Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the organization Ka Joog, and to recognize its contributions to the Somali community of Minnesota through art, education, and political action.

Ka Joog launched in 2007 as an organization with no funding, but with an abundance of energy and dedication. The organizers, led by Mohamed Farah, worked tirelessly to establish an environment where Somali youth could gather and solve problems in their community. Their challenges were abundant--from the language and cultural separation of growing up in a foreign country, to the negative media attention of gang shootings and drug trafficking. The members wanted to help Somali teens ``stay away''--the translation of Ka Joog--from ``drugs, violence, radicalization and other negative influences, and instead to stay on the right path by attaining higher education and serving and volunteering in their communities.''

And in that, they have been phenomenally successful. Last year, Ka Joog was awarded the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award by the FBI's Minneapolis Division, as well as the Ninth Ward's Youth Leader of the Year award. In just six years, Ka Joog has established itself as a political and cultural force in the Twin Cities.

Its programming is diverse and effective. Mentoring groups provide support and guidance to the youngest of the community through workshops, field trips and tutoring. A program called ``Invisible Art'' fosters discussions through prose, poetry and song, nurturing creativity and effective communication. A summer camp last year provided a new connection to Minnesota's natural environment for disadvantaged Somali youth, many of whom had never left the Twin Cities. Ka Joog regularly hosts conferences and roundtables on issues affecting the Somali community, gathering local, state, and federal officials to discuss gang violence, job opportunities, education, health and medical disparities, and the prevention of terrorism. Not only does their work solve many problems through discussion, coalition building, and personal engagement, it also demonstrates to youth who feel left out of the political process that they too can accomplish their goals by working hard and working together.

Ka Joog has already helped thousands of Minnesota youth, and it is poised to help even

more in the future. On behalf of all Minnesotans, I thank Ka Joog for its public service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Kenneth Tilsen and recognize his contributions to the expansion of liberty and justice inside and outside the courtroom.

Mr. Tilsen measured his success by the number of people he helped, by the body of law he fought to uphold, and by the countless hours he worked to amplify the voices of disadvantaged and oppressed peoples. Born to immigrant parents in 1927, Ken learned compassion and understanding through example. His father founded the first company to build integrated housing in Saint Paul. Ken grew up in St. Paul's most racially diverse neighborhood, and attended integrated Marshall High School. He studied Law at the University of Minnesota, graduating at the top of his class in 1950. After practicing as a managing partner at a major firm in the Twin Cities, Mr. Tilsen left to begin his own private practice, so that he could represent anti-war, anti-draft, and civil rights cases. As his son described, ``he wanted to define for himself a better kind of law practice and be a better kind of lawyer.'' And that is exactly what he did.

Mr. Tilsen's career traces a line through some of the most important social movements of our time. He defended the Minnesota 8, who were accused of raiding Selective Service offices in protest of the draft; he represented the Southern Landowners Alliance of Minnesota in a long battle to protect wilderness and farmland from unneeded power lines; he fought as one of the major attorneys of the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/ Offense Committee against FBI and police misconduct, and continued the fight against historical revisionism of that case for decades afterward. He worked for the Venezuelan whistle-blower Rene Hurtado, the University of Minnesota's Afro-American Action Committee, and the protesters from the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Many powerful individuals disapproved of his work, and he paid for his activism through years of harassment, and even questioning by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

But Mr. Tilsen's body of work did not go unnoticed, and he was recognized with awards such as the ACLU Earl Larson Award, the National Lawyers Guild Lifetime Contribution to Social Justice Award, and being named one of ``Minnesota's 100 most influential lawyers of all time.''

Mr. Tilsen practiced law until 1993, turning then to teaching at the Hamline University School of Law. ``Ken loved the law,'' his son wrote. ``He was personally offended when it was twisted to serve the rich and powerful at the expense of normal people trying to live their lives.'' He used that passion to better the law--to better the state of Minnesota and to better the United States of America. The legacy Mr. Tilsen leaves is a valuable lesson to every citizen: that our government is only as strong as those who are willing to fight for ``the little guy.''

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important before we move into the weeks ahead that we take a minute and ask ourselves what happened last week during the shutdown? What were the consequences of the shutdown? What did the shutdown mean to Americans? It is important to pause and ask, What really happened? Because as the days roll by, people are going to just move on to the next thing.

Let's be clear: this irresponsible shutdown cost the economy $24 billion in lost economic output, or about 0.6 percent of annualized growth, according to Standard & Poor's. That is $24 billion of people not making purchases that they had planned to because they thought they had better hold on to their money because they didn't know what was going to happen. That is $24 billion of businesses that did business with people who were Federal employees who didn't have their check or didn't know if they were going to have it.

I mean, the untold damage that the Republican majority in the House did to this economy is a shameful thing, and they did it for one reason and one reason only: to deny millions of Americans affordable health care. Now, I think that it is important to mark this moment and to be very clear about what happened and the losses we incurred. This economy lost 120,000 jobs, according to the Council of Economic Advisers; 120,000 jobs because of lower demand, because of a number of things. A number of people were losing their livelihood because of the shutdown, again, because the majority in the House sees fit to deny millions of Americans affordable health care.

Now, in the days to come now that the shutdown is over, there is no question they will try to amp up and build up the bugs in the computer system, but thousands of people are getting health care and signing up right now. The news is actually good, and there has never been a system that is new that didn't have problems. In fact, my friends on the Republican side of the aisle, I invite them to go back to Medicare part D, the prescription drug benefit in which they said that Big

Pharma didn't have to compete for prices, they just could demand the price and we had to pay it, the one that created the doughnut hole. In the beginning, there were all kinds of glitches associated with that system.

So, yes, we are working out bugs, but they are being worked out, and there are thousands of people every day who are getting the health care access they never would have had and insurance reform that they never would have had if the Republicans would have had their way.

Also, I just want to make clear that people should know that there were individual stories that occurred that people should never forget. Hundreds of people were furloughed, and thousands more didn't know if they were going to get paid in the month of October. Consider the anxiety that the Republican majority needlessly inflicted on American families, and inflicted it on public employees who serve our country every single day to the best of their ability. People seeking new Social Security cards in Minneapolis found the office closed. That is my district. People saying, Wait a minute, I need a new Social Security card and can't get one because of the Republican shutdown--that was wrong.

The Veterans Administration offices were understaffed, and school trips were canceled because national parks were closed. It was galling to me that as the Republicans shut down the national monuments, they had the audacity, the unmitigated gall, to go to the World War II Memorial and act like somebody shut that memorial down other than them. It is amazing.

I can tell you that this moment, these last 2 weeks that we saw, shouldn't be forgotten. They should be remembered.

I want to thank the 87 sensible Republicans who voted with the Democrats in order to reopen the government, and I just want to let everyone know that we can debate things here. We can try to improve the Affordable Care Act. We can talk about parts that could be better, and we can make it better. I encourage us to do that.

But can we not shut down the government and do damage to the American economy just so we can score a political point and deny health care to thousands of people, perhaps millions of people? Can we work out our differences in the normal course of legislating?

The Republicans know how to change the Affordable Care Act. They even know how to legitimately try to get rid of it through the 45 ways that they offered legislation to destroy or defund or delay ObamaCare. They have done it before, but this time, they didn't go through the normal course. They shut down the government and threatened default, and that was wrong.

I just want people to remember what happened. Maybe we can avoid it in the months ahead, and I certainly hope you will.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding time.

Environmental review isn't a problem; it is a good thing. Including citizens in projects and how they affect our communities and their voices is important. Protecting water quality in natural areas that drive local economies is important. Saving tax dollars is important.

And yet, unfortunately, in the minds of some, environmental review is a problem that needs to be streamlined. I don't call these environmental review streamlines something good. I say that they are just weakening a good process that allows people to be involved and participate.

I think weakening the National Environmental Protection Act is shortsighted, misguided; and I oppose those particular provisions.

While there are merits in this bill, there also are problems, and weakening environmental review is chief among them. I am very disappointed those provisions are included in this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to recognize that all of us who are parents or Members of Congress, no matter what walk of life we may travel in, want to make sure that our children are safe, are well taken care of, and that the people who care for them at their schools are qualified to do so and don't present a danger to them.

At the same time, I think it is important that we recognize that when we

put barriers to employment that are lifetime bans, that are not sensitive to certain realities as relates to people overcoming criminal backgrounds, and when we put prophylactic rules that don't account for particular offenses in a nuanced way, we do run the risk of doing a good thing, but doing too much of a thing, and thereby leading to some unexpected and unwanted results.

I have had the privilege of talking to Ranking Member Miller about some concerns I have about the bill before us today. I think that the concerns are well within Mr. Miller's frame of mind, and he and I have talked and he has indicated to me that he is willing to work with me to refine the bill to the degree that we can ensure the protection and safety of our children in school, but at the same time make sure that we don't set up precedents that create unwarranted and unnecessary barriers to employment.

At this time I don't think I need to go into the details of each of those. Suffice it to say that if the gentleman would agree that we did talk and we are going to work together on refining the bill as best we can, I would appreciate that.

I yield to the gentleman.

Thank you very much.

I also just want to point out that we have talked about inaccurate information, and it is important that we make sure that the records that we are using are the right records and accurate records.

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, on October 7, 2013, I missed rollcall vote Nos. 527 and 528 for district business. Had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on both.

Mr. Speaker, on October 8, 2013, I missed rollcall vote Nos. 531 and 532. I was organizing voters on immigration reform. Had I been present I would have voted ``no'' on both.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is so important as we come here today to take us back where this whole shutdown-debt ceiling crisis began, and that is when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said that we will not open and fund the government, we will not pass a continuing resolution unless you repeal, defund, delay the Affordable Care Act.

That was their mantra. They were standing at those microphones right over there. They were gleeful; they were pounding the table; and they were really thinking that--you know what?--the Democrats are willing to go back to a day when Americans were filing for bankruptcy because they got sick or got injured. They really believed we were going to allow America to go back to a day when you couldn't get insurance if you had a preexisting condition. They thought we were going to return to a time when we weren't trying to address this big doughnut hole that they created with Medicare part D.

We told them, it is not because we spent so much time on it, that it is not because you tried to repeal it 45 times and you failed, that it is not because the Supreme Court said it was constitutional, and that it is not because in the last election the Presidential candidate who said I am going to implement health care reform in the Affordable Care Act won and beat the one who said he would repeal it by 5 million votes. Those are not the reasons we stand here.

We stand here because we have little kids and seniors and hardworking Americans who go bankrupt when they get sick, who sometimes are denied access to care which results in loss of life. That is why we said no. We said we can talk about a lot of things--we can negotiate on anything you want--but we are not going to say, if we repeal, delay, defund the Affordable Care Act, then you will do what it is your duty to do, which is to open the government.

So my friends in the Republican caucus knew that--you know what?--the American public is on to our game. We are trying to do everything we can to trick people into thinking it is not really us who are being obstructionists, extortionists, hostage takers. We don't want people to believe that is really us doing it. So, you know what? We have got to say something else. We have got to do something else.

Many of you, Mr. Speaker, who were listening heard a very interesting dialogue that occurred--and you can look it up on YouTube--between Senator Rand Paul and Senator Mitch McConnell, in which they were sort of gaming out what words they should use and how they should sort of reposition themselves to look reasonable, to say, oh, let's negotiate, let's negotiate, when, in fact, they knew that their position was to defund the Affordable Care Act. They started saying things like, Negotiate. Let's negotiate. They even came up with this hash tag, Let's talk.

The bottom line is it was 6 months ago when we wanted to talk--and we still do--but we are not going to say we are going to get rid of the Affordable Care Act and put millions of Americans back in jeopardy, and then as a condition of doing that you will reopen the government.

What they are trying to do, Mr. Speaker, is to say, in exchange for throwing people off health care, they will then do their job. In exchange for putting people back at the tender mercies of an insurance company, they will do their job.

Now, Mr. Speaker, things have gotten really bad because the fact is we are only a few days--we are two days--away from when the Treasury has said they cannot engage in extraordinary measures anymore, that they cannot negotiate America's bills anymore, and on October 17 it is D-day. We have got to do something or bad things are going to happen.

As Mr. Himes pointed out, no one really knows everything that is going to happen because no Congress in the

history of the United States has ever failed to pay its bills. It will be the Republican House majority that has failed America for the first time in American history by refusing to pay our bills, not because we don't have the money, not because we are not good for it, but because their political ideology dictates that, so they are sacrificing our Nation.

Here is what is going to happen. We don't know all, but we do know a few things. We know there will be higher interest rates and less access to business loans needed to finance payrolls. We know the businesses that want to build inventories and invest in equipment and in construction are going to face higher interest rates. It is going to cost more to do that. We know it is estimated that there are about 3.4 million veterans who may see their disability benefits in jeopardy. We will see catastrophic economic effects to our economy. We could see the average home buyer pay an extra $100 a month.

Mr. Speaker, I will just close by saying this: we have to get our business in order, and I urge Republican moderates to join with us to reopen the government and to pay this country's debts.

Mr. Speaker, I am looking forward to joining my colleagues in that line to sign a discharge petition that will reopen government. Not with conditions, not on the condition that we want this thing or we want that thing, and we won't open the government until we get it, but just to open the government with no conditions.

My Republican friends know very well that this shutdown is for one reason, and one reason only. It is because they wanted to delay, defund, and destroy health care for the American people. They are ready to destroy the American economy unless they get it.

We don't have to go through this long line. We can open up the government in 15 minutes if Speaker Boehner puts a clean continuing resolution on the floor right now. Let's get it done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Ms. Sandy Colvin Roy for her many years of public service to the citizens of the Twelfth Ward of Minneapolis and to congratulate her on her receipt of an award of Lifetime Achievement from the National Organization to Insure a Sound-controlled Environment (NOISE).

Ms. Colvin Roy has represented the Twelfth Ward of Minneapolis on the Minneapolis City Council for the last 16 years. As a member of the council, Ms. Colvin Roy has been a vocal advocate for the health and well-being of communities located near airports and other noise- polluted transportation centers. While Ms. Colvin Roy has spearheaded efforts at the federal level to reduce the impact of aviation noise, she has also led local efforts to protect funds that support the abatement of aviation noise pollution.

The National Organization to Insure a Sound-controlled Environment seeks to honor elected officials who have firmly supported their constituents' concerns regarding noise impacts. They have chosen Ms. Colvin Roy to receive their Award of Lifetime Achievement for her steadfast commitment to the reduction of aviation noise in the Twelfth Ward of Minneapolis.

I congratulate Ms. Sandy Colvin Roy on her Lifetime Achievement Award and thank her for her dedication and service to the citizens of the Twelfth Ward, the City of Minneapolis and the great state of Minnesota.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues here to simply pay great tribute and honor to a dedicated public servant--a person who loved his country, who put it all on the line for the betterment of his neighbors and fellow Americans. Rod Grams is a proud son of Minnesota, and he will be deeply missed.

You know, Mr. Speaker, it reminds me of the case where someone stole another person's coat and then came back and offered very piously to help them find it, all the while knowing that it's stashed away. The fact is that we are here for one reason and one reason only, and that is the Republicans object to the Affordable Care Act and refuse to fund the government unless it is defunded. How many times have we heard, delay, defund, and all that little jingle they do? That is why we are here.

And now we have people coming to the floor, piously urging for funding for D.C. and young people and all this kind of stuff. You know, it's as if they didn't know, when they shut down the government, that D.C. and young people and the NIH were going to be cut. Obviously they knew it. Did they just find out after they read their bill? No. They knew it. They knew it all the time. They know it now. And we can solve everyone's problem by putting a clean CR on this moment.

Mr. Speaker, this stunt about helping a few people who are embarrassing the Republicans because of some TV coverage is the wrong thing, I'm telling you.

What about the folks in my district? In the Star Tribune ``Hundreds turned away from Social Security office.'' Hundreds turned away--what about them?

Look, we could reopen the government right now if we put this Senate CR on and pass it and then argue about all that stuff you want to talk about. Open up the government, every bit of it.

Mr. Speaker, as 800,000 Federal employees think about what their fate is going to be in a very few hours from now, we are on the House floor as our Republican colleagues say, well, we'll pay for the government if you accede to these three or four demands. It seems like every day they come up with some new demands, but they don't ever arrive at funding the government.

The American people know, Mr. Speaker, that there is a Senate bill, a CR, a continuing resolution, which is ready that we can put on the floor now and fund the government and avert the shutdown. My question is, Will our Republican colleagues, will our Speaker do that?

There are moments when leadership is at issue, and this is one of them. We need the leadership that will stand here and put the Senate's clean continuing resolution on the floor so that we can avert a government shutdown and make sure that Federal employees can pay their mortgage, can buy groceries, and can have a future.

Mr. Speaker, I remember being in this House not that long ago--August 2011--when we were told that we've got to threaten the breaking of the debt ceiling of the United States because of debt and deficit. The deficit has come down. So here we are again, threatening to harm the economic fortunes of Americans with a shutdown and even the debt ceiling, but we are not talking debt and deficit anymore--now we are talking ObamaCare.

My advice to my Republican colleagues is to try to overturn the Affordable Care Act at the ballot box. Oh, that didn't work. Here is another piece of advice: go to court and try to have it found unconstitutional. Oh, boy, that didn't work out either. Okay. Try to go through the regular legislative process. Well, 43 times later, that didn't work. So now we are going to literally damage the economy of this Nation?

The fact is that this is wrong. It is going to hurt veterans, seniors. It is going to hurt children, and it is going to hurt our parks. It is going to hurt our whole country. So I pray that my colleagues stop this.