Floor Statements

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 o'clock and 13 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, November 19, 2014, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following proclamation:

Whereas: It is the privilege and duty of the American people to commemorate the two hundred twenty-sixth anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and

Whereas: Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17 through 23 as Constitution Week; now, therefore I, Tom Rice by virtue of the authority vested in me as Representative of the 7th Congressional District of the State of South Carolina do hereby recognize the week of September 17 through 23 as Constitution Week and urge all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities which that privilege involves.

Mr. Speaker, counties and States around this country compete every day for jobs. How they do it is not complicated. They adjust their tax and their regulatory burdens to attract businesses, and those that do the best job attract the most jobs. The problem is that they are competing for a declining pool of jobs in America because Washington is not competitive. We need to adopt that competitive attitude right here.

In times of war, we forget partisanship and pull together. In truth, we are in an economic war. Countries around the world have teams of people that work every day to beat us economically. The House has passed 39 jobs bills in this Congress which are gathering dust in the Senate. Surely Harry Reid and the President can find one among these 39 bills they can work with to make our country more competitive and put our people back to work.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the only people I hear talking about impeachment in this Chamber are the Democrats. The Democrats must want the President impeached as far as I can tell.

My favorite piece of art in this Capitol Building is a picture in the rotunda of a group of our forefathers, who gathered together because they could no longer bear living under a monarchy, and they decided that they would fight for freedom. They signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing full well that they were signing their own death warrants if they were caught and tried for treason.

Our forefathers fought a Revolution against the greatest military power on Earth in order to escape the bonds of a monarchy. At the end of the bloody Revolution, the last thing they wanted was another king. They wanted freedom. To protect that precious freedom, they designed a government where power rested with the people based on the separation of powers.

The legislative branch makes the laws. The President enforces the laws. President Obama has decided that he cannot be bothered with the separation of powers. He has bragged that, if Congress will not accept his priorities, he has a pen and a phone, and he will make the law. He may have a pen, but the people have the Constitution. Our forefathers recognized that one man who can both make the law and enforce the law is not a President--he is a king.

Thomas Jefferson once said that freedom does not disappear all at once; it is eroded imperceptibly day by day.

The prosperity of our great country sprang from our freedom. Our form of government, set forth in the Constitution by our forefathers, has protected that very fragile freedom for 200 years.

My friends across the aisle worry about the price of a lawsuit to protect our freedom. Our forefathers paid dearly for that freedom. Many paid everything. Our freedom is in peril. We cannot stand by and watch the President shred our Constitution.

I stand in support of House Resolution 676.

Mr. Speaker, my favorite piece of art in this Capitol is a picture in the rotunda of our Founding Fathers gathered together to sign the Declaration of Independence, a document that they knew, when they signed it, they were signing their own death warrant if they were caught and tried for treason. They felt that strongly that they wanted to escape the bonds of a monarch and pursue freedom.

Our forefathers fought a Revolution against the greatest military power on Earth to escape the bonds of a monarchy. At the end of that bloody Revolution, the last thing they wanted was another king. They wanted freedom.

To protect that precious freedom, they designed a government of, by, and for the people based on a separation of powers. The legislative branch makes the laws; the executive branch enforces laws.

President Obama has decided that he is not bound by the separation of powers. He has bragged that if Congress will not accept his priorities, he has a pen and a phone, and he will make the laws himself.

He may have a pen, but the people have the Constitution left us by our forefathers. Our forefathers recognized that one man who can both make the laws and enforce the laws is a king, not a President. Thomas Jefferson once said that freedom does not disappear all at once, but is eroded imperceptibly day by day.

The prosperity of our great country sprang from our freedom. Our form of government set forth in the Constitution by our forefathers has protected that very fragile freedom for 200 years.

Mr. Speaker, my friends across the aisle worry about the price of a lawsuit to protect our freedom. Our forefathers paid dearly for that freedom. Many gave all they had, even their lives.

Our freedom is in peril, my friends. We cannot stand by and watch the President shred our Constitution. I stand in support of H. Res. 676.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a young lady in my district, Miss Isabella Hixenbaugh of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Isabella is an eighth-grader at Forestbrook Middle School and was officially recognized in Washington, DC, this week as one of South Carolina's top two youth volunteers.

Isabella selflessly devotes her free time to helping others in need by volunteering at a therapeutic riding foundation, Fidelis Foundation. There she assists in the emotional healing of abused, neglected, and traumatized children by teaching them how to ride horses and care for the animals.

Isabella has been volunteering at Fidelis Foundation since its founding in 2010, and enjoys helping others find comfort in one of her favorite pastimes. When not teaching children how to ride or leading an arts and Crafts project at the barn, Isabella participates in horse shows to raise money for the Fidelis Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, young people, like Isabella, inspire and encourage so many. It is important that we recognize their leadership and service in our communities.

On behalf of South Carolina's Seventh District, congratulations Isabella and thank you for your volunteer service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of our nation's finest teachers, Mrs. Jennifer Ainsworth of Horry County, South Carolina.

Mrs. Ainsworth was recently named South Carolina's 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year for her exemplary work at Socastee High School,

where she teaches and mentors mild to moderate special needs students. Drawing from the inspiration of her late-mother, grandmother, and late- class assistant, Mrs. Ainsworth prepares her students for their future by teaching them life and work skills so they can be productive citizens.

Mrs. Ainsworth attributes her success to unconditional love, hard work, and her dedication to making a difference in her students' lives.

Too often, people focus on the broken portions of our education system. We must recognize and celebrate our educators that go above- and-beyond their job duties, like Mrs. Ainsworth.

Our nation's teachers, especially our special education teachers, dedicate their lives to enriching the lives of our children. Mr. Speaker, I applaud Mrs. Ainsworth, and all of our country's educators, for their selfless commitment to our country's future.

Mr. Chairman, the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Better Off Budget is really a bigger government budget. The Progressive Caucus substitute increases total spending relative to the Republican budget by $8.4 trillion over the next 10 years. American families, and particularly our children and our grandchildren, cannot afford this next year, and absolutely not for the next 10 years. This bigger government budget creates new taxes, more regulation, duplicative Federal programs, and will stifle progress across the board.

People, this is not complicated. We need a budget that will grow our economy. Higher taxes, higher deficits, and bigger regulation will never grow the economy. If we put folks back to work,

we solve a lot of problems. We solve unemployment problems, deficit problems, poverty problems, income inequality problems, crime problems, drug problems, and problems across the board.

The number one issue in my district, and I believe the number one issue in this Nation, is jobs. Five years after the Great Recession, the economy continues to struggle, and far too many Americans remain out of work. Mr. Obama's Big Government economy has failed.

We can solve this problem. It is not rocket science. We can build our economy and put hardworking Americans back to work if only we will take a few steps to make America more competitive. Just like counties across the country compete for jobs, just like States lower tax rates and streamline regulations to attract industry and jobs--and you can look at States and see what they are doing and how they are successful--we must adopt an attitude here in Washington that we will compete in the world if we expect to stop sending our jobs overseas and bring American jobs back home.

If we retain the world's highest corporate tax rate, how can we expect to compete in the world? If Washington continues to spend more than we take in, threatening our entire economy, how can we expect to compete in the world? If we continue to build upon our already oppressive regulatory burden, how can we expect to compete in the world?

This is where I believe my friends across the aisle miss the mark. They seem to believe and preach that somehow making this country competitive benefits only the wealthy. But the truth is that people with high assets and high skills do well in a global environment. They can compete from anywhere.

But the longer we wait to enter the global competition for jobs, the more we damage the hardworking folks in the middle class. We will not grow our economy or put people back to work by expanding entitlements. We will never solve the problems of poverty and inequality through bigger government.

If America will enter the global competition for jobs, our economy will accelerate and the sky is the limit. This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue. This is an American issue. We are so blessed that if we simply decide to compete, no one can stop us.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, back last summer when the President unilaterally announced that he was going to not enforce the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act, I was quite surprised because the next day there was a news article in The New York Times about it. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin was quoted in the article. He was one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act. He said, speaking of the President: This was the law. How can he do that? How can the President simply unilaterally choose to ignore the law?

Our Founders, Mr. Speaker, designed a system of government based upon a separation of powers. The legislative branch enacts the laws and the executive branch, the President, enforces those laws. They did that to protect our very, very fragile freedom. We cannot allow those separations to be eroded. One man who can both make the laws and enforce the laws is more a monarch than a President.

Article II, section 3 of the Constitution requires, in part, that the President take care to faithfully execute the Nation's laws. In 1792, when George Washington was faced with enforcing an unpopular whiskey tax, he wrote in a letter that:

It is my duty to see that these laws are executed. To

permit them to be trampled upon with impunity would be

repugnant to that duty.

President Obama, on the other hand, has, throughout his administration, picked and chosen which laws or parts thereof he wishes to enforce. House Resolution 442 would require the House of Representatives to institute a lawsuit against the President to comply with this article II, section 3 of the Constitution. It lists four specific examples where the President has either failed to enforce the laws or has gone beyond the laws as written:

One is the 1-year delay in the employer mandate under ObamaCare, which I mentioned earlier;

Another is the 1-year extension of the substandard insurance policies, which by my definition is any insurance policy anybody would really want to buy;

One is the waiving of the work requirements under the welfare laws; and

One is the granting of deferred removal action to illegal aliens.

Again, one man empowered to both enact the laws and enforce the laws is more a monarch than a President. This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue. It is not a Tea Party action. This is not for messaging. H.R. 442 merely recognizes that no American, including the President, is above the law.

What would we say if the next President came in and said, I don't like the Affordable Care Act and, therefore, I am not going to enforce the individual mandate, which would gut the law? What would we say if President Obama or any other President said, I think the top income tax rate is too high and, therefore, I am not going to enforce it, or I am not going to enforce the lowest income tax rate? What is the difference between those situations and what President Obama is doing right now not enforcing the employer mandate under ObamaCare? After all, the Supreme Court has ruled that the penalties under ObamaCare are a tax.

What would we say if a President said, I am not going to enforce this tax against my friends but I will against my enemies, or I am not going to enforce it against my contributors but I will against everybody else? What is the difference between that situation and what the President has done granting 1,300 unilateral exemptions to different groups under the Affordable Care Act?

If the President is allowed to make the law or to ignore those laws passed by Congress, Congress can just go home; there is no need for the legislative branch. In fact, when Congress, following the President's lead, when the House of Representatives passed a bill that would delay the employer mandate for a year, which the President had already announced he was going to do unilaterally, the President threatened to veto it.

At this time, I yield to Representative Martha Roby from Alabama.

Thank you, Mrs. Roby.

I yield to my friend and colleague from Utah (Mr. Stewart).

Thank you, Mr. Stewart.

I yield to my friend from Georgia (Mr. Woodall).

As you said, Representative Woodall, I am an American first and a Republican second, and if the President usurps the Constitution, I will call him to task.

Representative Woodall, that is exactly what this resolution is intended to do. It is intended for Congress to take action to enforce the Constitution.

Representative Woodall, do you hear from your constituents back home when you speak to them that the President is breaking the law, and why don't you do something about that?

I do all the time. I think that is a result of the erosion of Congress' power--exactly what you are talking about.

Thank you, my friend.

I yield to my friend from Florida (Mr. Yoho).

Thank you, Mr. Yoho.

I yield to my friend from Florida (Mr. DeSantis).

I thank my friend from Florida.

Separation of powers is fundamental to our form of government. The Congress enacts laws. The President enforces the laws. One individual who can both make the law and enforce it is more a monarch than a President.

Without the separation of powers, our form of government crumbles. As earlier speakers said, the erosion of the separation of powers didn't start with President Obama, but it has certainly accelerated. At home I am asked all the time, The President is breaking the law; why don't you do something about it? This resolution is an attempt to do exactly that.

Nobody would argue that the President has no discretion in enforcing the law. Clearly, he does. But in these four instances, he has clearly overstepped that discretion.

I fall back to say, what would we say if the President has the power to waive these things, the employer mandate, the penalty under the employer mandate, that is a waiver of a tax? What would we say if the next President waived the capital gains tax, or waived the maximum bracket under the income tax, or waived the income tax for his friends?

Clearly, that is beyond the discretion of the President. Clearly, President Obama has gone beyond his discretion, and Congress needs to enforce the Constitution.

We have 44 cosponsors to our bill so far, but we need the help of the American people. We need you to talk to your Representatives. If you need more information about our resolution or what you can do, please go to my Web site at www.rice.house.gov. Thank you for your concern. Thank you for viewing. Let's protect our democracy.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with much sadness that I rise today to commemorate Florence County Deputy Joseph Antwine. Last week, the Florence County Sheriff's Department and South Carolina's Seventh District lost a young and upcoming deputy in the line of duty.

Joseph Antwine of Lake City, South Carolina, was responding to a fellow deputy's call for immediate assistance when his car crashed. A recent Citadel graduate, Deputy Antwine earned his degree in criminal justice. At the Citadel, his leadership and loyal service to the Corps of Cadets was recognized when he was presented with the Col. Joseph E. Perkins Honor Committee Award.

Deputy Antwine was a dependable young man, dedicated to his work and protecting our community. Even at his young age, he has been a role model to many and a model of public service.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends and the Florence County Sheriff's Department.

Mr. President, can we talk?

I am pleased to hear that President Obama, 10 days into a government shutdown, is finally willing to talk with a contingent of House Republicans at the White House this afternoon. After all, there is plenty to discuss.

Everybody in this room, Democrat or Republican, knows that too many of our youth are underemployed or unemployed. Mr. President, our youth want to work.

Everybody in this room knows that we need tax reform to make our businesses competitive in the world and bring American jobs back to America.

Everybody in this room knows that Social Security and Medicare are on a pathway to insolvency and have to be shored up so that we can make our promises good to our seniors.

Thank you, Mr. President, at long last for sitting down to talk. Maybe if we could spend more time talking and less time posturing, we might be able to deal with some of these very significant problems.

Let's all pray that these talks are fruitful and improve the lives of all Americans.

Mr. President, can we talk? The government is partially shut down. The Nation's debt ceiling is looming.

President Obama and Harry Reid have drawn a hard line. They have proclaimed over and over again, no negotiation. They insist the debt limit must be raised at current levels of spending. No negotiation. They're adamant that the status quo must be preserved. And why not?

Here is the status quo: 7.3 percent unemployment 4 years after the recession has ended; 15 percent unemployment for those under 25; 50 percent of recent college graduates unemployed or underemployed; household income down 10 percent in the last 5 years. It has fallen every year since the President has been in office, and it continues to decline. Continued economic stagnation 4 years after the recession has ended; continued record deficit spending; Social Security and Medicare on a path to insolvency.

Why would the Republicans want to discuss these fundamental problems? Why would we want to alter that course?

By any measure, the President's policies are failing miserably:

He is failing our seniors. Their safety nets, Social Security and Medicare, are headed for bankruptcy, but he won't negotiate.

He is failing our middle class through higher taxes, higher energy costs, higher insurance bills on one hand, and on the other hand, a continued decline in household income. They're getting squeezed from both sides, but he won't negotiate.

He is failing our youth, the millennial generation, by piling mountains of debt on our children and our grandchildren, but he won't negotiate. He is failing our youth and millennial generation through his job-killing policies of more regulation, more taxes, and more government.

Mr. President, our youth wants to work, and they're counting on us, but the President won't negotiate. Remember, my friends, that the Democrats held the House, the Senate, and the Presidency for only 2 years; but out of that came ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, the two biggest expansions of government and killers of jobs to come out of Washington in 50 years.

I didn't want the government to shut down--nobody did--but we cannot continue to run head-on into failure. If we are to change course, the Republicans can't do it on their own. The President and Harry Reid in the Senate will have to participate.

Mr. Reid, we are asking once again for a conference.

Mr. President, it's way past time to soften your hard-line stance on no negotiation.

Mr. Speaker, October 10, 2013, marks the 102nd anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of China, Taiwan. I wish to congratulate the people of Taiwan on their National Day, also known as the Double Ten Day, as they celebrate the birth of their country and the great strides they have since made.

The United States and Taiwan have always enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship that stems from our shared values: democracy, the rule of law and free enterprise. Taiwan's strong democracy serves as a beacon and model for East Asia. Through their ingenuity and hard work, Taiwan has become a vital player in the world economy. In 2012, bilateral trade between our two countries reached $63 billion, making Taiwan our 11th largest trading partner. Last year, South Carolina's exports to Taiwan reached $225 million. Taiwanese companies are also heavily invested in manufacturing plants and distribution centers, creating jobs in my home state.

On the occasion of its National Day, I would like to reflect on how we can improve on our already strong partnership with Taiwan. As a fellow democratic ally of the United States, we must further support and encourage Taiwan's international participation. Both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to support Taiwan's observer status in the International Civil Aviation Organization earlier this year, and consequently, Taiwan has been invited as a guest to its assembly. The United States should also ensure that Taiwan is not excluded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership or other regional trade agreements for any political reasons.

Again, I would like to join my colleagues and the people of Taiwan in commemoration of its 102nd National Day and wish Taiwan even greater success in the future and the continued friendship of our two nations.

Mr. Speaker, we are all concerned about the 800,000 Federal employees who have been furloughed for 3 days in the government shutdown. We can argue back and forth about who caused the shutdown, but the fact is that 800,000 people have been furloughed, and it could stretch into a week or two.

While we need to work hard to get these people back to work as soon as possible, we must remember that according to the Congressional Budget Office, ObamaCare is costing us 800,000 jobs permanently. We are not talking about working people being furloughed for a few days. We are talking about the permanent loss of 800,000 American jobs because of this job-killing health care law. Where is the outrage over that?

You see, the fact is the President and my friends across the aisle like to say that they are for the working man. They are for American jobs. But if you pay attention just a little bit, their actions belie their rhetoric. The truth is they are not the party of the working man; they are not the party of jobs. My friends across the aisle are the party of Big Government and more regulation. They believe the American people cannot be trusted to make their own decisions, like how to invest their money or whether to buy health insurance. They know better than the American citizen. They want to make your decisions for you, to take care of you. ObamaCare is just the latest job-killing iteration of their Big Government expansion.

You see, it is only common sense. You don't have to be a genius to understand it. Big Government and Big Regulation do not grow the economy; they stifle the economy. They don't create jobs; they kill jobs. We have 7.3 percent unemployment right now, anemic growth four years after the recession ended; 15 percent unemployment among those under 25; 50 percent of recent college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed. I have got three sons who are recent college graduates. They have lived it. We are failing our young people.

Remember, Mr. Speaker, that the Democrats held the Presidency, the Senate, and the House for 2 years and out of that came ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, two of the biggest government-expanding job-killing laws to be enacted in decades. It is no accident that the economy remains weak. It is no accident that unemployment rates are so high. And now when the Republican House asks simply for a conference, they won't even sit down to discuss it. They refuse to accept anything but the status quo. What is the status quo? Record deficits, high unemployment, and anemic economic growth. I guess with a record like that I wouldn't want to sit down and discuss it either.

Mr. Speaker, I don't think anybody here wanted the government to shut down, but perhaps it is good that we have come to this point. Maybe the government shutdown will be a catalyst that brings us together to make some hard decisions. We have got to stop thinking on six-month time horizons and create long-term certainty if we want our economy to thrive.

Tax reform, deficit reduction, entitlement reform--these are issues that everyone knows must be faced to push our economy forward and to return America's competitive edge. If we could resolve just a couple of these issues, we would lift a cloud of uncertainty, our economy would grow again, and all Americans would benefit.

Nobody wanted this shutdown, but let's take lemons and make lemonade. Let's use this crisis to come together for once and resolve some of these fundamental issues. These are the issues we were sent here to face. I plead with the Senate and the President to rethink your hard- line no-negotiation stance. America is counting on us.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to read a couple of the letters that have come into my office about the new health care law.

I'm a senior citizen working part time. I can no longer see my doctor of 14 years. I know of other people getting their hours cut and not being able to find a job, and they don't know what their health care will be.

The next one:

We have 24 employees and have been in business since 1982. We currently pay 100 percent of the premium health care insurance for our employees. After discussing this with our health care provider, we've determined that when ObamaCare is put in place, we will no longer be able to provide health care insurance.

The next one:

Higher premiums, higher deductibles, less coverage.

Next:

I have been paying insurance to Blue Cross/Blue Shield for 25 years now. A month and a half ago, I got a letter in the mailbox, saying, I am losing my coverage due to the Obama health care law. I thought Mr. Obama promised no one had to change insurance companies. Mr. Obama has told a lie, and there's no other way to say it.

Next one:

My insurance company is dropping my business. So much for being able to keep your insurance if you want to. Not. A small business owner like me is--up a creek.

Well, that's not exactly what he said.