Daniel Kildee

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the honorable service of Mr. Warren Jackson and Mr. Roy Dumont, both who bravely fought in the United States Army in World War II. Both gentlemen, who are from my hometown of Flint, Michigan, are in Washington today to visit the World War II Memorial and to pay their respects to their fellow men and women in uniform who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Mr. Jackson served honorably in the 3758th Quartermaster Truck Company throughout World War II and retired from the 41st Artillery in 1966. Mr. Dumont served honorably in the 87th Infantry Division, the Golden Acorns, from 1942 through 1945. These men risked their lives to defend freedoms that we cherish and often take for granted as Americans, and our country is and should be forever grateful to them for their service. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Dumont, on behalf of the people of the Fifth Congressional District and on behalf of the entire 114th Congress, I thank you for wearing the uniform of the United States and defending this great Nation. You will forever have our lasting gratitude.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask the United States House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Mr. Warren N. Jackson, for his honorable service in the United States Army. Mr. Warren N. Jackson served the nation honorably in the United States Army, 3758th Quartermaster Truck Company throughout World War II and retired from the 41st Artillery, serving from 1944 through 1966. On this date, at the age of 92, Mr. Jackson traveled from his home in Flint, Michigan to Washington, D.C. in order to tour and pay homage at the World War II Memorial. To that effect, Mr. Jackson pays honor to the war to which he was a witness and remembers those known and unknown lost throughout the war. Therefore, he encourages all Americans to cherish and honor the sacrifice borne by our men and women in uniform from all theaters and eras. Mr. Speaker, I applaud Mr. Warren Jackson for his service and unyielding commitment to the nation.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask the United States House of Representatives join me in recognizing Lieutenant Colonel Alexander H. Isaac, Jr., for his 22 years of distinguished military service and to congratulate him on his retirement from the United States Armed Forces. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander H. Isaac, Jr. has been decorated with numerous medals, awards and service distinctions. It is my honor to recognize such a distinguished citizen. LTC Isaac began serving his nation in the United States Army in 1993 with the 3rd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry). Here he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Assistant Operations Officer, and as a Rifle Company Executive Officer. During his time with the ``Golden Dragons,'' LTC Isaac had multiple deployments throughout the United States, Central America, and a deployment to Haiti as part of Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY. In 1999, LTC Isaac assumed command of A Company, 2-2 Infantry, and his company was deployed to Kosovo in support of Operation JOINT GUARDIAN. In 2001, LTC Isaac was assigned to Military District of Washington as a project officer where he designed the command's centralized Cyber Operations Center. In 2003, LTC Isaac was selected to support the Coalition Provisional Authorities' staff as Special Projects Liaison between the Iraqi Ministry of Communications and U.S. Embassy in Iraq. In 2010, LTC Isaac was selected as the Task Force liaison to the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Virginia. In 2011, LTC Isaac was one of three officers responsible for the establishment of a robust data analytics program within Special Operations Command as well as implementing a next-generation visualization system for the Joint Interagency Task Force--National Capital Region, a subordinate unit within Joint Special Operations Command. Mr. Speaker, I applaud Lieutenant Colonel Alexander H. Isaac, Jr. and extend my heartfelt appreciation to him for his years of service to our great country.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor of the House of Representatives again to introduce and talk to this body and to the American people about my constituent, Amir Hekmati. Amir is an American. He is a United States marine. He is a brother. He is a son. He is a Michigander. He grew up in my hometown of Flint, Michigan. He served this country in uniform, as I said, in the United States Marine Corps. He is of Iranian descent, though he was born in the United States. In 2011, for the first time, he traveled to Iran to visit family he had never met, a grandmother he had never seen. He traveled under his own name, notified the Iranian Government that he was going to be there; and after just a couple of weeks, he was apprehended, disappeared. His family didn't know where he was for months until it was revealed that he had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for espionage, a charge that he is completely innocent of. In fact, the Iranian court of appeals, the appeals process, even set aside that conviction and set aside his death sentence. There was no evidence. They did convict him and sentence him to 10 years, a conviction that is based on the fact that, under Iranian law, he is considered an Iranian citizen even though he was born in the United States and never had even been there before. But the fact that he had served in the Marine Corps created a set of facts that caused them to convict him of a crime and sentence him to 10 years. It has been 3\1/2\ years. For 1,354 days, Amir Hekmati has sat in Evin prison, a notorious prison in Tehran. I have introduced, along with a number of other Members, a resolution calling for the immediate release of the Americans that Iran holds. It has 28 Republican cosponsors, 27 Democrats, and we are adding them every day. This is not even a bipartisan issue; this is a nonpartisan question. It is beyond politics. This is about the rights of a free man being held in Iran. So I am asking my colleagues and the American people to get engaged, to call upon Iran to do what is right and release the Americans that they hold. And it is really important that this Congress speak with one voice and carry the voices of all the people that we represent, asking, telling Iran that if they think they can join the global community and continue to hold innocent Americans as political prisoners, they are wrong. So, please, for those who want to, use the hashtag #freeamirnow to send a message to thank those Members, as I will, to thank those Members of Congress who have joined this resolution. I will be sending out on Twitter a thank-you to each Member who has done so, using #freeamirnow. I hope other Members of Congress and those across the country will join us. Later today we will consider legislation that will define how Congress will review and offer its input on the potential Iran nuclear deal. It is really important that we negotiate with those who make this world more dangerous first before attempting other methods, and it is important that we give this negotiation a chance. But it is also very clear that it will be very difficult for this Congress and the American people to consider any understanding, any agreement, with Iran without considering their other behavior, whether it is this nuclear agreement or other engagement with this country. If they continue to hold Americans as political prisoners, it is impossible for us to ignore that fact. It is very clear that we should never trade the freedom of innocent Americans for concessions at the negotiating table with Iran over their nuclear capabilities. Again, we should not make their freedom a part of this deal. They, meaning the American families who are worrying about their loved ones, don't want this; and I know that Amir Hekmati, himself, does not want to be part of the consideration, does not want to be traded for concessions at the nuclear negotiating table. The onus is on Iran to do what is right, and it is critical that this body and all the people that we represent speak with a single voice and make it clear, as the Senate did in their resolution calling upon Iran to release these Americans. It is important that the people's body speak for the people of the United States and tell Iran loud and clear that you cannot hold Americans as political prisoners and be accepted into the international community.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. Here we are again, at a time when this Congress should be focusing on the American people's top priorities, drawing our economy, creating good-paying jobs, dealing with crumbling infrastructure, dealing with the big challenges that the American people sent us to do, and we are not doing that; we continue yet another attack on women's health. Healthcare decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not politicians in Washington. Let me repeat, healthcare decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not politicians here in Washington. We need to work together on the things we agree on. This keeps coming up over and over again. American people, American women, deserve the respect that should be accorded to them to exercise their right of privacy and their constitutionally protected right and not have people here in this Chamber continually attack their decisions that should be made in direct personal private consultation with their physician. To do anything other than that, I think, is taking this country and this Congress in the wrong direction.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's comments and his support. I do think it is important that whenever we can agree, we do express that agreement. I think this amendment is a good example. I know we all support the underlying purpose of the act. This particular amendment would ensure that, when there is a rule, States that do operate under delegated authority would be able to continue to protect the waters of the U.S. and the waters within their own States with the best knowledge on the ground. It has been a good experience in the State of Michigan. I think it is good for other States as well. I think that this amendment would help to ensure that. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chair, as allowed under the Clean Water Act, Michigan, my home State, and many other States have successfully attained permitting responsibility for pollutant discharges into their waters through their State environmental departments, as we do in Michigan. These programs have been long a very successful Federal-State partnership, allowing States, who know their lands and waters better than anyone, to be able to keep local control of their permitting program to ensure protection of their waters in compliance with Federal law in their States. The scope and structure of these programs, of course, are determined by the definition of waters of the U.S. So when the EPA comes out with a new definition of waters of the U.S., every State's program would go under review to ensure that it is compliant with that new definition. Though Michigan has had its authority to operate its own permitting program from the 1970s, its program has been under review by the EPA for several years. So, in response to the EPA's review of Michigan's program, Michigan passed a bipartisan law in 2013 to improve its State-run program to align with Federal law. Maintaining these current State permitting programs--it is interesting--is supported in my State and other places both by environmental and agricultural interests, something that we don't often see. So it is really important to maintain these successful programs. Interestingly enough, since the enactment of its 2013 law, Michigan has not lost any of our precious wetlands. What my amendment would do is ensure that States that do this will be able to continue to control their State permitting program so that the people who know the States and its waters best can comply with their unique application of the law. Particularly in places like Michigan where we have the Great Lakes, that is important. So here is what my amendment would do: First, once a rule under this bill would be finalized, the EPA would have 90 days to determine if a State's program is still compliant under the new rule. Second, the EPA would have a further 10 days to notify a State in writing if its permitting programs are compliant under that new rule. And finally, if a State is not compliant, the EPA must allow States 2 years to comply with the new rule before they federalize a State's permitting program. When a new rule for definition of waters of the U.S. comes out, it will automatically place every State's permitting program under review, running the risk of ending these successful partnerships. I believe, and I think others agree, we have to maintain the flexibility so that States can comply with the new rule before the EPA would remove a State's program. Depending on the State, of course, statutory changes might be required. So we believe that 2 years would be a sufficient period of time for States like Michigan to work through the legislative process. It took Michigan over a year in 2013 to come to a conclusion of that reform. In practice, to be fair, the EPA has granted broad discretion when reviewing a State's programs. What this amendment would do is simply codify into law that process so that States have the ability to come into compliance and maintain this important partnership. It is really important to the underlying purpose of the act. With that, Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, once again, House Republican leadership's culture of governing crisis to crisis is endangering hundreds of thousands of American jobs and thousands of critical construction projects across the country. There are only 7 legislative days left until the highway and transit trust fund expires on May 31, but there is no plan yet to act. According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, 660,000 good-paying construction jobs are hanging in the balance; 6,000 critical construction projects across the country are also being threatened. For too long, we have been stuck in these short-term patches that fail to meet the challenges of our Nation's crumbling roads and bridges as other nations, our competitors, advance their infrastructure and pass us by leaps and bounds. We have got to get to work to fixing America's crumbling roads and bridges. It is the job of the Congress to do this. We need to do our job. We continue to wait, as Democrats, for a plan that we can work together on to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. It is up to the Republican leadership to act, and I am calling upon them to do just that.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Chairman, we have been through this fight before. Thankfully, we have been able to prevail with help on both sides of the aisle. The gentleman referred to the 1930s. Anybody who is a student of history and a student of the U.S. economy knows that it was the period following the 1930s that we finally saw a steady progress toward greater wage equality in this country and we saw the middle class emerge and the strongest period of economic growth and income equality in our history, a period which is at risk right now. I would urge the gentleman to take a look at the period that followed the enactment of Davis-Bacon, how the middle class was born, and I would also urge us to consider that, if not the Federal Government, who can we expect to set the example that a decent wage should be paid for a decent day's work. That is all this law does, and I support it wholeheartedly and urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, last week the House Republicans marked 100 days of Republican control of both bodies of Congress: 100 days spent working for the wealthy special interests against the hard-working American families, 100 days where we saw our national security threatened when we came dangerously close to shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, 100 days where we saw Republicans vote to end the Medicare guarantee and turn it into a voucher program. Now, today, we are seeing House Republicans attempt to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an entity designed to protect American consumers, by taking what was a bipartisan bill that came out of committee with nearly unanimous support and using it as a vehicle through the Committee on Rules to slash funding for this important Federal program. We had a bipartisan bill that could have been an important piece of legislation that we all could get behind, and it had to be used as a way to undermine this really important and essential government function of protecting the American consumer. We have just gone too far with this. We need to get back to doing the work that the American people sent us here to do.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask the United States House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Dr. Walker-Griffea, President of Mott Community College, for her unwavering commitment to academic excellence and student success. Dr. Walker-Griffea is the first female and first African American president in Mott Community College's history. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Walker-Griffea holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Child Development from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas, a Master of Education in Guidance and Counseling from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Broadcasting from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Dr. Walker-Griffea has demonstrated a passion for ensuring all students have access to quality, affordable, and effective learning experiences. As a long-time advocate for collegiate student success, Dr. Walker-Griffea has served community college students in various capacities for twenty years. Her long history in education includes serving as Vice President of Student Affairs at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Virginia; Dean of Student Development at Houston Community College-Central Campus; and Interim Dean of Health and Environmental Sciences at Spokane Community College. Mr. Speaker, I applaud Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea for her strong leadership and unyielding commitment to academic success and our community.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, the contrast between Democratic and Republican priorities in Congress could not be more clear after the first 100 days here. Instead of passing legislation that would help American families buy a home or put away money to save for their kids' college or save even for a secure retirement, we have seen again and again tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. That is the priority that supersedes the needs of the American family. Instead of focusing on growing paychecks and improving our infrastructure, a vital need, one that should be a bipartisan effort, we just continue to vote for more tax giveaways to the wealthiest special interests. Mr. Speaker, it is long past time that this Congress work on the priorities of hard-working, middle class Americans, priorities that are simple: Own a home, help your kids prepare for their future, have something set aside for retirement, take care of our crumbling infrastructure, reinvest in our future. I know we stand ready to work together on these big questions. It is time Congress set aside the needs of the few and focused on what we were sent here to do, and that is take care of the American family.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, today is Equal Pay Day, which is the day that symbolizes, more than 3 months into the year, that women's wages have finally caught up to what men were paid last year. Women deserve equal pay for equal work. It is outrageous that in 2015 a woman is still paid less for the same job that a man does. Pay discrimination is wrong. It hurts millions of hard-working families, and it hinders the growth of our economy. That is why I and many of my colleagues have reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act--to ensure that women earn the same pay as men for doing the same work, to ensure that our wives, our sisters, our daughters, our granddaughters are treated fairly in the workplace for doing the same job that the man sitting right next to them does. Our country should be building an economy that works for everyone so that women and their families can save, buy a home, send their kids to college, and save for retirement. Equal pay for equal work should not ever be a partisan issue. It is my hope, Mr. Speaker, that we will allow a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives for this very important legislation.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to bring up the case of my constituent, a young man by the name of Amir Hekmati. He is an American citizen, born and raised in the United States, grew up in my home town of Flint, Michigan, and served in the United States Marine Corps. He is a brother; he is a son. Three and a half years ago, he traveled to Iran. His parents are of Iranian descent. He traveled to Iran to meet for the first time a grandmother that he had never seen, traveled under his own name, notified the government that he was going. After just a couple of weeks, he was apprehended, disappeared; and, after a few months later, it was revealed that he had been tried and convicted and sentenced to death. A young man, an American, traveling under his own name in Iran, who had served in the United States Marine Corps, was sentenced to death simply for being an American in Iran that had served this country. He is an innocent man, and he continues to languish in Evin Prison. I am here to make it clear that the Congress of the United States and the American people are watching the Iranian Government. If, in fact, Iran intends, as they purport to do, to try to take steps to join the international community, they cannot hold Americans like Amir Hekmati as political prisoners. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, from John Lewis to Darrell Issa, have joined in the effort to raise awareness around Amir Hekmati's case. It is important that we never let this case fade into the woodwork. I think about Amir the same way that I would think about it if my own son were being held in a prison on the other side of the world, and I know that every other Member of Congress who has been engaged in this effort feels the same way. He is one of us; he is our son, and he needs to be reunited with his family. As we now are considering, I think, a really important moment where there have been negotiations to try to deal with Iran's nuclear aspirations--and personally, I support this direction, I support the direction the administration has gone in creating a framework through negotiation to make for a more peaceful world. It is very difficult for many of us in Congress, especially those of us who represent those few Americans being held in an Iranian prison, to view this agreement other than through the lens of that experience. If Iran truly intends to try to rejoin the global community, they can make a very clear demonstration of their seriousness by releasing Amir Hekmati and the other Americans that they hold. We all can play a role in making that happen. I encourage everybody out there--Members of Congress, people who want to become engaged--to get to social media. Use #freeamir or #freeamirnow. We know that the Iranian Government does pay attention to what the American people think--the Iranian citizens certainly do--and we know that we have to keep the pressure on right now. It is, as I said, very difficult for many of us who support the direction that this administration has taken these negotiations and really hope that it bears fruit, really hope that it creates an agreement that makes the world--and particularly that region--safer. We can only really accept Iran as a member of the global community not just by entering into this agreement, but by them joining the world community by not being a nation that can take a young man who served his country, who grew up here, was the captain of his high school hockey team, simply wanted to go to see the country that his parents were born in, and to visit the grandmother that he had never met. To hold him as a political prisoner, as a chip in a geopolitical struggle, is beyond the pale; and it is something that can't be accepted. Please, my friends, my colleagues, join me in continuing to raise your voices to make sure that not one day passes--especially during this period where we are considering this potentially historic agreement--not one day passes where Amir Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, Pastor Abedini, Mr. Levinson, that their cases, their names, are never forgotten.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, last week, the Republicans released their budget, which is a roadmap of their priorities and their values. Just as has been the case for the past few years, it comes as no surprise that this budget will squeeze hard-working American families and make them, again, work harder and get less. One of our priorities must be to end the across-the-board sequestration cuts that have strangled our investments in national priorities like education, research, and innovation. Unfortunately, this GOP budget goes further and jeopardizes national security by keeping sequester cuts on our military and our defense needs. Sadly, the past few months of Congress have been nothing more than continued giveaways to special interests and the wealthy and pandering to the most extreme voices, the Tea Party voices in Congress. Today, the Democrats released our budget. This is a budget that works for hard-working Americans. It protects national security. It gives Michiganders and families all across America the tools they need to buy a house, to send their kids to college, and to save for a decent retirement. We have got to put away these fights.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend Ms. Moore for yielding and for her leadership on this very important issue. I also thank Mr. Pearce, Mr. Young, Mr. Cole on the other side, as well as Ms. Gabbard, whom I have worked with on this legislation, along with Mr. Heck and, now, Mr. Takai. I think what this legislation proves is that when we set out to solve a problem and focus on the things that we can agree upon, we can get a lot done. This is a good bill. It is not the bill that any one of us individually would have written had we been left alone to produce this legislation with only our own perspectives and our own interests. It is a bill that is a result of compromise. There are elements of this legislation, Mr. Speaker, that I would prefer not have been included; and I am sure Mr. Pearce and others are aware that I would have preferred that the pilot program that allows for a form of privatization, a direct grant to private developers, not be included. I would prefer that the entirety of the funds be used specifically to empower tribes, and tribes alone, to determine the use of the dollars. After all, they have had the ability to make those decisions and enter into agreements with private individuals as well. I only say that to make sure that the Record is clear and that I state my objection to that particular portion, but to help point out a larger, I think, more important point. I am sure Mr. Pearce, Mr. Cole, and Mr. Young could find sections, provisions, of this legislation that they would prefer to excise or maybe something that they would have preferred to have included that they were not able to get in the bill; but because the focus here, from the very beginning, in the last Congress and again in this one, as Mr. Cole said, is that we have an obligation to live up to our trust responsibilities to this Nation's first people, that trust responsibility comes ahead of whatever differences we might have on specific policy approaches. Since we took that approach--and Mr. Pearce and Ms. Moore both deserve great credit for being able to put aside the differences that they had--we were able to get this legislation to the floor with what I think is enormous support within the House of Representatives. It is a testament to our recognition of that trust obligation, and it is something that I am very pleased to carry on. As was stated, my uncle worked on these issues, and I know that he would be proud to see us working together to continue to live up to that important trust obligation. Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this legislation. I thank all my colleagues for their work on this.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, well, today the Republicans are unveiling yet another Republican budget that would ensure hardworking Americans have to continue to work harder and get less. Our country deserves a budget that puts these hardworking families first, not this damaging budget that guts middle class priorities making it harder to buy a home, harder to send your kids to college, and harder to have a secure retirement. It is all at the expense of handouts to special interests. This ``work harder, get less'' budget continues to squeeze the middle class by keeping wages stagnant, cutting student loans, and privatizing Medicare. House Democrats stand ready to pass a budget that invests in our families so that they can take home bigger paychecks, send their kids to school, and save for retirement. The Republican budget takes the tools that build the American Dream away from hardworking Americans to give bigger tax cuts and bigger tax breaks to the superwealthy. Mr. Speaker, I hope that my Republican colleagues will work with us in a bipartisan fashion to fashion a budget that works for all Americans.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Well, Mr. Speaker, I just got back from spending a week at home in Michigan talking with the people that I work for and meeting with small business owners. I heard a lot of frustration--frustration about the priorities of the Republican leadership in the House and of Congress in general. Instead of legislation to create jobs here in America to make it easier for hardworking families to buy their own home, to afford to send their kids to school, and to save for retirement, this Congress has bounced from one manufactured political crisis to the next and has not taken on the big challenges that the people sent us here to take on. Let's put away this dysfunction and this paralysis. Let's get back to the work of the American people. As we now are set to consider our Nation's budget, let's make sure that the priorities of the American people--good paying jobs, affordable college, homeownership, and the ability to save for a decent retirement--that those priorities are the priorities that we include in this important budget document. This is what the American people expect of us, and this is what we should take on.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Democrats in the House stood united to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security was funded for the remainder of the year. After bringing our Nation's security and public safety to the brink of shutdown twice in the last 2 weeks, the Speaker finally relented and allowed the will of the majority of the House of Representatives to be heard on the floor. All Democrats and a good number of responsible Members on the other side joined together to make sure that Homeland Security was funded for the remainder of the year. It is completely unacceptable that we have seen, since this Congress has convened, manufactured political crises that divert us away from the real issues that the American people want us to take up. Americans at home are worried about making ends meet. They work harder and harder and can't seem to get ahead. They can't seem to save for retirement. They can't guarantee that their young kids are going to have the opportunity to attend college. That is what they want us to take up. We cannot continue manufactured political crises intended to pander to the most extreme voices in this body.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, well this week in Congress it is deja vu all over again. Last week, instead of bringing up a clean, long-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, the House again kicked the can down the road. We know that we need to keep open and keep funding the operations of the Department, and we certainly can't make this yet another manufactured political crisis this week. We know, and everybody in this Hall knows, that there is support in the House, bipartisan support, for a clean Homeland Security bill. I don't know precisely what the numbers are, but more and more we hear from our friends on the Republican side that they would like to see a vote to fully fund DHS for the remainder of the year, and then take up in regular order the process of determining what immigration policy ought to look like in this country. We have big problems in this Nation. We have big challenges across the globe. We need to focus our attention on getting an economy that works for everyone and not continue to fight battles over manufactured political crises intended to pander to the smallest minds in this body. That is not the way the American people want us to work. We need to get back to the business of the American people.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I have to note we just heard my friend, Mr. Issa, I think reveal what is really going on here.

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding. Madam Speaker, it is really important that the American people understand what is happening here. It is pretty clear here. The Republican majority in the House and perhaps in the Senate disagree with the President on immigration policy. So they have two really clear choices. One would be to do what they somehow have been unable to do despite promises of a prolific period of legislation in the first couple of months here in Congress. Despite that, 7 weeks later we haven't seen anything that looks like an immigration bill. So rather than using this magnificent process of democracy that the Framers designed for us to determine policy, the Republicans in Congress--really the Republicans in the House--have decided to threaten the shutdown of an essential government function--national security and public safety--in order to extract concessions on policy that they are unwilling to submit to the legislative process. Why not bring an immigration bill that determines for this country what our immigration policy ought to be and, in the meantime, fund the essential functions of government? To not do so, there are consequences. This is not an academic exercise. There are consequences. Three weeks of funding? Seriously, 3 weeks? After 7 weeks of coming to the floor of the House in session, why couldn't we come up with this compromise with the Senate, with whom you share partisan majority? Why can't we have a real debate on immigration policy on the floor of the House of Representatives without having to threaten to close down the essential function of government? My friends on the other side have said, That is not what we are doing--except that that is what you are doing. Words are cheap, Madam Speaker. You won't pass a clean bill to fund this Department, like your colleagues in the Senate have done, and you continue to hold out. Madam Speaker, I just think it is time for us to get back to the serious business of the American people and pass a clean bill to fund this essential function.