[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16120-16123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  JOB CREATION AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) is recognized 
for 30 minutes.
  Ms. SUTTON. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  I'm happy to be here on the floor in a way tonight because it gives 
me a chance to speak up for so many Americans, so many Ohioans that I 
have the great privilege to represent from Ohio's 13th Congressional 
District. The people that I have the honor to serve are hardworking 
folks, people who want nothing more than a government that works with 
them and not against them.
  In recent days we've seen and, frankly, for weeks now we've seen a 
number of Americans out in the street. The Occupy Wall Street movement 
has grown. It has spread throughout the country, and we still hear some 
people say that they're confused about what it is, that those who are 
out there protesting, what is their message.
  Well, a few weeks ago I traveled to Wall Street and joined the 
protesters to see what it was that brought them there. And while there 
are a number of voices, there was one theme that was extraordinarily 
consistent; and, really, what that theme was is there are so many 
people out there who are struggling. And they are just begging to be 
heard, heard by those of us who come here to represent them. And they 
want to be heard, not just their voices, but they want to see their 
voices reflected in policies that will improve their lives and their 
opportunities in this great country.
  We are a great country because we have a strong middle class. We have 
upward mobility that allows people who are willing to work hard, it's 
that American Dream, that if they're willing to work hard, that there 
will be a chance for them to take care of themselves and their families 
and find a way to live in a comfortable manner. But that dream is 
slipping away from so many; and so we see them gathered, sometimes at 
these protests, and we see them when we go home to our communities, 
because we know that American families have been suffering under the 
effects of this recession.
  And at the same time American families, so many workers and others 
are suffering, we're seeing some here in this body, and beyond the 
House of Representatives, we see them continuing to look out just for 
those who are at the very top of the heap. And so thus comes the 
phrase, ``we are the 99 percent'' that we hear echoed on Wall Street 
and throughout the United States, because they want to be recognized. 
They want to be heard, because the top 1 percent, those who control so 
much of the wealth and so much of the power in this country, they have 
a lot of money to speak with. They can speak through campaign 
contributions, and they do. And they can speak through sometimes secret 
committees that impact elections and impact policy, and they do.
  But who will speak for the rest of the people, for policies that will 
make sense to the American people, those who I have the privilege, as I 
said, to represent in Ohio? Those hardworking folks who just want a 
job, who just want a fair shake, who just want an opportunity?
  I believe in them. I believe in the American people, and I believe 
that if given a chance, they will take that chance and they will climb 
that ladder of opportunity. That's why we see kids, see students out in 
those protests. We see them, who have done everything we've asked them. 
They've gone to school, they've gone to college, and now they're trying 
to pay off that college debt, and there's no job.

                              {time}  1820

  And instead of being focused on jobs here in this body, here we are 
at the end of October and the Republican majority has not brought any 
jobs agenda forward. Oh, yeah, we hear about--what do we hear about? We 
hear about the need for more deregulation. Well, the very thing that 
brings some of those to Wall Street, the fact that we had deregulation. 
Deregulation. It wasn't the college students that I speak of who drove 
our economy off the cliff, it wasn't the kids on Head Start, and it 
wasn't our seniors; and yet it is those groups that are being targeted 
here for cuts instead of those who drove our economy off the cliff.
  All that people want is for everybody to pay a fair share and for 
people in this country to have the chance, for those who are in the 
middle class to stop getting squeezed, and for those who aspire to the 
middle class to be able to reach for that dream that has served us so 
well.
  So that is why I come to the floor tonight, to speak up for those who 
are out there who are begging to be heard, not only their words, but to 
have their words reflected in a better way and a better day.
  So here tonight I'm very honored to see my colleague, Representative 
Tonko, who is a great leader, a man of great compassion and 
thoughtfulness, a problem solver, somebody who's looking for solutions 
for the people. The most innovative and capable people in this country 
have joined me tonight. Thank you, Representative Tonko, for being 
here.
  Mr. TONKO. My pleasure, Representative Sutton, and thank you for 
bringing us together into a format of thoughtful discussion on the 
House floor.
  You're very right. It's about the American Dream, pursuit of the 
American Dream. And I believe what many people across America are 
espousing right now is take a look at the problem from its broadest 
perspective in order to propose the solution. And if we are just going 
to do an instant snapshot and not really deal with the facts at hand, 
it will get us in trouble. It will be wasted energy. We'll be spinning 
our wheels.
  What they've suggested is looking back at how we came to the problem. 
We borrowed totally for a millionaire-billionaire tax cut. We borrowed 
from China and Saudi Arabia to give everyone in that category a tax 
break. Now, borrowing has happened throughout the course of government 
and there are oftentimes societal needs that get met. So I would ask: 
What was the good that was bought here? And it translates into a loss 
of 8.2 million jobs. So we borrowed from millionaire-billionaire tax 
cuts and from foreign economies in order to get a result of 8.2 million 
jobs lost. That's the starting point.
  And this Presidency, the Obama Presidency, has been about growing 
jobs, providing the reforms that are essential. And so today, people 
are speaking out. They're speaking out about the fundamental unfairness 
that exists out there, and they want that transformed into fairness.
  They know, they acknowledge, and we agree that people struggle to 
find a job. They are struggling, as we speak, to find a job. They 
struggle to keep a job. They struggle to make ends meet. This is the 
fight. This is the concern. It's about empowering the middle class and 
empowering the purchasing power of the middle class, which serves all 
income strata tremendously well.
  If we have a robust middle class, if we have a purchasing power that 
is enhanced, people then begin to invest.

[[Page 16121]]

They begin to share that with the regional economy, State economy, and 
national economy. It's as plain as that.
  People are now connecting the dots. They saw where we went with the 
policy of the past, they saw the deep hole that drove us into, and now 
they're saying, we want reform, fundamental reform. It's about 
providing justice to the middle class.
  I am so happy that you're here encouraging this discussion. The 
dialogue must be carried forth in order to share with the general 
public exactly what happened and what needs to occur now as we go 
forward.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman.
  And you put it so very well, and this chart also helps us begin with 
the starting point for what people out there are feeling. They know 
that something is fundamentally unfair. They know that something is 
very, very out of whack. They know that our economy suffered a Great 
Recession. They know that they are still suffering a Great Recession.
  And do you know what else they know? They know that Wall Street has 
recovered. They know that in 2009, after receiving trillions in 
taxpayer-funded bailouts, the top 38 financial firms gave record pay to 
their employees during that Great Recession. So they're calling on us 
for some increased fairness, taking some of this and translating it 
into opportunity. After all, it was the taxpayers who came to their 
aid.
  I am now happy to welcome Representative John Garamendi, a great 
leader, a guy who understands that we need to create jobs in this 
country, that we need to make things in America.
  Representative Garamendi, thank you for joining us.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank you very much, Representative Sutton and Mr. 
Tonko.
  It's good to be back on the floor and to talk to you and to be 
talking about basic fairness, about the basic fairness of: How is 
America going to get back on track? How are we going to create the 
jobs?
  I did a town hall in my district on Wednesday this last week, and the 
subject matter on everybody's mind was the jobs: How are we going to 
get a job? How am I going to stay in my home?
  There is a way to do it. The American Jobs Act that the President has 
proposed--I suppose had that actually been proposed by anybody else it 
may very well have passed the Senate. But the American Jobs Act 
actually has the ingredients to get Americans back to work.
  Just this week, I guess it was actually last week now, the Senate 
took up a couple of pieces of the American Jobs Act, a bill that would 
put 200,000, almost 300,000 teachers back in the classroom and about 
100,000 police and firemen back on the streets to protect us with a 
one-half of one--one-half a percent increase in taxes on those who have 
an adjusted gross income over $1 million. And the Senate Republicans 
killed the bill with the filibuster, didn't even allow it to come to a 
vote. So with the filibuster, they were able to kill a bill that would 
have put 400,000 Americans back to work in the classroom, on the 
streets for policing, and protecting us with firemen. I wonder what 
they are thinking.
  There's a basic gross unfairness in that, that middle class teachers 
lost their jobs because of the recession; lack of tax revenue at the 
county or State level, they've lost their job, and because the 
Republicans in the Senate and in this House refused to put a little 
teeny, tiny tax on millionaires' income, those people can't go to work. 
Where do you stand in fairness?
  And this Wall Street business. OMG--text this, folks. The Wall Street 
bonuses--you have 2009 on your chart there, Ms. Sutton, but the Wall 
Street bonuses in 2010 and 2011 are even bigger. Extraordinary income 
for Wall Street while teachers cannot get a job, while police and 
firemen are out of work, where protection in our community is not 
available. And the Wall Street barons are continuing to make money, and 
they're not making loans. They're doing this by simply gambling in 
computerized trading. And it's got to stop. This basic unfairness has 
got to stop.
  Thank you so very much for bringing this to our attention. And you 
wonder what this Occupy Wall Street, occupy cities across the Nation, 
that's what it's about. People in their gut know something is wrong and 
it's just not right.
  Ms. SUTTON. You are so right, Representative Garamendi. And at a time 
when all elected officials across all levels of government should be 
focused on jobs, we see our colleagues across the aisle here, the 
Republicans, offering nothing by way of jobs, and we see them fixated 
on protecting millionaires and billionaires and Wall Street banks that 
helped to drive our economy off the cliff.
  At the same time, they look to go after things like Medicare that our 
seniors depend upon. They look at cuts for nutrition programs that are 
so desperately needed. They want to take it out of the hide of our 
workers. It wasn't our workers who drove our economy off the cliff; 
and, frankly, they are not part of the problem.
  Getting them to work, back to work, the American people back to work, 
is the key to solving our problem. And they want us focused on jobs.
  So I'm so grateful that you are here, and I'm glad that, 
Representative Tonko, you are here to stand up for common sense, for a 
future that is as great as our past.
  Representative Tonko.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely.
  Before I came to the House just 3 years ago, I served as president 
and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development 
Authority.

                              {time}  1830

  We saw what small business creation was about from an innovation 
economy perspective, from a clean energy perspective. We can grow our 
self-sufficiency for energy supply simply by moving toward an 
innovation model.
  How does it happen?
  We know most of the job generation in the last decade, if not the 
great majority of job creation, was done through small business, 
through the entrepreneur, through an investment in the ideas economy. 
If we were going to invest money, should it have been these tax cuts 
for those high on the perch or should it have been for those start-ups 
that needed their investments to grow jobs in the local regional 
economy?
  That's what it's all about.
  It's what people have told me in their statements as they've gathered 
in communities. They've said it's about the pursuit of the American 
Dream, but from their perspective, it's like the evaporation of the 
American Dream. It's fizzling away from them. They want to be able to 
embrace that dream. If they play by the rules and if they work hard, 
they should expect to achieve success, but we're taking that away from 
the middle class. We should provide the tools--give them the toolkit 
for job growth via small business, innovation and an ideas economy.
  We drove an economy as an infant Nation. We developed the Westward 
Movement and then an Industrial Revolution, and we impacted the world 
with our product delivery through all of the factories across America. 
That pioneer spirit is still alive within us. It's within our DNA. Yet 
now, as a sophisticated society, we've grown to a new realm of product 
development and ideas, and we are in the midst of a need globally for 
all sorts of inventions and innovation for energy solutions, for health 
care solutions, for communications. We have the technical wizardry. We 
have the intellect. We have the intellectual capacity that needs to be 
embraced by this Nation.
  The House ought to show leadership in that regard. We ought to tap 
into that resource and enable it to be the job manufacturing center 
across this country--small business, entrepreneurs, an innovation 
economy: moving ideas along from prototype to manufactured concept. 
That's how you make a down payment and investment in areas that grow an 
economy, not this rewarding of people simply because they're of an 
income strata and receive a tax cut at a time when we

[[Page 16122]]

need it to invest in an innovation economy. If you look at the global 
race on clean energy and innovation, countries are bulking up in their 
investments. They're investing in research and development. We're 
cutting those programs--the advocacy to cut.
  The President has said in his American Jobs Act proposal to invest in 
research, to invest in the small business community, to invest in job 
creation. That's the sort of investment that gets America to the new 
realm of job creation. The investment that has been made to this point 
has been about investing in tax cuts. That's an order of spending that 
we cannot endure, so we need to go forward with, again, a strong agenda 
for the middle class.
  It has been said over and over through the years: no pain, no gain. 
The middle class is absorbing all the pain, and they're now 
questioning: Where's the gain? They can't take the pain of 
overtaxation. They can't take the pain of unemployment. They can't take 
the pain of program cuts like Medicare, like Medicaid, like job 
creation, research moneys. These are the painful measures that have 
been induced their way, and they say ``no.'' They say emphatically 
``no'' to that. Now they want to know: Where are the jobs? They've 
asked the right question.
  I am very proud of the conference in which we serve. The Democratic 
Caucus has been about manufacturing, about making it in America, the 
jobs agenda, tax fairness, policies that take us forward, not backward. 
So again, Representative Sutton and Representative Garamendi, it is 
great to add my voice with yours in this House for a legitimate agenda 
for the middle class. It's about empowering our middle class--the 
strength of America, the fabric that takes us forward.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman for his passion and for his 
brilliant remarks. There is brilliance in common sense, and we know 
that the American people get it. This is no secret. That's why they're 
speaking up. They're standing up for what has always made this country 
so great.
  Mr. TONKO. Representative Sutton, I've heard you talking on this 
floor about the plight of Ohio workers. I've heard you speak to the 
wisdom of sound investment for workers, that it's about empowering the 
worker. They have a voice in Betty Sutton that shows compassion, care 
and concern. They have a voice in Representative Garamendi about being 
smart about our agenda. We must see it through the eyes of the American 
worker--people who are being taxed unfairly because they make money 
through work--and know we're taxing differently those who make money on 
money. It's a different scenario.
  Your advocacy, your passion, your empathy for workers is stated 
repeatedly from both of you on this floor, and that's what should 
motivate and inspire us.
  Ms. SUTTON. I hope that everybody will take that approach, and I 
thank the gentleman for his kind words. Do you know what? You're right. 
The workers can say it better than anybody.
  When I went to Wall Street, when I traveled there to stand with those 
who were standing up for fundamental fairness and opportunity, that 
really is the essence of what it is. I've heard from so many people in 
Ohio, and they've put it so well. I'll just share a couple of remarks 
they sent my way.
  Jessie from Silver Lake, Ohio, says:
  A strong working middle class is what drives an economy, not 25 
percent of this country's wealth in the hands of the upper 1 percent. 
In a democracy, all votes should have the opportunity to rise. There 
will always be some with more money and some with less money, but this 
disparity now is disastrous for our future.
  Debbie from Avon, Ohio, says:
  We need to stop corporate greed. The rich are continuing to get 
wealthier and not pass down opportunities in the form of jobs to the 
people who are the most needy. People want to work for a living. We 
need the people who are benefiting the most to give people an 
opportunity by creating jobs. My fear is that we're creating a society 
where there is strong resentment.
  Alice says:
  Many big companies have not created jobs in the U.S. Instead, they've 
taken many of their jobs to the countries with the cheapest labor, the 
least regulations and few employee rights. This flies in the face of 
the Republicans' concern that taxes on the rich mean fewer jobs.
  On that point, every day in the United States we are losing 15 
factories. Yet, here on this House floor, those on the other side of 
the aisle are content in trying to protect the loopholes that encourage 
jobs to be shipped overseas. We don't think that's a good idea. We 
don't think that's good for America. When I pledge allegiance to the 
flag, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America; 
but when multinationals pledge allegiance to the flag, I don't know who 
they pledge allegiance to.
  I think it's really important that people down here stand up for U.S. 
manufacturing and U.S. workers. Close those loopholes that continue to 
help ship our jobs overseas, and make some sense, frankly, of our trade 
policies. We need to really crack down on unfair trade practices like 
the currency manipulation. We passed that bill through the House last 
year, a bill that would have reined in China's currency manipulation. 
It is ready to go again. It passed in a bipartisan way. If the Speaker 
of the House would just bring it to the floor, we know that we would 
pass it. It's estimated it would create a million jobs. It could make 
the difference of a million jobs, and would cost us nothing.
  Yet, Representative Garamendi, there you stand with a plaque that is 
really important because, instead of going for those million jobs, what 
do we have?
  Mr. GARAMENDI. What we have is the Republican agenda. The Republicans 
have now been in control of the House of Representatives since 
January--over 10 months now--and they have not produced one jobs bill.
  You were talking about the issue of shipping jobs overseas, and it is 
true. The American tax system, prior to December of last year, gave a 
tax break of some $15 billion a year to American corporations for every 
job they shipped overseas. The Democrats, by a democratic vote, passed 
a law that eliminated that tax break. Not one Republican voted to 
eliminate the tax break that American corporations had when they 
shipped jobs offshore. Just so you know where people are in this House, 
the Republicans refuse to end the tax break that American corporations 
had when they offshored jobs.

                              {time}  1840

  The Republican agenda: no jobs. That's their agenda. They talk about 
cuts. Every time there has been a cut--and there's been numerous cuts. 
We've been through this for the last 10 months. Everybody's cut is 
somebody's job. They've lost that job.
  What we need is a different agenda. What we need is a Democratic 
agenda. What we need is a better deal for America.
  And it's this: We'll Make It in America. We will build, we will 
rebuild those parts of the American economy that create jobs, solid 
jobs.
  You mentioned the China currency bill. Yes, it is true, and they say 
American businesses can't compete. That was directly from our 
Republican colleagues. That's not true. Economists say over and over 
again the American industries can compete on a fair level playing 
field.
  But when China has its currency 25 to 30 percent cheaper, there's no 
way we can compete. It is unfair; it's unrealistic. It has got to end. 
The Senate passed that bill. The Speaker of this House has refused to 
allow the Chinese currency bill to come to the floor for a vote.
  We passed it last year when the Democrats ran the House. This year, 
with the Republicans, apparently they want to make sure China succeeds 
and America fails.
  Bring the bill to the floor, Mr. Speaker. Bring the bill to the floor 
so that we can vote here in this House on the Chinese currency bill and 
end the unfairness. And if they want to continue, China wants to 
continue to undervalue

[[Page 16123]]

its currency, then we'll put a tariff on their goods coming in here, 
and we will have a level playing field.
  We need a better deal for America. Here's the Republican deal: no 
jobs, no jobs. That's what they are about.
  We are about building jobs in America. We're about Make It in America 
once again, helping our manufacturing sector, creating those middle 
class jobs; and we can do it with fair tax policy, as Mr. Tonko has so 
eloquently explained, and for the manufacturing policies that you have, 
Ms. Sutton.
  Thank you so very much for the opportunity to be on the floor with 
you and to talk about making it in America, rebuilding the American 
middle class. We can do it. This is a great country.
  Ms. SUTTON. I thank the gentleman. I thank you for laying it out in 
very simple terms.
  I mean, the fact of the matter is we can invest in America. We can 
put people back to work because we do have a long-term deficit that 
we're going to deal with, but the biggest deficit we have right now is 
a deficit of jobs.
  And we have no deficit of work. There is much to be done, and we've 
got a lot of people trying to do it, wanting the chance to do it. We 
could build our infrastructure; and when we build our infrastructure, 
we can do it with American iron, steel, and manufactured goods.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. And how about the President's proposal, $50 billion?
  Ms. SUTTON. The President's proposal to put people back to work. We 
can't get rid of the long-term deficit in this country unless people go 
back to work.
  This is a great country that we have the privilege of serving, and we 
just want to make sure that we do right by the country and by the 
people who we are here to represent. We have heard it before, we know 
we have heard those out there who say corporations are people. Well, I 
say people are people, and those are those people I'm here to support.
  Representative Tonko.
  Mr. TONKO. Well, Representative Sutton, you know, I hear people who 
listen and endorse our concepts, but they'll ask, well, how do we 
afford these investments? Well, the work done here in the House on the 
floor, in the United States Senate is all about priorities. So it's 
establishing the right priorities.
  I have a bill that would cap well below the 700,000 that we now allow 
for contractors to this government, to have that reduced. We need to 
belt-tighten inefficiency, waste, fraud, outmoded programs. Go after 
it, but don't cut programs that serve the middle class and invest in 
job creation. Establish the right priorities.
  I know we are running out of time, so thank you for bringing us 
together on the House floor.
  Ms. SUTTON. Thank you, Representative Tonko. Thank you, 
Representative Garamendi. We do need to stand up together, stand up for 
seniors, push back those attacks on Medicare. We need to stand up for 
workers.
  We need to stand up for jobs, and we need to stand up and make sure 
that those who have done well in America do well by America. Wall 
Street and everyone needs to pay their fair share.
  I yield back the balance of my time

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