[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21443-21446]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              CONGRESS, THE ADMINISTRATION, AND THE GIPPER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it's sometimes hard to reconcile the 
speeches we hear here on the floor with the legislation that we've 
passed. People have been speaking from the other side of the aisle here 
for the last 30 minutes about how the Republicans in the House 
apparently don't want taxpayers, working Americans, to have the 2 
percent of the Social Security tax back that doesn't get paid into 
Social Security when actually this House has taken the responsible 
position not wanting to raise taxes in a down economy so workers will 
have the money that they currently do in their paychecks. It makes 
sense.
  I've been saying ever since this first came up that the idea of a 2 
percent tax cut is not a holiday and that actually the President 
corrupted the true payroll tax holiday idea that was brought forward 3 
years ago. That was my idea. It was a stimulus idea that Moody's, when 
they rated the different proposals, said would stimulate the 1-year GDP 
more than the other proposals, and it would have. The people that 
earned all of the money would have gotten it for 2 months in a row.
  Some lazy reporters have tried to say, Well, that's just like this. 
Absolutely not. Unfortunately, it requires reading and not all 
reporters are willing to do that because it's clear my payroll tax 
holiday that I told the President about in January of 2009, he liked 
the idea and the only thing he did was take the name of it--that sounds 
familiar--and use that for what was not a holiday. It's not a holiday 
when you're avoiding 2 percent of the taxes you normally do. A holiday 
is when you don't pay the taxes. There are a

[[Page 21444]]

number of differences. For one thing, the 2-month proposal by the 
Senate just pushes off what has to be done, and that's dealing with the 
rest of the year. We want to deal with the rest of the year. We want to 
provide certainty.
  The bill I proposed did not create any uncertainty. It dealt with the 
issue that people could not shove bonuses into those 2 months, that it 
was a tax holiday for all of the income tax, Social Security, those 
taxes that would normally be taken out of the check. It would have 
averaged, we were told, between $2,000 and $3,000 a month for 2 months. 
Instead of $80 a month, you would've had $4,000 to $5,000 over a 2-
month period. That would have stimulated the economy.
  Not only that, this proposal that the President has had, it hasn't 
stimulated the economy. We just don't want to raise taxes on people in 
a down economy.

                              {time}  1700

  But it does hurt the Social Security trust fund. This President's 
proposal pits working Americans against our seniors. It didn't have to 
be this way. Before this President ran up an extra $4 trillion in debt 
back when we were at $11 trillion instead of 15 trillion, just a few 
years ago, the proposal was completely paid for, and the only people 
that would have missed the money were the Wall Street bailout folks 
that wouldn't have gotten their money because it took money from TARP 
and left it in the pockets of those who earned it. It made sure that 
there would be no shortfall in the Social Security trust fund. It made 
sure there would be no shortage in the Medicare fund, it addressed 
that. And the only people that would have been hurt--and I don't think 
they would have been hurt--but the only ones that would have missed the 
money were those getting the bailouts.
  Well, this President liked the name, liked the idea of leaving some 
money in the check. But instead of $4,000 to $5,000, they decided to 
leave $160--2 months.
  Harry Reid has been saying that he wants to give Americans $1,000, 
and that's what the Senate was doing. The only way we can keep Harry 
Reid from being a liar--and I don't want to make him a liar--and so 
what we have to do is have the Senate pass what we've passed, at least 
send conferees to the conference, so that we can work out a compromise, 
because right now all he's got is $160, not $1,000.
  So, I hope my colleagues here in the House will urge the Senate, 
please help us keep Harry Reid from being a liar. He said they provided 
$1,000 in tax cuts to working Americans, and the only way that will 
happen is if they'll adopt the House proposal or send conferees to the 
conference. That will leave that much for the whole year, not just 2 
months.
  Now, there was $700 billion originally allocated for TARP. The Obama 
administration got $350 billion of that, plus it was projected it would 
get maybe $100 billion, $150 billion of the original $350 billion. 
There's still $120-plus billion dollars in assets in that slush fund 
that need to be liquidated, and they need to take care of things like 
Social Security and Medicare. There's another $50 billion or so in the 
TARP that is still cash money that should be used. If anything is going 
to be used, use that to stimulate the economy by letting people keep 
their own money in their paycheck.
  This 2 months proposed by the Senate is not going to stimulate the 
economy. As nonpartisan groups have said, it is actually going to 
create vast instability, and there is no comparison to that and a paid-
for, complete holiday for working Americans to keep everything in their 
paycheck. That would have been a stimulus. We made inquiries of people 
in our district. What would you do with it? We heard from people who 
said we want a car that's more fuel efficient, but the big gas guzzler 
we've got is worth less than we owe on it. We can't get out from under. 
If you let us keep 2 months of our own taxes for the full 2 months, all 
of that, then we will be able to get rid of this clunker and be able to 
get a more fuel-efficient car. Others said, we got behind on our 
mortgage last summer when gas went to $4 a gallon because Speaker 
Pelosi's and Harry Reid's policies, the bills, the legislation they 
passed were stifling the ability to provide for more of our own oil and 
gas. It spiked up to $4 a gallon. They said, we got behind then, but if 
you let us keep 2 months of all of our taxes, we don't need any more 
government programs, we can get out of problems with our mortgage 
ourselves. But, no, there are people in this town that like the GRE, 
the Government Running Everything. And the way to do that is keep 
coming up with programs. So, they created more programs.
  One other thing I want to touch on that has hit the news in the last 
2 days, but unfortunately many have not noticed. This administration is 
in the process of trying to provide the Taliban a Christmas present. 
Now, 2 weeks ago, we found out that a fourth category on the terrorist 
watch list was being created called former military detainees. Having 
seen how this administration works, having known we have an Attorney 
General that represented terrorists before he became Attorney General, 
having an Attorney General who has no clue how Fast and Furious came 
about, according to his testimony, having an Attorney General that was 
involved, was around when the Marc Rich pardon took place, we knew that 
we needed to look carefully when these kinds of indications came forth. 
And what we found was the administration said, oh, no, no, no, we're 
not about to release detainees. Not much.
  What's come out in the last 2 days is that this administration is 
negotiating with terrorists, negotiating with the Taliban directly and 
about to work out a deal. The administration is saying--and Reuters had 
a story on this--but the administration apparently is saying, in 
essence, we need to have a show of good faith to these terrorists, the 
Taliban, that we are complicit in the killing and the murdering of over 
3,000 Americans. We need to show them good faith by releasing Taliban 
murderers from their detention, and then they'll have a much better 
feeling about us.
  And then we're also in the process directly of negotiating with the 
Karzai administration, Afghanistan, and the Taliban, trying to work 
something out where the Taliban will have a place. This administration 
has forgotten they killed Americans. They're saying, well, we think 
that they're softening up now. They don't want to kill Americans as 
badly as they did back on 9/11. They probably won't plot, train, and 
kill Americans like they did before if they just see how wonderful our 
administration is and how kind and generous we are just to let them 
have murderers back out of detention who have made no indication that 
they don't want to kill Americans any further.
  This administration is doing this. And they need to understand the 
people that they are about to give this Christmas present to don't 
believe in Christmas. They believed in killing Americans. They believed 
in killing innocent people. They believed in plotting and training to 
carry out such a plot to kill Americans, and there is no indication 
that they think otherwise.
  But this administration is so intent on getting out of Afghanistan 
and turning things over to the Taliban again that we're going to be 
right back where we were 20 years ago as the Taliban was working toward 
the ultimate 9/11.
  And not only that, they will then know everything Osama bin Laden 
said about the Americans being too weak, not being up to the fight, 
that eventually they'll cave in and start helping us to destroy them. 
That's what appears to be happening with this administration. We can't 
do that. The lives of Americans that have been lost in Afghanistan cry 
out, Do not concede defeat to our enemies that have killed us.
  Afghanistan is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but not by 
giving those who terrorized us all that they want. They were wanting an 
office outside of Afghanistan, and this administration said, well, we 
think we can work that out. We'll pay for the office, we'll take care 
of that if you just promise us you won't use that to fund-raise for 
terrorism, okay? That's like North Korea saying, if you'll just build 
us a nuclear power plant, we promise we won't use

[[Page 21445]]

it for nukes, and the Clinton administration and Madeleine Albright 
believed them. And now they've got nukes, and we helped them with it.
  And now this administration can't learn from past mistakes. It's 
about to do that with the Taliban. In meeting with warlords a year and 
a half ago from northern Afghanistan, a small group of us learned that 
after the Taliban was initially defeated in about 3 or 4 months with 
merely embedded troops, that the United States asked the warlords, the 
Northern Alliance, to disarm. And they did. And now, here it was a year 
and a half ago, they're saying look, you may not be aware, but your 
administration, the Obama administration, is indirectly negotiating 
with the Taliban right now. We know. And you're negotiating with them 
and Pakistan in a corrupt Karzai administration. And who is going to be 
hurt out of all of this are your allies, those who fought with you, who 
defeated the Taliban initially, and now you're about to turn things 
over to the people who will kill your allies.

                              {time}  1710

  Do you want that message going around the world, that to be an ally 
with the United States means you ultimately will be abandoned and the 
enemies of your allies will be allowed to kill your allies? It would be 
hard to get allies if you do that. This administration is looking at an 
election year. This is no time to give in to terrorists.
  When President Bush said, I hear you, and in essence said, and soon 
those who did this will hear from us, I can't imagine that he ever 
believed a President and an administration would say, We hear you now, 
terrorists, and we're not going to hurt you. We'll fix you up an office 
outside Afghanistan. We'll make it where you can take over areas of 
Afghanistan. We'll work with you. We'll release your murderers from 
prison. I don't think that's what President Bush was talking about when 
he said they would hear from us, but it sure looks like that's about to 
be what happened according to the stories now circulating.
  Those warlords were right. They said, Look, we were not meant to have 
a big central government. We can't have it without being corrupt, not 
right now. At least let us elect our regional governors, our mayors--at 
least. Don't have the Karzai administration appoint the regional 
governors, appoint the mayors, and pick corrupt police chiefs. Let us 
elect those. The power in Afghanistan is in the regions, in the tribes. 
To have a government that's centralized right now means corruption. Let 
us do that regionally, and give us back weapons so we can defend 
ourselves against the Taliban who is already moving.
  And in answer to this administration's wonderful gestures of kindness 
and we'll release your murderers, we had them kill SEAL Team 6, a big 
number of our people. And that wasn't enough. In September, they killed 
one of the warlords just as a handful of us were about to go have a 
meeting with them again.
  The message is clear: The Taliban have learned nothing. There's only 
one thing they understand--that's force. And it's like career criminals 
that I dealt with as a judge. If you want to be protected, you've got 
to put them where they can't hurt you anymore. There are murderers that 
have been put where they can't hurt us anymore, and this administration 
is now talking about releasing them.
  So we have a twofold front of problems. One is the economy, where the 
Wall Street executives that contribute four-to-one to Democrats over 
Republicans, contributed four-to-one to the Obama campaign over the 
McCain campaign. They've been enriched and engorged with TARP money. 
It's time to end TARP.
  It's time to allow workers to have a break. It's time that the Senate 
quit playing games and acknowledge that a full year of certainty is a 
whole lot better than 2 months. Appoint the conferees; send them to 
confer. It's how things get worked out. It's the way that procedurally 
things were meant to happen so it can be above board.
  The rules require that they must be open sessions of the conference 
committee. That's the way you resolve things, under regular order. It 
needs to be done that way. I know the Senate would like to do closed-
door meetings and give away programs behind closed doors, but it's time 
to do this thing the way the President promised 4 years ago that he 
would if he were President--make it open; make it clear. The American 
people will see who's negotiating for whom. That will help America.
  And I know, in closing, for my comments, that with the Christmas 
season, though there are so many who want to end the ability to say 
Merry Christmas, they want to end the ability to do much of anything 
that really is acknowledging our roots, I think it's important to look 
where we came from. So I would close with this message from Ronald 
Reagan.
  He basically reiterates things that have been said back to the time 
of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln:

       The themes of Christmas and of coming home for the holidays 
     have long been intertwined in song and story. There is a 
     profound irony and lesson in this because Christmas 
     celebrates the coming of a Savior Who was born without a 
     home.
       There was no room at the inn for the Holy Family. Weary of 
     travel, a young Mary close to childbirth and her carpenter 
     husband Joseph found but the rude shelter of a stable. There 
     was born the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace--an event on 
     which all history would turn. Jesus would again be without a 
     home, and more than once. On the flight to Egypt and during 
     His public ministry, when He said, ``The foxes have holes, 
     and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath 
     nowhere to lay His head.''
       From His very infancy on, our Redeemer was reminding us 
     that from then on we would never lack a home in Him. Like the 
     shepherds to whom the angel of the Lord appeared on the first 
     Christmas Day, we could always say, ``Let us now go even unto 
     Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the 
     Lord hath made known unto us.'' As we come home with gladness 
     to family and friends this Christmas, let us also remember 
     our neighbors who cannot go home themselves.
       Our compassion and concern this Christmas and all year long 
     will mean much to the hospitalized, the homeless, the 
     convalescent, the orphaned--and will surely lead us on our 
     way to the joy and peace of Bethlehem and the Christ Child 
     Who bids us come. For it is only in finding and living the 
     eternal meaning of the Nativity that we can be truly happy, 
     truly at peace, truly home. Merry Christmas, and God bless 
     you!

  Ronald Reagan, December 19, 1988, his last Christmas message as 
President.
  Mr. Speaker, there are those who don't want people to mention the 
word ``Christmas,'' and there's an easy solution. For those who don't 
want to mention Christmas, don't want to observe Christmas, then if 
they take the holiday, just agree to give back the money, because the 
money earned on a holiday shouldn't be taken for those who don't think 
it should be a holiday. That's easy enough.
  But in the spirit of Christmas and the things we know about 
government--those of us who believe what's in the Bible--we have an 
obligation to protect people, as the government, as pointed out in 
Romans 13. It coincides with providing for the common defense. It's 
time to do that, to make sure Americans are safe, that they're provided 
with a defense so they can take care of the poor, the needy, the 
orphaned, the widows. They can help their fellow man. That's our job as 
a government. Our job as individuals is to have that same spirit of 
assisting and helping and being servants.
  We're elected to be servants in this body. We're not elected and 
charged with taking from some people and giving to our favorite 
charitable cause. We're to do that with our own money, not with 
people's money that may have some other better charity they prefer to 
give it to.
  We need to get the economy going. We need to bring down the cost of 
energy. That would be a great Christmas present. And since we know that 
the market and the energy industry adjust to announcements, how about a 
great announcement from our President: We're not going to let murderers 
go free, so you don't have to worry, you'll be safe. We're going to 
take the battle to those who want to murder us. We are not going to 
negotiate further with terrorists who want to kill us. We're

[[Page 21446]]

going to make sure that we quit bailing out our friends, our cronies. 
We're going to make sure that those who know better what to do with 
their own money have the opportunity to do that. We're going to give 
some security and some confidence for the following year because here's 
what we're going to do. And we're going to work together.
  And it would be wonderful if the President would say: You know what? 
I demanded the Congress pass a bill that had not even come out when I 
started criticizing them for not passing it.

                              {time}  1720

  Then I started criticizing them for not passing a bill I'd forgotten 
to ask a Democrat to file for me. So I'm not going to do that anymore. 
I want to work with Congress. I want to get this country back on track. 
So instead of traveling around the country demeaning Congress for not 
passing bills that were not filed, I'm going to work with Congress.
  And I hope that will be our President's New Year's resolution. Don't 
release murderers, and deal honestly and openly with the American 
people and with Congress.
  We can get some things worked out. I've just been talking to 
Democratic friends today about things that we agree on. We can do that 
and give the American people a present.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded not to engage in 
personalities toward the Senate or its Members.

                          ____________________