Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, here we are, entering the sixth year of the Obama Administration, and we have reached a new milestone. It is a shameful and discouraging milestone that directly affects the lives of every working American family.

After 7 straight years of decline, this great Nation has fallen out of the top 10 most economically free nations.

The United States of America, the Nation that invented and created the world's greatest middle class, the Nation that taught the world the meaning of free enterprise, the Nation that figured out more than 200 years ago that greater economic freedom leads to greater individual growth, economic growth, social stability, personal opportunity, has now fallen behind such economic powerhouses as Denmark and Chile and Estonia in economic freedom.

We all pay the price. Every American family.

Why are we doing this to our children?

I hope and I pray that we can reclaim the American Dream before it is too late.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague Tom Rice for introducing this important resolution. I am proud to stand in support of this, and I thank him for giving me a few minutes to discuss what is a very, very important issue today.

My friend knows that I was a writer. Before I came to Congress, I wrote a number of books. I spent a lot of time writing about and studying this great Nation--about the history of this Nation, about the history of the world--and I think I know a little bit about some of these things. I think one of the most remarkable but underappreciated characteristics of General George Washington, who was, I think, a hero for many of us, was his deference to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution. Although in many cases he knew what needed to be done, he always recognized that he derived his authority--he derived all of his power--not from himself but from the Congress, and he understood that the Congress was the organization and the body that held the power and the keys to a successful government.

It is a lesson, as we have been discussing here tonight, that, unfortunately, this President does not seem to appreciate or to even understand.

Our Founding Fathers made it very clear in the Constitution that the responsibility of the President was to take care that the laws be faithfully executed--not selectively chosen, not preferred or some of them ignored, but faithfully executed. It is his constitutional responsibility, but time and time again, we have seen this President as he ignores this constitutionally mandated responsibility. He prefers to pick and to choose which laws he will enforce.

I would like to quote eminent Judge Michael McConnell, who recently wrote:

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which

advises the President on legal and constitutional issues, has

repeatedly opined that the President may decline to enforce

laws he believes are unconstitutional, but these opinions

have always insisted that the President has no authority to

refuse to enforce a statute which he simply opposes for

policy reasons.

This has become a very troubling trend for this President. As my friend has already pointed out, among other examples, he has already declined to enforce immigration laws against a large number of illegal immigrants. He has chosen not to enforce work requirements that Congress mandated as part of the 1990 welfare reform programs, programs which had broad bipartisan support and which everyone recognizes were very successful. He has chosen to change the congressional requirements that States must meet under No Child Left Behind, and in none of these cases did he say he believed the laws were unconstitutional. He simply disagreed with the policies and so refused to enforce those laws. Now, we may or may not agree with the President on the merits of these policies, but as an institution, Congress should be extraordinarily concerned that the President is usurping our role as legislators, and it is setting a very dangerous precedent.

The President, for example, went to great lengths to convince the Supreme Court and other Americans that the Affordable Care Act was, indeed, constitutional. He won that battle, which means he should have to enforce this law that he argued was constitutional or, if not, come to Congress and ask for changes to the law, but over the last few months, we have seen numerous delays and exemptions to ObamaCare without any input at all from Congress. Now, once again, regardless of your views on the merits of ObamaCare, the President's actions should make everyone who respects the separation of power and the role of the executive very uncomfortable.

Can you imagine if Governor Romney had been elected President and if, on his first day in office, he had said, ``I am going to delay the employer mandate''? Do you think any of my colleagues from across the aisle would have supported him in that? Imagine if he had said, again as was illustrated before, ``I think that the capital gains tax is too high. To get our economy going, I am just not going to enforce the capital gains tax for a year.'' I mean, if he had done that, heads would have exploded all over Washington, DC.

Why would that have happened? He doesn't have the authority. The Constitution forbids it. We have a President, not a king. I don't want this President to act that way. I don't want a Republican President to act that way. Our Founding Fathers would be horrified if they were alive today and were watching what is happening with our Constitution and the growing power of the Presidency. This is dangerous, and it is demeaning to our democracy, and it simply must stop. I hope the President will remember his constitutionally mandated responsibility to enforce all laws, not just those laws that he chooses to enforce because he agrees with them.

Mr. Rice, thank you, sir, for drawing attention to this very important issue. Thank you for giving me a few moments to share this with you here on the floor of the Congress.

To my fellow Members and my fellow Americans, I wish you all a successful and blessed new year.

Mr. Speaker, before we begin the political battles of the year, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the newly elected officials in Utah's Second Congressional District, specifically Jon Pike, the new mayor of St. George in Washington County. I look forward to working with Mayor Pike to continue to grow the economy and to create new jobs.

I also want to take a moment to specifically thank Mayor Dan McArthur, who tirelessly served the people of St. George for more than 20 years. Under his tenure, the population nearly tripled in size, and the city had an expansion and the creation of many new businesses, great new infrastructure, a beautiful new airport, and the transformation of Dixie State College into a 4-year university.

Mayor Dan is a true representative of the Dixie spirit. His volunteerism was shown in 2005 when they had severe flooding along the Virgin River. He and other city council members joined other citizens in sandbagging the river to prevent severe damage and more flooding.

I am pleased to call Mayor Dan a friend, and I am grateful for his fine example and for his many years of service. I wish him and his family the very best in their future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, we have officially entered la-la land, where the President thinks that by the mere power of his own voice he can turn back time by simply announcing that he will no longer enforce provisions within his own law. Think about that. The answer to fixing this law is for him to announce that they won't enforce the law. That tells you how desperate they are. His announcement today will only make things worse, and it is the American people who will continue to pay.

I, like everyone who has spoken on the floor this afternoon, have many examples of people who are being hurt today because of provisions of ObamaCare. Amanda from Bountiful, Utah, within my district, has seen her family's deductibles and the rate they will pay double.

Sundee from southern Utah has had her family's health plan entirely canceled. As small business owners, they are scrambling now to try to find something, some way in which they can maintain insurance for their family.

President Obama repeatedly promised that if you have health insurance, you can keep it. That promise has not been fulfilled. We call upon him to do that today.

Thank you, Mr. Wenstrup, for organizing this Special Order honoring our country's heroes. It is a privilege for me to be with you tonight.

As you mentioned, I come from a family with deep roots in the military. I was a pilot for 14 years, and my father was a pilot in World War II. Four of my five brothers have served in the military. I have to tell you, my time flying in the military was, in many ways, the happiest years of my life. I remember I would be up flying, and I would think I can't believe that they pay me to do this. I would do this for free if I could.

In addition to my family members, three of my congressional staff are veterans. I know firsthand some of the sacrifices that come with service--the time away from family, the personal discomforts, the danger, being put in harm's way--for many of our soldiers, all to protect our Nation and to protect the freedoms of others.

There have been great sacrifices in the past. Some of those we have heard about tonight. I suspect that we will probably hear about some others.

I would like to mention one man from my hometown of Farmington, Utah. I think he is a great example of sacrifice and courage. His name is Lieutenant Colonel Jay Hess. He spent 5\1/2\ years as a prisoner of war at the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam war. During this time, you can imagine what he endured--starvation, beatings, isolation, and deprivations, which it is very difficult--probably impossible--for us to appreciate. After 2\1/2\ years, he was finally given a letter from his family. As he read this letter, he found himself smiling, and after awhile it hurt, because those smile muscles had not been exercised in 2\1/2\ years and he had lost that ability to smile. It was a joyous day when he was returned to his family, his wife and five children.

Despite all of this hardship, he looks back on his life and his experience with great humility and appreciation. He said, ``How could I be so lucky? So fortunate? It is a good life.'' This man was a true American hero.

Heroism continues today. This fall I had the opportunity to honor four Army soldiers. Two of them, Sergeant Daryl Williams and Sergeant John Russell, were jogging here on the National Mall one morning when they heard a collision. They looked over and saw that a civilian had been hit by a bus. They didn't hesitate. They knew immediately what to do. They ran over, and using their shirts, they provided a tourniquet and they saved this

man's life. That may seem like a small thing, but it is a great example, once again, of the caliber of men and women that we find serving in our United States military. As Veterans Day approaches, I find myself humbled to share this background and experience with such people. I have always said that the military is the greatest incubator for leadership that there is anywhere in the world, and we see that demonstrated again and again.

Let me end with this. The United States of America is a special place. I recognize that most nations feel that way. Every one is proud of the land from which they come. I think God intended that they should feel that way. That is a good thing. Even though that is true, there is something special about this place. There is something truly unique about the United States, and there is no better example of that than the young men and young women that serve in our United States military. We don't fight to conquer people; we fight to keep a people free. We don't fight to capture a land; we fight to set a land free. The only thing we have ever asked is, as Colin Powell once said, the only land we have ever demanded is a tiny piece of pasture in which we could bury our soldier dead.

If you have ever been to a military cemetery--and they are spread all over the world, from France to England to the Netherlands to Panama to the Philippines to Japan--if you have walked among those stone-cold graves, then you know that this is sacred land.

A poet once wrote about these soldiers:

Here dead we lie, because we did not choose to live And

shame that land from which we had sprung Life, to be sure, is

nothing much to lose But young men think it is And we were

all young

I, like millions of other Americans, will always be grateful for their sacrifice. I honor them, and once again I am grateful to be among them.

I would like to thank the gentlewoman, Representative Hartzler, for sharing the floor with myself and other colleagues tonight. It is an honor, especially on a topic that all of us know and recognize that is so very, very important.

Dean Acheson once said that ``Negotiation in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties are more anxious to agree than to disagree.''

For the past 2 weeks, President Obama and Senator Harry Reid have made it very, very clear that they are much more anxious to disagree than they are to agree with Republicans--a situation that has very honestly prevented sincere negotiations. It is impossible to work out a deal when one party just sits on the sidelines and won't talk, like we have experienced over the last few weeks with the President. Now, we heard rumors this afternoon that the President has finally begun to negotiate with Republicans. I hope that that is true because our Founding Fathers established a system that was intended to be deliberative.

Whether you agree or disagree with the President, this much we know: he has been willing to push our Nation toward an economic crisis all for the sake of a political agenda. When this happens, every American loses. It doesn't have to be this way. It shouldn't be this way.

For 14 years, I was an Air Force pilot--which was, by the way, the coolest job in the world. I loved doing that. At one point, I was selected to be a member of the START verification team--Strategic Arms Reduction Team. Of course, we were working with the Russians during this time. They would come to my base to verify that we had complied with elements of the START treaty.

During the 1990s, the Russians were not our friends. By the way, Mr. Speaker, I would cautiously add that today the Russians are not our friends either. These were in some cases tense and very carefully orchestrated events, but we did them. We extended a hand of trust and fellowship between two nations that had very little in common and had much to lose if they did not develop a working relationship.

Mr. Speaker, if we could do it then between the Russian and the U.S. militaries, surely we, with the Republicans and the President, could do the same thing now. The President is the leader of this Nation. He has a responsibility to lead. But part of leadership is being willing to sit down and in a sincere way be willing to listen to the other side. The President has failed in this responsibility and the Nation has paid a price.

Before being elected to Congress, I was the president and owner of a small company. Being part of a small business means developing relationships that are built upon trust. With the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare, the President has clearly broken the trust of the American people.

$634 million--$634 million--that is how much it cost to develop the ObamaCare Web site.

Facebook operated for 6 years on less money than that. Twitter was launched and operated for less than half the cost. Instagram, LinkedIn, Spotify all were designed, implemented, and operational at a fraction of the price of the ObamaCare Web page. And yet, in one of the most embarrassing moments in ObamaCare history, and I believe this will be a history that will be rife with embarrassing moments, news organizations had to search high and low throughout the country to find one person who could be verified that they had actually signed up on the ObamaCare Web page. And, of course, days later we had born the legend of Chad, something many people are very familiar with.

Harkening back to my military days, if I had been given a mission and had so utterly failed to accomplish that mission, I would have been held accountable. So I ask, Mr. Speaker, when will Kathleen Sebelius be held accountable for this disaster? After more than 3 years and after more than $630 million and a failure to launch such as this, why does she still have her job?

But let's remember this: at the end of the day, we are not talking about ObamaCare, and we are not really talking about a Web page or a sequester or a continuing resolution. What we are really talking about at the end of the day is our Nation's crushing national debt. Our national debt is now approaching $17 trillion. Now, President Obama congratulates himself on having reduced the debt by half; but listen, when you run up a debt after 1 year in office of $1.2 trillion or $1.3 trillion, when you have nearly 4 years in a row of a greater than a trillion-dollar annual deficit, and then you congratulate yourself because you cut it $6 or $7 billion, that is not something to celebrate.

Now is the time to work together towards a balanced budget and actually beginning to pay down that debt. Yes, this is a tough decision, but we were elected to make tough decisions. My plea to the Senate and to the President is: Please, come to the table. Let's start the conversation now about how we can put our fiscal house in order. Time is running out.

With that, once again, Mrs. Hartzler, thank you for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, politics is full of irony, and I believe that that is a vast understatement compared to what is exhibited on this floor almost every day. Sometimes that irony bleeds over into the absurd, and that's what we are facing today when it comes to our President, who absolutely refuses to even sit down and negotiate over the debt ceiling limit or over the implementation of ObamaCare or over the continuing resolution or, frankly, over anything else.

Think about that.

The President of the United States is unwilling to even sit down to have any negotiations--to have even a conversation--with the Speaker of the House.

The President likes to say, I won the election, and he likes to remind us that elections have consequences; but I would remind the President that I won my election as well and so did 233 other House Republicans. I represent more than 700,000 people. Those 233 House Republicans represent more than 150 million people. They expect certain things of us. They expect us to represent them. They expect us to fight for those values that we promised that we would. I can't abandon those values. I owe it to my constituents. I owe it to my family. I owe it to my Nation. I owe it to myself to continue to fight for those values that, I think, help to make this Nation the great Nation that it is.

The President is the President of the United States. He is not just the President of the Democratic Party. He is not just the President of those States in which he won. He is the President of the United States, and he owes it to the Americans to be willing to sit down and to try to negotiate when we come into a conflict such as we have now.

Yes, we've got great challenges before us, but we can work through these. We always have before. We can find a way to work together. Republicans and Democrats have been working through their differences for generations, but we can only do that if we are willing to sit down and talk with each other. We can only do that if we are willing to be respectful of the deeply held positions that each of us holds. We can only do that if we are willing to work together for the betterment of this Nation, which brings me to the debt limit.

It is like a dark, looming cloud that hangs over us now. We can't ignore it. We can't pretend that it doesn't matter. We can't pretend that it's not important. So, like others, I would like to quote from one who is considered to be a great political leader of this century:

Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and

internationally. ``Leadership'' means that the buck stops

here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad

choices today onto the backs of our children and our

grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of

leadership. Americans deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, of course I'm not quoting Ted Cruz or Mitch McConnell or the Speaker of the House. I am quoting a young freshman Senator who is now the President of the United

States, who at least at one point in his career recognized the serious and the longstanding threat to this Nation that our rising debt is.

We have the opportunity to work together now to fix this problem; and if we can't fix it, at least we can take a meaningful step forward. I hope the President will work with us to address what he used to believe was a serious problem, but I believe it starts with one thing: sitting down together and talking in order to work it out.

The American citizens--all of us--deserve a President who is willing to lead. The American people deserve a President who is willing to talk. Yes, we live in a day in which there are policy and political differences, but that has always been the case. From the birth of our Nation, it has always been such. We are a Nation in which ideas and principles sometimes conflict, but the American people deserve a President who understands that negotiating is part of the process.

I pray that the President will sit down and talk with us now.

Mr. Speaker, this is a frustrating time in Washington. For the first time in 17 years, our government has been shut down. I believe the political gridlock is at a discouraging high mark. I empathize with those who are feeling its devastating effects, especially those hardworking people who have been affected by furloughs, including some members of my own family.

So I rise today in defense of the American people and I ask one simple question: Why won't the President and Harry Reid sit down and talk to us? The American people are hurting. They want to see progress. They want to see us work and fix this in a bipartisan way. So why won't the President and the Senate leader sit down and engage us in a simple conversation? What are they afraid of?

The President of the United States is the President of all of the people. He is not just the President of the Democratic Party. He is not just the President of those States in which he won. He is the President of the United States. He is the President of everyone. He owes it to the American people to listen to their voices. So let me ask again, what is he afraid of? Why won't he sit down and talk with us?

I represent more than 700,000 people in my home State of Utah. They want the government to stay open, but they do not want ObamaCare. They know what a horrible piece of legislation it is. They know and they already see that it is destroying jobs. They know it is hurting working families. They know that it is driving up costs. They want the President to know this. They want Harry Reid to listen to their concerns, but both of them refuse to talk to us.

So let me ask again, what are they afraid of? Are they afraid that they might be actually convinced that we are right? Are they afraid that they might have to compromise just a little? I am the father of six children. I know what it is like to have teenagers in the house. I know what happens when they get angry because they don't get their way. They run to their bedroom, they slam the door, and they refuse to come out and talk.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for our President to take out his ear buds, to open the door, to come out and talk to us. He has canceled his trip to Asia. But I ask why, for what purpose, if he still refuses to come out and talk to us.

My goal throughout the last several weeks has been to find a way to fund the government operations, other than ObamaCare, and to avoid a government shutdown. But once again, unfortunately, President Obama and Senator Reid have expressed no willingness, no willingness at all to compromise.

We have to understand that we are engaged in a generational fight over our debt and spending as it goes far beyond ObamaCare. Our current national debt is approaching $17 trillion, and it is growing every moment. During this administration, we will more than double our national debt; but it doesn't just end there. This is about the reach of government into our lives, with ObamaCare just being one example of how our government has grown too large and too powerful. In addition, this law will come with something like a $1.3 trillion price tag. That is something that we simply can't afford.

It is critical that we work together now to reduce the size and the power of government in our lives. House Republicans have repeatedly come to the table to negotiate over the past several weeks. So once again I ask, what are they afraid of? Why won't they sit down and talk to us? As a former President, one of my heroes, John F. Kennedy said, let us never fear to negotiate.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to do everything in my power along with my other colleagues to find a solution to reopen the government while fighting to make Washington, D.C., less important and less powerful in the lives of American citizens.

Mr. Speaker, from time to time, this Chamber has the opportunity to address legislation that will have an impact on generations of Americans. Since arriving in Congress, I have consistently supported efforts to defund or repeal ObamaCare. Not only does this law run contrary to our basic American principles of personal freedom and limited government, but it is already hurting our economy; and it will be even more destructive as it is implemented this fall. As a small business owner, I have seen firsthand and in a very personal way the negative impacts of this law. It is no wonder that it is so unpopular.

The original purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to drive health care costs down. But instead, it has done exactly the opposite, driving up premiums by as much as 400 percent. We can do better. We must replace this law with legislation that would lower health care costs and improve the quality of care and protect American jobs.

I look forward to voting in favor of the continuing resolution this week, which defunds this damaging health care law. The Senate and the House can work together to find an alternative that would fix and improve the law. And I look forward to working with them to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic efforts of Corporal Duane Edgar Dewey of the United States Marine Corps. Corporal Dewey was with the First Marine Division and was awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in action on April 16, 1952, near Panmunjom, Korea.

While receiving medical attention for his own wounds after a fierce night attack by a numerically superior and aggressive enemy force, an enemy grenade landed close to the position of Corporal Dewey and his fellow soldiers. Disregarding his own safety and intense pain, Corporal Dewey pulled his corpsman to the ground, shouted a warning to other marines, and covered the grenade with his own body, absorbing the explosion and saving his comrades from possible injury or death.

It is for his indomitable heroism and consummate devotion to duty that I am proud to honor and to remember the actions of Corporal Duane Edgar Dewey.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of freedom. I rise in defense of the ideals that our Founding Fathers fought and bled and died for. I believe we are in a fight for the very heart and soul of our country.

We know that IRS agents targeted conservative groups and individuals. No one has been held to account for this. Such arrogance and impunity cannot go unanswered.

We know that Federal regulations are being proposed that will cost trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. These regulations are being proposed without any transparency or accountability to the people. Such arrogance cannot go unanswered.

Thanks to this administration, more and more Americans believe in the idea of Big Government. We have Benghazi. We have ObamaCare. We have the politicization of the Justice Department. We have government snooping on journalists.

The Federal Government was created to serve the people, and it is now standing with its boot on the necks of the people.

Our Founding Fathers would not recognize the Nation that we have become. We can change this. Join with me as we fight to overcome government abuse.

Mr. Speaker, like you, as a fellow Utahn, this week my heart is back in my district and my State as we celebrate our great pioneer heritage.

On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young stood over the great Salt Lake Valley, which was nothing but a desert, devoid of any green meadows, and uttered those famous words, ``This is the place.''

After traveling more than 1,300 miles crossing the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, the pioneers settled to begin a new life. Throughout this, they suffered great hardships: hunger, fatigue, cold, disease, and exhaustion. During their journeys, they quickly called Utah home as they reached this great valley, where they planted their crops and went to work building beautiful communities that grew into the wonderful city and State that we now know.

Our State has much to be proud of. We have the greatest snow on Earth. Our National Parks are truly magnificent. Our State is consistently rated among the top in job creation, education, and quality of life. Utah truly has some of the most honest, hardworking, and friendly people in the country.

Pioneer Day is celebrated to honor everyone who immigrated west to Utah during this pioneer era and who aided in creating this great State, which I'm proud to call my home.

Mr. Speaker, I wish that our President had the same respect for our Constitution that our Founding Fathers had, but he doesn't. He simply doesn't; for far too many of his political decisions are made with little regard for the sacred document that has guided our Nation for more than 200 years.

Several weeks ago, the President announced that he is not going to enforce certain provisions of ObamaCare. Now, whether it is a good policy or bad policy is not the point. The point is the President does not have the authority to make such a decision. The President is constitutionally bound to enforce the laws of the land.

How would my Democratic friends feel if Mitt Romney had been elected and in his first day in office he had decided that he was going to pick and choose which parts of ObamaCare he was going to enforce? Or what if he decided that the capital gains tax was a drag on the economy and he was no longer going to enforce that law?

The President's willingness to pick and choose which laws he will enforce is dangerous and demeaning to our democracy. It's demeaning to the very idea of an elected form of government. We have a President, not a King.

I hope the President will remember his constitutional oath.

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week.

A lot of people think of small business and think, Well, what's the big deal? What difference does that really make?

Here's the reality: sixty percent of the jobs created in the last 20 years were created by small business.

I'm honored to represent the great State of Utah, especially as a former small business owner. With over 57,000 small businesses that have employed more than half a million people in my State, it's clear to me that small business is the backbone of our economy.

Forbes magazine recently named Utah the best State in the Nation for business and careers and for small businesses for the third consecutive year. Utah has reached that high-caliber status through supporting a probusiness environment. It offers a low corporate and a low personal income tax rate. Our cost of energy is 27 percent lower than the national average. Pro-business policies like this in Utah help to spur our economy and create jobs, and they contribute to one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

Being a small business owner, I recognize the amount of hard work that is required to run a small business. I congratulate the small business owners and wish them a successful Small Business Week.

Mr. Chairman, I had the honor of serving as a B-1 pilot in the United States Air Force for 14 years. My last assignment was working as a liaison between the Air Force and a multitude of private contractors. And because of this, I saw firsthand the struggles that the military had in successfully implementing A-76 contract requirements. I saw it lead to a slowdown in work that was being performed and, in some cases, actual complete work stoppage.

As a conservative, and I want to be clear on this, I have always supported free markets and open competition. But markets can only be free when there's a level playing field, and that is not possible under the current rules regarding A-76 contracting.

Neither the military nor the private contractors are well-served by a flawed process that leads to a flawed result, which is the reason why the Department of Defense has spoken out so strongly against this amendment.

The Department appreciates the value of A-76 public-private competition as a tool to help the Department's workforce, and I do as well. However, the Department has also identified a number of improvements in policy changes that could lead to implementation before the moratorium is removed. The Department is working hard to put these processes in place. Let's give them a little more time to do that.