Tim Griffin

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the American people for watching today. I wanted to talk with my colleagues here today about jobs, how we create jobs in America, and what we are going to do about our national debt. We have a spending problem in America, and we have heard a lot from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They have been talking about jobs bills. I heard someone say that we haven't passed any legislation or taken up any legislation in this House that addresses jobs. Well, that puzzles me. Maybe they have been absent, but it seems to me since I arrived here in January, we have been focused on jobs, and I just want to give a few examples. Number one, this week we have been working on energy legislation that will open up drilling, open up drilling in parts of the country where right now it is prohibited. Those will be jobs. Those are jobs, good- paying jobs in the energy sector. Not only will that allow for the creation of jobs; it will allow for our country to be more energy independent. We have taken up all sorts of legislation regarding health care since I have been here. We voted to repeal and to work on some legislation to replace the Obama health care law. Well, I talk to small businesses, business owners, all the time, and they tell me that the Obama health care law hurts them; that because of the increased price that they have to pay, that they can't hire as many people. That is a piece of legislation that directly addresses job creation. There was a provision that a lot of small businesses will tell you about; it was a 1099 provision that was included in the Obama health care law. We repealed that. We were fortunate enough to convince the Senate to pass it and the President to sign it. I am joined by my colleague from Indiana. I want to say this, and then I am going to turn it over to him. Every time that we deal with our spending problem in this House, every time that we deal with our debt problem and our deficit, every time that we try to get our fiscal house in order and make this government live within its means, the way folks back in Arkansas do, where they live within a budget, every time we do that we are creating a better environment in this country for job creation. So don't let anyone tell you that there is the issue of the spending and the debt and then there is the issue of the jobs. They are all one issue. They are all one. If we want to see the kind of innovation and job creation that we are accustomed to in this country, if we want to see it continue, if we want to continue to be the leader in innovation and technological advancement and job creation, we better deal with our spending problem, or we are not going to see that kind of job creation. Furthermore, if we don't deal with the debt, and we have a debt crisis, we are going to see job losses that will make what happened in September of 2008 pale in comparison. I want to yield to my colleague from Indiana.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Would the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I thank the gentleman from Indiana. I was thinking about some of what I heard, Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago. I think that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle believe that if you leave the lid on a full cookie jar, that means you're out of cookies. I would say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, just because we have banned drilling and exploration for natural gas and for oil on the east coast and the west coast and Alaska and the gulf, just because we've banned it doesn't mean we're out of it. Just because you leave the top on the cookie jar doesn't mean you have run out of cookies. You have got to actually take specific steps to develop energy. We are an energy-rich Nation. I happen to believe in an all-of-the-above policy. I think we ought to be pursuing renewable energy, wind, and solar. But at the same time we ought to be pursuing natural resources that we can use right now. Natural gas. We have a lot of it in Arkansas, and we would love to continue developing it. It's interesting to me that at a time when this administration put obstacles up to energy development in the gulf and elsewhere around the United States that would help us be more energy independent, at the same time they were encouraging energy production in foreign countries. It makes no sense. I now yield to my friend from Indiana, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Would you agree with me that there is no way to address the debt issue without entitlement reform, and that entitlement reform must include Medicare?

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I appreciate the gentleman's comments. My colleague from Indiana was just talking about competitiveness. The question is, How do we compete? What is competitiveness? Well, we have to start with the premise that the private sector is the primary job creator in this country. They're not just the primary job creator-- they're the primary innovator. They are the primary source of technological advancement. And that leads to jobs. So the question is, Do we want businesses to be attracted to our country or do we want them to flee our country? That's the question. That's the question of competitiveness. I want to live in an America that is attractive to job creators. You can talk about big business; can you talk about small business, you can talk about mom-and-pop shops. You don't even have to define each size business; they're all job creators. We've got in my district, the Second District of Arkansas, we've got all sorts of job creators. And I love them all equally. We've got small businesses, we've got Hewlett Packard, we've got Caterpillar. They all create jobs. When businesses look for a home somewhere on this planet, we want them to look at the United States and say, That's where I want to do business. I can do better there. My labor will be rewarded there. The taxes are not so burdensome there. The regulations don't crush my business there. That's where opportunity is. That's the America that we're trying to create. The gentleman from Indiana referenced some of the conversations he has had with constituents. I have them every day. They come in my office and they say, This agency is not working with me; it's working against me. This part of government is an obstacle. Can you help me? Can you help me break through so that I can just do my business and create jobs and make a living? That's ultimately the America that we're talking about. Since we're talking about competitiveness and we're talking about jobs, that ultimately, as some of us were talking about earlier, leads us to a conversation about debt. I would now yield to my friend and colleague from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you to my colleague from Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, my colleague makes a great point, and I think what we've been talking about here over the last few minutes is that the jobs issue is not separate from the debt issue. We have to deal with the debt in order to create an environment in this country that attracts business and where jobs can be created. I want to take just a second here. We've heard a lot about Medicare and about the debt; and I think it's important to emphasize here, as this chart shows, that of our yearly spending, well over half is what we call mandatory spending. That is spending that doesn't have to be renewed every year, spending that's in the books, in the law. It just happens. That includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The bad news is, if we do nothing to this big chunk here called Medicare, we do nothing, Medicare goes bankrupt. This next chart shows that in just a couple of decades, the entire Federal budget at this point right here, the entire Federal budget will be consumed by Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. What does all this tell us? Well, it tells us a couple of things. Number one, we have to do something to reform our system so that we don't have a crisis; and, number two, it tells us that if we don't reform Medicare, it goes away. It no longer exists. I tell folks all the time when they say, well, you're going to try to end Medicare as we know it, and I say, whoa, whoa, whoa, Medicare as we know it ends itself in just a short number of years. It ends itself. And I say to my friends when they mention something like that, I say, well, if someone really wanted to harm Medicare, they wouldn't propose a bold reform to save it. They would just quietly do nothing because if you quietly do nothing, you kick the can a little further down the road, Medicare goes bankrupt. With no action, Medicare goes bankrupt. What would that look like? Well, it would look a lot like the President's plan. I don't believe that the President wants to harm Medicare, but I'm certain that he's failed to take the steps necessary to save it. What would a plan look like that harms Medicare? It would look like the President's plan, a plan, a budget that doubles our debt in five and triples it in 10 and does nothing to save Medicare. It's silent on that and on Medicaid and on Social Security. I would like to yield now to the gentleman from Arizona. Thank you for joining us.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you so much to the gentleman from Arizona. I appreciate you making those clear points. I want to go to the gentleman from Indiana who has risen.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I just want to point out that the gentleman from Illinois mentioned some of the nonsense, some of the attacks that the other side has been making on those of us who are trying to save Medicare and responsibly deal with the budget. The Union Leader newspaper took a look at some of the attacks and said, ``Ending Medicare''--the idea that we're trying to end it--``is a big scary lie.'' And PolitiFact, which is a Web site that takes a look at political attacks--it determines how much validity there is--it gave our colleagues on the other side, it gave their attacks the ``pants on fire'' rating--as in, ``liar, liar, pants on fire''--on their Truth-O- Meter. So there's a lot of misinformation out there. I would like to now yield to my colleague from Pennsylvania.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you very much for that. I now yield to the lady from New York.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring everyone's attention to the extraordinarily destructive storms that have raged throughout the South and particularly in my home State of Arkansas. In my home State, we have seen flooding and tornado damage wreak havoc on local communities. We have seen the lives of our loved ones tragically taken before their time. Last week, I personally surveyed the damage in central Arkansas in my district. In the little town of Vilonia, a town north of Little Rock, 70 homes were destroyed and an additional 50 were damaged. I toured Little Rock Air Force Base and saw the damage to structures there and the damage to our C-130s that are so important to our national security. In Hot Springs Village, I saw the damage left in the wake of the latest round of the storms that claimed the life of an 8-month-old boy there. He is one of the 22 Arkansans killed by the storms in April. I ask my colleagues and all Americans listening today to keep the families affected by this tragedy in their thoughts and prayers.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, May 2, 2011, I missed the rollcall vote No. 278 for unavoidable reasons. Specifically, my direct flight from Little Rock, Arkansas, to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) that was scheduled to depart at 10:40 a.m. (CDT) and to arrive at 2:05 p.m. (EDT) was delayed due to mechanical failure for approximately four hours and did not arrive until 6:15 p.m. (EDT) at BWI. Because of this delay I did not arrive at the Capitol until after rollcall vote No. 278 had concluded. I would have voted as follows: Rollcall vote No. 278: ``yea'' (H.R. 1423, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 115 4th Avenue Southwest in Ardmore, Oklahoma, as the ``Specialist Micheal E. Phillips Post Office'').

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to say a few words about Medicare if I can. First and foremost, I want to make it very clear that if you are 55 and over, there are no changes to you whatsoever. We hear a lot about Medicare as we know it. Unfortunately, Medicare as we know it is going bankrupt. If you are for the status quo with regard to Medicare, you're on the side of the elimination of Medicare as we know it. Another point I want to make is, we hear a lot about cuts. These are Washington cuts. This is Washington cut-speak. Where I'm from, if you get $5 on a Monday and the next day you get $10, that's an increase, not a cut. Most Americans would be appalled to know, Mr. Chairman, that the increases we are seeing are being called cuts. And I'm going to explain it to my folks when I get back to Arkansas. Medicare has not one penny of cuts in this budget. It continues to grow. With regard to the language about vouchers, there is no voucher here. We're trying to give the folks that are 55 and under health care like Members of Congress have. Have you ever, Mr. Chairman, heard anyone in Congress describe their own health care plan as a voucher? No. Of course you haven't. Because it's not. That word has been rolled out with the other tested words, ``privatization,'' all this other nonsense, for the purposes of politics. You don't want the American people, Mr. Chairman, to have the same health care that you have. I support this budget because it will keep our promise to seniors, it will save Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and it will preserve this country for my kids.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, while we stand here debating the course of our fiscal future, brave men and women are in harm's way, taking the fight to our enemies around the world. Their families here at home are doing all they can to keep a brave face and keep their family going while their loved ones are abroad. Sadly, because of the Senate's inaction, these families now face an even greater challenge. Unless the Senate changes course and listens to the American people, our U.S. military families will soon not receive their paychecks. From my home State of Arkansas, we have over 5,000 active duty servicemembers as well as 246 Army National Guardsmen deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. My district is home to Little Rock Air Force Base, where we have 5,500 airmen and over 15,000 military family members. Think about this, ladies and gentlemen: the men and women facing our enemies every day don't know whether they will get paid. As the standard bearer for the free world, it is unacceptable and, really, just embarrassing that America can't pay its troops for their service. This is not the time for servicemembers and their families to worry about when the next check will arrive. I support this bill.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I don't want the government shut down. I want spending cut. I have a question of what a shutdown would do to our Armed Forces, the airmen and the soldiers in Arkansas that are in my district. Senator Reid has failed to come up with a credible plan of his own. They can't cut just a few billion dollars, even though we have a GAO report that indicates $100 billion to $200 billion could be saved by getting rid of duplicative programs. If the Senate is unwilling to make the small cuts, how in the world are we ever going to be able to make the bold decisions?

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I thank my good friend for yielding me time. Madam Speaker, I commend my fellow Member for introducing the Government Shutdown Prevention Act, and I strongly support its passage. I would like to say real quickly that what we have seen here in the last few minutes is a colossal waste of time. You had a bunch of folks saying, Madam Speaker, that this is unconstitutional. I just want to clarify so we can move past that and my colleagues can focus their arguments where it matters. We intend for this bill, like all other bills, to pass the House, to pass the Senate, and be signed by the President. I too am a JAG officer from the Army, and I think that the JAG officer, Madam Speaker, from the Air Force would understand that this is a constitutional bill, like the other bills that we introduce here. Now, why are we here today? Forty-one days ago this House passed a $100 billion spending cut from the President's 2011 budget. That bill kept the government operating. We did our job here. Now, there is another House down on the other side of the Capitol and we are here because they have refused to do their job. Forty-one days later, zero bills. We have heard some suggestions here today that maybe we ought to do across-the-board cuts. I suggest that if they have got any friends on the Senate side, that they go down there and see if they will propose a bill with some kind of cuts, because so far it is zero, zero bills from the Senate on this. Senator Harry Reid thinks our plan goes ``too far.'' We have heard a lot of people using the word ``extreme,'' because that is a scary word. Let me tell you, the only thing extreme around here is the national debt. Do you want to see extreme? That is extreme. Senator Harry Reid believes that shutting down the government is perfectly acceptable. In fact, we have seen with the pollsters and the pundits and Howard Dean and others that they want to shut down the government. Well, I don't want to shut down the government. I want to cut spending.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I rise today in opposition to H. Con. Res. 28 because it would undermine our national security and our ability to keep us safe right here at home. I understand that many Americans are frustrated with the length of this war. I also understand the American people have demanded the U.S. Government get its fiscal house in order. I know we cannot afford to fund this war indefinitely. But some think that cutting and running immediately from Afghanistan is the solution. That's simply not an option. This is a reckless resolution. We've made progress in Afghanistan, and we cannot afford to abandon that progress by immediately withdrawing our troops. What we must do, however, is demand that our military and civilian leaders set clear and definable goals for our military efforts in Afghanistan. We also must listen to our military commanders who are there on the ground day in and day out. General Petraeus has testified to our military's substantial progress in impeding the Taliban's influence and increasing the number of Afghan security forces. He cautioned, however, that this recent success is fragile and reversible. We must allow our troops to remain in Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda so that we can keep Americans safe here. We must continue to train and support local security forces because this will bring about the safe and successful full transition of the country's security to the Afghan people. To withdraw now, to withdraw immediately, would be to forfeit that progress and allow the Taliban and other extremists to regain their footing in Afghanistan. We must honor the men and women of our Armed Forces, who have fought so hard. We must honor the men and women of the international armed forces, who have fought so hard. We must honor the men and women of the Afghan forces, who have fought hard to defend their own country. They have sacrificed so much, and we cannot abandon them now. Most importantly, it is not in our national interest to do so.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for earning berths in both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament as champions of the Sun Belt Conference. UALR's sweep of the Sun Belt titles makes them the first school to do so since 2008. For the Lady Trojans, this is their first Sun Belt championship and their second consecutive trip to the tournament. For the Trojans, this is also their first Sun Belt championship and their first visit to the NCAA tournament since 1990. Congratulations to coaches Steve Shields and Joe Foley, as well as athletic director Chris Peterson, for their leadership this championship season. Congratulations, also, to the young men and women of UALR basketball. Thank you for representing your school, the City of Little Rock, and the State of Arkansas. We are rooting for you.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 72 because I believe that a number of regulations issued by Federal agencies are stifling job creation. And, from the sound of it, President Obama agrees. On January 18 of this year, President Obama issued an executive order stating that, quote, our regulatory system must promote economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation. I agree with the President on all those points. Some regulations are critical to protect our health and provide a safe place to live and work, but there are a number of regulations affecting job creators, including small businesses and community banks. These regulations are overly burdensome, repetitive, and just plain don't make sense. Not a day goes by without one of my constituents complaining over the EPA's overreaching policies. The administration is trying to do through regulations what it couldn't get passed into law. As a result, job creators spend their money complying with these burdensome regulations--money that should be used to create jobs, money that should be used to invest in research, in capital improvements, and money that should be used to spur innovation. For example, job creators are spending money planning for more burdensome EPA regulations on boilers; boilers used every day to heat schools and businesses. And now the EPA wants to apply the oil spill law to force dairy farmers to spend millions of dollars preparing for spilled milk, because of the amount of fat in it. What if it's skim milk? If it wasn't so troubling, it might be funny. On top of this, regulations yet to be written inject uncertainty into the economy, further stifling job creation. Uncertainty over renewable tax credits, for example, is forcing a Little Rock company back home in my district to stop building wind turbines because they don't know if they can sell them. I've heard concerns back home over the lack of transparency from unelected Federal workers that have never met the folks in Arkansas and they've never held a town hall. They don't hold town halls before they write these regulations, yet they pass the equivalent of laws every day. We can do better. Let's seek commonsense solutions to our problems and stop the Federal Government from killing jobs.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his leadership on this issue and for yielding me this time. Madam Speaker, I believe we need health care reform badly, but the law we got isn't what we need. That is why I rise today in support of H.R. 2 to repeal the current health care law. The health care law provides for an increased government role and will ultimately lead to decisions made by the government instead of doctors and patients. It ignores the issue of cost. It was loaded with gimmicks to make it seem deficit neutral. But once those are accounted for, we find that it adds over $700 billion to the deficit in the next 10 years. The health care law, and especially the unconstitutional mandate, handicaps our ability to grow jobs. Small businesses will be hit hardest because they operate on the tightest margins and will have the toughest time complying with the onerous regulations, many of which are still not written, creating uncertainty for employers. We must repeal the law and replace it with one that lowers costs, preserves the doctor-patient relationship, lets Americans keep the coverage they have, allows the private sector to create jobs and follows the Constitution.

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas

Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Madam Speaker, I rise today in memory of the victims and in support of my colleague from Arizona, her staff, the loved ones of the victims, and those who bravely and skillfully responded to the attack. My freshmen colleagues and I have only been here for a few short days, but in Representative Giffords we see the temperament and dedication needed to be good representatives of the people. She embodies these qualities and is an example for everyone here in the people's House. Let us not forget the personal side of this tragedy. Those lost include two dedicated public servants, a devoted great-grandmother and a loving wife, a heroic husband whose last action was protecting his wife, and a 9-year-old interested in public service. They will all be missed. In the wake of this tragedy, we find solace and we find power in prayer. My prayers are for the families of the victims, for the speedy recovery of Congresswoman Giffords and all others who were wounded. I pray for law enforcement investigating this cowardly attack. I pray for the medical workers, that their work heals those who have been injured. I pray for this House, its leaders, fellow Members and their staffs. And I pray for our country, asking God for His blessings during this time of grief. This attack hits each of us in a personal way, but we must resolve to move forward, representing the men and women who sent us here to do our Nation's work.