[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 123 (Thursday, September 13, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5925-H5926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN THIS CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I would like to join my colleague in asking 
for the blessings on this Nation and to remind America that we gathered 
on Tuesday, together, in commemoration and recognition of 9/11. But 
America also needs us to do better. And I speak

[[Page H5926]]

in the backdrop of a horrific tragedy that we are all reminded of in 
the loss of Americans in what continues to be an attack on our values. 
That's why it's important for us to shed all that partisanship leads to 
and the lack of bringing forth bills that would help all of America.
  So I am here this morning to remind us of work yet undone, that we 
just had 61 bills that have been signed into law this year, the fewest 
in more than 60 years. In all of 2011, only 90 bills were signed into 
law. And so we know in the last session, the 111th Congress, 258 bills 
were signed into law. We have got to do better. And the most difficult 
thing that I rise and speak about is the lack of presenting on the 
floor of the House the President's jobs bill, the American Jobs Act, 
that would invest in small business, that would create an opportunity 
for those who have lost their unemployment to be extended, to create 
summer jobs and part-time jobs, to be able to ensure that there is job 
training, and to make sure that we say to America: we are your partner 
in job creation. Why haven't we been able to overcome those who would 
stand in the way on the other side of the aisle for putting forth the 
American Jobs Act? It is to help the American people.
  We have not been able to tackle, if you will, postal reform. Those 
are jobs. Those are people who work to make America's commerce travel 
from place to place. I have spoken to small businesses, and they say 
the U.S. Postal Service is their lifeline for their small business. 
They can actually make a profit by using the U.S. Postal Service. 
Senior citizens who receive their Social Security checks, sometimes in 
the mail, many times we know online, but are connected to the post 
office. They're connected to the letter carriers. They're connected to 
the local post office in their neighborhood. How do I know? Because of 
the outpouring of concern for the closing of a post office on Mesa Road 
in the 18th Congressional District, my congressional district.

                              {time}  1010

  So I am interested in this Congress not being known by the do-nothing 
Congress, do-nothing Republican Congress. I want us to work together 
and be able to say that these items need to be put forward for the 
American people. What do we have to say, now looking toward 
sequestration? We realize that you cannot cut discretionary funding. We 
realize that 50 million Americans are suffering from food insecurity, 
and we have a $13 to $16 billion cut in the supplemental nutritional 
program. That simply cannot be. That cannot be the record of this 
Congress. No jobs, no postal reform, cutting food that people need, 
and, of course, staring down at our men and women in the United States 
military where resources that they need may be cut.
  So I am asking that we may be reminded that there are those who have 
written, Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann, that in studying Washington 
politics in Congress for more than 4 years, this is their quote, they 
have never seen such a dysfunctional place. We can do better. We must 
do better.
  Democrats are ready to work to pass the American jobs bill, to pass 
postal reform, to pass bills dealing with helping to improve the lives 
of Americans, to ensuring that no American goes to bed hungry, and that 
we welcome our troops home and provide for their families. That's the 
Congress that we should be known for. That's what America is all about.
  I ask that God blesses this Nation, but this Congress recognize that 
we have to be busy until He comes. Let's get busy for the American 
people. Democrats are busy and want to work to succeed to do what is 
right for America.

                          ____________________