David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, we share the goal of getting our economy back on track. One of the most compelling stories came from a town hall meeting in the hometown of our great friend, the distinguished chair of the Republican Conference, the gentleman from Columbus, Indiana (Mr. Pence). I yield him 3 minutes. (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I began by reporting to the House of the sad news that I received yesterday when a man telephoned me to say that his young son's best friend's father had just committed suicide because of the economic difficulty their family was facing. We all know how serious this situation is. We have friends who have lost homes, people who have lost jobs, and we all know that it is imperative that we take action and that we take action now, and most important, Madam Speaker, that we do the right thing. Now I'm going to urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question on this measure. Why? So that we can do what every single Member of this institution on a unanimous recorded vote said they wanted to do on Tuesday, and, that is, say that 48 hours should be provided for Members to look at this bill. The Rules Committee got this package very late last night, around midnight. We were told at that time just before midnight that it was online, available for the American people to see, and, Madam Speaker, it was not. Three sections were missing. Not until well after midnight was this made available. And so any Member who cast a vote in favor of allowing 48 hours for this measure to be considered should vote no on the previous question so that we will provide an amendment to allow for what everyone said they wanted to in fact take place. This measure is, as has been reported, a thousand pages, and no one knows what it's going to do, including our friend the chairman of the Appropriations Committee who in his testimony last night before the Rules Committee said he had no idea how many jobs would be created. He had no idea how many jobs would be created, but we have to take action. And, Madam Speaker, we can take action by putting into place a growth- oriented tax package which will in fact get our economy back on track. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield----

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time, I'm happy to yield 1 minute to our friend from Mesa, Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on the debate on the point of order.

Mr. DREIER. At this time I would like to yield 1 minute to my good friend from Texas (Mr. Poe).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time I am happy to yield 1 minute to our hardworking new colleague from Tequesta, Florida (Mr. Rooney).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my very distinguished colleague from Tulare, California (Mr. Nunes).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to say this saddens me greatly. President Obama has come forward and talked about the issue of transparency, disclosure and accountability, and he has talked about hope, and he has talked about change. And we've all been very inspired by the words of President Obama. And we've been inspired by many of his actions and his effort to reach out and work with us in a bipartisan way to deal with the challenge of getting our economy back on track. It is something that I believe is terrific. It's wonderful. And it's what is needed at this time. But I will say, Madam Speaker, that as we look at what has been put before us, a 1,000-page bill, and we are told by so many that if we don't vote for this bill, we're choosing to do nothing, in fact, I will say that I did not like it when the President said that there are some out there who want to do nothing. And Madam Speaker, I will say that I know of no Republican, no Democrat, I know of no one in this country who wants to do nothing. Because just the other night when I had a telephone town hall meeting and listened to a number of people, including a small contractor, a small businessman who is a building contractor, having trouble getting access to credit so that he can get to work, I was struck with the fact that he told me, looking at a $1- trillion measure is not only not going to help him, but in fact, it will exacerbate, it will worsen the challenges that he has. We talked about our alternative. In fact, in this town hall meeting, Madam Speaker, one of my constituents asked me at the outset to support President Obama and his package. And when I began explaining the difficulty with this package and the alternative that we have that is focused on small businesses, entrepreneurs, the self-employed and families across this country, focusing on marginal rate reduction, focusing on encouraging responsibility so that people can gain equity in their homes by incentivizing them to make a greater down payment on that home and to take up the inventory that exists there, as I walked through these provisions, this person who began saying to me that it was imperative that I support this package then said, your alternative makes much more sense. And so, Madam Speaker, I want to disabuse any of my colleagues of this notion that we want to do nothing. We very much want to work diligently to ensure that we can get our economy back on track. And we have a pro-growth package which is modeled after what John F. Kennedy did in 1961 and what Ronald Reagan did in 1981. And with that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds. As I listen to my good friend from Worcester, I would say, my gosh, we certainly have seen a change in the level of debate around here. It is fascinating to see. Madam Speaker, as I listen to my friend from Colorado, I have got to tell you that, when I was quoting Dr. Christina Romer, chief of the Council of Economic Advisers, it was her methodology that was used that created twice as many jobs at half the cost. With that, I am happy to yield 3 minutes to my very hardworking Rules Committee colleague, the gentleman from Miami, Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart).

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the distinguished majority leader, my classmate and friend from Maryland, was absolutely right when he reminded us that just last night at the great ceremony in Statuary Hall, President Clinton directed us to in fact read Tennyson's Ulysses last night. The thing that struck me as I listened to the majority leader again talk about John Dingell was something else that President Clinton said. He said, ``Interestingly enough, if you look at the number of Presidents with whom,'' and I underscore, John, with whom, as you said last night, ``John Dingell has served, it is 25 percent of the Presidents--25 percent of the Presidents that we have had in the United States of America.'' It is an absolutely amazing accomplishment, and it's a great privilege and honor for me to be able to be part of this. John Dingell and I, Mr. Speaker, have not always agreed on every single issue, and I know that has clearly come to the forefront from probably people on both sides of the aisle. But one of the interesting things that I have observed is that alliances regularly shift around here. In the early 1990s, there was a clash that Mr. Dingell and I had over the issue of jurisdiction. I was charged by then-Speaker Gingrich early on to bring about a modification in committee jurisdiction. And I did some things that my friend John Dingell didn't particularly like. But when I talk about how alliances shift, I have to say that then, just a few years ago, Mr. Dingell approached me and asked me to help him as he was dealing with a jurisdictional challenge, and I totally agreed with what it was he was trying to do at that point. And so as you look at a long period of time, while we can have passionate disagreements, it's clear that we can just as passionately come together and agree on some issues. John Dingell is clearly an institutionalist. And I told him last night, Mr. Speaker, at the great ceremony in Statuary Hall, that I have always been struck--I have served in almost every capacity one can on the House Rules Committee just upstairs on the third floor, and as all of our colleagues know, this is where Members come to testify on behalf of amendments or proposals that they would like to have considered on the House floor.

Mr. DREIER. I thank my very good friend for yielding me additional time. In the Rules Committee, Members have to stand in line to offer their testimony. And sometimes, if questions go on, we don't impose limits there on questioning, as in the case in other committees, and often one person can be there and testify for a long period of time if the questioning goes on. Well, we will have maybe two-term, second-term Members come in and they will get antsy and start to pace around and grumble over the fact they are not being immediately recognized before the Rules Committee to testify on behalf of the legislation. And I will say that I have been regularly struck at the fact that John Dingell, the Dean of the House, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has often come before the House Rules Committee and literally sat patiently for 45 minutes, an hour, an hour and a half, as others have gone before him to testify, never thinking for one second that he should be recognized. Now, of course I should say parenthetically that when I was chairman of the Rules Committee, I always wanted to rush to recognize John Dingell as quickly as I possibly could. But his understanding of this institution is, to me, evidenced in what he regularly did when I would see him in that capacity in the House Rules Committee. And I have to say that he talked about staff members last night, and recognizing the people who give us the opportunity to do the work that we do is something that John Dingell did so well. And he, of course, talked about his wonderful partner, Debbie. So, I have to say, Mr. Speaker, this job has a tendency to become very frustrating. When you have gone from the majority to the minority, and Mr. Dingell knows this, it is frustrating and challenging and difficult. But I am in the minority now, and some of the days aren't as exciting as they were when I was in the majority. To be able to be here on the day that recognizes John Dingell's amazing service to this institution is something of which I am very proud, and has given me just the boost that I need. So, thank you very much, and I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Would my friend yield for just one moment again?

Mr. DREIER. Thanks for reminding me that I've been around a long time. I appreciate that very much. Let me, Mr. Speaker, express my appreciation to my very good friend from St. Louis for taking this time to talk about what obviously is priority number one for working families all across this country, and that is survival; survival, because we all know how difficult it is out there. We're regularly hearing from our constituents that they are losing their homes, they are having a difficult time making ends meet. This afternoon I had the chance to meet with some local officials from one of the counties that I'm privileged to represent. And in San Bernardino County in California, the numbers of homes that have gone into foreclosure, it is mind boggling to see the challenges. And I will tell you, when you think of a young family out there, working, trying to hold things together and they're losing their home and having a difficult time making ends meet, we all know, Democrat and Republican alike, that it is absolutely essential that we put into place government policies that will help to address those challenges. Now, Mr. Speaker, my friend from St. Louis just brought to my attention an amazing quote that his 88-year old father brought to mind for him since he had lived through this period of time, that being the Great Depression. And it's a quote from the Treasury Secretary, I appreciate his putting this chart up there because I actually scribbled it down, and I don't know if I could read my scribbling of it. But I'd like to share it with our colleagues. The Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, in 1939, as we were tragically headed into the great World War II, and as we were, in large part because of the war, able to emerge from the Great Depression, had an amazing statement that he, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Treasury Secretary, at the end of the Great Depression in 1939, in his testimony provided before the House Ways and Means Committee. And in that, and Mr. Speaker, I commend this to my colleagues. He said, ``We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. I say, after 8 years of the administration,'' that being the Roosevelt administration, ``we have just as much unemployment as when we started, and an enormous debt to boot.'' What an incredible statement that was made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Treasury Secretary in 1939. And the last line, Mr. Speaker, an enormous debt to boot, of course, brings to mind the fact that in 1939, the American people and financial interests in this country were financing that debt. Today, we know that that debt is coming from all over the world, that it is held by peoples all over the world, and that creates another very unique challenge for us. So I would say that, as we know that our constituents are hurting, I believe very, very strongly that the answer to the problem of the families who have lost their homes and of the people who are losing their jobs is not to put into place a $1.1, $1.2, $1.3 trillion spending package. We don't know what the size of it is going to be because, with $1.1 trillion, if you take the $347 billion in servicing, that would have been an $825 billion program over the next decade. It is being debated on by our friends, our colleagues, in the Senate now. As we look at that challenge, it seems to me that people understand that that is not the panacea, and nowhere is that made clearer than in the words of the Treasury Secretary who served under the great President Franklin Roosevelt when he said that we have tried spending money, that we are spending more than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. I say, after 8 years of the Roosevelt administration, there was just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot.

Mr. DREIER. I will say that, as I look at that last line once again, an enormous debt to boot, it brings to mind that child who is there. It is that child who is going to be shouldering the burden of a $1.1, $1.2, $1.3 trillion spending package that has been put before us, and that package has already passed through this House. Speaker Pelosi has announced that it is going to be completed by the end of next week. I wish very much that we would spend some time looking at what it is that we have offered as an alternative to create jobs and to allow people to keep dollars in their pockets. I thank my friend for yielding. I suspect that he is going to outline the very, very viable package which can provide that immediate boost which the American people want and need.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. DREIER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I wanted to rise and congratulate her for making some very good points, and to say that I completely concur with her argument in support of free trade among free peoples. And I believe that if you look at the dramatic changes that have taken place, still very serious problems, the gentlewoman is absolutely right in focusing on narcotrafficking, which has been one of the most serious challenges. And President Felipe Calderon, the relatively new president of Mexico, has been very bold and courageous in standing up to those narcotraffickers. And it is true, much of that has spilled over into the United States. But I believe that the fact that we are working together, Mexico and the United States, to try and focus on narcotrafficking and to try and encourage greater commerce so that we can sell more into Mexico is in fact a very good policy for us to pursue. We have the North American Free Trade Agreement. It is my hope, Mr. Speaker, that we will be able to build on that so that we can address the very correct concerns that my colleague has raised. And I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Let me say, Madam Speaker, that getting the American economy back on track is priority number one for all of us, and ensuring that children who are truly in need have access to the best quality health care is right there as a very high priority. It is obvious that this measure that is before us does not accomplish that. In his testimony last night before the Rules Committee, Dr. Burgess was very clear in addressing a number of the concerns that we have been raising consistently on this. Unfortunately, they undermine the opportunity for us to ensure that the dollars get to those who are truly in need. I find it very, very troubling that we are continuing down a path where potentially people who are in this country illegally will have access to the State Children's Health Insurance Program. We are with the crowd-out actually incentivizing people to move off of private insurance onto government insurance, and we are still creating an opportunity for those who are wealthy and adults to be beneficiaries of this program. No matter what it says in the bill, as Dr. Burgess has pointed out, those four concerns are very justified. So, as we seek to get the American economy back on track with an economic stimulus package that will, in fact, grow our economy--not a massive spending program--and as we address this issue of children's health, which is a very, very, very high priority, we need to do it in the most cost-effective way possible. Unfortunately, this rule is completely shutting out Members, like Dr. Burgess and others, from having the opportunity to participate, so I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and, if the rule passes, to defeat the underlying legislation. We can do better for our Nation's children.

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, in the spirit of comity in debate, I would like to yield to my good friend from Lafayette, Louisiana (Mr. Boustany). I am always happy to yield to people to engage in debate on the floor.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 1 minute to another member of our Economic Stimulus Working Group, our new colleague from Buffalo, New York (Mr. Lee).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the Speaker again how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, at this time, I'm happy to yield 1 minute to a hardworking member of our Economic Stimulus Working Group, the gentlewoman from Hinsdale, Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I tell my friend from California that her dream has come true, this bill, according to CBO, is $1.1 trillion. With that, I would like to yield 2 minutes to my very good friend from Westminster, South Carolina (Mr. Barrett).