To clarify the availability of existing funds for political status education in the Territory of Guam, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 3940) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to extend grants and other assistance to facilitate a political status public education program for the people of Guam.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 3940 into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 3940. This amendment addresses two issues: The political status and education in Guam; and adjustment of the minimum wage schedules for two other Pacific territories, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Current law requires the minimum wage to increase in both of these territories by 50 cents per year until they reach the mainland's Federal minimum wage. Current law also requires the GAO to submit annual reports to the Congress on economic conditions for the minimum wage in both of these territories. These GAO reports are intended to give Congress information so that, if necessary, Congress can adjust the minimum wage schedules in these territories. The adjustments proposed in this bill are as a result of the GAO's latest report.

I reserve the balance of my time.

At this time I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As I mentioned in my opening statement, the adjustment proposed by this

bill is the result of the GAO's recent report. The recent GAO report lays out in great detail the serious economic difficulties confronting each territory to varying degrees. These difficulties arise from a variety of factors, including recent global economic conditions, ongoing economic diversification issues within the territories.

The GAO report justifies an adjustment to the minimum wage scale. Accordingly, the bill adjusts the schedule over the next 2 years by foregoing the 2010 increase in American Samoa and foregoing to 2011 increase in both American Samoa and the CNMI, and then in 2012 the normal schedule will be resumed. Last year we took similar action, and I would hope that everybody would support this bill.

I have to say, however, we have to correct some history here. First of all, the gentleman from Washington--I thank him for his support of this legislation--indicated that the hardship has fallen mostly on American Samoa. As the gentleman from American Samoa pointed out, some of that was due to the tsunami, but I would also suggest that American Samoa was covered at the insistence of Mr. Kirk from Illinois in the Appropriations Committee who insisted that the original legislation apply to American Samoa. That was not the original intent of the bill when we introduced it.

Secondly, the jobs in the CNMI, of course, have been in decline for some years because of the changes in the Multi-Fiber Agreement, and those jobs started migrating to China. Most of those plants were Chinese-owned, and they started pulling the machinery out of those plants and moving the machinery to China. That was hastened because of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and many of the labels, the big international American labels that were having clothing made in those plants, did not want that association and they left those plants in haste. And now the CNMI has no further garment industry at all, but that's been migrating over the last couple of years.

The problem was that, in fact, as we know, they were using the CNMI to sew into the label of these shirts ``Made in the USA'' when, in fact, they were not and they were made with what turned out to be, in many instances, slave labor from some of the poorest countries around the world. Many labels pulled out because they didn't want to be associated with those labor practices. They went off and had their clothes made in Indonesia or Mexico or the Caribbean or wherever. Others stayed and then things started getting worse. The final tier of the Multi-Fiber Agreement came along, and like so many other places in the Pacific, that's how that industry migrated to China, to Vietnam and elsewhere and left the CNMI.

I yield to the gentleman.

Certainly, the delegate from the CNMI continues to support the increase in the minimum wage. We're just trying to time it.

We could have gone the other way, maybe more in keeping with the Republican doctrine. We could have lowered the wages to 70 cents an hour and then they could have kept the jobs from going to Malaysia, but I don't think they could support themselves in these territories with that, especially with the construction going on in Guam.

I am happy to yield to the gentleman.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I might consume.

(Mr. LEWIS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I had planned to deliver a 10- minute oration outlining my concerns about this CR before us. However, given the late hour, I'll simply say that I believe it spends too much by continuing funding at least year's levels.

Mr. Speaker, I am reminded of the words of my friend and yours, Will Rogers, whose statue stands outside the door of the House Chamber. He said, ``Never miss a good chance to shut up.''

Mr. Speaker, by any definition, this year's appropriations process has been a complete and utter failure. The current fiscal year ends tomorrow and to date, only two spending bills have cleared the full Appropriations Committee and passed the House. In two of the last four years under Democrat control, Congress has failed to enact a single appropriations bill by the beginning of the new fiscal year.

It is now certain that any further consideration of the ten unfinished spending bills is unlikely this year, leaving a massive, end-of-the-year omnibus bill as the most likely course of action following the November elections.

The omnibus would be the latest in a long list of big money bills passed by this Congress--on top of health care reform, Stimulus, TARP, and too many bailouts to mention by name--over the loud objections of House Republicans. Taken together, these costly measures have cemented this legislative session's reputation as the most expensive in our country's history.

According to CNN, this Democrat-controlled Congress has committed our country to at least $11 trillion in bailout spending alone over the last 2 years. Let me repeat that: Over eleven trillion dollars in new bailout spending in just two years paid for by the American taxpayer.

It is this spending by this Administration and this Democrat controlled Congress that has resulted in historic deficits and record levels of debt. Add to this spending the potential cost of cap and trade legislation, more costly regulations on small businesses, and the prospect of higher taxes on all Americans at the end of this year, it's no wonder that our country is facing 10 percent unemployment.

This is the most pro-spending, pro-regulation, anti-small business Congress in memory. What company or small business wants to hire anyone in this environment?

This record is all the more striking when you consider the fact that the House has spent week after week, month after month, considering hundreds of insignificant bills while ignoring the substantive work required of Congress each year to pass a federal budget.

This Continuing Resolution would have been the Democrat majority's last hope of telling voters that they're listening to the public's concern about out-of-control spending--and yet, one more time, they have turned a deaf ear. If voters need any additional motivation to go to the polls in November, this Democrat-controlled Congress has certainly provided it.

While I recognize the need to keep the government running in the absence of any spending bills being enacted, I cannot and will not support this CR because it continues unsustainable and unrestrained levels of spending established last year. Republicans have, and will continue, to advocate for lower spending that is nearly $100 billion below the current level set by Chairman Obey and the White House.

We should pass a bill that includes these reductions while maintaining the essential functions of government until Congress completes this year's budget. This CR as presently written fails that critical test.

In closing, I want to applaud the Senate for resisting the temptation to add a variety of legislative items and billions in additional spending requested by the Obama White House. At a time of extreme spending fatigue, it's simply unacceptable to use a must-pass CR as a legislative vehicle for more wasteful federal spending or completing an array of unfinished political business before the election.

Mr. Speaker, I don't believe we should shut down the government. But voters are telling Congress that Uncle Sam needs a diet. At a time of historic deficits, record debt, and 10 percent unemployment, I believe we owe our constituents more than the status quo. There's no question that we can keep government running and spend far less of the voters' money than we're presently spending.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as we wind down this session of this Congress, it is probably fitting that this bill is in front of us, because the bill before us today is intended to provide economic relief to the Territories of American Samoa and the Northern Marianas. Specifically, these territories, which are each home to approximately 70,000 people, are appealing to us, to Congress, to forestall congressionally mandated increases in the minimum wage in their territories.

It was the Speaker Pelosi-led Congress in 2007 that imposed this job- killing policy. The impacts in these territories have been very real and very severe, especially in American Samoa, which has seen one of its two primary employers, tuna packing plants, shut down after the minimum wage policy went into effect.

The next increase in the minimum wage in these territories is slated to take effect at the end of this month, Mr. Speaker. That's tomorrow, Thursday, September 30. So there is indeed an urgent need to act right now.

While I agree with the need to spare these territories from the economic havoc that this Democrat Congress has inflicted on them, there are other laws that this Democrat Congress has imposed over the objections, and against the will, of the American people. The most obvious one has been talked about for nearly a year--and that, of course, is the Big Government health care takeover that is threatening, among others, small businesses. It has also caused some seniors to lose their Medicare coverage and we are seeing costs in health care insurance premiums that are rising higher and higher. And the 2001 and 2003 tax relief that is slated to expire at the end of this year, of course, has not been addressed. Thousands of small businesses will be hit with this massive tax increase. In fact, rates will rise on all individual taxpayers. The child tax credit will be cut in half. The marriage penalty return and the death tax would revert back to its high rate. And yet, Mr. Speaker, this Congress has voted to adjourn and leave town without addressing these tax increases. This uncertainty we have seen across the country inflicts a terrible toll on our economy.

However, always a silver lining, Mr. Speaker. With this bill, the Democrat Congress admits that they were wrong, that the policies they imposed are costing real people their jobs. I'm glad that they admit here tonight what they have done. But I should say this as, again, we're winding down, Mr. Speaker. Relief shouldn't just come for American Samoa. Americans across the 50 States are losing jobs and hurting because of the actions of this Democrat Congress. They, too, Mr. Speaker, need relief.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. This corrects actions that were done to these territories 3 years ago, and I think this is a very good policy. I wish we could have addressed this earlier rather than 1 day before the law would go into effect. So I urge my colleagues to support this much-needed legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Well, I appreciate the gentleman's giving some background on this, and I'm not going to refute that. However, it seems to me that the mere evidence of the remedy that we are proposing here is aimed at the minimum wage, which was passed in 2007, and the remedy addressing the minimum wage would certainly indicate to me that, at least in the real near term, the reason for this is the minimum wage, and so I stand by my remarks, but I know there's always more to it.

If the gentleman will yield, I will just simply say that I find it remarkable that the remedy we are trying to pursue is prolonging an increase in the minimum wage.

If the gentleman will yield, I don't recall during the debate that there was a discussion of any level of minimum wage as the gentleman was referring to, but as was pointed out by the gentleman from Iowa, it simply is a matter of supply and demand, and we need to be cognizant of that.

So, with that, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 3940.

With great fanfare, this Democratic majority increased the federally mandated minimum wage as one of its first acts. At the time, many of us warned that without adequate financial relief or transition time, especially for small businesses, workers would be harmed by a proposal that was intended to help them.

We warned that teens seeking their first job and the chance to build work experience would have fewer opportunities. We warned that unskilled workers would be replaced by a smaller number of more highly skilled workers. And we warned that regions with comparatively low wages and living expenses would be especially hard hit because of the added cost to job-creators.

With nearly 15 million Americans searching for work, it's a terrible time to have to say we told you so.

In July 2007, when the first phase of the wage hike took effect, the national unemployment rate was 4.6 percent. For teenagers, the unemployment rate was 15.3 percent.

Today, while the overall unemployment rate stands at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent, the figure for teens is far worse: more than one- quarter of all teens are unemployed, a total of 26.3 percent.

Young African-American men perhaps bear the greatest burden from this irresponsible tinkering with the free marketplace. At the time Democrats passed their minimum wage hike, 31 percent of African- American teen males were unemployed; today, these same young men have a 50-50 chance of being unemployed.

No one would suggest federal wage mandates are the sole cause of this spike in unemployment. But the difference between the overall jobless rate and the number of teens who cannot find work is startling and should not be ignored.

Economists from the University of California, Irvine and the Federal Reserve reviewed more than 100 academic studies on the impact of the minimum wage around the time these increases began. They found overwhelming evidence that the least skilled and the young suffer a loss of employment when the minimum wage is increased.

Similarly hard hit by the wage requirement are the territories of American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A major tuna cannery in American Samoa closed its doors last year, laying off some 2,000 workers--roughly 12 percent of the territory's workforce. The second cannery has already laid off hundreds of workers and its future remains in doubt.

In April of this year, the Government Accountability Office reported on the how the wage rate harms these territories:

In American Samoa . . . Many employers reported having taken cost- cutting actions, such as freezing hiring and cutting worker benefits, since the increases began. Employers also reported planning actions such as leaving American Samoa or closing by the end of 2010. More employers attributed their actions to the minimum wage increases than to other factors. . . . In discussion groups, workers generally said that their support for the wage increases had dwindled because of concerns about issues such as the cannery closure, job insecurity, and loss of benefits.

Today, the House is voting on a measure to temporarily suspend the destructive federal wage mandates. Another increase is scheduled to take effect tomorrow, which makes immediate action imperative.

But we can't pretend the negative consequences of the minimum wage hike wreaking havoc on businesses in American Samoa aren't equally damaging to businesses in Muncie, Indiana. Or Le Center, Minnesota. Or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Or anywhere else a business is struggling to meet its payroll and provide opportunities for its workers.

I certainly support this small measure of relief for the territories. Congress should do everything it can to right any wrongs it imposes on the people we are here to serve. However, I hope we do not fail to learn the larger lesson: Federal laws that force one-size-fits-all mandates on vastly different workers, workplaces, and communities often do far more harm than good.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3940) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to extend grants and other assistance to facilitate a political status public education program for the people of Guam, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3940 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to assist the Governments of Guam, American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands in developing and implementing political status public education programs.

Such programs would aid the people of these territories in understanding the various and viable political status options available to them. With such information, they could, in turn, express informed opinions about their future in any political status plebiscite or convention.

Today, Guam, American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands are the three United States territories recognized by the international community as nonself-governing. The Federal Government is obligated to advance their self-government, taking into account the political aspirations of their peoples. The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for these efforts under U.S. law, and the resolution of status for these territories is a matter for Congress to ultimately resolve under article IV of the United States Constitution. Although efforts have been made in the past in each territory toward improving its status consistent with the right of self-determination, status remains ultimately unresolved for them.

In Guam, a local law has authorized a plebiscite to be held that is to involve a public education program. In American Samoa, the work of a locally established commission to assess status options, the third such commission in the history of the territory, was recently concluded. A plebiscite on status was also held previously in the Virgin Islands.

Each circumstance, however, demonstrates the importance of a public education program for resolving status in each territory and for preparing for future plebiscites or other processes by which their people can collectively express their political aspirations.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, simply clarifies in law that the Secretary of the Interior can exercise existing authority to provide general technical assistance to these territories for the purpose of facilitating political status public education.

So I ask my colleagues to support the passage of this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.