[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                       CONGRESS IS DYSFUNCTIONAL

  (Mr. MILLER of North Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MILLER of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, many of my Democratic 
colleagues today have criticized Republicans in Congress as do-
nothings, but my own view is a little different.
  It is certainly true that the Nation has real needs. Economists tell 
us that legislation held hostage here would create millions of jobs and 
put many Americans back to work. Instead of addressing those needs, 
Congress is just dysfunctional.
  But considering what Republicans in Congress want to do, it is a 
great blessing that Congress has done next to nothing. They have 
repeatedly voted to repeal health care reform--33 times according to 
one count--as if denying health insurance for preexisting conditions 
would put Americans back to work.
  They have voted to gut or eliminate the funding for Wall Street 
reform--putting us right back where we were 5 years ago with the Bush 
administration policies that created the painful downturn that we are 
now in--and at least 55 times voted to restrict women's reproductive 
rights and access to affordable health care, which included repeated 
attempts to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. It is hard to see 
that as a job creation agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, better to do nothing than what they want to do.

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