Bruce Braley

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. We know from history that timber has always played an important role in the economy of your State. How has the timber industry been affected because of what is happening in the global marketplace for timber and lumber sources from other areas that don't have to comply with the same types of restrictions we talked about earlier?

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. One the things that we often don't talk about when we talk about the loss of jobs overseas is the direct impact it has on the communities where those jobs depart from. And one of the things that we know, in talking about the sad story of Maytag in Iowa, is that at the time Maytag still functioned with its corporate headquarters in Newton, Iowa. They contributed almost $1 million a year just in property taxes alone to the city of Newton and Jasper County. That is just one small component of the many intangibles that we don't talk about with these trade policies and how they impact the communities that we represent over the long term. One of the other things we know is that a lot of people who work in those good-paying jobs take on leadership roles in their communities as volunteers, as coaches, as mentors; and when they have to leave because they don't have a place to work anymore, all of that intangible benefit that contributes to the quality of life in a community leaves with them. So I think that sometimes we focus too much on the pure economic costs of these jobs that go overseas, and not enough on the real human costs that goes along with them.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I think a good example of that was one of the first things I did after becoming a Member of Congress was look at caucuses I could join that were going to be beneficial to the constituents that I represent in my district. One of the caucuses I joined was the Steel Caucus because there is a steel plant that has a direct economic benefit to employees in my district. And one of the things I was struck by at the meeting that I went to, a breakfast meeting of the Steel Caucus, was it was bipartisan. There were representatives of the steel industry, of labor, and everybody was there to talk about the same problem, and that was cheap steel from China flooding the U.S. and international markets. And one of the things that came up during those discussions, again in a bipartisan sense, was the myth of the so-called level playing field, which is that U.S. manufacturers who play by the rules, provide good, high-paying jobs with decent benefits, comply with environmental regulations, treat their workers fairly, are not on a level playing field when it comes to competing with Chinese competition and other parts of the world economy because other countries do not play by the same rules. So I think one of the things that we need to be talking about here is how we can work in a bipartisan spirit to develop those coalitions that have a direct benefit for American workers, American manufacturers, American employers and consumers of these products, because we all are literally in this together.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Will the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I know the gentleman from Pennsylvania has a fondness for college football so I am going to root this question in that. One of the great football players at Iowa State University when I attended there in the mid-to-late 70s was a gentleman named Tom Perticone from Clareton, Pennsylvania. And while Tom was playing football at Iowa State, the movie ``Deer Hunter'' was very popular, which was filmed in and around Pittsburgh general area, and also near Clareton. And one of the things that film depicted so well was the whole culture of the community where a life's history has been devoted to a particular industry and how everything revolves around it. And we have seen that in my home community of Waterloo, Iowa, near the old Rath Packing Company, where a virtual community of businesses and services formed around the factory, and everyone's lives were tied up in that. And I was hoping that you might be able to shed some light on the very real, personal toll on the culture of those communities in your district that have seen this dramatic shift, and how employment is available to the people who graduate from high school and don't have the same opportunities they did 15 years ago.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. One of the things we are talking about in terms of these myths is really the fundamental shift that happened here today, that now, under the Employee Free Choice Act, it will be as difficult to certify a union as it is to decertify a union, because one of the myths that you have up there is that somehow by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, it will be harder for companies that no longer share the support of the workforce to have that union represent them in a collective bargaining agreement, that somehow what we did today will make it more difficult to decertify the union. In reality, it has always been fairly easy to decertify a union and nothing about the Employee Free Choice Act changes that. So I would ask my friend from Kentucky if he could talk about some of the other myths that we heard today and throughout the week during the discussion that we know aren't based on fact and aren't based upon changing anything about the law that currently exists under the National Labor Relations Act.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Minnesota. It was a great thrill for me to walk on to the floor today and fulfill a campaign promise I made, and that is by wearing a pair of 26-year-old boots that I first wore when I worked for the Pauchet County Road Department in my home county building bridges and roads and farm-to- market roads for the people of the small county where I lived. One of the reasons I wore these boots today is because it is very personal to me what is happening in the Employee Free Choice Act. When I worked there during the summertimes back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a lot of the people that I worked with would complain every year that they did not feel like they were getting a fair share for the work that they were performing, and they were always talking about whether or not they needed a union to represent them. I am very proud of the fact that now those same secondary road workers in my home county are represented by a union, and they benefit from collective bargaining in the workplace. One of the reasons that I wore these boots today was a reminder of the hard work and sacrifice made every day in this country by working men and women who are simply executing and exercising their constitutional right to freedom of association. That is what collective bargaining is all about, and that is what the Employee Free Choice Act does. It gives those hardworking men and women greater protection to exercise their freedom of association by providing for majority sign- up, first contract mediation and binding arbitration and tougher penalties for violating the provisions of workers rights. Now, let's talk about why this month is so significant. This month, we will celebrate in a couple of weeks the 75th anniversary of the Norris-La Guardia Act, one of the first acts that recognized as a matter of law that workers have a right under the Constitution to collectively organize and bargain with their employers. That act was sponsored by a Republican senator from my neighboring State of Nebraska, George Norris, who had the vision and the foresight to recognize that, unless we protect workers rights, none of us will reach our full potential as human beings. George Norris was one of those eight brave Members of Congress that John F. Kennedy featured in Profiles in Courage because of the courageous actions he took without regard to partisan politics, because it was the right thing to do. That is why we are here today to celebrate, 75 years later, a new protection for workers that will have just as much impact on their lives as the Norris-La Guardia Act did 75 years ago by making sure that they have protection in the workplace for labor negotiations in the 21st century. Seventy-five years ago, it was yellow-dog contracts that everybody was concerned about, which was a method that employers were using all over the country to say: You cannot get a job here unless you sign an agreement in advance not to join a union. That is how bad it was 75 years ago. And yet, under the past 25 years, through the interpretation of the existing National Labor Relations Act by conservative judges, we have seen an erosion in the right of workers to collectively bargain, to organize, and to protect their rights in getting first contracts. That is why I was proud to be an original cosponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, because there is another story to these boots that I am wearing. I wore a different pair of boots the first 3 years I worked for the Poweshiek County Road Department. And when I graduated from college and got accepted to law school, I thought I wasn't going to need those boots anymore, and the last day I worked that summer, I took my boots out in the yard and I lit them on fire and said good-bye to them. When I started law school, I lost my father and his parents within a 3-month period of time, and I ended up going back and working for that same county road department after my first year of law school and I needed a new pair of boots. These are the boots that I wore that year. I made a vow to myself I was never going to get rid of them; and that is why I am proud to be with my new members in the Democratic class of 2006 here on the floor celebrating this historic day for workers of the United States. And I am so proud to be here with you.

Mr. BRALEY

Mr. BRALEY. I know that you share my concern of protecting workers rights as an element of protecting human rights. One of the first things that I did when I started running for Congress was do as much as I could to educate myself about the history of the labor movement in my State of Iowa, and one of my friends presented me with a book that cataloged those things. One of the most striking stories that I read about was an African American worker at John Deere who decided to make a living driving a truck instead, and drove with a group of other truckers who were part of a union to the State of Illinois where they stopped to get lunch. This African American truck driver was told he could not eat lunch in the same restaurant with his white co-workers. And his white co-workers from this labor organization informed the owner of that restaurant in no uncertain terms that either they would all be served together, or he would experience what it was like to see a semi drive through the front door of his establishment. One of the things that we all know is that when we protect workers' rights, we are really advancing the cause of human rights, and I was just asking if you could comment on that, and what role, what we did today, how that played in moving the cause of human rights.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Well, I think one of the things that we deal with every day in this hallowed body are issues of human dignity. And to me, that is the essence of the vote we took today on the Employee Free Choice Act. It is not about giving one side in the bargaining negotiations an unfair advantage over the other side. It is about leveling the playing field so that all people have the means to reach their full potential as human beings. I believe with all my heart that that is what the Employee Free Choice Act helps to achieve. I think it gives workers trying to enter into their first contracts greater assurances that their rights are going to be protected and their voices are going to be heard. I think that it puts more teeth into protecting those workers when employers choose to engage in tactics that have been prohibited under existing law, but have not been enforced as they should have been. And I think that when the rules are clear, and the penalties are clear, then everyone involved in the collective bargaining process has greater motivation to do the right thing. And, after all, that is what this is all about, giving people on both sides of the negotiating process the motivation, the incentive to do the right thing, to treat each other with dignity and respect and to give them the best opportunity to achieve a good and profitable business venture that benefits the employer and the employee. To me, that is what today's vote was all about, and that is why I am hopeful that the bill will be sent to the Senate and receive the same type of respect and debate that it did in this body, and that it will get sent to the President for his signature and be signed into law, so that all workers in this country will know that they have the protection that they deserve to reach their full potential as human beings.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise this morning in a pair of work boots that I have owned for 26 years to express my strong support for H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act. I wore these boots when I worked for the Poweshiek County Road Department building roads and bridges on the county roads where I grew up. I wear them proudly today as a reminder of the hard work and sacrifice made every day in this country by working men and women who exercise their constitutional right to freedom of association by joining labor unions. The Employee Free Choice Act provides greater protection to that freedom of association by providing for majority sign-up, first contract mediation and binding arbitration, and tougher penalties for violation of workers' rights. Protecting the rights of workers has been a long and difficult struggle. Seventy-five years ago this month, Congress passed the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which declared it to be the public policy of the United States that employees be allowed to organize and engage in collective bargaining, free from coercion by their employers. The Employee Free Choice Act reinforces that public policy for labor negotiations in the 21st century. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important bill, and I look forward to the day when it is signed into law.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I grew up surrounded by heroes. My father, Byard Braley, got permission from his mother at the age of 17 to enlist in the Marine Corps, and 1 year later found himself landing on Iwo Jima, the same day the flags were raised on Mount Suribachi. Thirty thousand marines and Japanese soldiers lost their lives in 1 month on an island the same size as my hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. My father saw one of his best friends vaporized by a shell burst, and we did not learn that fact until 15 years after he died. The same night that my father landed on Iwo Jima, another marine from my hometown of Brooklyn slept under those flags as Japanese bombs flew overhead. Harold Keller was the real deal. He was the second marine to reach the summit of Mount Suribachi, and he single-handedly fought off a Japanese counterattack and rescued the people you see depicted in Flags of Our Fathers. When he came home to my hometown, he repaired milking equipment for area farmers. My uncle Gordon Braley served in the merchant marine, guarding allied shipping lanes in the North Atlantic. My Uncle Bert Braley served in the Army Air Corps, and my Uncle Lyle Nesselroad served in the Navy. My cousin, Dick Braley, was a Marine Corps artillery officer at a firebase in Vietnam. These ordinary men taught me that patriotism is not something you claim by putting down others who disagree with your viewpoints. It is something you earn by the way you live your life, the respect you have for the institutions that make the United States a great beacon of liberty, freedom and justice. When I return to my hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, I am still surrounded by heroes. These heroes belong to the battalion of the Ironman Battalion of the Iowa National Guard. They are approximately 560 fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters from Waterloo, Dubuque, Oelwein and everywhere in between. One of them, Ray Zirkelbach, is missing his second consecutive year in the Iowa House of Representatives, because their latest tour was recently extended. A flag is draped over his desk in the House chamber. These heroes are the reason why I stand here today in opposition to the President's plan to escalate the war in Iraq. On November 7, 2006, the voters of this country went to the polls and clearly stated that it is time for a new direction in Iraq. Soon after, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group presented President Bush with a desperately needed blueprint for change. They recognized that the deteriorating crisis in Iraq couldn't be solved by military action. Instead, it required a political solution between warring factions for a stable democracy to evolve. The Iraq Study Group recognized that ``stay the course'' was a failed strategy, and that three prior troop surges had done little to stem the growing violence. They knew that the Iraqis would never get serious about standing up for their own country until they were confronted with a timetable for redeploying our forces. After I was sworn in as a Member of Congress on January 4, I hoped that President Bush would listen to the advice of this bipartisan group whose recommendations he welcomed. I hoped that he would move to fulfill the promise of the Defense Authorization Act of 2006, when this Congress stated that 2006 would be a period of significant transition in Iraq, with the Iraqi Security Forces taking the lead for their own security, so we could begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. Instead, the President ignored the recommendations of the study group and chose to escalate the war in Iraq without charting a new course. To my friends on the other side of the aisle who disagree with the resolution we are debating today, by all means vote your conscience. I will be voting my conscience and joining well-known Republicans who agree that the escalation is a mistake: People like Senator Chuck Hagel of my neighboring State of Nebraska, who called the President's escalation plan the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it is carried out. People like former Iowa Representative Jim Leach, who said that the President's policy in Iraq may go down as the greatest foreign policy blunder in U.S. history. Well-respected military experts also oppose this escalation, including General Colin Powell, General George Casey and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President truly stands alone with a strategy that his own generals, key Republicans, and the American people oppose. The time is long overdue for the people's House to reassert its rightful place in our constitutional system of checks and balances. We have a duty to send a message that it is time for real change in Iraq, change characterized by accountability and redeployment of our troops. There will be no more blank checks. There will be tough questions in oversight, and I will work hard to make sure that this happens. I ask everyone to support the resolution

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the City of Dubuque, Iowa, the oldest city in Iowa, located among the bluffs of the Upper Mississippi River for being named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise. I would also like to recognize the 11 residents of the City of Dubuque sitting in the gallery above who made the long journey from Iowa to Washington to speak with Iowa's congressional delegation about keeping their promises to Dubuque's families. These residents' dedication and commitment illustrates why their community has been recognized with this honor. In the annual 100 Best Communities for Young People competition, America's Promise honors outstanding efforts on behalf of young people by their communities. The people of Dubuque, Iowa, have demonstrated their commitment to families and children through their involvement of the Dubuque Mentoring Partnership. Thanks to the important work of the DMP, the number of mentors in Dubuque has more than tripled and the number of children waiting for a mentor has been cut in half since 2005. As a longtime mentor with Big Brothers/Big Sisters in my hometown of Waterloo, I learned the importance of mentoring to give children the greatest opportunity to achieve their potential. The people of Dubuque should be proud of their accomplishment. I am proud to represent them in Congress.

Mr. BRALEY

Mr. BRALEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to express my strong support for H.R. 521, a much-deserved honor for a great American, Congressman Lane Evans. Although Rock Island, Illinois is not in my district, it is part of the Quad Cities that includes Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, which I am privileged to represent. The entire Quad Cities region has benefited from Congressman Evans' many years of leadership in this body. His passionate advocacy for veterans and working men and women earned him a special place in the hearts of his constituents, and his voice will be sorely missed. I am proud to serve with his successor, another great champion for veterans and working families, my distinguished colleague from Illinois, Congressman Hare. Mr. Speaker, I'm honored to call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 521 as a living testimonial to the many years of public service rendered by Congressman Evans in the United States Marine Corps and in the House of Representatives. Please join me in renaming the United States Post Office in Rock Island, Illinois as the ``Lane Evans Post Office Building.''

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, last November the American people demanded real results to improve their everyday lives and strengthen middle-class families. Tonight President Bush has the opportunity to change course and work in a bipartisan way to deliver results for America's families. The new Democratic Congress has not waited for the President to ask. In our first 100 hours, this House has already succeeded in passing legislation to raise the minimum wage, expand Federal funding for stem cell research, implement the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, require negotiation for lower prescription drug costs, make college more affordable and end subsidies for Big Oil to invest in clean, renewable energy. Tonight I would hope that the President would voice support for these popular bills. After all, they received strong bipartisan support here in the House. On average, 67 Republicans supported each of these bills. The Democratic Congress looks forward to working with the President to take America in a new direction, but in order to do that, the President needs to realize that he cannot continue down the same road he has traveled for the last 6 years. We will see tonight if he has learned that lesson.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to express my strong support for H.R. 6, the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007. This bill will help move our country toward a goal shared by all Americans, a desire to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by shifting our energy emphasis from the Middle East to the Midwest. According to the GAO, the United States has spent $130 billion in the past 32 years in government subsidies to the oil industry. The CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 represents a bold new direction in our energy policy by creating a strategic renewable energy reserve to invest in clean renewable energy resources like ethanol, biodiesel and wind energy. As someone whose family has been farming in Iowa for the past 150 years, I am proud that Iowa has been at the epicenter of the renewable fuels explosion and alternative energy boom with over 55 ethanol and biodiesel refineries built or under construction. Iowa also ranks third in wind energy production and tenth in wind energy potential in the United States. Madam Speaker, I am proud to have had the privilege to have voted today for the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate an historic event that occurred in this Chamber 91 years ago during the middle of the Great War, the war to end all wars. On January 10, 1918, this House passed a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote by a vote of 274 to 136. Representative Jeanette Rankin from Montana, the first woman to serve in this body, whose statue appears in Statuary Hall and who became the first woman to serve in Congress in 1917, asked her male colleagues this important question in asking them to support that amendment: ``How shall we answer the challenge, gentlemen?'' Her question is worth repeating today as President Bush prepares to escalate the war in Iraq. We need to repeat her question: How shall we answer this challenge?

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to be here today to talk about the need for more civility in this body. I would like to remind the House that the last Member to be sanctioned for being assaulted on the floor of this House was Lovell Rousseau, who was involved in an assault on a representative from Grinnell, Iowa, the city I was born in. I think we can all think back to those days and be grateful that we now serve in a body where respect is a daily part of the operations. I think it is never too late to learn from the past and to make sure that we continue to express the importance of treating each other in a manner that provides respect to this body and also brings honor to it. When I was out on the campaign trail, I often talked about growing up in my hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. When people had a problem there, they never asked if you were Republican or a Democrat, they asked for your help, and they got it. I think that is the purpose this body, to solve problems and to do it in a way that brings respect and honor on this body. I am very honored that this new rules package promotes greater civility and does it in a manner that is consistent with House rule XXIII, which requires us to conduct ourselves at all times in a manner that shall reflect credibly upon this House, and by promoting an atmosphere where we are required to be on guard against abuses in voting time and reforms to the conference committee process. We will all do more to bring respect for the people who elected us to this body to serve.