H10702 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE October 3, 2008 

11th. God bless Governor Sarah Palin 

for her service for America. 

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FROM THE NEW DEAL TO THE 

RAW DEAL 

(Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, we 

have come a great distance in 75 years, 

from the New Deal to the raw deal, 

from having nothing to fear but fear 

itself, to being afraid of everything. We 

have traded democracy’s warm heart, 

containing ideals of faith, fairness and 

frugality, for the greedy, cold, calculations of the Dow Jones ticker. 

The New Deal saved free market capitalism with jobs and regulation. Now 

both sink in the swamp of speculation, 

manipulation and capitulation. The 

golden rule of ‘‘Do unto others as you 

would have them do unto you’’ is submerged by the rule of gold: ‘Do unto 

others before they do unto you.’ 

Some people will ask of this Congress, what were we thinking? Why did 

we give a $700 billion bailout to Wall 

Street without fixing what caused the 

problem in the first place? Why did we 

rig free markets for security 

fraudsters? Why didn’t we explore alternatives to let Wall Street solve its 

own problems? Why didn’t we have 

money to save millions of homeowners, 

create millions of jobs and a green 

economy? 

Why didn’t we stop the speculators? 

Why wasn’t there accountability? Why 

didn’t we take time to make an intelligent decision? Why Why Why? 

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THIS MAY BE THE DAY AMERICA 

DIED 

(Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, there is 

a song ‘‘The Day the Music Died.’’ I 

don’t think it is too much of a stretch 

to say this may be the day America 

died. I am not alone in feeling that 

what the Congress is about to do today 

is a very, very serious, consequential 

thing for this country. 

I want to quote from an article from 

Investor’s Business Daily today. 

‘‘After years of faking it, the Federal 

Government has finally hit bottom or, 

depending on how you look at it, ascended to its level of maximum destructive incompetence.’’ 

‘‘Through its power over education 

and communications, Washington already influences the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Once it takes 

over the financial industry, nothing 

will be left standing in the way of the 

Federal Government’s dominance. 

States and localities are mere administrative units and disbursing agents for 

Washington. Government has won its 

war against religion, sidelining churches.’’ 

‘‘American capitalism is not just an 

economic theory. It is a way of life 

where rewards are based on achievement, not identity or class, and is 

therefore inextricably bound up with 

individual freedom and American 

exceptionalism.’’ 

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ACT DECISIVELY AND IN A 

BIPARTISAN FASHION 

(Mr. PALLONE asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, 

today the House must act decisively 

and in a bipartisan fashion to begin the 

process of rescuing an economy that 

has been spiraling downward for some 

time. Without action, we are warned 

the credit markets will freeze up, preventing families from getting car and 

home loans, students from qualifying 

for college loans, and small businesses 

from being able to pay their employees 

or purchase new products. 

Over the last couple of days, we have 

heard that traffic in automobile dealerships is down 50 percent in the last 

month because people can’t get the 

credit to purchase a new car. We have 

heard about college students not being 

able to pay for their classes or their 

books because they can’t get the loan 

to attend school. 

If we don’t act today, credit markets 

will freeze and Main Street will suffer. 

Families living from paycheck to paycheck will see their credit card limits 

slashed and interest rates increased. 

This is something we simply can’t 

allow to happen. I hope that we can 

come together in strong bipartisan 

fashion to pass this economic rescue 

package today. 

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MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES AND 

THE STRUGGLES THAT THEY 

FACE 

(Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. EMANUEL. Madam Speaker, in 

the past week, we negotiated what the 

financial markets needed and what the 

public market wanted, taxpayer protections. This is only the first step. 

While we address the balance sheets 

of banks, the next step must now address the checkbooks for middle class 

families and the struggles that they 

face. The middle class today is working 

harder, earning less, and paying more. 

In the last 7 years, median household 

income has dropped by $1,200, and costs 

for energy, health care, as well as college education, have gone up $4,800. 

The middle class is hurting and 

squeezing. The second economic program must put their needs at the heart 

of what we do, because today it is important to have universal access to 

savings, universal access to higher education, a middle class tax cut. 

If you work, you have health care. 

We must build an energy policy that 

makes this a hybrid economy, an agenda that puts the middle class at the 

heart of its economic strategy. Unlike 

the last 7 years, we will make sure that 

what we are doing today is successful 

in the future, because we must 

strengthen the economy while we save 

and deal with the financial markets 

crisis on this short-term basis. 

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FDIC INSURANCE RAISE 

(Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I am 

pleased today that when the House 

considers the Economic Stabilization 

Act, it will contain an FDIC insurance 

raise. On the 22nd of September, I filed 

a bill to increase the FDIC insurance to 

$200,000 to protect our independent depositors and our community banks. 

This is a very difficult vote, as it was 

on Monday, because there is medicine 

that’s bitter that you don’t want to 

take but that you need. Sir Edmund 

Burke, a great member of parliament 

in Britain in the 1700s, said a legislator 

has a duty to his constituents to listen 

to them, but also to vote in what he believes from what he learns is their best 

interest. A good legislator has to make 

that decision. 

Years later, another great British 

philosopher, Mick Jagger said, ‘‘Sometimes you get what you want, and 

sometimes you get what you need.’’ 

This time, we are going to do what 

the American economy needs. It’s difficult but correct. 

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PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION 

OF SENATE AMENDMENTS TO 

H.R. 1424, EMERGENCY ECONOMIC 

STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008 

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, 

by direction of the Committee on 

Rules, I call up House Resolution 1525 

and ask for its immediate consideration. 

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: 

H. RES. 1525 

Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the 

Speaker’s table the bill (H.R. 1424) to amend 

section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the 

Public Health Service Act, section 9812 of the 

Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental health and 

substance-related disorder benefits under 

group health plans, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with 

respect to health insurance and employment, 

and for other purposes, with the Senate 

amendments thereto, and to consider in the 

House, without intervention of any point of 

order, a single motion offered by the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services 

or his designee that the House concur in the 

Senate amendments. The Senate amendments and the motion shall be considered as 

read. The motion shall be debatable for 90 

minutes, with 60 minutes equally divided and 

controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial Services, and 30 minutes equally divided 

and controlled by the chairman and ranking 

minority member of the Committee on Ways 

and Means: The previous question shall be 


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