[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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