[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20031-20032]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE OBLIGATION OF EVERY CITIZEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, as we move toward the close of this 
congressional session, I have been embarrassed at the number of people 
that have recognized me and ask, What's wrong with the government? 
What's wrong with the Congress? Why can't you people get along? And 
it's very difficult and embarrassing to tell them that you really need 
all parts of the government working together, pushing the boat forward 
and rowing in the same direction. And when you have somebody that's 
already said that their primary mission as Members of the United States 
Congress is to get rid of the President, how

[[Page 20032]]

that is interpreted legislatively is it means that the President cannot 
offer them anything that would look like he's accomplishing something 
positive because it would interfere with their primary goal, which is 
not economic growth, not jobs and not helping people out when they need 
a hand up, but it has to show that we want to get rid of Obama. And you 
can see that even the candidates that want to fill his job, they're not 
talking about what they're going to do, but the whole campaign is 
against the President.
  Now, some people believe, as those on television, that for all 
practical purposes we should not expect that we'll be able to give 
assistance to our various communities throughout the country because 
the campaign has started, and so therefore no legislation is going to 
pass. That's just not so, and you don't have to wait until an election.
  We haven't been sent down here just to please our voters for what 
happens in 2012. Each and every day, you have a right--and an 
obligation--to call the person that you have sent down here to 
Washington. And if you haven't, someone did. Everybody has a Member of 
this House and two Members in the other body. Why can't you pick up the 
phone to tell them that what they do in this year before the holidays 
and what they don't do is going to make a big difference in terms of 
how you vote when that opportunity comes? So you can put the pressure 
on.
  And I might add this too. It is not just the voters that have this 
obligation to help those that are lesser among us, it's not those that 
are waiting for a little help, but the Republicans say that the only 
way you get the help is to cut back in health care, is to support the 
Keystone oil pipeline. All of these things, people don't go to sleep at 
night wondering about a pipeline. They want to know are they going to 
get any help from their government. And the issues really don't affect 
the very, very rich. They affect the very, very poor and those in the 
middle class that are being pushed into poverty where one out of five 
kids in the United States of America is born into poverty.
  I am suggesting that this is not just a plea for economic justice or 
equity in how we tax people, but it is a moral issue that we should be 
hearing from our clergy. I'm not talking about Democrats and 
Republicans. I'm talking about Matthew, where Jesus said it's how you 
treat the lesser among us as to how you're going to be judged. And it's 
not just the Bible. It's not just the Old and New Testament. It's the 
Koran. It's the Torah. It's Muslims. It's Mormons. It's Christians and 
it's Jews. It's there. And it would seem to me if our clergy missed 
this wonderful opportunity before the Holy Spirit, not to tell us what 
to do but to tell us what they think is the right thing that we should 
be doing.
  And so, as we move into the holidays, please don't think that we've 
got the other side convinced that they should give relief for 
unemployed people who paid into a system and who lost their jobs 
through no fault of their own. Please don't think that they want to 
protect Social Security and that they want to protect Medicaid and 
Medicare. No. That's our job to do it. But it's your job to remind us 
that we have this obligation to do it.
  And so you're right if you stop us in the street and say that we've 
lost credibility--all of government, the President, the candidates for 
President, the Democrats and the Republicans. But what about you? Will 
you be able to say that you joined in this effort? Will you be able to 
say you made that telephone call or visited that office? I hope you do. 
And you can count on many of us that are waiting for that type of 
support. We need it.
  Thank you. God bless America.

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