[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 16, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H7533-H7534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HOUSE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, sadly, the majority is pressing forward 
later this week with two partisan messaging bills cloaked in the 
rhetoric of creating jobs and expanding opportunity, bills that 
actually do neither.
  We will today and tomorrow, for the most part, I think, proceed in a 
bipartisan fashion, where we will have views on both sides of the aisle 
that agree and that disagree with the actions we will take on the 
continuing resolution and the amendment that will be considered to give 
authority to the President of the United States to train and equip 
those who are confronting ISIL. However, after we consider that, we 
will proceed again on the partisan messaging bills of which I spoke. 
This, unfortunately, has been the pattern throughout the 112th and the 
113th, this Congress.
  The American people are rightfully disgusted--in some cases, 
despairing--and certainly tired of the partisan games that lead only to 
gridlock that have made this Congress the most unproductive Congress in 
which I have served. This is my 17th Congress.
  The American people are tired of watching the Republican majority 
walk away from their responsibilities to govern in a bipartisan way. 
They are tired of Republicans walking away from our middle class when 
they have refused to raise the minimum wage,

[[Page H7534]]

which has a majority of votes on this floor for passage.
  The minimum wage today, if it were in 2014 dollars and 1968 levels, 
would be $10.77. That means those at the lowest ranks of earners in 
America have seen their buying power degraded by over 40 percent since 
1968, and yet we won't even bring it to the floor. When I say ``we,'' 
the Republican majority won't even bring it to the floor for a vote, 
and it has a majority of votes in my opinion.
  They won't bring a bill to the floor that ensures equal pay for equal 
work. Every woman in this House and every man in this House except for 
the leadership are paid exactly the same thing irrespective of their 
gender. Americans believe that is the right thing to do. We can't get a 
bill to the floor.
  We need to make higher education more affordable. Student loans have 
the ability to be refinanced just as mortgages can be refinanced. We 
can't get such a bill to the floor.
  They are tired of Republicans' obsession with undoing the patient 
protections and cost savings of health care reform. We spent 4 years 
pretending that we were going to repeal it as opposed to fixing that 
which could be made better on behalf of the American people.
  They are tired of watching Republicans walk away from every 
opportunity to get our fiscal House in order, as they did with the 
Biden talks; the Boehner-Obama negotiations; the supercommittee, 
composed of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats; walked away 
from averting the sequester; shut down the government; and several 
missed opportunities to pursue fiscal sustainability.
  The American people are, as I said, distressed, dismayed, and, 
indeed, angry at the Congress, all of us, because they see their board 
of directors of the greatest country on the face of the Earth not 
working.
  They are tired of Republicans' failure to move forward with 
bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. That, again, has the 
votes on this floor to pass, but they don't bring it to the floor.
  The Republican Congress has made it clear that their message to 
America is: You are on your own.
  You are not earning enough minimum wage? You are on your own.
  You lost your unemployment insurance? You are on your own.
  Sandy comes and visits the Atlantic Katrina visited. And what did we 
do on Sandy? We said, You are on your own. A majority of Republicans--
an overwhelming majority of Republicans--voted against helping those 
who were struck by Sandy.
  Export-Import Bank. You are in a business that is trying to export 
goods. You are getting a little help. You are being competitive with 
the rest of the world. What does this Congress say? You are on your 
own. Yes, we are going to extend it for a short period of time, but 
there are a majority of votes on this floor to extend it for a number 
of years, which will give confidence to the economy and to exporters 
and lenders that it will be in place. But what did we say? You are on 
your own.
  You want to buy a home? Well, the chairman of the Financial Services 
Committee wants to eliminate Fannie and Freddie and say, Yes, you are 
on your own.
  You need terrorism risk insurance to build and get a loan for 
commercial construction? It is not on the floor. You are on your own.
  The American people are upset with us--and rightfully so. I am upset 
with us. This Republican Congress has made it clear that it is about 
political messaging and nothing else. That is what they said to women 
when they voted against the Violence Against Women Act, an act which 
had passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion when it was adopted 
and when it was reauthorized, but this Congress could not get a 
majority of the Republicans to vote for it. It passed after 8 months of 
delay because Democrats voted overwhelmingly for it--what they said to 
small business owners when they voted against that Sandy relief, and it 
is what they told unemployed workers when they voted not to extend 
emergency unemployment.
  While House Republicans are using September to continue sending 
messages to the American people, House Democrats are talking about 
lifting up the middle class, giving a jump-start to the middle class. 
This month will be one of sharp contrast and, yes, next month and, yes, 
November.

                              {time}  1030

  There are choices to be made, a sharp contrast. The overwhelming 
majority of the American people are for every one of the issues that I 
have just mentioned. Poll after poll after poll shows them to be so.
  There will be a contrast between obstruction and progress--between 
Republicans who have said their number one priority is winning an 
election and Democrats who want to win the battle for economic equality 
and economic opportunity for the American people.
  The American people deserve a Congress that is on their side. House 
Democrats are committed to doing what is necessary to jump-start our 
middle class, create good jobs, and open doors of opportunity for all 
Americans.
  Jump-starting the middle class means helping more of our businesses 
make it in America and create jobs that pay well. We, by the way, 
passed yesterday ``Make It In America'' legislation--good legislation, 
bipartisan legislation. It was done on a voice vote. The reason it was 
done on a voice vote is because there was some concern that a large 
number of Republicans might vote against it. That would have been a bad 
vote for them, so we passed it on a voice vote.
  It means equal pay for equal work and greater access to affordable 
child care. It means access to higher education, spanning job training 
and opportunity. It means enabling more Americans to own a home, save 
for retirement, and know with certainty their children will be better 
off than we are and that they were.
  That, Madam Speaker, is what the American people expect us to do. It 
is so sad that we haven't been doing it. It is so sad that we cannot 
have the House work its will, which is, of course, what the Republicans 
said in their pledge to America. That is what the young guns told us 
they were going to do. We have had more closed rules than any Congress 
in which I have served. That means that ideas can't be put forward.
  Madam Speaker, the American public will have a choice between a stark 
contrast of who is on their side. Let's hope the next Congress is a 
Congress of which the American people can be proud.

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