Congressional Record, Volume 161 Issue 156 (Friday, October 23, 2015)

[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 156 (Friday, October 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H7164-H7167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM

(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, Mr. McCarthy, the
majority leader, for purposes of telling us what the schedule will be
for next week.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Before I get into next week's schedule, I do want to thank the
gentleman for joining me in the Second Congressional Hackathon.
Today's Hackathon is an opportunity to bring people together to
envision a modernized Congress. Even as we speak, the congressional
community, open government advocates, and code developers from the
technology sector are gathered to explore how we can leverage
technology to improve how Congress works for the American people. It is
a good reminder that, even as we may disagree on many policy issues, we
can work together to improve this institution.
I want to thank the gentleman's staff as well as the Clerk's office
for their work on today's Hackathon.
Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for morning-hour
and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30
p.m. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for
morning-hour and noon for legislative business. On Thursday, the House
will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes of the week
are expected no later than 3 p.m. On Friday, no votes are expected in
the House.
Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next
week, including a necessary short-term extension of the authorities
under the highway trust fund. A complete list of suspensions will be
announced by close of business today.
In addition, the House will consider H.R. 1090, the Retail Investor
Protection Act, sponsored by Representative Ann Wagner. This bill
provides relief from the Department of Labor's proposed rule to
redefine ``fiduciary.'' Once finalized, the Department's rule will shut
out millions of low- and middle-income investors from getting
retirement savings advice. Instead, our bill will ensure coordination
between the Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to
determine whether it is even necessary to establish a uniform standard.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the House will also need to consider
legislation relating to the Nation's debt limit.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for that information, and I want to
join him. He and I both had the opportunity to speak to participants in
the Hackathon that is going on as we speak. Mr. Cantor and I were
cooperative in this effort as well, and Mr. McCarthy and I have
continued this

[[Page H7165]]

tradition. Like Mr. McCarthy, I believe this will be of great
assistance in moving us forward with technology to make our institution
more transparent, the people's business more available to them, and
that we will benefit from this in this institution.
In addition to that, of course, we believe it will have ramifications
beyond this institution as they brainstorm and come together on how
technology can be used better in our democracy both in terms of our
government and politics, but also in terms of our economy and growth of
jobs.
So I thank the gentleman and his staff.
I want to mention my own staffer, Steve Dwyer, who is one of the real
talents in my office and, in my opinion, within the House staff,
Republican and Democrat, working together on behalf of the better use
of technology.
So I thank my friend for his observation.
Mr. Speaker, this week we have had two bills that we have spent
significant time on that purported to deal both with debt and with
deficit reduction, neither of which I think anybody in this House,
Republican or Democrat, would place much of a bet on becoming law. They
were message bills. We now dealt with legislation to repeal the
Affordable Care Act for the 61st time, and we dealt with a bill to
close down Planned Parenthood, which clearly is not going to happen.
Indeed, it should not happen. Ninety-seven percent of what they do is
providing health care to women who need healthcare services.
So we passed, also, a bill that the gentleman, the majority leader,
points out we need to do something to extend the debt limit. He is
right on that. We do need to do it. But we spent a period of time on a
bill called debt prioritization. I call that a charade, Mr. Speaker. I
believed it was a charade. I believe that once you don't pay one of
your bills, you have defaulted. Whether or not you prioritize and pay
10 bills that you owe first, get those paid, if you don't pay the other
10, it is default. But we do need to pass a debt limit extension. We
need to pass a clean debt limit extension. We will run out of time on
November 3.
Mr. Speaker, my friend, the majority leader, was just talking to Mr.
Ryan, who possibly will be the next Speaker of this institution. Mr.
Ryan said, when asked a question in 2011, shortly after the Republicans
took charge of this House--to be specific, on January 6, 2011--will the
debt limit be raised? Does it have to be raised? Mr. Ryan answered yes.
Even more compellingly, Mr. Hensarling, one of the most conservative
Members of this body, said that not raising the debt is not an option.
He went on to say: What I do think is, yes, it would be catastrophic to
have the Nation default upon its debt.
Hensarling said that to The Hill on April 10, 2011.
Mr. Speaker, I believe if we bring a clean bill to this floor Tuesday
or Wednesday of next week, almost every Democrat will vote for it. Why?
Because we agree with Jeb Hensarling not to do so would be
catastrophic. It would also be irresponsible and malfeasance.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the majority leader, who has said that we need to
do it, we must do it, can the majority leader tell us when that bill
will be brought to the floor?
I yield to my friend.

{time} 1215

Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
It is one thing to pass the debt limit; it is another thing not to
deal with the problem and not find a solution. That is why, in this
House, we are very proud of the fact, when Republicans took the
majority, we had always offered a budget that balances. We passed one.
The balances were outraising new taxes within the decade.
Unfortunately, the White House has never found a way to do that.
As the gentleman mentioned, the Secretary has moved the date from
reaching the debt limit up to November 3. As I mentioned in the
schedule, the House is expected to address this issue next week. There
are bipartisan discussions that are ongoing, and I will keep Members
abreast and advise them as soon as a path forward is determined.
I am hopeful that we stop kicking the can down the road. In our own
budgets that balance, we know the debt limit will have to be raised.
That is why you quote our Members saying that. We also acknowledge that
it has to be solved. That is why we put a balanced budget up to pay for
it going forward. That is why I am hopeful, in these bipartisan
discussions, that we start the down payment where we don't have to
worry about raising the debt limit, that we are actually paying off the
debt and not leaving this to our children and grandchildren.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, that is a nice theory, nice rhetoric. We
don't have an agreement on a number of things the gentleman says. What
we do have agreement on, I presume, is that the gentleman, the majority
leader from California, wants to see a solvent nation, a nation that
pays its bills, a nation that does not create a lack of confidence in
our own country and around the world, a nation that does not take
hostage either its government by shutting it down or take hostage its
creditworthiness by bringing us to the brink, time after time after
time, on whether or not we are going to do something that Mr.
Hensarling and Mr. Ryan and Mr. Boehner--I didn't quote him, but I have
got a quote here from Mr. Boehner--said that if we don't do, it will
have extraordinarily adverse effects on America and on every American.
And the answer that I heard, Mr. Speaker, is an answer that, if you
don't do something we want you to do, we may not extend the debt limit.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I would ask the majority leader, is that his
position?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I hear a lot of things on the floor, but I have never heard the
things that you just said about me on this floor spoken.
Mr. HOYER. What is that?
Mr. McCARTHY. That I would hold anything hostage.
Mr. HOYER. No, I didn't refer to you----
Mr. McCARTHY. So what you heard from me--and let me say my own words
once again, and I will be very clear about it. I said we will deal with
this next week. I also said we are having bipartisan discussions. I
also said, if you want to know the confidence of the world around us
with how America deals with it, don't avoid the issue. Don't leave this
debt for a future generation.
It is hard for me to believe that the entire other side of this aisle
wouldn't want to do something about the debt. It is hard for me to
believe that we want to continue just to build it up, that somehow that
is a positive experience.
So don't play one against the other. Why don't we come together, find
a way to raise it, but find a way that we don't continue to add to it.
Because I will tell you, as I go across the country, it is not
Republicans or Democrats who say that. It is all Americans who say that
because they have to deal with that in their own house.
I am not going to say you said something different than the words you
used, and the only thing I would ask is that you do the same for me.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the majority leader's
admonition, but the government was shut down because we wouldn't repeal
the Affordable Care Act. In other words, the government was taken
hostage because we wouldn't repeal the Affordable Care Act. We came
very close, with 167 Republicans to do so, to shutting down the
Department of Homeland Security. Now, Mr. McCarthy voted to keep it
open, Speaker Boehner voted to keep it open, and Mr. Scalise voted to
keep it open. But only 72 colleagues of theirs on the Republican side
joined them.
So I do not refer to Mr. McCarthy personally, but the strategy seems
to be that we won't do something that everybody in this body ought to
believe needs to be done, and that is to ensure that America remains a
creditworthy nation, unless we do something that, frankly, I don't
think, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues have pursued too
diligently; because over the last Congresses that they have been in
charge, they put bills on this floor that have cut revenues by over
half a trillion dollars without paying for it. Presumably my children,
my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren will have to pay that
debt.

[[Page H7166]]

So this is not about tradeoffs. This is about making sure that our
Nation remains solvent, responsible, and creditworthy. And, indeed,
because the rest of the world relies on the value and stability of the
dollar to value its products, its currency, it will affect the whole
world.
So I am pleased to hear that the majority tells me that it needs to
be on the floor. But I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, I have been, for
2\1/2\ months, urging us to do what the majority leader now says we
need to do: get to an agreement.
They passed a budget; he is correct. It implemented sequester. They
didn't follow it. And 102 Republicans have said they won't vote for a
CR that follows the sequester because they want to increase defense,
because they think sequester will hurt defense if it is followed. And,
in fact, when the bill came to the floor, they didn't follow their
sequester. They used OCO, which, by the way, does not score, but it is
real money and exacerbates the deficit.
So when you are talking about alternatives, the alternative is not
just about whether we invest in our national security by investing in
defense. We need to do that, and I, for 35 years, have been a strong
supporter of that. I also believe that we need to invest in our
highways if we are going to do another temporary, because we have not,
in 90 days, been able to come to grips. The gentleman talks about
coming to grips with alternatives. We are going to do another short-
term highway extension bill. Why? Because the majority party hasn't
figured out how to pay for it.
And the debt limit may be on the floor, but what I hear, Mr. Speaker,
is it may be on the floor if something else happens. Well, I hope
something else happens. I hope we get a longer term funding agreement.
But very frankly, Mr. Speaker, we have got six appropriation bills that
haven't even been brought to this floor, and there is no constraint on
the Republicans bringing it to the floor. They are in charge, Mr.
Speaker. But half of the appropriation bills that were the
responsibility of this House to pass have not been brought to the
floor.
And, Mr. Speaker, they say, well, the Senate hasn't been passing
them. Well, we are not in charge of the Senate. We are responsible for
actions on this floor. And one of our responsibilities, Mr. Speaker, is
to pass a debt limit extension.

And I understand, Mr. Speaker, that the majority leader said that
there aren't 30 votes or 40 votes on each side of the aisle to pass a
clean debt limit extension. Mr. Speaker, I find that incredibly hard to
believe because, as Mr. Hensarling said, if we don't do that, it will
have a catastrophic consequence on the country and on the international
community.
I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the leader is right, that we bring a bill
to the floor unrelated to disagreements. Some legitimate, most
legitimate differences we have between us, we will have to work them
out. But in that process, we ought not to put the credit of the United
States at risk. We ought not to put individual American consumers at
risk of having their interest rate raised because we couldn't pass a
debt limit extension. We ought to act responsibly, Mr. Speaker.
I hope the leader is right. I hope this bill comes to the floor. I
hope it is clean, so that it will not be weighted down by political
controversies that are so self-evidently existing in this body for all
the American people.
We have got a Speaker who is resigning, couldn't fill the
Speakership. You may now fill it maybe next week, maybe as early as
next week, but this body has not been functioning effectively. Let us
not risk the credit of the United States and international stability.
Let's bring a clean debt limit extension to this floor, and, hopefully,
all of us will vote for a solvent nation.
There is no deal on that. I presume that every Member of this body
wants a solvent nation. Let us hope, Mr. Speaker, that we summon our
responsibility and our duty to this country and our constituents to get
that done.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
$154,161--$154,161--that is the responsibility of every single
American based upon the debt that we have right now of $18 trillion. My
friend on the other side of the aisle thinks it is un-American that we
do anything about that, that the only road we should follow is just
raise it and keep adding to it, that somehow that will build confidence
in this country, somehow that will give more opportunity to future
generations, by bringing a debt limit bill to the floor that raises the
debt limit but starts changing the trajectory of where it is going is
wrong.
That is what is wrong with Congress because, I will tell you, I don't
hear that anywhere across America. I don't have my phones lighting up,
saying: ``Just keep raising the debt and do nothing about it.'' It is
the complete opposite. And I don't think the gentleman gets any
different calls than I do.
My words were the House is expected to address this issue next week.
Now, we play politics with a lot of stuff in here, but I am tired of
that. I could play any amount of games that you want to play. I can sit
here and I can quote Harry Reid on the other side of the aisle, and
Schumer, a good deal, to make sure no appropriation bill went through
and then blame the Republicans. They talk to the White House, and it is
all in the papers. It is a whole strategy. They have a title for it. It
is the ``Summer of Destruction.''
But do you know what, count me out of that. Put me in the column that
I want to start talking about the ways we find solutions. I will be the
first one who comes to the table and tells you I know I am not going to
get everything I want.
I want to lay one goal out for you. I want a debt limit that gets
raised but does something about the debt, and I don't think that is
wrong, and I don't think I am causing problems. I think I am giving
more opportunity.
I don't want to be in the category that sits and lays blame on
everybody else. I haven't been here very long; but the short term I am
here, I want to make a difference. I am not going to blame others for
the past, but the one thing I can do is change the future. So put me in
that column, and I will be at any table that other people across the
aisle want to be with me.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to answer that presentation
because, in my view, it conflates two issues.
I have been on this floor willing to deal with the other side on a
regular basis to bring down our debt and to apply discipline. Part of
applying discipline is paying for what you buy. And the gentleman is
right; we had PAYGO. But when the Republican side of the aisle took
over, they negated that; and they negated it specifically for tax cuts
because, I suppose, they believe they will pay for themselves.

{time} 1230

I have been here for a longer time than Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Speaker. In
1981, they did that, and we increased the deficit under Mr. Reagan by
189 percent. We could have dealt with it then. Then we had a commission
that was called Simpson-Bowles, which tried to deal with what the
gentleman is talking about, and all three Republican Members from the
House of Representatives voted ``no'' on it. Why? Because it asked us
to pay for what we bought.
So, Mr. Speaker, talking about A when you need to do B is a way of
not dealing with B. Do we need to deal with the debt? We absolutely do,
and the bills that are supposed to do that, as I just indicated, have
not been brought to the floor. They represented sequester. The
gentleman, apparently, is for sequester. I am not for sequester,
although the gentleman would say, ``Oh. Well, it is your party which
instituted sequester,'' which is not right.
Mr. Speaker, we need to do a debt limit extension, and we need to
reduce the debt of this country. It will be hard to do the latter. It
ought to be easy to do the former. It will require courage to do the
latter; but when Mr. Camp, the former chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee, brought a tax reform bill to the table, it was dismissed out
of hand by his Republican colleagues in the last Congress. Why? Because
he paid for it. Dismissed out of hand. Never brought to this floor.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I am just very hopeful that, in fact, we
will do the only responsible thing we can do at this late date.
Remember, Mr. Speaker, for 2\1/2\ months, I have been asking that we
have a way forward. The Republican

[[Page H7167]]

Party, Mr. Speaker, has been somewhat distracted. I understand that.
Hopefully, we will get a way forward and a responsible way forward; but
we only have 5 days to do this debt limit, and let us not take an
action which is catastrophic, which is what Jeb Hensarling said it
would be if we don't adopt it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

____________________