[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E97-E98]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 447, NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP ACT OF 
   2021; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. CON. RES. 11, CONCURRENT 
 RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 2, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on 
the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, on the Budget, and as the Member 
of Congress for a congressional district that has experienced the worst 
of COVID-19 as a public health emergency and economic catastrophe, I 
rise in strong support of the rule governing debate on H.R. 447, the 
National Apprenticeship Act of 2021, and H. Con. Res. 11, as well as 
the underlying legislation.
  The National Apprenticeship Act has the potential to yield $10.6 
billion in net benefits to U.S. taxpayers in the form of increased 
workers productivity and decreased spending on public-assistance 
programs and unemployment insurance and which bring America's 
investments in apprenticeship more in line with countries around the 
world.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation could not be more timely because during 
a time of record unemployment, the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 
creates an additional 1 million new apprenticeship opportunities and 
invests more than $3.5 billion over 5 years in expanding opportunities 
and access to Registered Apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, and 
pre-apprenticeships.
  I also strongly support H. Con. Res. 11 because it reorders budgetary 
priorities to provide $1.9 trillion to allow Congress to take immediate 
and decisive action to crush the virus and vaccinate our people, build 
the economy back better, reopen schools, and provide needed support and 
assistance to state and local governments that have been asked to do 
too much with too little for far too long.
  Mr. Speaker, by an overwhelming margin (79 percent), the public wants 
and is demanding that we act to provide more economic relief to address 
the damage caused by the corona virus pandemic.
  Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of Republicans and Republican-leaning 
independents believe an additional relief package is necessary, while 
more than nine in ten (92 percent) Democrats and Democratic leaners say 
more coronavirus aid will be needed.
  Even the most conservative Republicans favor more relief by a 56 
percent-44 percent margin.
  Nearly nine-in-ten of all adults (88 percent) in lower-income 
households say an additional package is necessary, while 81 percent of 
Republicans in lower-income households (81 percent) say additional aid 
is needed now.
  Let me make clear at the outset, Mr. Speaker, that nothing in this 
resolution precludes the reaching of a bipartisan and bicameral 
agreement to pass and fund the President's America Rescue Plan, which 
in nearly all material respects mirrors the Heroes Act passed by the 
House Democratic majority on May 15, 2020, nearly nine months ago, only 
to languish on the Republican Senate Majority Leader's desk while 
hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans succumbed to the virus 
and millions of others lost their livelihoods and businesses, and 
everyone faced an uncertain future.
  It would send a powerful signal to the American people if our 
colleagues across the aisle would join us in this effort because 
nothing would better show them that elected representatives can put 
partisanship aside and put America first.
  And that bipartisan achievement would portend success for similar 
initiatives in the area of infrastructure, energy, national and 
homeland security, and criminal justice and immigration reform, all of 
which I am ready and willing to reach across the aisle to find common 
ground.
  So if our Republican colleagues are amenable to reaching an agreement 
on a legislative response that is commensurate to the challenge facing 
Americans, nothing in the legislation before will preclude that from 
happening.
  But have no doubt, if they refuse to be part of the solution, the 
unified and bicameral Democratic congressional majority, in 
coordination with the new Democratic Administration, will take the lead 
and act boldly to address and overcome the present crisis.
  I would urge my Republican colleagues to heed the words of Republican 
Governor of West Virginia who said colorfully just a few days ago, ``At 
this point in time in this nation, we need to go big. We need to quit 
counting the egg-sucking legs on the cows and count the cows and just 
move. And move forward and move right now.''
  The same sentiment was expressed more eloquently by Abraham Lincoln 
in 1862 when he memorably wrote:

       ``The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy 
     present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we 
     must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must 
     think anew and act anew.''

  Mr. Speaker, the bipartisan action we took last December was a step 
in the right direction but only a long-delayed down payment; we cannot 
afford any more delays, especially since Republican stalling already 
caused a painful lapse in critical unemployment assistance last year, 
and additional unemployment assistance is set to expire in March.
  That why this resolution, which creates a failsafe alternative to 
debating, voting, and passing the American Rescue Act, is absolutely 
crucial and the right thing to do, right now.
  The American Rescue Plan proposed by President Biden takes a 
multiprong approach to tackling the public health and economic crises 
stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  To beat the virus and safely reopen schools, the plan will mount a 
national vaccination program that includes setting up community 
vaccination sites nationwide and makes the investments necessary to 
safely reopen schools.
  It will also take complementary measures to combat the virus, 
including scaling up testing and tracing, addressing shortages of 
personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, investing in 
high-quality treatments, and addressing health care disparities.
  The American Rescue Plan delivers immediate relief to working 
families bearing the

[[Page E98]]

brunt of the crisis by providing $1,400 per person in direct cash 
assistance to households across America, bringing the total (including 
the $600 down payment enacted in December) to $2,000.
  Additionally, the plan will also provide direct housing and nutrition 
assistance to families struggling to get by, expand access to safe and 
reliable child care and affordable health care, extend and expand 
unemployment insurance so American workers can pay their bills, and 
give families with children as well as childless workers a boost 
through enhanced tax credits.
  Mr. Speaker, the American Rescue Plan provides much needed support 
for communities struggling with the economic fallout, including hard-
hit small businesses, especially those owned by entrepreneurs from 
racial and ethnic backgrounds that have experienced systemic 
discrimination.
  Last, the plan also provides crucial resources to protect the jobs of 
first responders, frontline public health workers, teachers, transit 
workers, and other essential workers that all Americans depend on.
  The 2021 budget resolution is not a comprehensive fiscal blueprint 
for the next 10 years; it is designed solely to provide the option of 
using reconciliation to deliver critical relief and achieve the goals 
of the American Rescue Plan.
  As such, the total spending and revenue levels in the resolution 
simply reflect current-law projections adjusted for the estimated costs 
of the American Rescue Plan.
  Once the American Rescue Plan becomes law, Congress will begin its 
work on a forward-looking, comprehensive budget resolution for 2022 
that will provide urgently needed economic support and address 
longstanding deficits in our communities and underlying inequities in 
our society, which have been so starkly revealed and exacerbated by 
COVID-19.
  Mr. Speaker, the Rule provides for the adoption of H. Res. 73, which 
authorizes and directs the Sergeant-at-Arms to fine Members, Delegates, 
or the Resident Commissioner for failure to complete security screening 
for entrance to the House Chamber.
  The Sergeant-at-Arms is authorized and directed to impose a $5,000 
fine against a Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for the 
first offense of failing to complete security screening for entrance to 
the House Chamber.
  The fine for this major breach of security shall be doubled to 
$10,000 for any subsequent offense and is to be paid from the personal 
funds of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commission involved; neither 
the Member Representational Allowance (MRA) or campaign funds may be 
used to satisfy any fine levied for entering the House Chamber without 
undergoing security screening.
  This is a common-sense measure to provide for the physical safety and 
security of Members and staff, made all the more necessary by the 
horrific events of January 6, 2021, when the 45th President of the 
United States incited an insurrection against the United States by 
exhorting his mob of loyalists, many of whom were armed and wearing 
Kevlar vests, to storm the U.S. Capitol and lay siege to this Citadel 
of Democracy, and in the process cause the deaths of at least six 
persons, one of whom was a uniformed officer to the United States 
Capitol Police, who was bludgeoned to death by the incited mob.
  I hope this is the first of many actions that must be taken by the 
Congress, including providing more resources and training to the United 
States Capitol Police, to increase the security and protect the 
sanctity of this sacred institution that has stood as a beacon of 
freedom and hope to people the world over for more than two centuries.
  I strongly support this legislation and urge all Members to join me 
in voting for its passage.

                          ____________________