Date: 2011-08-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. we will be gathering this morning in a number of conferences and caucuses to assess the work over the weekend that addresses a procedural process that most Americans were never made aware of for the last 100 times since 1917. that we raise the debt ceiling. It is tragic that these two words have become such dastardly words in the American psychic and the American vocabulary. and it has been characterized as reckless spending in Washington more than what it is. which most Americans do at the end of the month. and that is to pay their bills. I had the privilege of joining in a balanced budget process in the 1990s. and. frankly. it was a joy. It was good to do good things in a bipartisan manner on behalf of the American people. Out of that process came something called the Childrens Health Insurance Program that helped insure. over these last couple of years. millions and millions of children and. yes. we had a balanced budget. In the course of it. of course. in the rush of doing that budget we skewed the reimbursements for physicians. the doctors that you see in your hamlets and villages and counties and cities and States. the doctors that many of you send to medical school who happen to be your children. the doctors who take an oath to care for the American people. Yes. we skewed their reimbursement. So. now. every year we have to confront the unfairness of how we reimburse our doctors. the doctors who work in public health institutions. county hospitals. clinics. This is what happens when you rush to do something that should be ordinary. So today I rise looking towards the meetings that will go on today. In many of them we will huddle together to try and do the right thing. But I asked months ago for us to raise the debt ceiling. as has been done 17 times for the President of the United States. President Reagan and other Presidents who have asked to have that done. and then begin to look long term. As Mark Zandi has indicated. and a number of economists have said. immediate cuts will be damaging to this economy. But I rise today to speak of the vulnerable persons who really cant speak for themselves. Many people think seniors have lobbyists in one of the major. largest. if you will. lobbying group for seniors. and they do a great job. But I know seniors who really are huddled in small apartments and old. old homes left to them by their deceased spouse. something they paid for but has deteriorated over the years. Because we are not helping seniors with their rehab anymore. and many of them got reverse mortgages that really took them to the cleaners and left them with nonperforming contractors who did a poor job on their homes. these are the seniors who dont have voices. Or. maybe. the vulnerable families in Latino and African American communities where the wealth distinction has showed. where our majority Americans. white Americans. have a wealth factor of $113.000. and. respectively. African Americans have $5.000. and Hispanics. Latinos at $6.000. Now that doesnt cover all. There are people in Appalachia and other places around the Nation where that disparity is very. very strong. But it does mean that there is a population of vulnerable Americans. And the question is whether or not the approach that we are going to take today in doing something as simple as raising the debt ceiling to allow us to pay our bills has a dastardly part to it that causes the laying off of hundreds of thousands of Americans because there is no job creation. Because when you cause us to stop spending money to encourage the economy to move such as the 3 million jobs that were created with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. then there is no job creation. Our private sector is not moving as fast as we would like. We hope this will spur them on. but I have heard that before. I have heard. during the TARP and the bailout of banks. just give us a chance. And you ask any small business around America whether they are able to access capital to build their structure and their business. small businesses that I truly believe are the backbone of America. If we did nothing on this floor but every day do something. give a gift to small businesses and health care. give a gift to them in tax relief. give a gift to them in incentive to grow their business. and you would see Americans being hired. Small businesses are as small as one individual sitting in front of their computer. That is what we should be doing. Mr. Speaker. I am very concerned about going forward with a complex approach to the debt ceiling while thousands of Americans are out of jobs. where airlines are taking money they should not take. while the FAA is shut down. We have many other problems to take care of while construction jobs are at a standstill. What about the vulnerable Americans? Thats what my concern will be about as we go through these meetings and approach this floor today.