Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and extraneous materials immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the balance of my time to the distinguished Republican leader, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, on the heels of consideration of legislation last week that I referred to as ``Junior TARP,'' where the majority added another $30 billion to the Nation's debt, I think it seems fitting that we, Republicans, are bringing forward another YouCut proposal, voted on and recommended to this House by the American people. The people really are sounding an alarm, and we have to change course. We must focus on reducing the size of government and not continuing programs that dig our fiscal hole deeper and deeper, and this process is going to require bipartisanship. Certainly I hope that the Nation can witness bipartisanship soon, but we're not seeing it yet, and that's worrisome. Over the last week, participants in Republican Whip Cantor's YouCut initiative voted on programs for us to bring to this floor for cutting spending. To date, participants in that program have voted to cut over $150 billion in spending. This week, the participants in that program voted to end the TARP program. I was surprised to learn that TARP is still scheduled to spend billions of dollars in the next years. We must take action to end TARP now. I will be asking Members to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that we can have a vote on Congressman Paulsen's bill on ending TARP. I would like to remind the membership that a ``no'' vote on the previous question will not preclude consideration on the underlying legislation before us today. Let me take a minute, at this point, if I may, Mr. Speaker, to a point of personal privilege. This may be the last rule that I come to the floor to debate because, in January, as you know, I will be leaving Congress. And it has been an extraordinary honor to be a Member of the United States Congress for 18 years, to represent an honorable and hardworking constituency. I will leave Congress in January with a sense of duty fulfilled, Mr. Speaker, with infinite love and admiration for the most generous and noble Nation in history, the United States of America, and with profound gratitude to my wonderful staff for their hard work and their loyalty in representing our constituents and the Nation, and of gratitude to all of my colleagues for the honor of having been able to serve with them. At this point, I reserve the balance of my time, as I ask my friend Mr. Arcuri if he has any other speakers.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the great young leader from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished Republican whip, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. It is my pleasure, Mr. Speaker, to yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my privilege to yield 3 minutes to my friend from Indiana (Mr. Pence). (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend, the great leader from New York (Mr. King).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Arcuri), for the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today, the majority brings to the floor another closed rule denying the minority, denying all Members, the right to offer amendments, in this case, to three very important bills. Despite debating over 130 rules bringing legislation to the floor of this Congress, we have yet to see one open rule. We have before us a closed rule, as I said before, Mr. Speaker, bringing three important pieces of legislation to the floor: The 9/11 Health and Compensation legislation. It is important that we honor the police and firefighters, the first responders and volunteers also, that served New York and, really, our entire country in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks. Those brave men and women deserve to be treated fairly, and their families as well. Unfortunately, as noble as this bill is, it is paid for by increased taxes on companies located in the United States that are employing American workers. Many of us believe that at a time of high unemployment and really evident economic stagnation, our country should not allow the majority to raise taxes. With regard to the currency legislation, it is meant, Mr. Speaker, to provide leverage to the administration, to the President, in what is America's ongoing work to achieve a proper valuation of the Chinese regime's currency. Despite the best efforts of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Geithner, and others, the PRC regime has given no indication that they are willing to advance efforts to create a level playing field, and that is not acceptable. The distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Camp, has included changes in the legislation meant to make the bill compliant with WTO regulations. But, Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, the bill is about sending a message to the PRC regime, a message of American unity, and it is important, it is very important at this time. I think the legislation will move us closer to correcting an obvious unacceptable situation which the PRC regime insists on maintaining, but they need to be clearly informed that they are wrong. With regard to the intelligence authorization, this is the third time in this Congress that legislation has been brought to the House floor. The most recent delay was the result of a disagreement between the Speaker and the administration, and that has caused a significant delay, about an 8 month delay. But the third time doesn't seem to be the charm for the majority to allow an open process to consider this legislation that is very important to our national security. One Republican amendment was allowed during the first consideration of the legislation; four Republican amendments the second time, while 26 majority amendments were made in order; and now we are facing a closed rule, no amendments. The underlying bill contains changes that were negotiated with no House Republican input. The collaboration of one Republican Senator led the majority to declare that this is a bipartisan bill. That is not serious. Despite the Speaker's insistence on delaying the legislation, the delay has resulted in little tangible change to the requirement to notify leaders of this body in the Intelligence committees. Instead, the administration under the bill retains authority to decide on its own which Members of Congress receive those vital briefings. The legislation also removes the prohibition on using intelligence funding to bring prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States, and it excludes a bipartisan amendment that would prohibit the granting of Miranda rights to foreign terrorists captured overseas. I know, Mr. Speaker, the majority wishes to rush to the exit to be back in their districts campaigning, but we should not pass a bill that hurts the intelligence community in the process. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I would like to thank my friend, the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree), for the time; and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Today, the majority, Mr. Speaker, brings forth another closed rule, denying the minority the right to offer amendments to what many colleagues contend is a flawed product from the Senate. At the Rules Committee meeting yesterday, I was struck by a quote, a statement, made by the distinguished chairman of the Financial Services Committee: This is $30 billion. It's not $300 billion. It's not $3 trillion. That is precisely the problem with the majority party. They have already spent all the money available. Once you pass an almost $1 trillion stimulus package that does not stimulate economic growth, the distinguished chairman of the Financial Services Committee is correct that $30 billion doesn't seem like such a big deal, but it is for the overburdened people of the United States of America. The underlying legislation establishes a $30 billion fund managed by the Treasury Department in an effort to increase lending from small banks to small businesses. The majority claims that this fund will move quickly to inject capital into the marketplace. What we have today before us is junior TARP, Mr. Speaker. It's kind of a rehash of the 700-or-so-billion-dollar fund that was also supposed to make credit available for businesses. I was proud to oppose TARP then, and I am proud to oppose junior TARP today. We on the minority side, the Republicans, believe that lowering taxes on small businesses would do far more to help create jobs and lead us out of this recession. One hundred days from today, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will expire and every American taxpayer will see tax increases at exactly the wrong time. Instead of taking clear, concrete action to reduce the tax burden on small businesses, the majority brings us junior TARP today. There is a hidden provision, by the way, in this bill, Mr. Speaker, that makes even worse the antibusiness provisions in the health care legislation that this Congress passed previously. Pursuant to the health care law, small businesses are required to file a form 1099 with the IRS for every business and every individual to which they make payments of at least $600. That is a significant burden on all businesses, especially on small businesses. It's important to note that even the administration has recently backed changes to that provision in their health care law. So Americans might expect legislation to come before us to assist small businesses to get out from under that onerous provision, but the underlying legislation goes completely in the wrong direction, in the other direction. This Congress can do better. But the Rules Committee will not allow any Member to offer any amendments under this closed rule to improve this legislation. We should defeat this rule and allow the House to proceed through regular order and allow Members to bring forth any and all ideas to provide meaningful help for our struggling small businesses. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, again I thank my friend from Maine for her courtesy and her management of this rule. I will be asking for a ``no'' vote on the previous question so that we can amend the rule and allow a vote on the legislation introduced by Congresswoman Lummis. In this debate, when the underlying legislation is adding another $30 billion to our Nation's debt, I think it's fitting that the minority is bringing forward another YouCut proposal. The American people are sounding the alarm that we have to change course. We have to focus on reducing the size of government, not create new programs that dig our fiscal hole deeper and deeper. That is going to require bipartisanship, which I hope to see soon, but we're not seeing it yet. And really, that's worrisome. Over the last week, participants in the minority whip's YouCut initiative voted on programs for us to bring to this floor for cutting. To date, participants in that program have voted to cut over $120 billion in spending. This week, the participants in that program voted to cut Federal staffing levels to 2008. The legislation that we would be able to vote on if the previous question is defeated would exempt agencies that are critical to national security. It's no coincidence that while the administration and this Congress increase Federal spending by trillions of dollars, we see Washington, D.C. thrive, but the people in the congressional district that I've been honored to represent for 18 years continue to hurt as Americans throughout the Nation are hurting. We believe that we have to return the function of job creation to the private sector. So I will be asking Members to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that we can have a vote on Congresswoman Lummis's bill on cutting Federal staffing. And again, I remind Members that a ``no'' vote on the previous question will not preclude consideration of the underlying legislation before us today. I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and extraneous materials immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to the author of the legislation that we would be able to consider if the previous question is defeated, the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to my friend, the great leader from Michigan (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Maine and all who have participated in this debate. I again seek a ``no'' vote, and I seek a ``no'' vote on the previous question. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.