[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 5717-5718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN JIM MORAN AT HIS 20-YEAR GALA CELEBRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 8, 2011

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, my friend and colleague Jim Moran gave these 
insightful remarks at his 20-Year Gala Celebration on March 29th.

 Congressman Jim Moran's Speech at his 20-Year Gala Celebration--March 
                                29, 2011

       I have the best job in the world--representing the best 
     educated, most diverse workforce in the strongest economy in 
     the country.
       Of course, there's always going to be a gap between what 
     business can produce and what government can provide. In 
     Northern Virginia much of that gap is filled with the 
     personal generosity of most of you in this room. So, on 
     behalf of the beneficiaries of your generosity, let me thank 
     you again for your unselfishness.
       After 65 years of life and 30 years in politics, I've come 
     to realize some things that may have not been as apparent 
     when I started out. First of all, the tragedy of so many 
     lives I've come into contact with, didn't occur when they 
     drew their last breath, but rather when they dreamt their 
     last dream. The tragedy of life is what we let die inside us 
     while we live.
       Societies have many of the same organic qualities as 
     individuals and what strikes me as I speak tonight is that 
     this nation, which our founding fathers intended to serve as 
     the brightest and most moral beacon of hope and enlightenment 
     for all mankind, is in danger of losing its energy and its 
     luster. It's not lights out time, but the light is dimming. 
     Confidence and optimism is giving way to pessimism and 
     cynicism.
       The fact that we can't even see our way through to funding 
     the Federal Government is an example of what I'm talking 
     about. Many in today's Congress have said they will not vote 
     to fund our Treasury obligations when we hit our national 
     debt ceiling in a matter of weeks. The seed corn for our 
     future growth--education, Head Start, research and 
     development, roads, rails, clean water infrastructure, 
     environmental preservation, the arts and humanities, are all 
     being cut into the bone in the pending HR1 Appropriations 
     Bill.
       I'm in this job because I believe deeply in my heart in the 
     American dream and I believe in the essential role of the 
     Federal Government in the fulfillment of that dream.
       Government can't and shouldn't try to solve every problem, 
     right every wrong, or even rectify every inequality. Its job 
     is to be a catalyst and a gap-filler and the option of last 
     resort. To do the things that the private sector can't or 
     won't.
       For example, the private sector alone can't afford the kind 
     of basic research that DARPA and the National Science 
     Foundation invested in that produced the internet, GPS, the 
     human genome, and cures for so many of our diseases. And if 
     we want to unravel the mysteries of what lies under the sea 
     and above the sky, if we want to find a permanent cure for 
     Alzheimer's and cancer and autism, and if we're going to 
     secure clean, sustainable sources of energy, then the Federal 
     Government needs to be seen as a partner worth the trust and 
     the investment of the American people and its politicians.
       The private sector can't finance all our interstate roads 
     and high-speed rail and mass transit systems. The private 
     sector can't fund the infrastructure to separate storm water 
     from drinking water or salvage Puget Sound or the Chesapeake 
     Bay or the Great Lakes. And neither the private sector nor 
     most of the parents of this country can take on the task of 
     educating our future workforce.
       Those are inherently governmental responsibilities and we 
     ought not shrink from them.
       If we truly believe in the future of this country then we 
     have to be willing to make the investments necessary to 
     ensure that brighter future. That means you don't cut corners 
     on research opportunities, you don't shortchange your 
     transportation systems, and you don't lay off more than 
     200,000 teachers, as we've done over the last two years, 
     while the number of students has increased by 750,000.
       Of course, we have to reduce the deficit and ultimately 
     balance our budget--but you can't fight two wars, expand 
     Medicare and invest billions in our homeland's security with 
     two deep tax cuts.
       We're bringing in revenue today that amounts to 15% of GDP. 
     We've never had a

[[Page 5718]]

     strong, stable, modern economy without investing at least 20% 
     of our GDP in military security and in our domestic physical 
     and human infrastructure. But, as the Bowles/Simpson 
     Commission emphasized, spending at 25% of GDP is just as 
     unsustainable as taxing at 15%.
       Our tax code has got to be made simpler and fairer. Warren 
     Buffet is right to ask why his secretary pays 25% of her 
     income while he only pays taxes on 10% of his wealth. And 
     it's fair to ask why Exxon Mobil, GE, NewsCorp, Bank of 
     America, and dozens of other multinational corporations are 
     paying zero taxes to the U.S. during some of their most 
     profitable years, while other corporations with much less 
     profit are paying 35%.
       It's not their fault. It's ours in the Congress.
       We lose a trillion dollars a year in so-called tax 
     expenditures, much of which can only be justified in a 
     political context. And while I'm an ardent capitalist, I 
     don't think we should be taxing those making $250,000 a year 
     at the same rate as we tax those making $25 million a year.
       We also have to rein in health care costs. They're 
     crippling our economy. Medicare and Medicaid spending has 
     doubled over the last 25 years as a percent of GDP. It 
     doesn't make sense that we should be living shorter, less 
     healthy lives, while spending twice what any other country is 
     spending on its health care. The reason is that we reimburse 
     for the quantity of services provided, rather than the 
     quality of care needed. Hopefully, the health care reform 
     bill that was fought over so vehemently will fix that.
       A couple other things I have come to realize over the last 
     20 years is that the best social program is a good job and 
     the key to economic prosperity and social stability is a 
     strong middle class. Neither a survival of the fittest 
     society nor a winner-take-all economy is in anyone's long-
     term best interest.
       Carrying on the theme of societies functioning very much 
     like individuals, I think we all have kind of a burning flame 
     inside of us. Some call it our soul or the human spirit, but 
     it does seem as though when we look the other way from the 
     poor, shut our doors to the homeless, close our consciences 
     to the sick and needy, that flame burns less bright, and 
     eventually goes out. . . I think that can apply to our nation 
     as well.
       And in that regard, let me say a word about immigration. I 
     just came from a ten-day trip to Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, 
     and Mexico City. The Chinese, Canadians and Europeans are all 
     filling the gap in Colombia and Panama left by our inability 
     to reach a deal with them--a free trade deal that primarily 
     lowers their tariffs on our goods and services.
       But in Guatemala, fully half the population is stunted from 
     malnutrition and crime is so pervasive a young person is more 
     likely to be shot in a crime than to study in a college. In 
     Mexico, 97% of the crimes committed are never prosecuted. The 
     kids go to school for only four hours a day, but only 13% of 
     their teachers can pass a high school equivalency exam.
       What would you do as a parent in a situation like that? I 
     think I know what you would do, because it is exactly what I 
     would do for my own children--you would risk everything to 
     pursue your dream of a better life for your kids. And that's 
     exactly what the bravest, boldest and most entrepreneurial 
     do.
       And it is because people from all over the world have made 
     that decision to come to America for the same reasons our 
     ancestors did, that we've been able to constantly renew and 
     reinvigorate our population and our workforce. That's why I'm 
     a cosponsor of a bill that makes the highest achieving 
     children of immigrants eligible for college, regardless of 
     their parents' status and why I support the bill that 
     requires English fluency, civics knowledge, paid-up back 
     taxes, and no criminal record to get in the back of the line 
     for citizenship. That's what they say amnesty is all about. I 
     think it's what America is all about.
       And finally--Libya. Who among you, if you saw a well-known 
     bully beating up on defenseless people with a tire iron, 
     wouldn't grab that tire iron out of his hands?
       Gaddafi is not Mubarack of Egypt or King Hussein of Jordan, 
     or President Saleh of Yemen or the Khalifa family of Bahrain. 
     He's a truly bad guy. He's using foreign mercenaries to 
     torture and kill his people, who I believe just want some 
     semblance of dignity, opportunity and human rights. Human 
     rights that their peers throughout the Middle East are now 
     willing to risk their lives for. President Obama has done the 
     right thing by leveling the playing field.
       The reason we've made the extraordinary investments we've 
     made to create the strongest, smartest military in the world 
     is to make this a better, safer world for everyone, and in so 
     doing, to insure a more peaceful world for ourselves.
       And when we seize the moral high ground, we will always win 
     not just the battle, but the war of ideals and values. Those 
     same values and ideals motivated my father to serve in World 
     War II and to take advantage of the GI Bill and to save and 
     sacrifice to get all seven of his children through college, 
     and it's why I'm so genuinely humbled by the idea that I've 
     been able to serve in the U.S. Congress for the last 20 
     years--and why I am so deeply grateful to all of you for 
     affording me that opportunity.
       Thank you.

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