Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in honor of Dr. Geri Berger. Dr. Berger is the recipient of the 2011 Texas Association of Secondary School Principals Texas High School Principal of the Year Award. She is the Principal at the Louis D. Brandeis High School, Northside in San Antonio in the Independent School District, and I am honored to have students in my district attend the school under her exceptional leadership.

Dr. Berger began her noteworthy career with a Bachelor of Science in Education from St. Mary's University and a Master of Arts and Doctorate in Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Since coming to the Brandeis High School, she has brought her lifelong dedication to excellence in education, and it shows in the success of her teachers and students. Dr. Berger has worked tirelessly to ensure that Brandeis High School is a place where each and every student can improve and thrive. Under her leadership, the Louis D. Brandeis High School was named an Exemplary School by the Texas Education Agency, in 2009, another testament to her outstanding direction.

By ensuring that Brandeis High School improves each year offering students the best possible education they can receive, Dr. Berger is tirelessly working to ensure that the next generation's Americans receive a top-notch education and are ready to compete on a global scale. Dr. Berger is an extraordinary example to principals across Texas and the nation. I thank her for her hard work and enthusiasm and congratulate her on her remarkable accomplishment.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 25th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month.

America is a Nation of immigrants, and each immigrant group has added to the richness that is American culture. Hispanics are no different and are an important chapter in the story of America.

My parents came to this country from Mexico, seeking the American Dream. They instilled in me the belief that with hard work and dedication, one could create a better future. This is one of the great common denominators of the immigrant experience in America. They raised me to believe that, in America, the land of opportunity, if I worked hard every day I could make a difference for myself and my family.

This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate Americans of Hispanic ancestry because they believe in the American Dream and have made a difference in their lives and in America by chasing this dream.

Just as my parents taught me, I believe that individual freedom and liberty will lead us to a future of economic and social prosperity. Our businesses will grow, our economy will prosper, and America will continue to thrive.

Hispanics understand the vitality of small businesses as the single fastest-growing segment of small businesses in this country, generating almost $400 billion in annual revenue. I believe that Hispanics will continue to play a vital role in the American economy and society, and that their contributions will only continue to grow.

Mr. Speaker, if one were to ask the average American what their top three priorities for the Congress to work on would be, I think you would get the answer of jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

That's the answer because the employment situation in America is not good. Over 14 million Americans are out of work. We have had 29 straight months with the unemployment rate at 8 percent or higher and monthly jobs reports that show anemic job growth.

Clearly, we need to turn our economy around so robust job creation can occur. The American people want and expect nothing less.

Much of why our economy is not creating jobs is because of uncertainty in the economy that has been created by policies passed by Washington, like the government takeover of health care, the credit- restricting financial regulation bill, and the out-of-control spending.

We tried it the way desired by President Obama and Washington liberals, attempting to spend and borrow our way to a better economy. And their bills, all they did was add to the debt that is dragging the economy down.

Worst though is that Washington is ignoring three very easy actions that, if taken, will immediately help our economy. There are three pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea that will create jobs and are at no cost to the taxpayer.

Altogether, it's estimated by the Business Roundtable that these three agreements will create 250,000 jobs. How can we not pass these agreements that will create jobs and not cost the taxpayers?

Today I want to talk about the benefits of the Panama Free Trade Agreement. In 2010, U.S. exports to Panama accounted for $6.1 billion, creating $5.7 billion in trade surpluses with Panama. The United States is Panama's largest trading partner. And once the agreement goes into effect, 88 percent of U.S. goods will enter Panama duty free.

What are some of the products that we export to Panama that could benefit from this agreement? Well, our top exports to Panama now are aircraft, machinery, and agricultural products. In the 23rd District of Texas, which I have the privilege of representing in the United States House of Representatives, agriculture is an important source of economic activity. The Panama Free Trade Agreement will help agricultural products in my district and those districts across the United States. This agreement is helping level the playing field for American agricultural producers.

In 2009, the U.S. exported $362 million in agricultural exports to Panama. Less than 40 percent of those exports received duty-free status, while more than 99 percent of Panama's agricultural exports to the United States received duty-free status. Upon implementation of the agreement, 56 percent of U.S. agricultural exports will enter Panama duty free, and the remaining tariffs will phase out within 15 years.

While there are benefits to passing this agreement, there are also consequences for failing to pass it. American jobs are at stake as our competitors, notably Canada and the European Union, have their own trade deals with Panama. And once these deals are implemented, their exports will have an advantage over U.S. exports currently going into Panama. This will lead to a loss of market share for the United States exporters and a loss of jobs here at home.

Mr. Speaker, we have the ability to create jobs without spending taxpayer money. With over 14 million Americans unemployed, we must stop waiting. It's time to pass the Panama Free Trade Agreement.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Duffy, Chairman Bachus, and Chairman Capito for their leadership on this important matter.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule and the underlying bill with important measures of accountability to an agency that currently operates independent of any real oversight. The mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is indeed puzzling. How exactly a government bureau is going to determine what financial products are suitable for every American family has never been explained. I have great concern that consumer protection is merely a euphemism for consumer restriction and consumer control. But equally concerning is that this agency currently operates outside the normal checks and balances that exist as a bedrock of our system of government.

The director of the agency has enormous influence over family decisions regarding credit cards and mortgages, and there currently exists an extremely high and nonsensical standard for overturning a CFPB rule. The director can set the CFPB's budget every year without ever having to appear before Congress. Despite all of this, the person appointed by the President to advise Treasury on the setup of this agency came before the House Financial Services Committee and called it ``the most constrained and the most accountable agency in government.'' Only in Washington could someone make that claim with a straight face.

I fully support H.R. 1315, which would replace the single director with a more democratic commission and would also require a simple majority vote of the Financial Stability Oversight Council to overturn a CFPB rule.

Madam Speaker, the financial crisis did not occur because of a lack of rules, and it certainly did not exist because of a lack of Federal bureaucracies. Regulatory overkill does not equal effective regulation. It means fewer jobs and higher unemployment.

The last thing we need is an unrestrained agency adding more uncertainty to our economy and destroying our ability to grow the economy and create jobs. This legislation will help remove the threat to economic and job growth that the CFPB currently poses.

Mr. Speaker, there are many concerns on the minds of Americans today. But there's one concern that dominates discussion in every coffee shop, grocery store, barber shop, civic clubs or everywhere else that Americans gather, and that is the need to turn our economy around and create jobs.

The American people are right to be concerned about the economy and jobs. We've had 29 straight months with the unemployment rate at 8 percent or higher, the longest streak since the Great Depression. Fourteen million Americans are unemployed, and month after month the jobs reports show anemic job growth.

Over 2 years ago, the American people were told by President Obama and other Washington liberals that if we would just spend over $1 trillion on the so-called ``stimulus'' bill, the unemployment rate would not exceed 8 percent. Well, in the entire Obama presidency there has only been one month--January of 2009--that the unemployment rate did not exceed 8 percent. Every month since the stimulus bill was signed into law in February of 2009 has seen unemployment rates at 8 percent or higher.

It is clear that the approach of attempting to spend and borrow our way to a better economy has not worked. That's why Congress needs to look to policies that will create jobs, like passing the three pending free trade agreements our Nation has with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Beyond the fact that the Business Roundtable estimates these agreements will create more than 250,000 jobs and are important for our economy, these agreements are also important to the United States' role in the world. There is no better illustration of this than the agreement we have pending with Colombia. Colombia is an important ally in Latin America, and I do say that today Colombians celebrate Colombian Independence Day. They're serving as an example for other nations and in stark contrast to the dictatorial regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia. Colombia should not only enjoy a strategic relationship with the United States, we should also enjoy a strong commercial relationship. Passage of the free trade agreement would build upon the existing relationship and further strengthen it.

Apart from being beneficial for an important ally, this agreement is important for the U.S. economy. Here are just a few of the benefits that will occur with passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement: Duty-free access to the Colombian market for more than 80 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial goods, exports, with remaining tariffs phased out in 10 years; immediate duty-free access to more than two- thirds of current U.S. agricultural exports with the remaining tariffs phased out over time; strengthened intellectual property and investor protections; open services markets; and enhanced transparency in government procurement. However, perhaps the most important reason to pass this agreement is that if we don't, our competitors will.

Our competitors worldwide are aggressively moving to pass trade agreements. We have already seen our market share in Colombia jeopardized. For instance, although Colombia has doubled its agricultural imports over the past 5 years, the U.S. has seen its market share shrink by one-half. In 2008, American farmers held a 46 percent share of the Colombian market. Today, that share has diminished to 21 percent. In 2000, China was Colombia's 12th largest trading partner. Today, China is the second biggest trade partner for Colombia behind the United States.

Failure to pass the free trade agreement will allow our competitors to enjoy an artificial advantage. At this point in our economy, why do we not want to do everything we can to keep the jobs we have and create new ones? We need to put the politics aside and recognize the importance of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, not only for our economy but for our strategic interests. It's time to pass the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Mr. Speaker, as I talk to residents of the 23rd Congressional District of Texas that I have the privilege to represent, the top concern about which I hear is the need to create jobs.

For 2 years, President Obama and Washington liberals attempted to spend and borrow our way to a better economy. It simply didn't work. Trillions of dollars later, all we have is a national debt that every American household has over $120,000 of its share, and 29 straight months of unemployment at 8 percent or higher, the longest streak since the Great Depression.

There's another way to create jobs: Pass the pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. According to the Business Roundtable, these three agreements alone will create more than 250,000 jobs. At a time when over 14 million Americans are unemployed, it's time to put the politics aside and pass these three job-creating agreements. The time has come to pass the Colombia, Panama, and South Korea Free Trade Agreements.

Once again, in the debate over our Nation's fiscal future, the House of Representatives is leading. I commend my colleagues for bringing forward a solution to cut, cap, and balance the Federal budget. Together, these will help ensure that it is the Federal budget that will be restrained and not the family budget.

Regrettably, I cannot vote for this bill. I do so not because I have any issue with cut, cap, and balance. I strongly support that part of the bill. What I cannot support is that this bill fulfills President Obama's request to raise the amount of debt that will be borne by American taxpayers by over $2 trillion. Every American household's share of our national debt is already at $120,000, and President Obama has asked this House to add an additional $20,000 per household to that burden.

It is regrettable that President Obama has asked Congress to raise the Nation's debt ceiling and allow more debt to be thrust upon American taxpayers in order to pay for the spending binge he embarked upon over the past 2 years.

Mr. Speaker, I was briefly absent from the House floor during two separate vote series on July 12, 2011. I missed rollcall votes 541 and 560. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall vote 541 and ``nay'' on rollcall vote 560.

I would like to thank Chairman Biggert for her leadership on this bill which makes vital reforms to a troubled program.

Madam Chairman, we are all aware of the importance of flood insurance. Back in Texas, floods are a common occurrence. And when they happen, they destroy homes, property, and even entire communities.

Yes, this program provides flood victims with the monetary compensation necessary to begin rebuilding their

homes and their lives; yet we cannot forget that the only reason this program is still operating is because taxpayers have bailed it out as, by any measure, it has been insolvent.

That is why I am offering a very simple amendment to this bill that accomplishes three things:

Number one, it adds a provision to the bill that recognizes that while flood insurance is important to millions of Americans, this program is deeply in debt to the American taxpayer and there is currently no tangible plan to pay that money back;

Number two, it requires the administrator of FEMA to report back to the Congress within 6 months a 10-year plan to pay back the $18 billion it currently owes taxpayers;

Number three, it adds accountability to a program that is far from being fiscally sound.

Let's keep in mind that if the National Flood Insurance Program were an initiative solely of the private sector, it would have declared bankruptcy long ago. Remember also that the person propping up this program, the American taxpayer, is very weary and tired from continually being held responsible for bailing out government's failed initiatives. For years the taxpayer has been asked to pick up the tab for government programs no matter how effective or how solvent they may be. The argument was that we could hold off worrying about overspending until we reached a crisis point. Well, with each American family now responsible for over $120,000 of the Nation's debt and with annual trillion-plus dollar deficits, we are now at that crisis point.

Madam Chairman, my amendment and this bill are a step toward bringing fiscal responsibility back to this program. But, more importantly, it stands up for the American taxpayer whose voice has been ignored in Washington for too long.

Mr. Speaker, I was briefly absent from the Chamber on June 2, 2011,

during rollcall vote 398 and rollcall vote 407. On rollcall vote 398, I would have voted ``aye'' and on rollcall vote 407, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Department of Labor will release the monthly jobs report for May. While I am hoping to be surprised that we get news that massive job creation got underway in May, I'm not going to get my hopes up. I'm not getting my hopes up because economic growth is being restrained. It is being restrained because there is still too much uncertainty in the economy. And greater uncertainty in the economy means less job creation in the economy.

Uncertainty exists because of the threat posed to job creators by the taxes, the mandates and the government takeover of private industry. Uncertainty exists because of the 24-month spending binge of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Job creators see the future tax increases that will be needed if we continue spending money we don't have to the tune of approximately 40 cents out of every dollar.

Uncertainty exists because of the Obama administration's decision that restricts exploration for and the production of American energy both on land and from deepwater sources.

That's why the House of Representatives has spent the first 5 months of the 112th Congress passing legislation to rid the economy of this uncertainty and create private sector jobs. The House has passed legislation to repeal the government takeover of health care. It has passed a budget resolution that puts our Nation on a fiscally sustainable path while saving and strengthening important programs like Medicare and Social Security for future generations--which if they are left alone, if they are left unreformed, they will go bankrupt. And the House has passed several pieces of legislation aimed at overturning the Obama administration's actions that block production of American energy.

Mr. Speaker, we have tried it President Obama's way, attempting to spend and regulate our way to economic prosperity. And what have the American people gotten in return? They have gotten a national debt of $14.2 trillion, and 26 straight months of unemployment at 8 percent or higher.

The American people know you cannot purchase prosperity; you must create it. That's what the people of Texas sent me here to do, to get our economy back on track.

Mr. Speaker, Texas is burning. Since November, Texas has experienced over 9,000 wildfires that have burned over 2 million acres and destroyed more than 400 homes and several thousand structures. These fires continue to rage, threatening the lives and property of Texans.

The State of Texas and local governments, along with our firefighters and our other first responders, have done a magnificent job of responding to the threats of these wildfires. However, the resources of the State and the local government have been stretched responding to fires we have already had; and the threat of wildfires continues. Without additional assistance, the capacity to respond to future wildfires will be greatly diminished. That is why Governor Perry requested a major disaster declaration and Federal disaster assistance. Unfortunately, President Obama denied this request.

Mr. Speaker, many in Texas and in my district can't seem to understand the President's decision. Governor Perry intends to appeal the President's decision, and I hope the President will reconsider.

I thank my colleague from Georgia.

Madam Speaker, the House of Representatives is attempting to prevent the government from shutting down. We have to do so because the Senate, under the leadership of Senator Harry Reid, hasn't passed a bill to fund the government for the remainder of the year. It has now been 41 days since the House passed our bill, H.R. 1. The lack of Senate action certainly isn't because they haven't had the time. Since the passage of H.R. 1, the Senate has had time to pass legislation like the bill designating March 11 as World Plumbing Day.

Senator Reid's excuse for not passing the bill: House Republicans passed ``extreme'' spending cuts. Despite the $61 billion in spending cuts in H.R. 1 being the largest spending cut since World War II, it amounts to approximately a 2 percent cut of what the CBO projects the Federal Government will spend in 2011.

That's cutting spending by approximately 2 cents for every dollar we are projected to spend. Given that the Federal Government is borrowing approximately 40 cents out of every dollar we spend and sending the bill to our children and grandchildren, cutting 2 cents out of every dollar hardly seems extreme or excessive.

The only thing that is extreme and excessive is the desire of Washington liberals to spend the hard-earned money of the American people on the Federal Government's priority, leaving the American people unable to spend on their priorities.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment made in order under the rule.

I thank my colleague from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) for offering this bill that eliminates a wasteful and ineffective program.

Mr. Chairman, I am offering an amendment to this bill that will ensure that every dime of savings that comes from terminating the program will go back to the Treasury to reduce the debt of our country.

Our country finds itself in the middle of a spending-driven fiscal crisis. And back in November, the American people sent a message that was loud and clear: Stop the out-of-control spending in Washington.

For 2 years, the motto in Washington was ``spend now, worry later.'' This is unfair to future generations who will inherit a bankrupt country if we don't act.

It's only appropriate that we in this Congress begin our work by cutting programs that simply don't work. The Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, has hurt the very people it was intended to help by giving them false hope.

In his most recent quarterly report to Congress, the Inspector General of TARP stated that the HAMP program ``continues to fall dramatically short of any meaningful standard of success.'' That, Mr. Chairman, is Washington-speak for ``failure.''

The program has done nothing to halt foreclosures. In fact, home foreclosures in the United States have risen from 2.3 million in 2008 to 2.9 million in 2010. HAMP is not only a bad deal for homeowners, it's a bad deal for taxpayers as well. Every child born in America today is responsible for over $45,000 of our national debt. It is simply unacceptable for Washington to continue spending money on a program that doesn't work.

For 2 years, Washington acted as if it didn't have a spending problem. And as we look around the world at countries who now find themselves in fiscal nightmares because of out-of-control government, we have to take a look in the mirror.

The most dangerous words in America right now are ``it can't happen here,'' but just take a look at the facts:

Moody's has recently downgraded the debt of Spain, a country that is expected to run a budget deficit equal to 6 percent of GDP in 2011;

Today, Portugal and Greece were downgraded by the S&P because of overspending and budget deficits;

And now the United States is expected to run a much greater deficit of 9.8 percent of GDP in 2011;

Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that the most significant threat to our Nation and our national security is our debt.

So make no mistake about it: It can happen here, and it will happen here unless something is done.

I just returned from a constituent workweek in my district, the 23d District of Texas. I had many town hall meetings and conversations with constituents, and all the while I heard

over and over again their concerns of our exploding national debt.

Speaking with one constituent, who is an example of every constituent that I spoke to, Will and Debbie Brenson, are most concerned about their grandchildren, Katlin and Taylor, what kind of a country are they going to inherit, certainly, not with the opportunities that they had to build their small business in Fair Oaks, Texas.

If we don't change course, we will be guilty of committing an intergenerational theft, the likes of which no country has ever seen. We'll be the first generation of Americans to ever leave the next generation with a diminished future.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle often feel that only government can steer our economy on the right course, but we now know just how wrong that argument is. Unemployment is at an unacceptable 8.9 percent, and over 13 million Americans remain unemployed.

We are on track for our third straight $1 trillion deficit, and we don't have much to show for it. We have to put an end to wasteful spending, and we must reduce the debt for future generations.

Mr. McHenry's bill, and my amendment, with them we will stop wasting taxpayer dollars on failing programs and ensure that any savings from termination are not recycled into yet another program. The savings will go towards paying down our country's exploding debt.

I urge passage of my amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Are you in favor of the amendment or opposed to the amendment?

Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairman, I want to thank my colleague and friend from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) for offering the bill to terminate the emergency mortgage relief program.

The amendment I'm offering will ensure every penny of savings that come from terminating the emergency homeowner relief program will go back to the Treasury's general fund in order to reduce the debt of our country.

We are in the midst of a spending-driven fiscal crisis. Today, every child born in the United States is responsible for more than $45,000 of the debt. If we don't stop spending and put our Nation back on a sustainable fiscal path, we will ensure that the futures of our children and grandchildren drown in a sea of red ink.

The total debt of our Nation is on track to equal the entire size of our economy. The debt held by the public today is $10.43 trillion. That represents 69.4 percent of GDP. Per household, this is $89,007. The gross debt, according to the monthly Treasury statement through February, our gross debt is $14.194 trillion, which is 94.41 percent of GDP, or $121,128 per household. No nation in history has ever survived a debt burden the size towards which we are hurtling.

As I travel across the 23rd District of Texas, over and over I hear of very, very real concerns my constituents have over our out-of- control Washington spending and our exploding deficits and debt.

The facts are really frightening. There is over $14 trillion of debt on the backs of American families. We've had two straight years of trillion dollar-plus deficits. The CBO projects that the deficit for fiscal year 2011 will be $1.5 trillion, and the President's recently released fiscal year 2012 budget projects more than $1 trillion in deficits.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that ``the most significant threat to our national security is our debt.''

These are dire facts, and are more than just numbers on a ledger. They represent a real threat to our economy and our security and job creation.

Yesterday, Moody's announced that they had downgraded the debt of Spain, another country in a long line of downgrades in Europe. With the deficit and debt realization, you cannot say that would never happen in America. Spain is expected to have a budget deficit of 6 percent of GDP in 2011, while the United States is expected to run a deficit of about 9.8 percent of GDP in 2011. Without a change in our course, we are on track to become the next Spain, the next Greece.

The writing is on the wall. We are headed to a fiscal and economic nightmare if nothing is done. This is an unsustainable path that will end one of two ways: either we have the courage to tackle our Nation's problems, or we continue throwing money at wasteful programs and revert to the status of a Third World country.

My colleagues on the other side have made clear which option they will choose. They want to continue to create wasteful programs hoping that the magic one will come along and fix all of our problems. We have to stop kidding ourselves that this is the way to create jobs and economic prosperity.

Not only do we have an obligation to reduce our debt for the sake of our economy, but we have a moral obligation to our children and grandchildren to leave this country to them better than we found it. Unfortunately, that is not the case right now unless we act.

This Congress has a clear mandate from the people who sent us here to do our job: cut the spending and reduce the debt. With this bill and my amendment, we will do both. I urge passage of my amendment.

I thank you for yielding.

I think we need to focus on what this amendment does and the purpose of it. The purpose of it is to bring back those funds that are allocated to this failed program and bring them back into the Treasury so that the Treasury can use those funds in order to reduce the debt that we have. It is but a small return into the Treasury, but it goes a long way into fiscal responsibility so we can continue on that path and reduce that budget.

Now, with regards to the program itself that this amendment addresses, we have to realize that this program spends an enormous amount of taxpayers' money that came out of Dodd-Frank, a $1 billion HUD emergency homeowner relief program which provides loans or credit advances to unemployed borrowers. This program would spend 98 cents for every dollar that does not come back. Those are very important, to realize that these funds are taxpayer funds that would otherwise go as a grant to the borrower, not any repayment program, but grants to the borrower, that does not get repaid.