Date: 2012-05-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank the ranking member. and I thank the ranking member of the full Judiciary Committee. Mr. CONYERS. who worked extensively to bring reason to this discussion. I must remind my colleagues that this is a debate that is. of course. necessary. but it is not going anywhere. This is in essence to respond to the potential and pending sequestration and the deadlock of the committee. but the deadlock of the committee gave us an opportunity to work in a bipartisan manner. My good friend who just spoke on the other side of the aisle talked about abundance and prosperity and talked about welfare. What I would say to the gentleman is that were not talking about welfare. Were talking about investment in people. and were talking about not having a siege upon our children. On April 25. 2012. we were back in the Judiciary Committee again looking at medical malpractice for the umpteenth time. I wondered why we were there. It was because each committee was told to find a way to find money. So the directions of the Republicans for the Judiciary Committee were to oppress the sick and to be able to cap medical malpractice insurance on innocent victims such as women and children and the elderly when the medical system fails us as it relates to medical devices and other elements. We were told to eliminate for the children of America by limiting noneconomic damages. restricting punitive damages. limiting access to courts for poor victims of medical malpractice. shortening the statute of limitations for claims. eliminating the protections of children. and prohibiting joint and several liability. We were simply told to shut the courthouse door for children that needed to be able to have the opportunity to have their lives saved. just like a little boy who needed surgery in a hospital in San Antonio. They told the family it was a serious surgery and they needed to have a cardiologist on staff. He went into surgery. and. of course. things went wrong. There was no cardiologist there. there was a mishap. there was a fault. and that little boy died. They want to deny that poor family access to the courthouse. That is what that bill does. When my friends begin to talk about what else it does. it cuts SNAP. the nutrition program. It cuts Medicaid. Mr. Speaker. what I would say is that this bill is a siege on children. We should oppose it. It is not reconciliation. It is oppression. I would ask us to vote against it. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5652. the "Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012" This piece of legislation should really be entitled the "Ryans Replacement Sequester to Thwart the Bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2012" Whatever anyone wants to entitle this measure. one thing will still remain true . . . this legislation is unfair. It literally takes money out of programs dedicated to serving low income families. children. seniors. the disabled. the most in need of our assistance. Why isnt the funding coming from war savings. There has been a consistent attack on the other side of the aisle on programs that are proven to be affective at combating the stresses associated with poverty. aging. and long term care. Before us is a measure that is a wolf in sheeps clothing. In my lifetime. I have never seen such a concerted effort to ransom the American economy in order to extort the American public. While I support bipartisan efforts to decrease the debt and to resolve our differences over budgetary revenue and spending issues. I cannot support a bill that unduly robs average Americans of their economic security and ability to provide for their families while constraining the ability of Congress to deal effectively with Americas economic. fiscal. and job creation troubles. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to give the American people the impression that their sentimental and unbridled concern for the military means that it is necessary to take an ax to programs for seniors and low income that is not something that our military would be proud to be connected too. Why not use. instead. war savings and a small finite tax on income over $1 million dollars. This unbalanced bill modifies last years bipartisan Budget Control Act to cancel the sequestration of discretionary spending currently scheduled to occur in January 2013 in order to prevent cuts to defense. That is fine but Republicans have already voted twice this year to pass their budget to end the Medicare guarantee and increase costs for seniors while giving massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. While the U.S. economy is healing. the world economy continues to be in a fragile state and all economies are linked through trade and finance. In this environment. this bill sends the economy downward. However. over the last few years the economy has been steadily growing. We are not where the American people should be but the economy has gained jobs. According to Secretary Solis she stated "know where our nations unemployment rate stands. I have to report it every month. But weve now added private sector jobs to our economy for 26 months running. Since President Obama took office. weve created 4.2 million new jobs. Thats no small potatoes when you consider we were bleeding 750.000 jobs a month when this President took office. I know weve got a lot more to do. But were making progress." During this time of progress. this is no time to cut the social safety net for those still unemployedno time to cut food stamps. medicaid. or medicare. The President signed the Recovery Act which invested in mass transit. roads. and bridges to build critical infrastructure and secure construction jobs. The Recovery Act also included strong DavisBacon and Buy American provisions. to stimulate local economies and create highquality jobs. In total. the Recovery Act supported up to 3.5 million jobs through the end of 2010. It is essential that we allocate the money spent on previous wars to programs to help expand opportunities for the American people. Mr. Speaker. if you asked the typical American family what they would need to do to balance their family budget. they would respond: spend less. But they would also be quick to acknowledge that without a job. or in the case of the federal budget. tax revenue. the budget will never balance. It is critical to address both sides of the ledger. It is also imperative for the Republicans to place the Presidents jobs bill on the agenda to vote on and pass. Sure. save money but cutting benefits but without additional revenue. the budget is doomed. Moreover. you surely would not find any family in Texas that would suggest buying luxury items. while struggling to balance the family budget is a sensible approach. But Republicans insist on advocating for tax breaks for the wealthythe luxury class.