[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6557-6558]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              ECONOMIC, RETIREMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this morning, I want to discuss the 
issue of security with my colleagues--economic security, retirement 
security, and national security--three issues that probably right now 
in my conversations with constituents is what we hear the most about.
  Let's look at the picture of economic security, or the lack thereof, 
that exists in our country and in our communities.
  What I hear from my constituents is that the 5 percent unemployment 
rate is indeed misleading because over 90 million Americans have 
dropped out of the workforce. They are losing hope and are unemployed. 
The Obama malaise, as I have constituents who like to term it, has 
created a workforce participation rate of 62.8 percent. Now, I want you 
to think about that. Of the eligible adults who are ready for the 
workforce, 62.8 percent have a job and are able to work. That is the 
worst level since the Carter administration.
  Our GDP is declining. Our economy grew at only half of a percent--
half of a percent in the first quarter of 2016. That is lower than a 
1.4 percent expansion in the previous period, according to the Bureau 
of Economic Analysis. President Obama had a chance to create 40,000 
jobs, and he took a pass on it. He vetoed the Keystone pipeline so that 
he could cement his legacy and stature as a liberal icon.
  The American people are tired of being broke; they are tired of work 
permits that go to illegal aliens; and they are tired of $19.2 trillion 
in Federal debt. We need to get the government off the backs and out of 
the pocketbooks of the American people. It is time to loosen 
regulations and lower taxes.
  The issue of retirement security comes up so often in the 
conversations I have, especially with women, and it is important to 
note what is happening with Social Security and Medicare. The Social 
Security retirement trust fund is set to run out of money by the year 
2034. That is not that far away. According to the Tax Foundation, under 
the current wage indexing formula, benefits are projected to climb by 
more than 150 percent, in real terms, over the next 75 years.
  I have introduced H.R. 603, the Savings for Seniors Act, which 
establishes within the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 
Fund a Social Security Surplus Protection Account to hold the Social 
Security surplus and prohibit it from being spent. Medicare has to be 
addressed as well. It is supposed to run out of money and be insolvent 
by 2030. We must make sure that seniors are secure, and we have to make 
certain that the money they have already paid into the system, they are 
able to receive.
  On the national security front, President Obama's very, very timid 
foreign policy has emboldened our enemies from the rise of ISIS, to 
Russian aggression in Ukraine and in the Middle East, to the Chinese 
military expansion in the South China Sea. It has also left our allies 
asking: Where are you? You are not present as we try to address these 
issues.
  What we have seen with President Obama, I think, is inexcusable. For 
example, when the evil blade of ISIS decapitated Steven Sotloff in 
2014, President Obama was on the golf course minutes after telling the 
American people: We will be relentless, and we will be vigilant to see 
that justice is done. Or, as he also calls it, leading from behind.

                              {time}  1045

  Two other glaring issues we face are the Syrian refugee program and 
our southern border.

[[Page 6558]]

  There is currently no way to vet Syrian refugees, and I think this 
President is delusional if he thinks there is. I have introduced H.R. 
4218 to suspend refugee admissions until Congress passes a joint 
resolution approving the President's plan.
  Meanwhile, our southern border is overrun again. Through the first 6 
months of fiscal year 2016, which ended on March 31, border officials 
apprehended 27,754 unaccompanied children. That is just shy of the 
28,579 number apprehended for all of 2014. Think about that comparison.
  Mr. Speaker, we must provide economic, retirement, and national 
security for all Americans. We must rise to the occasion and make 
certain our Nation is secure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded not to engage in 
personalities toward the President.

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