Date: 2011-11-03
Speaker: HERRERA BEUTLER (republican)
Chamber: H

Thank you so much. Were all here tonight because we really believe that America is the greatest country on the face of the Earth. and it is so because of her people. Folks at home in my neck of the woods in southwest Washington are out of work. I can go through the statistics. Its alarming. Its very alarming. I have family and close friends who have been out of work now going on several years. Doubledigit unemployment. and weve been at this rate for 3. going on 4 years now. I had a jobs fair a couple of weeks ago. We invited employers who are hiring real jobs. good jobs to come. We got them in a room with job seekers and put out kind of an allhandsondeck call: Anybody whos looking for a job. we have real job openings available. Come to this jobs fair. We had over 1.700 people show up. And as I walked through the line that snaked through the parking lot to say hello and to greet these folks. I was talking to men and women. young and old. very experienced or fresh out of high school or college who were looking to find work. experienced individuals who had that look on their face. some of them. of desperation. And theyre asking. What is Congress going to do? What is Congress going to do to help me find work to keep my mortgage. to pay for my kids education. and to put food on the table? What are you going to do? Well. were here tonight to talk about some of the things weve already done. And right now what were doing is we want to put pressure on the other side of the rotunda to pass these bills and get some jobs flowing for the folks who stood in that parking lot. That event was a success. Weve had over 30 people find work. and weve had hundreds more who are in interviews. Great. I did that because I didnt feel you could wait on an act of Congress. And watching those individuals who are on the other side of the rotunda who havent passed any of these jobs bills. it would seem like a good idea. But here tonight we are applying appropriate pressure to that group. saying. Pass these bills. Let me talk to you about one of these bills that will make a huge difference for people across this Nation. Its called the EPA Regulatory Relief Act. Its a simple bill. Its a very bipartisan bill. And let me tell you about this bill. And people throw around that word "bipartisan." What does that mean? It means strong support from Republicans and Democrats. Im going to read for you. right here is H.R. 2250. Thats the bill that we passed off this House floor. These are all of the folks. my friends from the other side of the aisle. Here are the Democrats in the House who have sponsored this bill. We have folks in leadership and we have newer Members. They have joined with the Republican House here and passed a bill. the EPA Regulatory Relief Act. that the Senate must take up if we are going to protect these jobs. These regulations. in fact. hit all sorts of industries. Theres a rule that the Obama administrations EPA has put forward that says business. industry. and hospitals. anyone that has a type of boiler. you have to put millions. in some cases millions of dollars into this boiler to bring it up to some standard. That standard hasnt been clearly defined. And. actually. the EPA itself has asked and said. Can we take a little bit more time to figure out what we are requiring of folks before we require major capital investments. capital investments that could otherwise be used to hire someone or to increase productivity in a business to create more jobs? But whats happening is these businesses are now going to be required to put this money into an expenditure to bring this boiler up to some code that we cant prove has any environmental benefit. which is why you see so many folks who are advocates for the environment who have cosponsored this bill in the House. We need the Senate to pass this bill. otherwise. we could lose potentially over 20.000 jobs nationwide. Thats in the primary pulp and paper industry alone. Im not talking about hospitals. Im not talking about other industries. In southwest Washington. we value the primary pulp and paper industry. which is 18 percent of that workforce. At a time when we need to be creating jobs. we certainly should be getting rid of those regulations that cost us jobs. The way we do that is we get the Senate to join with us and pass this bill. get it to the Presidents desk. get that man to sign that bill and move forward for the people in our communities. The EPA. the Obama administrations EPA alone has estimated that that regulation. if untouched. will cost employers over 5. almost 6 billion. and thats the lowend number. The industries have said it would be as high as 14 billion. Any way you look at it. thats a high price tag thats going to cost jobs. Over 230.000 total jobs are at risk if you count the related industries. not just pulp and paper. So were talking about major impacts to our national economy. and all we have to doall we have to do to protect those jobs is we need to pass this bill off the Senate floor. get it to the President and get him to sign it into law. We really dont have time to wait. I have talked to the men and women. the moms and dads. the young people who are hoping to find work. And when we let some of our industry just go out. basically die. death by 1.000 cuts. death by 1.000 regulations. shame on this institution. Congress does need to act. and I implore my colleagues on the other side of the rotunda to join with us in this bipartisan fashion. Send this bill to the President. and have the President sign it.