Date: 2013-10-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. let me. first of all. say good morning to my colleagues and start with a thankyou to President Obama for his invitation to the White House to all Members of Congress in quite a contrast to the representation of the Presidents lack of involvement. In fact. over the last 4 or 5 years. this Congress has failed to pass a budget with a Republican majority in the House. That has constantly raised the question of how can we start growth in America. So I thank the President. first of all. for his negotiating at the beginning of January 2013. in the tax negotiations. along with the acceptance of the very structured and restrictive and nongrowth number of 986 for the budgeting of this particular Nation. We are a growing Nation. we are a thriving Nation. we are the most powerful Nation in the world. and the way to go forward is to invest in Americas people. So I thank the President. I thank the President for recognizing. as devastating as the sequester was. that he was willing to cede to a supercommittee that did not fulfill its responsibilities. So we are here. And this is not about individual Members of Congress. It is about the American people. It is about the 29year employee in the DallasFort Worth area that spoke eloquently to the fact that. combined with military service. she desired to be at work. She enjoyed working with her young child and being at his school. but she wanted to help Americans. But she is not able to go to work. It speaks to this question of the willynilly structure that the Republicans have constructed. I use the term "martial law." For those who want to understand it better. we were speaking of martial rule. So it is martial law on this floor. But a martial rule we are using means that whatever is thrown down on the floor. what Legos are thrown down on the floor to be picked up. that is how we are running this government. So the word "clean bill" is not a naughty word. It means that we want to fulfill the ability to fund the entire government. not to leave out the SNAP and WIC programs or school food programs that are suffering. not to leave out rural development or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. the Centers for Disease Control that announced today there is a salmonella epidemic and because we dont have those staff persons. America suffers. I understand Senator MCCAINS frustration on the floor of the United States Senate because I went to the floor yesterday in the early morning hours to express my pain for the families who have lost their loved ones in Afghanistan. These are young men and young women. and because of our government shutdown. their memorial services benefits could not be had. I planned the introduction of a bill. ceded to the bill that is now going to be on the floor. that now we are going to pick to be able to help them. I indicated yesterday in a letter to the Secretary that he should immediately provide them with their funds. that it was eligible under a particular law. We all come together around that issue. and we are pained because of the loss of those loved ones of those family members. So. Mr. Speaker. this is not about us. I continue to say that we are not doing it the right way. A Vietnam veteran in Houston. Mr. Richard Simon. who came to a veterans center. was turned away yesterday. Homeless veterans in Houston. who need the veterans service centers. were turned away as of Wednesday because all of these veterans centers are being closed down. A farmer in Iowa. John Gilbert. has 770 acres. He is working every day. but he cant get his agricultural resources because the Department of Agriculture has shut down. A family resource center that is dealing with domestic violence is no more because it cannot get its Federal dollars. Then. of course. the U.S. Attorneys Office has seen 4.000 U.S. Attorneys shut down. There have been 3.000 Lockheed employees laid off and 3.000 NASA employees laid off. So I believe that it is important that we recognize that we are not here for ourselves. rather. that we are here for the families whose loved ones lay down their lives in Afghanistan. Whether we call it a clean billhowever we call itit needs to be put on the floor of the House because we cannot run the government by playing Legos. We cant throw sticks on the ground. We cant be out on the corner playing those games. throwing things on the ground. and saying. Whatever happens. it will happen. We have got to help Richard Simon. We have got to help the veterans who are going to these closed centers. We have got to make sure that we understand that a President should be judged for his leadership in this country and not on where he came from or what he looks like. We have to be able to work with all people in Americaand all of the people are being harmed. Mr. Speaker. I ask this one question as I go to my seat: Are we going to leave homeless veterans on the street. Mr. Speaker? I hope that we will answer that question and also pay the veterans or their families for the memorial services.