[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 23, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2235-H2242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MAKING LIFE WORK FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentlewoman from Alabama (Mrs. Roby) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to be on the floor tonight 
for the next few minutes, and I hopefully will have some other 
colleagues joining me here in a few minutes. Tonight is about making 
life work for American families.
  What are we doing on behalf of the American people here in the House 
of Representatives to make life a little bit easier for working 
families, working moms and dads? And let me just say that there are 
things across the board, whether it's health care issues, energy, 
reducing the deficit and the debt for Margaret and George, my two kids, 
and future generations, all of those things add up and matter.
  I want to talk for just a few minutes about one proposal that I have 
in front of the House of Representatives that's going to come up for a 
vote here after we return from our district workweek. But before I do 
that, I want to tell you, Mr. Speaker, tonight, that we're going to do 
something a little bit different in

[[Page H2236]]

an effort to engage individuals in their interest about making life 
work for American families.
  I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, that if someone wants to know more 
about what we're talking about tonight, the hash tag on Twitter is 
``makinglifework.'' We want to hear from the people that we represent, 
Mr. Speaker, throughout our time on the floor tonight. So I would just 
say to you again, Mr. Speaker, that any individual that would like to 
know more about what we're talking about or would like to engage in a 
conversation, it's ``#makinglifework.''
  Before I introduce my colleagues or get engaged in this conversation, 
I want to very briefly talk about the Working Families Flexibility Act 
of 2013, which is a bill designed to do just what we're talking about 
tonight, and that's make life work, make life a little bit easier for 
working moms and dads.
  I'm a working mom, and my husband and I, every week, sit down and 
figure out what the plan is. We have an almost 8-year-old and a 4-year-
old, and we certainly understand the pulls on the American family in 
balancing the workweek and our home life and supporting our children.
  Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of families out there right now that 
would like choice in the workplace, hourly-wage employees that would 
like the choice in the private sector to exercise compensatory time--
that's paid time off in lieu of cash wages. Right now, under current 
law, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, public employers can offer to 
their employees that option. In 1985, the Fair Labor Standards Act was 
amended to allow that. Private sector employees can't.
  So, again, as a working mom who understands the pulls on family--
maybe that T-ball game at 4 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon or the PTA 
meeting that's at 9 o'clock in the morning when my daughter's class is 
the one leading the charge on the entertainment for the PTA meeting--if 
I'm an hourly-wage employee and I want to exchange paid overtime for 
paid time off, I cannot legally, under the law, do that with my 
employer.

                              {time}  2010

  This amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act allows for the private 
sector to do what the public sector is already doing. Now, some of the 
opponents of this bill say that the big bad employer would use this to 
coerce employees into taking comp time rather than overtime pay. That 
is unlawful. The same protections that are in place currently under the 
Fair Labor Standards Act are the same protections that exist under our 
amendment preventing intimidation, coercion, and discrimination by the 
employer on the employee. And the most important thing about this bill 
is that it is voluntary. The employee is the only person who can opt to 
exercise this option if the employer chooses to offer it.
  We know that this is not necessarily an option in every line of work. 
For example, if there's a manufacturer with 10 employees who actually 
make a product, if you pull one person off the line, they can't make 
the product, so it may not be a fit. But for those that want to, this 
amendment allows for that individual to say to their employer: I would 
like to enter into a voluntary written agreement with you to use 
compensatory time, to bank up to 160 hours within a 12-month period of 
compensatory time because time is more valuable than money to me.
  And the greatest protection in this bill is if, in fact, that 
employee determines at any time that this isn't working, I'm not using 
my compensatory time or I can't find a time that works with my employer 
that fits, the time that I want to take off, that employee, Mr. 
Speaker, that employee can say: I want to cash out my compensatory bank 
time. So let's say they have 60 hours. They can cash out, and within 30 
days their employer has to pay them time-and-a-half overtime for that 
banked accrual of comp time.
  This bill makes sense. This bill is about helping working families. 
This bill is about allowing that mom and dad that are balancing T-ball 
games and PTA meetings as well as caring for their elderly parents. 
This bill is about getting military families ready to have one spouse 
deploy, to have the flexibility to do what they need to do. This is one 
example about how we are making life work for American families.
  This bill doesn't solve our debt or deficit problem. I'm the first to 
admit that. But what this bill does is it eases some of the hardships 
on our moms and dads in the workforce, and I'm really thrilled to be 
the current author of this bill. It has a long history. I'm excited 
about taking it to the floor in 2 weeks.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, for those who want to know more about tonight's 
discussion, the hash tag is #makinglifework. We want to hear from all 
Americans that are affected by any of these issues and look forward to 
addressing those throughout tonight's hour.
  I want to let you know, joining me today I have the gentlelady from 
Washington, Jaime Herrera Beutler, as well as the gentleman from 
Colorado, Cory Gardner, and at this point, to my colleagues, I'd like 
to open this up.
  Cory, I know that you currently serve on the Energy and Commerce 
Committee, and I know you have a couple of topics that you want to talk 
about, but let's talk about making life work for American families when 
it comes to energy.
  Mr. GARDNER. I thank you for your leadership on this issue tonight, 
and I thank you for appealing to the American people so we can hear 
from them so that we can have conversations with people who are 
struggling to make ends meet, people who are finding innovations to 
make our economy work, to find those things that are going to lead our 
country forward. It is a great opportunity and privilege to be here 
with you talking about ideas from the Working Families Flexibility Act 
that you mentioned that you're working so hard on--I am a proud 
cosponsor of that bill--but also ways that we are going to find 
solutions for people across this country who are raising families, 
trying to pay for college, trying to pay the energy bill for the month, 
and I think we in Congress have an incredible opportunity to get 
government out of the way and let America work, to unleash the 
innovators and the entrepreneurs around this great Nation.
  Over the past couple of years, we've held dozens of town meetings, 
whether they're in southeastern Colorado, northeastern Colorado, the 
Denver metro area, the new parts of my district, talking to families 
who are struggling to make ends meet, people who have had to pick up a 
second job just to try to pay the bills.
  As we talk about making life work--and I believe you said the hash 
tag was #makinglifework--I would love to hear from you, Mr. Speaker, 
and people around the country on what really does make life work for 
them and how we can help be a part of these solutions.
  So, as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee from a district 
in eastern Colorado, I have been working on policies like energy to 
make sure that energy continues to be an affordable option for 
families, an affordable commodity, whether it's manufacturing, whether 
it's simply going home after work to turn the heat on during a cold 
winter.

  I drove this morning from Yuma, Colorado, all of the way to Denver. 
It usually takes about 2 hours. This morning it took about 4 hours 
thanks to another big snowstorm. Here we are late April, and the heat 
is on, and what we're doing to make energy affordable so families can 
afford that, so that families in the middle of summer can afford to run 
their air conditioner and drive to the family baseball game. It is 
about creating opportunities for families.
  We have an incredible energy renaissance in this country, a 
revolution, really, when you're talking about energy.
  In eastern Colorado, we have seen new technologies that can produce 
American resources that must and have to be a part of an all-American 
energy plan, an all-American energy plan that will rely not on somebody 
thousands of miles away from us, not on somebody overseas, but right in 
our own backyard--our neighbors, maybe other family members, people in 
our communities who can produce the energy that we use each and every 
moment of our lives to better the lives of our families, to create the 
next product that will ignite an entire economy. But we can't do that 
unless we have an affordable energy policy. That's why an all-American 
energy plan is so important, and that's why it's an absolute

[[Page H2237]]

and fundamental key to making life work for so many people across this 
country--what we can do with natural gas, a clean burning fuel 
developed and extracted right in Colorado, what we can do to use the 
oil, the wind power, the solar power that we are utilizing in Colorado 
to make life work for families.
  And how does life work? I think we're all facing that each and every 
day. I have two kids, struggling to get from place to place, trying to 
make sure, whether it's our daughter's schoolwork, whether it's our 
son, trying to teach him how to ride the tricycle. He's young enough, 
we're trying to teach him that. But we all struggle each and every day, 
how we are, indeed, going to make life work. And part of it is energy, 
what we can do to create a policy in this country that will develop a 
cheap, abundant, affordable policy that allows businesses to grow. It's 
an exciting future that we face, knowing that we can do that right here 
in our own backyards.
  Mrs. ROBY. Right. I can tell you as the mom of two kids as well, 
every week when I get on a plane to come back to Washington, there is a 
lot of planning that goes into it. I put the gas in my car; I go to the 
grocery store; and when it comes to energy, I can watch energy prices 
affect the cost of food.
  One of the things that I do every week just to ease some of the 
juggle in our lives is I try on the weekends to cook a few things. I 
love to cook, and I try to make life a little bit easier by having a 
few things in the refrigerator already made that I do over the weekend. 
So usually my grocery store visit is on Saturday and Sunday. I tell 
folks that sometimes it can amount to a town hall. You get in the 
produce section and you have great conversations with your 
constituents.
  But I can see what the gentleman from Colorado is saying as the price 
of milk goes up. If gas prices are increasing, then the cost of food is 
affected.

                              {time}  2020

  I can tell you, and your wife would say the same, thanks for helping 
us in your role on Energy and Commerce.
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. I'm glad you mentioned that because I too 
believe that we need to be about the business of the American people 
and helping them make life work, which means helping them in their day-
to-day activities, not making it harder for folks to survive.
  I'm from southwest Washington; and in our neck of the woods, we have 
a lot of working-class families who, like Cory mentioned, are 
struggling to make ends meet. We all know people who have been or are 
unemployed, where both parents, one or both parents are out of work, or 
one or both parents are trying to work.
  People are working two jobs; and still they're working longer and 
harder, but not getting paid more for it. So folks are draining their 
401(k)s to make their mortgage payments. This is the climate in which 
we find ourselves, and that's why it is so, so, so important, like the 
gentleman from Colorado said, that we employ an all-American energy 
strategy.
  And the irony is we can do it here and now. There's no reason to 
wait, which is why I also have joined the gentleman. We are on the 
House Energy Action Team, or the HEAT Team, which is a group of like-
minded Members who believe we need that all-American energy approach, 
and we need it now.
  You spoke to some natural gas issues. I'll tell you, in my neck of 
the woods, in the great Northwest, we get a majority of our energy from 
clean, renewable hydropower. And the best thing about this clean, 
renewable hydropower is it's inexpensive compared with most other forms 
of energy, especially renewable energy. So not only is it carbonless 
and it's clean, but it's inexpensive, and it is constantly renewed in 
our backyard.
  I wanted to point some of these things out because I don't believe 
hydropower always gets its due, especially among the renewables, but 
just as a base load energy source in the Nation.
  Hydropower is America's largest source of renewable energy. It's 
American energy. It's produced in America. The jobs that go into 
producing it are American jobs, and it's utilized here in America. It 
makes up 65.9 percent of all renewable energy in the United States, and 
it provides more than 30 million homes in the U.S. with inexpensive 
power.
  Hydro is clean. It avoids nearly 2 million metric tons of carbon 
emissions every year. This is a tremendous opportunity for us.
  It's not only important for families. It does keep our energy bills 
low and affordable. But it's important for manufacturing. We have, in 
southwest Washington, in my area, in Camas, and in Vancouver, a growing 
tech sector. We've traditionally been known for our forests and our 
beautiful Doug fir stands, but we are also now becoming known for our 
silicon forest. We're manufacturing chips.
  One of the reasons some of the large chip manufacturers have come to 
southwest Washington, as opposed to India or China, is because of the 
inexpensive energy, because of the hydropower. We need to not only 
protect it, but promote it as part of the all-of-the-above energy 
approach which, again, is all-American energy.
  Another area when we're talking about--I mentioned clean types of 
renewables, biomass. Woody biomass is a by-product of the timber that 
we have in the Great Northwest. It's another area where we can produce 
carbonless or low-form energy. And it's in our backyard. We have an 
abundant source. It's an American energy source.
  Another by-product of timber manufacturing is black liquor. And it's 
not liquor that you drink; it's liquor that can go into helping produce 
energy.
  These are the types of ideas and solutions that are going to make 
energy affordable for the average American family. These are the types 
of solutions that cause us, rather than to put onerous rules and 
regulations on--oh, I could name a few that cause our energy to spike 
up and cause Americans to pay more--these are the types of solutions 
that actually meet the environmental standards, but also reduce the 
cost of the average power bill.
  I don't know about you--you could probably speak to this, Martha--
but, man, our energy bills have gone through the roof, and there's no 
reason when we've got American energy right here in our backyard.
  Mrs. ROBY. Sure. And I can reiterate all of the points that the 
gentlelady from Washington makes. And you're right. These are all 
things that contribute to making life work for American families.
  I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, as we're having this conversation, 
I'm getting information from folks that want to make life work. And, 
Mr. Speaker, I want to remind all of us in this room that we remain 
committed to cutting spending and reducing the deficit and getting our 
debt under control. This conversation really all encompasses just that.
  Margaret and George and all of the families represented in this room 
tonight, they're the ones that we want to get this under control for 
because, Mr. Speaker, we want this country to be great for them as it 
has been for all of us.
  But, at the same time, there are things that fall under Federal 
jurisdiction that we can be doing to ease the burden on American 
working moms and dads; and that's the things that we're talking about 
tonight, the Working Family and Flexibility Act of 2013, energy 
solutions that are out there.
  We're going to talk about health care and tax reform. We're joined by 
Mr. Young from Indiana. Thank you for coming. Please join the 
conversation.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. It's great to be with the gentlelady, and thank 
you so much for having me.
  Does the gentlelady yield here? I know we've got less formal 
procedures under way.
  Mrs. ROBY. We don't have to yield. You can just talk.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. Okay. Well, great. This is the great American 
family room, if you will, where we're sitting around and having a 
family conversation, the people's conversation, about making life work.

  And I would absolutely agree, there are a lot of dimensions to this 
topic. We've got to get our spending under control. Republicans have 
put forward a bold budget to make that happen, bring our budget into 
balance within just 10 years.
  We need to stop imposing overly costly, overly burdensome regulations

[[Page H2238]]

on American families, American businesses and so on.
  We, of course, need to take a look at our energy policy and open up 
this bounty of resources here in this country; and there's a whole 
variety of different ones. My colleague from Washington, the 
gentlelady, just spoke to some in her region.
  Of course, in my region, coal remains a viable and important 
resource; but we're finding increasingly that my constituents in 
Indiana's Ninth District are enjoying the benefits of natural gas, and 
very affordable natural gas.
  We happen to have oil and gas resources in this country, by some 
reckoning, that are larger than Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia combined. 
This will make the United States of America a net energy exporter 
within just 10 years. So that is a blessing that, once again, 
Republicans are leading with respect to harnessing these resources we 
have.
  Of course, our human resources are another thing that we could touch 
on. But, really, my point of emphasis, since I'm on the Ways and Means 
Committee, this evening is going to be tax reform.
  We just finished getting through yet another tax day, and I'm sure my 
colleagues heard from their constituents just how convoluted and 
complicated and frustrating and unfair this Tax Code can be to working 
families.
  I was struck by--there's this notion of tax freedom day that some of 
our colleagues and certainly our constituents are aware of. This is 
when we, as hardworking taxpayers, stop paying the Federal Government 
and can start working for ourselves. And it fell on April 18 this year; 
3\1/2\ months into the year is when our taxpayers stop paying the 
Federal Government and can start working for themselves and their 
families. That suggests to me that we need to work on all fronts to 
grow this economy more and also to lighten the burden of taxation 
wherever possible.
  Tax simplification is something I'll get into in a little bit, and 
that's part of our overall tax reform effort.
  But with that, I'll yield to my good friend from Colorado. Perhaps 
you have other thoughts on taxation or other things that are related to 
our making-life-work theme tonight.
  Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman from Indiana for coming and 
joining us on the floor tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, as we said, there are people across the country who are 
joining the conversation about making life work. They're sending tweets 
with #makinglifework. In fact, we're hearing from people who are indeed 
talking about tax reform on this very issue, talking about what it 
means to work under a Tax Code that can be pro-job creation, that can 
actually lift the burden on American families by creating a fairer, 
flatter system.
  And so whether you're a small business who's just getting started, or 
you're a small business that's been around for a while, the fact is the 
more the burden that you pay from the government, whether it's a higher 
income tax, or you're a subchapter S, and you're paying at the 
individual level, that's less money that you get to spend investing 
into job creation, into expanding your employees, the number of people 
you have working for you, the salaries that you can provide for them, 
the insurance, the benefits that you can provide.

                              {time}  2030

  And so, really, tonight's discussion about making life work is what 
we're doing to create a fair system that looks out for everyone and 
that looks out for people who are making minimum wage so that they 
won't be making minimum wage for long. They'll actually be getting a 
pay increase because their business is growing, because their salaries 
are able to go higher, because they're more successful in developing a 
product and manufacturing. And so a Tax Code that is pro-growth. Pro-
growth economics can lead to that. And I know you're in a great 
position to lead that discussion.
  Mrs. ROBY. I want to say to both gentlemen, what we're talking about 
tonight is kitchen table stuff. Americans all across this country sit 
down across the table from their loved one and they balance their 
budgets. Why do we hold the Federal Government to any standard other 
than that?
  We're addicted to spending. We are on an unsustainable path for the 
next generation. Tax reform, energy, and removing burdens on the 
working families are all such important concepts to making life work 
for American families.
  We're joined by another colleague. I just want to introduce our newly 
elected Member of the House of Representatives joining us in the 113th 
Congress, Mrs. Ann Wagner, the gentlelady from Missouri. Please join us 
in this conversation and offer your perspective.
  Mrs. WAGNER. I'd be pleased to. Thanks so much for sponsoring this 
Special Order and talking about making life better and for working 
Americans across this country.
  I'm a proud freshman Member of the 113th Congress, and we were 
elected to tackle the big problems. There is no bigger problem facing 
our country right now than getting hardworking Americans back to work 
with the skills they need during this tough economy.
  Today, the Federal Government currently operates more than 50 
different job training programs, many of which are duplicative, at a 
cost of some $18 billion annually to taxpayers. With nearly 20 million 
Americans unemployed or underemployed, it's time to cut through the red 
tape and start training individuals with the skills they need to find 
high-paying middle class jobs. That's why this House in the 113th 
Congress passed the SKILLS Act. It streamlines 35 overlapping job 
training programs, including many that were identified by the 
nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, and eliminates 
unnecessary red tape so that State and local resources go directly to 
help those that are actually seeking jobs.
  According to a report released by my home community, St. Louis, by 
the community colleges there, 76 percent of employers found that 
workers lacked the proper training to contribute right away. And the 
most in-demand certificates for job openings, believe it or not, were 
for registered nurses. I think it's time that we start investing in 
nurses, medical assistants, manufacturing technicians, and computer 
support specialist jobs, and stop wasting billions and billions of 
dollars every year on ineffective government programs that do little to 
train individuals with the skills they need to succeed.
  I believe it is past time for the Senate to take up this SKILLS Act, 
to do its job and pass commonsense legislation that puts America back 
to work, #makinglifework.
  Mrs. ROBY. That's great. I serve on the Education and Workforce 
Committee. Of course, that bill was reported out, as well as the 
Working Families Flexibility Act. Again, kitchen table stuff. We've got 
to balance our budget. Everybody here tonight voted in favor of a 
budget that would balance in 10 years. We understand that that's the 
key.

  We're about to enter into a district work week, and I'd love for the 
gentlelady from Washington to speak on this because you always have 
great examples of this, too, but we're all about to get on the plane or 
get in our cars and go home for the week. And we're going to be with 
our small business owners and with our employees. Quite frankly, the 
employers, yes, they provide the jobs. The employees, we need to spend 
a little bit more time talking about those moms and dads sitting at the 
table, making it work. And they are the ones who are suffering at the 
hand of these duplicative programs that are sucking up precious 
taxpayer dollars that--at the end of the day we can be doing a much 
more efficient job of helping American families and making life work.
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Absolutely. Here's the thing that's frustrating 
to me and frustrating to every American. They look at Congress and they 
think okay, we're sending, as we all were reminded recently, hundreds 
of thousands of dollars from each community, millions of dollars from 
each community, here to Washington, D.C., and they expect us to do 
something effective with that money or--here's a novel concept--send it 
back.
  The gentlelady from Alabama mentioned the fact that for the first 
time this House Republican Congress voted on a budget that balances 
within a decade. It shouldn't be novel, but it is. Every family that's 
watching us right now is saying, You guys are patting

[[Page H2239]]

yourselves on the back for that? We do that ever year. Every State 
legislature does it every year. But it was novel to do it here.
  And here's the interesting thing. When members of our caucus got to 
sit down with the President a month or so ago and ask him about his 
budget that he released to the American people, his budget doesn't 
balance. Ever. And we know why this is important. It's because 
balancing the budget will help us grow jobs. Balancing the budget will 
help American families grow and thrive and prosper. It's going to help 
businesses in southwest Washington and throughout this country grow and 
hire more people.
  We know that a bloated government that then keeps coming back to 
everybody's back pocket and says, I want a little bit more of this, 
you're my piggy bank--we know that that kills jobs, which is why it's 
pretty simple. We need to do what every family is doing, every kitchen 
table conversation: balance our budgets so more jobs can grow and 
America can thrive.
  Mr. GARDNER. I think making life work boils down to what you're 
talking about, which is the issue of fairness. What's happening to our 
families, our businesses, our neighbors as the debt grows, as taxes 
grow. The fact is it is absolutely unfair to pass on so many unanswered 
problems to the next generation, to pass on $52,000 worth of debt to 
our kids and our 18-month-old son or a 9-year-old daughter. It's unfair 
to them and to future generations.
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Unfair. As Republicans, we do often look at 
posterity. We're talking about the next generation. And we should. But 
I will argue that it's actually unfair to today's generation, to the 
67-year-old who just retired with the private-sector job and has a 
401(k). The inflation that's coming from this debt is going to hit him 
and his wife, who were savers. It's unfair to the teacher in a public 
school classroom when the Federal Government makes promises it cannot 
keep. It overspends, overspends, and then it's going to cut her hours, 
add to her class sizes.
  All we have to do is look at Greece or Cyprus. It can happen--and it 
will happen--if we don't get this under control now.
  Mrs. ROBY. Let's talk about one other thing, and I'm sorry to open 
another door, but I think it's important because of what you heard on 
airplanes today, about the sequester and what's going on in defense 
spending. Can we talk just a minute about our military families?
  You're talking about making life work. The people that we have a 
direct charge to make life work for are those who sacrifice on behalf 
of all of our freedoms and their families--our military men and women.
  I'm going to circle back to the bill, the Working Families 
Flexibility Act of 2013. Think about that military mom or dad that's 
getting ready to deploy and they're an hourly wage employee, and they 
don't have, under the current law, the option to exercise compensatory 
time. Yet their spouse is about to leave for a 1-year deployment to 
Afghanistan, and they've got to get their house in order. They've got 
to have flexibility to handle life outside of their job, whether it's 
their children or their aging parents, while their spouse is deployed.
  Let's talk about making sure that those men and women, as they're 
deployed, have everything that they need to accomplish the mission that 
we've given them. And yet through the sequester we know that we are 
going to have a smaller force. And our commanders say not less capable 
but we're going to have to make some really tough decisions about where 
we are in the world and what we can do with our capabilities.
  And I'll just tell you, all you have to do is go to the military 
installation closest to your home and look into the eyes of that spouse 
whose family member is currently deployed in harm's way, and it will 
change our outlook, as it should.

                              {time}  2040

  Making life work for military families, making life work for Margaret 
and George, my kids, and yours, that's what we're talking about 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to just remind that we are, throughout this 
discussion, looking on Twitter, #makinglifework, taking input, Mr. 
Speaker, from our constituents as we have this conversation.
  I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. Well, you said so many things that really 
strike a chord with me. And I know, based on my consultations and 
visits with my constituents, they certainly do. One is the importance 
of funding the essential functions of government. I mean, we are the 
party of smart government. We've put forward specific proposals in 
order to rationalize different departments, make things run more 
efficiently, ensure we get more bang for our buck in every department 
of government, and avoid the duplication and wastefulness that so 
alienates so many of our constituents.
  There's nothing we can do that would more undermine the credibility 
of government as an institution--and the Federal Government in 
particular--than to waste money and to spend it in areas where our 
constituents don't want us to spend it. So our national defense is 
essential. That benefits working families on a daily basis. It 
certainly benefits our military families, but really benefits all of 
us. That's something we have to be very careful with as we approach 
these different fiscal challenges. So I applaud my colleague for her 
leadership in this area.
  Mrs. ROBY. All you have to do is pull out your copy of the 
Constitution, and what does it say? Our charge as Members of Congress 
is to provide for a strong national defense. If we're not taking care 
of those men and women in uniform who have fought and died for the very 
freedoms that allow for us to stand in this room today and talk about 
making life work, if we don't have enough respect for that, to do our 
job in Congress and set priorities when it comes to wasteful spending 
on behalf of them, then we all need to take a long, hard look at 
ourselves in the mirror.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. You know, my constituents, and yours too, they 
don't mind paying taxes if they get the sense that we're spending those 
taxes on the essential functions of government and we're spending 
absolutely no more than required. They also wouldn't mind paying their 
fair share of taxes if in fact complying with the Tax Code were a 
simple exercise and one that seemed by most Americans to be a fair 
exercise.
  Having just passed tax day here, I'll share a couple of semi-humorous 
comments about what the American family could do instead of filing 
taxes, if they had taken all those 13 hours on average per American 
family and instead been able to use that for themselves.
  An average American family, instead of filling out their Tax Code, 
could have watched the entire ``Harry Potter'' movie series twice, and 
they'd still have time for two ``Hunger Games'' movies. Or they could 
have watched all six ``Star Wars'' movies three times. Or they could 
have lost weight if that's where they want to spend their time. If the 
time was spent in a spinning class, the average American, we're told, 
could lose 14 pounds per man and 11.8 pounds per woman, respectively. 
They could fly between Hong Kong and New York three times. This just 
illustrates how darn painful complying with this convoluted, 
complicated, and unfair Tax Code can be.
  I like to say that our Tax Code in a way makes those who sit down at 
the kitchen table and actually do their own taxes--most people actually 
have to hire a tax preparer or buy tax software these days--but it 
makes the average American feel like either a crook on one hand or a 
sucker on the other.
  So consider the case of John and Jane. John and Jane are neighbors; 
they make the exact same amount in personal income. But John decides 
he's going to itemize his deductions and he takes several credits--he's 
sort of aggressive when he's filing his taxes. Jane, on the other hand, 
she takes a standard deduction and fairly limited credits. Now, John is 
left feeling like a crook. He might feel like he's run afoul of the 
law. He did his best to follow it, but he might be left to feel like a 
crook as a result of the whole tax exercise. Jane, on the other hand, 
knows that John ends up paying far less in taxes even though he makes 
the same amount, so Jane feels kind of like a sucker. What sort of code 
makes you feel like either a crook or a sucker?

[[Page H2240]]

  We have to stop this nonsense, simplify the Code, and reduce the 
rates in the process to make us more competitive vis a vis our 
international competitors. That's what we're doing in the Ways and 
Means Committee, and I invite our Democrat colleagues to help. I 
actually see a lot of room for common ground here, and I hope that they 
will join us in this exercise.
  Mrs. ROBY. To the gentleman from Indiana, we appreciate the hard work 
that you're doing on the Ways and Means Committee. All of us here look 
forward to helping making life work for American families through a 
simpler, flatter, fairer Tax Code that does just that.

  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. And not making them feel like crooks and 
suckers, right? I mean, that's part of what we're here to talk about 
tonight. I think the gentlelady may have some comments on that.
  Mrs. WAGNER. Absolutely. We're all reminded, with tax day having just 
passed, that we do need a Tax Code that is fairer, that is simpler, 
that we don't have to hire accountants and lawyers and go through 
thousands of pages of code in order to comply with the law.
  We must remain competitive in society. We must cut through the red 
tape. Whether it's lowering tax rates for hardworking Americans and 
businesses and job creators or whether it has to do with cutting 
through overregulation--which is running rampant through our 
government--we've got to do things that cut waste and not workers. 
That's why making life work for Americans is so very important.
  Balancing our budget, living within our means, I will tell you every 
family, every hardworking middle class family in the Second District is 
working hard to figure out how to make those tennis shoes last another 
6 months. The dishwasher may be broken; but you know what, they'll wash 
them in the sink until they've got the money to pay for it.
  There are private sector job creators, there are working families 
everywhere, there are State governments that are living within their 
budget, living within their means. It's time that the Federal 
Government balances their budget and lives within their means. Only the 
House budget balances within a 10-year period of time and cuts the kind 
of waste that needs to be cut instead of cutting workers and making 
sure that the American Dream is available for all Americans.
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. I think this is one of the challenges we're 
facing is all Americans are looking at Congress saying why is it that 
we're sending all this money to Washington, D.C. Why are we having to 
live within our means and the Federal Government doesn't. In fact, what 
they see is the Federal Government cutting direct services, whether 
it's to military families, whether it's services in airports, whether 
it's security at parks. They're not cutting fat.
  See, this is what's frustrating to me; the IRS operates a 24/7 
satellite TV studio in their building. Across the street from the IRS, 
the EPA operates its own 24/7 satellite studio to the tune of $4 
million a year. Rather than maybe combine those two or share that one 
studio and save the taxpayer dollars, it seems like the administration 
is cutting those services that Americans expect and have already paid 
for. It's really time that the Federal Government learn to live within 
its means because it's going to help us grow jobs.
  Mrs. ROBY. I just want to remind you, Mr. Speaker, that tonight we 
are grateful to be on the floor talking about making life work. Mr. 
Speaker, one of the ways that we're doing that tonight is engaging our 
constituents through #makinglifework. We want to hear, as we continue 
through this discussion, from the people from Missouri's Second 
District or Alabama's Second District or the other districts 
represented in this room, Mr. Speaker. We want to hear from those folks 
as we continue this conversation tonight about how to make life work on 
behalf of Americans.
  As I've talked about on several occasions tonight, the Working 
Families Flexibility Act, which will be on the floor for a vote in 2 
weeks, is about a voluntary agreement between an employer and an 
employee, only at the option of the employee, in the private sector--
which is currently not legal, and the private sector removing this 
regulation so that employee has the opportunity to say, you know what, 
time is more precious than money. As a working mother with two small 
kids, I get that. I get that and I can relate to that.
  This bill is about allowing in the private sector that employer and 
that employee to come to an agreement and that employee exercising 
their right to say I'd rather have comp time, paid time off, than 
overtime payments and cash payments.

                              {time}  2050

  So we're talking about not just through tax reform or energy or 
health care--all of these things that have been discussed tonight--
we're talking about how do we make life just a little bit easier for 
hardworking tax-paying Americans? They sit around their kitchen tables, 
balance their budgets, live within their means, and the Federal 
Government, quite frankly, doesn't do that, and we should be held to 
that same standard.
  Mr. GARDNER. One of the things that I hear constantly from people 
around my district and around the country about Making Life Work is, 
what we are doing to get credit to businesses who are hoping to expand 
and the challenges that they may face. I just, in fact, heard this 
through some comments on #makinglifework, people responding to the 
conversation that we were having, worried about credit issues, worried 
about what's happened to their small businesses.
  I've introduced legislation that would create a small business 
savings account to make sure that we can incentivize people to save 
money and to put it directly into job creation so that they will be 
able to save and have some benefit for that savings by actually not 
paying a tax on the gain when they invest it into a savings account or 
some other kind of savings or investment vehicle. But it's a way to 
save money and put it directly into job creation.
  Other people have contacted us about regulations. You mentioned 
regulations. And I think it goes back again to that very issue of 
fairness, of what we are doing to look out for people who don't have a 
voice and to look out--
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. Sorry for interrupting there, but you struck a 
chord when you said ``regulations.''
  We know what the American people want. They want fewer hassles, fewer 
burdens, fewer mandates from on high. They want more flexibility, more 
walking around cash, they want more choices, they want more hope for 
themselves and their children and grandchildren.
  With respect to regulatory reform, this impacts daily lives in a very 
big way. We typically hear about it in the context of how it's going to 
hurt your corporations or sometimes your small businesses. I happen to 
represent a district with a lot of rural areas in it. Not a week goes 
by that I don't hear a farmer complaining about some of the regulations 
in the pipe.
  We've had recent attempts by our Federal Government to try and 
regulate milk spills like oil spills, and to regulate the dust that 
comes across fields in rural areas.
  Mrs. ROBY. My farmers in Alabama are very, very familiar with all 
those regulations. We've worked hard through the Committee on 
Agriculture to do all that we can to remove that heavy hand of the 
Federal Government. Our farmers just want to farm.
  Let me tell you, when we talk about national security, the day that 
our farmers in the United States of America can't feed, not just the 
world, but can't feed America, do you want to talk about a national 
security interest? Those are great examples of how we can remove those 
regulatory burdens.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. And how we can make life work for our regular 
American families, our American workers, and even our companies, 
because, after all, this is where most of my constituents are 
employed--sometimes large companies, sometimes small companies.
  With respect to regulations, we have tried a Whack-A-Mole approach 
going back a number of years here, where we do our best with respect to 
oversight. Sometimes we do better than others. And we try to prevent 
certain executive departments from actually implementing a given 
regulation, or we change the law so that the regulation can't move 
forward. That's hard to do.

[[Page H2241]]

  But I think we need to be thinking ambitiously here about changing 
the entire regulatory system. I introduced earlier this year a bill 
that was originally authored by Geoff Davis, a Republican from 
Kentucky, called the REINS Act. What the REINS Act does is it 
establishes a $100 million threshold. So every time, say, the EPA or 
OSHA puts forward a rule or regulation that is determined will have 
$100 million or more in economic impact on our multitrillion-dollar 
economy, that rule or regulation has to go before Congress for an up-
or-down vote.
  Now, what effect would this have? Of course, this would slow down the 
regulatory process, which is good. Washington needs to deliberate 
before it acts, right? We can still regulate. There's a role for smart 
regulation, but we need to deliberate before we act.
  But, perhaps, most importantly, in the end, if we pass the REINS Act, 
this would allow our constituents to blame us for these painful and 
costly regulations, rather than unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. 
We want to be accountable.
  Mrs. WAGNER. Absolutely. And I will tell you, it puts the job back in 
the people's House--we, the people. This is not governance by fiat. We 
were sent here by our districts across the country to pass commonsense 
legislation and to get the government off the backs and out of the way 
of hardworking Americans across this country. And, truthfully, the 
overregulation, the overburden, on business and industry is passed 
along to everyone across America. Every worker, every family is paying 
the cost of this overregulatory burden. Whether it's the debt and 
deficit, whether it's tax reform, whether it's flexibility for 
families, whether it's living within our means, I'm finished with 
mortgaging our children's future.
  And I agree with the gentlewoman from Washington. I'm tired of 
mortgaging today. It's not just about the future, it's about mortgaging 
what's happening right now.
  Mr. GARDNER. I'm hearing from people who just want more independence, 
they want more say over their own lives. This isn't a top-down 
government approach, this is a bottom-up people approach, what we can 
do with technology to make sure that we're allowing innovation to occur 
and economies to grow.
  Mrs. ROBY. We've sat on this floor for the past couple of years, and 
glad to have our new colleague join us tonight, but we've all given 
examples, and one of my favorite examples, although it's not funny, 
it's real, is the owner of a construction company that came to one of 
my NFIB roundtable discussions back in my district during a district 
workweek. Let me just give you this as an example. He said, The 
regulator drives by my job site and there was a ladder propped up 
against the eave. Let's say the guy stood to make an $800 profit off of 
this construction job. His workers have been going up and down the 
ladder all day safely. And the regulator on his way home from his job 
slows down, because it happened to be on his street, and he says, That 
ladder does not meet regulation. This guy gets slapped with like an 
$8,000 fine on a job that he only stood to make an $800 profit on. That 
is not making life work.
  This administration and our colleagues in the Senate have got to wake 
up to what we're doing strangling small businesses. But, again, it's 
not just about the employer. I think we've got to remember and remind 
ourselves that it's not just about the employer that creates the jobs. 
We get that and we applaud that. We want to make it as easy for people 
to create jobs as we can in this country because that's innovation and 
that's what this country is about, but it's also about that hardworking 
employee. And we've got to remember that clearing this regulatory 
environment, it helps that American family, it helps that American 
family when they're sitting around their dinner table and they're 
trying to make life work.
  Again, real quick, we've got a few more minutes, I just want to 
remind, Mr. Speaker, tonight, we are hoping to receive input from our 
constituents at #makinglifework. Throughout our conversation tonight 
we've been hearing from folks that have been reminding us of issues 
that are important to them. And I think this is, Mr. Speaker, a very 
unique opportunity to have this conversation.
  Mrs. WAGNER. We thank the gentlelady from Alabama for putting the 
Special Order together, for really caring about all Americans and about 
what's important to them, as you said, sitting around the kitchen 
table. It's about making life work. And at the end of the day, that's 
what government ought to be doing--getting out of the way, off their 
backs, working for the people, not against them.
  Mr. GARDNER. And I hope that tonight's conversation will continue; 
that it's not just an hour before the House of Representatives. But 
this is a conversation that people will be able to talk about and 
continue. And that the feedback that they provide through 
#makinglifework will continue to come to us to talk about ways and 
ideas that we can truly move this country forward.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to do this as we 
talk about these ideas. We've mentioned several of them here as 
feedback has rolled in from around the country.
  Mrs. ROBY. One of the things we haven't really spent time on--and the 
gentlelady from Washington wants to talk about--is health care and 
things that we are doing to make sure that American families have the 
access. I think we can all agree that we want health care to be more 
affordable and more accessible by all Americans, but as we move closer 
and closer to the full implementation of ObamaCare in 2014, we're 
finding that that doesn't work.

                              {time}  2100

  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. We're starting to hear from some of the folks we 
serve in our districts and in our States that folks with serious 
preexisting conditions are being turned away from a high-risk pool that 
was promised.
  Mrs. ROBY. Didn't the President, himself, promise that those 
individuals would receive that care?
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. It was the promise. I mean, that was part of the 
big promotion of the health care bill that the President passed: that, 
if we do this, no one will ever be turned away with a preexisting 
condition. Yet today, right now, people with serious preexisting 
conditions are being told, basically, by the Obama administration, 
sorry, we didn't plan for you.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. I understand that the money that Republicans 
would propose to spend to address this issue within the Obama structure 
is money the administration would instead like to spend for 
advertising--advertising the exchanges, advertising how the Affordable 
Care Act is actually going to work.
  Mrs. WAGNER. And this is key. This is about the Helping Sick 
Americans Now Act.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. That's right.
  Mrs. WAGNER. There are tens of thousands of Americans who have been 
turned away who are suffering and sick and ill with preexisting 
conditions, and I hope we're going to address this tomorrow.
  Do you know what we're going to do?
  We are going to defund this preventative care act--this slush fund in 
the Affordable Care Act--that has been going for everything from paths 
and bike paths and advertising campaigns and spaying and neutering 
dogs. Instead, we're going to defund it. We're going to pay down about 
$8 billion on the deficit, and we're going to move money into these 
high-risk pools, which are run by the States, that are going to 
actually take care of sick Americans.
  Mrs. ROBY. We look forward to that debate in the next 2 days.
  We are closing in on the end of our hour, but we have just been 
joined by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Griffin). As you know, 
tonight, we are talking about this #makinglifework for American 
families.
  So I want you to jump in, but we do have, just as a reminder, about 2 
minutes tops.
  Mr. YOUNG of Indiana. This looks like a welcome addition. Before he 
steps to the microphone there, he's going to tell us where all the 
money is going, how bad our debt is, and maybe how that's crowding out 
future investment in our children and grandchildren.
  Is that right, Tim?
  Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I appreciate that transition. Thank you very 
much.

[[Page H2242]]

  What I'm concerned about is because we haven't gotten our fiscal 
house in order, we are not able to invest in a lot of things, like 
medical research and roads and education, the way we need to in order 
to be prepared for the future. I've got a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, 
and I want their America to be as good as the one that I grew up in. To 
do that, we have to invest in these things.
  So I call this the ``PAC-MAN problem'' because nearly two-thirds of 
our Federal budget is on autopilot. It's mandatory spending. Medicare, 
Medicaid, Social Security, and interest make up that mandatory 
spending; and this is money that's basically spent without 
congressional approval because it's written into the law. Unless we 
save and strengthen those programs represented by the yellow here, then 
they're going to go bankrupt; and they're going to crowd out the 
investments that we need to make that will help families and help grow 
our economy. Basically, PAC-MAN eventually will swallow all the 
investments up; and when it does, all the spending for medical 
research, scientific development, and all of these other things will go 
away. So we've got to get that under control for our families.
  Mrs. ROBY. We do. I thank the gentleman from Arkansas. I know you ran 
over here to join us tonight. I thank all of those States and districts 
that are represented here tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________