Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, let me offer 1.6 million reasons why we should repeal ObamaCare. That's the number of jobs that will be lost from just one provision, the employer mandate, according to the NFIB, the largest small business organization in America. The half a trillion dollars in new taxes, the 1099 form, the minimum benefit standard, all job-crushing regulations. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to ObamaCare, you cannot help the job seeker by punishing the job creator.

Let me offer 2.6 trillion more reasons that we must repeal ObamaCare. That is the true cost of this legislation; $700 billion more added to the deficit.

Now, I know my friends on the other side of the aisle will contend something else, but somehow in their accounting they left out the $115 billion it costs to implement. They double-counted almost half a trillion dollars in taxes, Social Security, cutting Medicare by half a billion, the sleight of hand of 10 years of taxes, 6 years of spending. Mr. Speaker, you cannot improve the health care of a nation by impoverishing its children.

Here is one more reason, Mr. Speaker. The American people don't want it. It's personal.

Here is my story. Two days ago I was in San Antonio, Texas. My mother had a large tumor removed from her head. They wheeled her away at 7:20 in the morning. By noon, I was talking to her, along with the rest of our family. It proved benign. Thanks to a lot of prayers and good doctors at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, my mother is fine. I am not sure that would be the outcome in Canada, the UK, anywhere in Europe.

No disrespect to the President, but when it comes to the health of my mother, I don't want this President, or any President, or his bureaucrats or commissions making decisions for my loved ones. Let's repeal it today, replace it tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

I appreciate the gentleman from Virginia, the distinguished majority leader, for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I haven't come to the House floor with any prepared remarks. Frankly, I am not sure my vocabulary, I am not sure my thoughts can do the moment justice.

I would say, in the victim that we know, Congresswoman Giffords, Gabby, if there is a sweeter, a kinder, a more gentle Member of the House, I know not their name.

So many of us consider her to be a friend. I think if there were a poll of Members of the House, she would probably be voted least likely to offend any human being, which makes this incident, this tragedy so unfathomable. We all pray for her full recovery. This House is not whole without her smile, without her voice, without her presence.

Madam Speaker, I did not know Gabe Zimmerman; but I know a lot of great Americans, young people, who decide to dedicate themselves to public service and work on my staff, and I know how they are a part of my extended family.

I didn't know Dorwan Stoddard, Phyllis Schneck, Dorothy Morris, but they're parents, they're grandparents, they're spouses, and we think of our own family. I didn't know Judge John Roll. But, again, somebody who committed their life to public service. And last but not least I don't know Christina Taylor Green. I didn't have that pleasure. A 9-year-old child thrilled to learn about our representative democracy and brought down in an act of evil. I never met her. But I think about my 8-year- old daughter, and I think about my 7-year-old son, and how they learn about their father's business.

And so all of us come together in this time of mourning but this time of resolution. We mourn the loss of these great American citizens, but we resolve that the representative democracy, that the traditions of the House will not be a casualty of this tragedy. The people's House will be open. The Members representative will be accessible. It can be no different in this country.

We cannot allow the tragedy to be compounded by changing the way we conduct the people's business. This cannot happen. And so we come here today to mourn, but we come here to be resolved that this individual who is responsible for a heinous, evil act will not succeed in interfering with the people's business in the people's House. Godspeed in her recovery to Gabby, our colleague.

``To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.''

Madam Clerk, every Congress represents a sacred responsibility to write a new and greater chapter in our Republic's history. Be it providence or destiny, a unique man of uniquely American values is now called to lead this effort.

At a time when far too many of our countrymen remain unemployed, a former small businessman will lead the House to pass policies to encourage job creation.

At a time when all agree our Nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, a fiscal reformer will ensure that this House never mortgages the torch of liberty in order to pay our debts.

At a time when too many doubt that their children can enjoy a brighter future in our country, he has lived the American dream, and will protect it for our posterity like few others before him.

This proud son of Ohio--one of 12 children born into a working-class family--has waited tables, mopped floors, tended bar, worked construction, worked his way to a college degree at night school, led a thriving company. And through his faith, his hard work, his values, he is now poised to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. He knows firsthand that unlimited opportunity can only arise from limited constitutional government.

Madam Clerk, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I am directed by the unanimous vote of that conference to present for election to the Office of Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 112th Congress the name of the Honorable John A. Boehner, a Representative- elect from the State of Ohio.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I have been directed to report to the House that the Republican Members have selected as majority leader the gentleman from Virginia, the Honorable Eric Cantor.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I am directed by that conference to notify the House officially that the Republican Members have selected as their majority whip the gentleman from California, the Honorable Kevin McCarthy.

Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate my counterpart on his re-election.

I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for the purpose of offering an amendment.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

And, Mr. Chairman, I had not originally thought I would come here to speak. I must admit, I have been watching the debate in my office and have some amount of envy for my colleagues who bring such passion and certainty of their vote as they come to the floor.

As I look at this legislation and listen to my colleagues, I must admit I consider it to be a very successful negotiation because I am not sure I have heard anybody who really likes the bill. Perhaps that's a hallmark of a successful negotiation. As I look at the legislation, it is the classic challenge of, Is the glass half full or is it half empty? I, for one, have decided it to be half full.

Mr. Chairman, clearly there are items in this legislation that I find not just empty but, frankly, atrocious. Yes, there is tax pork in this legislation. There is an unpaid-for extension of unemployment benefits. Mr. Chairman, at some point, I would hope the majority--soon to be minority in this institution--would realize that we have got to concentrate on the paychecks. Americans want paychecks, not unemployment checks. And if we're going to have them, they need to be paid for. And worst of all, what's happening to Social Security, with the payroll tax without putting any fundamental reform on the table. And what I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, It is you who brought that to the table.

Mr. Chairman, I made a pledge to my constituents. I told them I would fight any tax increases. I told them I would try to bring certainty to this economy because that is what businesses need. Trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines, waiting to come into this economy; but yet the party who has been in control of Congress for 4 years, had the White House for 2 years waits until almost Christmas Eve, and we still don't know what tax rates are. There's no certainty.

The only thing I am certain of is that if we don't pass this legislation, there's about to be a $3.9 trillion tax increase on the American people, on school teachers, on farmers, on single mothers, on small businesses, on job creators, and, yes, even the vilified wealthy.

Mr. Chairman, we've heard the class warfare rhetoric for quite some time now; and look what it's got us, almost serial double digit unemployment and human suffering.

Mr. Chairman, I've held a lot of jobs in my life. I used to bus tables at the Holiday Inn in College Station, Texas. I used to work on a loading dock and load windows. I used to clean out chicken houses, which to some extent was sufficient training for the present occupation, but that's a subject for a different time.

But, you know what, Mr. Chairman? In all these jobs I've held, no poor person ever hired me. It was somebody who went out and risked capital and took a chance and built something. And yet the left and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to vilify this person, that somehow it's bad to go out and be successful and create jobs so that people can put roofs over their heads, put food on their table, send their kids to college. I don't get it.

Now, my friends on the other side of the aisle say well, this will add to the deficit. Well, why didn't I hear that argument during the $1.2 trillion failed stimulus? I didn't hear the great angst and anxiety from my friends on the other side of the aisle at that point when we passed an almost $400 billion omnibus spending bill. I really didn't hear it.

I didn't, Mr. Chairman, hear this angst and anxiety when my friends on the other side of the aisle not only brought us the first trillion dollar deficit in America's history, but backed it up with the second trillion dollar deficit in American history. I didn't hear all this concern. I only hear it now when we're talking about letting the American people keep what they earn.

We're not even talking about a tax cut here. We're talking about preventing a tax increase. So I don't quite understand all of a sudden this great angst and concern about the deficit.

And I might remind all of my colleagues, it is the deficit which is the symptom. It is spending which is the disease. We can clearly get rid of the deficit tonight. Let's increase taxes 60 percent, 60 percent on all Americans. Let's more than double taxes on our children and destroy the American Dream. Sure, we can balance the budget. That doesn't take care of the fiscal insanity.

And so to avoid a further job meltdown--and let me make it very clear, Mr. Chairman, this is not any great economic growth package that is put before us. I don't believe that this is going to be the cornucopia of jobs. What we're trying to do here is avoid further damage to a crippled economy that, again, has almost double-digit unemployment on a serial basis. I wish we had at least 10 years of certainty of these tax rates. I'm sorry it's only two.

I would say to my friends on this side of the aisle who say, well, we could have gotten a better deal: well, I don't know. I wasn't in the room. I didn't negotiate the deal. Maybe their crystal ball is clearer than my crystal ball.

Here's what I see in my crystal ball. I'm absolutely for certain in my crystal ball that come January, Barack Obama is still going to be President of the United States. In my crystal ball, Harry Reid is still going to be Senate majority leader.

That's what I see in my crystal ball. So maybe the friends on my side of the aisle, maybe you're right. But you have a degree of certainty and clarity of the future I do not have. So, personally, I'm not willing to take the chance.

I'm going to cast the ``aye'' vote. I'm going to stop the job-killing tax increases. I'm going to add at least a modicum of certainty, 2 years of certainty to the Tax Code. And I'm going to fight to put this Nation back on the road to fiscal sanity because, in this legislation, I see the glass half full.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, the bipartisan negotiations are fleeting and ephemeral around here. The White House photographers hadn't even left, the ink wasn't even dry on appointing the negotiators, and all of a sudden House Democrats bring to the floor their tax increase bill on small businesses and American families.

You know what? I have heard the rhetoric of my friends on the other side of the aisle, and as I have studied this bill, I am still trying to find: Where is the tax cut they are talking about? I don't see any tax cut. All I see are tax increases.

Half of small business income is going to be taxed under their bill. Fifteen million of our fellow citizens are unemployed. How many more have to become unemployed? How much more human misery? How much more rejection at the ballot box before my friends on the other side of the aisle come to their senses?

They have tried to spend their way into economic prosperity; it has failed. They have tried to borrow their way into national economic prosperity; it has failed. They have tried to bailout their way into national economic prosperity; it has failed.

Here today, again, another opportunity to tax our way into economic prosperity. It does not work. The American people have rejected this tired, old class warfare rhetoric. You cannot help the job seeker by punishing the job creator. The American people know this, and their voices were heard on election day.

You know, what I find interesting is how many Democrats have come to the floor to quote the economist Dr. Mark Zandi. He is probably the most quoted economist by the Democrats. Yet he, himself, has rejected the idea of raising taxes in this economy. Now that he is out of the administration, Dr. Peter Orszag, one of the architects of Obamanomics, has written in an editorial that we should not be raising taxes.

I mean, this is a group that can't even get Keynesian economics right. Keynesian economics says you do not raise taxes in a time of recession. Look at the period of almost perpetual near-10 percent unemployment that we have had.

Again, how many more people have to suffer? How many more jobs have to be lost?

It is simple, Mr. Speaker. No tax increases on nobody. It may be poor grammar, but it is great economics, and it will relieve the human misery in this American economy. We should reject this bill and reject this cynical ploy.

Madam Speaker, today I would like to recognize State Representative Betty Brown for her outstanding service and commitment to the State of Texas.

A native of Kaufman County, Texas, Betty entered political office because she was concerned that her children and grandchildren would not have the same opportunities as previous generations.

As a lifelong conservative, Betty has worked tirelessly to serve her community through state and local leadership positions including six terms representing Henderson and Kaufman counties as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Representative Brown has served admirably on both the Elections Committee and the Agriculture & Livestock Committee where she has continued to promote the values and ideals of her constituents since first being elected to office in 1998. Betty has devoted much of her life in service to the State of Texas, and I appreciate her principled dedication and conviction while serving in the Texas Legislature.

I am proud to call Betty a dear friend, and on behalf of the citizens of the Fifth District of Texas, I would like to thank Representative Brown for her twelve years of service and her commitment to defending freedom and liberty in our communities, state and nation.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, as I look at the available evidence, I believe that the preponderance of the evidence does show that China is manipulating its currency. So I don't question the problem; I question the remedy. And I question whether or not punishing American consumers is the right remedy to apply to this situation. I believe that, ultimately, if this legislation is enacted, that is what will happen.

We know already--we don't know what the estimates are, 5 to maybe 30 percent--that the renminbi may be overvalued. And China should let their currency float.

It is wrong what they're doing. They are hurting their own people by doing what they're doing.

But in addition, Mr. Speaker, one thing I do know they are doing is they are subsidizing goods to the American people at a time when many family budgets are being strained. The available evidence shows that if this was passed, if actually the renminbi was revalued, that prices for many of these Chinese goods may go up 10 percent. A pair of shoes that a mother needs for her child to go to school, maybe it is a pair of glasses, maybe it is toys at Christmas, all become more expensive.

So to some extent there is a question: Should we pass a law, pick winners and losers between manufacturers and consumers? Is that something we should be doing? I am not sure that it is.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, we all know our history. We know that presently we are still mired. Whether or not some Bureau economist tells us we are out of a recession, we know that people in our districts continue to suffer through probably the greatest economic crisis we have seen since the Great Depression. One of the most exacerbating factors happened to be the Smoot-Hawley tariff. I fear a trade war.

Now, some say we are already having a trade war. Well, by historic standards, we are probably having a trade skirmish. But we know that already the administration last year elected to impose tariffs on Chinese tires. And, guess what? They imposed tariffs on our poultry, one of the few areas where we actually had a favorable balance of trade, and so import tariffs up to 105 percent on U.S. exports of poultry. So any type of jobs that may be gained in manufacturing just might be lost in agriculture or some other area.

I am not convinced that the proponents of this bill have made the case that, on net, this would even create more jobs in America. It certainly would create more in one sector than another. But, again, precipitating a trade war at a time when we are in tough economic times, making it more difficult for consumers to afford the items they need to provide for their families, I think is unwise public policy. So I would urge defeat of this legislation.