Date: 2011-07-18
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I would like to thank the manager and chairwoman of this particular hour. sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. and for those of us who care. along with many of our members in the Congressional Black Caucus and in this Congress. I think it is important to note for our colleagues that there are many Members who truly believe in their heart that we can find a common path. a bipartisan path. and are in angst. if you will. because they want to represent their constituents in the best way possible in what seems to be the tyranny. in some instances. of the majority. Frankly. I do believe in the democratic process. I believe that if you are a victor in elections. you have the right to define your agenda and to present it to the American people. But theres some instances where the American people call upon us to have those agendas set aside so that we can work for America. So I want to thank the gentlelady for her great work on the Affordable Care Act. We are beginning to see many who never had access to health care begin to be. if you will. the beneficiaries of preventative care. the parity with mental health issues. more health professionals that we work so hard on in the Congressional Black Caucus. and of course. access to health care for those with preexisting disease. But I want to talk tonight to reiterate some points that were made about the doubledigit unemployment among African Americans and the 36 percent unemployment among youth and just make the point to the American people. to my colleagues. that no jobs bill has been put forward by our Republican friends. absolutely no job bill. This is now July 18. A supermajority is on the other side. They could do so much alone. without any votes from Democrats. Democrats have been pushing for a jobs bill. The Congressional Black Caucus will be leaving out in a couple of weeks to visit cities all over America to not only say we care but to talk about jobs. This summer we were going to close city pools and community centers in Houston. with temperatures of 100. 105 degrees. I felt if we couldnt find public moneys. lets work to find private moneys. We were able to open over 10 to 15 community centers and pools in my congressional district. For me it was being able to find resources. meaning that some came forward to give the resources. but. more importantly. it created jobs for youth who could be. if you will. lifeguards. As I visited these pools and talked to young people who would not have had a job. obviously a small measure. but to at least acknowledge the desperation that we have for jobs. As we go out as members of the Congressional Black Caucus. well be embracing corporate leadership and others to have job fairs so that individuals can have it. Just a summer or two ago. I had a job fair in the teeming heat and thousands showed up. so much so that people were lined around the block. Americans want to work. And in a bipartisan partnership. wouldnt it have been just great for Republican colleagues. no matter whether theyre a tea party or no party. to come together and say the first act that we will engage in will be creating jobs. And out of that job creation comes growth. Weve done a great job under President Obama. and we in the Democratic Party have done a great job. Weve actually been creating private sector jobs every single month. and as well we did create 3 million jobs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment. That should be very clear. And the loss of numbers or the bump in unemployment is. as our colleague indicated. for all of America. was because public sector jobs were being willynilly dispensed withfront liners. first responders. sanitation workers. teachers. firefighters. ambulance driversall over America by Republican Governors. They laid the people off en masse. In many instances. they didnt need to. There could have been ways to work it out. But they laid them off en masse. and that gave the bump to the unemployment. But where does that lead us today? And what I want to focus on is the fact that I want to make it very clear that members of the Congressional Black Caucus have supported many bipartisan efforts to turn our economy right side up. We have worked on infrastructure issues. We have supported transportation legislation to fix Americas bridges. highways. dams. because we know how important it is. We have helped resolve our budgetary issues. our revenue issues. We have voted in unison in a bipartisan way for some legislation that may not have been in total agreement with many of our views but we did it for America. We voted for a balanced budget amendment that generated the Childrens Health Insurance Program. And we need to continue to discuss this. where we are today. because we need to help the American people. And Ive heard the concerns of my constituents. Today. I was at an announcement of the use of neighborhood stabilization funds. where we work with Habitat for Humanity and open the door of houses for those who werent ever able to have a house. Oh. you should have seen the excitement of those families. But the seniors there were asking me: Are we going to get our Social Security check? You cant go anywhere in your district where people are not up in fury. They want to know how we can get this done. I think its important to note a little bit of history. Prior to the existence of the debt ceiling. Congress had to approve borrowing each time the Federal Government wished to borrow money in order to carry out its functions. With the onset of World War I and the growth of this Nation. more flexibility was needed to expand the governments capability to borrow money expeditiously in order to meet the rapidly changing requirements. Thats where this came from. This is not a Democratic idea. This is not the idea of President Barack Obama. To address this need. the debt ceiling was established in 1917. allowing the Federal Government to be the umbrella on a rainy day. to come to the aid of Americans during emergencies. to be able to address the question of war and peace. This wasnt something we developed just to agitate Members who believe they are the fiscal hawks of all time. even more so than President Reagan. who understood that the government had certain roles. Since the debt limit was first put in place. Congress increased it over a hundred times. In fact. it was raised 10 times in the past decade. which includes the era of President George Bush and the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress last came together and raised the debt ceiling in February of 2010. and it did so with the idea that we were working together. We understand that we are at $14plus trillion. Theres no one who is happy with a growing debt. But many economists will tell you that a deficit is sometimes important to take care of a countrys people. Who knows what is going on in Japan right now because they need to take care of their people. They need to ensure that those who are impacted by the tsunami and the earthquake and the nuclear implosion can be taken care ofthe sick people. the displaced people. And when I say not knowing whats going on. we know that they are growing a deficit. But our country is not like Portugal and Greece. and economists that we listened to 2 weeks ago said on the record that this Nation is not broke. Let me say it again. Americans. Dont be intimidated and frightened to believe that America is broke. We can solve this problem. The way in which we are able to address it. the assets that we have. will allow us to extend the cuts over a 12year period. Every reasoned economist in America says you cannot cut our spending overnight. you cannot cut it. So Congress is entirely within its right to be thoughtful on this issue of the debt. And it is also important to note that what makes us so strong is we have something called United States Treasury bonds. which have traditionally been one of the safest investments another country or an investor can make. And other countries. including Americans. buy Treasury bonds. Our children are given Treasury bonds. For foreign nations and investors purchasing a U.S. Treasury bond meant that they held something virtually as safe as cash. backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. This is constitutionally worded. And so my friends who are drawn to the tea party are suggesting that we go straight to the brink. But when you go to the brink. as my colleague has said. you begin to shake the markets. They begin to shudder. And the impact comes to the hardworking American who has been so fiscally responsible that they have put away savings for their childrens college. savings for themselves if they retire. They have been dutiful. They have been respectful. But what we will do is force this market to get so shaky that those savings may be jeopardized. How can we do thisthe Democratic Party. the Republican Party. the Tea Party? If its a registered party or a group of people. if there are members who have come here wearing the banner. they can do nothing more than adhere to that. So we are here on the floor tonight to look for compromise and reason and to say. in turn. with the proceeds from the bonds that the Federal Government of the worlds largest economy is able to finance its operations. Thats us. the United States. Let me remind everyone we have the largest economy in the world. America is not broke. We have to do better. We have to extend our cuts. We have to balance over a period of time. almost like a household. where they begin to try to analyze what theyll be able to pay and what theyll have to cut out. Youve heard families say. Weve stopped going out as much as weve gone out. There are unemployed persons who have to make more devastating cuts and go into their savings. Thats why I say: Where is the jobs bill that the Republicans are supposed to put on the floor of the House? Where are the jobs? Somebody used to say in an advertisement: "Wheres the beef?" So this week. my friends. were going to be spending a whole week addressing the question of a bill called Cut. Cap. and Balance. Before I just address to you who will be hurt on Cut. Cap. and Balanceits a balanced budget amendment that came out of the Judiciary Committee of which Im a memberI just want you to know that every State can stand up here and say that. but I want to put it on the record that it has come to my attention that: Social Security beneficiaries in Texas. 3.440.442. likely will be impacted. The total number of Social Security beneficiaries in Harris Countythats where Houston. Texas is. which is the fourth largest city in the Nation and is a very diverse cityis 429.760. which might include SSI. which is for those who are in need of moneys because of their children or theyre disabled. There are 780.000 seniors and individuals with disabilities in the metro area who are currently enrolled in Medicarethe lifeline of our seniorsand there are currently 145.000 individuals in the district. the 18th Congressional District. who are on Medicaid. Its interesting to note that the Medicaid issue has not even been discussed. So here we have a week of Cut. Cap. and Balance. Frankly. the Treasury bond is in jeopardy. The marketplace of innocent. hardworking Americans who have saved and invested in those bonds. who owe nations around the world. who bought what they thought was a rocksolid investment are now teetering because were willing to take this week to discuss a bill called Cut. Cap. and Balance. which the President of the United States has already indicated that he intends to veto. and theres a question of whether or not the Senate will even address this bill. So we will spend our time wasting and debating so that someone can get a political mark. Let me express my understanding of Members who need a political mark: I voted for a bill that will never pass and could never be a useful tool in the United States. You can go home. as you bang your chest. and suggest. I showed them. I told them what it was. I voted for the Cut. Cap. and Balance. By the way. there is no doubt that this will possibly pass. because Republicans have a supermajority. but do you know what this is? This is playing political chicken. Who will blink? We have never played political chicken with the raising of the debt ceiling. We have never put the American people in this jeopardy. We didnt do it to Ronald Reagan. We didnt do it to Jimmy Carter. We didnt do it to the first George Bush. a distinguished Texan. We didnt do it to President. as I said. Carter. We didnt do it to President Clinton. We didnt do it to President Bush. who was just in office. but here we are with President Barack Obama now at a time that we think we have to do this. This is based upon an ideological view that does not look to the American people. So let me tell you who is hurt in all of this so that we can understand real people are involved. Ill just call this "working Americans" and this little one who will represent millions of children across America. This is who this will impact. In the State of Texas. our Governor has already cut $4 billion from education. He actually took the stimulus money that was supposed to be for education. Governor Rick Perry decided to just snatch the moneys away and put it in a rainy day fund. It looks good when youre going to run for higher office to show off that you saved money. You havent saved any money. You took the money out of the childrens mouths. Youre closing schools. Youre closing school districts. Youre taking away teachers. Youre building up the class sizes. Youre making our country second and third class in education while other countries are moving forward. So thats who well hurt. Just take this little one who is not yet in school. This is a hardworking nurse. who represents working Americans. This is who will be hurt because. on the Cut. Cap. and Balance bill. though they say they are protecting Medicaid. Medicare and others. youre going to find out that we literally are not going to be able to run this country. My colleague came from Missouri. Everybody saw the tragedy of Joplin. Missouri. So the Cut. Cap. and Balance is going to hurt them. Im going to call this the "Tap Dance bill" because theyre going to be tap dancing around all the people who are going to be hurt. Next who is going to be hurt are our military families. Now. they say that theyre taking care of veterans benefits. but this is active duty military. They need to be paid. They say they have classified or taken out the security. Well. have they taken out the grandmammas of these soldiers and their wives? Have they taken out the parents of these soldiers and their wives who need Medicare and Social Security? Have they taken out the sisters and brothers who need student loans? No. So theyre tap dancing around the fact that they say theyre not hurting these people. Its not the Cap bill. Its the "Tap Dance bill." Thats what its going to be. Then. rather than the Cut and Cap bill. theyre going to organize the "Losers Club of America." Were going to open up a losers club with what is going to go on on the floor tomorrow. The "Losers Club" will be the American peoplechildren. seniors. college students. the jobs that we want to make through the infrastructure. How many people have driven on freeways and bridges and hit potholes? Its because Americas infrastructure needs to be rebuilt. So very quickly let me just say that. as these poster boards take their own life. the "Losers Club" tomorrow is going to pronounce that we will be giving gifts to millionaires. Theyll get $200.000 because the bill tomorrow is worse than the Republican budget. So the millionaires will get $200.000. Remember what I said. They call it the Cut. Cap. and Balance. Im calling it the "Tap Dance. Losers Club and Bust bill." So were going to give millionaires $200.000 a year while seniors will be paying an extra $6.000 a year for their Medicare because it will bust Medicare as we know it. Now. how did we get to where we are today? Why are we in this false status where people are saying. "Dont raise the debt limit"? We brought it on ourselves. The Republicans were in charge when the Bush tax cuts came in. and they never wanted to have it expire. That was a big fight when we came in and when the President came in. That was a big fight. Out of compromise. he said. Lets be fair. So you can see the Bush tax cuts are 37 percent of our debt37 percent. So. to talk about why were here. look at what the Republicans have done. Then you have the Iraq war11 percent. So its interesting that now theyre going to be fiscally responsible. yet theyre the cause of the debt. Let me finish by just saying that I am glad to be here with the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to rename the bill as the "Tap Dance. Losers Club and Bust the American People bill"-bust the safety net for America. I want to thank the gentlelady by simply saying that I love this country. and I believe we can come together. I have great respect for my colleagues who have a different view. but what I beg of them to do is to take the Constitution and cherish it like we all do. As to that opening part that says. "we the people." we are now calling on Republicans and Democrats and members of the Tea Party who are in this Congress to be part of the "we the people." Let us not in a frivolous manner take up the floor time that it is going to take to work on a bill that will never be signed and take it away from the resolution of the debt ceiling. which then causes the markets to go in a tailspin. I want to save the American people. and I. frankly. believe that we have the right to do so. I will simply close by saying to you: Martin King. whose monument will open in just a few weeks. gave us a wonderful challengethe time that he asked this Nation to believe in his dream. And he gave us the further challenge of the night before his death. He indicated that he had been to the mountaintop. and he looked out and saw the Promised Land. an opportunity for all of us. no matter who we were. to have an equal opportunity in this country and to respect views but always look for the greater good. But he said that he as a person. he didnt think that he would get to the Promised Land. but he knew that we as a people. we as Americans. would get to the Promised Land some day. I still believe in that dream and in that charge. And I am asking for my colleagues to work with us to be able to do thatthis time on behalf of the American people.