[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5404-5411]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       THE STATE OF OUR CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be able to stand 
here today with my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino) and Mr. 
Wenstrup from Ohio, behind me, in order to talk a little bit about not 
only the state of our country but of our Congress. When we came here 3 
years ago, we were on a mission to get America back to work. We have 
watched now over the last 3 years. And some of the criticism that comes 
about all the time is, You know, you guys just aren't getting anything 
done. I hear people talk about not getting anything done, about being a 
do-nothing Congress, about not really pushing the agenda forward, about 
us not being able to get America back to work.
  Well, today, Mr. Marino, our colleagues, and I are going to be here 
in the position of myth-busters. This myth that somehow the House of 
Representatives--and I think the key to this is that there are actually 
two Chambers to this Congress. There is a House of Representatives and 
there is a Senate. In the House of Representatives, we have done 
incredible work

[[Page 5405]]

over the last 3 years. We are talking about 220 House-passed bills that 
are stuck in the do-nothing Senate. And of those 220 bills, 30-plus of 
those bills are about job creation. They are about getting America back 
to work. They are about giving people confidence in the future that 
they can look forward and begin to plan their lives.
  Now, we can't do it alone. And while we get criticism from the 
administration and as we look down the hall to the Senate, we start to 
wonder ourselves, what would it take to get America engaged in this 
process? What would it take to get our American citizens aware of what 
is actually going on in the Capitol? Why is it that we are stuck here? 
Why can't we move forward?
  So today's exercise--for the next 60 minutes, Mr. Marino, myself, and 
our other colleagues are going to have an opportunity to speak to the 
people of the United States to make sure that we expose this myth that 
this is a do-nothing Congress. No, no, no, no. This is not a do-nothing 
Congress. This is a Congress that has worked very hard. This is a 
Congress that has done monumental work to get our fellow Americans back 
to work.
  The problem is, when you walk it down the halls and into the Senate, 
it gets lost. It gets tabled. It doesn't get amended. It doesn't get 
discussed. It doesn't get debated. In fact, it doesn't do anything. It 
just collects dust.
  So I welcome this opportunity to speak not just to this House but 
also to the people of America. And at this time, I would like my 
colleague and my good friend in Congress, Mr. Marino from Pennsylvania, 
to also weigh in on this.
  Mr. MARINO. Thank you, Congressman Kelly. I appreciate this. It is an 
honor to be here with you, and it is an honor to be setting the record 
straight.
  You know, I spent a couple minutes in here listening to my colleagues 
about what we are not doing and what they are doing. The facts and 
figures that they are throwing out are coming from the White House. 
They change on a regular basis. We will get into that stuff in a little 
bit.
  But I want to hold up something and show it to the American people 
and then touch on it a little bit, about what we have done in the House 
of Representatives. What the Republicans have done in the House of 
Representatives for the 113th Congress--that is just last year and this 
year. That is not including the legislation that we passed in the 112th 
Congress, from 2011 to 2012.
  I am holding in my hand here the names, the numbers, the dates, and 
the details of 220 bills that the House passed--220 bills. Some of it 
was with support from a handful of Democrats who saw that this is good 
legislation, that it will create jobs, it will keep taxes low. It does 
away with job-crushing regulation. It lets the private sector do what 
it does best. It allows the hardworking taxpayers to have a level 
playing field.
  I am just going to recite some of the bills. I am not going to go 
over nearly all 220 bills that are sitting on Democrat Senate Leader 
Harry Reid's desk that he refuses to bring to the floor for a vote. I 
ask the Democrat leader: Senator Reid, what are you afraid of? Why do 
you not bring these bills to the floor for a vote so the American 
people can see the legislation and how their Senators vote for it? They 
can see it right here in the House. They can go to our Web site. They 
can go to the congressional Web site. They can see how we voted on 
legislation.
  I think it is despicable that one person in Congress can hold up 220 
pieces of legislation and hide it from the American people. And do you 
know why he does it? Politics. There is an election coming up this 
year. He doesn't want his Democrat Senators to have a voting record. 
Well, that is why we are here. We are supposed to have a voting record. 
We are supposed to represent the American people.
  Some of the legislation concerns energy, the Offshore Energy and Jobs 
Act, H.R. 2231; Northern Route Approval Act, H.R. 3; hydropower 
regulation; Energy Consumers Relief; Coal Residuals Reuse; Federal 
Lands; Energy and Water appropriations; Department of Defense 
appropriations; Homeland Security appropriations; Preserving Work 
Requirements for Welfare Programs; the SKILLS Act; Student Success Act; 
the RAPID Act, which does away with regulation and time that prevents 
businesses from creating jobs. And who creates the jobs the best? The 
private industry.

                              {time}  1645

  Look, the Federal Government has a rough time keeping Amtrak on time, 
and they are always way over budget, and we are going to trust them 
with health care? We are going to trust the Federal Government with 
creating jobs when entrepreneurs are the best people, women and men, to 
do that?
  Any time you want to see what legislation is on Mr. Reid's desk, you 
just go to the Web site, the congressional Web site and see what was 
passed.
  You are going to hear some facts and figures. I was a prosecutor for 
18 years. Actually, I started working in a bakery, a wholesale bakery, 
at 17. I worked in that bakery until I was 33. The owner died, and a 
new company came in. They overlooked me for a promotion because I 
didn't have a college degree, but they wanted me to train the guy with 
the college degree coming in. I went home and said to my wife: I want 
to go to college and law school. My wife worked full-time, and I worked 
part-time. We got through college and law school, which normally takes 
7 years, in 5 years. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my 
wife.
  But I know what it is like to work in a factory 60 and 65 hours a 
week. I know what it is like to stretch a paycheck. My wife knows what 
it is like to stretch a dollar from here to next year. And I also know 
what it is like in the criminal justice system as a prosecutor for 18 
years. I have seen it all. I have seen the worst sides of life that I 
have ever seen. But do you know what I have a passion for? It is the 
children. And our children's future now is dismal.
  My father gave me a better life than he had. I am not sure I can do 
that for my children. They are now looking at over $50,000 of debt--
each of them. So that means that every dollar that they earn, over 50 
percent of it--if we ever get to the point to pay the debt down--is 
going to our debt.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman.
  At this time, I am going to yield to a new Member from the State of 
Ohio. Brad Wenstrup is with us today. He has done remarkable work since 
he has gotten here in just a little over a year.
  So, Mr. Wenstrup, thank you for being with us today.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Thank you very much. I appreciate that, Mr. Kelly.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a problem. We have an inactive Senate with Harry 
Reid at the helm as the majority leader. Someone on the Senate side 
seems to have hit the pause button, and it has been stuck there for a 
while, and we are having to deal with that. But here in the House of 
Representatives, the people's House, we have passed over 200 bills 
since I came to Congress that just seem to be gathering dust over in 
the Senate.
  We have hardly been inactive on this side of Congress taking up 
important energy, education, health care reforms, and numerous jobs 
bills--some Republican bills, some Democratic bills--and most passed 
with bipartisan support. Yet Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has 
thrown them on the ground.
  Ohioans ask me what we are doing here in Washington, D.C. I am at my 
wit's end trying to explain that every reform-minded bill that I have 
supported that we passed on behalf of the American people is stuck in 
the Senate. It is a legislative purgatory. It just sits. And I don't 
wish that on my fellow Ohioans or my fellow Americans. I am not asking 
the Senate to agree with every bill that we pass, Mr. Speaker, but at 
least allow a vote and at least allow a discussion.
  One example is the Keystone XL pipeline. The energy security 
legislation passed the House with bipartisan support nearly a year ago; 
241 Members of Congress voted for the Northern Route Approval Act. More 
than that, a filibuster-proof majority of Senators, Republicans and 
Democrats, are on the record as supporting this project.

[[Page 5406]]

  A recent Washington Post-ABC poll demonstrates that the American 
people also support the goals of this legislation of building the 
pipeline by nearly a three-to-one margin. But the Senate has thrown the 
bill on the floor blocking any vote. Does the Senate have a solution? 
Not really. They just seem to want to stand in the way.
  Another example is the SKILLS Act. I hear from Ohioans frustrated 
that Washington isn't working, especially in year 6 of this Obama 
economy with disappointing job growth. And as we continue to face 
unacceptable unemployment levels, the Senate refuses to take 
commonsense steps to get Americans back to work.
  Over a year ago, I was proud to support the SKILLS Act, legislation 
that would have helped job seekers, helped employers, reformed 
government, and cut bureaucratic costs so that more money can go 
directly to help people getting back to work. This legislation offers a 
long-term solution to help those looking for work, combined with smart 
government reforms. And what do we hear from Senate leadership? 
Nothing.
  It is bipartisan frustration, I think, on some parts because these 
aren't just Republican bills that are being blocked. Nearly three dozen 
Democratic-sponsored bills have passed the House of Representatives 
with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle--no action in 
the Senate. These are noncontroversial bills. But some in the Senate 
are more concerned with demonizing individual Americans than helping 
every American.
  The legislative branch is the most direct representation of the 
American people, yet the Senate leader is content to hand over his 
constitutional responsibilities to President Obama and the executive 
branch rather than do his job and to legislate. It is a myth that this 
is a do-nothing Congress, but we are witnessing a do-nothing Senate.
  I ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: relieve this legislative 
backlog; hundreds of bills and millions of Americans are waiting.
  Here in the House, we have taken action. We are active. We have taken 
the vote. We have taken the action as far as we can take it, and 
America waits for a further response. Most of these bills that we pass 
usually involve having less government involvement, not more, not more 
involvement. The table is set. Our Founders set it up in such a way 
that we are to represent the people and we are to act, and the Senate 
is to act, and we are all supposed to come together at the table. I 
have been here just over a year, and I have been waiting at that table. 
I have been waiting for the Senate to engage with us. I have been 
waiting for the President to engage with us. But that hasn't happened.
  I left a medical practice to serve here, and I am proud and honored 
to be here. People often ask me, well, what is the difference between a 
doctor and being here? Well, as a doctor, I can make a diagnosis. I can 
get together with a patient and their family and provide a treatment, 
and together we go to work on that. It takes both of us to do that. 
Sometimes when you make the suggestion of a treatment, you even suggest 
that there be a second opinion. And I can tell you right now on all of 
these things that we have passed, all these treatments that we have 
recommended, we are still waiting for our second opinion from the 
Senate.
  The House is active. We are waiting for the Senate to take up the arm 
and do their job, as well.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank Mr. Wenstrup.
  Mr. Marino and I were talking for a second. Mr. Marino had touched on 
something that had just happened recently when you talked about 
activity on the Senate floor and inactivity on the Senate floor. There 
was a night not too long ago where the Senate talked all night long, 
and I think Mr. Marino wants to just touch on that right now.
  Mr. MARINO. If this were not nauseating, it would be hilarious. There 
are millions of people out of work, Mr. Speaker, millions of people who 
are losing their health care and millions more whose health care is 
increasing. There are 230 pieces of legislation sitting on Harry Reid's 
desk. And do you know what they debated a couple weeks ago all night on 
the floor? Nothing to do with jobs, nothing to do with deregulation, 
and nothing to do with getting out of the way of the hardworking 
taxpayer business. They debated climate change all night on the floor.
  Now, there is no one that is more than a conservationist than myself. 
I live out in the country. I love seeing the bear and the deer walk 
across my property. I get my water from a well. My children have grown 
up there. I will do everything I can to protect my children and make 
sure that the air they are breathing is clean, the water is clean, and 
the land is pristine. But do you know something? I am pretty sure the 
hardworking taxpayers, the people in this country, the farmers in my 
district, and the entrepreneurs in my district want to see the 
government get out of the way and let entrepreneurs and business do 
what it does.
  I am a states' rights guy. I believe the less Federal Government in 
my life the better. That is proven by--I just met with a group of 
entrepreneurs a little earlier. They are called start-ups. They are 
young kids. They are geniuses who know the IT industry and who create 
apps, create hardware, and create software. They are saying to me: 
Congressman, our hands are tied. We are being overregulated, and we 
have a lot of good ideas that will help the American people.
  You are going to be hearing some figures quoted. I am not a big 
figure guy, but I think it is important that you listen to these 
figures and see these figures. But I want to tell you where I got them, 
because as a prosecutor, I always had to back up, in court, where I got 
my evidence and cite it.
  You have all heard of the Congressional Budget Office. We refer to it 
as the CBO. I am going to tell you just in two sentences what the 
Congressional Budget Office does. The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, 
is a Federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States 
Government that provides economic data to Congress. The CBO was created 
as a nonpartisan agency by the Congressional Budget and Improvement 
Control Act of 1974, which means they are independent. They are not 
Republican, and they are not Democrat. These are people who crunch 
numbers, make estimates, bring us information, and then submit it to us 
so the American people know what the actual facts are.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Thank you, Mr. Marino.
  We all have similar experiences. I know you do, Brad, when you are 
back home; and, Tom, I know you do when you are back home. It really 
doesn't matter where we are. A lot of times it is coming out of Mass on 
Sunday morning, and sometimes it is just being down at the K-Mart or 
the Walmart, or maybe I am up in Erie and I am out near Presque Isle, 
or I could be in Grove City or I could be in Slippery Rock, and people 
come up to me all the time and say: Do you know what? You all need to 
get busy. And they talk about: We don't want to hear any more about the 
battles between Republicans and Democrats. Quite frankly, we are tired 
of hearing it because, if you can't work together, you can't get things 
done. And then the question that comes up is: Can't you just compromise 
once in a while to get something done? And then you have got to scratch 
your head and say: Yes, but, do you know what? We are doing an awful 
lot right now, but you are just not hearing it.
  The reason that comes about, and we all know this, is because the 
biggest megaphone in the country right now is at the White House.
  Now, Brad, you and I sat here, and, Tom, you and I sat here during 
the State of the Union. The President made a very chilling statement. 
He said:

       America can't wait, and I can't wait. And if this Congress 
     won't act the way I want it to do, I will go around them, and 
     I will get it done.

  Half of this side of the House stood up and cheered that, cheered up 
their forfeiture of their duty of the oath that they took when they 
came into office.
  Now, I stand here today as a representative of Pennsylvania's Third 
District. That does not mean that I

[[Page 5407]]

only represent Republicans that live in the Third District of 
Pennsylvania. That does not mean that I am only concerned with the 
concerns of Republicans in the Third District of Pennsylvania. That 
does not mean that I represent anything else but every single person--
every citizen--that resides within that district.
  So the things we are talking about today are not Republican issues, 
and they are not Democrat issues. These are American issues. We are 
talking about American jobs. We are talking about getting back to work. 
We are talking about coming here, taking an oath of office, and then 
fulfilling that oath to the people who sent us.
  Now, I know that you go through the same thing. I have many people 
that approach me and say: Do you know what, Mike? I didn't vote for 
you. And I say to them: Well, do you know what? I didn't know that 
until right now, but I will forget about it, believe me. And they will 
say: Well, this is an issue I have, and these are some things that 
concern me, and I just want to know where are you all going and what is 
it that you are trying to do? And why can't you get America back to 
work? Because you all said when you ran for office that we have got to 
get this Nation back on track and we have got to get America moving in 
the right direction. We have got to get America being America again.
  We know that oftentimes in our life we look at all the problems we 
have, and the answer to everything right now is these things need 
fixing. Now, how do you do that? You can only do it with a very dynamic 
and robust economy. So when I hear the conversation that takes place 
either in our Chamber or the Senate Chamber and you start to say to 
yourself, it is nice to have that conversation, it is nice to have that 
little talk, and it is nice to have that debate, but do you know what? 
You haven't created any jobs. Because without a dynamic and robust 
economy, it is all just idle chatter. It is just politicians getting 
up, speaking and hoping that somehow they hit a chord with some 
constituents somewhere that says, boy, she is speaking for me or he is 
speaking for me.

                              {time}  1700

  We speak for everybody, not just the towns we come from or the 
townships we come from or the counties we come from or the States we 
come from, but this entire country.
  So when we look at what is going on now and people say: yes, you say 
that is going on, but you know what, there is no proof.
  Here is what I would ask our friends to do because the President says 
this all the time. He says: you know what, pick up your phone or pick 
up your pen, and that is what I am going to do, and I am going to get 
things done; I am going to use my executive powers, which are vast and 
enormous, to do what I want to do, despite what Congress may say, 
despite especially what those characters in the House of 
Representatives are pushing down your throat because that is just not 
what I want you to hear.
  Well, my message to the American people is: you all have phones, and 
you all have pens, and you all have the ability, because of the country 
we live in, to speak out on anything, any time, anywhere you want; no 
place else in the world can we do that.
  As an example today, as my colleagues and I are doing--because, as I 
said earlier, it is time to do some mythbusting, it is time to call a 
halt to this idle chatter about what America really needs.
  We know what America really needs. America needs to get back to work, 
and this Congress needs to get out of the job creators' way. We need to 
get the heavy regulatory boot of the government off the throat of our 
job creators, and we need to let them breathe again.
  We need to let them look to the future with some certainty and know 
that you can go ahead and plan. You can go ahead and make a strategy. 
You can go ahead and look to the future with a great degree of success 
waiting for you.
  Now, opportunity is there for everybody. There is equal opportunity. 
There is no question about that. We know there is not equal outcome. My 
goodness, that is just not the case.
  We do know that hardworking Americans throughout our history have 
done things that are absolutely incredible, and they have done it 
because of a government that lets people be free. It gives them liberty 
to go on and do what they need to do and when they want to do it and 
the ways that they want to do it.
  There is no place else in the world, so the question comes down to: 
Why now? Why now have we hit such a logjam? Why is it that we can't get 
a law to get America back to work?
  The answer is quite simple. Mr. Marino has talked about it. Mr. 
Wenstrup has talked about it. My goodness, there is another election 
coming, and if it truly comes down to we can't get these things done 
because of another election coming, then we can never get anything done 
because there are elections every year.
  Now, if Mr. Reid can say to his people in the Senate and if he can 
look to this country and if he can go on TV and tell people these 
things you are hearing about the health care law are all lies, these 
things have been conjured up by people who don't really exist, the 
stories that they are spreading are lies, there is not a shred of 
evidence that would support what they have said--now, he stands in 
front of the American people and says that you are all liars and that 
we are not going to tolerate that type of behavior.
  Then he goes behind his desk at the Senate and said: all of those 
pieces of legislation, those 220 House-passed bills, put them on the 
table because we are not going to talk about them. We are not going to 
debate them. We are not going to amend them. And you know why we are 
not? Because there is an election coming.
  Right now, there are a third of the Senate Members up for election. 
That is their rotation--a third, a third, and a third. Every couple of 
years, there is a third reelected, or new Senators come in.
  He has placed the reelection above the redirection of this country. 
The reelection of his Senate is more important to him than the 
redirection of this country. That is absolutely unforgivable.
  So I would just ask our friends, as they listen--and this is a 
message to America, not so much to the House of Representatives or to 
the Senate because we are pretty much ignored, but let me just say 
this: for those of you who are at home and listening to this, there are 
several things you can do.
  I said about picking up your phone or picking up your pen. How about 
this, just getting on your computer. Go to www.speaker.gov/jobs. You 
can also go to majorityleader.gov/bill-tracker.
  What will these two sites give you? They will give you everything we 
are talking about. It is all there. You don't have to come to 
Washington to see us. You don't have to send away for a book.
  You don't have to do anything except go online and pick up this 
information. You can sit at home and see what it is this House of 
Representatives has passed; and then you, too, can sit, as myself, Mr. 
Marino, and Mr. Wenstrup do every day, and ask: What is it that we are 
waiting for?
  The answer is leadership; quite simply, it is leadership. America, 
right now, is hunting for champions. They are hunting for people who 
will rise up and take control of this situation, and this idea that, 
somehow, somewhere, some knight in shining armor has to come riding in 
on a white charger to get us there is baloney because, every election, 
it comes right out your hometown.
  It comes right out of your churches, and it comes right out of the 
folks you work with every day and have grown up with and have lived 
life with. That is who is here. That is who is here. It is so unique; 
it is the only place in the world that you can do it.
  I just tell you, because of the social media, you can go as an 
individual in your home. You don't have to get in your car and drive 
anywhere. You don't have to waste any money on gas. You don't have to 
worry about sitting in traffic.

[[Page 5408]]

  Just sit at home and go to those two sites, www.speaker.gov/jobs or 
majorityleader.gov/bill-tracker. You can find out everything we are 
talking about.
  Mr. Wenstrup, you did talk about the Keystone pipeline, and we ask 
ourselves all the time: What is the holdup on the Keystone pipeline?
  One person, one person; and if you don't know where that person is, 
let me give you a clue: he lives in a white house at 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue. This is not a tough place to find.
  Pick up the phone and call him. Tell him: Mr. President, let's get 
back to work; Mr. President, let's make America energy independent; Mr. 
President, let's quit worrying about the next election, and let's get 
this country back in the right direction.
  We can do it as a people. We can do it together. We must do it. It is 
not just a responsibility. It is our obligation, not just for the 
future, but to all those from the past.
  So I would just tell you, my friends, there is so much going on right 
now, and I really would like my two colleagues, let's all join, and we 
can have a colloquy right now between the three of us and talk back and 
forth because I think it is important for the people of America to 
understand.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Valadao). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward Senators and are further 
reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I yield to Mr. Wenstrup.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. The gentleman mentioned the Affordable Care Act, and 
you mentioned a phone and a pen. I would encourage all Americans to use 
their phone and to use their pen to let the other parts of our 
government know where you stand and know that you do want to see some 
action taking place.
  We are a Nation of laws, and we should live by the rule of law. It is 
very difficult for the American people to understand when certain laws 
are passed and signed by the President and then just changed as though 
it is a menu, you can just select which laws you want to enforce.
  That makes it very difficult for the American people to understand, 
and it makes our job more difficult, too, as we go ahead and pass laws.
  While we are talking about some of the things that we have done here 
in the House, both in the 112th and in the 113th Congress, we passed 
the REINS Act. For those who aren't familiar with the REINS Act, 
basically what it does is it brings more power back into Congress and 
into those who represent you. It gives you a voice.
  We have established, over the years, many agencies where we have 
empowered those agencies, and we have empowered the people within the 
agencies to make the decisions, and often, it is punitive, regulatory 
decisions that they are making, so this makes it very difficult for our 
businesses.
  What the REINS Act does is it says that, if a regulation has a 
negative economic impact of over $100 million, then it has to be 
approved by Congress. That gives you, the people, a chance to reach out 
to your Representative and let them know how you feel about these 
regulations, rather than just having a bureaucracy deciding that this 
is what is going to take place.
  As I said, I think, over the years, this body has given up some of 
that power to these agencies, and that takes it away from the American 
people, and we want to get that back.
  Now, we talk about if it is over $100 million of negative economic 
impact. Well, I tell you I rarely see a regulation that has a positive 
economic impact in America, and so this is an opportunity for us to get 
that back.
  Again, it is something that we passed in the last two Congresses here 
in the House of Representatives, and it has not been taken up in the 
Senate.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman, and I yield to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).
  Mr. LAMBORN. I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his 
leadership on this and many other issues, and I thank him for putting 
this time together.
  Whenever anyone says it is a do-nothing Congress, they are only half 
right. It is actually a do-nothing Senate.
  In this Congress, the House has passed and sent over to the Senate 
311 total bills, and we have talked about the 220 jobs-related bill. 
There are 311 total bills.
  In stark contrast, the Senate has sent to the House only 67 bills. 
The Senate produces just about one-third of what the House does--one-
third of the work, Mr. Speaker.
  I am not saying that passing bills in and of itself is an unalloyed 
good. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, is 
a primary example of that, but it is one way to measure how hard you 
are working.
  From the House Natural Resources Committee I sit on, we have passed 
six bills opening up American energy that would create over 1 million 
new jobs, lower gasoline and electricity prices, reduce our dependence 
on foreign oil, and help lower our national debt by generating over $1 
billion in new revenue. These bills are now stalled in the Senate.
  The U.S. Senate has turned into a productivity graveyard. President 
Obama has signed only 24 Senate bills into law during this Congress. In 
contrast, 91 bills from the House have been signed by the President 
into law. These are total bills of all different subjects.
  Senate Democrats' sole concern seems to be protecting themselves from 
taking recorded votes that might anger their liberal donors or their 
voters. They do this by closing off debate, eliminating amendments, and 
writing their bills in secret, shutting out Republican voices and 
input.
  This broken and dysfunctional Democrat Senate has produced many 
disasters for the American people and not just ObamaCare. They also 
passed the trillion dollar so-called Stimulus Act, refused for 4 years 
to pass a budget, and allowed the President to balloon the national 
debt in five short years from $10 trillion to $17 trillion.
  Don't let the President or Harry Reid fool you with false narratives 
that those rascally Republicans are holding up the Nation's business. 
This is just another gimmick to shift the blame away from where it 
really lies.
  Our country deserves better. Bills that would grow our economy and 
put millions of our friends and neighbors back to work should never die 
in the depths of the Democrat Senate. It is critical for every single 
American to let Senate Democrats know that they are sick and tired of 
the do-nothing Senate.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank Mr. Lamborn.
  If I may inquire, how much time remains?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 25 minutes remaining.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Marino).
  Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I heard a little bit ago when my colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle were talking about ObamaCare, and they 
said that Republicans tried to repeal it over 40 times; and that is 
true, we did.
  We tried to fix it, with no help from the other side, but he said, 
twice, that we didn't have anything to offer. Again, that statement is 
not correct.
  Look at H.R. 3121, American Health Care Reform Act. It repeals 
ObamaCare and puts together a health care program that physicians and 
hospital administrators and the public took part in suggesting what we 
need in a health care program, so it is there. It is backed up. H.R. 
3121, we did do something.
  Now, we need to talk a little bit about some issues concerning what 
my colleagues have said with regard to ObamaCare.
  I just recently heard and verified this by my staff that the House 
minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, said Tuesday that the Founding Fathers--
talking about Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Washington, the Founding 
Fathers--would be pleased with ObamaCare because it means that 
Americans can pursue happiness without being stuck with a job just to 
have health care.

[[Page 5409]]



                              {time}  1715

  This is the same person that says we have to pass it so we know what 
is in it. Well, we all know what is in it, and we all know what is not 
in it.
  Now, I want to make a point clear. Congressman Kelly and myself, this 
is our second term. We new Members of the House, we have a little 
different approach to things.
  This $18 trillion of debt that we are in, this just didn't happen 
over the last couple of years. This happened over the last 50 years. I 
often say to my constituents, if I had the ability to have every living 
President in a group of my constituents, Mr. Speaker, and every leader, 
I would say to them: how dare you do this to us; how dare you, 
Republicans and Democrats, put us into this debt.
  The Republicans had some opportunities when they had control of the 
House and the Senate a decade or so ago, but times are changing. There 
is a new breed here.
  I just want to bring some issues to your attention concerning 
ObamaCare that the American people need to know about. When ObamaCare 
was first implemented, first told about what is going to happen, it was 
supposed to cover 60 million people. Again, go to the Congressional 
Budget Office Web site at www.cbo.gov. It is supposed to cover 60 
million people at a cost of $900 billion and some change over a 10-year 
period.
  You were told you can keep your doctor; you can keep your health care 
program. If you didn't want to participate in ObamaCare, you didn't 
have to. And do you know something? It wasn't going to cost you one 
penny more. Well, the Congressional Budget Office just released new 
figures and they simply put it this way: instead of covering 60 million 
people, maybe--maybe--ObamaCare will cover 24 million people; and 
instead of costing $900 billion, it now is closer to $2 trillion.
  And, oh, by the way, were you able to keep your insurance that you 
had prior to ObamaCare? No. The President said you could, but you 
can't.
  Were you able to keep your physicians? In many instances, no.
  Your rates weren't going up. How many of your rates stayed the same? 
We are talking about millions of people, millions and millions of 
people who lost insurance because of ObamaCare, and millions more whose 
insurance rates went up significantly.
  The President waived more than 30 provisions of his law in order to 
try and make it work, number one.
  Despite his promise that everyone who likes their plan can keep it, 
between 4 and 7 million Americans have had their health care plans 
canceled.
  Approximately, 7.5 million seniors will be forced from their Medicare 
Advantage health care plan of choice in 2014. Others will see more than 
$3,700 in services cut.
  ObamaCare imposes 21 different taxes on Americans and businesses and 
an additional cost of more than $1 trillion to Americans and the 
economy.
  The workforce will shrink. My colleague said there is no evidence 
that the workforce would shrink. Well, you go to www.cbo.gov and you 
will read that the workforce will shrink by 2.5 million jobs because of 
ObamaCare. Not a good sign for the 4 million Americans who have been 
unemployed for over 6 months.
  Eleven million small business employees will see premiums rise under 
ObamaCare.
  And Medicaid, a program that already has reimbursement rates below 
Medicare and one in which one out of three doctors does not accept new 
patients will see enrollments rise by more than 91 million Americans, 
34 million of whom are childless adults.
  This, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Speaker, this does not work, and we 
have to fix it. We have offered a way to fix it, but the President said 
there is nothing wrong with it.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank Mr. Marino.
  I think, Mr. Speaker, as we draw to the end of time, I think it is 
time for us now to take a look at the world and our place in the world. 
Geopolitically, we know we have been hurt lately because America has 
decided to follow something called ``leading from behind.'' I have 
absolutely no idea what that possibly could mean.
  But I hear constantly about the next great emerging economy. You sit 
back and say, well, who could it possibly be? Well, let me tell you who 
it is, and it doesn't take much guesswork. It is us. It is the U.S.
  Now, why do I say that? Because right now we are uniquely positioned 
in history at this moment in time to be the greatest economy the world 
has ever seen. Why? Because we have been blessed by our Creator with 
abundant, accessible, and affordable fossil fuels. These can be 
extracted safely, and that creates thousands of jobs. This can lower 
our cost per energy unit far below anyplace else in the world and 
allows us, in fact, to let our wages rise because our cost of producing 
goes down as far as energy is concerned.
  What else we have, if you look just to the north of the district I 
serve, the Great Lake system is there. Lake Erie is there. Also what is 
there is one-fifth of the world's freshwater. Also, if you were to look 
at our land, our tillable soil, the production per acre that our people 
in agriculture are able to achieve.
  So I would ask you then, at this point in time, at this point in 
history, if we know that really what we need to do is to have a robust 
and dynamic economy, what would be holding us back? It certainly is not 
our cost of energy, because we are blessed with energy everywhere. It 
has been placed there by the Good Lord for us to use. Through new 
technology we are able to extract it. We are able to heat and cool our 
homes, to light our homes, to run our factories, to light our streets 
at night, to do almost anything we want to do at a rate that is lower 
than anyplace in the world.
  In fact, we are at a point right now we don't have to rely on anybody 
else on this globe other than ourselves. We can be energy independent. 
We have drinking water that the rest of the world would love to have. 
And we have the ability to produce, as you know, Mr. Speaker, because 
of where you come from in California, the ability to produce food for a 
population that doesn't need to go starving, it doesn't need to look to 
the rest of the world for help, because we can create it right here, 
right now, for every single American.
  The question becomes then: Why are we where we are at right now? Why 
do we have the lowest labor participation rate we have had in 35 years? 
My goodness, when you look at all the assets, when you can look at 
everything that we have, when you can look at the opportunities we 
have, when you can look at everything, being there and being within our 
grasp without too far of a reach to get there, the question becomes: 
What is holding us up? What is holding us back? What is keeping us from 
achieving that destiny that we have been granted by the Lord? What is 
keeping us from that?
  Look, I would just say this. There are many, many millions of 
Americans that are out of work. All you have to do is go out of this 
Chamber and go down the hall and I can show you a lot of Americans that 
actually have a job that aren't working. I can show you a Senate that 
continues to sit on all these jobs bills, on all this legislation that 
would get America back to work.
  I am so sick and tired of hearing about, well, you know, if the House 
would just do something. I will tell you something; I would suggest 
this: the President would wear out his fingers on that phone calling 
Harry Reid; in fact, his left arm would probably go numb from signing 
all the legislation that could be sitting on his desk right now.
  What is holding it up? What is the roadblock? What is keeping us from 
that pathway to prosperity? Do you know what it is? It is a do-nothing 
Senate. It is a Senate that sits back and calls the American people 
liars. It is a Senate that sits back and distorts the facts. It is a 
Senate that puts out, every day, myths about a House of Representatives 
not working. It is a Senate that had to go under the gun to pass a 
budget and say: Do you know what? Here is the deal. You don't pass a 
budget, we don't pay you.
  Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You have to threaten them 
that

[[Page 5410]]

you are going to cut their pay if they don't pass a budget. Oh, Good 
Lord. I would like to see us do that in our schools. I would like to 
see us do that in our homes. I would like to see us do that in our 
factories and in our businesses in the private sector.
  When we have to pass a bill to make them pass a budget, is that where 
we have reached? Have we reached the depths? Is that how low we have 
become?
  It is a great honor and a privilege to serve in this House. It is a 
great honor to come before the people and to go home and say: We are 
working hard for you. We are going to do the best we can do.
  But do you know what? It requires a little help. It requires a little 
help. This system, this system where there are two Chambers, it 
requires us being able to get things through the House, which we have 
done. 220 House-passed bills are stuck in a do-nothing Senate right 
now. It requires some teamwork now. It requires us to truly be the 
``united'' States and not the ``divided'' States of America. It 
requires us to be a body that works for the American people and not for 
a political party. It requires us to work on an agenda that puts 
America back to work and does not worry about the next election that is 
coming up and worries about the new direction this country needs to go 
in.
  It is a responsibility to take advantage of all those assets the Lord 
has given us; and it is time for the United States to now become the 
next great emerging economy, one that will be heralded all over the 
world, one that the rest of the world is looking to and scratching 
their head and says: My goodness, you have got everything. What is it 
that you are waiting for?
  And the answer, again, is leadership. That leadership has got to take 
place, and it has got to take place soon.
  We will continue to do our job in the House of Representatives. We 
will continue to push bills forward. We will continue to debate and 
amend bills. We will continue to pass bills, and we will walk them down 
the hall to the Senate. But after that, the Senate has to pick these 
bills up. It has to debate them. It has to amend them. It has to vote 
on them, and it has to send them down to the White House for the 
President's final signature.
  If we are truly going to get America back to work, then let's get to 
work. My colleagues in the House have already heard that clarion call 
and they have done their job. I am just going to yell it down the 
hallway as we walk out of here tonight: Hey, you all need to get to 
work because America is waiting for you to lead. Then the phone should 
be ringing off the hook in Mr. Reid's office and at 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue as America says it is time to get up off your seat and get the 
job done.
  It is time to quit talking the talk. It is time to walk the walk. It 
is time to actually do what we know we can do and take advantage of 
every single asset the Lord has provided for us.
  I would just say, Mr. Speaker, in closing, thank you so much for 
allowing us to be here.
  Mr. Marino, always a pleasure to be with you, sir. As we go back to 
Pennsylvania, we will continue to fight those fights.
  Mr. Wenstrup is gone and also Mr. Lamborn is gone, but it is good to 
have colleagues to join us.
  I would just tell you this. If there is nobody that sits in this 
House of Representatives that doesn't want to see America do well, it 
is just time to get back to work.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Pennsylvania has 11 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I am going to 
yield to Mr. Marino, and he will finish up.
  Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I am going to hit on two areas here for a 
moment and ask the American people to get more involved, to call your 
Representatives, to call your Senators, demand from them that we get 
legislation passed through both Houses, or at least the legislation is 
brought to the floor for a vote. The American people deserve that.
  As I said earlier, I am a states' rights guy, a constitutionalist, 
worked in a factory, worked in industry, and then put myself through 
college and law school.
  My father, as I said, gave me a good life. My father was a 
firefighter, a janitor, a painter, and whatever else he could do to 
raise money to keep a roof over our heads and to feed us. He always 
said, if you are going to say something, first of all, to someone, that 
you look right in their eye and you speak the truth. You don't make it 
personal, and you base what you say on facts and you support those 
facts.
  I am a true believer that Americans, over the last decade or two, 
even more so today, have been asked to do more with less. Their budgets 
are tight. Some are laid off. Some are completely out of jobs. They are 
working one and two and three part-time jobs. But we have the 
technology out there to create better jobs.
  Also, the American people should demand that government operates the 
same way. I am a believer that the Federal Government is much too 
large. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. It 
needs to be downsized by at least a third.

                              {time}  1730

  From those of us still here, the taxpayers should demand that we do 
more--do more with less--just like industry does, just like we do at 
home. The government should operate under that basis.
  I am now going to switch back to ObamaCare for a moment. In an 
article of 2-24-2014 in Forbes magazine, it reads: ``ObamaCare Will 
Cost 2.9 million or More Jobs a Year.'' I have more health care 
people--physicians, hospitals, constituents--constantly calling me, 
saying, What am I going to do? I can't get insurance or I cannot afford 
this insurance. We, the Republicans, have put a proposal together, and 
we would like to see that voted on. We would like to see that get over 
to the Senate.
  I also want to bring something else to your attention concerning 
ObamaCare, and it is concerning our young people, the future of this 
country. I have met so many bright young people who are out of college 
but who cannot get a job. They are very talented. They are smart 
individuals. There was a feature issue put out by Sea Change, and it 
was a poll. It reads: ``Policy Feature Issue: ObamaCare and Youth--Why 
Millennials are Right to be Concerned.'' These are young people, 
particularly those out of college who can't find work.
  It reads:

       A recent poll of millennials, released by Harvard's 
     Institute of Politics, found that, today, ``only 41 percent 
     of millennials approve of the President's performance, down 
     11 points since Harvard's last survey in April.''

  I am going to go further on to read:

       With respect to ObamaCare, young Americans are even more 
     suspicious. More than half of the poll's responders believe 
     that health care costs will increase under ObamaCare, with 44 
     percent indicating that they believe the quality of care will 
     decline. Moreover, almost two-thirds of the respondents say 
     they do not plan to enroll in ObamaCare, which, if accurate, 
     would be extremely problematic for the future viability of 
     the Federal exchanges.

  The White House just released that now they have--I heard it on the 
floor today--almost 7 million. It was 7 million, and then it was over 7 
million. Again, the White House has not been consistent with its 
numbers, and it hasn't, I believe, given all of the information. I read 
an article here in which it says they are touting that 6 million, 7 
million--whatever figure they have come up with--got on the Web site 
and signed up. There is a big difference there, folks, because, Mr. 
Speaker, there is a difference between signing up and paying. This 
article stated that most of those individuals who signed up did not pay 
and that they project that those individuals will not pay. That is what 
this ObamaCare health care plan was relying on, for young people who 
are in good health today to pay. Yet they are saying, I am in good 
health. Why should I bail others out?
  Now, let me make this perfectly clear. I believe that everyone should

[[Page 5411]]

have health care. My daughter has cystic fibrosis, a disease for which 
there is no cure. The hoops that my wife and I had to jump through and 
still are jumping through in order to cover my daughter are 
extraordinary. If there are people out there who cannot afford health 
care, we, as Americans, have to help them. We have to pay for them. We 
have to give them health care. That is what America is about. That is 
what Americans do. We help people. We try to improve the quality of 
life.
  I am asking, Mr. Speaker, that the American people get more involved 
in the political system, to be aware of what is out there, to hear what 
is going on. You heard what I stated and what I cited. Check my facts. 
Follow up. Just don't take what you hear as actual fact and actual 
truth. Back it up. Ask your elected officials, Where did you get that 
information? On what did you base it?
  It is about time, as my colleague Congressman Kelly said, that we 
level the playing field, that we take the handcuffs and the restraints 
off of hardworking taxpayers so they can give their children and their 
grandchildren a better way of life. I know that we can do that in this 
country. We are the greatest country in the world. I am a member of the 
Foreign Affairs Committee, and I am a member of the NATO alliance. I 
talk to people who represent 27 other countries about how great America 
is and about how they look to us and what we can do. Even the countries 
that do not like us look to America for leadership. They look to 
America for a better way of life, not only here in the U.S. but around 
the world.
  I have to tell you that every time I drive from Williamsport, 
Pennsylvania--the 10th Congressional District there--after a week of 
listening to my constituents and seeing what they go through--my 
farmers, businesspeople, homemakers, single moms, men who can't find 
jobs, women who have to work two and three part-time jobs to raise 
their families--I know we have a responsibility. As I turn on to 
Independence and as I see the dome of this beautiful building, I can't 
believe that I am fortunate enough to be here, to represent not only my 
10th Congressional District in Pennsylvania but all of America, but it 
is a responsibility that I chose. It is a responsibility for which I 
have to continue to fight every day of my life.
  I heard one of my colleagues say--and I am going to borrow his line, 
and I am going to ad-lib it a little bit. He would say to his people as 
he was speaking to them in a group--and he would stand up and take his 
glasses off--do you see this line here, this wrinkle here? This was 
caused by fighting to keep your taxes low. Do you see this wrinkle 
here? This was caused by making sure that the American people know what 
we are voting on. This line here was caused to make sure that there is 
a level playing field, and there is still room on my face for more 
lines and more wrinkles to keep fighting.
  That is what I am going to do--that is what we all should be doing 
here in the House--to keep fighting for the American people. Down the 
road, I want someone to say to my children, Do you know something? When 
your father was a Member of Congress, he did the right thing for the 
American people and for his constituents.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I think my time is pretty 
close to the end, is it not?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 2 minutes remaining.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I will take this brief opportunity to 
thank my colleagues Mr. Marino and Mr. Wenstrup for being here and Mr. 
Lamborn for being here and for your indulgence and for the American 
people's.
  We have often said--and we have shared these moments together many 
times--that we have not just a responsibility but an obligation not 
just to ourselves and to our current generation but to all of those who 
came before us for all of the sacrifices that they made--for the 1.6 
million men and women in uniform who gave their lives that we could 
have this moment today and those into the future. We have a 
responsibility to guarantee to them that we made a conscious decision 
to make sure that their future would be as secure as the one that we 
were given.
  In having said all of that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of 
my time.

                          ____________________