[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14426-14429]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              U.S. ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Perry). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cardenas) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. CARDENAS. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to talk about the United 
States economy. I want to talk about the number one thing that 
politicians talk about when they ask you to support them when they are 
on the campaign trail, and that is that we want to put America to work.
  I know what it is like to put America to work because I am very proud 
to say that, before I got elected to office, my full-time job was to 
put Americans to work. I owned a business, and there were dozens of 
families who depended on me as the leader of that business, as the 
owner of that business, to make sure that we were successful. So I had 
to do my job so that dozens of people could go to work and do their 
job.
  Every year, millions of Americans go to the polls and hope and pray 
and think and expect that their elected people are going to focus on 
putting America to work. But unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, the 
leadership of this House under Speaker John Boehner has been delinquent 
in doing one simple thing, and that is to focus on bills that create 
jobs. In some cases, it is bills that move government out of

[[Page 14427]]

the way to make sure that people can put people to work in private 
industry. In some cases, it is about changing laws that are broken and 
old and just don't work for today's economy, changing those laws to 
make sure that Americans can go to work.
  Democrats have made jump-starting our economy a priority, and I 
believe in that priority. Since I have been elected to Congress, I have 
been fighting for that priority to try to get bills heard in our 
committees that will create jobs, that will move America forward, and 
that will move Americans who are hard-pressed and want to get off of 
the unemployment lines back into work. I have been trying to get them 
through committee and eventually to the floor of this House so we can 
have the debates and we can cast our votes for America. Unfortunately, 
those bills just languish, sitting somewhere in the corner, and don't 
see the light of day.
  For example, the biggest bill to ever pass either the House or the 
United States Senate since this 113th Congress has come into session 
was a bill that was passed by the United States Senate with bipartisan 
support. There are 100 United States Senators, ladies and gentlemen, 
and 68--Democrats and Republicans--voted ``aye,'' voted ``yes,'' voted 
affirmatively for that bill. If this House would have taken up that 
bill, or H.R. 15, a bill that looks just like it, that would have 
boosted our economy.
  Ladies and gentlemen, you hear people all the time right now today on 
the campaign trail saying, ``Reelect me,'' or, ``Elect me,'' and they 
are talking about the economy and talking about deficit reduction. That 
one bill was analyzed by a third party. It was not analyzed by the 
Democrats, not analyzed by the Republicans, not even analyzed by the 
Independents. It was analyzed by a third party whose job is just to 
call it like it is. That bill, if passed by Congress and put on the 
President's desk, would give us an opportunity to have a deficit 
reduction of at least $900 billion. But that bill doesn't see the light 
of day--not in this House.
  That bill has not been taken up in this House. Speaker John Boehner 
has said over and over: I'm not going to take up that bill. I'm not 
going to take up that issue. I'm not going to support the American 
economy with that bill. I'm not going to do the right thing by America 
and give the economy of the United States of America the biggest boost 
we could ever see coming out of the actions of the United States Senate 
and this House of Congress.
  It has been sitting here in this House in the corner collecting dust 
while too many Americans are having their unemployment run out, while 
too many Americans are losing their homes, while too many Americans are 
telling their children: I'm sorry, son, we can't afford to continue to 
send you to college. We don't have any money because we don't have a 
job.
  The United States economy can do better, but unfortunately, it is 
because this Congress chooses not to do the right thing that the United 
States economy moves along slowly, picking up just a little bit. That 
is not good enough. That is not right.
  What I am doing here at this moment tonight and the reason why I came 
to this floor, the reason why I asked the Speaker to give me some time 
to speak on an important issue--the economy of the United States of 
America--is because it tears me apart to know that the lack of 
leadership in this House and the lack of leadership of Speaker Boehner 
is crippling our economy.
  We have $900 billion of deficit reduction wrapped up in one bill, and 
that bill has sat in this House and has not heard a debate in any 
committee. It has not heard a debate on the floor of this House. The 
people that you elected have not had an opportunity. The 435 Members of 
the United States Congress have not had an opportunity to stake a claim 
on whether or not they believe that we ought to put Americans to work, 
that we ought to get out of the way and fix a law that is broken, a law 
that does not work, a law that should have been changed a long time 
ago; but we can change it at any moment on any given day in this House, 
and this Speaker refuses to allow that to happen.
  What is going on right now in the United States Congress is just like 
what happens in your home or sometimes in a workplace. Let's say you 
have a family and everybody in the family has been assigned their 
chores, their responsibilities. Let's say you have a workplace where 
everybody has their job duties and their titles.
  In the United States Congress, we have our chores and we have our 
responsibilities. Our job is to pass laws to help America move forward 
and to make sure that all the different dynamics of the number one 
economy in the world can flourish. That is our job. But the United 
States Congress, this House, has refused to do its job.
  What is going on is just like that example I gave you. Let's say in 
your home one member of your family chooses not to do their part. You 
know what happens? Something good eventually happens. Somebody in that 
house, somebody in that home, somebody in that workplace sees that that 
job is not getting done, even if it is not their primary 
responsibility, and they think of the bigger picture. They think of the 
whole family, the whole house, the whole home. That person in the 
workplace thinks of the whole body of workers there and says: Somebody 
ought to take that job and get it done, even though so-and-so isn't 
doing their part--and that is their job.
  Congress is not doing its job. It is not passing this law. But you 
know what happens eventually? Somebody walks over there and does it 
themselves, even though it is not their primary responsibility. But we 
ought to be grateful that there are people like that in every 
community, in every household, in every business, in every work 
environment. But not in this House, not as long as John Boehner, our 
Speaker, chooses not to allow us to have a debate, to do our job, to 
have a vote. Maybe it passes, maybe it fails, but our job as Members of 
Congress is to legislate, put ideas, good, bad, and otherwise, before 
the Members of this House and vote up or down, ``yea'' or ``nay'', 
``yes'' or ``no,'' to move America forward and let the votes fall where 
they may.
  There is a bill that has been languishing in this House for close to 
a year and a half, and the bottom line is we have not taken up our 
duties and our responsibilities. As a result of that, in another branch 
of government there is that one person--not 435, not 100--that says: I 
want to move the economy of the United States of America forward. I 
want to fix a broken system. I want to see it fixed. I want Congress to 
put this on my desk so that I can do my job and sign it and watch 
Americans go back to work. All of a sudden, the one person who says: 
Since you won't do your job, I will go over there and to the best of my 
ability, to the extent that I legally can, I am just going to have to 
do as much as I can, lift as much as I can and do the heavy lifting 
because Congress won't, and he gets criticized.

                              {time}  1815

  That is a shame, ladies and gentlemen. That is a shame.
  When, in the workplace, or somebody's household, somebody decides to 
step over and say, you know what, since you won't do it, and it is the 
right thing to do, I am going to do it. And then they criticize that 
person. He is the bad guy.
  No, no, no, ladies and gentlemen. The bad guy, the bad person is the 
one that says, I know I have duties, I know I have responsibilities, I 
just don't want to do it because I can say I don't want to. And if I 
don't want to, it doesn't get done, at least not in this House.
  That is what is going on, ladies and gentlemen. The United States 
Congress is sitting on a bill that will supercharge the economy of the 
United States of America, to the tune of deficit reduction of as much 
as $900 billion with one bill, one vote of this House. And our current 
speaker, the Republican leader, does not want to let that happen.
  The President of the United States is another branch of government. 
The President of the United States is part of that balance of power. 
But when one branch of government is delinquent, is derelict in their 
duties, there comes a

[[Page 14428]]

time where that person has to say, hey, what can I legally do? I want 
to step up. I want to put America to work and, as a result of that, has 
to take action.
  Now, to me, that is a duty bestowed upon every single one of us 
elected officials, and I am so disappointed that I got elected to a 
Congress that has been labeled as a do-nothing Congress. I got elected 
to a Congress that the statistics, not just opinions, but the facts 
show that this Congress has passed so few laws that people can actually 
legitimately say that we are do-nothing Congress.
  That is a shame. We have responsibilities to this country. When we 
act responsibly, we make our country what it is, the best country on 
the planet, and when that happens, the whole world is a better place. 
But that has not been this 113th Congress, not under this Speaker, not 
now.
  But the most important thing that I want to get across today, that 
could change. That could change tomorrow morning. We could have that 
bill on the floor of this Congress tomorrow. We could have it on this 
floor next week, and we can unleash what Americans go to vote for, and 
that is action.
  Let the votes fall where they may, ladies and gentlemen. Our duty, as 
Congress, is to hear bills on this floor, have the debate from the left 
and from the right, from the center and all, come one, come all, 
Members of Congress, and then the Speaker says, open the roll, and 
there go the votes, green ones, red ones, ``yea,'' ``nay.''
  But just on that one bill, ladies and gentlemen, more Americans will 
go to work as a result of one piece of legislation than any other thing 
that this Congress has been poised to do in this 113th Congress.
  So right now, as the clock ticks, as Congress might adjourn in just a 
couple of weeks or so, it is going to be left for another branch of 
government to decide to move this economy forward, to put Americans to 
work.
  That is a shame. That is not the way it should be. That is not the 
way it was designed to be.
  But the Constitution of the United States, you have all heard it, 
everybody who has taken government class, it is called the balance of 
powers: executive branch, judicial branch, the legislative branch.
  But when one of those branches is derelict in their duties, as this 
House has been derelict in their duty to put Americans to work, it 
takes a committed American, it takes a brave American, to step up and 
say, ``I will do it''; to be careful about how it is done, to be doing 
it in a way that is legal and does follow the Constitution of the 
United States of America.
  But more importantly, ladies and gentlemen, to get the job done, to 
put America to work, to break a broken system, to break a set of laws 
and renew that into a law, into action that will actually put America 
to work and allow us to continue to be the great Nation that we have 
become.
  But, unfortunately, there is a piece of our government, this House, 
that is not living up to that greatness. It is not living up to its 
responsibilities. It is not living up to its duties, this House, this 
do-nothing Congress.
  When I say do-nothing Congress, that is so painful to me. I am the 
son of parents who used to wake me up, sometimes before the sun came 
up, to go to work in my father's business. And what my father used to 
tell me--I was 5, 6 years old when he had me working with him--he used 
to say, son, the work is not done. We have got to keep working.
  Sometimes, so much that my hands would bleed, and I would put on my 
best crying game and I would say, Dad, look, my hands are bleeding. Can 
I sit in the truck?
  My father was a handyman. We used to clear fields and clean out 
houses or whatever odd job that people had for us. He would take me to 
work with him. And I remember the first time I thought I was going to 
be able to sit it out and not do my part because my hands were 
bleeding. I had blisters, they turned into--they busted, and then they 
turned into blood, and I showed them to my dad and I tried to give him 
my best sob story.
  And he told me, son, the work is not done. We have got to get back to 
work. Now get back to work.
  Oh, I hated him for it.
  That is a leader, someone who can look someone in the eye and say, 
you need to be what you need to be right now. And that is someone who 
gets the job done, not someone who looks for excuses, not someone who 
tells stories, not someone who tries to get off the hook. You need to 
be the person that gets the job done.
  Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Speaker, this House is not the House that 
gets the job done. It hurts for me to say that. I hate saying it. But 
sometimes the truth hurts. That is not my opinion, ladies and 
gentlemen. I am just restating the facts.
  I hated my father when he taught me that lesson. But it wasn't until 
I grew up, and it wasn't until I had to put food on the table for my 
family, it wasn't until I grew up and ran my own business, that I 
realized that it is not about the easy way out. It is not about 
quitting. It is not about being derelict in your duties. It is about 
accepting your responsibilities, acting out on those responsibilities, 
working through your responsibilities, not making up stories, not 
holding press conferences and hoodwinking the American public into 
thinking that it can't be done.
  No, no, no, ladies and gentlemen. We can take care of business on 
this floor from today to tomorrow and get a bill to the other House, or 
take a bill from the Senate, take it through this House and get it to 
the President overnight.
  So any time some Congressman or U.S. Senator tells you, no, no, no, 
there is not enough time, as long as there is at least 1 day, 1 day of 
legislation left--oh, as a matter of fact, both Houses have the 
authority to call back their entire House and say, our business is not 
done. We can get it done tomorrow. Call every Member of Congress, call 
every Member of the United States Senate to their Chamber, and say, we 
have got work to do.
  There is no time off for us. There is no time away from these 
Chambers, we are going to get the work done.
  But this House chooses not to do its job.
  Some people might think, well, this Congressman, this Congressman 
Cardenas, he is kind of talking a little strong about this House. You 
better believe it. We are the Congress of the United States of America.
  There have been moments in this House where we have been applauded by 
America for the kind of bravery and the kind of work that gets done in 
this House. That hasn't happened much lately, not in the 113th 
Congress.
  One bill, ladies and gentlemen, one bill has been sitting in this 
House, languishing, collecting dust, while millions of Americans are 
out of work. That is a shame. That is a shame.
  I wish there were more Members of this Congress like my father, who 
knew how to get the job done, who knew how to focus on the people that 
depended on him, who had a ``don't quit'' attitude.
  My father was a man of few words. Few words. But when he spoke, he 
was serious, he was forthright, and he got the job done. And he had the 
guts, he had the fortitude, he had the character to know that 
sometimes, when it meant him getting the job done, it meant that maybe 
he wasn't going to be too popular, even with his own son.
  I am so glad, so proud to be the son of a man and a woman, Maria and 
Andres Cardenas, who taught me how to go to work every single day, and 
whatever my duties were, whatever my responsibilities were, it wasn't 
about me, it was about the work that I committed to do and to get it 
done.
  Every week I leave my family in my district in California, in the San 
Fernando Valley, and I kiss them goodbye, and I hope and pray that they 
put me to work, that I get to do the work that I was elected to do. But 
that hasn't been happening in this House.
  And I am not alone, ladies and gentlemen. I talk to a lot of Members 
of this House and they feel the same. They want to move America 
forward. They want to get this economy up and running the way it should 
be, the way America deserves to be.

                              {time}  1830

  This House refuses to help make that happen.

[[Page 14429]]

  Mr. Speaker, I really do hope and pray that we can put America to 
work, that we can pass a bill that will create $900 billion of deficit 
reduction opportunity. I hope and pray that we can do that. 
Unfortunately, it is not up to me. I am not making excuses, ladies and 
gentlemen. It is not up to me. I do not have the authority or the 
ability to put a bill in the House of Congress.
  I have introduced bills. That is my right--I can introduce bills, and 
I do do that--but the only person who has the authority to decide if a 
bill will be heard by this House is the Speaker of this House, and he 
is elected Republican John Boehner. He is the man. He is the person who 
refuses to put a bill on the floor of this House, so that every Member 
of Congress can have the opportunity to do his job and help put America 
to work.
  I am a proud American, and I am so honored and privileged to be a 
Member of the United States Congress, to represent the 29th District in 
California, the place that I was born and raised in and the community 
that I love. It is just a microcosm of what this great Nation is about, 
what it is, and my hands are tied. I am not making excuses, ladies and 
gentlemen. I am just telling you the truth.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Boehner, please, please put that bill on this floor. 
Put it in motion. Do your job, so that we can do our jobs, so that 
Americans can have jobs, so that we, as Members of this Congress, can 
put America to work.
  We have a broken immigration system, and one bill can fix that. We 
have a broken system in this country, and that one bill will put $900 
billion toward deficit reduction for America. That one bill will 
unleash our economy and create hundreds of thousands of opportunities 
for Americans to go back to work.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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