[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2685-2691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
                         THE BLUE COLLAR CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, we are going to talk today about something 
very important: our economy, jobs, and the state of America in regards 
to those subject matters.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of South 
Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), who is a good friend of mine, our colleague, 
and our assistant leader, to come address us on a very important issue 
that relates to many of those things that we talk about.
  I would like to invite Leader Clyburn to come and talk to today. I 
really appreciate his coming and taking the time to be part of this 
hour.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Congressman Veasey, from 
the great State of Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as part of the observation of Black History 
Month to continue my series of remarks recognizing HBCUs, Historically 
Black Colleges and Universities. I ask my colleagues to join me in 
celebrating Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.
  Founded in 1870, just 5 years after the end of the Civil War, by the 
American Baptist Home Mission Society, Benedict was originally named 
Benedict Institute, after Stephen and Bathsheba Benedict of Rhode 
Island, Baptist abolitionists who had donated the funds to acquire the 
property on which the campus sits. Formerly the site of a pre-Civil War 
plantation, the first classes were held in a dilapidated mansion on the 
grounds. Benedict Institute was formerly chartered by the South 
Carolina General Assembly in 1894 and renamed Benedict College.
  From its founding through 1930, Benedict was led by northern White 
Baptist ministers. In 1930, Reverend John Starks, an alumnus of 
Benedict, became the school's first African-American president. The 
heart of its campus has been designated the Benedict College Historic 
District, consisting of Morgan Hall, Pratt Hall, Duckett Hall, Antisdel 
Chapel, and Starks Center.
  Like Allen University, its neighbor, Benedict College has a long 
legacy of activism for civil rights and social justice. One of the very 
first civil rights campaigns in South Carolina was organized at 
Benedict College in 1937. Students participating in a national NAACP 
campaign led a demonstration in support of antilynching legislation 
pending in Congress.
  One of Benedict's early graduates was Reverend Richard Carroll. Born 
into slavery in Barnwell, South Carolina, Reverend Carroll was a 
prominent Baptist minister in the late 1800s who received honors and 
appointments from both President William McKinley and President 
Theodore Roosevelt. Other prominent alumni include Modjeska Simkins, a 
prominent civil rights and public health champion; General Matthew 
Zimmerman, who served as Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army; 
and I.S. Leevy Johnson, the first African-American president of the 
South Carolina State Bar Association.
  In the modern era, under the leadership of President David Swinton, 
Benedict has grown to a student body of more than 2,800 undergraduate 
students. In 1995, Swinton revived the football program and marching 
band 30 years after they had been shut down. He also championed a new 
sports complex on Two Notch Road in Columbia, which includes a football 
stadium, tennis courts, baseball fields, and fitness facilities. The 
liberal arts curriculum now offers degrees in 30 different disciplines. 
President Swinton also has led the efforts to preserve and restore many 
of the historic buildings on the campus, in part paid for with Federal 
funds from the HBCU Historic Preservation Program that we in this 
Congress have championed.
  President Swinton will retire this summer after 23 years of service 
to the institution. I wish him well and thank him for his leadership.
  Today, on the same land where Blacks once toiled in slavery, their 
descendants are now learning the tools they need to live up to Benedict 
College's motto: to be powers for good. Like so many HBCUs, Benedict 
offers a unique religious experience in which students from many 
different backgrounds share a common struggle for equality, and I am 
pleased to recognize them today.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the leader for his comments 
and for participating tonight. I really appreciate his words and that 
recognition.
  I want to thank everyone that is with us today to talk about our Blue 
Collar Caucus and jobs in this country. I think that there is nothing 
more important to any individual--any man or woman--than the ability to 
be able to have a good job, to take care of your family, and to be able 
to be a part of the American economy and to contribute to that economy.
  I want to start off talking about President Barack Obama. Under 
President Barack Obama, the American economy added 9.3 million jobs and 
overcame one of the worst economic crises our Nation has ever seen.
  In Arlington, Texas, which is part of the district that I represent 
in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we have a General Motors plant. As you 
know, we could have lost our car industry. We have probably the most 
profitable plant in the General Motors family. All of the cars that you 
see around here at the Capitol, all of the Yukons, all of the 
Suburbans, the Tahoes, the Escalades, we make those in Arlington, 
Texas. We are very proud of our plant, very proud of the company being 
there all those years and for the UAW workers there that help make that 
plant great.

[[Page 2686]]

  Despite the gains that we have seen with President Obama's saving the 
auto industry with the 9.3 million jobs and our overcoming one of the 
worst economic crises, again, that our country has ever seen, many 
workers across the U.S. felt that the economic recovery had left them 
behind. The rise of automation and outsourcing pushed many of those 
workers out of jobs that they absolutely loved. The frustration felt by 
these workers is understandable. Everyone--everyone--wants a good job 
that lets them, for their family, be able to take care of themselves, 
be able to pay their bills, send their kids to college, and buy a car.
  President Trump appealed to many blue-collar workers during his 
campaign with a populist message and pledges to help working America, 
but his actions since taking office directly contradict so many of his 
promises. President Trump is playing one of the slickest political 
scams we have ever seen on hardworking American families. It is a scam. 
It is not real.
  On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order 
that raised mortgage rates for new homeowners. Those same people that 
live in those Rust Belt States are those same individuals that were 
Democrats that went on television and went on social media and said 
they were going to give this guy a chance. What does he do on the very 
first day? We are going to raise interest rates on new homeowners, 
people trying to live the American Dream. There is nothing more that 
embodies the American Dream than being able to buy that first home. It 
was a slap in the face to those blue-collar workers and a boost to Wall 
Street.
  President Trump also signed an executive order that made it easier 
for Wall Street bankers to make money on risky bets. His Labor and his 
Treasury Cabinet nominees both have track records that are very 
unfriendly to the middle class and have no understanding what middle 
class workers face.
  It is clear that President Trump does not have a plan to fight for 
the working man and woman as he promised on the campaign trail. That is 
why my colleagues and I--Brendan Boyle who is here with me from the 
State of Pennsylvania, we formed the Blue Collar Caucus to address 
challenges facing blue-collar workers in today's economy. We are going 
to stand up to the Trump administration when he turns his back on 
working class America.
  Our mission is to listen directly to middle class America's concerns 
and translate their needs into policies that allow them to adapt to the 
changing job market. We have to be able to equip our blue-collar 
workers with training that leads to jobs and opportunities. We just 
can't say ``job training.'' Those training opportunities have to lead 
to something of substance, which is a real job with a paycheck and some 
benefits.
  This year alone, the U.S. is expected to add 2.5 million middle-skill 
jobs, the majority of which employers are telling me--and they have 
been to my office, and Mr. Boyle has probably heard the same thing. 
They are saying that these jobs are hard to fill. The Blue Collar 
Caucus is going to prioritize training and retraining initiatives to 
provide real opportunity and security to working class Americans.
  I have a lot more to say, but I do want to turn it over to Brendan 
Boyle from Pennsylvania, my good friend, who also has the same passion 
to represent and really stand up for working class America, for blue-
collar America--not just promise them things, not just get them pumped 
up with a bunch of hype, but to really talk about real policy 
initiatives that will help them be able to put some food on the table, 
put some money in the bank, be able to buy that first house and buy 
that car that they always wanted. I thank the gentleman very much for 
his dedication to blue-collar America.
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. I am very excited to be joined 
in this effort with the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, this comes out of a number of conversations that my 
colleague, Marc Veasey, and I have had just in the back of this Chamber 
about both of our experiences growing up, which are very similar, 
coming from working class or blue-collar parents who worked very hard 
to make sure that their children had opportunities that they may not 
have had. In many ways, that is the American experience: people who 
work hard, play by the rules, pay taxes, raise their kids, and hope 
that their kids will have opportunities that they didn't have. That is 
what built the American middle class.
  What is so difficult about the time in which we are living is that it 
is not just about an economic growth that is 2 percent; it is not just 
about the statistics that we often cite on this House floor. It is 
about a loss of hope in the power of the American Dream.
  There was a statistic that came out--having just said it is not about 
statistics, let me cite one--that I think is, in fact, very telling and 
really shocking. Ninety-two percent of the World War II generation went 
on to earn more than their parents did. For the generation of which I 
am a part and Marc is a part, taken at exactly the same point in life, 
that figure is exactly one-half--46 percent.
  Consider another statistic. Compared to the year 2000, in inflation-
adjusted figures, the middle class has less wealth today than at that 
point 16, 17 years ago. That is the only decade-and-a-half that you can 
look at in American history in which the middle class is worse off than 
the decade-and-a-half that preceded it.
  So while these are presented as just ``economic issues,'' really, 
they are much more than that. They strike at the very heart of who we 
are as Americans and what we stand for. So we are going to be talking, 
as part of this caucus and over the next close to an hour or so and for 
many weeks and months to come, about what we can do specifically for 
the blue-collar economy, for those who work with their hands and for 
those who have been, in many ways, held back because of transitions 
that our economy has faced.
  I have many things that I want to talk about as part of that, but I 
don't want to go on too long because we have been joined by someone who 
doesn't just talk the talk, but has walked the walk, a union worker 
himself, an ironworker, I believe, a good friend of mine from 
Massachusetts, and someone who works hard himself both in his previous 
occupation and now standing up and fighting for working people.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch).

                              {time}  1745

  Mr. LYNCH. It is wonderful to join Mr. Boyle and Mr. Veasey from 
Texas. I thank them for creating the Blue Collar Caucus. I think the 
time is perfect for the challenges that we face as a country, and I 
think also, as a Democrat, embracing some of our tradition. I think, in 
some cases, we have drifted from that.
  I do want to talk about the blue-collar economy and what is happening 
to people who work in the building trades and work as truck drivers and 
nurses and people who are really the backbone of this country.
  As Brendan mentioned, I was an ironworker for about 20 years. I know 
what it is when you are trying to work from paycheck to paycheck, 
strapping on a pair of work boots every single day.
  I also want to focus tonight on one part of Mr. Trump's executive 
orders and policies that have really hurt people in our demographic: 
regular working people. I want to speak specifically about veterans.
  As most people heard, President Trump, when he came into office, 
initiated what was called a Federal worker hiring freeze, stopping any 
workers from going to work for the Federal Government. I just want to 
remind people out there that about 30 percent of those workers are 
veterans. So 30 percent of the people who go to work for the Federal 
Government are veterans. By putting a freeze on Federal workers, you 
are blocking almost one-third of workers who are veterans who would be 
trying to go to work.
  The Federal Government is expansive. That includes workers at the VA; 
it includes workers at the FAA; it includes workers at the Defense 
Department, the State Department; on and on

[[Page 2687]]

and on. So this is really freezing out veterans from going to work.
  I had a young veteran in my office the other day who had some skills 
in radiology. He learned that through his military service in the Navy, 
but also when he got out, with the GI bill, and trying to go to work at 
the VA. I had to explain to him that President Trump, when he came into 
office, put a hiring freeze on, and that we were going to have to try 
to figure out another way to put him to work.
  Well, that case is playing out over 50 States, and thousands--
probably tens of thousands right now--of veterans are being denied the 
opportunity to go to work for the Federal Government. Many of them have 
skills that are necessary.
  We have people retiring and leaving Federal employment on a daily 
basis. We have nurses that are retiring at the VA and folks that work 
for the EPA are leaving at the end of their working lives. They are 
retiring. Yet, we are blocking these veterans from filling those 
positions because of the President's hiring freeze.
  Seeing that, I actually drafted a bill that I am happy to share. It 
is H.R. 1001. It will basically create an exception. It will keep the 
President's freeze in place, except for veterans coming back from Iraq 
and Afghanistan, veterans who have served in previous conflicts. Anyone 
who has put on this country's uniform as a veteran would be exempt from 
the hiring freeze so that we can do the right thing.
  Each and every one of these young men and women--and there are a lot 
of women--I have been to Iraq 17 times now; Afghanistan, about 9 times; 
and I am amazed at the number of young women who serve our country in 
uniform.
  I already have, including my colleagues here, 23 Democrats who have 
signed on. I would love to get some of my Republican friends on this 
bill. This should not be a partisan issue, trying to put veterans to 
work. I am sure we have got some good Democrats and Republicans out 
there that agree on this, and this should be a bipartisan issue. We can 
stop the--let's be hopeful it was unintended consequences of the hiring 
freeze. We can stop this by coming together. Sign onto H.R. 1001.
  Again, I thank my colleagues for their advocacy on behalf of workers.
  I notice today that the President's nominee for Labor Secretary, Mr. 
Puzder, who had a very bad record with workers, withdrew his 
nomination. He has withdrawn from consideration. I think it is because 
of the hard work that Mr. Veasey and Mr. Boyle have done in speaking 
out on behalf of American workers and pointing out the bad decisions 
and the wage and garnishment issues that Mr. Puzder had. I just think 
that their advocacy helped enormously in having him withdraw that 
nomination.
  I thank my colleagues again for the great work that they do on behalf 
of all American workers, and I appreciate their service to the country.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Brendan F. Boyle).
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. We are planning, actually, to 
talk about someone who was, quite frankly, the worst Labor Secretary 
nominee in our Nation's history; literally putting the fox in charge of 
the henhouse. You can tell I am from the city because I botched that 
metaphor, but maybe Marc will be able to help me with that.
  To put someone in charge of the Labor Department who had a complete 
history of ripping off fast food workers, paying in some places, in 
some Hardy's, below minimum wage because they were falsely classifying 
workers, I can't think of really someone who, in many ways, epitomized 
the kind of greed that we see in our economy today than the former 
Labor Secretary nominee.
  That actually works to a point that I wanted to raise. I think it is 
a big part of what has been happening in our American economy today.
  In the post-World War II era, for roughly three decades we had large 
gains in productivity and large gains in wage growth. That is from 
roughly the mid-1940s to about the late 1970s. You saw workers becoming 
more productive, working harder and smarter and better than ever, and 
you saw wages growing to almost exactly the same percentage: 97 percent 
increase in productivity, 91 percent increase in wage growth.
  But then, over the last 30 years, something quite different has 
happened. The productivity growth has continued. The American worker is 
more productive than at any point in our Nation's history and is the 
most productive workforce in the world. That is not boasting; that is 
an economic fact.
  Yet, since the 1970s, wages have barely gone up at all. Those are the 
averages. That doesn't account for the fact that when you are talking 
about the blue-collar economy, when you are talking about those who 
don't have a higher education, when you control for just that group, 
wages are actually lower today than they were 30, 40 years ago.
  Now you might wonder: Well, how are CEOs doing? Have they shared in 
the pain?
  Well, 50 years ago, CEOs made 20 times what typical workers make. As 
of 2013, they make just under 300 times a typical worker's pay--from 
making 20 times more than your average worker to more than 300 times 
your average worker.
  I believe in capitalism and I believe in the market, but clearly 
something is deeply wrong in our economy, the structure of it, when we 
have that sort of situation, when workers are not being rewarded for 
their hard work.
  I recall my colleague, Mr. Veasey, talking a little bit about his 
family experience and the similarities to my own and the fact that 
blue-collar workers like our parents actually have fewer opportunities 
in America today than they did when we were growing up: fewer job 
opportunities for lower wages and not as rich benefits. I say not as 
rich benefits, but, actually, very insecure benefits in terms of health 
care and a lack of a defined pension.
  If Mr. Veasey would possibly talk more about that and other parts of 
the heart and soul of our Blue Collar Caucus.
  Mr. VEASEY. One of the things I remember growing up in Fort Worth, 
Texas, was that we were blessed to have several manufacturing 
facilities that were union shops. We had General Dynamics, which is now 
Lockheed Martin. When I was growing up, it had about 30,000 employees 
out there.
  We had Bell Helicopter, which is owned by Textron now. There are lots 
of employees out there. We had Miller Brewing Company, which is still 
there. Now it is MillerCoors. We had several places, like General 
Motors, which I think I mentioned a little bit earlier.
  So we had several places that had good benefit. I had family members 
that worked at many of those places. Good benefits, good jobs that 
people could really be proud of. One of the reasons why we have seen 
the decline of pay in this country is because of the Republicans and 
their efforts to undermine labor.
  When you start talking about undermining labor and when you turn on 
these talk radio shows--you turn on The Rush Limbaugh Show, you turn on 
Mark Levin, you turn on these shows--they are always talking about how 
bad unions are in this country. But when I think about my own 
experience growing up in Fort Worth and I think about towns like White 
Settlement; towns like Benbrook; the community that I grew up in, Stop 
Six and Como; and I think about the middle class jobs that many of 
these union shops brought to all communities, again, whether it was the 
White community, the Hispanic community, or Black, they allowed people 
to be able to put some food on the table.
  I have got to tell you, I was really kind of tickled and shocked at 
the same time by an article in the opinion section in The Wall Street 
Journal back on September 3, 2015. It was titled: ``The Shop Steward in 
the White House.'' It was taking a shot at President Obama for all of 
the things that he was doing for American workers, and many of the 
things that the Wall Street guy that wrote the article was complaining 
about, saying all these

[[Page 2688]]

things about President Obama, they were all actually really good things 
that the President was advocating for.
  My question and what I want to know and what I want Rust Belt workers 
and people all around the country to ask: Is this Presidency, is this 
administration going to embody and really embrace those same principles 
that were talked about for President Obama when he was really trying to 
protect these workers? Is this President going to do the same thing? 
Are his partners in the legislative branch, our colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle, the Senators on the other side of the Capitol that 
are Republicans, are they going to also stop going after American 
wages, stop going after American workers and their benefits, and start 
standing up for these workers so they can put some more food on the 
table?
  That is what I want to know. Those are the type of questions that we 
should be asking and we should be talking about.
  President Trump can put out a statement on this right now if he 
wanted to, but obviously he has a lot of other things going on.
  The Davis-Bacon Act, as many of us know, is the rule that ensures all 
Federal contractors are paid a fair wage while they are working on 
public works projects.
  If there was ever a repeal of Davis-Bacon, we would see a decrease in 
the quality of blue-collar jobs, and we can absolutely not afford that. 
Stagnating wages, like I talked a little bit about earlier, has left 
workers unable to care for their families. As a result, one-third of 
blue-collar families are enrolled in one or more social safety net 
program.
  That is not what blue-collar workers want. They want the ability to 
be able to take care of their own families. They don't want these 
social safety net programs. They want to be providers and be proud of 
their jobs.
  The Blue Collar Caucus intends to defend the Davis-Bacon Act and 
fight any attempts to decrease wages for America's already struggling 
working class. We know that we can build an economy that works for 
everybody if we just work together. So work with us as we stand against 
President Trump's unfulfilled promises and stand up for these blue-
collar workers. That is what we want our friends on the other side of 
the aisle to do.
  But what I would really like to see right now, even before President 
Trump reaches out to, again, his Republican friends in the legislative 
branch, is for him to come out and make a statement for these blue-
collar workers, for these people in the Rust Belt, for these people in 
the South, for these people in Dallas-Fort Worth, and all over the 
country. I want him to come out and make a statement on where he stands 
on Davis-Bacon.

                              {time}  1800

  It is one thing to just talk in broad categories about bringing jobs 
back to our country, stopping our jobs from going overseas. This is an 
actual policy that we know has been good for many workers in Mr. 
Boyle's district and in mine and, again, everywhere. Where is the 
President on this issue? Why is he not saying anything about Davis-
Bacon? I want to hear what he has to say. I know that Mr. Boyle knows 
about just how important things like Davis-Bacon are and other issue 
areas are.
  Another area is the Supreme Court nominee, Mr. Gorsuch. Where is he 
going to rule when it comes to working families? That is what I want to 
know. That is the type of thing that I hope that people on the factory 
floors and shops across this country start talking about is how is this 
man going to rule? We already know that he has made several bad rulings 
as it relates to working families, rulings that will directly affect 
how big their paychecks are, literally has made rulings that have taken 
money right out of their pockets, right out of their bank accounts. 
Those are the types of things that we need to be talking about, not all 
this 35,000-feet-up-in-the-air-type stuff, but actual policy details 
that we know can impact and hurt families.
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, Marc is exactly 
right. I was so glad that he brought up unions and the important role 
that they play because when I talked earlier about the fact that for 
30, 40 years we had an economy that was working well, that saw 
productivity gains but also wage gains in roughly equal proportion. And 
then suddenly in the last 30 years you have seen that change. You have 
seen the productivity gains continue, but you have seen wage growth at 
practically zero.
  Well, it is not a coincidence that for three, four decades you had 
strong unions, from the mid-1940s until about the late 1970s or so. 
They were there fighting for workers, fighting for increased wages, 
fighting for a secure retirement, fighting for real health benefits.
  Then you saw an economy beginning in the early 1980s where the power 
of unions declined. The number of workers involved in the workforce who 
were unionized declined. I don't think it is a coincidence that just as 
you saw the number of workers in unions decline and the number of 
unions decline and the power of unions decline, you also saw real wages 
decline. Certainly no coincidence. For 70 years, worker wages and the 
strength of unions have moved in tandem, going up together or going 
down together.
  Critical to the strength of the American workforce are provisions 
like Davis-Bacon that have existed since the late 1940s that guarantee 
a prevailing wage on Federal projects. It helps not just those workers 
who are unionized. It lifts all workers because when you have a union 
that is out there fighting for higher wages and fighting for better 
benefits for its members, it helps all workers. It helps all of those 
in the workforce.
  I talked earlier, and I was thinking about this when Marc was talking 
about his family's experience in those towns in the Dallas-Fort Worth 
area. I remember from my own family's experience, we were very lucky 
that my dad, without a college education, with the equivalent of a high 
school education, after many years of trying, was able to break in to 
Teamsters Local 169 as a warehouseman. It simply means he worked in a 
warehouse for Acme Markets. He did that for 25 years. There were a 
couple thousand such workers who were employed in the city of 
Philadelphia.
  Then in the late 1990s, around the year 2000, they closed all those 
warehouses. They laid off close to 2,000 workers. They decided that 
they would set up shop, instead, in a place where they could pay the 
workers half the wages, reduced benefits, and not as many workers. 
Fortunately, things worked okay for my dad. He ended up on his feet. He 
spent the last 16 years as a worker, as a janitor for SEPTA, the 
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
  Many of the guys who got laid off in their 50s and 60s weren't as 
lucky. Many of them never found, again, a job as well paying or as 
secure. Some of them turned to alcohol. Some of them turned to drugs. A 
couple even committed suicide. Again, I want to show that these are not 
just economic issues. Sometimes the elites--and I mean elites not just 
on the Republican side; elites of all political ideologies--sometimes 
look at these as just economic issues. They are real-life issues.
  When we see the diseases of hopelessness that are happening right now 
in places like western Pennsylvania or Texas or Kentucky or, really, 
all parts of our country--and, by the way, White, Black, Hispanic, 
Asian, what we are talking about touches all races, all ethnicities, 
all backgrounds--these diseases of hopelessness that have been on the 
dramatic rise are a real problem for our society, but to look at them 
as just a drug problem or just an alcohol problem or just a mental 
health problem and not see the economic link is very naive and 
incomplete and will never solve the real problem, go to the heart of 
solving the real problem.
  Mr. Speaker, Marc and I both look forward--he had mentioned it to 
me--to periodically coming to this House floor and talking about this 
new President's record when it comes to addressing these issues. He 
talked a lot during the campaign, made a lot of promises. He is great 
at making promises. In

[[Page 2689]]

fact, you would probably say he is the best ever at making promises. 
Well, we are going to be showing his record, to see if he is keeping 
those promises to the American people.
  On some issues, he sounded like a Democrat. On some issues, when it 
came to infrastructure or trade, he said things that I can agree with 
and do agree with. Now that he is President, let's see if the record 
matches the rhetoric. We are going to be here to hold him accountable, 
to hold both sides accountable because, you know, the fact is this 
town, for many decades, has not looked out for the blue-collar worker. 
We are quick to indict the other side where they are wrong, and I think 
appropriately so.
  This Blue Collar Caucus is for all those who really want to make a 
difference in the blue-collar economy, for those who want to put the 
American worker first and foremost. I can say President Trump is not 
off to a great start with some of his Cabinet picks, who look more like 
the board at Goldman Sachs than any union hall. I hope that this first 
month will not be a sign of more to come, but whether he is getting an 
A or an F, we are going to be here to grade his performance on these 
real-life, meat-and-potato issues that matter to the vast majority of 
American families.
  Mr. Speaker, Marc and I represent two different regions of the 
country, two different areas, yet, in many ways, exactly the same kind 
of folks. I wanted to know what Marc is hearing as he goes out into his 
community in Fort Worth about how things are going for American workers 
and what they want from this administration.
  Mr. VEASEY. Absolutely. When I am back in the district in the Dallas-
Fort Worth area--and Dallas and Fort Worth are the two most 
recognizable cities that I represent in the district, but there are 
other cities. We have Irving that is there, we have Grand Prairie, we 
have Arlington where the Cowboys stadium is located, and a lot of 
people are asking: When are we going to get these good jobs back? We 
want to see some of these good jobs come back. I have got to tell you, 
the President made a lot of promises when he was on the campaign trail 
about bringing some of these jobs back, and I want to see those jobs 
come back, too.
  I think that with everything going on right now, with the resignation 
of General Flynn and there being so much talk about campaign operatives 
on the Trump campaign talking to Russian intelligence officials, I 
think that he is going to be too distracted to help these workers. I 
think that Republicans are going to be too distracted to help these 
workers in the Rust Belt, to help these middle class, these blue-collar 
workers.
  I have got to tell you, during our retreat last week while we were in 
Baltimore, I opened up The Wall Street Journal first thing in the 
morning. I saw this article about how--and it was about jobs still 
pouring in to Mexico, and it was really one of the saddest things that 
I ever read. For some manufacturers, Mexico is still the best move. 
They specifically were talking about a corporation called the Rexnord 
Corporation.
  It really broke my heart when I was reading the articles about how 
they were asking the workers at this plant in America, in our country, 
to actually train individuals from foreign countries to replace them. 
They wanted them to train them for the jobs that they currently had 
here in our country and asking them to, you know, train these people so 
we can ship your job out of the country and you can be replaced. How 
demoralizing to go to work knowing that you are training someone next 
to you for your job to be sent overseas or sent out of the country, 
your livelihood, everything that you have known. For a lot of these 
little, small towns, these companies really are the face of the town.
  In Texas, and I am sure it is like this in Indiana and in other parts 
of the Rust Belt and other parts of blue-collar America, Friday night 
football is a really big deal, maybe the local high school basketball 
game is a really big deal, but also that ranks right up there with both 
of those two athletic activities in these towns, their identity is 
driven by their job. I thought that was such a sad commentary about 
where we are now.
  Again, with all of the executive orders, when you start talking about 
the travel ban on citizens from Muslim countries, when you start 
talking about the executive order to raise interest rates on first-time 
homeowners, no executive orders whatsoever to protect the American 
worker. We are a month into the administration. No executive order, no 
action, no comments on Davis-Bacon, nothing to reinforce the fact that 
we are with these guys, and it is really sad.
  I am sure that these workers out there, in America, in New Jersey, in 
other States, I bet you they are sitting back watching, saying: How in 
the world is this President going to help us with all of the 
distractions that are going on over there? When is he going to help us? 
He has done all these other things with the executive order, why not do 
something for the American worker?
  Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. We have been joined by Donald 
Norcross, our colleague within the Democratic Caucus and here in the 
House, and my neighbor from just the other side of the Delaware River. 
Marc brought up football a couple times. Yes, he is a diehard Cowboys 
fan. Well, as a Philadelphia Eagles fan, I am glad to have been joined 
by another Eagles fan, someone much like Stephen Lynch, someone who 
doesn't just talk the talk but has walked the walk, who has worked with 
his hands and is someone who brings great credibility to these issues, 
as someone who himself was out as a blue-collar worker every day and 
now gets the chance to fight for them here on the House floor where 
that fight is badly needed.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Norcross).
  Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Brendan--Representative Boyle--and 
Marc for putting together a Blue Collar Caucus just to remind ourselves 
what we should be doing here is focusing on jobs. Jobs, which is the 
best social program I have ever been with.
  I entered my professional life as an electrician, as an electrical 
apprentice. I went through the other 4 years of school. It was called 
an apprenticeship. I worked on bridges, refineries, pipelines 
throughout the Delaware Valley. I understood how tough it is sometimes 
for people to make it. When work got slow, we got laid off. We 
collected unemployment. Those are the struggles that men and women in 
our great country are going through each and every day. If anything, 
this last election cycle reminded us of that, that sometimes the 
dignity of being able to take care of your family, send your kids to 
school, and retire with dignity is the most important thing we can do.

                              {time}  1815

  I have seen firsthand what happens with minimum wage. They tend to 
think it is all a bunch of kids flipping hamburgers. Well, it is much 
more than that. It is a woman I spoke to, who had a child 8 years old, 
who had to work two jobs just to make sure that in the winter, when her 
daughter needed a coat for winter, that she could take care of her. And 
she recalled to us how badly she felt that her daughter's teacher for 
PTA wanted her to come in and help. She had to decide whether or not to 
keep food on her table or participate in her child's school. That is a 
tough decision when we both want to help.
  When we look at what we have done as a country, as compared to 
elsewhere in the world, it is very different when we look at the blue 
collar, particularly in the building trades where I came from. 
Throughout Europe, particularly in Switzerland and Germany, they look 
at working with your hands with just the same dignity as going through 
college. This country doesn't always do that. Guidance counselors tend 
to push them into college as the only measurement.
  College isn't for everybody. I have three brothers. They went the 
traditional college route. I decided I really enjoyed working with my 
hands. I went and became an electrician. Those jobs,

[[Page 2690]]

we are on over 20 years ago, I still talk to my kids about it today--
the dignity of working with your hands.
  This country is starting to change, particularly when you need an 
electrician. When Mr. Boyle's lights in his house go out, who does he 
call? That electrician is worth his weight in gold, isn't he?
  And I know Mr. Boyle's story. His parents came over here as first 
generation and are living the American Dream. They have to be so proud 
of him.
  And in Mr. Veasey's district, those refineries are important for 
jobs, as they are in mine. I think we absolutely have to keep the focus 
on making sure that we have renewables, that we have clean energy. But 
we also understand with each of those decisions comes whether or not 
somebody is going to be able to go home and say: Honey, I lost my job 
today.
  Today was a remarkable day--the first withdrawal of a nominee for the 
Department of Labor. And I guess this is where, during the election 
cycle, I see the difference.
  It is very clear that the President wanted to talk about jobs, good 
jobs, putting America back to work. And then we have the secretary 
nominee put up--who talks about minimum wage is a bad thing, talks 
about robots are things you don't have argument with. He wants to 
outsource. That is not the way to rebuild the economy.
  Mr. Boyle talked about the discrepancy between those who work for a 
living, the average worker on the line, and those who are the CEOs. 
When I grew up, there was an implied partnership with so many of those 
companies. Those who went to work in a first-generation company, that 
CEO knew every employee's name. But time after time, when that company 
gets sold, that disconnect comes in. They forget about that. And that 
is where those relationships, that partnership that is so important, 
starts to break down.
  We had a conversation in our Education and the Workforce Committee 
the other day about the NLRB, which is the group from the Department of 
Labor that judges whether or not elections with unions are done fairly. 
There was a suggestion somehow that they are not being treated fairly. 
It couldn't be any further from the truth. If workers want to have a 
voice, they should have that voice and choose whether or not they want 
to join with the union. That is the American way--that democracy. Yet, 
the nominee for Labor wanted to do away with the NLRB. In fact, when we 
look at the total case history, it is like putting the fox in charge of 
the henhouse, unless, of course, you own the henhouse, and then it is 
okay.
  I want to finish up by saying to Mr. Veasey and Mr. Boyle how 
appreciative I am of keeping this focus on the forefront of what we do 
here in Congress. I created a Building Trades Caucus, along with a 
colleague, Mr. McKinley, out of West Virginia. We could try to move 
this forward, create an infrastructure package that puts America back 
to work and keeps our roads, our bridges, and our grid safe.
  Let's remember one thing: a fair day's pay for a fair day's work and 
the dignity of a job. I appreciate what you have done.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Norcross). I really appreciate his heartfelt words. I thank him for 
telling us about his journey, employment, and how much electricians 
mean to this country, and other people that work with their hands.
  I think it is sad that in a lot of our public schools that type of 
work has been--quite frankly, there is no other way to say it--some of 
it has been put down. But those workers are important. We need to stop 
having people rank jobs and make sure that we know that all jobs in 
this country are important.
  Since 2000, the United States has lost about 4.8 million 
manufacturing jobs. That is a 29 percent decrease in jobs for blue-
collar workers. Again, manufacturing jobs are good-paying jobs. 
Manufacturing jobs pay about 20 percent higher than service jobs do. So 
any manufacturing job that we lose in this country is bad.
  One of the saddest stories--and there are so many sad stories about 
these plants that have closed down, and so much of the focus has been 
on the Rust Belt, and rightfully so. And Marcy Kaptur may tell me if I 
am pronouncing the name of this city correctly. But there is a story 
about the closing of a Rubbermaid facility in a place called Wooster, 
W-O-O-S-T-E-R. They said that they were shutting down this Rubbermaid 
facility in Wooster, Ohio, but they were going to keep the big outlet 
mall open. And I thought to myself: How in the world can people afford 
to go to the outlet mall, or any shop, if the jobs are gone? It is just 
another sad story about how America is losing manufacturing jobs.
  Luckily, we have people like the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), 
who fights for her State and fights for manufacturing jobs, and not 
just in her State, but for the entire country.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Kaptur for her dedication to the working 
class men and women in this country and for all blue-collar workers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Veasey) for his great leadership in bringing us together in this Blue 
Collar Caucus. I feel very comfortable. I actually have blue on today.
  I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle) of the 
greater Philadelphia area, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Norcross), and myself from the Toledo to Cleveland, Ohio, part of our 
country to bring to the attention of the American people the fact, for 
example, that workers in northern Ohio, since the year 2000, earn on 
average $7,000 less than they did at the beginning of the century. They 
have taken some great hits. They are hardworking people. They are 
fighting back, but they need our help.
  In the last 3 weeks, if we take a look at President Trump's term thus 
far, we begin to see the real Donald at work, if I might quote one of 
the news media. After months of grandiose campaign promises to 
renegotiate NAFTA, bring back American manufacturing jobs, and make 
America great, we can begin to assess where he is putting his 
attention. I think this is really important for us, as we represent 
blue-collar America, what is he doing for them. I think the proof is in 
his actions, or lack thereof.
  After roughly 20 executive orders and actions, we see President Trump 
has a penchant for mediagenic events and moments with a hodgepodge of 
executive orders, but apparently not sending any legislation up here 
yet. And most striking is his clear motivation to assist his wealthy 
friends on Wall Street with appointments to the administration, such as 
Secretary of Treasury, rather than paying attention to average 
Americans who voted for him. He exhibits a great penchant for public 
approval rather than a focus on efforts to improve the current economic 
stagnation of average Americans.
  We are noting that he has filled his Cabinet with billionaires and 
multimillionaires who simply can't figure out how to walk in the shoes 
of blue-collar America. His actions to help the wealthiest Americans 
will have significant consequences.
  So what happened with his promise to drain the swamp?
  I thought in the first month we would have had something that would 
really resonate out in the heartland.
  While all of this happens just miles away at the White House, our 
Republican congressional colleagues remain either silent or moving the 
car in reverse.
  Why would they criticize activity that helps those who fund their 
elections?
  We need campaign finance reform to dominate their political focus and 
write their policy objectives, like taking away today here in the House 
the ability of workers to save money for their own pensions, for 
heaven's sake.
  In Trump's first days, he took action to roll back the financial 
reform bill called Dodd-Frank and tried to eliminate protections for 
seniors as they seek retirement investment advice. We know there are a 
lot of sharks out there in the financial waters.

[[Page 2691]]

  Why wouldn't you want to help the American people rather than hurt 
them more?
  He did nothing to address the trade issues, which were in his power 
to do on day one, and propelled his victory through our part of the 
country. I note my colleagues come from Texas, Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, and me being from Ohio. It was actually the Midwestern States 
that lifted this President to victory. He hasn't declared China as a 
currency manipulator. He could have done that already.
  He had no elimination of the Buy America waiver, which affords access 
to U.S. Government contracts for all firms and goods from 45 World 
Trade Organization nations and 16 additional U.S. Free Trade Agreements 
that exist. Not a word about that.
  No NAFTA renegotiation. He could have pulled the plug on that on day 
one. Nothing.
  Where is the negotiating team in place to take care of what NAFTA has 
done to the people of the heartland and our country in general?
  What will President Trump do for ongoing negotiations he inherited on 
the U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty, the Trade in Services 
Agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? Will he 
put American workers, global workers, and environmental concerns at the 
forefront of negotiations? Or will he continue to allow corporate and 
wealthy financial interests to dominate and run roughshod over workers 
and communities?
  Candidate Trump promised the 15,000 steelworkers laid off due to a 
flood of unfairly traded imports that he would support America's 
manufacturing and industrial base. He came to Ohio and said that. He 
promised to protect our industries from the Chinese and to keep jobs at 
home. But in the pipeline of executive action, he actually enforced the 
trade agreement Buy America waiver, negating his promises to help 
America's steelworkers. How about that? That was done in the first 
month.
  Just recently, the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report that 
showed the U.S. trade deficit hit a 4-year high as it rose to over half 
a billion dollars for 2016. Middle America isn't surprised this trade 
deficit continues to hollow out U.S. manufacturing jobs and depress 
incomes across our great Nation. Reducing our trade deficit should be a 
top priority for the new administration. I hope the President puts a 
big scoreboard in front of the White House on his progress on this 
front. It would do wonders to fix the economy for working Americans if 
we balanced that trade deficit.
  As Congressman Veasey has said, the Democratic Party has long 
championed issues for blue-collar America that create real life success 
for working class people. Lost in the political dialogue is the reality 
that Democrats have always stood for individual and economic rights for 
average Americans of all backgrounds. Each of us in our own lives 
represents that, and it is a privilege to serve here in this House.
  For blue-collar families, education remains a vital stepping-stone in 
upward mobility. Democrats continue to prioritize early childhood 
literacy and STEM education, efforts to make Americans globally 
competitive in advanced manufacturing, science, medicine, and research 
and development. Democrats continue to expand apprenticeship options to 
allow young people to enter the workforce trained and without the 
enormous burden of student loans.
  Meanwhile, Republicans push policies that exacerbate the ever-
expanding wealth gap, even allowing it to invade our school systems. 
Just watch the opposition Mr. Trump and his newly minted Education 
Secretary Betsy DeVos have towards public schools.
  In closing, let me thank our esteemed leaders here in the Blue Collar 
Caucus, Congressman Veasey and Congressman Boyle. I don't see that this 
President is draining the swamp. He is actually digging deeper into it. 
I really thank them for being an accountability wing here in the first 
branch mentioned in the Constitution--the legislative branch. I 
congratulate both of them. It has been a great privilege to join them 
this evening.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Kaptur and everybody 
that has participated tonight.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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