[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 69-70]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        JOBS FOR YOUNG AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, when I had the 
privilege of serving in this House for the first time in the 1980s, I 
joined with many of my colleagues in supporting the creation of the 
Martin Luther King, Junior holiday. I recall the time because we had 
twice before defeated the proposition based on fiscal concerns. I, in 
fact, had voted against it on one occasion and then had reflected 
further on it and thought that it perhaps was more important that we 
have a single holiday that celebrated the consensus that had been 
obtained on civil rights, the consensus in this country that we should 
take positive action to assure that all men and all women were 
recognized as being created equal and having opportunity in this 
society.

                              {time}  1120

  I thought this consensus on civil rights was embodied in the person 
of Dr. Martin Luther King and thought it was important for all 
Americans,

[[Page 70]]

young and old, to be able to reflect on that and to have a period of 
time for that reflection and that we could learn from the mistakes of 
the past and also the sacrifices of the past as we went forward.
  Now, having said that, I must take exception to a characterization of 
the comments of one of our Presidential candidates, a former colleague 
and my friend, Newt Gingrich, when he was trying to make a very, very 
important point. Too often, those of us in government take credit for 
programs that give things to people that is largesse from the 
government to individuals rather than understanding the genius of our 
system, which is the opportunity for people to rise to the best of 
their abilities to become as good as God created them to be, and that 
there is no greater social welfare program or social program than a 
job. That's a cliche at times but it is, in fact, an important 
statement.
  The point that Newt Gingrich was making was that we should not revel 
in the fact that we have more people on food stamps than ever before, 
even though that has been promoted by some as evidence of our 
compassion. What Mr. Gingrich suggested is we ought not to be beating 
our breasts in pride about our compassion. We ought to be looking 
inward about our inability to create opportunity for our fellow men and 
women in this society. The point he made is that it is far better that 
we create an economic environment in which men and women, young and 
old, have an opportunity to experience the satisfaction of a job well 
done.
  As Newt Gingrich said, his daughter's first job was as a janitor in 
their Baptist church in Georgia, and he said while that was not to 
which she aspired as a long-term goal, it was, in fact, the launching 
point of her job experience. Too often we have knocked out the lower 
rungs of the ladder of economic success in a manner which has created 
frustration, disappointment, and a lack of confidence in our young 
people today.
  That was the point that former Speaker Gingrich made. It is a point 
well made. It is a point that we should contemplate. It is a point that 
we should recognize and place within our debate today. And to 
mischaracterize it as somehow having an underlying racial meaning 
demeans the level of debate on this floor, the level of debate in the 
Presidential campaigns, and frankly, the reality that confronts too 
many of our people today.
  I represent a district that has higher unemployment than the national 
average, higher unemployment than the statewide average in California, 
which has for too long a period of time been, I think, the third worst 
unemployment rate in the country. We need to work harder on creating an 
economic environment in which the uncertainty imposed by the government 
is reduced so that those men and women of genius and hard work and 
inspiration and creativity can continue to make this the most vibrant, 
robust, economic engine in the history of the world.
  That is the way that we help all in our society, men and women, black 
and white, Hispanic, people of every color, not by questioning 
motivations but by, in fact, facing the truth.

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