[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 187 (Monday, October 25, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5864-H5868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THOUGHTS ON ADDRESSING ECONOMIC DISPARITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut 
(Mr. Himes) for 28 minutes.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Connecticut?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I am delighted as chairman of the Select 
Committee on Economic Disparity to welcome the ranking member and the 
Republican appointees to this very important committee for this Special 
Order where I think the members of our committee are going to try to 
highlight some of the early and initial thoughts that we have on how we 
might address this issue of economic disparity.
  I will note that in our first hearing one of our witnesses called 
this committee ``a committee of historic potential.'' It is based on 
the National Economic Committee of 1938, and that committee operated in 
a moment of economic crisis worse than any of us have seen in our 
lifetimes really since the Great Depression.
  The Great Depression showed America that far too many citizens of the 
richest and most powerful country in the world could be impoverished by 
unpredictable forces beyond their control.
  It showed that free market capitalism was both an unparalleled engine 
of economic growth, and if left unregulated, subject to manipulation, 
indifferent to fairness, and prone to collapse as it did in the early 
1930s.
  In most respects, the American economy is more stable and the safety 
net is more robust than it was 80 years ago, but today our economy 
demonstrates more income and wealth disparity and less mobility than it 
ever has. And, Madam Speaker, that is not a red problem or a blue 
problem. It is not a northern or a western or an eastern problem. It 
affects every single one of our communities, every single one of our 
districts.
  It is not a trivial problem. Market economies don't work if they are 
perceived as fundamentally unfair. Our Democratic political system 
rests now uneasily on the premise that every American counts equally. 
Economic mobility, the idea that hard work and playing by the rules 
allows one to climb the ladder has always been essential to our 
understanding of ourselves. It defines the American Dream, and yet, 
when my parents were born, more than 90 percent of American children 
could expect to make more money than their parents. Today, fewer than 
half the children will outearn their parents.

  Madam Speaker, I see this every day at home. Some of the towns I 
represent in Connecticut's so-called ``Gold Coast'' include some of the 
wealthiest people on the planet, but a 15-minute drive from their 
neighborhoods will take them into cities with horrendous poverty and 
neighborhoods where opportunity is scarce at best.
  Addressing that issue in a thoughtful way, in a bipartisan way is the 
remit of this committee.
  Having made that point, before we enter into a colloquy, I yield to 
the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil), my friend and the ranking 
member of the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in 
Growth to make any comments he wishes to make.
  Mr. STEIL. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for 
yielding.
  It is great to be joining him here on the House floor to share with 
our colleagues the important work that lies ahead for the Select 
Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. Simply put, we 
will be exploring, questioning, and hearing potential ways to address 
economic challenges we are seeing across this country. We are, in fact, 
on a fact-finding mission as we search for policy solutions that create 
opportunity for every American.
  Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans saw progress. In 2019, 
the median household income grew by 6.8 percent, the largest increase 
ever recorded. Minority communities saw even greater growth: Blacks 
Hispanics, Asians, and women.
  But coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, something has changed, which 
is why the work of this Select Committee is so timely. Labor force 
participation, both those seeking work and currently employed, are lows 
not seen since the Carter administration.
  Across this country there is a growing disconnect between available 
jobs and workers ready to work. The government should be supporting and 
encouraging work and the dignity that comes with it.
  Families across the country, from Kenosha to New York, San Francisco

[[Page H5865]]

to Orlando, are being hurt by rising prices. They feel it when they 
fill up their car's tank. They feel it at the grocery store. And they 
are scared they are going to feel it when they go Christmas shopping 
for their kids in a few weeks.
  Inflation is a tax on every American, but it is devastating to low-
income Americans.
  Chairman Himes, I look forward to working with you to explore what we 
can do to empower workers to prosper and to expand opportunities for 
all families to succeed.

                              {time}  2110

  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member. We will be 
engaging in a colloquy, just so all the Members know. We will be having 
an informal chat without having recognition from the Chair.
  I know that we are both anxious to get to our members and their 
affirmative but early ideas on what we might do here, but the ranking 
member and I were in Lorain, Ohio, last week, courtesy of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio, who we will hear from later. I think we were 
both struck by a couple of things.
  I came away from that visit impressed by the optimism of people in a 
town that had suffered badly, associated with the closing of a steel 
mill. I came away remarkably impressed by the potential role for 
education. One of the best things I heard there was the amazing work 
that the community college of Lorain was doing, training people who had 
both lost jobs but also training young people.
  I personally hope--and I know there is a conversation to be had about 
this--that training and education won't start at the community college 
level but will start as early as possible. I would hope that maybe 
education and training might be one of those areas in which we might 
find bipartisan agreement.
  Mr. STEIL. Madam Speaker, I think there is great opportunity as it 
relates to education and, in particular, workforce development. I think 
not lost on many of us, as we look out at the disconnect between 
workers and jobs available, there are over 10 million jobs available 
across America, yet we continue to have a disconnect between getting 
workers who are looking for work and the jobs that are available.
  We saw in Lorain, like we see in southeast Wisconsin, signs looking 
for workers. As we walked into the hearing, I remarked that there were 
``Help Wanted'' signs across the street, yet there were many people who 
were still unemployed.
  Hopefully, we can look at the workforce development aspects of 
education in the United States to make sure that we are connecting 
workers with the jobs that are available.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, that is right, I say to my friend from 
Wisconsin. I was startled by that sign as well. Here we are in a 
depressed, if optimistic, town, with a big, closed steel mill with 
``Help Wanted'' signs on the outside of that steel mill.
  Now, there are probably lots of reasons for the current disconnect. 
Nationally, I think it is in the millions of jobs that are going 
begging, even as some people are having a hard time getting those good-
paying jobs. But I was really impressed by the fact that you had in a 
town where there were certainly surplus workers a steel plant looking 
for more employees.
  Mr. STEIL. Absolutely. We see this time and again in southeast 
Wisconsin. We see businesses that are shrinking hours to try to deal 
with and navigate through this challenging work environment.
  I know we will be having a hearing coming up on automation, and I 
don't think it can be lost on us that many businesses are looking and 
the struggle to get workers back to work and the impact that may have 
on automation and future job growth in the United States.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member and look forward 
to working with him and his members. I know both of us feel strongly 
about making sure that the members of the committee have an opportunity 
to offer up their ideas, so I will begin. Again, the Chair won't be 
yielding. I will just give a wave when I think maybe time is running 
low.
  Let me begin by inviting the gentlewoman from California, who really 
has already made a dramatic contribution to the committee.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Jacobs).
  Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, I thank Chair Himes for 
organizing this Special Order, and I say thank you to the ranking 
member.
  I welcome our Republican colleagues to the committee. I know we are 
going to have some strong debates on this committee, and we should 
because economic inequality is the central issue of our time. It 
deserves all the energy and attention we can give it because we are at 
a pivotal moment.
  Right now, the bottom 50 percent of the population holds 2 percent of 
the wealth in the United States. The top 1 percent holds nearly a third 
of all wealth.
  I have some experience with that. The most consequential day of my 
life, the day that would determine whether or not I grew up with 
opportunity and privilege, was the day that I was born. That is true 
for so many kids in America. But unlike the majority of kids who were 
born in 1989, I was lucky. While some were born into generational 
poverty, I was born into a family of wealth. That is what I did to earn 
my wealth and my opportunity in life--I was born.
  For decades, our policies have benefited people like me, and that has 
to change because, in addition to being immoral, economic inequality 
represents a long-term threat to our international competitiveness, our 
national security, and the health of our democracy.
  I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, some of whom 
served with me on Armed Services, are thinking deeply about how we 
remain competitive in the international landscape. But with 140 million 
Americans who live in households that are low income, low wealth, are 
one crisis away from economic ruin, that is more difficult.
  I represent San Diego in Congress. We are one of the wealthiest 
counties in the country. We have Fortune 500 companies. We have 
mansions on the beach. Yet, more than 40 percent of our kids were 
living in families experiencing poverty before the pandemic. We have to 
do better.
  That is why I am so grateful to be on this committee and that we are 
taking the time to debate and negotiate the Build Back Better Act, a 
bill that would make historic investments to rebalance our system, 
especially for children.
  I know our disagreements are real, but I have faith that, together, 
we can work to find solutions like the earned income tax credit, the 
child tax credit, Head Start, all of these programs that, when they 
were passed, had wide bipartisan support.

  Madam Speaker, I again thank Chair Himes and our Republican 
colleagues.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California. I 
take real pleasure in welcoming the gentlewoman from Oklahoma to the 
committee and invite her to make any remarks she would like to make.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).
  Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for 
yielding. It is an honor to be selected for the committee, and I look 
forward to working with all the members, including Ranking Member 
Steil, on this very important issue.
  Madam Speaker, I am honored to be selected to serve on the Select 
Committee on Economic Disparity, and I look forward to working with all 
of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to dive deep into the 
issues at hand and to try to find areas where we can work together to 
craft bipartisan solutions.
  In contrast to my friend and colleague from California, I was born 
the daughter of an immigrant. My father came to the United States with 
no money in pursuit of the American Dream. He went to college, 
graduated, started his own business, and, today, is a very successful 
businessman.
  I look forward to discussing in this committee the ways that we can 
foster the American Dream with American citizens across this country. 
The mission of the select committee is certainly worthy of 
consideration. The question of why some of our fellow Americans are 
being left behind in the economy demands our time and attention.
  One of the most worrying economic statistics of the past year and a 
half is

[[Page H5866]]

that the U.S. labor force participation rate is the lowest it has been 
since 1977, nearly 45 years ago. Millions of fewer Americans are 
employed or actively seeking work compared to just 2 years ago, and 
that has created a wide-ranging challenge for American families and for 
our economy.
  ``Help Wanted'' signs, as was mentioned earlier, have become 
ubiquitous across the Nation as stores, restaurants, manufacturers, and 
others struggle to find employees to continue operations. It is vital 
that we find the root causes and craft the appropriate solutions.
  To that end, here are a few areas I think the select committee should 
focus its time and its energy on.
  First, we should begin to review and unwind Federal policies that 
have disincentivized participation in the labor force, many of which 
were created at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Second, we should refocus and strengthen our Nation's education and 
workforce development programs. It is clear that our Nation's education 
system leaves many Americans behind, saddles students with large 
amounts of debt, and often promotes pricey degree programs with very 
poor job prospects.
  I believe we need to do a better job of matching workforce 
development programs to the actual needs of employers. Aligning job 
training curriculum to meet the demands of employers who need skilled 
workers would almost guarantee jobs for those who complete a program.
  Third, we need to reform our Nation's criminal justice system and 
reinvigorate efforts to rehabilitate the nearly 95 percent of prisoners 
who will eventually be released from prison. Sadly, all too often, we 
hear of individuals released with just the clothes on their back and a 
one-way bus ticket. This level of support doesn't set up individuals 
for success.
  I am proud, earlier this year, the State of Oklahoma stood up a 
program to begin preparing inmates 9 months before their release with 
workforce training and assistance to obtain documentation needed to get 
a job, transportation, and housing. Improving programs to transition 
the formerly incarcerated back to society is worth our consideration 
and can save taxpayers in the long run.
  Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't note the importance of 
regulatory relief and tax reform as key components to all of this. As 
someone who worked in the private sector for many years, including 
running my own firm and working for a family company, I can say with 
certainty that tax policy and government regulation have tremendous 
impacts on the decisions of businesses to hire, expand, and make 
investments.
  In closing, I would again like to express my appreciation for being 
on the committee and look forward to working with my colleagues to dig 
deeper.
  Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Himes and Ranking Member Steil for 
organizing this Special Order this evening.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Oklahoma.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Craig).

                              {time}  2120

  Ms. CRAIG. Madam Speaker, I am so incredibly honored to be appointed 
to the Select Committee studying economic disparities and fairness in 
growth. I welcome my Republican colleagues.
  I am especially grateful to be taking a fresh look at how we build 
economic growth in our rural communities. The challenges facing rural 
America, while longstanding, have been made even more urgent as a 
result of the COVID-19 public health crisis. In Congress, it is our 
responsibility and our moral duty to respond to the unique needs of our 
rural communities.
  Right now, in small towns across my district a lack of reliable 
internet access is preventing entrepreneurs from growing their small 
businesses. Higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket healthcare 
costs are putting a strain on families' bottom lines. Access to 
healthcare sometimes means driving an hour to the nearest hospital. We 
must enter this work with an open mind to examine the issues, and we 
must build a roadmap that ensures our rural communities are not left 
behind.
  To be sure, the Build Back Better Act has many provisions designed to 
address growth in rural America, most notably, the President's Rural 
Partnership Program, which would empower local communities to shore up 
unreliable electric grids, childcare, and support small businesses that 
power local communities.
  These long overdue investments won't reverse all of the economic 
decline we have seen in our rural communities, but it is a start to put 
into place an economic foundation that paves the way for consistent, 
longstanding growth that has eluded our rural communities for decades.
  I came to Congress to deliver these solutions for my constituents, 
and now we have an opportunity to step back and examine these issues 
with fresh eyes. We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for all of his work, and I 
appreciate the opportunity to be on this Select Committee.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota.
  Madam Speaker, I am just going to note to the ranking member, I have 
four members, a good, enthusiastic turnout, so we are going to need to 
be a little disciplined with time, about roughly 2 minutes each.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson).
  Mr. DAVIDSON. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking 
member, the Speaker, and the minority leader. It is nice to have this 
committee to focus on such an important topic and to do it in a 
bipartisan way. I am sure we will have our differences of opinion, but 
I hope we find some common ground.
  Frankly, one of the bills I have worked on for a long time is the 
People CARE Act. It would create a bipartisan commission for 
Republicans, for Democrats, and it would reform all 90-plus means-
tested programs. We spend about a trillion dollars a year, and for 
reference, we spend about $750 billion on defense, so far more just on 
poverty assistance. Many of those programs aren't as effective as they 
could be.
  It wouldn't cut any funding. It wouldn't even necessarily cut any 
programs, but the commission could redesign them to do things like end 
benefit cliffs. That is really important, because as people start to 
recover and as they start to get back into the economy and participate 
in the workforce--when they get a raise, when they get a promotion, 
sometimes when they get a job--they get put on a cold turkey program, 
they lose their benefits and it creates a lot of fear, and frankly, 
turns a safety net into a snare.
  One of the things right now that is driving the challenges for the 
safety net is wages are going up. Now, that doesn't mean inflation is a 
good thing, by any means. Inflation is really hitting wage-earners 
really hard and retirees even harder, but it is changing how far a 
housing voucher will go, for example, or whether somebody gets a raise. 
They might not have updated the benefit program from the Federal safety 
net to recognize that and now they are facing a cliff.
  We need to address the drivers of this inflation, and that goes to 
the destruction of the value of our money. The massive spending that we 
do, often in the name of compassion, is growing the wealth gap, this is 
fiscal and monetary policy. When we have big deficits, it grows 
inequality in the name of helping people.
  There are so many more issues that I hope we get to, but it is an 
honor to serve with my colleagues and I look forward to hearing their 
ideas and growing from the experience.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his 
generous comments.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore 
of Wisconsin), another one of our stalwart midwesterners, who was with 
us in Lorain, Ohio.
  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and the 
ranking member. I am so delighted to have been appointed to the Select 
Committee.
  The Speaker, of course, said that we should make proposals that make 
our economy grow for everyone, empowering American economic growth 
while ensuring that no one is left behind in the 21st century economy.

[[Page H5867]]

  It is no secret that our country is marred by unequal access to good 
paying jobs, healthcare, housing, high quality education, childcare, 
and many other things. I can't dwell on all those things in this short 
period of time. These disparities impact the ability of many 
communities to escape poverty, and especially people of color.
  I do want to dwell on a couple of things, proposals that I think are 
extremely important to close the economic gap, the wealth gap, and the 
housing gap.
  First of all, I think that all of our workers deserve paid family 
leave, a universal comprehensive paid family and medical leave program. 
Only about a third of Americans in the highest quintile in the country 
receive any kind of paid family leave, while 92 percent of workers in 
the lower quintile have no paid family leave.
  I think that we should enhance the child tax credit and the earned 
income tax credits. These are things that, while there is a very high 
cost of poverty, there is a big, huge outcome and harvest from 
investing in our children. People around the globe have noted that it 
really creates better workers, better educational outcomes, and better 
healthcare outcomes.

  We also need to address the uncompensated care that so many family 
caregivers, especially women, are providing, about a half-trillion 
dollars a year in uncompensated care, and we need to address that. So I 
think if we boost the CTC, the earned income tax credit, provide paid 
family leave, we will begin to see the beginnings around the edges of 
reducing some of the disparities.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Wisconsin.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack) 
for her remarks this evening.
  Mrs. CAMMACK. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Himes and Ranking 
Member Steil.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today as a member of the Select Committee on 
Economic Disparity and Fairness in and Growth, aka, the Committee on 
the Economy.
  Over the past few minutes, we have heard a variety of arguments, and 
there is absolutely no doubt that every Member here today has a vested 
interest in ensuring our Nation remains prosperous for generations to 
come.
  While we may disagree on solutions, we will work together to address 
economic challenges that we see across this country. Economic 
prosperity for all Americans is imperative and we know that prior to 
COVID-19, Americans saw tremendous progress.
  In 2019 alone, the median household income grew 6.8 percent, the 
largest increase ever recorded in American history. With historic 
legislation passed by the House of Representatives and the Trump 
administration, we saw minority and historically underserved 
communities grow at historic rates, with income levels rising 7 percent 
for Hispanics and African Americans.
  Following the pandemic, however, we have seen labor force 
participation plummet, as the policies proposed by our colleagues 
across the aisle have incentivized unemployment that we have not seen 
since the Carter administration which, for the record, was more than a 
decade before my time.
  Now, as we begin to prepare to explore what we can do to empower 
workers for the jobs of the future and encourage all American families 
to succeed nationwide, I am particularly focused on communities like 
mine in north Central Florida, which lack broadband in both rural and 
urban areas, suffering from a lack of investment, which in turn affects 
our schoolchildren, telehealth opportunities, commerce, and so much 
more.
  Now, in an agriculture-heavy district like mine, I also want to 
highlight the high trade deficit, the need for improved trade 
agreements, which help Florida producers in my home State who have 
consistently been devastated by lower prices from Mexico.
  During the pandemic, farmers had to destroy crops and dump milk 
because the demand was so low, while cheaper produce from other nations 
continued to be imported cutting out the market from our producers. 
Simply put, the economics of U.S. production in agriculture are in 
peril.
  Finally, I would like to bring attention to issues that are hot in 
the headlines these days: educational freedom, school choice, and the 
rights of parents to have a say in their children's education. We all 
know education is a direct correlation to prosperity. We know that 
America was built on equal opportunity, not equal outcome.
  Rather than asking what more government should do, we should ask 
where government can be removed and should be removed. Federal 
regulations cost $1.9 trillion, spent on reporting, compliance, and 
more, which could be better served in investing in employees or in 
workforce development or in underdeveloped communities across the 
country.

                              {time}  2130

  As we begin our work on this select committee, I am committed to 
working with my colleagues to pursue meaningful opportunities for all 
Americans, regardless of their location, regardless of their 
background, regardless of their education, and regardless of whatever 
box they check.
  It is well past time that we stop seeing the government as the 
solution to our problems because, after all, it is the incredible 
opportunities here today in America that have allowed me, the daughter 
of a single mom, a young woman from rural America, who has gone from 
homeless to the House of Representatives in under a decade. It is time 
that we expand those opportunities--not restrict them.
  I thank Chairman Himes, again, as well as Ranking Member Steil for 
their leadership. I am honored to serve on this select committee.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida. We 
may not totally agree on the role of government, but I am grateful to 
her for really highlighting the importance of education which has been 
the theme that we have heard a lot here tonight.
  Batting cleanup, our last Member to hear from is our hostess from 
Lorain, Ohio.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Chair Himes, for 
yielding, and I thank him for bringing the committee to Lorain, Ohio.
  Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to offer my strong support for pending 
new investments in our workers, our families, and our communities.
  As was highlighted during the hearing in Lorain, our region has been 
battered by an economy that rewards the 1 percent and billionaire 
investors at the expense of workers of the middle class. Thankfully, 
right now in northern Ohio we are seeing the possibility of restoring 
new hope and new opportunity not just for billionaires but for workers. 
The parents and grandparents of nearly 150,000 children from working 
families and struggling households in our district are seeing their 
taxes cut through the child tax credit.
  Unlike the trillion-dollar giveaway aimed at the wealthiest and 
transnational corporations that outsource jobs to penny-wage nations, 
our hardworking families are seeing their tax dollars returned directly 
to them.
  Looking at how working mothers struggle, a recent study from the 
United Way of Greater Toledo shows that more than one-third workers are 
not eligible for paid maternity leave. In the richest nation on Earth, 
our workers should have access to paid family leave that is available 
elsewhere on the globe. This is what we are working to deliver.
  Further, significant new investments in physical infrastructure will 
create living wage jobs and help level the playing field as America 
creates new wealth beginning right where we live by rebuilding our 
roads, bridges, ports, and investing in renewable energies like 
hydrogen and electric vehicles to spur a real revival of our industrial 
heartland.
  It is time to deal in workers and their families by rewarding hard 
work, not just capital. It is time to deliver for the families in 
Toledo, Sandusky, Lorain, and Cleveland. Investments in our workers, 
families, and communities will help restore faith that hard work 
matters. It will rebuild the middle class and provide a path to fully 
realize the American Dream.
  Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H5868]]

  

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