[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19991-19994]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CURRENT ISSUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the time.
  I would like to begin this evening by yielding to the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), my good friend and colleague.


           Puerto Rico's Financial Crisis and the Way Forward

  Mr. DUFFY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
  Tonight I rise to talk about our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico.
  If you have watched the news recently, you are well aware that there 
is an economic financial debt crisis taking place right now in Puerto 
Rico. Our American brothers and sisters are going through an incredibly 
difficult time.
  The island is $73 billion in debt. That is 100 percent of their GDP, 
which is catastrophically high. This debt has had a huge impact on the 
livelihoods of those who live on the island.
  The unemployment rate is over twice what it is on the mainland. It is 
at 12.4 percent. Forty-eight percent of Americans on the island are 
living in poverty. Again, half of the island citizens--Americans--are 
living in poverty.
  Ten percent of the 3.5 million people on the island are leaving and 
they are coming to the mainland. It is great because they work hard and 
they have an amazing culture. It is wonderful they are coming. But if 
you are coming to the mainland, you should be coming because you want 
to come, not because you don't have economic opportunity in your home. 
We don't want to force people away from their families and their 
neighbors and their community because they don't have economic 
opportunity.
  We have to stand together in this House and stand with our brothers 
and sisters in Puerto Rico. We can't turn a blind eye. We have to work 
with them. We have to work for them so we can address this crisis.

[[Page 19992]]

  Yesterday I introduced a pretty simple and straightforward bill that 
will help jump-start the Puerto Rican economy, help put people back to 
work, grow their economy, better paying jobs, and lift people out of 
poverty. It is very simple. It is called the Puerto Rico Financial 
Stability and Debt Restructuring Choice Act, and it has two prongs.
  Prong number one is we are going to implement a financial stability 
board that is going to help the island with the management of its 
budget, its tax collection, and its finances.
  Prong number two is Puerto Rico can access a chapter 9 bankruptcy. By 
the way, every State in America can access chapter 9. It will be the 
same rights as every State that we will offer Puerto Rico. It is pretty 
simple and straightforward stuff.
  I also think it is important to note that no one wants to have a 
financial stability board shoved down their throat, and the citizens of 
Puerto Rico don't want that either. That is why we give them the 
choice. This doesn't go into effect unless the Puerto Rican legislative 
assembly approves the financial stability board and the Governor signs 
it so that they have a say in their future.
  If we do this, we will allow Puerto Rico to restructure their debt, 
to get their finances in order, to grow their economy, and to let 
people on the island start living the American Dream. If we do nothing, 
if we turn a blind eye and say that we are not going to offer the same 
bankruptcy option that every State has, we are turning our backs on our 
fellow American citizens on the island, and that is not who we are. We 
should stand together.
  Now, there are others who have proposed different solutions for the 
island, and those solutions involve a bailout without real structural 
reform. I have got to tell you that, after the 2008 financial crisis, I 
think Americans have had it up to here with bailouts. We usually go 
with bankruptcy and financial reform, and that is what my bill does.
  I would encourage all of my fellow Americans in this institution, 
whether you are a conservative or a liberal, you are a Republican or a 
Democrat, to note that our brothers and sisters, our fellow American 
citizens in Puerto Rico, are going through tough times, and it is our 
job to stand with them, not turn our backs.
  If we can pass this bill, it is going to be a new day on the island, 
economic prosperity and opportunity. And then people have a choice to 
say: Do I want to stay on the island, raise my family on the island, or 
do I want to leave and come to the mainland?
  The choice is theirs. They won't be forced into that choice just 
because they don't have opportunity on the island of Puerto Rico.
  I encourage all of my colleagues and friends to reach out. Let's be 
part of the solution.


                           Recovering America

  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, as I walked through the airport 
recently, I noticed a young teenager. She was traveling and was 
seemingly happy to be involved in whatever activity she was going to.
  She wore a button on her lapel. It said: What you do matters. It 
caught my attention: What you do matters. I liked it. I am not sure 
what was motivating her, but she wanted to communicate an important 
value to elevate an ideal. I simply admired her willingness to take a 
stand.
  Mr. Speaker, I should say this now, though: There is a troubling 
statistic out there, and a recent survey highlights this. A majority of 
Americans do not identify with what America has become. Many people 
feel our country is slipping away. In reality, most want to reclaim the 
promise of our great Nation.
  Contrary to the barrage of negativity, most people hope for 
justifiable goals: to regain power over their own lives, to regain 
power over the government, and to regain power over their own economic 
prospects.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the strengths of America's system of government 
is its capacity for constant replenishment. Opportunities sometimes 
present themselves unpredictably. That gives us a chance to reassess 
and realign in new and compelling ways, both to preserve important 
traditions as well as to restore the future promise of our Nation.
  A stronger America might be glimpsed through what I call four 
interlocking principles, the first of which is government 
decentralization; second, economic inclusion; third, foreign policy 
realism; and, fourth, social conservation.
  Let's take that first point. A return to a more decentralized 
government will restore an important source of America's strength. When 
the Federal Government grows beyond its effective purpose, it infringes 
upon basic liberty, it stifles innovation, it crushes creativity, and 
it impedes our responsibility for one another in the community.
  A creeping tendency to nationalize every conceivable problem and 
nationalizing every conceivable discussion erodes the community's 
input. While the Federal Government does have an important central role 
in maintaining the guardrails of societal stability, the rule of law, 
and a fair opportunity economy, America's governing system is designed 
to operate most effectively at varying levels. Those close to an 
opportunity or those close to a problem ought to have the first 
authority to seize the opportunity or to solve the problem.
  Second: economic inclusion. Economic inclusion should help America 
recover from an arthritic economy. You see, Mr. Speaker, when power 
concentrates in a Washington Wall Street axis, where the transnational 
corporation is an emerging ruling entity and where small business--the 
source of most jobs in America--is suffocated under increasingly 
complex dictates, the opportunity for a strong and vibrant marketplace 
diminishes. A vibrant market actually expands the space for 
constructive interdependency and community dynamism, fighting poverty, 
and driving innovation.
  Third: foreign policy realism. Foreign policy realism should chart a 
new course between isolationism and over-interventionism. America has 
an important leadership role to play on the world stage. Today, 
however, many Americans are alarmed by an exhausted, drifting, and 
often counterproductive foreign policy.
  After World War II, America was cast in the role of the world's 
superpower and at great sacrifice. We, as a country, created the space 
for international order. But now we live in a multi-polar world. Other 
countries, which we helped empower through our generous sacrifice, must 
take a seat at the table of responsible nations.

                              {time}  1745

  Leveraging America's strength through strategic international 
partnerships will help us navigate a 21st century that is marked by 
ever-shifting geopolitical frameworks.
  The fourth point: social conservation. What does that mean? Social 
conservation preserves the condition for order, for opportunity, and 
for happiness.
  We must fight back against dimming hope and diminishing opportunity 
and darkening shadows. A healthy society depends upon more than 
politics for the promotion of sustainable values. America has many 
mediating institutions, as we call it--important civic institutions, if 
you will--which uphold greater ideas.
  As an example, Mr. Speaker, I am a proud, long-time member of the 
Rotary Club in Lincoln, Nebraska. At every Rotary Club meeting across 
this country, in which hundreds of thousands of Americans participate, 
there hangs a banner at the front of the club, and it reads: ``Is it 
true? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better 
friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?''
  Perfect. Beautiful. Perhaps we ought to hang the banner right here, 
Mr. Speaker. That is a pretty good game plan.
  As new leadership emerges on the national stage, perhaps this is the 
moment to think critically about how we regain the high ground of 
purposeful government, an opportunity economy,

[[Page 19993]]

a balanced foreign policy, and a flourishing culture in a good society. 
We need to play all four quarters.
  Ultimately, both the government and the marketplace are downstream 
from our culture; and with a heavy heart, I say this--everyone knows 
it--America's social fabric is fraying. Many people are experiencing 
deepening anxiety about the future direction of the country. The recent 
attack in San Bernardino has only intensified the feeling. A crazed 
couple, driven by its twisted religious ideology, murdered 
indiscriminately those at a social services center. It is a horrible 
tragedy and a grotesque irony, and our hearts feel for those who were 
so gravely harmed.
  A genuine multiculturalism--long a hallmark of the American 
experience--will continue to decay into discord unless two mutually 
supporting conditions are sustained: a genuine appreciation of organic 
differences and a binding substructure of universal ideals and shared 
values. One such value is that we do no harm to others, and a religion 
that teaches killing is no religion at all. Other important values 
include trustworthiness, thrift, citizenship, courteousness, and so on. 
By the way, Mr. Speaker, a helpful list of these ideals, of these 
virtues, is found in the Boy Scout Law.
  This values crisis is compounding this three-part problem of 
government overreach, economic exclusion, and cultural dislocation. A 
centralizing government seems decreasingly able to understand, much 
less address, the needs of its citizens it should serve. In the midst 
of this divisive political season, partisan dysfunction, and 
bureaucratic inertia, it is all hindering the proper progress toward 
addressing our country's most pressing problems, and it overshadows 
important local initiatives where certain problems can best be solved. 
Not everything is a Federal issue. A private sector which is 
consolidating corporate power, often underwritten by the State, is 
disenfranchising the small business sector. A loss of genuine choice 
and genuine competition of economic pluralism reduces the ability of 
people to participate, own, and innovate in a marketplace that is truly 
free and can deliver widespread prosperity.
  A culture of contrasting philosophies, more and more inflamed by 
caustic rhetoric, is contributing to what some believe are 
irreconcilable social divisions. An impoverished account of 
individualism, of a liberty reduced to autonomous choice and divorced 
of responsibility creates the conditions for social anarchy, which 
further creates the conditions for counterproductive government 
interventions, lawless overreach, and intrusive market manipulations. 
Then add into this mix a confusing assortment of values choices that 
are driven more by experimenting elites than by the stability of sound 
tradition, and you have the recipe for harmful disruption. No wonder 
there is so much sadness in the world.
  As politicians and the media debate policy positions, we must 
understand that authentic solutions involve a return to essential value 
propositions. The application of proper principles to these problems 
would enable us in Washington to better assuage widespread and 
justifiable angst with appropriate government policy, with appropriate 
government decentralization, and with dynamic economic inclusion, 
supported by a hope-filled culture. That is our answer.
  As you enter my State--I live in Nebraska--the sign reads: ``. . . 
the good life.'' A good life is found in freedom and responsibility. A 
just and orderly society is founded and sustained by persons who care. 
What we all do does really matter, just like my young teenage friend--I 
would like to call her a ``friend''--displayed in the airport recently.
  Mr. Speaker, late this summer, before school began, I took my younger 
children on a family trip to western Nebraska. Near Valentine, 
Nebraska, which is in an area called the Sandhills, water from the 
underground aquifer--it is called the Ogallala Aquifer--seeps out of 
the ground and falls dramatically over rock formations and into a 
stream that then feeds into the Niobrara River. The area is called Fort 
Falls, and it is a part of the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge. 
The stream's icy cold water flows like a river into the shallow warm 
water that is running in the Niobrara. What is even more interesting to 
ponder, as you look around, are the steep slopes on both sides of the 
beautiful river. On the north bank, rocky hill formations are covered 
with pine trees. On the south bank, the trees are much different. You 
see the last reach of the eastern deciduous forest, with a mixed 
variety of plants and hardwood trees just like you would see here in 
Virginia. It looks like California on one side, and across the river 
here in Virginia on the other. Right there, where I live in Nebraska, 
we are the geographic center of our country, where east meets west.
  As a part of that trip, we also took a drive northward into the State 
of South Dakota, into the Black Hills, to a place called Mount 
Rushmore. It happened to be the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that weekend, 
so I and about 2 million other bikers were on the road. Everyone knows 
the four faces on Mount Rushmore. Each of the four American Presidents 
embodied great qualities and faced significant challenges:
  George Washington was a transcendent leader who purposefully walked 
away from power, giving our early Republic a chance to grow into a 
vibrant democracy;
  Thomas Jefferson's life was seemingly full of conflicts and 
contradictions, but his efforts gave rise to the Declaration of 
Independence, which poetically expressed an understanding of the 
dignity and the rights of all persons, which so beautifully still 
informs our culture and our government to this day;
  Abraham Lincoln made a midcourse correction in his life. He rejected 
an early snarky, political, antagonistic attitude and turned toward a 
vision of that which is noble and good. His reputation as a skillful 
and humble leader extended well beyond the Civil War to many important 
endeavors, including the development of land grant institutions all 
over this country, like the University of Nebraska;
  Theodore Roosevelt had to rebuild his life after his wife died at a 
young age. His boundless energy, translating into multiple 
accomplishments, perhaps helped him outpace a haunting melancholy from 
which he suffered. As an avid hunter, he grew to recognize the 
importance of wildlife preservation. Beyond the natural places that he 
preserved, perhaps Roosevelt's greatest legacy was one of trust 
busting--breaking up concentrations of economic power that locked so 
many Americans out of a fair shot at economic opportunity.
  Four great Presidents. Four men who sacrificed greatly to give us 
what we have today.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, many people in the country are experiencing a 
serious disquiet about all of these challenges that we are facing. They 
feel disconnected from the ability to control their own well-being. 
These concentrations of power are overwhelming the capacity of 
individuals to shape their own environments. Political and economic and 
cultural cartels are growing more powerful, and, in some ways, they are 
more hidden and destructive than in Roosevelt's time.
  Of course, today, political problems are on everyone's mind. This 
concentration of power stifles innovation and creativity; and as money 
flows into the political system, it pays for the polarization which 
hinders the ability of our body to find constructive solutions. This 
transcends, by the way, the current partisan divide.
  Our increasingly interconnected world offers significant benefits and 
opportunities to us, but globalization also introduces forces that can 
leave so many Americans feeling helpless. Transnational corporate 
conglomerates, often buttressed by oligarchic political systems, are 
shrinking the space for genuine choice and competition in the private 
sphere. As I talked about earlier, the stress of small business is very 
real. This concentration of economic power endangers true free market 
principles, which should be working for the many.

[[Page 19994]]

  On a deeper level, America's political disrepair and economic malaise 
signal an underlying brokenness in our society, in our culture. 
Persons--humans--thrive in relationships with our families and 
communities in a healthy society, which creates the preconditions for 
this human flourishing. Cultural consolidation and social discord have 
left more and more people, again, feeling directionless and feeling 
alone. Weakening relationships and weakening social institutions 
foreshadow and prefigure political and economic problems. Ultimately, 
renewing America--restoring America's government and economy--requires 
reclaiming a vibrant civil society, which is the true source of our 
Nation's strength.
  Mr. Speaker, if you have ever driven through those Black Hills, which 
I spoke of earlier--the one-lane tunnels and winding hairpin turns--
they form a very beautiful but a very arduous journey, even without all 
the motorcycles around you. As you continue that journey, looking for 
something, an opening then appears in the trees, and you see it--that 
magnificent piece of art, carved in stone, with four of America's 
greatest Presidents.
  Their likenesses are in the rock, timeless and unchanging; but the 
ideals they represent must be reestablished in each generation. The 
renewal of America will depend, in large part, on whether or not we can 
grasp what these leaders stood for and whether or not we can make the 
sacrifices necessary to reclaim our country's potential in this time, 
our time.
  Mr. Speaker, what we all do matters.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________