Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, our number one priority here in the United States Congress is jobs and the economy. I'm happy to say that I think that's the number one priority on both sides of the aisle. So the question then becomes: What other things can we be doing each and every day to move forward that agenda?

In my district, the 10th District of Illinois, we've got 650 manufacturers, representing 80,000 jobs. It's the third largest district for manufacturing in our Nation. Forty-six thousand of those jobs rely on exports.

The President has said that he wants to double exports by 2014. We certainly want to help him in that process. For every billion dollars that we increase in exports, we create 6,250 jobs, according to the statistics. The Korean Free Trade Agreement alone would add $10 billion of GDP to our bottom line.

It is important--I would say critical--that we pass the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia so we can expand our markets and create jobs here at home.

I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for yielding.

We did hear some rhetoric on the other side that basically said we do have a plan, that the President has laid out a plan; it's clear. Well, frankly, the CBO--the Congressional Budget Office--has taken a look at that to say we can't score speeches. This is a very serious time. We do need to talk about a big, bold plan to put ourselves and our country back on the right course.

We just heard some rhetoric talking about how this was the deficit that the Republicans had run up. Let me tell you, yes, the Republicans have had some deficit spending. This is a bipartisan issue. Washington has a spending problem. We are spending $1.6 trillion this year of money we don't have; 42 cents of every single dollar that we are spending is borrowed.

Mr. Speaker, I'm a small business owner. I employ just under 100 people. For me, that's 100 families. These are families that are living paycheck to paycheck. If I ran my business like the Federal Government is run today, I would be out of business inside the month. It is frankly irresponsible the way that this country is being run right now. We have to talk about tightening our belt. We cannot continue to spend the way that we have been spending and expect that we're going to get jobs. This is about jobs and the economy. We have to make sure that we're providing more certainty because I can tell you I have received phone calls from constituents and from business owners back in my district. There are 650 manufacturers in the 10th District of Illinois. They do need to have some certainty before they are going to invest back in their business and create additional jobs.

We cannot be looking at trillions of dollars in deficit spending and expect that this is going to be a jobs plan. We have to tighten our belt. The American public has tightened their belt. American families are living under a balanced budget in their own right. American businesses are doing the same. They should expect that their Federal Government should also live within their means.

There is no question that this is a very serious time. We are not going to become a deadbeat debtor. The way I tell my constituents back home, it is like purchasing a business. We think we have the best business in the world in the United States of America. And yes, it has got some debt, which we are obligated to pay. But we have to restructure how that business is taking on that debt if we are serious about wanting to reform it for next generations.

Madam Speaker, our government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. Yet, when it comes to our Nation's sugar policy, Washington has decided to implement price controls, which cost our country jobs. According to a Commerce Department study, for every job Washington protects by its antiquated sugar policy, three American manufacturing jobs are lost.

At a time of record unemployment, the last thing that we should do is maintain an outdated policy that hurts job creation here at home. In my district, the 10th District of Illinois, we have confectioners, family bakeries, family restaurants, and food makers who are forced to pay higher prices for sugar because of government price controls. If Washington removed these price controls, it would lower the cost of sugar and allow small businesses and confectioners to lower the price of goods and to hire more workers.

Today, I am asking that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle join me in supporting the Free Sugar Act of 2011. This bipartisan bill will end Federal price controls on sugar and help to create jobs here at home.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

I do want to talk about the flood insurance program, one that I think enjoys great bipartisan support. I want to thank the chairwoman for her guidance and, obviously, Ms. Waters for her leadership as well.

Five million, actually, residential and commercial properties across the land rely on this flood insurance. They depend on it for stability. And we have to recognize that there, indeed, are problems. We have debt; there is no question about that. It's undercapitalized, which is placing the taxpayers at risk. But this bill would minimize taxpayer risk by making the program more self-sufficient over time by expanding the private sector's role while allowing--and not allowing for coverage gaps.

It also moves toward actuarially sound rates and creates a new flooding map, which creates a platform upon which risk can be measured and priced by the private sector. This is exactly the kind of solution that we need to have here in the United States Congress, to be able to still provide coverage in areas that need it so desperately and yet move us gradually over to actuarially sound rates.

With that, I thank the gentlelady for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I object.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this motion to recommit, and I must say that I'm very disappointed in my friends on the other side of the aisle for offering up yet another politically motivated motion, especially considering that the flood insurance bill passed out of the Financial Services Committee 54-0; 54-0 out of the Financial Services Committee.

On top of that, we spent the majority of today debating the bill before the House and entertaining some 25 motions and amendments to the bill. The motion to recommit cynically undermines the broad bipartisan cooperation I have been pleased to see throughout this legislative process.

Mr. Speaker, this is exactly the type of political bickering that the American people have loudly rejected. This circumvents the flood insurance program. It is actually a disservice to the people who you are attempting to try to help. The point of flood insurance is to prevent assistance packages like this and should be taken up in regular order. We have no idea of the cost of the new grants, the new programs, and the new spending in this disaster relief package.

It prohibits us from charging actuarial rates. What the flood insurance bill tries to do is infuse more private sector solutions, put in a new map, and provide actuarial rates which will help benefit the American public. Over 5 million residents and commercial properties rely on flood insurance today; 20,000 American communities rely on it. We must make sure that this flood insurance bill goes through, not circumvent the process with some disaster relief package.

This is an attempt to have an insurance program without paying the premiums. Frankly, we can't afford to do that. I would urge my colleagues, especially those on the Financial Services Committee who again passed it out of committee 54-0, to vote ``no'' on this motion to recommit.

I want to thank the chairmen, Chairman Biggert and the chairman of the full committee, Chairman Bachus, and also the ranking member, Mr. Frank, and the ranking member in the subcommittee, Ms. Waters, for their leadership. What we don't need now is to have the other side try to circumvent this process with a disaster relief bill.

I urge my colleagues on this side and that side to support the underlying bill and reject the motion to recommit.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that our economy is struggling. With stagnant unemployment, over $14 trillion in debt, and soaring food and gas prices, America does face some challenging decisions.

In my home State of Illinois, the debt per person is over $4,400, and the State faces a $15 billion shortfall in next year's budget. These indeed are real problems that need to be addressed with commonsense solutions.

One solution is to encourage American companies to reinvest their earnings here at home. Currently, companies are holding an estimated $1.4 trillion in earnings overseas because the United States Tax Code encourages companies to keep their earnings outside of the country. We must encourage companies to reinvest their earnings here in America. Not only would these earnings stimulate the American economy, but the government would collect approximately $50 billion in immediate tax revenue. This money would help spur job creation, more growth, and investments here at home.

I would encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting the bipartisan H.R. 1834, the Freedom to Invest Act, so that we can strengthen our economy with commonsense solutions.

Mr. Speaker, for more than a short period of time, we've had an opportunity to talk about free trade agreements, and when we talk about it, it's about jobs, jobs in the economy. More than 57 million jobs in America are directly supported by international trade. Free trade with other nations not only creates more jobs for Americans; it creates more opportunity around the world.

In my district, over 58,000 jobs are directly supported by exports. In fact, last year almost $20 billion worth of merchandise was exported from my district alone. If Washington is serious about creating more jobs, then we should immediately pass the pending free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

New jobs are created in our local communities when our Nation increases free trade. Free trade also lowers prices for the American consumer. When burdensome tariffs are lifted, the average American family of four sees an increased purchasing power of approximately $10,000.

Now is not the time to play political games with these free trade agreements. Now is the time to pass these pending free trade agreements so that we can create jobs here at home and help ease the burden on American families.

Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 482, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, it is no coincidence that Illinois' corporate tax rate is the fourth-highest in the Nation and yet ranks 48th in economic performance. Businesses, big and small, can no longer afford to keep their doors open and hire more workers when they face a 45 percent tax increase.

If we are serious about creating jobs, then we must stop allowing the government to pick winners and losers in today's economy. In order to create economic certainty, we must have a level playing field and clearly defined rules that don't change halfway through the game. We need to encourage businesses to invest and to expand here at home. One way that we can do that is through corporate tax reform, eliminating tax loopholes that currently exist in the system.

One thing is clear: Increases in taxes without spending reform cannot work. It is time that we start to empower businesses to get our economy moving again. Illinois has lost 750,000 manufacturing jobs over the last decade. Now is the time we have to focus on job creation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Korean Cultural Center of Chicago on the grand opening of a new cultural center in Wheeling. Because of the hard work and determination of the Korean Cultural Center, its president, Younghee Kang, and her staff, and its board of directors and supporters, we now have a focal point for the Korean-American community in the Chicago area.

The story of the Korean immigrant is an important part of Illinois' history, and we are fortunate to now have a facility that is a repository and exhibition of that story. The new cultural center will add a rich cultural tradition to the village of Wheeling, and will also benefit the neighboring communities. I hope it will also serve to strengthen the important relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea.

The opening of this new center is the culmination of many years of effort and is a cause for great celebration. Congratulations and best wishes on many years of success.

I appreciate that. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. It is indeed an honor to be down on the floor with you talking about something that is certainly near and dear to my heart, and that's jobs. That's going to be reining in the out of control debt that we've got going on in our country today. The thing that I think is important that my colleague pointed out, and something that I want to make sure we emphasize is this is a Washington problem.

Mr. Speaker, this has been going on on both sides of the aisle for a long time. Republicans had deficit spending. The Democrats' answer was to spend more. It's about time that we stand up and say, ``Enough is enough.'' Back in 2006, the President actually said, ``Leadership means that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. America and Americans deserve better.''

Well, I couldn't agree more. We cannot continue to shift this burden onto our children and grandchildren. A $14 trillion debt. I went down, actually, today and saw the debt auction. In just a matter of minutes, we saw them in essence auction off another $50 billion of U.S. Treasuries. Most of that was auctioned off in under 2 minutes. We cannot continue to spend the amount of money that we are spending and still expect that we are going to provide the American dream for our children and grandchildren.

To me, I think that's the American compact that those I think on both sides of the aisle can agree upon; that we here in the Congress have to step up and provide leadership so that our children and grandchildren will have opportunities greater than the ones that you and I know today. Unfortunately, I fear that if we continue down the path that we go down, that we are heading down right now, we may be the first generation of Americans that leave our country actually worse.

We are looking for leadership. I am here on the floor reaching out and telling the President that we want to see a plan. Not that we want to reject a plan; we want to see a plan. Tell us why we need to raise the debt ceiling. Tell us what spending constraints are going to be put in place in Washington.

Both sides of the aisle need to just basically change the way that we're doing things so that we can provide some fiscal discipline for future generations. When I look at it, and I know we have got some other small business men that are up here with me today, I look at it like we've just purchased a small business. Well, actually it's a big business in the United States of America. It's also the greatest business on the face of the Earth. It has some debt. We know we are obligated to pay that debt. But we also know that we have to restructure how the company, in essence the United States of America, is taking on that debt. And until we are prepared to do that, we can't expect that we're just going to continue to run the organization, the company, the United States of America, the same way it's been run.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The time for leadership is now. And I welcome the opportunity to sit down with those colleagues on the other side of the aisle to come up with a solution so we can all march forward together and solve the big problems of our time.

With that, I will yield at least temporarily to my friend from New York.

I appreciate the gentlelady for yielding.

I was just struck by something that the gentleman from Arkansas said. It is about jobs and that I think is something that we focused on here this evening, but there are 29 million small businesses in our Nation. And the thing that I hear from small businesses and businesses all around my district is the uncertainty. Uncertainty out there is causing, in essence, paralyzing businesses and preventing them from moving forward. If we can create an environment here in Washington that allows half of those companies to create a single job, think about the job growth we will have then.

I am just wondering if the gentlemen from Arkansas or from Colorado or the gentlelady from Alabama has heard some of the same things back in their districts about uncertainty.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a very serious problem, a problem that all Americans face and one that is not new here in Washington.

I would like to read a quote that some of my colleagues have also used during this morning's debate, and if I may, let me just quote it once again:

``Leadership means that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.''

That was said by Senator Barack Obama back in 2006, and I frankly agree.

Just to put it in perspective, back in 2006, we were running a deficit. We had an administration that was running a deficit of about $400 billion, just highlighting the point that this spending problem that we have here in Washington is on both sides of the aisle. This doesn't rest with one political party or another. It just outlines the problem that Washington has a spending problem.

The debt that we have today, we're up against our debt ceiling. It's about $14 trillion. The real debt, however, is much greater than that. It's closer to $100 trillion. The deficit that we deal with--it was at about $400 billion back in 2006. Today, it's about $1.5 trillion.

Now, what does that mean? My daughter, who is 9, she knows what 1.5 is. She says it's a little bit more than one and not quite two. But $1.5 trillion

works out to be about $3.4 million a minute. To put that in better perspective, it's $58,000 a second. We can't even say it fast enough. This is a problem.

How do we get out of this problem? We have to map out a course. It's a budget. The Republicans passed a budget. The House passed a budget outlining a way for us to be able to cut back over $6 trillion over the next decade. I would argue that American families and households all across the land operate on a budget. Businesses do the same. Yet we happen to not be able to do that here in Washington.

The United States Senate has not picked up or passed a budget in over 750 days. The American family wouldn't operate like that. I know as a small business owner I couldn't keep my doors open if I didn't have a budget to outline where our priorities were going to be. It is a blueprint. It's not a final standing bill or thing that's going to say exactly how we're going to spend it, but it is a blueprint going forward so that we can get those in the Senate and elsewhere to be able to come together so that we can map out how we are going to get out of this mess. Because I do agree with the President when he says that the choices that we're making today, the bad choices of today are going to be placed on the backs of our children and grandchildren. For me, that's unacceptable.

I decided to run for Congress largely because the amount of money that we were spending in Washington was going to be unconscionable for me to pass along to my children. I have a 9-year-old, a 7-year-old, and a 4-year-old. By the time they're my age, we are going to have to pay exactly double in taxes just to service the government. We pay 42 cents of every single dollar we have just to service our debt.

The administration now is asking us to raise the debt ceiling. This is an important issue. But I'm here to tell you that we need to have some leadership. Leadership is critical at this point in time.

What is the plan? I don't want to talk about bickering. I want to make sure that colleagues on both sides of the aisle come to the table. We know that there are negotiations going on right now, but I still would like to have a plan articulated to the American public. What is the plan? Because simply raising the debt ceiling without a plan on how we're going to pay down this debt is like--well, it's like sitting around the kitchen table and not worrying about the credit card debt of an irresponsible teenager. You wouldn't do that at home. We wouldn't do that in business. You should expect that your government does the same.

Now, when we look at this debt crisis that we have, as a small business owner, I look at it somewhat like a business. I look at it that we have just purchased a business, and we think it's the greatest business in the world with the United States of America. That business has some debt, and we're obligated to pay that debt. We just have to figure out how it is that we are going to restructure that business so that we can pay down that debt and make it a strong, viable business going forward. That's what we have to do. To simply raise the debt ceiling and not have to restructure would be a violation of everything that we hold dear.

With that, I call on leadership, leadership here in Washington from those on both sides of the aisle, to come together to solve the problems of our time and put our country first.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 328, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

I thank the gentleman from Arkansas, and I thank my colleagues for coming down this evening to have this important discussion about the direction of our Nation.

I can tell you I've had an opportunity to talk to a number of Congressmen, several of them in the freshman class and who come from different backgrounds. By ``different backgrounds,'' I mean that they don't come from the traditional political realm. They come from business: those who have met a budget, who have met a payroll and who have created jobs.

There's no question that some of the big issues that we face today are about jobs and the economy. How do we jump-start the economy? How do we create more jobs? I think that certainly the Federal Government is going to play a role, and the role the Federal Government can play is to create an environment that allows the private sector to grow and to thrive.

We have heard tonight about our debt and our deficit. The deficit that we face right now is significant. We're doing about $1.5 trillion in deficit spending. The gentleman from Indiana talked about our debt and how fast we're mounting this debt. When I talk in my town hall meetings and I ask people does anybody have any idea what $1.5 trillion really means, I tell them that my daughter, who is 9, she knows what 1.5 is. She says it's a little bit more than one and not quite two. And I say, You know what, Harper?

That's exactly right. But when we say $1.5 trillion, it works out to be about $3.4 million a minute. Another way to look at it is $58,000 a second. We can't even say it fast enough. $58,000 a second is what we're spending in deficit spending right now.

Now, the chart that was up just a little bit before talked about the pie and what we were spending. The big thing that we're looking at in terms of the discretionary spending, our discretionary spending went up 84 percent over the last 2 years, 84 percent. Now, I know household incomes across my district and across America did not go up 84 percent, but let's be fair. A significant portion of that was the stimulus package. So if we strip out the stimulus and say that we're not even going to include that, discretionary spending over the last 2 years went up 24 percent. That's still a heck of a lot more than families that have tightened their belts all across America have dealt with over the last several years.

There is no question; we have a spending problem in Washington. We've had a spending problem in Washington for a long time on both sides of the aisle. And I'm here to say that we are prepared to say things have to change. I'm not here pointing my finger in any direction, but saying I know that my colleagues and I on both sides of the aisle are prepared to roll up our sleeves and get something done.

I absolutely will yield.

There is no question in my mind. But the big issues that we face at this point in time have to be dealing with the mandatory spending, of which entitlement reform--and I had a town hall meeting just this weekend where somebody said that he doesn't like the idea of calling it an ``entitlement,'' seeing that he's paid into a system all of his life. He likes to, prefers to call it ``earned benefits.''

The long and the short of it is that the mandatory spending that's going on needs to be addressed. What we've done in this budget is try to address what's going on in terms of the mandatory spending. There is no question that it's going to spiral out of control. It's growing at a rate of 7.2 percent each year. It's growing by leaps and bounds and will eventually take over the entire Federal budget.

So we have to talk about Medicare. We talk about saving Medicare, which is critically important. In Lake County, part of my district, trying to find a physician that's willing to take additional Medicare patients is very difficult to find. The Mayo Clinic in Arizona is recently saying that they're not taking any more Medicare patients. This, to me, is alarming.

What we need to be doing today is trying to come together to have a fact-based conversation with the American public so that we can solve the big issues of our time. I'm fearful that I may be the first generation of Americans that leaves our country worse than the one I received from my parents and grandparents; and that, to me, is absolutely unacceptable.

We have to talk about how do we grow revenues. We're going to grow revenues on the backs of the private sector. We have to address the mandatory spending that's going on here in Washington.

And everything must be on the table. That means that defense has to be on the table. It means that agriculture has to be on the table, every single department. But what we do need is we do need to have a willing partner on the other side of the aisle that is willing to come to the table and have this discussion about what it is that we need to do to put ourselves on the right course.

We know that the attack ads have come in. They're saying that Medicare as we know it is going to end. Well, that's true. It's going to end because it's going to go bankrupt if we do nothing in 9 years. I believe that we have to strengthen Medicare for future generations.

The plan that's been put in place says to those seniors, those that have paid into the system for years and years, that we must keep our promises. So for those 55 and older, there are no changes. For those 54 and younger, many of them don't even believe that there is going to be a social safety net for them. I believe that we have to strengthen it. We have to strengthen it so that it is there for future generations.

So what we want to do today is make sure that we are coming to the table to have a fact-based conversation about the problems that we face. And I know that we have to have that serious conversation now. I came to Congress to be part of a solution.

The other night, I was tucking my 9-year-old into bed and she asked me quite simply, Why are you not here during the week, Daddy? And I had to tell her, It's because I am trying to make the country a better place for you and your brothers and sisters. She said, Is it working? I said, I certainly hope so. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that the next generation has a better and stronger America than the one that you and I know today.

So it is time for us to have this conversation. It is time for us to step up. And I certainly want to thank the gentleman from Arkansas for putting this time together. I look forward to coming back up again and having some more conversations about it. But the time is now. We cannot wait any longer.

Certainly taking time away from my business, from the employees and other family members, and one of the reasons that I decided to run--and I see my other colleague over here, a small business owner, one of the reasons he decided to run as well--is that the Federal Government was making it harder and harder for me to put the key in the door and open up my business each and every day. That's not what we want to do. They should be making it easier for us to put the key in the door. They should be making it easier to be able to provide benefits to those people with whom we work.

So with that, I appreciate the gentleman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, when the President sought to take out America's most wanted and dangerous enemy, he called on an elite team of the United States Navy to execute the mission.

The 10th District of Illinois is home to an important Navy base. The Naval Station Great Lakes is the first stop of every single Navy recruit. It is likely that those who executed the mission in Pakistan on Sunday started their training at this base. Today, I want to recognize those who got the job done and the outstanding training provided at Naval Station Great Lakes.

I applaud the continued heroic efforts of our Armed Forces and intelligence personnel, and particularly those who under the cover of a dark Pakistan night dropped into a fortified compound to give justice to millions of people around the world.

Mr. Speaker, our fight against those who want to destroy democracies around the world continues, but today we can press ahead as confident as ever in our Nation's ability to confront and triumph over evil.