Daniel Kildee

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you to my friend from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen) for yielding, and for his leadership. He is exactly right. What this budget fails to do is address the fundamental questions that we have to address. As a new member of the Budget Committee, during the most recent budget markup, I offered an amendment. A couple of dozen of our amendments were heard and dismissed rather quickly. I offered an amendment that would deal with that question of shared sacrifice, an amendment that would have simply said that if you make more than $1 million in this country, you should pay your fair share, applying the so-called Buffett Rule that basically says, if you are doing well, you should at least pay the same rate that another member of your staff would pay. As Mr. Buffett pointed out, his secretary pays a higher rate. This would have required a 30 percent rate to apply to those folks making $1 million. What was interesting to me was what I was told by the other side, that this amendment was because people in the working middle class, people who go to work every day, are jealous of those who have done well in the United States. Let me assure you, this has nothing do with jealousy; it has everything to do with fairness. The only thing we ask is that if we are all going to pitch in to adopt a balanced budget and invest in growing our economy, we should all pitch in and not have a tax system that benefits the wealthiest, and has the rest of us not only have to pay more than our fair share, but not receive the important investments that will grow our economy. So what this budget doesn't do is require we all pay a fair share. Neither does it extend unemployment insurance to those who are just trying to get from their last job to their next job without losing their house and their car and having their family split up. It doesn't raise the minimum wage so that those who go to work every day won't live in poverty. It doesn't address the fundamental question facing us, and that is immigration reform, which would have a significant effect on growing our economy. People on the left and the right agree with that. No, this statement of our collective values fails to address that fundamental question. But what it does do is cut basic education. It would kick 170,000 kids out of Head Start, changing the trajectory of their lives forever; cuts $89 billion out of education, $35 billion alone out of Title I. Cuts higher education, which is an investment in our future, which we know pays dividends downstream. Cuts infrastructure.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I join him in urging my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that we can immediately bring up H.R. 4415, which is identical to a bill that passed on a bipartisan basis by the Senate just last night. It would extend emergency unemployment benefits to the 2 million Americans who have lost those benefits since Congress failed to act late last year. I also will note that I read today a report that seven of my Republican House colleagues have written the Speaker urging him to bring this legislation up immediately as well. So we have bipartisan support for this effort to restore necessary benefits to individuals who have lost their job. It takes an average of 37 weeks for someone who loses their job in this country to find their next opportunity. Yet, in my State, after 20 weeks, you are cut off of unemployment. So while today is a beautiful spring day outside, and all across the country people are breathing in the optimism that comes with spring, for 2 million Americans, they look at this a different way. They go outside today and wonder if today is the day that the foreclosure notice will come, if today is the day that the eviction will be tacked on to their front door, if they will go outside and today will be the day that the car has been repossessed or that there won't be enough food to feed their family. These are real-life Americans who are facing this struggle. We have it in our power to do something about it. H.R. 4415, like the Senate action, is fully paid for. Despite the fact that, in the past, on a bipartisan basis, we have approved an unemployment insurance extension without it being paid for, this is paid for. It will not increase the deficit but will decrease the suffering of millions of American people who go every day trying to find their next job. I have heard some on the other side say, well, we shouldn't do this because it is not an emergency. Well, if you are about to lose your house, or about to lose your apartment, or about to lose your car, or don't have enough food to feed your children, let me tell you, for them, maybe not for all of you, but for them it is an emergency, and this Congress can act, and it should act immediately. Parliamentary Inquiries

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, we are at that time of the year when we are dealing with another set of budget decisions. A budget is supposed to be a demonstration of this Congress' and our Nation's values and priorities, a plan that helps lift people up and ensure that everyone, if you play by the rules, has got a fair shot at success. But budgets require tough choices. The Ryan budget, which passed out of committee yesterday, unfortunately chooses to make things more difficult for hardworking middle class Americans in order to subsidize big tax breaks to big oil companies, to multinational corporations, and to the wealthiest Americans. Yesterday, I introduced a very simple amendment to the Ryan budget in the Budget Committee, one that would simply say this: if you make more than $1 million, which is a very small percentage--97 percent of small business owners make less than that--you pay your fair share. Warren Buffett famously observed that he pays a lower tax rate than his own secretary. My amendment would have said, if you make over $1 million, you pay at least 30 percent. Unfortunately, that amendment failed on a party-line vote. I hope we have an opportunity to offer that amendment here on the floor, and I urge my colleagues, if they have the chance to do so, to support that.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, as I have mentioned a few times when I have come to the floor in the last 14 months now, I am a member of the freshman class, elected in 2012. I am proud of that fact. I am proud of it for several reasons, but one of the things that is significant about this class, particularly on our side of the aisle here as Democrats, is that it is the most diverse group of individuals ever elected to the United States Congress in a single class. In fact, its diversity is such that it is made up of a majority of minorities, women, and LGBT members--a majority minority class. Its diversity gives us tremendous strength. As I sit with my colleagues, it is amazing to me the vast perspectives that we bring, and I think it has brought to us much better opportunity and a much better ability to see the needs of this country and to address them. It is the diversity of this Congress, and especially of this Congress elected in 2012, that is its principal strength. I say that because it is my view that it is the diversity of our Nation that is our greatest strength. What makes America exceptional is its diversity, and that diversity is the result of a culture and of values that have been welcoming to people from all corners of the world to come here and make the U.S. home--to build businesses, to bring their families, to invest in community--and to be a part of something that we have never seen before on the face of the planet, which is a nation of immigrants. For far too long, however, the need to reform our obsolete immigration system has been a low priority for the House leadership. It has been, essentially, on the back burner. Americans have said loud and clear that they want Congress to act on comprehensive immigration reform, and it doesn't seem to matter whom we talk to. For people on the left and the right, across the different regions of this country, the need for immigration reform is increasingly clear, not just because it reflects our values, but because many see it as in our vital economic interest that we reform our obsolete immigration policies and return to the values that made this country so great. It is that welcoming value, that value that says: Come here. Be a part of this Nation. Help grow it. Help build it, and help contribute to its productivity. Last year, when immigration reform was, obviously, coming before us because so many Members were expressing the need for it, we heard the Speaker say that the Senate should act first and that he would await Senate action before bringing comprehensive immigration reform to the floor of the House of Representatives. Last year, the Senate acted. The Senate acted in a bipartisan fashion by a vote of 68-32 and passed comprehensive immigration reform. It was not a perfect piece of legislation--none of them are--but they passed comprehensive immigration reform, which is something that people in this country have been asking for for a long time. But nothing. Nothing was brought to the House. In fact, while we had immigration reform ready to go--we have a bipartisan bill here in the House of Representatives--silence from the leadership on the Republican side. Then earlier this year, in January, the Speaker said that, once he had been able to present to his Conference the principles by which the Republican Conference would pursue comprehensive immigration reform, we would be able to then turn to this question and move forward on what the American people have been asking for for a long time. That was in January. Next week, it is April, and the House and the American people still wait. There is overwhelming support for comprehensive immigration reform. It comes from labor. It comes from our business community. It comes from the agriculture community. It is so rare that we have an issue like this that is number one fundamental to who we are as Americans, and it is so rare that we have an issue that unites the people who very often on this very floor have their differences manifest in the debates of Congress. Now we have an issue that is consistent with our history, that is consistent with our values, and that is supported by big and small businesses, by agriculture interests, by organized labor, by Democrats and Republicans. It is long overdue. It is time for us to get about the business of the American people and to take immigration reform up now.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about a critical Federal program that helps seniors and low-income families in Michigan and across the country with their utility bills. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, provides short-term assistance to help households with their heating costs in the winter and cooling costs in the summer. In Michigan, more than 600,000 households received LIHEAP assistance last year. Nationally, LIHEAP serves 6.7 million people. These mostly one-time payments provide a financial bridge to ensure that vulnerable populations do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording the other necessities of life, like food and medicine. Today is National LIHEAP Action Day, and constituents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations are all in town to ask Congress to provide adequate funding so residents across the country are able to continue accessing this vital program. Please welcome them into your offices, and please support the critical LIHEAP program. With this year being one of the coldest winters in decades, many agencies are struggling with record numbers of people seeking assistance. LIHEAP benefits have already been cut; it is not time to cut them again.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, for far too long, comprehensive immigration reform has been a low priority for the Speaker and for the Republican leadership. Americans have spoken loud and clear. They want comprehensive immigration reform. Just last year, as the Senate was considering comprehensive reform, the Speaker implied that the House would take it up after the Senate did. The Senate acted in a bipartisan fashion and passed comprehensive reform on a vote of 68-32. Then we were told that the House would take up comprehensive immigration reform after the Speaker brought to his conference his immigration reform principles. That happened at the end of January; yet nothing--nothing has been brought to the floor. If there is not a reason for us to do this on the basis of the policy, which I think is clear, it is consistent with our national interest and our national values to institute comprehensive immigration reform. I just would direct Members of the other side to take a look at the bipartisan CBO report that was published that shows that comprehensive immigration reform would reduce our national deficit by $900 billion. It is the right policy, it is good economics, and we should bring it up right away.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule IX, I rise in regard to a question of the privileges of the House. The form of the resolution is as follows: Whereas on March 5, 2014, during a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa gave a statement and then posed ten questions to former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner, who stated that she was invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to testify; Whereas the committee's ranking member, Representative Elijah E. Cummings, clearly sought recognition to take his turn for questions under committee and House rules; Whereas Chairman Issa then unilaterally adjourned the hearing and refused to allow him to make any statement or ask any questions; Whereas Ranking Member Cummings protested immediately, stating: ``Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. You just cannot----''

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, may I proceed? Mr. Speaker, the Members have removed their iPads. May I proceed?

Mr. KILDEE. For the purposes of display, this is what the Members have been holding. May I proceed?

Mr. KILDEE. Whereas Ranking Member Cummings protested immediately, stating: ``Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. You just cannot do this. This is, we are better than that as a country, we are better than that as a committee.''; Whereas Chairman Issa then returned and allowed Ranking Member Cummings to begin his statement, but when it became clear that Chairman Issa did not want to hear what Ranking Member Cummings was saying, turned off Ranking Member Cummings' microphone, ordered Republican staff to ``close it down,'' and repeatedly signaled to end the hearing with his hand across his neck; Whereas Ranking Member Cummings objected again, stating: ``You cannot have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that.''; Whereas Chairman Issa made a statement of his own and posed questions during the hearing, but refused to allow other members of the committee, and in particular, the ranking member, who had sought recognition, to make statements under the 5-minute rule in violation of House rule XI; Whereas Chairman Issa instructed the microphones be turned off and adjourned the hearing without a vote or a unanimous consent agreement in violation of rule XVI because he did not want to permit Ranking Member Cummings to speak; Whereas Chairman Issa's abusive behavior on March 5 is part of a continuing pattern in which he has routinely excluded members of the committee from investigative meetings, has turned off Members' microphones while they were questioning a witness, attempted to prevent witnesses from answering questions, and has provided information to the press before sharing it with committee members; Whereas on July 18, 2003, former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Bill Thomas, asked the United States Capitol Police to remove minority members of the committee from the library where they were having a discussion about a pending committee markup, and subsequently came to the well of the U.S. House of Representatives to publicly apologize for his belligerent behavior; Whereas Chairman Issa has violated clause 1 of rule XXIII of the Code of Official Conduct which states that ``A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House'': Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly condemns the offensive and disrespectful manner in which Chairman Darrell E. Issa conducted the hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 5, 2014, and requires that he come to the well of the House to issue a public apology to Members of the House. That concludes the reading of the resolution.

Mr. KILDEE. Yes.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, on December 28, emergency unemployment benefits for Americans were cut off; and since then, 2 million Americans have lost their essential lifeline and have been missing their rent payments, missing their mortgage payments, trying to keep the house warm and put food on the table. Congress has failed to act. What is particularly concerning to me is some of the rhetoric that I hear would imply that those unemployed Americans are seeking benefits because they don't want to work. And, in fact, yesterday, I read a quote from the Budget Committee chairman--and I will try to get this correct--saying that, in America, there is a culture in our inner cities of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work. That is not the problem. The problem is a lack of opportunity. So I will take the chairman at his word that he was intending to say: so, therefore, we need to fully fund after-school programs, we need to fully fund pre-K programs, and we need to fully fund summer youth employment so that those young people do have a chance to experience the benefit and value of work, and that we provide a safety net to make sure that when they are not working, they don't lose their house, their car, and their family.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I signed a discharge petition in an effort to force an up-or-down vote on legislation that I have cosponsored, and that is H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would increase the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 over the period of the next few years, giving up to 25 million Americans a well-deserved pay raise. Many Americans who work at the minimum wage live in poverty; and I know that there are some in this body, particularly on the other side, who fundamentally don't even believe that there ought to be a minimum wage. That is a minority view. Republicans and Democrats across the country believe that not only should we have a minimum wage, but that it ought to be increased. A recent poll showed that 71 percent of Americans favor an increase in the minimum wage. So for those who believe that there ought to be a wage that is a living wage, it has to be a wage that does not put people in poverty. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to sign the discharge petition, and let's have a vote to give Americans the raise that they deserve.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask the House of Representatives to join me in congratulating the Genesee District Library as they celebrate their 12th Annual Black History Month Brunch on Saturday, February 8th in Flint, Michigan. Formed in 2002, this Black History Month Brunch has become a staple in our community, and is regarded as one of Genesee County's signature events. A portion of the proceeds raised will go to support the Genesee District Library's Summer Reading Program. During this special Black History Month Brunch, the Genesee District Library will honor Carolyn Nash, Retired Executive Director, Genesee District Library; Louis Hawkins, Community Relation Administrator, HealthPlus of Michigan; Lawrence E. Moon, Owner, Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home; and Bruce Bradley, CEO/Founder, Tapology, all for their unwavering commitment and significant contribution to our community. The event will also feature a performance from four-time Grammy Award and Academy Award winning vocalist, Regina Belle. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Genesee District Library for providing this opportunity for the community to join hands, recognize, and celebrate the contribution of local African Americans. This event captures the essence of Black History Month, and inspires residents to celebrate all year long.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the House of Representatives for passing my amendment yesterday, which will help preserve access to the National Forest System lands for snowmobiles in Michigan and across the Nation, the same access that has long been granted for responsible snowmobilers. In Michigan, snowmobiling has long been an important part of our State's heritage. Half of my home State's 6,300 miles of snowmobile trails are on public land. Each year, families in my district head into the woods to partake in this winter recreational activity. Snowmobiling supports our economy, particularly in northern Michigan. Each year, snowmobiling pumps over $200 million into my State's economy, supporting thousands and thousands of jobs. Nationally, it is even greater: $26 billion in economic activity annually, and over 100,000 jobs directly related to the snowmobile industry and the over 225,000 miles of groomed trails that people ride on. My amendment supports these jobs, promotes conservation, and ensures snowmobilers that they will be able to continue to enjoy our incredible winters while preserving the natural beauty of our national forests.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, today, this House will consider H.R. 7, which is an unprecedented assault on women's health care. This law would mean that millions of American women who would like to purchase their health insurance with their own money cannot purchase comprehensive health insurance, insurance which is their legal right because this House of Representatives and, Madam Speaker, I would note, a House of Representatives, particularly on the majority side, that is dominated by men, tell them they cannot do so. What is even more cynical, however, is that those who are promoting this and have said this know that it will not become law. It is a messaging bill. It is intended to send a message to whom? And just what is that message? So while we are debating that, the House is not taking up unemployment insurance extension, which is not a messaging bill. It is heat in the home, it is keeping the lights on, it is paying the mortgage, it is putting food on the table for the children of the people in those homes. That is not a messaging bill. That is the work that we were sent here to do.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert my statement into the Record in support of extending unemployment insurance for 1.6 million Americans instead of this radical Republican assault on women's health care rights.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3824 to end the Republicans' refusal to extend unemployment benefits that protect 49,965 workers in Michigan.

Mr. KILDEE. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. Madam Speaker, I am here to express my disappointment that we are not bringing up H.R. 3824, a bill that would extend for 3 months emergency unemployment compensation. It causes me to think of what the American people would expect of us here in Congress if we were facing a national emergency of some type that resulted in the immediate loss of basic support for the basic needs of 1.3 million Americans. What would we do, especially if that national emergency somehow caused every week 72,000 additional Americans to lose the basic help that they need to provide rent, to provide heat, put food on the table--to take care of the basic human necessities? We would act. Sure, as the gentleman pointed out, we would discuss ways to prevent future national emergencies that would cause this sort of problem. We would find ways to prevent those sorts of things from happening. The gentleman referred to job training, economic development programs like job training. We would do those things for sure. But in the meantime, we would--and today we should--act to restore those benefits.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Polis, for the time. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in defeating the previous question, as my colleague said, so that we can immediately take up the question of the extension of emergency unemployment to millions of Americans who have lost their job and who are seeking to find their next opportunity to contribute to our economy and to support their families. I am part of the freshman class. We just began our second year in Congress. Something about the 2012 class that I think defines us is that we believe that we were sent here by the electorate of 2012 not to posture, but to get things done, to take action, to solve problems. That is why myself and the rest of the Democratic freshman class yesterday sent a letter to Speaker Boehner asking that he immediately bring up an extension to the unemployment compensation for so many Americans. Let's be clear about something, though. Unlike what I have heard from so many on the other side, being unemployed is not a choice; it is not a lifestyle to be sought. It is a condition that is often unanticipated, and it is one that nobody in my district that I know of who is unemployed would ever seek to try to maintain. I can only speak for the people I represent, but I suspect this is true of my colleagues. Folks that we represent back home that are out of work would gladly, today, trade unemployment compensation for a job that puts them to work and gives them the dignity of work and the ability to meet their obligations to their family and their community. It is about survival. It is about making your rent payment. It is about being able to pay your car payment, to put food on the table for your kids. It is about being able to keep the house warm. It is not a lifestyle to be sought. I think the notion that somehow people who are unemployed want to be there is condescending and offensive. I urge my colleagues to join me in defeating this previous question so that we can immediately take up the work that the American people are asking us to take up.

Mr. KILDEE. And that is to make sure that 1.3 million Americans have a chance to support their families until they can find meaningful work. Eleven million people since 2008 have been saved from poverty because of unemployment compensation. That unemployment extension was supported by the vast majority of Members of this House, signed by President Bush, with no strings attached. What is different about 2014 than what was experienced in 2008? Nothing, except that we have the same obligation to those same Americans to make sure that they don't go broke, that they don't lose their house, that they don't lose their car, that they don't lose their family, as a result of the lack of basic decency.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. I thank the gentlelady from California (Ms. Lee) for her leadership and her stewardship of this important obligation that we are here to commemorate. Mr. Speaker, it was 50 years ago today that President Johnson stood at that podium right in front of us. I can still conjure the images of that speech. Of course, these are images of black and white recordings of President Johnson standing there. It reminds me of the special obligation that we are called to and that he articulated so well half a century ago. I was 5 years old when he gave that speech. But like many I know here, I was sort of a precocious kid, and I was really, really interested in our government and in politics, and I followed it from a very young age--even that tender age of 5. I remember as a kid in the 1960s and early 1970s going through school thinking that the great struggles--the civil rights struggle, the women's rights movement, this war on poverty--were the big fights of our generation. In some ways, I almost felt at that point in time a moment had passed me by never imagining that when the time came so many years later and I would have an opportunity to serve in Congress that we are actually still fighting those same fights, that we are still engaged in that same struggle. Fifty years later, after President Johnson's speech, in the wealthiest society ever imagined, we are still fighting this war on poverty. In fact, we are seeing recently growing disparity, growing inequality in our society. We have not eradicated poverty. In fact, we haven't yet gotten to the point where we can say we are close. We do continue that battle. The battle over unemployment insurance, for example, is a part of that same fight. Some in this body would choose to continue their crusade to cut that important program. We have to remind ourselves that just since 2008, 11 million Americans have been saved from poverty because they were able to have that unemployment insurance available to keep them whole until they could find new meaningful, rewarding work. So instead of cutting these important programs--Head Start, our nutrition programs, the programs that actually change the trajectory of the lives of those who are struggling to find their way in our society--we ought to be doubling those investments, we ought to be making sure that no American ever has to wonder if they will fall below that common floor of decency that we all would agree should be part of any civilized society. We should have a minimum wage in this country that guarantees that people who work full time don't live in poverty. Fifty years later, we have got a lot of work to do. I heard the other day--I will close by saying this--I heard the other day a Member of the other body make a comment that perhaps we ought to simply acknowledge that in this Nation we have lost the war on poverty, when 50 years ago a quarter of our society was living in poverty and today that number is 16 percent. While we know we have a long way to go, we know that these programs actually do work. We have to ask ourselves what kind of country, what kind of society do we want to be? I think if we answer the question right we will live up to the challenge that President Johnson laid down 50 years ago.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, this Republican-controlled Congress has been one of the least productive Congresses in modern times. Recently, the Speaker of the House actually said, ``We've done our work.'' This year we passed only 56 bills. That is sad and that is wrong. And this month, we are in session here on this floor for only 8 days. Important issues continue to pile up, unresolved and unanswered. And yet tomorrow, we are getting ready to leave for the rest of the year, even as the Senate will continue to work on behalf of the American people. The list of what we have not done is much longer than what we have passed. We need to stay here and get the work of the American people done. We haven't taken up a jobs and infrastructure bill. We could do that next week. We have not passed a long-term budget deal that tackles the big issues that we face. We have not voted on comprehensive immigration reform, despite the fact that a majority would support immigration reform. All we need to do is bring it to the floor. We could do that next week. We haven't done our work to extend unemployment compensation for 1.3 million Americans who will lose their benefits on December 28, yet we are going to leave this body having failed to act to protect the livelihood of 1.3 million Americans. That is just wrong. We haven't considered raising the minimum wage, despite the economic boon that it would be to give millions of working class people more purchasing power, supporting business, and supporting economic growth. And we have a bipartisan farm bill. Sure it has got some problems. I don't know how everybody would vote on it, but it ought to come to the floor of the House for a ``yes'' or ``no'' vote. We could do that next week. The list goes on. Unfortunately, it is completely fair to characterize this Republican-led House as a do-nothing Congress. Sometimes, though, it seems as though the things we have actually done have only made things worse. In March, we allowed the harmful across-the-board sequester cuts to go into effect. Nobody here tried to stop them. On our side, we tried to stop them. Nobody did anything on the other side. Those draconian cuts went into effect, slowed economic growth, and cost hundreds of thousands of Americans their jobs. In October, the gridlock and dysfunction shut down the Federal Government for 2 weeks--the first such shutdown in two decades. That cost this economy $24 billion. We can't let that happen in the future. I am only a freshman, just finishing my first year in Congress, but I can tell you one thing I know: this is no way to run this government. We have got to get back to legislating, doing the work of the American people, the way the Framers of this government intended it to be done. We can just kind of go back. Some of you might remember ``Schoolhouse Rock,'' how a bill becomes a law. The House passes a bill, the Senate does its work, passes a bill, we go to conference, we work out the differences, and send that on to the President for his signature or for a veto. That is the way we legislate. Yet, we continue to lurch from crisis to crisis and not let the will of the American people be manifest in the laws that we write. My constituents, and all Americans, deserve a Congress that is serious about the work of the American people and ready to get to work to grow our economy, to support manufacturing, to strengthen the middle class. I am ready to work in a bipartisan fashion. I think most of us are here to take on these big problems that our country faces. Now is not the time for more dithering or delay. Now is certainly not the time for a vacation. Look, I would love to be able to go home and spend the next couple of weeks with my family. You know, we spend a lot of time away from home. But the folks that we represent expect us to get our work done. So I, Mr. Speaker, am one who is willing to just stay here. Let's come back to work on Monday, and let's stay here until we get this important work done. Let's take the Make It In America agenda to support American manufacturing; let's bring it to the floor. You don't want to vote for it, don't vote for it. But we ought to consider these important pieces of legislation that are important to our economy and not leave town without taking up the important work that we are charged with doing. I represent Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, older industrial cities that helped build the manufacturing base of our economy. They depend on the Congress to do the work that we were sent here to do. We shouldn't go home. We should stay here and finish our work.