs to come from
that. There are regulations that impede progress. And on our side, we
want to put people to work.
With that, we await the President tomorrow, and we'll stand with him
and with all Americans to put us back to work. Thank you so very, very
much.
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