[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 117 (Thursday, July 24, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H6804-H6809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BILLS LANGUISHING IN THE SENATE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Collins of Georgia). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 3, 2013, the gentlewoman from Tennessee
(Mrs. Blackburn) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the
majority leader.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time and appreciate
being here on behalf of my colleagues and to have a discussion that is
going to focus on what we are doing with our time.
Mr. Speaker, it seems like it never fails. When we are out and about
in our districts talking with our constituents, people will approach
us, and they want to talk about how concerned they are about the cost
of living and what they see happening to the price at the pump and to
the price at the grocery store. They want to talk about how concerned
they are with how much more education seems to cost them. They are
concerned about our national security. They are concerned about the
border security. They are concerned about their retirement security.
The list goes on and on and on.
They will look at us and, Mr. Speaker, without fail, they will say:
Tell me exactly what you are doing about this. I want to know what you
are doing to address this problem or that problem
[[Page H6805]]
or any of the issues that all of us hardworking families are out there
facing every single day--every day.
What they are looking for is solutions. What we have realized is that
many times they don't know exactly how hard we are working here in the
House and that the obstruction that is happening is not necessarily
here in the House. What is happening is across the dome over on the
Senate side.
Now, I have got in front of me 300 of the 332 bills that have passed
this House--300 of the 332 bills that have passed this House. Now,
sometimes people will say: Where are those bills sitting? Why haven't
they gone to the President's desk?
Well, I always like to tell them, they are on the desk of Harry Reid.
It is unfortunate, but it is where those 332 bills are languishing.
Now, as we begin to look at being out of D.C. and working in our
districts for August, one would think that the majority leader over in
the Senate, Mr. Reid, would get busy with trying to clean his desk.
Most people do that. When they expect to be out of town working for a
few weeks, they try to get their desk cleaned off, and they try to get
things pushed out to where they need to go. They get things organized.
They get things done. But that is not what we are seeing in the Senate.
I had one of my constituents come up to me one day and say: Look, I
am all for the Larry the Cable Guy approach.
I said: Tell me what that is.
They said: Git-R-Done.
That is what people are looking for, getting the job done on behalf
of hardworking taxpayers.
Now, sometimes people will say: Tell me what all is in this list of
things that you have done.
Let me just go through what we have found in our bills that have been
passed. 178 of these 332 bills, 178 of the bills passed with no
opposition, none at all. There was agreement, total agreement, on these
bills.
One would think that the Senate majority leader would say: 178 bills
in which there is complete agreement, those bills coming out of the
House? Surely we can move those forward in the Senate. Surely, out of
100, we can get 60 to agree on something.
But it is amazing. The Senator still has not called for a vote on
those.
Beyond that, 54 more bills passed under suspension. That means you
had to have two-thirds of this body agree. So all totaled, that is 232
of the 332 bills that have passed this body with either no opposition
or two-thirds of the body voting in support of that.
I also find it very interesting, and probably some of our Democrat
colleagues would like to join us in our Special Order tonight, because
55 of these bills--55 of these bills--were authored by Democrats. I am
certain that they would like to see the majority leader take up their
bills and push them through.
Mr. Speaker, when you are so far behind in your work, you generally
work nights and you work weekends. You roll up your sleeves, you buckle
down, and you get the job done. But that is not what we are seeing
happen coming from the Senate. What we are continuing to see is a
resistance, an absolute resistance, to moving forward and taking up
these bills.
Now, as we go into our last week next week before our August work
period, there are several issues that we would love to see the Senate
address. As I said, the issues that are stacked in front of us cover
everything that the American people are talking to us about, that our
constituents are talking to us about when we go into our town halls.
On the issue of energy, we have 16 bills that deal with the issues of
energy, 16 different bills that are right here that would address
energy issues. Many people have heard us talk about the Keystone
pipeline. Do you realize that the bill that would address the Keystone
pipeline approval you are going to find right here in this hefty stack
of paper?
For those who are just really concerned about what they are paying at
the pump--and I don't know about you, Mr. Speaker, but I have been
watching the price of a gallon of gas when I fill up my car, and in the
last few months, I have gone from $3.59 to as high as $4.15 to fill
that car up--far too much. For people who are paying too much at the
pump, there is legislation in here that would get the cost down. It is
Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America that Works, getting that
price down at the pump.
For individuals that feel like we are paying too much on our
electricity rates--and we have all watched these rates go up. You look
at that bill every month and you see, compared to last year, you are
using fewer kilowatt hours but you are paying more. And you think, how
could this be? Well, of course, we all remember the President saying
that the prices would necessarily skyrocket under him, and he has made
good on that promise. Maybe a lot of promises he hasn't made good on,
but, the fact that gas was going to cost us more and electricity was
going to cost us more, he is making good on that.
Well, here is a bill, the Electricity Security and Affordability Act.
All of these are cost-of-living items that we look at in our monthly
budgets, energy being one of those that affects us all, everywhere we
drive, when we turn on the lights, when we light the fireplace or turn
on the burner of the stove to cook lunch. Bills that address those
issues, they are found right in front of us.
So there is plenty of work on Harry Reid's desk. Harry Reid has been
unwilling to call the vote. I know that my colleagues join me in saying
we would love to see him call the vote on one of these 332 bills.
At this time, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota
(Mrs. Bachmann).
Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mrs. Blackburn for the
wonderful leadership that she is providing on this bill this evening.
It really is quite shocking. We have had a conversation this week
about all the work that has been done in this Chamber. We have worked
really hard. We have been here late at night, and we have been here
every day because we know people across the United States are
suffering. They are suffering in this economy, as Mrs. Blackburn has
said. They are suffering from the rising gas prices. They are rising
because of joblessness. They are very worried because their children
aren't getting jobs. Most particular, the African American youth, it is
out of control the number of African American youth who don't have
employment, and in the Latino community, as well.
We are heartbroken about that because this is hurting families across
the United States, so therefore we have been here doing the work. We
have been here passing jobs bill after jobs bill. And this week we
learned, as Mrs. Blackburn rightly said, that we passed 332 bills out
of this Chamber.
Now, we didn't fully expect when we passed these bills that every
word and every jot and every tittle of every bill would be immediately
unanimously agreed to by the Senate.
{time} 1945
We didn't kid ourselves, but we thought at least let's get started
and do the work; 332 bills, and out of those Harry Reid couldn't find
one that he could pick up and we could have a conversation about and
pass and do something to move this economy forward? The economy is one
thing, Mr. Speaker, it is also all of the firefights around the world
that are happening. We are concerned about America's national security
issues. We are concerned about our allies, like Israel, and what is
happening in these countries.
We have bill after bill, scores of bills to address getting our
Nation back in order. We want to work with the President. We want to
work with the Democrat-controlled United States Senate and with Harry
Reid, and what doesn't make one bit of sense to me, Mr. Speaker, when
we have all these scandals, whether it is the VA or the IRS that is
using the power of the Federal Government to punish innocent American
citizens for simply expressing their political beliefs, all of these
scandals, and we can't even get the attention of the U.S. Senate?
We have heard about a do-nothing Congress. I think we have to be a
little more specific. It is a do-nothing U.S. Senate. There is a
distinction here. There is no equivalency. So I wanted to come down to
the floor when I heard Mrs. Blackburn speaking this evening, I wanted
to come to the floor because she is exactly right. I know that many of
our colleagues on the floor today agreed with the position Mrs.
Blackburn is putting forward this evening.
[[Page H6806]]
Many of our colleagues wanted to be here because they want to work, and
have worked, and now we are saying to Harry Reid with one voice, please
come back, we are happy to work with you. There is plenty of time. If
you want to come back in August, we will be here. Whatever it takes, we
are here to work on behalf of the American people. Why not come and
join us?
Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlelady.
She mentioned jobs bills. Mr. Speaker, 40 of the bills sitting in
this stack are related to jobs. Just the Keystone pipeline bill, there
are 42,000 direct and indirect jobs that are related to getting the
Keystone pipeline started. So the question becomes: What are you afraid
of? What do you fear from taking up some of these bills? Do you fear
the American people going to work? Do you fear that things just might
get on the right track? That you would find in these 332 bills that we
expand some opportunities and the environment for opportunities and the
environment for jobs growth to take place? Why is it that the Senate is
content with being a do-nothing Senate? Why is it that they are
accepting of being a do-nothing Senate? I think we would all like to
know the answer to that question. Do they like it? Do they like that
they have a stack of work this high sitting on their desk that they are
just not able to get around to?
You know, I used to do some door-to-door sales, and we had a little
wooden coin and it was called ``a round to-it.'' Any time we felt like
procrastinating, any time we felt like we just didn't have the energy
to do the heavy lift or make one more sales call or go to another
prospect, we would take that round to-it out of our pocket and look at
it and remind ourselves, the important thing is to get around to doing
the job in front of you.
You know what, Mr. Speaker, I still have my round to-it. I have it on
my desk. It is getting old and worn-out, but anytime you think I could
just be lazy, I could just not finish this and go do something I want
to do, you look at the work in front of you, you look at the fact that
you have a cluttered desk, and you look at the fact and consider that
people are counting on you to do your job, and you make it a priority
to get around to it and to get the job done. That is precisely what the
American people have expected of this body, and we have done it. We
have done that. And it is frustrating to us and to the American people,
and I tell you, we join them in their frustration because look at this,
all of these bills, and nothing has been done.
The gentlewoman from Minnesota mentioned the issue of veterans. Do
you think it would be considered appropriate to not solve the VA issues
and the issues for our Nation's veterans? Of course not.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann).
Mrs. BACHMANN. There is a heartbreaking story that happened to me
this week. I was on the plane, the usual Delta flight that I take out
of Minneapolis at 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon when we come back to
resume our work here, and a veteran came up to me, a young man who
couldn't have been more than 30 years of age. He told me that he had
been deployed in the Iraq war. While there, his knee had been shattered
in a combat operation in service to his country. He told me that he has
been waiting for over 1 year to get an appointment with the VA to go in
to have the surgery done to fix his knee with arthroscopy. He called
the VA center in Minneapolis to try and get in, and it has been over a
year for a young man of maybe 30 years of age, and he can't get in and
get his knee taken care of. I think that begs our involvement.
He wasn't even from my district, but I took his name and his address.
I took all of his information, and then I took his hand, most
importantly. I held his hand in mine and I looked into his eyes and I
called him by his name and I said: I promise you I will personally call
the VA center and make sure that you get a call back and that you get
the appointment you need. And I will make sure that your Member of
Congress gets this information and is able to help you because there is
not one Member of Congress that I can imagine who wouldn't want to see
a veteran get the help he has earned and that he deserves and that he
needs. Anyone I believe in this House Chamber would do it, Republican
or Democrat, this is not partisan.
But what absolutely floors me, Mr. Speaker, and I think floors Mrs.
Blackburn, is that we want to help these veterans. How could anyone on
the Senate side, anyone, possibly refuse reform of the VA?
Mr. Speaker, I understand and I am sure that Mrs. Blackburn is aware
that today there was supposed to be a conference committee hearing on
the VA reform bill and the Democrats in the Senate chose not to even
show up to conference the bill.
Now, how in the world is this young man who is a veteran who served
his country honorably supposed to expect that his government cares
about him when the Senate won't even show up to talk about VA reform?
That is why I am so proud of the fact that Mrs. Blackburn has the
physical stack of the work that this body has done, work to help
veterans like this young, 30-year-old Iraq veteran. Or the moms that
are waiting tables tonight and the dads who are at T-ball games tonight
who are asking us, Could you please get the Keystone pipeline bill?
Could you please do something about the Tax Code so my business can get
up and fly?
That is why we are here tonight, not expecting that the Senate would
agree with everything that is in these papers. We do not expect that
for a minute. All we are saying is show up to your job, show up and
work. We want to talk. We are here. The President is very happy to talk
to the terrorist nation of Iran. He has been very willing to negotiate,
even to offer them a deal on developing a nuclear weapon, but for some
reason, they won't talk to Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, on the veterans issue, there are three
bills specifically that cover exactly what Mrs. Bachmann has just
mentioned. H.R. 4031, which is the Department of Veterans Affairs
Management Accountability Act, this is something desperately needed.
Accountability in the VA, absolutely. Why will the Senate not take this
up? Why will they not come to work on this bill?
Another, H.R. 2072, Demanding Accountability For Veterans Act, again
languishing on the desk of Harry Reid. Of course the VA should be
accountable to the veterans and to the American taxpayer. Why are they
not moving this forward so that it gets addressed?
H.R. 4810, Veteran Access to Care, precisely what Mrs. Bachmann is
speaking of, making certain that the veterans are guaranteed that they
are seen in a timely manner.
I have one constituent who got on the VA list for a primary physician
15 years ago. Guess what? He is still waiting. I have another
constituent who has been on the list for 3 years and has never gotten a
call.
This is completely unacceptable, and in this stack of 332 bills, you
are going to find bills that will put that accountability in place.
Mrs. Bachmann mentioned also the issue of taxes. We hear about it
everywhere we go. People are overtaxed. They are overworked. They
realize that they are taxed far too much, and they are tired of it.
They want to see the tax rates lowered and the tax burden lowered as
well as seeing the regulatory burden lowered.
And on taxes, we have got seven bills, one we passed today, the
Student and Family Tax Simplification Act. We have got permanent
Internet tax freedom. It is right here, seven bills that deal with
taxes. We also have H.R. 4457, America's Small Business Tax Relief Act.
Hardworking men and women, small business owners, small business
employees, they all want to make certain that we deal with this
complicated and overbearing Tax Code. They want to make certain that we
are reducing that burden on them.
We could take some steps, not solve all of the problems, but take
some steps in that direction if the Senate would show up and take up
some of the tax bills that are here and help us lower that burden.
We hear a lot about government spending. You know, government never
gets enough of the taxpayers' money and government spends too much. You
give them a little, they are going to take a little more. We have 31
different bills that are in this stack that deal with reining in
government spending, that deal with some of the budget reforms that are
desperately needed so
[[Page H6807]]
that we get rid of some antiquated processes and move to a new template
for how we need to approach our spending and approach being a good
steward of the taxpayers' money; 31 different bills. Pick one. Get
going.
It is amazing, once you get going on a task, it is easier. You get
momentum, and that is something that we would like to see the Senate
get and take up some of these 332 bills that are sitting over on Harry
Reid's desk.
Maybe you are aggravated about government waste and you are
frustrated with regulatory overreach, and you would like to see a
smaller Federal Government, and you would like it if some of these
Federal agencies would stop wasting your money.
Well, we have 16 bills in this stack that deal with stopping that
overreach and curbing that waste and putting the bureaucracy on the
track to being a better steward of the taxpayer money. We have to
remember it is not Federal Government money, it is not the money of
this Chamber, it is the taxpayers' money. They want these issues
addressed.
How about reining in red tape? You know, I talk to lots of small
business manufacturers on a regular basis and they will say to me, the
red tape is killing us. The regulation and the red tape is just killing
us. We spend too much time on compliance. We have four different bills
in here that deal with compliance and cutting red tape. That is another
way that government can do a better job of responding to the needs of
the American people and the taxpayers.
I think everybody, Mr. Speaker, is concerned about national security.
{time} 2000
Every time you pick up a paper or you flip on a channel or you turn a
page on your iPad and go to a Web site and look at what is happening,
whether it is in Ukraine, the belligerence of Russia, whether it is
what is happening in the Middle East, and what we see happening in
Israel, concerns about Iran, everybody is concerned about foreign
affairs and concerned about our Nation's security.
We have six different bills that would deal with these issues of
national security. We would appreciate it if the Senate would take up
some of these House-passed bills. Again, Mr. Speaker, 178 of these
bills--178 of 332 bills have come out of this Chamber with no
opposition at all.
Another 54 have passed, 54 have passed, with a two-thirds vote of
this Chamber. As I said earlier, that is 232 of the 332 bills. By the
way, 55 of the bills out of the 332 bills are bills that have been
authored by the Democrats, our colleagues on the other side of the
aisle.
Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot about repealing and replacing ObamaCare
and making the health care system work, getting it into a healthy,
healthy place, so that you are going to see people actually have access
to health care.
Right now, we have got a situation where everybody's health insurance
costs are going up, and they are concerned about that. Access with
these very narrow networks is becoming more difficult. We are hearing
of people that are having to travel great distances to get to
physicians or they are having longer waits.
We found 11 bills right here that deal with health care. Some of
these are repealing and replacing ObamaCare, 11 bills right here that
could be taken up that would help with those situations, that would
help with the access to health care, access to the doctor.
What we have seen happen with ObamaCare is that people have access to
the queue because they have got a health care card, but what they do
not have is access to the physician.
By the way, education--I talked to a constituent at the grocery store
on Saturday morning, and she said that she was beginning to plan toward
back to school for her two children. I said: Oh my goodness, it seems
so early to be planning for back to school.
She said: Well, you know, they are going to be starting back to
school the end of the first week of August and then into school the
second week of August, and there are fees to pay, there are different
class fees that have to be paid, sports teams that have to be signed up
for, sports physicals that the children have to get, and those
beginning-of-school expenses.
So she was beginning to focus on education and asked what were we
going to do about letting parents and local school districts and
getting rid of common core and replacing it with commonsense and
putting parents and teachers in charge of those classrooms.
Well, we could make some progress in that direction. Seven of the
bills that we have right here deal with education and with the issues
that face parents and students and teachers. We are all concerned about
the future and what is going to be there for our children, in making
certain that they are prepared for the future and having access to a
quality education and having that right there in our neighborhoods and
our communities.
We could take some steps in that direction if the Senate would begin
to take up some of the legislation that is over there on the Senate
desk. As was said earlier, we are facing a do-nothing Senate because
they have chosen not to get to work on this stack of legislation that
would address some of these issues.
Mr. Speaker, this week, as we have looked at the crisis on the
southern border, we have heard quite a bit of talk and conversation
about the issues of human trafficking, drug trafficking, the sex
trafficking that is taking place in this country.
Many people probably are not aware, and many of our colleagues
probably haven't thought about the amount of work that we have done
over the past 2 years on this issue, getting ready to address the
issue, doing some research and some digging and some education and
addressing human trafficking, taking steps to prevent this, to have the
ability to do some intervention, penalties, and making certain that we
are strengthening the family unit and fighting these trafficking
elements.
We have 11 bills specific to human trafficking that are right here,
11 bills that would help hold accountable some of the traffickers and
smugglers and put penalties in place, strengthen and shore up families,
take care of victims, do some work on prevention. It would be
encouraging if the Senate would join us and address those.
There are other bills that are here. We have got bills that deal with
innovation. We have got flexibility for working families to make it
easier for working moms. All of those issues are issues that could be
addressed.
Yes, we have worked in a bipartisan manner. Indeed, we recently--just
a few minutes ago, Congresswoman Jackson Lee was here on the floor
talking about some of her work. I thought it was interesting. There was
a report earlier in the week. She had had 18 rollcall votes on her
amendments in the House in the past year. That is more rollcall votes
than all the Republicans in the Senate combined.
She was asked about the amendments in a recent interview, and she
said, ``I want to thank the Republicans for their generosity.''
That is the manner in which we have approached our job. As I said,
178 of the 332 bills that you are going to find in this stack,
unanimous votes. You have got another 54 bills that are in this stack
that had two-thirds majority support.
I thought it was also interesting, in the same article, Senator
Manchin has not received a rollcall vote on an amendment since June of
2013. He had recently aired his frustration. He said, ``I've never been
in a less productive time in my life than I am right now in the United
States Senate.''
Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that there are many people that
probably share that thought over in the Senate because they are looking
at the fact that things are not getting done in the Senate. Ninety-
eight percent of these 332 bills have passed with support from both
Democrats and Republicans.
If we were in school, that would be making an A grade on bipartisan
support for legislation that is coming out of this House. Our committee
chairmen have worked hard to be able to do that, and we have, in good
faith, passed these bills, and in good faith, we have moved these bills
to the Senate.
Right now, we are watching these bills sit on Harry Reid's desk. For
whatever reason, he is choosing not to take these bills up.
At this time, I would like to yield some time to the gentleman from
Montana (Mr. Daines).
Mr. DAINES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from
Tennessee for her leadership on this important issue of this do-nothing
Senate.
[[Page H6808]]
The President likes to refer to us as the do-nothing Congress. Well,
tonight, we are presenting 332 reasons why it is actually the do-
nothing Senate, as seen by the stack of the bills here on the
gentlewoman's desk. This has made it the least productive Congress in
history.
332 bills have passed the House and are sitting on Harry Reid's desk.
These are not just Republican bills. 178 of these bills passed the
House with no opposition at all. In fact, nearly 70 percent of these
bills passed with two-thirds support or more. Fifty-five of these House
bills were introduced by Democrats--still, Harry Reid refuses to bring
these bills up for a vote.
While House Republicans are focused on building up America's middle
class, the Senate Democrats are content to let dust gather on hundreds
of bills that would grow the economy, reduce the size and scope of an
overbearing Federal Government and, importantly, help create jobs in
America.
Take the Keystone XL pipeline, for example. This is truly one of
those shovel-ready projects that would create more than 42,000 direct
and indirect jobs nationwide. Across the political spectrum, there is
overwhelmingly support for this project, yet Harry Reid refuses to
bring it up for a vote. I have got that bill right here. It is H.R. 3.
This is a bill that we passed with bipartisan support, yet Harry Reid
refuses to bring it up for a vote.
The Keystone pipeline enters Montana. It is the first State that the
pipeline enters after it comes to us from Canada.
I was out in eastern Montana recently, and I was meeting with the
NorVal Electric Co-Op. This is a small co-op in Montana that provides
electricity to a few thousand Montana families. They told me that if
the Keystone pipeline is approved, they will be able to keep electric
rates for these Montana families flat for the next 10 years.
If the Keystone pipeline is not approved, the electric rates for
these Montana families will go up about 40 percent over the course of
the next 10 years because this co-op supplies electricity to one of the
pump stations on the Keystone pipeline, and that extra volume will
lower the rates for all users.
Sometimes, I wish the President would get out of the White House and
come to a place like Montana and talk to those families and have him
explain to them why he continues to block the Keystone pipeline. I
would like Harry Reid to come out to Montana and explain to these
Montana families why the Senate refuses to take up a vote and approve
the Keystone pipeline.
The House, we are going to continue enacting solutions to help create
jobs and build a healthy economy because that leads to greater freedom
and opportunity. We are not going to stop doing our job simply because
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid has stopped doing his. It is time
for the Senate to get back to work.
It is interesting, it has been quoted here tonight that Sheila
Jackson Lee, the Democratic congresswoman, who we serve with here in
the House, has had 18 rollcall votes on her amendments in the House in
the past year.
That is more than all the Republicans in the Senate combined. When
asked about those amendments in a recent interview, she said, ``I want
to thank the Republicans for their generosity.''
It is time for the Senate to act. The Obama recovery, economic
recovery, is 5 years old, and what have we seen? We shared this week
the share of adults who are working is back to 1984 levels.
That is the year I graduated from Montana State University, with a
degree in engineering. Far more adults have left the workforce than
have found new jobs, and it has been said this is the worst recovery
ever for long-term employed Americans.
The House has passed dozens of bills to create good-paying jobs and
build a healthy economy, bills like the America's Small Business Tax
Relief Act, which would lower costs for small businesses to allow them
to hire more workers; or the Veterans Economic Opportunity Act, which
improves programs that promote economic opportunity and ensures our
Nation's vets have the tools and resources they need to find jobs they
deserve.
Let me conclude by saying this: it is a shame that Harry Reid and the
Senate Democrats won't take up more of these 40-plus bills of these
over 300 bills that we have passed that will get our economy moving
because it is clear that the President's policies aren't working.
House Republicans have a plan to get America back to work and get our
economy moving in the right direction once again.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he doesn't have to agree with our
ideas. That is the nature of democracy. That is the nature of having
the Senate and the House. We are not expecting him to agree on our
ideas, but he does owe them a simple up-or-down vote. If he doesn't owe
it to us, he certainly owes it to the American people.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman. I love the fact that he talked
about Montana and what is going there and the northern route approval,
Mr. Speaker, the H.R. 3. I wish he would hold that bill back up.
I will yield to the gentleman. How many pages is actually in that
bill that would approve the route for the Keystone pipeline?
Mr. DAINES. I know ObamaCare was over 2,000 pages.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. So it is 2,700 pages.
Mr. DAINES. Here is the H.R. 3, the act to approve the Keystone XL
pipeline. It is very simple. In fact, it is two pages and about a third
of a bottom of a third page, so call it 2-1/3 pages, and we can approve
the Keystone pipeline.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. That is easy to read, and people could easily read
that.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to note that our bills are not
2,000 pages or 2,700 pages or 2,300 pages. You are talking about bills
that are readable. They are easy to work through. You can take them up
one at a time, get going on them, and get some things done for the
American people.
You can see the different bills. This one is two pages. This one
can't be more than about 15 or 20 pages.
{time} 2015
So this is not too much of a heavy lift. You can look at a bill like
the Keystone pipeline bill, H.R. 3. It is simple and easy to read, but
yet this would help create the environment for jobs growth. It would
put in motion the components that are necessary to get 42,000 direct
and indirect jobs started and on the books.
For an electric power co-op in Montana--and I think it is important
to realize that co-ops are membership-led and owned organizations;
these are the people that live in the communities that own these
utilities--it would be able to hold those utility rates flat.
What a boom that would be for those families that are members of that
co-op and those small businesses to be able to say, We have got
certainty and stability and we have got security of electric power that
is going to be predictable and our rates are going to be stable and low
for a 10-year period of time.
That helps them to know what to expect, to work those business plans,
and develop plans for expansion. That aids job growth. And that is an
indirect benefit. It is a positive consequence of taking a step and
passing a bill that is not even 3-pages long that would approve a route
for a project.
Mr. DAINES. Will the gentlewoman yield?
Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield to the gentleman from Montana.
Mr. DAINES. On the issue of the Keystone pipeline and the benefits,
many of those ratepayers in Montana are hardworking families that live
month to month. Many of them are seniors that are living on fixed
incomes. And so this President, by stopping the Keystone pipeline and
not approving that bill that is just slightly over 2 pages in length,
in essence, he is declaring war on the middle class of America that is
struggling to make ends meet month to month.
Our daughter just graduated from Montana State University with a
degree in elementary education. She is going to be a teacher. If we can
approve the Keystone pipeline, we recognize these tax revenues in the
State of Montana, and millions of dollars that will help fund our
teachers, our schools, our infrastructure in Montana.
These are other benefits of the Keystone pipeline that we need to
talk about that affect more than just the jobs. It also the tax
revenues, as we talked about, and keeping the electric rates flat for
many, many Montanans that live on fixed incomes.
[[Page H6809]]
Mrs. BLACKBURN. That is exactly right. And it is about making certain
that we get our labor force participation back up in this country. We
have the lowest labor force participation rate we have had since the
misery index days of Jimmy Carter's Presidency. We would love to see
more individuals back into the workforce.
There are 40 bills that would deal with creating the environment for
jobs growth to take place. There is opportunity for innovation in some
of these bills. There is predictability and certainty in bills as
simple as the little bit on the Keystone pipeline. All of it is sitting
on Harry Reid's desk.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier tonight, one of the questions many of
us in the House are asking is, What is the Senate afraid of? What is it
the majority leader and the Senate fearful of? Why does he not take up
some of these bills?
We have 332 bills, and 232 passed either unanimously or with a two-
thirds vote. That is a pretty amazing record. And in these bills are
solutions that the American people are looking for--solutions to jobs,
to veterans issues, solutions in certainty for our Nation's economy,
for our national security, and opportunity for our children.
Those are the things that our focus is on. It is what our
constituents have sent us here to do and the job they have sent us here
to do.
So I would encourage my colleagues. And as we move forward, we will
continue in the House to do our job and to send bills to the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you I think that we would be encouraging
of our friends in the Senate to not be a do-nothing Senate--not to be
content with that--but to be aggressive in taking up these bills. And
as they get ready for August and go back to their districts to work, to
get around to it and get to work to clean and organize their desks and
do what is right for the American people by addressing the issues that
concern them and finding solutions to the issues that they bring to us
each and every day.
With that I yield back the balance of my time.
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