[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 29, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7919-H7925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1920
                           JOBS FOR AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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 good to be back, and I hope all of 
my colleagues had as enjoyable a Thanksgiving as I did with my family 
and with our constituents back in our districts.
  We have much to be thankful for. After all, this is America, and this 
has always been the place of dreams. This is America. It's always been 
the place where people have found opportunity; where, whatever they 
wanted to do, they could achieve it; and it's still that America today.
  But it's up to us, in the third year of this recession, to restore 
the American Dream, and there are ways that we can do it. And tonight, 
together with my colleagues who will soon be joining me, we will talk 
about various ways in which the Democrats in this House will and have 
made numerous proposals to restore the American Dream.
  I was out in the district for five of the days that we were gone, 
talking to people. In fact, one fellow who has a book binding company--
a man who's 85 years old and is about to retire and turn that company 
over to his employees--was talking about the enormous strength of this 
Nation, and he was sharing the story of himself and his employees and 
the way in which they came here. And many struggled from very bad 
situations in other countries, but they came here with optimism. They 
came here with a true belief that in America you can make it, that if 
you follow the rules, if you work hard, you can make it. You can have a 
good life. You can take care of your family.
  Unfortunately, for all too many Americans, that's not the case today. 
So restoring the American Dream is our task, and we can do it.
  The President, more than 2 months ago, proposed the American Jobs 
Act, a proposal that would put 2 to 3 million Americans back to work 
immediately. And tonight, on the other side of this Nation's Capitol, 
the U.S. Senate is debating a portion of that American Jobs Act, a 
portion of it that is a very, very significant tax cut for men and 
women that are working. Their Social Security payments would be reduced 
by 50 percent. No longer would they pay 6.2 percent of their wages into 
the Social Security fund. They would pay 3.1 percent--and for their 
employers, the same reduction--providing a very powerful incentive for 
individuals to have money in their pockets, about $1,500 a year, money 
in their pockets so that they could participate in buying gifts for 
their children. As we look to Christmas, we know there are many, many 
Americans that are not going to be able to do that.
  Mr. Speaker, it's time for us in this House to follow the lead of the 
President and to give every American worker, 98 percent of Americans, a 
very significant tax reduction, $1,500, by reducing that Social 
Security tax. And for their employers, the same. If their employers are 
up to $50 million of payroll, they can reduce, by 50 percent, their 
Social Security tax so that that employer has more money to hire 
people. That debate is going on in the U.S. Senate today. 
Unfortunately, here in this House, we've not been able to even take up 
that issue. We should, because it's part of what we must do to put 
Americans back to work, to give them a break.
  Joining me in this discussion tonight as we talk about restoring the 
American Dream and about the things that we can do to make that happen 
is my colleague from the great State of New York (Mr. Tonko). We have 
often been here. We call ourselves the East-West Team.
  It is good to see you back. I hope you had as good a Thanksgiving as 
I did, and I'm sure you worked as hard in your district as I did during 
those days. Please share with us, and welcome back.
  Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for 
leading us in an hour of discussion, of dialogue, that is most critical 
to the economic viability, to the economic comeback of America's middle 
class.
  You talk about some of these incentives that would be addressed 
through a payroll tax deduction. It's all about empowering our middle 
class, enhancing their purchasing power, enabling us to enhance that 
demand out there for products that then obviously translates into job 
growth; because with more demand upon manufacturers in this country, 
with more consumer confidence, with absolute increase in purchasing 
power, there will be a positive outcome.
  There's no denying that unemployment is driving the deficit; and if 
we can turn that around, if we can invest in ways that enhance the 
middle class, that's good for all strata, all income strata in this 
Nation. And what's been lost in the logic here for the majority is that 
the empowerment of the middle class stands to produce gains for 
everybody, and we saw what happened in the buildup before our entry 
here into the House.

  In the period of the recession, it was all about borrowing, totally, 
the money that was necessary to spend on a tax cut for millionaires and 
billionaires. And some would suggest those are the job creators. But 
what happened was we realized 8.2 million jobs lost, and so that didn't 
work.
  We ought not go back and revisit that formula, because it was not a 
formula for success. What we need here is to bring about the long 
overdue empowerment of the middle class. And it is working families 
across this country that need that assistance today; and, by the way, 
it works in everybody's favor.
  So that's what we're promoting, and it's good to start off with that 
discussion; because as we move forward, investments are what it's 
about: investing our way to prosperity, investing

[[Page H7920]]

our way to opportunity, investing our way to a stronger tomorrow for 
all Americans. It's not going to come by cutting into situations that 
relieve the liability, the responsibility of those who have been most 
profitable here. That didn't work, and that is not going to be the 
formula for a comeback for most Americans.
  What we need is to be sensitive to the investments in education, 
higher education, in sounder tax policy, reforms of tax policy, and 
certainly investment in research because, as we invest in research, 
that equals jobs, and that's still the highest priority of America's 
general public out there. We need jobs, and the dignity of work is what 
ought to be front and center for the work that we do here in public 
policy format or in resource advocacy so as to go forward and herald 
the need of the middle class.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you so much.
  The experiences that we have as we return to our districts and talk 
to our constituents and share with our families, these are the stories 
of life. These are the stories of real Americans that are out there. 
Not that we're not real. We've got a very special task as their 
Representatives to represent them here, and they do want jobs. They 
want to go back to work. We know that many of them are unable to find 
jobs.
  In American Jobs Act, in addition to the tax issues I just talked 
about--and I must say we actually got something done just before the 
Thanksgiving recess--there was another provision, and that was for the 
veterans. This was part of the President's proposal that actually did 
become law. What he wanted to do--and we agreed with him--was to give 
veterans, those men and women that are out there fighting for this 
country in Iraq and in Afghanistan and even way back into the Vietnam 
War and the first Gulf War, a chance for a job. There's a very special 
tax provision that's totally paid for, not borrowed, that we actually 
voted out of here so that employers got a tax credit, which is a 
reduction in their taxes, for every veteran they hired--$5,600 for an 
unemployed veteran or $9,600 for a disabled veteran. I'm very, very 
pleased that we were able to do that for the veterans.

                              {time}  1930

  That's one very important slice of the American public that is facing 
unemployment; but there are many, many more. And if I can just pick up 
for a second on a couple of words you said; you talked about 
investment. In the American Jobs Act, there is a very, very important 
investment, and you mentioned it. It's the education investment. The 
President proposed that we spend about $30 billion to keep teachers in 
the classroom now so that our kids would be able to continue to learn. 
That's the future; and if they miss a year of learning, they're going 
to be behind the rest of their lives. And so he proposed that. It's 
still out there. It's open, and it hasn't had a chance to come forward 
yet. We'll see, maybe we can get that one done. That's a critical 
investment in our children. What's more important than our children.
  Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, as you talk about the loss in 
any given year where a student may lose the opportunity in the 
classroom because of these cuts that are significant to education, that 
is one measurement; but let me suggest another. We see aggressive 
investment going on around the world in emerging powers out there, 
nations competing with us in that global marketplace on clean energy, 
innovation, an ideas economy. An ideas economy is a robust opportunity 
for a sophisticated Nation like ours; but it requires commitment, 
commitment to investment, investment in education. We take that 
intellectual capacity, and we make it work.
  We did that in the space race of the 1960s. President Kennedy, a 
rather youthful President in his time, offered a challenge to America, 
offered a challenge in a way that enabled us to invest in research, 
that enabled us to win the global race in space. That was an unleashing 
of technology in all told sectors of the economy and from every 
perspective of quality of life that was enhanced by the investments 
that were made.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Tonko, you were talking about the need for 
investment; and, indeed, in the area of education and research, 
critical functions, I do want to stay with that subject for a while.
  Our colleague from the great State of Ohio, Ms. Betty Sutton, has 
joined us. Thank you very much for being with us this evening. I know 
you, too, had a family and a constituency to work with this last week, 
so please share with us your thoughts.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman.
  Representative Garamendi, you have done a tremendous job in leading 
the way and showing the American people, because we all know that 
things don't have to be the way that they are. We all know that we can 
invest in the things that have always made our country strong, things 
like education, that we know not only strengthens the individual but is 
key to the success of our future, investing in policies that will 
enable us to make it in America.
  And when we talk about make it in America, Representative Garamendi 
and Representative Tonko, I know that we are often talking about 
manufacturing. And coming from Ohio, manufacturing of course is not 
just a part of our past and our history. It is a strong part of what is 
going to make us successful in the future.
  I will tell you, I'm excited because in the coming days I'll be 
introducing a number of bills that are all related to how we can 
strengthen U.S. manufacturing and bolster U.S. manufacturing for our 
workers and our productivity right here in the United States. So I'm 
grateful to be down here with you. I can just tell you, I went out and 
talked to our folks and there is a growing belief that there is a 
better way. There's a comprehensive understanding that things have not 
been fair, that the deck has been stacked, and that there are still 
those here who are trying to protect the wealthiest and the most 
privileged at the expense of the others. And that's why I'm so grateful 
to have the chance to be here and fight alongside you and 
Representative Tonko and others, like Representative Jackson Lee from 
Texas who has just joined us.
  In the last election, we heard over and over again the refrain that 
people don't want a government on their back. And I agree, and I know 
you do, too, that people don't want a government on their back. But 
they do want a government on their side, and that's what we're here to 
make sure that they get, because that is not what they're getting with 
the Republican legislature as it exists today.
  So carry on, Representative Garamendi, and count me in as somebody 
who supports those investments in education and in making it in 
America.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Well, indeed, you are carrying many pieces of 
legislation. I like your one--what was it, don't flush America down the 
drain--having to do with rebuilding our sanitation systems here in the 
United States.
  Ms. SUTTON. Representative Garamendi, if you'll yield just a moment, 
the name of the bill, just to set the record very clear, is Stop 
American Jobs from Going Down the Drain Act. The whole point of that 
bill is when we are building our infrastructure, our water and sewer 
systems, as you point out, that really need to be built in this 
country, and of course it would put people to work, it would help our 
communities, spur our economy; and if we do it using U.S.-manufactured 
goods and iron and steel, which is what the bill would require, then we 
put even more people to work while we're strengthening our community. 
So it's the Stop American Jobs from Going Down the Drain Act.

  Mr. GARAMENDI. I appreciate your correction of my characterization of 
the bill. Nonetheless, it's a great piece of legislation; and it's part 
of the Make It In America agenda, using our tax money, in this case to 
build the sanitation systems, the water systems, and requiring that 
that money be used to buy American-made equipment.
  I have a bill that would do the same thing for solar and wind 
programs--wind turbines and solar, as well as for trains, buses and the 
like. It's our tax money; use it to buy American-made equipment. That's 
part of the Democratic agenda. And it works. I can give some examples a 
little later. I do want to thank you because there is nobody working 
harder in this entire Capitol building--Democrat, Republican, or the 
Senate--than you are in rebuilding the

[[Page H7921]]

manufacturing center of America, the great State of Ohio.
  Now, Texas is a little far from Ohio, but you've got a few things 
going for you in Texas. Let me introduce Sheila Jackson Lee. Thank you 
for joining us once again.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. It is a delight to have been here with the 
gentlelady from Ohio. We have worked together closely, as I have with 
the gentleman from New York. I always want to ask him how his fair 
constituents are dealing. They have some serious mountains to climb, if 
you will, with their recent hurricane, a very unusual set of 
circumstances. We joined together to allow those communities to come 
back. Wouldn't that be a perfect investment of rebuilding 
infrastructure.
  Mr. Garamendi, let me thank you for your long-standing history of 
putting things back together. I'm not going to call you the Humpty-
Dumpty man, but recognizing that we can put America back together and 
make it in America. Let me share some anecdotal uniqueness to this 
whole question of make it in America. I hope everybody had a wonderful 
Thanksgiving. It's a special holiday where we find time to say thanks. 
I heard that the gentleman from New York might have been giving away a 
ham, made in America. And I know the people who received the ham were 
grateful for it.
  I had the opportunity to work with those, we had over 800 turkeys--
made in America--to be able to give to seniors and families. The joy 
was, of course, that it was in the giving. But more importantly, it was 
a product that we made from start to finish. Yes, it's food. As we went 
down the aisles of many grocery stores, since the highlight of that 
season is eating, people were buying goods in most instances that were 
made in America. And they bought them.
  And then, of course, that famous Friday that we can now tout to be 
the best Friday over a number of years, certainly 2010; $52 billion was 
spent by Americans in many instances on the electronic goods that were 
made in America. Steve Jobs is no longer with us, but he created that 
infrastructure of technology and software and the sophistication of 
pretty things that many Americans went to buy, some $7 billion over 
2010. And the studies indicated that--and that's all right to my good 
friends out there--that Americans were buying first for themselves 
those electronic items that they wanted to have for this holiday 
season.

                              {time}  1940

  As I begin to look at legislation to talk about jobs, I'm going to 
try to make the energy industry a little bit more friendly. And we'll 
be introducing legislation that talks about creating jobs in that 
industry, but working in the environmental aspect of it--fixing the 
coastline, for example.
  As you well know, we have suffered through Hurricanes Rita, Katrina, 
Ike and the deterioration of the coastline, so if somebody wants to 
stop us from going down the drain, I want to stop us from a 
disappearing coastline. I want you to have the beautiful beaches, 
whether it is in Alabama and Louisiana and Texas, Florida. Those 
coastlines have been deteriorating. We can find work. Individuals can 
have work in fixing the beautiful coastlines. Even in South Carolina, I 
know that the gentleman wants the coastline to be fixed. So there is 
not a lack of opportunity-to-fix work.
  I just heard my good friend from Massachusetts in the Rules Committee 
indicate that there are bridges in the State of Massachusetts--my good 
friend, Mr. McGovern--that are older than some States and that they 
need to be fixed. And that would be a sharing of the wealth to many, 
many different districts and States if we were to engage, as the 
President wanted us to do, to look at how we do the infrastructure.
  But making it in America is happening. Right now, in the Carolinas, a 
young lady is bringing her company back from Sri Lanka, and she is 
using the textile industries--I don't have its full name, but it begins 
with ``Mic''--using the textile industry to now make her product.
  So I came today to say that I have hope. I'm an optimist, and many of 
the economists that we've been listening to--Jeffrey Sachs, for 
example, and Mr. Spence, who I think I heard in the last couple of 
days, has indicated that we worry too much about the deficit and the 
debt, not to ignore it but we really should be worrying about investing 
in America, rebuilding, make it in America, investing in 
infrastructure, creating jobs. And Americans will do what they did on 
last Friday, November 25, and they went out and they bought goods, by 
and large, made in America.
  Let's do more of that. Let's have the incentives that they need. And, 
by the way, let's add the small business component to it. We had the 
buy from a small business on Saturday. These small businesses are in 
America. And if you support a small business, you support one or two or 
three or four employees.
  So I am grateful, as I said. I'm going to do this coastline bill. I 
can see just persons for eons being put to work. I can see moneys going 
in to reduce the deficit. We'll join that with the drain, if you will, 
or the infrastructure for our sewage and wastewater. It comes under 
homeland security, by the way. We have to protect that. The 
infrastructure of security provides jobs as well.
  I want to close on this note, which sound as if it's not tied in, but 
it is. It really is tied in. We have, in the Thanksgiving backdrop, was 
the acknowledgment--I'm not going to call it failure--by the 
supercommittee that they could not complete their task. Let me, on the 
record--I have said it in public settings--thank the colleagues that 
accepted the challenge. But I want to say to my colleagues, let us not 
be nonoptimistic. Let us not be unhappy or disappointed or sad. 
Frankly, the job of the Congress is to formulate the vision going 
forward on behalf of the American people.
  Let me tell you why I see we have been given an opportunity. Some 
people only talk about defense. I talk about 46 million Americans that 
are on SNAP. Here's our chance. We can take the works of a Jeffrey 
Sachs. We can take the works of Mr. Spence, who talks about 
infrastructure investment. We can find these long-term cuts of a 
trillion dollars, leaving out Medicare and Social Security and 
Medicaid, and we can find them in a way that talks about Bush tax cuts 
but has a thoughtful way of looking at tax reform, and then we can put 
our vision forward that includes making it in America.
  My friends, we make defense products in America. I don't want to be a 
war promoter--I want our troops home--but I believe in military 
preparedness. Those are jobs. We have a year to do it. We can throw off 
the shackles of partisanship and thoughtfully put forward a legislative 
initiative which the President will not veto if there is a plan that 
includes deficit reduction. Don't be afraid of doing it on jobs.
  So I'm willing to say we have been given an opportunity, just like my 
Cougars are being given an opportunity for a championship this coming 
weekend at the University of Houston, which will, by the way, create a 
lot of revenue with folks coming in from all over.
  But we have been given an opportunity. And I am glad that we're here 
on the floor to point out that it is not the end, but it is the 
beginning. I simply ask there be friends on the other side of the aisle 
that will join us in revenue, job creation, deficit reduction, revenue, 
job creation. We can pass these bills. We can join the Senate. We can 
do the payroll tax relief for a little bit and the unemployment, but we 
can create jobs.

  I thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate with you. I'm 
excited about the legislation that my colleagues have. I know I have 
worked with Mr. Tonko for all that he has done in the legislative 
initiative and, also, you. Thank you so very much.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Thank you very much. You are always on top of the 
issues and you're always so very, very correct. Sheila Jackson Lee, 
thank you for the enormous amount of work you have done for your 
constituents in the city of Houston.
  You mentioned the supercommittee. We ought to spend at least a few 
moments on that. Everybody says it was a failure and they did not 
achieve the goal that was set out; however, the public needs to know 
that the legislation that set up the supercommittee actually reduced 
the deficit of the United States by $2.1 trillion. A $2.1

[[Page H7922]]

trillion reduction in the deficit in the legislation that established 
the supercommittee. One trillion of that is already going into place. 
The other $1.1 trillion, it was the specific task of the supercommittee 
to try to find out if there was a better way to make the cuts, or 
adding revenue. They were unable to put the revenue together, but the 
cuts remain, and those are going to go forward.
  You're quite correct, Ms. Jackson Lee, that we do have the next 13 
months, almost 14 months, to figure out a better way. Maybe it's 
revenue or less cuts. Maybe it's different cuts that are currently 
across the board in the Defense Department as well as in the 
discretionary funding. But we have a chance to do that. We have time to 
do that. It's not all lost. The deficit has been reduced. Now we need 
to do it in a smarter way, one that actually promotes American jobs, 
puts people to work, and creates more jobs and manufacturing in 
America.
  Mr. Tonko, you come from a State that really started the great 
American Industrial Revolution and an area in which it actually began, 
the Hudson River Valley, so why don't we carry on our conversation 
here. You were talking about research, or take it wherever you would 
like to go.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Let me just respond to the absolute clear 
focus of our friend, the gentlewoman from Texas, and for the strength 
of Texas. Representative Jackson Lee is constantly talking about the 
opportunities to make it in America, but she cited, also, the flood 
damage in my district, in the Mohawk Valley, the Schoharie Valley of 
upstate New York.
  Sometimes we will sit around and try to tout the effect of 
infrastructure for our job growth. There are different ways to express 
the economic development quotient related to infrastructure, the 
traditional roads and bridges, but then broadband and our grid system 
for our electric utilities, what role does it play?

                              {time}  1950

  Well, sometimes the best expression is done when that is taken from 
you. And when roads and bridges were washed away, we saw immediately 
what the effect was on the regional economy--and therefore the State 
economy--and then we're all connected one to another so that the 
national economy hurts through the ravages of flood waters that 
impacted this district, some would say with 500-year storm impact.
  What did that mean? It meant that you couldn't haul milk that was 
processed, produced on these farms; and you could not ship products 
being manufactured. It stopped the economic viability of a district and 
of a region. So it's important for us to look at those bridges that 
measure in deficient form. We need to make certain that we have state-
of-the-art infrastructure and broadband. We began to talk about this 
with the space race of the sixties; we unleashed untold amounts of 
investment in technology that enabled us to stretch opportunity here. 
Think of the rotary phone that's now moved all the way up to what is a 
changing telephone by the week. And that all happened because of an 
investment in the intellect of this Nation.
  So the intellectual capacity of this Nation has been an inspiration 
to not only this country but to folks around the world where the 
quality of life was raised simply by the inventive qualities of 
American workers. And so that's what we're calling for here. The 
Democrats of the House of Representatives believe in investing in the 
worker and in research. Research equals jobs, and research equals 
opportunities. The intellectual capacity that was developed here, I'm 
told by the most recent former energy minister of Denmark, influenced 
the turnaround of thinking in Denmark where they transitioned their 
economy, created energy-innovative outcomes, all inspired by patents 
coming from the United States of America. So we have that intellect.
  We talk about manufacturing as a base. We saw the exodus of 
manufacturing jobs to the millions--to the millions. We're still 
perched highest on the list for manufacturing jobs; but if we allow 
that trend where we were disinterested, paid no attention to 
manufacturing and agriculture, if we allow that to continue, we will 
sink as an economy. What we need to do is now bring the focus back to 
manufacturing and to agriculture. The focus was totally on the service 
economy, and there more narrowly to the financial services. We know 
what happened.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Would the gentleman pause for just a 
moment.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. You're saying something that is just so 
inspirational, and I just want to add these two points: one, we are 
still the greatest and largest economic engine in the world in spite of 
China, in spite of Russia and in spite of India, our good friends. 
We're the largest, still percolating along.
  Second, when we've had our difficulties in the past, there have been 
recessions in the fifties, post-World War II, on into our good friends 
both former Presidents Ford and Carter, as you well know for those who 
read the history books we had some moments, but the reason why we are 
in troubling waters that people can't seem to comprehend, they just 
need to read, we never had a euro.
  We never had Europe in the state that it is presently in. And when 
the markets were troubled on Monday--it was Monday, even post--I think 
Monday they percolated, but when they were troubled, they were looking 
at Europe. And so if we get obsessed with other than what you're saying 
about how we can get back in the game at the peak that we want to be, 
we don't take in the great picture. And that great picture is our 
markets are not necessarily troubled about how we're percolating on.
  We need to do better. We need to create jobs. But they're 
international markets, and they're troubled by the euro, which I never 
agreed with. I would just say, let's understand that so we can do our 
business here in the United States and focus on the American people, 
tend to the markets, but go ahead and invest and realize that the 
markets are interrelated. We can overcome that by doing exactly what 
the gentleman from New York has said, make it in America.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Ms. Jackson Lee, you've talked about the investments; 
you've talked about the international aspects of our economy. Mr. 
Tonko, you were so correct when you talk about what happens when those 
infrastructures are not there.
  Now, in the American Jobs Act, which we ought to be working on and 
passing, there is $50 billion over and above the ongoing money. This is 
new money, additional money, that would be immediately available to 
restore the coastal areas of the United States, to rebuild the 
infrastructure and those areas that have been hard hit by the floods of 
this year, to improve the 100-year-old-plus bridges in America. Those 
are all things that we need to move our economy.
  Ms. Sutton from Ohio talked earlier about the sanitation and water 
systems. Each and every one of these should be framed in such a way as 
to create American jobs, not just the construction jobs but the rest of 
the story, which is the concrete, the steel, the bolts, the pumps. All 
of those things that go into the infrastructure can and should be 
American made if we have a policy.
  Now, on the floor here 3 weeks ago, we were talking about this; and 
our colleague from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) brought something to the 
floor that just blew me away. She brought a document that was prepared 
in 1788 by George Washington, and it was a manufacturing policy for 
America. He told Hamilton, who was then the Secretary of the Treasury, 
to go out and to develop eight steps for an American manufacturing 
policy.
  So this is not new in America, folks. We need a manufacturing policy 
in America. We call it Make It in America. It's a tax policy, an 
educational policy, an infrastructure policy, and it is an 
international trade policy where we don't give it away, but we require 
fair trade--not free trade--fair trade. These are American 
manufacturing policies of today. Thank you, George Washington, for 
setting us on the course. We need to continue it.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. I hear in your statement the wisdom of sound 
planning. We need that for a government to be smart and efficient, 
which is the call by the general public. We want smart investment from 
our government. Ask any competitor out there

[[Page H7923]]

in the global economy. They are competing against industries that are 
being co-invested in by their native lands. There are co-investments 
with governments and their private sector, and we're moving in the 
other direction.
  So a couple of things come to mind here. I participated this past 
weekend in Small Business Saturday. And the spirit I detected was a 
leap of faith, a sound leap of faith, by many small business leaders 
who said, I want to offer a service, I'm going to put my creative 
genius to work. I'm going to make my commitment to community a response 
here that's tangible.
  I saw a lot of belief in the American public, a belief in the 
American system; and it offers a warm and fuzzy, cozy personalized 
relationship. People come in; they're known when they walk into the 
shop; they see the creative flair that's been introduced into that 
small business. I also see more technically savvy qualities that are 
engaged in the district I represent with a lot of start-ups, 
incubators, again, another leap of good faith but needing an 
investment, a co-partnering with government, especially in a very 
tenuous economy where there's still a lot of guesswork. We need to be 
there to remove some of that risk. That is so critically important.
  Representative Garamendi, you mentioned earlier the fact that my 
district is that donor district to the Erie Canal/Barge Canal, which 
was the westward movement that triggered an industrial revolution. 
These mill towns that were given birth to by the canal became the 
epicenters of invention and innovation--manufacturing towns and mill 
towns that had blue collar workers coming up with tremendously clever 
ideas.
  And for people to throw up their arms and say manufacturing then is 
what it was, it was our greatness, it's gone today, nothing could be 
farther from the truth. What is the challenge today to a sophisticated 
society like the American society is that while we have a number of 
product lines that we developed through our decades of manufacturing, 
the challenge to a sophisticated society is to build the products that 
are in demand today.
  And if we believe that every product that's ever required by society 
has been conceived, engineered, designed and manufactured, then the 
story is over. But if we believe, as so many of us do believe, that we 
can be the wizards of those new products and we develop it by investing 
in ideas and investing in research, then we build those products that 
are now the step up, if you will.

                              {time}  2000

  That's where we are with our policy initiatives as a Democratic 
Caucus in the House of Representatives. Make it in America by embracing 
the intellectual capacity of this Nation and holding fast to 
innovation, entrepreneurs, and the manufacturing of today, spun up to a 
new level, that's America at her greatest moment.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might interrupt you for just a moment. Every hour 
we're here we're joined by men and women who are working hard on behalf 
of the American people. The stenographers taking down our words here 
deserve a praise of thanksgiving; not that our words are so worthwhile 
to put into the American Record, but they do it, nonetheless, and I 
want to thank them for their good work, and for the staff behind us as 
we go through this hour.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Let me just, if you'll suffer an interruption, 
or yield, please, Representative Garamendi, I absolutely endorse what 
you just said. They are devoted. They are an essential part of this 
body to introduce all of the statements into the annals of history, 
making certain that statements that might inspire the sort of progress 
that is required by this Nation right now--they provide an awesome, 
awesome task.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might take up, after interrupting you, some of 
the things that you were talking about. Down through the years, from 
the very earliest days of this country, there has been a joining of the 
government and the private sector to accomplish, really, the building 
of America. And it's been done in many, many ways.
  I was startled and surprised and frankly, very, very happy when Ms. 
Schakowsky brought that document in from George Washington's 
administration about the establishment of industrial policy that placed 
the American government in synchronization with the then-new 
manufacturing program industries in America.
  You talked about the mill towns. They didn't just happen. They 
happened because there was a government policy working with them, those 
entrepreneurs, to create these new businesses, these new jobs. And down 
through the centuries, more than 2\1/2\, almost 2\1/2\ now, we have 
been able to use this synergy, this government working with the 
American public, the private sector, to create this incredible country 
we call America and really, to create the American Dream that all of us 
possess or have participated in.
  Today, we're in a discussion, if you will, with the American public 
about whether to continue that coordination of the public governments--
State, local, Federal governments--working to achieve a goal in the 
private sector. There's a different vision out there that basically 
says, get out of the way. Get government away and things will go well. 
Eliminate all regulation, eliminate all of the programs, and let the 
free market do it.
  It's never worked, and the proof of it is found in the first decade 
of this century. In the first decade of this century, that philosophy 
of push government aside, deregulate, reduce taxes, and get government 
out of the way actually created a situation of the Great Recession and 
no jobs; in fact, 8 million American jobs lost.
  We need to go back to the policies that actually created growth in 
America, the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, carried out by Truman and 
Eisenhower. Even Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson carried out the very 
basic policies that, working together, we can build a great country.
  Mr. TONKO. You're absolutely right. And I believe, as you just 
indicated, our history, our American history is replete with the 
soundness of government planning and policies that incorporated 
investments from the public sector. And it made us strong. It retained 
our strength. It was a sustainable outcome. And the way of the world 
today is other nations are doing that with their private sector co-
investing with them.
  And when you look at the scenario of threats to cut some very 
valuable programs, you know you're going to place our businesses at 
risk. And if there's anything I hear from my middle class that is 
disgruntled with Washington is that they're not against people making 
money. They're not against that.
  They're concerned, and they're deeply upset by the undue influence 
that a few, a growing few, most powerful have on the process. They see 
it as insatiable greed. They see it as a rejection of what worked in 
the past, where people shared the wealth, shared by investing in 
America's middle class, which is that intellectual capacity, is that 
innovative spirit, is that potential for the next generation of jobs. 
And that's where our strength lies, and that's why they're upset. The 
undue influence has caused this insatiable greed that produces a drain 
on the middle class of this country and, therefore, reduces the number 
of jobs that we could possibly have in this Nation.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Before I turn to my colleague from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) 
who has just joined us, I want to pull up this chart. If only you had 
had this next to you while you just made this statement about the 
change in the nature of America's wealth. This chart has become, I 
think, rather famous--or infamous, I think, is a better word.
  The blue line here is a chart that shows the growth in the wealth, 
the income of the top 1 percent of Americans. And down here is what the 
rest of Americans have had over the last 20 years or so. What we've 
seen is basically a flat-lining for the middle class, and certainly for 
the poor--no improvement, or very, very little improvement, in their 
situation. This is the 99 percent here. This is the 1 percent.
  This is the anger that you now see on the streets of America, and 
it's exactly what you were talking about, Mr. Tonko, with a few, 1 
percent of the American public, getting an ever increasing share of the 
American income and wealth, creating a bifurcated society, one with 
very few that are extremely wealthy, and the rest that are actually 
growing poorer.

[[Page H7924]]

  With that, I'd like to turn to a woman from the great Midwest, the 
State of Ohio that is enduring this exact hollowing out of the American 
middle class.
  Marcy Kaptur, thank you so much for joining us, and thank you for 
years of work representing your part of what was once the great 
industrial strength of America. I know that you want to share with us 
tonight some thoughts that you shared with me earlier this day, as you 
went home, as you talked to the men and women in Cleveland. Please.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Thank you very much, Congressman Garamendi, for your 
leadership in bringing us together so often. You are absolutely 
unrelenting, and that's the spirit that is America, so we thank you for 
your time tonight.
  And Congressman Tonko of New York, your steadfast service here in 
representing a State that has some similar situations to Ohio's in the 
industrial and agricultural heartland of our country. It's really a 
special privilege to be here tonight with both of you.
  This morning, one of my first visits was with a company in Avon Lake, 
Ohio, PolyOne. This is a company that makes products in America. Yes, 
it's a global player, but its innovation center is in Ohio. Hundreds 
and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jobs are associated with its 
plastic products, made both out of traditional petroleum-based inputs 
as well as the new carbohydrate economy that you can see developing, 
and it was really quite exciting.
  We know that real wealth is created in our country when we make goods 
in America, when we make it in America. I think the problem over the 
last several years has been that if you travel to any city in America 
and you look at the tallest building, what are they? Are they the firms 
making things or are they merely, as I saw in Michigan recently, a 
gigantic bank whose headquarters is on Wall Street, a bank that just 
got bailed out by the American people?
  I stopped my car and I looked at that building, and then I looked at 
the devastation of the communities around that particular part of 
Michigan, and I thought, what's wrong with this picture? Basically, 
this institution has sucked up the wealth of neighborhood after 
neighborhood and left rubble in its way.
  They're not being held accountable. Yet I see companies like PolyOne 
trying to make it in a global economy with a very unfair set of trade 
practices--closed markets around the world, currency manipulation, 
intellectual property theft.

                              {time}  2010

  I look at what's happening with competitors, with competition to U.S. 
industry, and you have to say to those patriots who are making goods in 
America, we stand with you. We should be rewarding those companies. We 
should be making more goods in our country.
  I wanted to just add a word about the automotive industry. There were 
those in this Chamber that voted against the refinancing of the 
automotive industry. Without that industry, this country would not have 
a defense base, and we would not be a great industrial power. And now I 
see in our region of the country--I was just at Chrysler Fiat. They 
announced billions of dollars of investment. There's going to be over a 
thousand more people hired at their main production facility in Toledo, 
Ohio. Chrysler Jeep makes the Wrangler and the Liberty and likely 
vehicles that will follow on.
  The feeling inside that plant of people who have given their lives to 
keeping America competitive and to manufacturing a label that is known 
throughout the world, it was a wonderful day to be there. And I was 
reminded, and I said very frankly, You know, there were 170 Members of 
Congress that didn't think you should be here and didn't think that 
this company should be here. And the company has paid back the loan 
that was made, and now we're going to have good jobs by making goods in 
America. So I wanted to share those experiences.
  I feel bad that we have a country where certain financial firms that 
have, totally speculative, have brought us to this point. But I stand 
with those who have weathered the storm and who are now hiring and 
trying to move this economy back where we know it can be.
  I was very proud to be a Member, as are those who are here with us 
tonight, to vote for that refinancing of the automotive industry and 
with its procurement from suppliers--whether it's plastics, whether 
it's glass, whether it's fibre, whether it's textiles, whatever, that's 
helping to lift this economy to where last week, on the day after 
Thanksgiving, retail sales in our country went up about 16.7 percent, I 
guess. It shows that people have more spending power. That's what we 
should be doing. We should be using our power here to lift those 
industries that can really make goods in our country and help recreate 
a strengthened middle class.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. We have maybe 10 more minutes here.
  You talked about the purchasing power of Americans. On January 1, 
unless we act, American workers will lose about $1,500 of purchasing 
power. We must renew and continue the reduction in the Social Security 
tax that American workers are paying and businesses are paying. And by 
the way, it's totally paid for by those superwealthy--a 3.5 percent 
increase on their taxes over a million dollars a year. So it's totally 
paid for. It's part of the American Jobs Act.
  I was just talking to the gentleman from New York, and it came about 
because of what you said about those men and women that have spent 
their lifetime working here in America. And I want to end on this 
between the three of us.
  We Democrats have made a promise to America. It's not a contract. It 
is a promise. It's a pledge. And that pledge is to protect Social 
Security and Medicare, two of the most fundamental American programs, 
both of which are at risk of being significantly modified or, in the 
case of Medicare, destroyed by our Republican colleagues.
  I want to make it very, very clear and get the comments from my two 
colleagues here about our commitment to these programs.
  Social Security is the bedrock foundation for every American's 
retirement; and given the way the stock market gyrates because of those 
financial institutions and the games they play, you can't count on your 
401(k).
  But here's the promise to America from the Democrats: you will always 
be able to count on Social Security. If they want to fight about it, 
then this is the fight we will have and we will win.
  On Medicare, millions of seniors are not in poverty today and alive 
today because they have Medicare insurance, a fundamental American 
program.
  Mr. Tonko.
  Mr. TONKO. I think you highlight some of the major differences and 
disagreements that have highlighted the debate on the Hill here in 
Washington between the two parties. And I would suggest it's probably 
some of the reasons that the supercommittee could not come to 
consensus, because we have called upon an outcome that is fair, 
balanced, and bold--that we will not allow for the price tag on further 
continuing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to be paid for by 
cuts to Medicare. There were those who fought Social Security at its 
inception and have fought it for 76 years and want to deny it.
  It's about making certain that there is an underpinning of support 
for our elderly as they grow into what is a longer life span. We have 
to have measures in place that enable there to be a quality of life 
that provides economic vitality, economic balance for those who move 
into their retirement years.
  I think that when we look at some of the measurements of Medicare, 
for instance, where it's about 5 percent of the GDP, much more modest 
than private sector health care is to GDP, and here's a program that 
has worked tremendously well. Can it be made better? Absolutely. That's 
where we stand. Make it better. Make it more secure. Make it more 
sustainable.
  But do not deny the masses of this country who have prospered, who 
have been strengthened, who were lifted by programs like Medicare and 
Social Security. And I am proud to serve in the caucus that, as a 
conference, has said we stand for keeping these programs in place, 
strengthening them, not denying them, which I think is a major 
disagreement on the Hill.

[[Page H7925]]

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Tonko, you are absolutely correct. This is where 
we stand. This is where we fight.
  Ms. Kaptur.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Thank you so much, Congressman Garamendi and Congressman 
Tonko.
  I just wanted to say on Social Security and Medicare, I'm proud to 
stand with my Democratic colleagues. Social Security is an earned 
benefit, and it's one that belongs to the American people. We all know 
its power, not just to allow seniors to live a decent life in their 
retirement years. But also it's power to lift the economy because 
seniors spend, mainly on their grandchildren. And they move those 
dollars into the economy. You watch with that cost-of-living increase, 
which I'm very happy about, next year, and the fact that the Medicare 
offset will not be so great that seniors will have extra buying power 
and they will watch every penny.
  I am just so proud to be a part of a tradition of the Democratic 
Party that has fought for Social Security and has fought for Medicare, 
not just for the few but for all. And we have made the country a better 
country as a result.
  So I think it's fair to say that, yes, it is true the Republican 
Party has fought Social Security. Can't they find something else? I 
don't know what the problem is when the vast majority of the American 
people, I think like 99.99 percent of the American people, agree with 
this. I don't know what their problem is. Maybe they're not living in 
reality most of the time.
  I am just very proud to be a part of this tradition along with my 
colleagues and to say to our senior citizens that next year will be a 
better year than this year.
  My hat's off to Franklin Roosevelt and Frances Perkins and all of the 
people that fought back in the 1930s to make this program part of the 
American way of life.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. And then carried on in the 1960s with Medicare.
  We have much to be thankful for as Americans, don't we?
  Mr. TONKO. We do.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. We have much to be thankful for. We are thankful for 
those men and women that served here in this House over the years that 
brought us to where we are--the world's strongest, greatest country 
with the greatest opportunity. Even with all of the troubles we have 
today, it's still a country with great opportunity.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. It's a country in which the American Dream lives, and 
we have the obligation to make sure that it's there for future 
generations.
  Mr. Tonko, we're going to do a rapid 30 seconds around.
  Mr. TONKO. We've had a wonderful hour of discussion, and I give 
thanks for the wonderful investments that have made us this strong 
Nation. In conclusion, if we invest in the middle class of this Nation, 
our greatest days lie ahead of us. We have a chance to be continually 
investing in a way that allows us to make it in America and allow for 
our intellectual capacity to reign supreme. It's been our history. It's 
our DNA. Let's make it happen. I'm optimistic about the tomorrows for 
this country with the appropriate investments.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Ms. Kaptur.
  Ms. KAPTUR. America has always been a Nation of great promise, a 
Nation of great hope; and I like to quote in my speeches the last four 
letters of the word ``American'' are ``I can.'' It's positive energy. 
It's promise that we all work toward, and the American people know it. 
It's great to be a part of a party of hope and promise for the American 
people.
  I say what a pleasure it has been to join my colleagues here this 
evening.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back with great thanks 
to my colleagues and for the opportunity to be a Member of Congress.

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