[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 192 (Tuesday, November 2, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H6078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS WILL LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Ryan) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RYAN. Mr. Speaker, this infrastructure bill is about two things. 
This is about putting money in the pockets of the American people who 
have had a rough go for the last 40 years, and this is about taking on 
China.
  Now, we have seen in the last couple of weeks CEO pay since the 1970s 
has gone up 1,300 percent. We have seen that 10 percent of the 
wealthiest people in this country own 90 percent of the stocks. So this 
bill is about: How do we get money in the pockets of people?
  Universal preschool--that is 1 year less of childcare that a family 
has to pay--that is money in their pockets. Capping childcare at 7 
percent of your income, Mr. Speaker, that is money in their pockets. 
Helping seniors with glasses or hearing aids, that is money in their 
pockets. A tax cut finally for working people, not for the top 1 
percent but for families, that is money in their pockets.
  If we don't recognize in this Chamber and down the hall that China is 
a looming threat--not even looming, they are here. Semiconductors, they 
outmanufacture us; electric vehicles, they outmanufacture us; 
communications equipment, they outmanufacture us; pharmaceuticals, our 
seniors get their pharmaceuticals from China.
  When are we going to wake up? When are we going to have the guts to 
level the playing field and the guts to take on China and the guts to 
do what is right so our kids and grandkids can thrive in the United 
States?
  We have to make these investments. We have to make them now. 
Washington has to wake up, or the next bill we are going to have to 
pass is Mandarin in all our schools because the game is going to be 
over.

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