[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 2, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, a month after Janet Yellen made history 
as the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Treasury, today we are 
about to confirm another woman to step into a leading role in our 
economy, Cecilia Rouse.
  When she came before the Banking and Housing Committee, Dr. Rouse's 
knowledge of our economy and her passion for service and her commitment 
to the people who make this country work were obvious to all of us--to 
the Presiding Officer who is on the committee, to Republicans, to 
Democrats alike.
  After a year when Black Americans have endured so many painful 
reminders of the yawning gap between the promise of our founding 
ideals, it is meaningful that our committee's first nomination--our 
first nomination committee hearing in the Banking, Housing, and Urban 
Affairs Committee--consider the nomination of two outstanding Black 
women who will take leading roles in our economic recovery: Dr. Rouse, 
and my Congresswoman, my Congresswoman in Cleveland, Marcia Fudge.
  This matters on so many levels. It is important for our future that 
little girls, including Black and Brown girls, see themselves in our 
leaders, from the Vice President to our economic leaders. It matters 
because of the perspectives and the life experiences these two women--
these two Black women--bring to these jobs.
  Dr. Rouse has family ties in my State, roots deep into the Mahoning 
Valley and Youngstown, and a real understanding of the people who make 
this country work--all people.
  The Council of Economic Advisers will also play a key role both in 
helping our economy recover and in building a better economic system 
out of this pandemic. Dr. Rouse is exactly whom we need at the helm. 
She will help direct our Nation's economic policy to put Americans back 
to work at better jobs with higher wages.
  Millions of Americans are still out of work. Those job losses have 
disproportionately fallen on low-wage workers, Black and Brown workers, 
and women. Three million women--three million women have been forced 
out of the paid labor force. At the same time, essential workers are 
risking their health to go to work, while corporations still refuse, in 
far too many cases, to pay them a living wage.
  The minimum wage hasn't been raised in 14 years. Year after year--
year after year, Republicans in this Senate and the White House profess 
to care about the working people in the heartland of this country, but 
they refuse to give them a raise while they funnel tax cuts to the 
CEOs.
  My first speech in this body was in January 2007. Sitting in the 
chair that Senator Sinema now sits in was Illinois freshman Democrat, 
Barack Obama. He was not even running for President at that point. 
Since we last raised the minimum wage, he was President 8 years and out 
of office for more than 4. That is how long. So while Republicans 
refuse to give raises, they funnel huge tax cuts to CEOs.
  It is part of the same corporate elite mindset that treats American 
workers as expendable instead of treating them as essential to our 
country's success. And we have seen the results: The stock market goes 
up, corporate profits or executive compensation explodes, and wages 
stagnate, and the middle class continues to shrink.
  Building Back Better--that is what Joe Biden is about, building back. 
That is what Cecilia Rouse is all about. Building Back Better means 
taking on that system. It means creating an economy, creating an 
economy where hard work pays off for everyone, no matter who you are, 
what kind of work you do, with a growing middle class that everyone can 
aspire to; everyone has a chance to join.
  This won't be the first time Dr. Rouse has helped us weather a 
crisis. She served on the Council of Economic Advisers in 2009, after 
the George Bush recession, during the Great Recession
  Dr. Rouse has spent her career focusing on workers and ensuring that 
this economy works for everyone. Her expertise, her leadership will 
guide this administration and Congress, as we get to work not only to 
recover from this pandemic but to build a better--just a better economy 
for the future.
  For too long, American workers haven't had anyone on their side in 
the White House. That ends now. We saw it on Sunday night, with the 
strongest statement from a President of the United States in support of 
union organizing that we have seen in my lifetime. We see it in 
President Biden's choice of Dr. Rouse to help guide our economy and 
guide this rescue.
  Cecilia Rouse understands we have the power to change how the economy 
works. It rewards work instead of rewarding wealth. We create more jobs 
at middle-class wages. We expand economic security and opportunity for 
everyone. And we create a better system that honors the dignity of all 
workers.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to roll.
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.