[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 185 (Thursday, October 21, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5770-H5774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    INVESTMENTS TO BUILD BACK BETTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bowman). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger 
Fernandez) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.


                             General Leave

  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New Mexico?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to talk about the 
importance of this historic moment indeed, this historic moment of 
where we will be investing--investing in our children, investing in our 
planet, investing in our future. We are talking about the Build Back 
Better agenda.
  I want to begin by talking about my district, which is made up of 
beautifully diverse rural communities. My district is the size of 
Pennsylvania, but my communities in this district are rich in culture 
and rich in love. You know what? They have also been historically left 
behind with little investments made to improve their lives and to allow 
them to thrive.
  New Mexican values are rooted in caring for each other. We know that 
we invest in what we care about. We know we invest in what we believe 
in. Well, we must invest in addressing the climate crisis because, in 
my district, we know that agua es vida, water is life. Our farmers and 
ranchers are depending on us to act and preserve their water resources.
  Communities along our rivers, along our acequias, need us to pass a 
Build Back Better plan that tackles the crisis head-on so that we can 
preserve the water flowing from our mountains and cascading along our 
streams for decades to come--to feed our ranchers, to feed our farmers, 
and to quench our thirst.
  In these same communities, people often come back home to care for 
their loved ones, their parents and grandparents. I have heard their 
stories. We asked them: Why did you come back? It is because there was 
nobody else available to care for my grandmother. There was nobody else 
to care for my tia. And we know that that care is a full-time job on 
its own.
  What does it take to go to work in rural America? It is more than 
just roads and bridges. It is comprehensive paid family and medical 
care. It is investments in long-term care and affordable childcare.

                              {time}  1630

  In my State, 53 percent of people live in a childcare desert. 
Seventy-one percent of rural families live in areas without enough 
licensed childcare providers. We can change that.
  The Build Back Better plan must invest in our rural communities. We 
are talking about empowering rural regions, including our Tribal 
nations, with the resources to grow their economies, expanding access 
to affordable healthcare, lowering prescription drug prices, and making 
housing affordable. We can do this for our communities now. We can make 
this happen. We made progress with the American Rescue Plan, but we 
cannot stop there. We must build back better.
  It is not good enough to go back to where we were, because we know 
that where we were wasn't good enough. So

[[Page H5771]]

we need to make sure that the child tax credit does not run out. We 
cannot kick our children out who came out of poverty. Fifty percent of 
the children in poverty in my State came out, and I am not willing to 
tell them: I am sorry, the clock struck 12, and you must go back into 
living in poverty.
  No. We must include an expansion extension of the child tax credit in 
the Build Back Better Act.
  Mr. Speaker, those children who were living in poverty are coming 
out. We also need to make sure that those children in rural America get 
their early pre-K that they need, and that is what Build Back Better 
will do.
  So the question I ask is simple: Do we want to keep an economy that 
serves only the wealthiest people and corporations?
  Or do we finally give our families a fair shot to truly thrive?
  As I said, we invest in the things we believe in. Well, we believe in 
our youngest children. We believe in our workers. We believe in the 
promise that lies in each of our communities.
  I am glad to be on the floor with my Progressive Caucus colleagues 
this evening to shine the light on the brilliance of the Build Back 
Better agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentlewoman from New 
Mexico for her leadership. I am very glad that she has emphasized the 
unanimity and the unity of Democrats as relates to all of our 
constituents, all Americans, whether we are in New Mexico, Texas, or 
whether, we are in New York, whether in Mississippi, Illinois, 
California, whether we are up in the New England States or down the 
coast in the Carolinas and down to Florida and all in between, it is 
important, again, to emphasize to the American people that this is 
about you.
  Breaking news. Each of these elements that we are fighting for--and 
we take no discomfort in you saying at the bus stop, while taking your 
child to school, what are they talking about?
  It is our responsibility to let you know what we are talking about 
and to let you know that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has been 
talking and working and talking and working. We now are at a point 
where we will say to you: We will not negotiate against ourselves.
  But we are the engine to get it done working with the Quad Caucus, 
the Tri Caucus, and the Democratic Caucus.
  So, Mr. Speaker, you have heard that there are numbers that may be 
different from $3.5 trillion of which I still stand on. But we are 
working to see how we can respond to the American people, and that is 
you have indicated that there is a framework that will change my life. 
I want to see it sooner than later.
  So here is where we are. There is the INVEST Act, though, we are 
talking tonight about Build Back Better. I want you to know that, Mr. 
Speaker, as some would say, it is on the table. It is on the table for 
broadband. It is on the table for high-speed rail. It is on the table 
for electric cars. It is on the table for the trials and tribulations 
of your commute where there is a pothole here or a freeway that is out 
of commission or a bridge or a dam, it is there. So go home and be sure 
that we will have that framework.
  But then Build Back Better is what I want to conclude my remarks on 
today. We will provide you with the kind of quality of life that gives 
you more time with your children, that gives you better wages, that 
gives you climate change response, and gives your child a universal 
pre-K and kindergarten to ensure that they are competitive around the 
world; and, yes, Medicaid for those who never lived in States where 
they opted into the public option or expanded Medicaid. So if you are 
working every day, we want you to have health insurance, and on 
Medicare we want that hearing, we want those eyes, and we want dental 
to be part of your life.
  This is what is the bowl of fruit that is there for you. The next 
step as we work out for how these plans will be implemented is to get 
it done. My view is what I heard from a Member--I will give him 
credit--from Arizona. Put them together and let's move once we organize 
and analyze the pieces of it. And I will just leave, Madam Manager, my 
comment on the table.
  Let us be meticulous and careful about what plans or what items can 
accept reduction because you don't want something that does not work 
because you have reduced it in time or dollars. Let's be meticulous, 
and that is what we are doing. And let's make sure that we are 
meticulous in ensuring that the final bill is an impactful bill on 
lives in terms of years of how long the program lasts and in terms of 
dollars of how much impact it will have.
  We as the Congressional Progressive Caucus have been in the center 
and in the mix, and we will do the Nation's bidding. We will do it 
right because we stand for the people of this Nation, and particularly 
those who cannot speak for themselves. That gives me pride. I am 
delighted to be here on the floor with the gentlewoman to ensure that 
those voices can be heard.
  I know working with the President we will get it done. Put it 
together, and let's move.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman so much for 
her words. I do think it is important to remember what it actually 
means for a family.

  In New Mexico, the average cost of infant care is $8,617. That makes 
New Mexico one of 33 States and D.C. where infant care is more 
expensive than college. The Build Back Better plan will limit that to 7 
percent of your income.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson 
Coleman) on Build Back Better and what we have been fighting for and 
why we must get this done.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding to me to be able to address something that I think is so 
critical and is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
  There are so many elements of this Build Back Better agenda that 
touch us from the very youngest to the oldest to the middle class to 
the working class to those unable to work and those at greatest need.
  I would like to speak on the aspects of the impact on our climate, 
the decisions that we must make.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today because Congress has an opportunity to 
address the climate crisis, yet some Members still refuse to take this 
issue seriously. Climate catastrophe is no longer some distant threat. 
It is here, and it is now. We are witnessing it firsthand, yet we 
continue to ignore its very real and very deadly effects.
  This year we saw the single largest wildfire in California history. 
We saw temperatures surpass 100 degrees in the Pacific Northwest. And 
we saw Hurricane Ida devastate my home State of New Jersey as well as 
many others.
  These tragedies were not inevitable. We could have avoided them had 
our country made it clear decades ago that climate change is not a 
political issue but a real issue that we need to respond to. We now 
face the consequences of our past and present decisions. This could be 
our last chance to take long overdue action and spare our children from 
having to raise their children in an increasingly hostile world.
  The Build Back Better Act includes crucial climate investments. But 
these provisions are in jeopardy as some of our colleagues seek to 
eliminate them.
  The Build Back Better Act must include climate action. It is 
nonnegotiable. We need to pass the President's entire agenda, and we 
need to pass it now. We might never get another chance.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for this opportunity to speak on 
such an important issue.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I would also note that when we 
adjust for the climate, we are also creating jobs. We anticipate there 
will be 763,000 green jobs available to our communities when we pass 
Build Back Better and address the climate crisis.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Newman).
  Ms. NEWMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Leger Fernandez. We 
are excited to be here. This is a really important evening.
  Mr. Speaker, do you know why?
  It is because we are talking about why this is so important that we 
get Build Back Better accomplished.
  Like a great team that the Democrats are--and I want to talk about 
that, if I may, with our chair's permission.
  We are a team. I am frustrated with the media and anybody who is 
saying

[[Page H5772]]

that we are not a team right now. We are ready to go. Ninety-nine 
percent now, as of today, and I do mean that number, 99 percent of us 
are on the same page. We just have to get a little bit more done. So I 
am asking the media to report accurately. I am asking all of the 
Americans who are watching me to understand we are ready to go. We are 
a team.
  I want to talk about how big this package is. It is trillions of 
dollars. So think of it this way, Mr. Speaker, if two trillion-dollar 
companies came together, it would take probably 2 to 3 years to 
integrate it. We are doing it in a matter of weeks and months. We are 
going to do it well and precisely, and we are going to get it done. So 
teams get things done in an orderly fashion, and we are going to get 
this done.
  But let me talk about something that is really frustrating to me and 
really irritating, and that is when folks talk about the labor 
shortage. The real issue is that we have a childcare shortage. We have 
a healthcare shortage. We have an affordable housing shortage. We have 
shortage of affordable pre-K. And there is a shortage of folks being 
paid properly for hard work.
  This is particularly frustrating when I hear that there is a labor 
shortage and then our friends across the aisle block every single 
possible thing we can do to make that better and to boost our economy, 
so that is super frustrating for me.
  By the way, Mr. Speaker, you can't say we have a labor shortage and 
then block immigration. It just doesn't work that way. You can't say 
immigrants are stealing jobs. It doesn't work. It is common sense. It 
is math. So it doesn't work.
  But let me say something else, Mr. Speaker, if we do things like 
expanding paid leave and medical leave, if we make sure that folks have 
access to childcare and have free childcare, guess what?
  Moms can get back to work because moms--let's be honest about it--
moms are frequently the primary caregiver. We can get them back to 
work. Mr. Speaker, 300,000 of our moms in this Nation have been forced 
to quit so they can take care of their kids.
  Someone mentioned something else that is astonishing, not that it is 
just 300,000 people who have left the workforce of the female nature, 
it is that in addition to that, about 70--when you take all of the 
sources of childcare, whether it is YMCA, moms and dads who are in 
other jobs and working three jobs at a time, or it is our school 
system, or just general daycare and childcare--about 70 percent of our 
childcare system was lost during the pandemic. So, of course, it is 
hard to get a break, because guess what?
  The reason we had this amazing package set up this way that we had 
roads and bridges that will be repaired, and broadband delivered, as 
well as childcare and healthcare and in-home healthcare and all of the 
things on the human infrastructure side, do you know why? Because when 
mom and dad go to fix a bridge, they need somebody to watch their kids 
all day. That is why this works so well together, and that is why we 
have to pass this. That is why we are doing this because it is a super 
practical thing to do.

  Every dollar in this package will get infused right back into the 
economy--right back. So this is really brilliant in every way. It is 
very practical, and it is founded within our great principles, our 
economic principles.
  And guess what, Mr. Speaker? It is founded in capitalism because 
supply and demand are working beautifully in this package, and we are 
going to get this done.
  I thank the gentlewoman for having us tonight. It is a joy to have my 
friend and everything she does.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to just touch on a few 
points.
  The gentlewoman mentioned the need for immigration. I would point out 
that when we pass our comprehensive immigration reform, we would have a 
$1.4 trillion benefit to our economy. We need immigrants to help care 
for us. They help feed us. They are part of our communities, and the 
Build Back Better Act, as the House is looking at it, includes 
immigration reform.
  Today, I was also reminded, during the remarks on something else, 
what today is. Today is sadly, and I say sadly, today is Latina Equal 
Pay Day.

                              {time}  1645

  I have introduced a resolution to acknowledge that it is Latina Equal 
Pay Day, and what that tells us is that it has taken this long, into 
the fall, into October, before a Latina earns the same as a White man. 
That is simply wrong. And the other thing we know is that Latinas in 
the recession, the shecession, that was caused by that pandemic, 20 
percent unemployment, the childcare that my colleagues are talking 
about, that would help those women get back to work. That would help 
them when we make sure that they are also paid what they deserve for 
the work they do, taking care of our children, putting food on our 
plates, and just taking care of those we love.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley), 
somebody who I have always looked up to and learned much from.
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding and 
sister in service here, Congresswoman Leger Fernandez, for convening us 
here today.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of every worker, every parent, 
and every caretaker that has questioned how they will make ends meet 
and keep food on the table for their families; the parent that has felt 
that pit in their stomach, the anxiousness as they look over monthly 
bills with the growing costs of rent and childcare; the frontline 
worker, who is terrified to stay home sick and lose their job because 
of our Nation's failure to provide paid leave; the family afraid of 
being displaced from their home due to extreme weather and the 
existential threat of climate change; the student living in a transit 
desert with unreliable access to jobs, food, community; the daughter 
who is a caregiver to her parent who is one of 820,000 people on a wait 
list for much-needed home and community-based services; and our 
immigrant neighbor who has been unjustly denied a pathway to 
citizenship.
  Mr. Speaker, the Build Back Better Act will help us get one step 
closer to rejecting the unjust status quo and beginning to build a 
recovery that centers on the people. As Angela Davis once said: ``I am 
no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the 
things I can no longer accept.''
  Despite what some might argue, the needs of our communities go far 
beyond our Nation's roads and bridges, and we must ensure that our 
policies and our investments reflect that reality. Mr. Speaker, I 
refuse to choose between the union worker who builds our highways and 
the child worker who protections our babies and sets them on a pathway 
to a healthy life, to bring into bear their contributions to the world. 
I would ask every Member of Congress that they do the same. Reject the 
unjust, false binary choices that force us to choose between the 
livelihoods and well-being of the two that pit community member against 
community member. We have the opportunity and responsibility to finally 
make universal paid leave, home healthcare, and universal access to 
quality and affordable childcare a reality.
  In my district, in Massachusetts, it costs $21,000 per child for 
childcare. We have the opportunity and responsibility to address 
climate change to combat our housing crisis, and to finally establish a 
pathway to citizenship for millions of our immigrant workers. You know, 
those essential workers that you were all clapping for during the 
pandemic.
  They don't need your applause. They need you to value more than just 
their labor, but their lives and the preservation of their families. We 
must rebuild stronger as a just Nation that takes care of its people. 
In order to truly build back better, we must truly address both the 
human and physical infrastructure needs of our communities. This is 
responsive to the needs of the people. We have to focus on impact, 
advance policies that will be felt by all families. Leave no community 
behind. This is how we set forth a just recovery and chart a new course 
forward.
  This is the moment to repair generations of hurt and harm and what I 
would characterize as policy violence inflicted on our most vulnerable 
and neglected communities. This is our moment to legislate our values; 
to honor

[[Page H5773]]

the decisive mandate that we have from the people. This is our moment 
to make this Democratic majority--House, Senate, and White House--that 
that is more than a talking point that we are in the majority. We must 
affirm and codify once and for all.
  Infrastructure are those things that are essential to the functioning 
of our very society. Care is infrastructure. Housing is infrastructure. 
Climate justice is infrastructure. Paid leave is infrastructure. 
Disability justice is infrastructure, and the list goes on.
  Here is what I know. There is no deficit of resource in this country, 
only a deficit of empathy and political courage. Let's pass the Build 
Back Better Act so that we can deliver for the communities that for too 
long have been asked to wait. Justice delayed is justice denied. Our 
constituents deserve more.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman so much for 
bringing to light and describing those individuals for whom we are 
working today, but it is they who are us. We are part of their 
communities and they have been telling us these stories and we are 
responding now because now is the time for us to act.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Barragan), who 
cosponsored the resolution I spoke of earlier for the Latina Equal Pay 
Day. We care for each other. That is why we look after each other.
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I 
join my colleagues today in calling for Congress to pass President 
Biden's entire Build Back Better agenda. This is a plan that takes on 
the climate crisis and fights for environmental justice at a time when 
we have seen record heat waves, wildfires, and drought in California 
and across the country. It invests in things like the climate smart 
ports to invest in zero emissions technology that will reduce toxic air 
pollution in neighborhoods near our ports, like the communities of 
color that surround the Port of Los Angeles in my Congressional 
District.
  The Build Back Better agenda we know will also invest in things like 
the construction of more than 2 million affordable homes to address the 
rising housing costs that have hit Los Angeles so hard and across the 
country, with more than 41,000 suffering from homelessness.

  It is going to do things like lowering health insurance cost; invest 
in higher education to lower tuition for students at minority-serving 
institutions. It is going to cut taxes for families with children by 
extending the child tax credit and cutting poverty. How do we not 
invest in that? But today I want to focus more on climate because this 
is a crisis, and this is a threat that is happening as we speak. It is 
urgent.
  It is urgent that we act boldly to respond to the threat of climate 
change and the climate investments in the Build Back Better Act which 
are critical to maintain, not cut. For example, there are two 
investments in the bill I have led on that are important for climate 
and environmental justice, climate smart ports. This includes a 
critical $3.5 billion investment to reduce air pollution at ports by 
providing grants and rebates for the purchase and installation of zero 
emissions technology.
  Nearly 40 percent of Americans live within 3 miles of a port and will 
benefit from these investments in clean air. In my district, the Port 
of Los Angeles is a major economic engine but it is also a major source 
of pollution. We have some of the worst air quality in the country and 
it disproportionately impacts communities of color in South Los 
Angeles. For decades, my constituents have advocated for zero emission 
solutions. This $3.5 billion ports investment in the Build Back Better 
Act will deliver. It is a long-overdue investment in environmental 
justice, in climate action, in jobs.
  So I want to urge us to fight to keep these long-overdue investments 
in clean air for our port communities. Environmental justice and 
climate justice grants, that is also in the Build Back Better agenda. 
There is a $5 billion investment in environmental and climate justice 
grants, by far the largest-ever amount that we have invested in this.
  Now, with this investment, we will empower environmental justice 
communities to lead projects that reduce pollution and bring climate 
justice solutions to communities hit first and worst by the climate 
crisis. This will mean climate-resilient solutions such as clean energy 
microgrids to keep the power on during extreme weather events like heat 
waves and hurricanes.
  It means the community solar projects that create local jobs and save 
money on electricity bills, like the recent solar project in my 
district at the Wilmington Senior Center. It means green infrastructure 
to prevent flooding and to protect communities from extreme heat. These 
long overdue investments will give environmental justice communities 
the resources to fight for a safe climate and clean environment.
  Of course, there are other investments, such as in-home care that 
will help provide care for our older Americans and those with 
disabilities so they could stay in their homes and get the care that 
they need. It will provide for things like paid family and medical 
leave. Imagine you are a nurse at a hospital and you help deliver 
babies and all of a sudden you get cancer and you have no paid leave.
  How are you to go home and fight cancer, so that you can focus on 
that cancer fight instead of worrying about how you are going to pay 
the bills. That very thing happened to my sister just last November. 
She delivers babies at a military hospital, a Federal worker. You would 
think these are people we take care of, but this is happening across 
the country day in and day out. People have to go ask their colleagues 
and their coworkers to donate their leave and their time, and that is 
wrong.
  We need to invest in these and we have to fight to keep these 
priorities in the Build Back Better agenda. And it is time that these 
investments should be paid for by ensuring the wealthy and the 
corporations finally pay their fair share of taxes. Now is the time to 
make these once-in-a-generation investments in problems that have long 
been neglected. Now is the time to stand strong and deliver the 
promises we made to the American people.
  Let's stand up for the people and the planet. Let's meet the moment 
and pass the entire Build Back Better agenda.
  I want to thank the gentlewoman for leading this effort and thank the 
Progressive Caucus for being at the forefront of making sure that we 
are fighting for the people.
  Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative for her 
courage. She has raised the issues of environmental injustice since the 
day I met her. I know she raised them and she leads them in the 
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and she has now described what it means 
on the ground, what it means in terms of jobs, but also what it means 
in terms of the life that you live, the air that you breathe. Because 
we know that in our communities, our communities of color suffer from 
higher rates of asthma. And when something like COVID comes about that 
ravages the lungs when they have already been damaged, it hurts. And 
that is why we saw the level of death and despair in the communities of 
color, in the Native American communities and the Latino communities.
  I would also point out that climate change is costly. When they don't 
want to spend $3.7 trillion, or $2.5 trillion, let's remember that 
failure to address climate change will lead to world instability. It is 
estimated that we would lose $23 trillion, a $23 trillion impact on our 
economy, our world economy by failing to address this.
  I don't want to pass over the impact in terms of the creating jobs 
for the people in our community, for the people in America. We know 
that we are now coming back. The pandemic is hard. We are still pushing 
out of it. Today we heard some great jobs numbers. 290,000 is below 
what they had projected so we are feeling good. We know that the 
pandemic is something that we are working on, that this President has 
done such a great job working with Congress on that.
  But still, it is estimated that the Build Back Better agenda would 
create 4 million jobs. That is 1.1 million caregiving jobs. That is not 
just a number. That is somebody that you are going to take your baby 
to. And you know that what we are going to do is make sure that that 
caregiver has the

[[Page H5774]]

kind of training that she needs or he needs to provide the best quality 
care; that because we are providing assistance, that their caregiver is 
going to be receiving the kind of pay that she or he deserves because 
they are providing the most valuable thing to you. They are caring for 
the most precious resource, our children. And that is what Build Back 
Better will do.

                              {time}  1700

  It will also create 556,000 manufacturing jobs, and those are going 
to be jobs with prevailing wages, good-paying jobs. That is what we 
need. When we talk about needing to bring manufacturing back, let's 
grow it here. And if you are for manufacturing in America, you have got 
to be for the Build Back Better Act, because that is going to create a 
half billion jobs. That is a lot of jobs.
  But what does that job mean? It means that there is somebody who is 
going to go to work, who has a family, or wants to start a family, and 
is going to be able to buy a home. But we know that buying a home is 
hard. So the Build Back Better Act is going to provide assistance for 
those first-time home buyers. Because we know that the hardest thing 
for buying a home is having that down payment, and we have down payment 
assistance in the Build Back Better Act. That is what we are going to 
be bringing.
  We have looked at what are the different levers of our economy that 
make a difference that are infrastructure, that help a community 
thrive, not just survive. That is what is in the Build Back Better Act, 
because we want our communities to thrive, not just survive.
  Construction jobs, 312,000 construction jobs, doing the things that 
we need in America, building those bridges, building those health 
clinics, building those schools and those businesses. Because it takes 
all of that; it takes an investment in us.
  And we do pay for it. There is not a dime--this is not about debt, 
because it is all paid for and it is paid for first by going after 
those who fail to pay their taxes, even when due. So, tax cheats, yes, 
we are going to make you pay your taxes, because that is only fair. We 
are going to make those corporations who have paid less in taxes than 
my child's schoolteacher, we are going to make them pay their fair 
share.
  Not a single family that is earning less than $450,000 a year--so if 
you are earning half a million dollars a year, then you will see a 
small increase in your taxes.
  But if any of you are outside listening to this and saying, what will 
it do to my tax burden? If you are earning less than a half a million 
dollars a year, you are going to be just fine. In fact, you are going 
to have a tax refund, because we have the child tax credit in there. We 
are lowering taxes for working families and middle-class families.
  We know that when we invest in creating jobs that pay fair wages, 
that include benefits like healthcare, paid family and medical leave, 
and retirement, we will help more people get those jobs and keep those 
jobs. Because when they are able to go home and help somebody they love 
who is ill in their family, then they don't have to leave that job. 
That is what we should be caring about.
  So when is the time to get this done? As I say in my Nuevo Mexico, 
ahora es cuando; it is time now to get this done. Because that is 
right, that is good for our communities, it is good for America, it is 
good for our women, and it is good for our planet.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________