[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14711-14718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          DO-NOTHING CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. HOYER. And so this 112th Congress convulses to an ugly end of its 
time before the national elections. All of us must be sad, and the 
American people are angry and sad that this Congress has been so 
inattentive to the needs of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, today House Republicans are leaving town and will not 
return until after the November elections.
  Two very respected political scientists--not Democrats or 
Republicans; one a representative of the more conservative think tank 
and another a more liberal think tank--have written a book about the 
dysfunction they have seen in this Congress. Mr. Mann and Mr. 
Orenstein--quoted by many reporters from many journals, from all 
different perspectives--they said this:
  We have been studying Washington politics in Congress for more than 
40 years, and never, never have we seen them as dysfunctional. In our 
past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was 
warranted. Today, however, said these two respected political 
scientists and observers of Washington, today, however, we have no 
choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the 
Republican Party.
  They went on to say that the GOP has become an insurgent outlier in 
American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; 
unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; 
and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. That is 
the nub of the problem.
  Our Republican colleagues are leaving without getting their work 
done. I said, ``their work done.'' Without getting our work done, the 
work of the American people.
  Comprehensive jobs bills, middle class tax cuts have not been 
extended, farmers are left on their own to face the worst drought in 
decades--the worst drought in decades--and a farm bill reported out of 
the Republican committee lays unconsidered by this floor. Reported out 
of their committee, from their majority, and they haven't brought it to 
the floor, while farmers remain in trouble. We've not reauthorized the 
Violence Against Women Act, and we have not passed the postal reform 
bill.
  I am glad to take this Special Order, Mr. Speaker, to say to the 
American people that we're prepared to stay. We're prepared to stay and 
work on these bills. And I'm going to talk about some of these bills, 
but my colleagues are here as well.
  I first want to yield to the former president of the Senate of 
Vermont for his observations as we leave this town, my friend, Mr. 
Welch from Vermont.
  Mr. WELCH. I thank the gentleman.
  You know, on the farm bill, we've got the worst drought we've had in 
50 years. We've got people who need nutrition programs. We've got 
farmers who need certainty about what the price support programs are 
going to be, what their future is going to be. We've got livestock 
farmers that are in desperate straits because of the drought.
  And we've got a Senate that's passed a farm bill. We've got a House 
Agriculture Committee that's passed a farm bill, on a bipartisan basis, 
Democrats and Republicans working together to pass that bill. And the 
House leadership, who has the authority to bring this bill to the 
floor, won't do it. That's the first time in the history of the House 
of Representatives where a farm bill passed by the Agriculture 
Committee has not been brought to the floor for a vote.
  Mr. Speaker, we could defend, each and every one of us on both sides 
of the aisle, a vote of conscience, whether it was ``yes'' or ``no,'' 
on the farm bill. None of us can defend not even taking a vote on the 
farm bill.
  That decision is not within the authority of any individual Member of 
Congress. That is the decision that the

[[Page 14712]]

majority leader and the Speaker of the House have the authority to 
make, and their refusal to bring this bill to the floor will be 
absolutely an indictment of Congress' inability to do its job.
  America needs a farm bill. This Congress needs to do its job. We've 
got the time to do it. We should act. That bill should be brought to us 
for a vote.

                              {time}  1230

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, that is a sample of the dysfunction and 
inability and unwillingness to compromise on which Mr. Ornstein and Mr. 
Mann spoke.
  I now yield to my friend from New York (Mr. Tonko).
  Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Minority Whip Hoyer. You have led us so 
expertly well on this floor.
  You cite the many failings of this do-nothing Republican Congress. It 
is tragic that we will leave for home now and not get the work of the 
people done and will not respond to the needs of America. That is such 
an unjust outcome.
  We know that a middle class tax cut has been passed in the Senate and 
that the President has said he would sign it. We need that measure. We 
need that measure done so as to provide for confidence in the American 
economy. What we need right now is that sort of boost. That booster 
shot can do a lot for growing sales for businesses out there. The 
aggregate demand for goods and services, driven by relief for the 
middle class via a tax cut, is important. The Violence Against Women 
Act that was reauthorized in the Senate failed to come to this floor. 
Postal reform--overwhelmingly approved by the Senate--fails to come to 
this floor. There is also the farm bill, which is important to all of 
upstate New York, and I know our members from the upstate delegation, 
from the New York delegation, are greatly disturbed by the do-nothing 
Republican Congress.
  Minority Whip Hoyer, thank you for leading us in this discussion. We 
have not earned a 6-week recess until election day without having done 
the people's business. We need to stay here and get the people's work 
done--build America's economy, go forward with progress--and provide 
for the results that America so desperately needs. It's a shame that 
this do-nothing Republican Congress has now called a halt to all 
business on this floor for the next several weeks.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments. He is absolutely 
right.
  Mr. Speaker, just for the knowledge of all of our Members, the Senate 
did pass a middle class tax cut, making sure that 98 percent of our 
taxpayers would not get any increase in their taxes on the 1st of 
January. That bill is over here. It has not been brought to the floor, 
notwithstanding the fact, I believe, that every one of us believes that 
those taxpayers ought not get an increase. So there is overwhelming 
support for that bill, bipartisan support, but it won't be brought to 
the floor.
  On the Violence Against Women Act, to ensure that women and families 
are not subjected to dangerous domestic violence, it passed 68-31 
through the United States Senate; not passed here. Postal reform passed 
62-37 in a bipartisan vote in the United States Senate; not paid 
attention to here. The farm bill, which passed with 64 votes--almost 2-
1 in the United States Senate on a bipartisan vote with 16 Republican 
Senators voting for it--has not been brought to this floor. Yet we walk 
away. We walk away from the American people.
  I now yield to my friend from Illinois, the gentlelady from Illinois, 
Jan Schakowsky.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank the gentleman so much for yielding and for 
pointing out how languishing in the House of Representatives are many 
pieces of legislation that have passed the United States Senate in a 
bipartisan way with a Democratic majority. Yet here in the House, where 
we have a Republican majority--and as you pointed out, some of these 
bills have actually passed their own committees led by Republicans--are 
still not being considered on the floor today.
  So we are going to adjourn and will not meet again for almost 2 
months--the earliest adjournment before an election in over 50 years. 
Republicans are going to turn off the lights in this Chamber, shutting 
down debate on matters of serious consequence to Americans and the 
economy. Shame on them. We should be staying and dealing with those 
bills.
  They have voted, for example, time after time to repeal ObamaCare and 
to protect tax cuts for the wealthy and rich corporations, but have 
taken no action on preserving tax cuts for the middle class--for 98 
percent of American taxpayers.
  They've not taken any action on the Violence Against Women Act, which 
passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 68-31. For the many years 
that the Violence Against Women Act has been enacted, it has always had 
bipartisan support.
  We haven't passed the wind production tax credit, which, again, would 
mean jobs for Americans in an industry that has just been developing 
right now and that is so important to our environment and for people, 
for instance, in my State of Illinois as well as in Iowa and other 
Midwestern States.
  We haven't passed the doctor fix, making sure that Medicare 
reimbursements to doctors don't drop by 27 percent.
  We haven't dealt with sequestration, which would have a devastating 
impact on investments that create jobs and protect low-income people.
  There has been no action on the post office reform or the farm bill, 
which has been mentioned. In southern Illinois, where we have a serious 
drought, our farmers are waiting for some drought relief, but they're 
not going to get it from this Congress.
  Most importantly, while Republicans have found the time to vote again 
and again to end the Medicare guarantee--making it harder for seniors 
to choose their own doctors and raising the costs of health care for 
seniors by over $6,000 a year--they still haven't found the time to 
bring a comprehensive jobs bill to the floor or one that deals with 
making it in America, which is an industrial policy that would actually 
put Americans back to work right here at home.
  Millions of hardworking American people are still looking for more 
than just talk about jobs. Over a year ago, I introduced the Emergency 
Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act in order to create more than 2 
million jobs and to put people back to work in the most straightforward 
of ways--by hiring them. My bill would put people to work in critical 
areas to our communities and our economy--people like teachers, cops 
and firefighters, health care workers, school construction and 
maintenance workers.
  Over a year ago, President Obama sent to Congress the American Jobs 
Act, which incorporated parts of my bill and also would provide tax 
credits to small businesses--yet another tax credit--and assistance to 
State and local governments in order to prevent the layoffs of critical 
workers. Independent experts estimate that President Obama's American 
Jobs Act would create up to 2.6 million jobs.
  But the Republican do-nothing Congress brought neither of these jobs 
bills to the floor. No. They are, every day, sabotaging every effort to 
actually help create jobs and to Make It in America. Democrats truly do 
want to stay to fight for jobs, for the economy, for farmers, for 
taxpayers, for battered women. It's time for the Republicans to join 
us.
  Thank you, Mr. Minority Whip, for leading us in this effort, and I 
urge all of the Republicans to join us in staying here.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the distinguished Member from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky) for her comments. Nobody fights harder for working people 
and seniors in this Congress than Jan Schakowsky, and no one is sadder 
that we have been so lacking in attention to the issues of concern to 
those folks.
  I now want to recognize Allyson Schwartz from the State of 
Pennsylvania, who has also been a great leader and a member of the Ways 
and Means Committee and who is trying to work on behalf of jobs and 
growing our economy. I yield to my friend from Pennsylvania.

[[Page 14713]]


  Ms. SCHWARTZ. I thank you, Mr. Minority Whip.
  You have spoken out every week both on the floor of Congress and 
around this country. You've spoken out on the actions we ought to be 
taking in order to strengthen our Nation, protect our seniors, grow our 
economy, and make sure our children have a great future. You speak 
eloquently about that every week, so I really am pleased to be able to 
just join you in calling attention to the fact that we do have serious 
economic and fiscal challenges in this Nation.
  Instead of coming together and trying to find common ground--trying 
to find that agreement so we can solve these problems that the American 
people are asking us to do, which is to solve these problems--the 
Republicans have been doing nothing. They're trying to roll us back, 
move us backward. In fact, the Republicans, as we know, just decided to 
recess and head home. We know the Republicans, yet again, have made 
their choices, their priorities, their values very clear not only to us 
and to our constituents but, really, to all Americans, who are seeing 
more clearly what the Republicans' choices have been. They are 
determined to dismantle the progress we have made. They continuously 
try and roll back our accomplishments that we have made so as to take 
our country back to a failed economic agenda that has hurt so many 
Americans.
  The Republicans' goals are stunning, and we have seen them every week 
on the floor of Congress for the last year and a half, almost 2 years: 
repealing health care reform and eliminating the benefits for seniors 
and access to affordable coverage for millions of Americans; repealing 
the financial regulatory system; eliminating those consumer protections 
with regard to environmental regulations, thus threatening clean water 
and clean air; ending Medicare as we know it. Reducing the Federal 
Government at any cost, that has been their goal.

                              {time}  1240

  I want to mention just quickly two things that you're going to talk 
some more about and some of my colleagues. I fought so hard on 
Medicare. We all have. The Republicans have been absolutely clear on 
this, their willingness to undue Medicare for all seniors. I've said 
this before that whether you're 65 and expecting Medicare and living 
under Medicare right now, you'll see a reduction in your benefits. 
Whether you're 55 or 45 or 35 and you're paying into Medicare and want 
Medicare to be there in the future, they are threatening that promise 
of Medicare. They are deliberately working and have voted to end 
Medicare as we know it. We've seen that time and again. It's not just 
the Republican leadership, not just Mr. Ryan. There are many. Most of 
the Republicans, not all of them have voted for this. Rather than 
guarantee benefits under Medicare, the Republicans will leave seniors 
on their own to buy benefits that they can afford or not. The voucher 
will be inadequate to buy Medicare benefits that exist now, costing our 
seniors about $6,400 more per year.
  They threaten our fellow seniors as well in nursing homes by voting 
for a third of a cut in Medicaid that affects, really, the costs of our 
seniors in nursing homes. Any of us who have loved ones or visit 
nursing homes know that these are people who require a great deal of 
care. This is the agenda of the Republicans.
  Instead of tackling what we're willing to do together such as middle 
class tax cuts, they're holding it hostage to tax breaks for the 
wealthiest 1 percent or 2 percent. They won't move forward on that sort 
of certainty or on many of the issues facing us at the end of the year 
as we're on a fiscal cliff that many of us talk about and are really 
not doing the kind of work that needs to get done to create that 
certainty, to be able to protect Medicare, to be able to make the 
strategic investments, to make sure the tax policy is fair, and we do 
fiscal policy for our Nation in the right way, in a fair way, in a 
responsible way, and an achievable way.
  I thank you for this Special Order, and I'm calling on the 
Republicans to meet these challenges for our Nation, and to do that 
together.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for her comments. No one works 
harder on health care and is more focused on the delivery of affordable 
care to all of our people, but particularly concerned about health care 
for our seniors. How ironic it is that the pledge that the Republicans 
made was to repeal and replace. I'm going to talk a little bit about 
that. But there has been no replacement. On the one hand, they want to 
eliminate the guarantee that Medicare gives to people to have the 
security that health care will be available to them; and on the other 
hand they offer nothing to replace it, no alternative, except to 
increase substantially the cost of those seniors when they are in need 
of health care.
  I thank the gentlelady for her work, and I thank her for her 
leadership on this very critical issue.
  I'm now pleased to yield to the distinguished minority leader, the 
former Speaker of the House, who has been instrumental in ensuring 
affordable health care is available to all of our people, Nancy Pelosi 
of California.
  Ms. PELOSI. Thank you very much, Mr. Hoyer. I appreciate your 
yielding and your leadership in bringing us together on the floor of 
the House. We are after-hours, and it is only 12:40, but it's after-
hours on a Friday afternoon. That is in the context that we left here 
on August 3. We're not due back until November 14, and yet we have had 
only 8 legislative days of work in that period of time.
  I thank you for calling that dereliction of duty to the attention of 
the American people because we have work to do. It's not as if our work 
is finished. As you have indicated, there is critical legislation that 
is expiring that has passed even in the Senate; yet Republicans have 
blocked the vote in the House, whether it's middle income tax relief, 
postal reform, violence against women, the farm bill and then, of 
course, initiatives proposed by President Obama to create jobs for our 
economy.
  I was so pleased to hear what our colleague, Congresswoman Schwartz, 
had to say about Medicare, because our names are all on the ballot in 
this year's election. But what is really at stake is Medicare. 
Medicare, Medicare, Medicare. As you said, Mr. Hoyer, they offered 
nothing except to raise costs to seniors for getting less as they phase 
out Medicare.
  I wanted to talk about another subject because it's a larger issue as 
I hear this question bandied about. You hear people say, Are you better 
off now than you were 4 years ago? The Republicans have the nerve to 
pose that question that when you look back to 4 years ago, this very 
week, Mr. Speaker, you would know that we are indeed fundamentally and 
unquestionably better off as a country today. This week, 4 years ago, 
September 18 to be exact, but this week, there was a meeting in my 
office when I was Speaker of the Democratic and Republican leadership 
of the House and of the Senate gathered together to hear a report from 
the administration that was very alarming.
  Mind you, September 18, 2008, the Secretary of the Treasury, Hank 
Paulson, described for us a financial system in imminent danger of 
total collapse. Chairman Bernanke at that same meeting, the chairman of 
the Fed, told us if we did not act immediately, we would not have an 
economy by Monday. This was a Thursday evening. You remember, Mr. 
Hoyer. You were there. If we do not act immediately, we will not have 
an economy by Monday. How on Earth can people who perpetrated that 
situation on our country have the nerve to turn around and ask that 
question? At the end of the meeting, we all went out in a bipartisan 
way and spoke to the press. I said at the time, Time is of the essence 
and that Congress would act. I was trying to lift confidence in our 
financial situation.
  Despite there being a Presidential election 7 weeks away at that 
time, it was no time for partisanship. The crisis demanded that 
Democrats and Republicans work with President Bush to rescue our 
economy from depression or, as Chairman Bernanke said, from our not 
having an economy 4 days later.

[[Page 14714]]

  In the days ahead, our country confronted the worst financial crisis 
since the Great Depression. The costs were staggering: more than $8 
trillion lost in household wealth, more than 8 million jobs lost, and 
more than 4 million families losing their homes to foreclosure. 
Nonetheless, the Democrats voted with President Bush to restore 
confidence in our markets, and the Republicans even walked away from 
their own President.
  In the 2 years after that September 18 meeting, we continued to take 
actions to reduce spending and to address what was inevitable from the 
policies of the 8 years previous to the November 2008 election. When we 
took the majority and with President Obama in office, we took action to 
reduce spending, create jobs, keep people in their homes, and passed 
Dodd-Frank, the toughest Wall Street reforms in generations. With it--
the most historic for the first time--protections for American 
consumers in that bill. All of it was fought vigorously against by the 
Republicans.
  Now we have President Obama, and we have a Republican Congress. Under 
President Obama's leadership, we have added private sector jobs for 30 
straight months, compared to losing 700,000 jobs a month as he entered 
office; the auto industry, which was facing extinction, and the loss of 
over 1 million jobs in that industry is again competitive and hiring 
and thriving; the Dow Jones average, which is one reflection of the 
security of tens of millions of American investors and pension funds, 
has already doubled; and housing prices are slowly rising again. We 
need much more progress there. Imagine, from that time the Dow Jones 
has doubled.
  We still have work to do to continue the American recovery. If the 
Republicans had cooperated at all with President Obama in the last 2 
years, we would be much farther down the road to recovery. We 
cooperated with President Bush; but they would not offer an ounce of 
cooperation to President Obama, and our economy has paid the price. We 
have reaped the benefits of some of what happened in the 2 years when 
we were in the majority and President Obama was in the first 2 years of 
his term. But so much more could have been done with some cooperation 
from the Republicans.
  We get back to the question: Are we better off this week in September 
than we were this week 4 years ago? You be the judge.

                              {time}  1250

  I know America's families are hurting. We want to do more to create 
jobs, et cetera, and we have to have bipartisan cooperation to do that. 
The Republicans have resisted that. From that standpoint, yes, we can 
do better.
  But from the standpoint of this country when there was a financial 
crisis, we were on the verge of a total collapse where the chairman of 
the Fed told us that if we did not act immediately, we wouldn't have an 
economy by Monday. Yes, we are fundamentally as a country better off 
and, therefore, the prospects for the future are better for all of 
America's families, and that's what we are here to work on, the future.
  Too bad our Republican colleagues have cut and run from town, but we 
stand ready to welcome them back to work in a bipartisan way to make 
concessions to get the job done for the American people.
  I thank you, Mr. Hoyer, for giving us all the opportunity to express 
our views on the subject today.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Leader, thank you for your comments and your 
leadership.
  You are so correct in studying the statistics of the Dow, having 
doubled. It's actually up now probably about 105, 110 percent. The 
Standard & Poor's is up more than double, and the NASDAQ is up more 
than double over those years. In January of 2009, I'm sure most people 
tragically remember, we lost 818,000 private sector jobs that month. 
Last month we gained 92,000 jobs.
  Is there anybody who could say a loss of 818,000 jobs isn't a lot 
worse than the gain of 92,000 jobs--92,000 jobs is not enough. We need 
to do more. The President offered a jobs bill. It has not been brought 
to this floor, notwithstanding the fact in the Pledge to America they 
said this is a transparent Congress that would be allowed to work its 
will. That bill has not been brought to the floor.
  For the last 30 months we have gained, straight, more jobs, 4.6 
million jobs to be exactly correct, while 4.4 million jobs were lost in 
2008 alone. Are we better off gaining 4.6 million as opposed to losing 
4.4 million jobs?
  We have had 12 straight quarters of economic growth. The last four 
quarters of 2008 in the last administration was a net 13 percent 
decrease in GDP. Yes, Mr. Speaker, the leader is correct. We're better 
off today, but we could be much better off. We ought to be better off 
if we hadn't walked away from a jobs bill, hadn't walked away from 
investing in an infrastructure bill that gave certainty.
  We didn't even bring that bill to the floor. We walked away from 
making sure that the health care bill works properly, walked away--and 
I'm going to recognize Mr. Costa--walked away from the farmers of 
America, walked away this day as we have walked away in the past.
  Mr. Costa is from farm country. He understands the pain being 
experienced in farm country, and he knows how terrible it is to have 
simply walked away, walked away from the House-passed bill out of 
committee and walked away from a bipartisan Senate bill. My friend is 
such a strong voice on this floor, such an active member of the 
Agriculture Committee and such a proponent of farm country, not only 
California, which he represents but through this country.
  I yield to my friend.
  Mr. COSTA. I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding, because 
we ought to be about doing the people's business. Walking away as we 
are for the next 46 days to focus on elections when we ought to be 
focusing on the people's business is a very sad commentary, a very sad 
commentary to the people of our land.
  I appreciate all the good work that my colleague Congressman Hoyer 
and my other colleagues do in trying to address the critical challenges 
that we face in our Nation today. As was stated, our House Republican 
colleagues have left town to focus on the election. In the meantime we 
have unfinished business. We have unfinished business on comprehensive 
jobs, big and balanced budget solutions to the deficit, tax cuts for 
the middle class, the farm bill--which I want to speak to--and the 
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, as a cochair of the 
Victims' Rights Caucus, is especially disheartening.
  Let me say that the folks who farm and put the food on America's 
dinner table are wondering why, just why, we can't get a farm bill. It 
is one of the most bipartisan things we ever do here in Congress.
  In 2008 we had a bipartisan farm bill when we had the majority. 
President Bush vetoed it, we overrode his veto twice. Today we have a 
farm bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the 
Senate by a vote of 64-35. It made cuts because we have to make cuts, 
and we have to be fiscally responsible, $23.5 billion less than the 
farm bill of 2008.
  In the House, as a Member of the House Agriculture Committee, we 
voted a comprehensive bill out, 35-11. We made cuts because we have to 
make cuts. In a number of the areas we made similar cuts to the 
Senate's, $20 billion in farm programs. We made additional cuts in 
nutritional programs, which are part of what would normally be worked 
out if regular order was allowed to take place.
  Mr. HOYER. The gentleman may know this better than I because he works 
so closely with the ag community, but over 70 farm organizations and 
farmer-focused organizations came to town a week or two ago and all 
said pass the Senate bill, not because they believed it was perfect, 
but because they believed it was a bipartisan bill that would bring 
relief to farm country and give some certainty to the farming 
community. I think I'm correct on that.
  Mr. COSTA. The gentleman is correct. We had over 70 farm 
organizations from the American Farm Bureau, the National Farmers Union 
to the, as we

[[Page 14715]]

say, the ``barnyard coalition'' that represents all of the poultry and 
pork and dairy and beef cattle industries, because they understand that 
a farm bill is a safety net. Without it, we don't have a farm policy, 
we don't have a food policy for not just American farmers, ranchers, 
and dairymen but for the consumers who, each night, enjoy the highest-
quality food produced with the safest quality anywhere in the world.
  Let me just close by saying two things. The dairy industry is 
hurting. We have had a drought in the Midwest that has devastated a 
whole host of the farm country. And yet, what is one of the ways that 
farmers, ranchers, and dairymen are able to produce next year's crops? 
Well, they get loans. They get loans from banks and production credit 
associations.
  What are those loans made of? They are based upon the value of their 
farm and how much they were leveraged, but they are also based upon a 
farm bill, a farm bill that provides the ability to ensure that there 
is a safety net and that there is crop insurance. Without any farm 
bill, we don't have any crop insurance. Without a farm bill, we don't 
have that safety net.
  With the overwhelming bipartisan support that we have in the Senate, 
the bipartisan bill that was voted out of the House Agriculture 
Committee, it seems to me that we ought to let the process work. I 
would urge my colleagues to come back. Come back and let's do the 
people's business on all of these issues. The Violence Against Women 
Reauthorization Act. The Victims' Rights Caucus every day is focusing 
on protecting women and their families throughout this country, and 
that is also a bipartisan piece of legislation that we always act on. 
Again we're not doing the people's business.
  The gentleman from Maryland, my colleague, is so correct in bringing 
this to the attention of the House. Ladies and gentlemen, we ought to 
be about doing the people's business.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership, 
not only for farm country but for all of the people in this country on 
behalf of getting people back to work, making jobs available, and 
making sure our farmers are secure, and particularly for making sure 
that we address the epidemic of violence perpetrated against family 
members. I thank the gentleman for his leadership.
  I yield to somebody who is as strong a voice as we have in this House 
on behalf of the working men and women in this country, the gentlewoman 
from California, Lynn Woolsey.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. I thank the gentleman for leading this Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, yesterday we were debating work requirements under the 
TANF program. Well, after we've all listed the issues that the 
Republicans have refused to address in this Congress, we can say that 
we know a bunch of people who should be subjected to a work 
requirement.

                              {time}  1300

  They take home a lot of Federal dollars. They're actually on the 
public dole, but they don't seem to be doing very much work. And I'm 
talking about the do-nothing Republicans in this Congress. I don't 
blame them for wanting to hurry home for their campaigns because a lot 
of their jobs must be in jeopardy. On the other hand, when they get 
there, they might find their constituents pretty frustrated that they 
haven't done their jobs and they have not met their responsibilities.
  Every single day that we're here, my colleagues across the aisle put 
forward bills that have no hope of becoming law and exist only to 
promote Republican talking points. Time and time again, they have 
chosen gridlock and confrontation over progress and cooperation. They 
haven't lifted a finger to pass the President's jobs package, even 
though it contains many, many ideas that the Republicans supported in 
the past. They want to destroy health care reform instead of building 
on it. They have refused to work with Democrats on education issues, 
failing to invest in our children, who are 100 percent of our future. 
They haven't done a thing to support the middle class and give them 
hope for the future. It's no wonder the Congress has record-low 
approval ratings.
  But, Mr. Speaker, most disappointing of all to me is the Republican 
Congress's failure to lead on issues of national security and war and 
peace. While we're on recess, the war in Afghanistan will turn 11 years 
old. Eleven years--and more. More than 2,000 Americans are dead, 
thousands more are wounded, and taxpayers are out more than half a 
trillion dollars, all for a policy that continues to undermine our 
national security goals instead of advancing them. The brave 
servicemembers who are putting life and limb on the line in Afghanistan 
don't get a recess.
  When we adjourn, they will continue to be very much ``in session.'' 
Their ``district work period'' is in districts in Afghanistan, where 
the Taliban is poised to strike--some at the most dangerous places 
imaginable. The war isn't just morally reprehensible; it's fiscally 
irresponsible. And the very same Members who want to cut every domestic 
program to the bone have barely blinked an eye when it comes to 
billions and billions of dollars in misplaced war appropriations.
  When is the Congress going to catch up with the American people? 
Certainly not between now and the election, because we've gone home. 
The people we work for know that it makes no sense to continue military 
occupation, that it's doing more harm than good, creating more 
terrorists than it's defeating, making us less safe, not more. The 
American people have made it abundantly clear: they want us to be here. 
They want us to be debating this war. They're done with this war. They 
want us to vote to bring our troops home safely.
  The country faces huge challenges. Our people are crying out for 
leadership, and the Majority wants to turn out the lights. Actually, 
they have gone home. Americans desperately want the Congress to do 
something to create jobs and jump-start the economy, something to 
create peace and security; but the Republicans in Congress have gone 
home. They have left the work site. They're gone.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for her comments, and I yield to my 
friend, Suzanne Bonamici, who was such an effective State legislator. 
She was overwhelmingly elected in a special election. And every day 
since that election, she has been working hard on behalf of hardworking 
men and women not only in Oregon, but throughout this country. And I 
know that she's disappointed that we're walking away from our 
responsibilities.
  I yield to my friend.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you very much, Mr. Hoyer, for bringing to the 
country's attention the work left undone.
  When I arrived in Congress just a little more than 7 months ago, I 
brought a pretty strong message from my constituents back in Oregon, 
and that's that they want us to overcome the gridlock, they want us to 
get our economy back on track and support policies that create new 
jobs. Of course, no one expects this to be an easy task, but I was 
really encouraged by so many people who said, That's why we're here. 
Let's work together for job creation. Unfortunately, these 
conversations have now been kicked down the road for another day--
actually, another month--while too many of our constituents back home 
are facing unemployment, their homes are underwater, their child care 
costs are rising.
  Several of my colleagues have talked about the failure to pass the 
farm bill. This typically bipartisan legislation became a staging 
ground for a fight over nutrition assistance to people who are 
struggling. Now the bipartisan Senate bill has some amendments that 
were added that will help farmers in my district and across this 
country. We should be able to vote on that bipartisan bill that passed 
the Senate.
  As others have mentioned, we're going to go back to our districts and 
face our constituents, who are expecting so much from us. But we did 
not extend the production tax credit for wind energy. Now, that's a 
problem in my district. I have companies that are waiting for that. 
They may now be facing additional layoffs. That policy has

[[Page 14716]]

long been a bipartisan policy supported by many to develop the wind 
industry in this country. That's going to be hard for us to explain to 
our constituents.
  So, Mr. Hoyer, thank you. There's so much that we can do and should 
be doing to get our economy back on track, but Congress is not doing 
our job. This failure to pass bipartisan, commonsense legislation is 
something everyone in America should know about. We should be staying 
here representing the best interests of our constituents, helping to 
put this country back to work.
  So thank you again, Mr. Hoyer, for yielding and for bringing this 
important issue to everyone's attention.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for her comments.
  I want to now recognize the distinguished gentleman from Missouri 
(Mr. Carnahan), who's been such a leader on so many of these issues.
  Mr. CARNAHAN. Thank you. I want to thank the gentleman from Maryland 
for his leadership on this issue as this Congress shuts down.
  It was Harry Truman from Missouri who coined the term the ``do-
nothing Congress'' in 1948. But that Congress was 10 times more 
productive than this Republican Congress of 2012. To call this Congress 
a do-nothing Congress is an insult to the do-nothing Congress of 1948. 
So we're leaving today, the earliest this Congress has ever left for a 
campaign in an election year in 52 years.
  Look at how disconnected this Congress has been from the urgent needs 
of the American people. Thirty percent of the bills passed were for the 
purpose of attaching someone's name to a building. We voted to repeal 
the Affordable Care Act 33 times. The Republicans passed 30 jobs 
message bills that didn't do a thing to create jobs. They voted so 
often to restrict women's freedom and access to health care that one 
female Republican lawmaker said, Are you kidding me? How many times are 
we going to vote for this? And we have voted on the Romney-Ryan plan to 
end the Medicare guarantee and increase cost to seniors by $6,400. It's 
no wonder this Republican Congress has the lowest approval rating ever.
  There are urgent priorities on the table that many have talked about 
here today: the middle class tax cuts, the farm bill, the Violence 
Against Women Act, responsible deficit reduction, and President Obama's 
jobs bill. This Republican wall of obstruction is wreaking havoc on 
this country. It's leaving a trail of dysfunction. And now Republicans 
are running for the exit door to cut their own political losses. 
They're shutting down this people's House without getting the work 
done. This Congress should be here. Our Democratic leaders have made it 
clear we're ready to do that work. People will be the judge.
  I thank the gentleman from Maryland for his leadership on this order.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include therein extraneous materials on the topic of this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HOYER. I yield to my friend from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), an 
effective Member of this House.
  Mr. HOLT. I thank the gentleman.
  As we've heard the gentleman from Maryland say many times, 
``Representative'' is not just a title. It's our job description. We 
need to hear from our constituents. And our constituents have told us 
over and over again this year what they want. They want middle class 
tax relief.

                              {time}  1310

  They want a farm bill. They want the postal service fixed so it can 
pay its bills. They want passage of the Violence Against Women Act. 
It's a long list of things that they feel we can do to help Americans.
  We've had an opportunity to hear from people because the leadership 
sent us home a month and a half ago where we could hold town meetings 
while they allowed us to do nothing here. We heard from our 
constituents very clearly--not just from a small segment, not just from 
a few special interests, not just from a few percent for whom 
everything seems just fine, thank you. But we heard from all sorts of 
Americans who say, Help. Please. Get to work.
  You've heard this is the least productive Congress in a generation, 
in a long generation; and that's by design. The majority sets the 
schedule. They scheduled very few days in session, very few committee 
hearings, very few markups.
  So even the do-nothing Congress, as my friend from Missouri said, 
even the Congress that Harry Truman called the do-nothing Congress was 
much more productive than this one.
  So why did the majority close up shop and head home until after the 
election? Well, the answer I think is pretty clear: they want to 
campaign. They've decided with their dismal record they need a little 
more time to campaign, a little time to explain why they cast 302 votes 
to limit protections for clean air and clean water and good land. They 
need a little more time to explain why the farm bill, to help the areas 
that have been hit by drought, to help the farmers that need crop 
insurance, hasn't been passed. To be sure, it's going to be hard to 
campaign on the record that they've compiled, and maybe they need a 
little extra time.
  We don't need extra time to hear from our constituents about their 
needs and what they want us to do.
  I stand with my friend Mr. Hoyer and all of us on this side of the 
aisle, to return to Washington any day, any night to do the work that 
the American people hired us to do--to be their representatives.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his very compelling comments.
  I know that, Mr. Speaker, you've heard us speak and the Members have 
heard us speak, and one might say, well, these are Democrats speaking 
about the non-productivity and non-attention to the people's business 
of this Congress.
  But some years ago, just a few years ago, 4 years ago, the Republican 
Party, our friends on that side of the aisle, nominated John McCain to 
be their President. What does John McCain say of this Congress? ``The 
worst since 1947 statistically, the worst ever as far as I'm 
concerned,'' Senator John McCain told reporters Wednesday when asked to 
assess this Congress. That was September 19, 2012, just a few days ago. 
Bipartisan observation.
  This walkaway Congress is the least effective in which I've served, 
and I've been here for 31 years.
  I want to yield to my friend who came to Congress the same year I 
did, who unfortunately is leaving, one of the great leaders of this 
Congress and responsible for putting the referee back on the field so 
that we will not have another financial meltdown that plunged this 
country almost into depression, the distinguished Member from 
Massachusetts, Barney Frank.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I thank the Democratic whip, and I thank 
him for the leadership he provided during his years as majority leader 
when we were able to do some things.
  You know, we're talking about what this Congress didn't do. I suppose 
in some ways we ought to be happy because some of what they said they 
wanted to do would have been totally destructive.
  This is the party that let the financial community run riot for years 
when they had both the White House and both Houses of Congress, did no 
regulation, so that we got the worst recession in 80 years, a near 
depression, because of their irresponsibility. They were threatening to 
undo it. Unfortunately, they were able to accomplish one thing.
  One of the things we did was to give the Federal regulatory agencies 
the power to regulate derivatives, a serious, obscure, powerful 
instrument that was a major cause of our crisis. While they were not 
able to repeal the rules, they were able to reduce the funding of the 
agencies that have to deal with this complex matter to a level where 
they have not been very effective.

[[Page 14717]]

  So that's one of the things they were able to do--undo by financial 
stealth what we tried to get done.
  But I want to come to their defense to some extent, Mr. Whip, because 
there may be some implication that they're not willing to work hard. 
No, let's be very clear. The reason we have such a dismal record here 
is not because they are lazy, our Republican colleagues. It's more 
because of a word that rhymes with ``lazy,'' which the House rules will 
prohibit me from using.
  The problem is this: in 2010, a significant number of Republicans 
were elected who do not understand the importance of governance in a 
free enterprise society in which there has to be a vigorous private 
sector creating goods and services and a public sector that works with 
it.
  That's why we have no postal bill, although the Senate passed one; 
why we have no agricultural bill; why they couldn't pass a highway bill 
and had to be dependent on the Democratic Senate to pass one, so they 
could catch on to it.
  They simply do not understand the importance of our coming together 
and doing things in this complex economic society that cannot be done 
by the private sector.
  It is an extremism. It is not laziness. It is extremism that grips 
the Republican Party so they are not able to discharge the normal 
functions of government.
  By the way, there is one particular inaction that I want to stress. 
It has to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When my Republican 
friends are out of power, they know exactly what to do about housing. 
When they're in power, they forget. It's a peculiar form of amnesia.
  From 1995 until 2006, they controlled the Congress and did nothing 
about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We came into office in 2007. At the 
request of Henry Paulson, George Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, we 
took action and put them in a conservatorship and stopped them from 
losing money.
  The next step was to go forward with replacing them. We said that we 
would do that. We did financial reform first. The Republicans said, in 
2009 and 2010, you must do reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we 
thought financial reform came first because we already stopped the 
bleeding. Then they came to power in 2011, and they've done nothing.
  The reason they've done nothing about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and 
the reason they've done nothing about the post office and agriculture 
and couldn't do anything about the highways is very simple: they are a 
party torn between extremists and people who are afraid of extremists. 
People who will not take them on. A Speaker who will not bring an 
agriculture bill to the floor that might very well pass because he's 
intimidated by his own Tea Party extremist wing which rules him.
  They could not come forward with housing legislation because what a 
majority knows should be done to put in some kind of Federal-private 
cooperation without the mistakes we've made in the past, they couldn't 
get the votes for it because their extremists had a veto over it.
  Last point, Mr. Whip. I want to talk a little bit about 
bipartisanship.
  In 2007, things began to buckle in our financial system. I, as the 
chairman of the committee, worked closely with Mr. Paulson to deal with 
it. In 2008, the Bush administration came to us, and you know what they 
wanted? You remember, a stimulus. That terrible word ``stimulus.'' 
George Bush, that radical, and Ben Bernanke, his appointee, the 
Chairman of the Fed, and Hank Paulson, his Secretary of Treasury, said, 
Let's do a stimulus.
  This Democratic leadership worked with them. Then-Speaker Pelosi 
negotiated with them. We did a bipartisan stimulus.
  Then later on when the economy began to collapse because of financial 
dissolution, Hank Paulson came to us and asked for cooperation, and we 
gave him cooperation.
  From 2007 through 2008, we had a very bipartisan approach in the 
economic crisis. Then one thing happened: Barack Obama became President 
and bipartisanship disappeared because extremism took over the 
Republican Party, first when they were in the minority and now when 
they are in the majority. That's why nothing has happened.
  I thank the whip.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his very cogent comments. I 
would remind him the Leader talked about that, and he's talked about 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I think you will recall--George Bush, Republican 
President of the United States; Hank Paulson, Republican Secretary of 
the Treasury; and Ben Bernanke, who I think is neither Republican nor 
Democrat but appointed by the Republican President.
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. He was a registered Republican but was 
three times appointed by George Bush to high economic positions.
  Mr. HOYER. President Bush came to us and said: The country's in 
trouble, at risk of going into depression. We need you to act.
  Who acted? The Democrats, in a bipartisan response to President Bush. 
Who walked away? Two-thirds of the Republican Party, the President's 
party. Two-thirds of them walked away. As a result, we failed the first 
time. We came back and added another 30 Democrats, 172, and the 
Republicans couldn't even get to 100 to support their own President to 
keep this country out of depression.
  Ladies and gentlemen, 2 years ago as the previous election 
approached, Republicans unveiled a long list of pledges. Their Pledge 
to America reads, and I quote:

       A plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make 
     America more competitive must be the first urgent domestic 
     priority of our government. So, first we offer a plan to get 
     people working again.

  That's what they said. We are still waiting for that plan, and we 
have walked away.

                              {time}  1320

  Twenty-one months later, Republicans have not offered a comprehensive 
plan to create jobs and boost competitiveness. Nor have they allowed 
Democrats to bring major items of our Make It in America--expand 
manufacturing, create jobs, give good-paying jobs with good security to 
Americans that will then redound to the benefit of all agencies and job 
creators and small businesses that service those manufacturers.
  When President Obama proposed his plan, the American Jobs Act--which 
economists say would have expanded by 1 million or 1.5 million jobs--
Republicans blocked it outright, not brought to the floor, not given a 
vote. Instead of making jobs their priority, it seems to have been last 
on their to-do list, at a time when it remains the first concern for 
millions and millions of Americans and for our side of the aisle.
  Mr. Speaker, let me read another excerpt from the Republican pledge:

       With common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our 
     troops, we will roll back government spending, putting us on 
     a path to balance the budget and pay down the debt.

  However, over the last 21 months Republicans have torpedoed every 
serious attempt to reach agreement on deficit reduction. Why? No 
revenues from the very wealthy in America. Not because we don't like 
the very wealthy, not because we want to penalize the very wealthy, but 
because we need to keep our country on a financially secure path, and 
those of us on this floor can contribute a little more to that effort.
  Pushed to the extreme by their Tea Party wing, House Republicans 
early on embraced an ``our way or no way'' that made compromise 
impossible, refusing to accept any solution that included revenues or 
that ended unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest in our country. 
That's why the middle class tax cut passed overwhelmingly in the United 
States--well, passed by a majority--in the United States Senate 
languishes here unconsidered, which would keep 98 percent of America 
from any concern about having their taxes increased on January 1. Why? 
To protect the 2 percent. How sad.
  In pursuit of their extreme budget agenda, they pushed our country to 
the brink of default, leading to--for the first time ever in the 
history of our Nation--the most creditworthy nation on

[[Page 14718]]

Earth being downgraded by the Standard & Poor's rating agency. To avert 
that default, Republicans insisted on creating the sequester that so 
many of them now lament. It was their creation. In fact, in their cap, 
cut, and balance bill, what is the default position they take? 
Sequester.
  Meanwhile, led by Chairman Paul Ryan, Republicans passed two budgets 
that would end Medicare as we know it, end the guarantee, end the 
security that it gives to people who are seniors and going to be 
seniors; guts social programs that keep millions out of poverty; and 
doesn't balance over the next 30 years.
  Susan Collins, Republican Member of the United States Senate--I 
showed you John McCain, Mr. Speaker--she says:

       It is very frustrating to have worked on legislation that 
     really matters to our country, like the cybersecurity bill 
     and legislation to save the postal service, and just have 
     them gather dust.

  In other words, she worked in the Senate across the aisle with 
Democrats and sent that bill here--both those bills--and we have not 
acted. We have walked away.
  Mr. Speaker, we have made our point: Walking away has been the 
practice of this Congress. Not getting the work done has been the 
practice of this Congress. How lamentable it is for the American 
people. But as President Obama said: They have a choice. May they make 
it well.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate 
the Republican leadership in the House on their two greatest 
accomplishments this Congress: 1) thanks to their leadership, we have 
had the least productive Congress in modern history and 2) thanks to 
their leadership Congress has the lowest approval rating ever.
  Time and time again, the House Republicans showed Americans that they 
would rather play politics by putting messaging bills on the Floor that 
never stood a chance of passing in the Senate than work with us and the 
Senate on legislation our country desperately needs.
  House Republicans found time to vote to repeal the Affordable Care 
Act 33 times but we can't find the time to extend the Farm Bill.
  In fact, halfway through 2012, the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor 
declared that ``serious legislating is all but done until after the 
election.''
  This is not what Americans want and the majority should be ashamed of 
themselves for creating an environment where compromise is avoided at 
all costs.
  Mr. Speaker, I have served many years in the House of Representatives 
and am proud of the fact that I often work with my colleagues across 
the aisle to find solutions that make sense for my constituents, 
industry and the environment.
  But this Congress, it's been different. Their mentality is that 
you're either with us or against us. But Mr. Speaker, that is no way to 
lead a chamber that represents various constituencies around the 
country.

                          ____________________