[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 136 (Friday, July 31, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4210-H4211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Michigan 
(Ms. Stevens) for 30 minutes.
  Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Speaker's staff for allocating 
some time at the conclusion of our legislative session.
  Mr. Speaker, this has been a remarkable 2 weeks in Washington. The 
session began on a remorseful note with the departure of our beloved 
John Lewis. We have been able to come together to recognize his life's 
work, his messages, his passion, his dedication to this country.
  Many of us, as his colleagues, can look back and feel so grateful for 
the time that we had with Mr. Lewis. I am looking over at where he used 
to sit. He would make time for every single one of us.
  Mr. Speaker, I also asked for this time because, as I was walking 
down the steps after our last vote, I felt a sense of profound 
reflection, reflection that is coming across our news feeds, the 
headlines.
  Obviously, Washington is always making news. They are looking at us, 
and they are wondering if we are going to get a deal done. The American 
people are looking at us in the sense of: Are we going to get a deal 
done for them?

  My colleague on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Comer, I happened to 
catch some of his remarks. I really appreciate what he had to say about 
our work and contribution for the American taxpayer.
  See, I share that belief that we must have a return on the taxpayer 
dollar. I have so many constituents, so many Michiganders who pay their 
taxes, and they look for that realized return on that taxpayer dollar 
that comes into this government.
  They saw us act in a moment of profound need when it was realized 
that this pandemic was going to rage war here in America.
  Now, those heavy headlines before us, Mr. Speaker, are headlines that 
150,000 Americans have lost their lives to the coronavirus scourge. 
Countless families, countless friends, countless workplaces, countless 
places of worship--our communities are changed.
  150,000, Mr. Speaker, is more than the largest town in my district. I 
want to absorb that number for a minute because I know people are 
counting on us. I know they are looking to us.
  I know they saw us act in a moment of triage when we had to get that 
CARES Act done to secure the livelihoods for the hardworking people of 
this country, to allow us to successfully hibernate, to secure our 
industrial base, to support our municipalities, and to do so fairly, 
with a return.
  I don't seek to act in this body other than to deliver for the people 
who sent me here. I certainly don't look to wage felicitous dialogue 
that doesn't contribute to an outcome. I take so seriously every time I 
have the opportunity to stand on this floor, to sit in these chairs--
oftentimes now we are up in the gallery--and to listen.
  See, I came to Washington with this commitment to the people who sent 
me here, that I will listen, I will learn, and I will lead, in that 
order.
  You make a mistake when you start off thinking you have all the 
answers right away. We are here because we want to get something done. 
We haven't finished the deal.
  The House passed the HEROES Act. I know my educators back home are 
listening, looking, and waiting. $750 per pupil cut. How are we going 
to reopen our schools safely, Mr. Speaker, if we don't close the budget 
gap?
  How are we going to tell our small businesses and our municipalities 
that they are able to continue in their function if we don't show them 
we have their back? That is what our Committee on Small Business is 
doing. That was that first amendment I got done on this House floor 
last year. It was called the Stevens amendment. It was part of the 
Consumers First Act, and it was for the voice of small business.
  I went right over there when we were in different times of nonsocial 
distancing, and I asked my colleagues, I said: ``Hey, I am over here 
asking for your vote, and I am asking for it because it is here to 
bring the voice of small business and the industry advisory board of 
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the voice of small 
business.''
  One man looks up at me, and he says: ``You know what? Because you are 
asking so nicely, I am going to vote for it.'' And another guy said: 
``You know what? I will change my vote.''
  That amendment passed 400-8. I remember all eight of my colleagues 
who didn't vote for the amendment, of course. I continue to work on 
them.
  We find these opportunities where we can come together and deliver. 
It is only a small handful of us.
  Our manufacturers are watching as they are working. See, they go in 
every single day, producing the goods that fuel this country, that put 
this country on wheels, this incredible interconnected supply chain 
that we have, proudly, in my district, Mr. Speaker. We love that supply 
chain.
  They don't ask: Are you a Democrat or a Republican? They just get to 
work. And at some point, we must implore and ask something better of 
ourselves beyond party.
  When we reflect on the scourge of this coronavirus and the magnitude 
of the loss, I am not here to play the blame game. Yes, I am frustrated 
that we seem so possessed by the elections coming that we are not even 
focused on running the government. When my district team back home, as 
we try and help constituents--$1.4 million back into the taxpayer 
pocketbook, that is what we have been able to do with our case 
management work.
  But today, when we call, it is like trying to open the lid of a can 
that can't open. These agencies need to be unleashed. They need to be 
better connected to those who they are intending to serve.
  You go to run for an executive office, to run the executive office in 
the branches of the government of which the taxpayers are paying for 
when they have a problem.
  We are in a static time, Mr. Speaker. We are in a challenging time. 
The lid has ripped off of so many issues: the plight toward equality, 
the plight toward freedom, the plight toward true justice, to make sure 
that every vote counts fairly. That is why we did all these amazing 
election security bills, one of which I had the privilege of chairing a 
hearing on, on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 
which, by the way, is such a special committee.
  Right before this pandemic hit, our incredible chair, a mentor, 
someone I deeply admire, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson from Texas, 
with Mr. Lucas from Oklahoma, passed, in full committee, a bipartisan 
energy and R&D package.
  How are we going to solve our climate change problems? We must do so 
together. We must realize that our biggest challenges are our greatest 
opportunities.
  I am here for the policy, Mr. Speaker. I am here for the 
deliberation, the dialogue, and the discourse of this country

[[Page H4211]]

that will move us forward and solve our problems. I don't look at the 
coronavirus as a Democrat or a Republican issue. It is something that 
we face together as Americans.
  I walked into the Treasury Department in the very early days of 2009 
during a financial crisis, the teetering of the American economy before 
us, different than what we are facing today.

                              {time}  1330

  We are stalemated today. We are stagnant today. We have unbelievable 
unemployment, which is totally unacceptable.
  Last time I checked, I am in the party of jobs. I am in the party of 
getting people back to work. I am in the party that believes that 
people make things for a living, and we value and honor that work 
through a 21st century organized labor movement that keeps people safe, 
that allows them to retire with dignity. We say that to every 
hardworking American.
  I have the privilege of being able to get things done here. When I 
walked into the Treasury Department with my colleagues in the Obama 
administration, the Bush administration was there waiting for us. They 
hunkered down, and they said: We want to work alongside you.
  We had a bipartisan team on the U.S. Auto Rescue. We said we are 
going to stand up for the industrial economy, the Main Street effort of 
what we needed to do to stabilize our Nation's economy, and we did so 
together. And I feel that here, despite the friction, despite the 
frustration.
  I realized earlier this session, as I was reflecting on the most 
benevolent man I ever had the privilege to know, a walking saint, Mr. 
John Lewis, he said, in my reflection and remarks about him, Mr. 
Speaker, that he was the richest man I had ever known, because richness 
is defined by how much you love. And, boy, did he give out that love.
  In reflecting on that, Mr. Speaker, I realized the opposite of that 
is that arrogance and insecurity are the cousins of one another, are a 
poison to our discourse. They prevent us from having the discussions 
and committing to the work that we need to do, and we need to put that 
down. The perception of everything. It is the outcome, it is the 
product, it is the result, that is what gleans out of all the 
manufacturers in my district. It is not a chimera. It is a produced, 
manufactured result.
  And so I reflect, Mr. Speaker, with the energy, the hope, and the 
optimism.
  If you recall, with our freshman class, when we began session and Mr. 
Colin Allred and I became the ceremonial presidents of the freshman 
class, we said during one of our orientation sessions, we hearkened to 
the words--I found these words of President Truman, who said that 
America is not built on fear. America is built on courage, America is 
built on determination, and America is built on the willingness to do 
the job at hand.
  My friends, we have a job to do; we have legislation to pass; and we 
shall get this done for our schools, for our healthcare workers, for 
every American who is wondering how they are going to pay their rent, 
where their next job is going to be, how their kid is going to go to 
school safely. That is the job that we are determined to do here.
  And if you actually listen to what my colleague was saying on the 
other side of the aisle before I got to this podium, it is not that 
different from one another. We are restored, we are renewed, and we are 
committed to the tenets of this beautiful, incredible democracy in this 
sacred space, this House floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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