Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1 I was delayed. Had I been present, I would have voted ``present.''

Personal Explanation

Mr. Speaker, at the expense of the taxpayer, Members of the House of Representatives were called back to Washington to conclude business on a payroll tax extension. The truth of the matter is we never even voted on the bill. Why, perish the thought! The bill would have probably passed. Who loses? 160 million Americans who won't realize a payroll tax extender; 48 million Americans, seniors who won't have access to their Medicare health provider; 2.2 million unemployed Americans who through no fault of their own lost a job, won't have their unemployment insurance extended.

You know, when it came to providing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, there were no bells and whistles. There were no pipelines attached to the legislation. There were no pay-fors. But when it comes to a tax cut for middle class Americans, all kinds of bells and whistles are attached, all kinds of demands. This is a facade that is seen through clearly. When they had a chance to address this issue, they called it ``a gimmick''; it wasn't worth their attention. So don't let them fool you. This is just a way to keep moving the goal post and not do the right thing. Middle class America, take notice. We regret not taking a vote in this House.

Mr. Speaker, as we come to the close of yet another calendar year, and as we move well into the Federal fiscal year, much work remains to be done for America's hardworking middle class families, the working families of this country that make our economy work. We need to make certain that we respond with the extension of a payroll tax holiday. This House knows that that is important business.

We know that the President presented a plan before Congress that would ask for a surcharge on the most upper income strata in our country to bring about fundamental fairness and to address social and economic justice. We know that the hardworking middle class has taken it on the chin with tax cuts of a decade and a half ago that have really caused hardship with the recession in this country where we lost 8.2 million jobs.

We could go forward and do the right thing. We can extend that payroll tax holiday and pay for it in a meaningful way, in a balanced way. We can then go forward with investments that middle class America truly deserves and requires.

Representative Garamendi, thank you again for leading us in what has been a very important discussion about job creation and job retention in our country. And I couldn't agree more than with your sentiments that include this concern about providing a benefit to the middle class in terms of a payroll tax holiday extender, but then also asking them to pay for that benefit. So it is like one hand is offering and the other hand is taking from our working families, middle class Americans. This is not the prescription for success.

What has been offered by the President is a payroll holiday extender, a tax holiday extender for both employers and employees. And there are many small businesses that stand to gain. The overwhelming majority of small businesses gain by that extension, and certainly the employees do. But it works best when you bring leverage into the equation that comes from the surcharge that is placed upon the most high income strata in our country.

And when you look at the charts from 1979 to the present day, there is no denying what statistics indicate. Facts can't be argued with. There has been this exponential rise in the growth of income for the top 1 percent to about 250 percent of an increase, all while, from 1979, middle-income Americans have seen a flat-lining of their household income, and now it's even dipping. So why mess with this progress that has been realized, this steady climb upward--slow but steady--from an 8.2 million jobs loss hole? We have climbed steadily. Why would you mess with that obvious success that is coming back into the economy? Allow for America's middle class families to move forward, and allow for that benefit to be paid for by someone other than the middle class. Otherwise, it's giving and taking from the same audience. It makes no sense.

We stand by progress, we stand by progressive policy, and we stand by our

middle class, our working families. Let's get it done for middle class America. Without a strong middle class, there is not a strong America.

Mr. Speaker, while my statement mimics a well-known seasonal classic, it is shared in all seriousness and with a sense of greatest urgency.

'Twas the week before Christmas when all through the House,

A cry echoed much louder than a roaring mouse.

Don't raise our taxes, on us please be fair,

or our middle class will be lost in despair.

The majority was plotting a thought in its head,

We should staunchly oppose what from the President was led.

Millionaires should be spared, not a penny we sap,

But Keystone pipeline we will never ever scrap.

When outside the Chamber there arose such a clatter,

The public was disgusted and shouted: we matter!

Away to offices lawmakers flew in a flash,

A change in this bill or else it will crash.

End of year coming and no jobs plan to show,

They said no regulations was the best way to go.

Then what to our debate should suddenly appear,

But a sentiment from the public those in office should fear.

Come on Congress, be fair and be quick.

Don't be deceiving, and don't be so slick.

More rapid the calls and emails they came,

``No pipeline'' said Senator I won't name.

So let's get to work and not be grinches this season,

The economy and middle class are clearly the reason,

We should have a straight vote, not this 400-page show,

And help America's middle class and small business grow.

Let's spring into action and get this bill done.

We have other work; in fact, there's a ton.

Spending bills, doc fix, unemployment and more,

Before the year ends, they must all come to the floor.

We serve our constituents and our Nation first.

For jobs and opportunities, many of us thirst.

Clean air and clean water should not be rolled back.

Deregulatory riders ours bills should well lack.

Thus we go forward to end of the year,

Good tidings and joy this Congress must steer.

Working together with all of our might,

Happy Holidays to all, and for fairness let's fight.

I thank the Representative from Michigan for the opportunity to speak to this measure and to really express concern about the inordinate time that we are spending on measures that allow us to harm the air that we breathe and the water that we drink.

The American people are asking us to set priorities here that focus on job creation. They're demanding that this body focus on jobs and helping rebuild our economy. Instead, we seek to be spending hours debating regulatory and bureaucratic measures that are flawed and would dramatically undermine the ability of our government to protect the air that we breathe and the water that we drink. Instead, I would suggest that our time be better spent focusing on putting more money in the pockets of American workers, empowering our middle class.

I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Madam Speaker, might I suggest that during this holiday season, as the American public struggles to pay bills that range from gas bills to groceries that are required for their mortgages, again, the focus should be on job creation. And the payroll tax holiday is nearing its expiration. This body should act to extend that tax cut for hardworking middle class American

families. A failure to do so would result in job losses, a reduction in economic activity, and higher taxes for many families when they can least afford it.

So my suggestion here is to stop wasting time on less important priorities and start focusing on creating jobs and standing up for our middle class, enabling them to strengthen their purchasing power and to enable our economic recovery to be as vital and strong as possible.

I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. Thank you very much for kicking us off on a wonderful hour of discussion as to a plan to revitalize our economy and to grow the opportunities for our working families across this country.

President Obama has ushered forward a wonderful package called the American Jobs Act that will enable us as an American society to respond to the crisis for jobs and to the crisis for economic recovery, all of which are incredibly valuable to the future of this country.

We need to invest, I believe, in a way that allows us to provide the tools that are essential for a modern-day economy and modern-day manufacturing.

This proposal stands in sharp contrast to the work done a decade and a half ago, a decade ago.

What was done then is this spending frenzy that paid for tax cuts for millionaires and paid for tax cuts for billionaires and bought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and offered a pharmaceutical plan for the Medicare program, all without having a payment mechanism.

And so this spending frenzy, which was tremendous, it was a huge bill for the American public, had been done off budget and had no funding sources. There were no pay-fors, as they are addressed today.

The contrast here with the President's proposal, with President Obama's proposal, is that there is an offering for relief for America's working families, for her middle class strata, with a payroll tax reduction extension, and that enables both employers and employees to realize the savings that then allow us to put together a balanced approach on assisting the economic revitalization of our working families and middle class, and on providing the investments that are essential in going forward, automating our manufacturing concepts in providing an inducement for an ideas economy into the equation of success for this country.

That all requires investment. And so as we look at this plan that is very balanced and paid for, we know that we can compete in that global market if we're given the appropriate revenues to invest in a modern manufacturing concept. Keep in mind, certain sectors were totally avoided by the Bush administration. No focus on agriculture, no focus on manufacturing, a focus on the service sector of the economy, but they are narrowly on the financial services.

We all know the saga there. We know the scenario all too well, that avoidance of a watchdog, turning our back so that there could be this laissez faire approach that brought America's economy to its knees, and we saw the displacement of 8.2 million jobs.

That was painful and impacted people in tremendously profound measure, and people lost their lifetime savings through those failures. Housing values went down. They plummeted and, again, 8.2 million jobs were lost.

So we have an opportunity, Representative Kaptur, as you've talked about an extension of the payroll tax holiday, we have an opportunity here to not only provide for savings, for our families, but for investments in a modern world manufacturing model that enables us to, again, utilize the strength of research, the strength of technology, the strength of ideas that can then bridge into a new threshold of manufacturing opportunities in this Nation, and then, of course, the investment in the human infrastructure where we train and retrain workers for that automated phase that comes in manufacturing.

So, I thank you for bringing the focus tonight on the floor of the House of Representatives to what we call in our caucus a progressive agenda for revitalizing the economy, and emphasizing, underscoring the concept of making it in the USA, making it in America, putting a focus, again, onto the manufacturing base.

I represent a host of communities dubbed mill towns. They were the economic engine for an industrial revolution. They were the epicenters of invention and innovation that led to this westward movement that enabled us to impact not only the growth of this Nation in favorable measure, but to impact the quality of life in peoples around the world simply by our spirit of pioneer, which is within our DNA to make a difference in the product delivery, in the quality of life that's addressed by that product line.

I'm filled with optimism. I'm filled with optimism if we move to go forward in a way that invests in the American worker, invests in the American business, small business, and invests in our ingenuity and our innovation.

Thank you so much for the discussion.

Representative Garamendi, thank you again for bringing us together with this request for a Special Order.

If Representative Kaptur could just take us back to that second chart that she shared with us earlier this evening and the measurement or the depiction of real average after-tax income.

Now, you talk about the unfairness out there or the inability to go forward and tax fairly. When you look at that graphic, to see the injustice that's displayed just in simple line graph format, that flatlining of America's middle class from 1979 forward, that flatlining contrasted with that steep climb upward for those in the upper income brackets tells us the whole story.

And people have said across this country, when I go home to the district, people say to me that they're concerned, they're upset. They've been taught, rightfully so, they've learned along the way that if you play fair, you roll up your sleeves and you abide by the rules that you should be able to have within your grasp that American Dream. The American Dream, one that allows for working families to climb the ladder. They don't feel that that's within their grasp today.

And it's not only the injustice here that is measured on a chart--and be mindful, they don't reject the notion of working hard and scoring big, making money. They're not concerned about that. They honor that. What they're concerned about is the undue influence that the powerful have, those sitting perched high on the income ladder, the power they have with the process and the policy outcomes. And the fact that we would avoid fairness in revenues and not invest in the American Dream, not invest in opportunity, not invest in the prosperity of this Nation is what bothers them. They don't want to be ignored that way. They want to know that a process out there, there's a government working to create policies that initiate a comeback, that enable people to have within their grasp the American Dream. That's what they want to know is alive and well here in Washington.

And now it's a fight. It's a fight for the Democrats in this House to score a victory for the middle class. We want that victory. We want people to be able to know that there's a fairness out there. Look at it, $1,800, $1,500, whatever your strata would produce as a favorable outcome is something for them. Month to month they will score some victory here where the essentials, as Representative Kaptur labeled them, are available to them with these savings. Contrasted with opportunities that we see here that find this group that's rising to the top exponentially just won't share the prosperity in that way.

And I think it's the avoidance of sound progressive policy that's really the struggle right now. And people are expressing their anger and their frustration, and rightfully so, because we need to be more fair.

Let me just talk about a point of clarification, too, to add to that discussion.

On this whole tax fairness, people have approached me. They've said, Now, explain to me--because they hear different scenarios. They were imagining that there would be this tax, this surcharge on $1.2 million. For instance, if you're over that $1 million threshold and you have an annual income of $1.2 million, the people are now reminded that it's on that $200,000 over and above the first $1 million upon which the surcharge is levied. You know, that's an important fact that is sometimes lost in the discussion. So now people are saying, Well, wait a minute; so the first million dollars isn't taxed.

Right. And so they're saying, Well, whoa, we've been flatlined for so long, and this exponential rise for the highest in the income ladder's outcome.

So now there is more determination by America's middle class families to have it fixed and done correctly.

And the other thing is, I'm reminded, every time I go home, by middle class Americans, modest household incomes, that: We're job creators. My children needed my attention at home. I opened a childcare in my home. I charge. I have a small business.

Many small business people tell me, as an idea came to mind, they now wanted to turn that into a product. They're small business owners. They're the engine. They're connected to the community. They're tethered to the small community.

Exactly.

You know, this is a statement of underpinning of support for middle class, for working families, for small business. It's the engine that's making it happen.

Small business, the investment we can make, not only the tax cut we can provide here, but the investments that are required for the ideas to move along. We're in a challenging time. We're there competing in a global economy. We invest in the intellectual capacity of this Nation, and how foolish of us not to take that investment, that product of that investment and put it into working order. That's what we're asking for here.

Give small business the tools, give working class families the opportunity, and we will have a comeback story that is glorious, and we should be filled with optimism if we do the things that are so logical, and that polls across America, individual polls from all sectors, all angles, all different groups that measure, they're saying this is what America wants. And how come they can't get it delivered by their government?

They're speaking to us loud and clear through their opinion surveys. We want this progressive schedule. We want this agenda. Make it happen. We're trying here as the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives, Representative Kaptur, to make it happen, and I think we can if we put our minds to working together in a very, very bipartisan, bicameral way, executive branch working with the legislative branch, vice versa, and making a progressive agenda happen.

You should share it for your home State.

So many of these programs, including the longstanding Medicare program, are looked at sometimes in dollars and cents and argued about how they're improved or not improved. But sometimes lost in the whole discussion is the value added, the whole underpinning of support that is offered the senior community.

Prior to the inception of Medicare in 1965, families that retired were probably going to see their economic well-being dip precipitously. And what they had here, with the Medicare Foundation, was that their economic stability, their dignity factor, was addressed in tremendously strong and powerful ways so that they were able to move forward in those retirement years with that sense of dignity, with the quality of life, with economic stability.

These are facts that need to be maintained in the front of any discussion; that to undo Medicare would be a tragedy for American families, for our seniors. And certainly, let's go forward, as we have said, with optimism. Let's invest in Medicare. Let's invest in Social Security, and let's invest in an economic recovery where we cut where we can, belt tighten, but invest where we must so we can compete effectively.

And to my colleagues on the floor here tonight, Representative Kaptur, Representative Garamendi, I join with you in being a powerful voice in promoting optimism as we go forward, and wanting to have progressive change.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for leading us in an hour of discussion, of dialogue, that is most critical to the economic viability, to the economic comeback of America's middle class.

You talk about some of these incentives that would be addressed through a payroll tax deduction. It's all about empowering our middle class, enhancing their purchasing power, enabling us to enhance that demand out there for products that then obviously translates into job growth; because with more demand upon manufacturers in this country, with more consumer confidence, with absolute increase in purchasing power, there will be a positive outcome.

There's no denying that unemployment is driving the deficit; and if we can turn that around, if we can invest in ways that enhance the middle class, that's good for all strata, all income strata in this Nation. And what's been lost in the logic here for the majority is that the empowerment of the middle class stands to produce gains for everybody, and we saw what happened in the buildup before our entry here into the House.

In the period of the recession, it was all about borrowing, totally, the money that was necessary to spend on a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. And some would suggest those are the job creators. But what happened was we realized 8.2 million jobs lost, and so that didn't work.

We ought not go back and revisit that formula, because it was not a formula for success. What we need here is to bring about the long overdue empowerment of the middle class. And it is working families across this country that need that assistance today; and, by the way, it works in everybody's favor.

So that's what we're promoting, and it's good to start off with that discussion; because as we move forward, investments are what it's about: investing our way to prosperity, investing

our way to opportunity, investing our way to a stronger tomorrow for all Americans. It's not going to come by cutting into situations that relieve the liability, the responsibility of those who have been most profitable here. That didn't work, and that is not going to be the formula for a comeback for most Americans.

What we need is to be sensitive to the investments in education, higher education, in sounder tax policy, reforms of tax policy, and certainly investment in research because, as we invest in research, that equals jobs, and that's still the highest priority of America's general public out there. We need jobs, and the dignity of work is what ought to be front and center for the work that we do here in public policy format or in resource advocacy so as to go forward and herald the need of the middle class.

Representative Garamendi, as you talk about the loss in any given year where a student may lose the opportunity in the classroom because of these cuts that are significant to education, that is one measurement; but let me suggest another. We see aggressive investment going on around the world in emerging powers out there, nations competing with us in that global marketplace on clean energy, innovation, an ideas economy. An ideas economy is a robust opportunity for a sophisticated Nation like ours; but it requires commitment, commitment to investment, investment in education. We take that intellectual capacity, and we make it work.

We did that in the space race of the 1960s. President Kennedy, a rather youthful President in his time, offered a challenge to America, offered a challenge in a way that enabled us to invest in research, that enabled us to win the global race in space. That was an unleashing of technology in all told sectors of the economy and from every perspective of quality of life that was enhanced by the investments that were made.

Absolutely. Let me just respond to the absolute clear focus of our friend, the gentlewoman from Texas, and for the strength of Texas. Representative Jackson Lee is constantly talking about the opportunities to make it in America, but she cited, also, the flood damage in my district, in the Mohawk Valley, the Schoharie Valley of upstate New York.

Sometimes we will sit around and try to tout the effect of infrastructure for our job growth. There are different ways to express the economic development quotient related to infrastructure, the traditional roads and bridges, but then broadband and our grid system for our electric utilities, what role does it play?

Well, sometimes the best expression is done when that is taken from you. And when roads and bridges were washed away, we saw immediately what the effect was on the regional economy--and therefore the State economy--and then we're all connected one to another so that the national economy hurts through the ravages of flood waters that impacted this district, some would say with 500-year storm impact.

What did that mean? It meant that you couldn't haul milk that was processed, produced on these farms; and you could not ship products being manufactured. It stopped the economic viability of a district and of a region. So it's important for us to look at those bridges that measure in deficient form. We need to make certain that we have state- of-the-art infrastructure and broadband. We began to talk about this with the space race of the sixties; we unleashed untold amounts of investment in technology that enabled us to stretch opportunity here. Think of the rotary phone that's now moved all the way up to what is a changing telephone by the week. And that all happened because of an investment in the intellect of this Nation.

So the intellectual capacity of this Nation has been an inspiration to not only this country but to folks around the world where the quality of life was raised simply by the inventive qualities of American workers. And so that's what we're calling for here. The Democrats of the House of Representatives believe in investing in the worker and in research. Research equals jobs, and research equals opportunities. The intellectual capacity that was developed here, I'm told by the most recent former energy minister of Denmark, influenced the turnaround of thinking in Denmark where they transitioned their economy, created energy-innovative outcomes, all inspired by patents coming from the United States of America. So we have that intellect.

We talk about manufacturing as a base. We saw the exodus of manufacturing jobs to the millions--to the millions. We're still perched highest on the list for manufacturing jobs; but if we allow that trend where we were disinterested, paid no attention to manufacturing and agriculture, if we allow that to continue, we will sink as an economy. What we need to do is now bring the focus back to manufacturing and to agriculture. The focus was totally on the service economy, and there more narrowly to the financial services. We know what happened.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. I hear in your statement the wisdom of sound planning. We need that for a government to be smart and efficient, which is the call by the general public. We want smart investment from our government. Ask any competitor out there

in the global economy. They are competing against industries that are being co-invested in by their native lands. There are co-investments with governments and their private sector, and we're moving in the other direction.

So a couple of things come to mind here. I participated this past weekend in Small Business Saturday. And the spirit I detected was a leap of faith, a sound leap of faith, by many small business leaders who said, I want to offer a service, I'm going to put my creative genius to work. I'm going to make my commitment to community a response here that's tangible.

I saw a lot of belief in the American public, a belief in the American system; and it offers a warm and fuzzy, cozy personalized relationship. People come in; they're known when they walk into the shop; they see the creative flair that's been introduced into that small business. I also see more technically savvy qualities that are engaged in the district I represent with a lot of start-ups, incubators, again, another leap of good faith but needing an investment, a co-partnering with government, especially in a very tenuous economy where there's still a lot of guesswork. We need to be there to remove some of that risk. That is so critically important.

Representative Garamendi, you mentioned earlier the fact that my district is that donor district to the Erie Canal/Barge Canal, which was the westward movement that triggered an industrial revolution. These mill towns that were given birth to by the canal became the epicenters of invention and innovation--manufacturing towns and mill towns that had blue collar workers coming up with tremendously clever ideas.

And for people to throw up their arms and say manufacturing then is what it was, it was our greatness, it's gone today, nothing could be farther from the truth. What is the challenge today to a sophisticated society like the American society is that while we have a number of product lines that we developed through our decades of manufacturing, the challenge to a sophisticated society is to build the products that are in demand today.

And if we believe that every product that's ever required by society has been conceived, engineered, designed and manufactured, then the story is over. But if we believe, as so many of us do believe, that we can be the wizards of those new products and we develop it by investing in ideas and investing in research, then we build those products that are now the step up, if you will.

That's where we are with our policy initiatives as a Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives. Make it in America by embracing the intellectual capacity of this Nation and holding fast to innovation, entrepreneurs, and the manufacturing of today, spun up to a new level, that's America at her greatest moment.

Absolutely. Let me just, if you'll suffer an interruption, or yield, please, Representative Garamendi, I absolutely endorse what you just said. They are devoted. They are an essential part of this body to introduce all of the statements into the annals of history, making certain that statements that might inspire the sort of progress that is required by this Nation right now--they provide an awesome, awesome task.

You're absolutely right. And I believe, as you just indicated, our history, our American history is replete with the soundness of government planning and policies that incorporated investments from the public sector. And it made us strong. It retained our strength. It was a sustainable outcome. And the way of the world today is other nations are doing that with their private sector co- investing with them.

And when you look at the scenario of threats to cut some very valuable programs, you know you're going to place our businesses at risk. And if there's anything I hear from my middle class that is disgruntled with Washington is that they're not against people making money. They're not against that.

They're concerned, and they're deeply upset by the undue influence that a few, a growing few, most powerful have on the process. They see it as insatiable greed. They see it as a rejection of what worked in the past, where people shared the wealth, shared by investing in America's middle class, which is that intellectual capacity, is that innovative spirit, is that potential for the next generation of jobs. And that's where our strength lies, and that's why they're upset. The undue influence has caused this insatiable greed that produces a drain on the middle class of this country and, therefore, reduces the number of jobs that we could possibly have in this Nation.

I think you highlight some of the major differences and disagreements that have highlighted the debate on the Hill here in Washington between the two parties. And I would suggest it's probably some of the reasons that the supercommittee could not come to consensus, because we have called upon an outcome that is fair, balanced, and bold--that we will not allow for the price tag on further continuing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to be paid for by cuts to Medicare. There were those who fought Social Security at its inception and have fought it for 76 years and want to deny it.

It's about making certain that there is an underpinning of support for our elderly as they grow into what is a longer life span. We have to have measures in place that enable there to be a quality of life that provides economic vitality, economic balance for those who move into their retirement years.

I think that when we look at some of the measurements of Medicare, for instance, where it's about 5 percent of the GDP, much more modest than private sector health care is to GDP, and here's a program that has worked tremendously well. Can it be made better? Absolutely. That's where we stand. Make it better. Make it more secure. Make it more sustainable.

But do not deny the masses of this country who have prospered, who have been strengthened, who were lifted by programs like Medicare and Social Security. And I am proud to serve in the caucus that, as a conference, has said we stand for keeping these programs in place, strengthening them, not denying them, which I think is a major disagreement on the Hill.

We do.

Absolutely.

We've had a wonderful hour of discussion, and I give thanks for the wonderful investments that have made us this strong Nation. In conclusion, if we invest in the middle class of this Nation, our greatest days lie ahead of us. We have a chance to be continually investing in a way that allows us to make it in America and allow for our intellectual capacity to reign supreme. It's been our history. It's our DNA. Let's make it happen. I'm optimistic about the tomorrows for this country with the appropriate investments.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 21 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30, 2011, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, America's middle class, her determined, hardworking middle class, is challenging Congress. Will Congress respond to our middle class?

We in the middle class are growing increasingly aware of the statistics that the wealth concentrated in the top 1 percent has grown exponentially--275 percent. Over the same timeframe, America's middle class has seen its wealth flatline, and if it's grown, something diminished like 15 to 20 percent. That is unsustainable. America's middle class knows it.

They know that we need to invest in our middle class, empower the purchasing power, raise our children, invest in their education and higher education, invest in health care, invest in public safety, invest in job creation and job retention, invest in research that equals jobs. That is the commitment that they're asking for.

They know it's within the grasp of Congress to fix it. They know increasingly the American Dream is growing outside their grasp. We need to go to work, provide jobs, the dignity of work for our middle class. We need to solve the problems of America through the eyes of our middle class.

Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for bringing us together for some very thoughtful dialogue about the highest

priority that is held by Americans coast to coast, and that is job creation, job retention. Make no mistake about it, there is no other higher priority.

I agree with the previous statements made by the gentleman from Connecticut. Representative Larson spoke of the absolute simplistic equation of job creation and retention equals deficit reduction. It doesn't get plainer, simpler, or more sound than that. It is about creating jobs, reducing the deficit. The job growth will move forward in resolving several of our major issues out there.

You know, your focus, Representative Garamendi, on the initial public offerings, the IPOs as they're referenced, they have dropped precipitously, and knowing that then is a downward spiral that doesn't find the sort of investing that is absolutely essential is a very troubling notion. You know, many will talk about just leaving it to the capitalist model, let it just work on its own. Well, it's obvious we need to prime the pump in many areas.

You talked about my role in the State of New York. When I served as the head of the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, we found that investing from the public sector sources leveraged tremendous amounts of private sector capital. We see it in this global race. This global race on clean energy and innovation is driven by a robust competition. What we find are the counterparts, the competitors to our American industries are helped along the way with a co- investing, if you will, that comes from their native country. There are those economies out there that are co-investing with their private sector. Here we are asked to cut dollars for research and development, cut dollars for partnerships, cut dollars for incentives that will inspire that sort of robust quality that is essential if Americans are going to compete and compete effectively well. So our trends are out there. They are well documented.

We saw that we ignored manufacturing as a sector of the economy. We ignored agriculture, and we focused primarily on service sector. And then very narrowly within that service sector with the financial sector. We know what happened. We turned our back, let the watchdog leave the cage and allow for freestyle to go amuck. And what happened? Across this country people who had invested all their life savings into the trusted hands of portfolio activity were found without any sort of return. And then America's economy was brought to its knees.

That is not the kind of outcome we want here. So we have said hey, let's go forward and we have witnessed now the growth of some 2.8 million private sector jobs. That's after a trend with the Bush recession of 8.2 million jobs lost. Just this past election day, I think you can see some trends out there that are finding the public swing to the Democratic message because they know it is about job creation and job retention. They know it is about investing in the tools and the tool kits that get us those jobs. We are an ideas economy, and we need to invest in those ideas, build the prototype, allow it to move to a manufacturing sector and be robust in our attempts. Make it in America is the mantra to which we have brought the conference, the Democratic conference, of this House.

We are talking in straightforward language about revitalizing America's manufacturing sector. We can do it and we can compete keenly if we do it smarter. We don't necessarily have to do it cheaper. We have to do it smarter.

I have talked in my tours with manufacturing throughout the 21st Congressional District in the capital region of New York State, I have talked with a number of manufacturers. We have done tours. We have visited and heard front and center from the leadership squad: there are thousands of jobs in this country from coast to coast for which skill sets have to be developed. If we move to an automated phase of manufacturing, there are qualities, there are skills, the academics, the analytical skill sets that are required in order for us to move forward aggressively.

Now there is a sophistication in our society, a sophistication that finds us creating product lines not yet on the radar screen. People will suggest, they will lament that the glory days of manufacturing have passed us by. No, we need to move forward aggressively and proactively in creating the agenda that will develop the products of the future. If someone is to suggest that every idea out there, every concept of a product has been conceived, designed, engineered, manufactured, produced, we are kidding ourselves. And so this is an investment in the future. This is a visionary attempt to pull us along into an area that was ignored and ignored, that found that ignoring of the manufacturing sector found us falling into the woes of a recession. And so it's time now for us to do it smart, to do it in a way that invests in our manufacturing base, celebrates the empowerment that small business brings to the fabric of our economy, the small businesses, the economic engine that provides the jump start to our economy. They need the assistance, and that has been our effort here: talk about revitalizing manufacturing, supporting small business, moving forward with education, higher education, and research and development to move the ideas economy along. That's America at her best. That's her pioneer spirit, and let's continue to move in that direction.

Again, thank you for bringing this dialogue to the floor.

Thank you, Representative Jackson Lee, for your outstanding leadership on behalf of the Texas district that you represent with your outstanding leadership on this floor. You're so right. Everywhere we turn, you can see job creation and what it means to the local regional economy.

I have a touring concept that we do in our district, and we have a roundtable discussion routinely held with the small business community. And it is just profound to go around and see how many people are investing in manufacturing out there; and their product delivery is powerful, and the fact that they're exporting is an encouraging and enthusiastic thought. So it's all about showcasing what can happen.

And just think of it on a grander scale when we provide the underpinnings of support, when we invest in that concept of manufacturing and move forward with the incubator networks and all of the activities that nourish this sort of comeback story that is so essential right now after this economy was brought to its knees by an approach that was hard-hearted to manufacturing. It ignored what was happening. The same is true in agriculture, and we will maybe talk about that in a few minutes.

Absolutely. And I think it is about investing, the key word; investing our way to a stronger tomorrow, investing our way to opportunity, investing our way to prosperity. I see it all the time. The dollars that were invested from State sources, public sources, and some Federal dollars into the capital region of New York that I represent leveraged tremendous private sector dollars with an investment in the bottom-line calculation in nanotechnology, in semiconductor science, in chip manufacturing, and in green collar workforce development. These dynamics are so powerful that they have lifted that region to the first of all hubs in America for job growth of the green collar variety, and in the top five as a hub for high-tech growth. So it happens. When you invest, it happens.

Now, speaking about sound voices for a resurgence in our private sector job growth, in our public sector support networks, for those employees, a tremendously dynamic voice from our new freshman class, Representative Terri Sewell from the great State of Alabama.

Representative, thank you for joining us this afternoon. And I know that you've been a very powerful voice for job creation, job retention in our economy.

You are most welcome, Representative Sewell.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Representative Sewell, absolutely right on in your focus as to the strengthening and the value added of small business.

H.R. 1730 is a powerful response to the needs of small business, making certain that the savings opportunities, especially in those early startup years, are made more valid and more available to small business as a network. Certainly the small business community is a tremendous corporate citizen in the fabric of our communities, and they get tethered into our communities in a way that enables them to grow and prosper, all while adding jobs and providing the intellect and innovative sort of spirit, which is important.

Speaking of colleagues who have been outstanding voices on job creation, job retention, we know that Ohio has been in the news lately. And we have one of those voices from Ohio serving in the Democratic Caucus, one whom I am very proud to know and work with. Representative Tim Ryan, representing communities like Youngstown and Akron, has been a very powerful force in acknowledging that it's investing in job creation that is our number one concern right now.

We've seen what's been happening in Ohio. There is an outburst of pride coming from that State about the activism that is really speaking to and empowering the middle class. And we empower the middle class by providing jobs.

Representative Ryan, thank you so very much for being that outstanding voice.

Representative Ryan, what a great coalescing going on in Ohio, and what a statement by the middle class, of people of all backgrounds coming together speaking with one voice, based on a common thread of jobs, the dignity of work, powerful statement. And we should all be motivated and inspired by that outcome.

You talked about government's role to plant the garden. Let me just talk about another sector just to associate with that element of agriculture just for a bit here this afternoon.

Why such a struggle on this House floor to get the dollars for farmers who were impacted by natural disaster?

I saw record flooding in my district. We had wonderfully productive soils in the upstate regions of New York State. You would think that it wasn't part of some industrial sector, that there wasn't an ag sector in our economy. All they were asking for was to have debris removal dollars, to have farm land restoration, crop land restoration dollars at a time when we were impacted by the ravages of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Was that too much to ask?

Well, I'm happy to see that the push here in this House coming from those of us who have visited those districts and really pushed the agenda are able to account for $338.6 million being added so that we can take programs like the Emergency Conservation Program, the Emergency Water Protection Program, and allow for restoration of farm land, debris removal and all the activities that will drive productivity back to the farm.

All they were asking for was a chance to recover from the forces of Mother Nature. And if you can't assist in a situation like that, if it took this tug of war, if it took advocacy, if it took putting a bill in the House to really push everyone to move on behalf of our farmers--you know, I voted against that original package because they said zero additional aid for the ag community. Unacceptable.

So you talk about government planting the garden. That's just a sampling of investing that was critical so you could keep those ag forces going, those ag related jobs. Absolutely critical, not only to our economic recovery, but to the nutritional impact that it bears for all of America's families.

And it took putting the flood lights on to the situation, where in the middle of tragedy we're looking to change the rules; we are looking for offsets in order to provide assistance to our national farmers' impacted farms under water, valuable farm land being eroded away. And we changed rules? I mean, it was unacceptable.

And just speaking to that hardheartedness was an exercise for me that was a learning curve because it took every bit of providing evidence, from pictorial evidence to documentation of loss that finally moved this House to respond to the needs of our farmers.

So, that being said, it's about, I think, investing, as has been said here in this special order hour. It's about investing and believing in America. The middle class needs that empowerment. They deserve and require it.

Think of it. None of the strata can survive without a powerful middle class. Someone needs to build the product, someone needs to purchase the product. Enhancing the purchasing power, growing consumer demand will drive private sector jobs growth. More expectation, more desire to buy products, you put more people on, you develop product line.

It works. It's a simplistic thing to follow. It's a pattern that's sensible. And so what we want to do is make certain that we empower that middle class. We've seen a lot of outbursts about the social and economic injustice out there, and it's about providing a reasonable approach so that our middle class can be vibrant again.

I think it's what people were stating a week ago at the polls. They were saying, we're listening to the Democrats' message; we're embracing it and we're shifting our loyalties. We're now choosing to side with those who are talking about a wise approach, investing in job creation, which equals deficit reduction. Basic, simple, sound.

I think the people feel at risk when they believe that those who have this highest concentration of wealth have just so much influence on the outcome in Washington that it's unacceptable. And they now know who's paid the price.

You know, the middle class, when given the opportunity, remains silent, or at least mildly content. When you take that away and you then involve this unjust outcome to impact them, then they get angry.

So the outburst here is we need the investing. We want our children to have the opportunity to reach for the American Dream. It has always been the passion that drives this country. And when you talked about the global race on space during the JFK years, President Kennedy acknowledged up front we're going to do this, not because it's easy, but because it's hard.

People know that these are tough decisions, but they also want to hear the commitment. They want to hear conviction. Are we going to support, are we going to be the underpinnings of human infrastructure, the development of a workforce, training, retraining, education, higher education; incentives that provide for research so you can be a land of discovery, a land of creating product line, of traveling into new spheres of influence that can just express the magnanimous quality of America and all she offers?

When you suffocate those areas of potential, you're denying the middle class its chance at the American Dream. And that's what this is about. People see undue influence coming from a very few and denying the vast majority their chance at the American Dream. And that's what this Nation has always been about. It's been there as an ideal. It's been a beacon of hope. It's seen as a garden of opportunity, and we need to culture, move that culture forward in a way that is driven by sound programs, sound projects, sound policy. It's about the programs, projects, and policies.

With a lot of weight on your back.

And essential services that are performed.

You talked about water and sewer opportunities, the construction projects that we require. It's about human infrastructure, capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure. If we feed that with soundness of investment--not just spending and throwing money at something, but with an accountable plan, one with a vision, one with goals, one that embraces a soundness of future--we are ahead of the race of anyone else out there. We can maintain the soundness of leadership in this global economy if we believe in ourselves, if we believe in the American Dream, if we invest.

We've been joined by Representative John Garamendi from the great State of California. He kicked us off. The hour came into my hands, and now you're back to revisit. So we thank you Representative Garamendi, again, for serving as inspiration to really get the thought process moving and verbalize where we are as a powerful conference in this House and where I think we've attached to the great thinking out there, the overwhelming thinking of Americans.

Well, I think to just match some words to what your most recent statement was, we have to think back, too, and look at recent history to have it speak to us. We borrowed totally for the millionaire-billionaire tax cuts and for two wars that were being fought, and now we wonder why we have a problem, a deficit situation, and why we want to blame the worker.

Now, look. We say it's about investing in the human fabric, in the core individual, making certain that the skills that can be unleashed by that investment are put into a work situation that can enable us to be a nation of discovery, a nation of innovation, of design, of invention. That's America in her greatest moments, and I think those moments lie ahead of us.

I'm optimistic that if we do this plan of investment, we will see tremendous growth in our economy. We will see our competitive edge in the global market get all the sharper and more keen. However, it takes that investment. It takes that vision, laser sharp, and it takes the commitment to stand up against this tide to just slash and burn, as you indicated, after so many were witnessing that the very few were given a gift for which we borrowed.

Now we're asking for someone else to have their turn--America's middle class.

Pursuing the American Dream deserves that sort of attention. It deserves the dignity of work. It deserves the respect of those who lead this Nation, and for them to do it in a fashion that is going to respond in fullest measure.

Representative Garamendi, it has been a pleasure to join with you on the floor.

This has been a Special Order hour that I've enjoyed. I thank the gentleman from California.

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

Thank you, Representative Fudge, for bringing us together this evening on a very important discussion, one that focuses on the fundamental underpinnings of this democracy, the ability to vote, right to vote, and encouraging voters to come to the polls.

This sort of effort that is being taken seriously by far too many as a form of reform is discouraging. This is an attempt, I believe, to discourage folks from voting across this country, from an effort that is somewhat presented in this description of going after voter impersonation fraud which, obviously, is something that everyone would be concerned about. But the element here is not to do that.

No one can point to this overwhelming evidence that there is this voter impersonation fraud that gets addressed by this sort of approach. What we have here is denial. It's a denial that may impact as many as 5 million Americans.

At a time when we should encourage a thoughtful democracy, encourage participation, this focuses on many who would be disenfranchised. Those who are of lower socioeconomic strata, those who are persons with disabilities, the minority community, the elderly community, those are the targeted forces here. And it is an outright attempt, I believe, to dissuade those who are eligible from voting.

And if we can move forward and encourage people to vote and spend the resources that would be required in the individual States to go and develop this ID system, we could spend those dollars in a better way to go after fraud in a more targeted fashion.

This, I think, is an underhanded approach to taking the voter population that currently exists out there, reducing it, and placing a hardship on people, many of whom do not have IDs. It is suggested that some 11 percent, or 20 million Americans, don't have those IDs, government-issued IDs that would be required with the reform effort that's under way.

So we need to see this for what it is. We need to encourage policy that will enhance the numbers of those voting and go after fraud in a very targeted way. This is not the answer.

There is no fundamental proof. There is no proof positive that it will attack and discourage the voter impersonation fraud out there. It simply doesn't happen.

Again, Representative Fudge, thank you for leading us in what I think is an important discussion on far too many situations out there that are being taken forward in a way that will be counterproductive.

Madam Speaker, far too many Americans hurt today. They hurt because of unfair tax policy. They've witnessed, as more and more reports are issued, that the top income stratum has seen its income grow by 275 percent, while those of more modest means have seen a growth of perhaps 15 to 20 percent, and far too many have seen no growth with a flat outcome. They also witnessed no meaningful jobs agenda coming from this House over the last 10 months. Throughout the course of the first session of the 112th Congress, they are waiting for a jobs agenda.

So, Madam Speaker, as the House drags its feet, America struggles. Many struggle to find a job. Many struggle to keep a job. Many struggle to make ends meet. Many struggle to make student loan payments. Many struggle to pay those mortgages. We need to go forward with a progressive agenda that responds to strengthening the middle class, strengthening the purchasing power of the middle class. Without a strong middle class, there's not a strong America.

My pleasure, Representative Sutton, and thank you for bringing us together into a format of thoughtful discussion on the House floor.

You're very right. It's about the American Dream, pursuit of the American Dream. And I believe what many people across America are espousing right now is take a look at the problem from its broadest perspective in order to propose the solution. And if we are just going to do an instant snapshot and not really deal with the facts at hand, it will get us in trouble. It will be wasted energy. We'll be spinning our wheels.

What they've suggested is looking back at how we came to the problem. We borrowed totally for a millionaire-billionaire tax cut. We borrowed from China and Saudi Arabia to give everyone in that category a tax break. Now, borrowing has happened throughout the course of government and there are oftentimes societal needs that get met. So I would ask: What was the good that was bought here? And it translates into a loss of 8.2 million jobs. So we borrowed from millionaire-billionaire tax cuts and from foreign economies in order to get a result of 8.2 million jobs lost. That's the starting point.

And this Presidency, the Obama Presidency, has been about growing jobs, providing the reforms that are essential. And so today, people are speaking out. They're speaking out about the fundamental unfairness that exists out there, and they want that transformed into fairness.

They know, they acknowledge, and we agree that people struggle to find a job. They are struggling, as we speak, to find a job. They struggle to keep a job. They struggle to make ends meet. This is the fight. This is the concern. It's about empowering the middle class and empowering the purchasing power of the middle class, which serves all income strata tremendously well.

If we have a robust middle class, if we have a purchasing power that is enhanced, people then begin to invest. They begin to share that with the regional economy, State economy, and national economy. It's as plain as that.

People are now connecting the dots. They saw where we went with the policy of the past, they saw the deep hole that drove us into, and now they're saying, we want reform, fundamental reform. It's about providing justice to the middle class.

I am so happy that you're here encouraging this discussion. The dialogue must be carried forth in order to share with the general public exactly what happened and what needs to occur now as we go forward.

Absolutely.

Before I came to the House just 3 years ago, I served as president and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

We saw what small business creation was about from an innovation economy perspective, from a clean energy perspective. We can grow our self-sufficiency for energy supply simply by moving toward an innovation model.

How does it happen?

We know most of the job generation in the last decade, if not the great majority of job creation, was done through small business, through the entrepreneur, through an investment in the ideas economy. If we were going to invest money, should it have been these tax cuts for those high on the perch or should it have been for those start-ups that needed their investments to grow jobs in the local regional economy?

That's what it's all about.

It's what people have told me in their statements as they've gathered in communities. They've said it's about the pursuit of the American Dream, but from their perspective, it's like the evaporation of the American Dream. It's fizzling away from them. They want to be able to embrace that dream. If they play by the rules and if they work hard, they should expect to achieve success, but we're taking that away from the middle class. We should provide the tools--give them the toolkit for job growth via small business, innovation and an ideas economy.

We drove an economy as an infant Nation. We developed the Westward Movement and then an Industrial Revolution, and we impacted the world with our product delivery through all of the factories across America. That pioneer spirit is still alive within us. It's within our DNA. Yet now, as a sophisticated society, we've grown to a new realm of product development and ideas, and we are in the midst of a need globally for all sorts of inventions and innovation for energy solutions, for health care solutions, for communications. We have the technical wizardry. We have the intellect. We have the intellectual capacity that needs to be embraced by this Nation.

The House ought to show leadership in that regard. We ought to tap into that resource and enable it to be the job manufacturing center across this country--small business, entrepreneurs, an innovation economy: moving ideas along from prototype to manufactured concept. That's how you make a down payment and investment in areas that grow an economy, not this rewarding of people simply because they're of an income strata and receive a tax cut at a time when we need it to invest in an innovation economy. If you look at the global race on clean energy and innovation, countries are bulking up in their investments. They're investing in research and development. We're cutting those programs--the advocacy to cut.

The President has said in his American Jobs Act proposal to invest in research, to invest in the small business community, to invest in job creation. That's the sort of investment that gets America to the new realm of job creation. The investment that has been made to this point has been about investing in tax cuts. That's an order of spending that we cannot endure, so we need to go forward with, again, a strong agenda for the middle class.

It has been said over and over through the years: no pain, no gain. The middle class is absorbing all the pain, and they're now questioning: Where's the gain? They can't take the pain of overtaxation. They can't take the pain of unemployment. They can't take the pain of program cuts like Medicare, like Medicaid, like job creation, research moneys. These are the painful measures that have been induced their way, and they say ``no.'' They say emphatically ``no'' to that. Now they want to know: Where are the jobs? They've asked the right question.

I am very proud of the conference in which we serve. The Democratic Caucus has been about manufacturing, about making it in America, the jobs agenda, tax fairness, policies that take us forward, not backward. So again, Representative Sutton and Representative Garamendi, it is great to add my voice with yours in this House for a legitimate agenda for the middle class. It's about empowering our middle class--the strength of America, the fabric that takes us forward.

Representative Sutton, I've heard you talking on this floor about the plight of Ohio workers. I've heard you speak to the wisdom of sound investment for workers, that it's about empowering the worker. They have a voice in Betty Sutton that shows compassion, care and concern. They have a voice in Representative Garamendi about being smart about our agenda. We must see it through the eyes of the American worker--people who are being taxed unfairly because they make money through work--and know we're taxing differently those who make money on money. It's a different scenario.

Your advocacy, your passion, your empathy for workers is stated repeatedly from both of you on this floor, and that's what should motivate and inspire us.

Well, Representative Sutton, you know, I hear people who listen and endorse our concepts, but they'll ask, well, how do we afford these investments? Well, the work done here in the House on the floor, in the United States Senate is all about priorities. So it's establishing the right priorities.

I have a bill that would cap well below the 700,000 that we now allow for contractors to this government, to have that reduced. We need to belt-tighten inefficiency, waste, fraud, outmoded programs. Go after it, but don't cut programs that serve the middle class and invest in job creation. Establish the right priorities.

I know we are running out of time, so thank you for bringing us together on the House floor.