Daniel Kildee

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Chair, I thank my friend, Mr. Connolly, for his leadership and for working on this amendment with me. I represent nearly 100 miles of Great Lakes shoreline. When I ran for Congress, I made a commitment to my constituents in the Fifth District that I would fight every day to create jobs, to strengthen the economy, and to protect our precious water resources. Our amendment would do just that. In Michigan, we know well the value of clean water since we're surrounded by the largest bodies of surface freshwater on Earth, the Great Lakes. As a kid, I spent many summer weekends with my family at a city campground in East Tawas, a lakefront city that I now have the privilege of representing in Congress. Our amendment would protect our precious waters from pollution. Without our amendment, today's legislation would put the safety of the Great Lakes, of our lakes and waterways in jeopardy. History has repeatedly taught us what polluters will do if left unregulated. We have seen disastrous oil spills--including the Enbridge oil spill in Michigan--that threatened our State and our Nation's natural resources. I will not sit idly by and allow the very rules that protect towns like East Tawas, Oscoda, Bay City, Au Gres, and other towns in my district be tossed aside for political expediency. This bill, as written, would give the Department of Energy unprecedented power to veto EPA rules that protect public health, save lives, and protect the Great Lakes. Our amendment would prevent the DOE from being able to veto rules that regulate air or water quality. I have heard a lot of discussion about jobs. Michigan's Great Lakes are an economic asset for my State, supporting 1.5 million jobs and pumping over $62 billion into our economy. These jobs and Michigan's recreational economy depend on clean water for fishing for swimming and for drinking. We must protect them from pollution and harm. Today's legislation is clearly misguided and fails to provide the necessary tools to protect our Nation's critical natural resources. Republicans in committee have already voted to decrease funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by almost 80 percent, something that I strongly oppose; and now they want to make it easier for polluters to poison our waters. I will fight these bad proposals every day I am in Congress. I urge my colleagues to support our commonsense amendment to protect the Great Lakes and protect our natural waterways.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, last week, the city of Detroit, Michigan, became the largest municipality in our Nation's history to file for bankruptcy. Without a doubt, the situation in Detroit is extreme. Their problems in part have been driven by local mismanagement. But it would be an oversimplification, and I think a dangerous oversimplification, for folks to continue to lay the entire responsibility for Detroit's situation on the failure of management. Since last week, Detroit has been on the front page of America's newspapers and has become the recent, I guess, poster child of municipal decline and insolvency. But for the few cities like Detroit that have actually filed bankruptcy, there are many other legacy cities in this country that continue to struggle day in and day out to provide basic services for their residents. Many municipalities are facing not just fiscal insolvency but service level challenges, perhaps not on the same scale as Detroit, but that does not mean that they are immune to the problems that Detroit is facing. My own hometown of Flint, Michigan, is on that same path and is struggling every day to provide basic services in an increasing period of fiscal stress. Detroit's bankruptcy should be a call to action to have a much bigger conversation in this country about how we support and fund our cities and our great metropolitan areas. Cities are where our creativity takes place and where much of our wealth has been generated in the past, and that can and should be the future for America's cities. Let me be clear: bankruptcy for Detroit will not be a solution to its problems or for any other city. While it is arguable that this bankruptcy may be necessary, it will not be sufficient to solve the problem. It may bring order to an otherwise chaotic situation, but it will not solve the problem itself, and it will have real consequences for people in Detroit and southeastern Michigan and the entire State. You can simply dissolve a corporation through bankruptcy, but you can't dissolve a city, which is a place where hundreds of thousands of people, in this case, live and raise their families. Lots of factors have contributed to the decline of a whole subset of America's cities--population laws, trade policy that moves jobs out of those communities overseas or out of those cities into the metropolitan areas through land use practices, a municipal finance system that fails to recognize the realities of the 21st century. This is a big issue, and it is one that calls for a much larger national conversation about how we support our cities. First, Mr. Speaker, we have to make sure to do no harm to these places that are struggling. The Republican budget that will come to this floor within the next few weeks proposes deep cuts to programs like the Community Development Block Grant program and the HOME program--a 40 percent cut for programs that are intended to help communities reposition themselves in this challenged economy. Yet, at a time when cities are facing distress, like the city of Detroit, my hometown of Flint, and many others, when the Federal Government could provide some help that would be in our national interest, we see cuts proposed to these really important programs. So whether at the State or Federal level, we all have a role to play. It is time that all levels of government start thinking about the long- term sustainability of our cities not because it is good for those places, but because it is in our national interest. Detroit's bankruptcy should be a day of reckoning for all of us, not just for the residents of the Motor City, but for everybody. Rethinking the way we support our cities and our metropolitan areas is not an easy conversation for us to have. It will be tough. It will cause us to challenge conventional thinking and challenge our own views of the importance of cities. These may be tough conversations, but they are absolutely necessary that we have to take on as a Nation. We cannot sit idly by and pretend that Detroit won't matter and that it won't affect us and wait for the next Detroit to happen. It is important for our Nation, it is important for our people, it is important for our competitiveness, it is important for our economy, it is important that we be a competitive place. And the only way we do that is with vital and rich growing communities, and we have to get places like Detroit and Flint and Saginaw and Pontiac and other places that are important to this economy back on that trajectory.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, we know that before-school, after-school, and summer learning programs are successful activities that provide safe places that millions of students and parents can rely upon. I'm very concerned about keeping the students in my district safe and out of trouble. In mid-Michigan and around the Nation, time spent out of school is often prime time for bad choices that can lead to juvenile crime; yet countless studies have shown that kids involved in after- school and summer programs are less likely to be perpetrators or victims of crime, less likely to drink or use drugs, less likely to join gangs. Unfortunately, legislation that is set to be considered this week in the House could lead to over a million students losing access to these opportunities. Students in Michigan benefit from these after-school programs through mentors, tutoring, through cultural and fine arts activities. We should be expanding support for these programs and for funding for these programs, not cutting them or putting them in block grants as a means of reducing support. I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this legislation that's set to come before the House this week.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am speaking on the previous amendment, the Young amendment. I ran out of time earlier. As currently written, this bill does not provide a clear funding source for Indian education programs, which violates an important trust responsibility between the Federal Government and our sovereign Indian nations. We have a moral obligation as a society to provide quality education for all children, including Native American youth. I believe it is a huge mistake to eliminate title VII, and if this amendment, the previous amendment, is not adopted in rollcall, I believe it will have a negative impact on Native American communities.

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the ranking member for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Chair, this legislation is an attack on teachers and takes away the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. I am exhausted by the continual scapegoating of America's schoolteachers. Teachers, like my three sisters, spend countless hours both in and out of the classroom, preparing curricula, and mentoring our youth in afterschool programs. We should help every educator grow and develop professionally and not standardize and reduce their performance to a one-size-fits-all approach. I am weary of elected officials who give lip service to the importance of good teachers. Mr. Chairman, actions speak louder than words. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill. The House majority continues to attack teachers' rights to bargain with their local community on conditions that are best for their local community, and I stand in strong opposition to this bad bill.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I'm new here, but if there's one thing I've learned, this is not what we were sent here to do. A Member from the other side, during the rules debate, asked me if our side understood that nutrition programs were not in this bill. Well, absolutely we understand it. The great value of the bipartisan farm bill has been the balance of support for our Nation's family farms and the products that their labor produces in providing nutrition for those of us of greatest need. I've heard this is the only way forward. Time and time again I've heard that. Says who? I thought we were the Congress of the United States. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``no'' on this bill.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in strong opposition to the farm bill rule and the underlying bill because it hurts America's children.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Let me just say that, while we are obviously here to give honor and recognize the service of Mr. Dingell, the honor, at least from where I stand, the honor is really all mine to be able to participate in this moment, Mr. Speaker. I grew up in Michigan. I was born in 1958, 3 years after Mr. Dingell began his service in this body. I grew up in Michigan politics. And if you come from Michigan and if you're interested in politics or government, you know a lot about John Dingell. His name is really synonymous not only with politics and government, but is synonymous with all the good that comes with service in government. We hear so much these days, of course, about the public's opinion of the work that we do and the often cynical nature of public opinion when it comes to government. Well, John really represents all the best in public service and has been a role model for so many people like me, who have had a chance to observe him and watch and learn from the great example that he sets. He, after 21 years in this body, was joined by my uncle, Dale Kildee, my predecessor, who was elected to serve in the Congress in 1976. For 36 years, the two served together. So while I knew of Mr. Dingell as an observer of politics as a young man as he and my uncle serving together so closely and so well, I felt like in many ways John became a part, and we became a part, of his extended family. I have often felt that John and Debbie are so close that I can always rely and count on them for counsel and advice and for friendship because it does feel very much like family. For the whole time during that period that I knew John, I didn't call him John; I always called him Mr. Chairman or Mr. Dingell. I will never forget the first day on January 3, just 6 months ago, when I was sworn in Congress. I came over to shake his hand and I called him Mr. Chairman, and he said, No, call me John; we are friends. We represent an amazing and beautiful State. I always look at John as a role model, as an example of somebody who, in a position of tremendous authority within this institution, understood how to advance the interests of the State of Michigan by balancing the very important need to be a great and protective steward of the natural beauty and natural assets that make Michigan such a unique place that we both love so much, but to also be able to keep and breathe life into the great capacity of the workforce, particularly of our great industry--and particularly the automotive industry, which was born in our State, and which John has been such a careful advocate for and steward on behalf of. He has seen some difficult times and has helped to steer that industry through tough times, and now seeing it obviously have new life and new vitality. Much of that--a great deal of that--is attributable directly to his perseverance and his willingness to take on a fight and see it through to the very end. There's no other issue more than health care that I think makes it clear the value of perseverance and the perseverance that he had demonstrated for so many years, term in and term out, reintroducing in this body something that his father first brought to the Congress, and that is the basic right of every American citizen to not ever have to go to bed at night worrying about whether their own health would stand between them and the long-term viability of their own family. John was here not only to see that battle fought, but actually see it brought to a successful conclusion. So 6 months ago, when I walked onto this floor and realized a dream that I had been contemplating for a very long time--to serve in what I think is still and always will be the greatest democratic body in the history of this planet--it was a great honor to become a Member of Congress; but perhaps an even greater honor, to be able to call John Dingell a colleague--not just a friend, not just a mentor, not just somebody that I had looked up to, but a person with whom I now serve. I was elected to succeed my own uncle. I would like to think that we have some things in common, Mr. Dingell. And one of the things is you were elected to represent your district to succeed your very own father. I think that what you've demonstrated is that you obviously have your first obligation to serve your Nation, to serve the interests of the people that you represent, but also to do great service to the legacy of your predecessor. I can only imagine what your father must think, looking here and now seeing that not only have you taken up the mantle from him, but have served so long, but more importantly so ably in advancing the goals and the values that he embodied when he came here, and that you were able to see them through to fruition. So thank you so much for allowing me just a few minutes as a freshman--with not a lot of old stories about the House, but with great admiration for the man who has been here for so long.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment. This is nothing but an attack on the thousands of family farms in my district and across the country. The district I represent is home to Michigan Sugar, a co-op owned by 900 American family farmers. The idea of Big Sugar is flat-out false. To compare a co-op, a growers' co-op such as Michigan Sugar, to a large, multinational corporation is fallacy and wrong. Back in my district, when I visit these hardworking third- and fourth-generation farmers, all they ask for is a fair and even playing field. These farmers work hard, they play by the rules, and they shouldn't be punished, as this amendment would do. That's why I stand with the American family farms and not foreign government-subsidized sugar. Big corporate food processors are not moving overseas because of sugar costs; they are moving overseas to avoid providing health care and living wages to their workers. Furthermore, if Big Business is able to target one crop at a time, the entire farm bill loses its worth. If you support family farms, you will oppose this amendment.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, ensuring students can afford college is vital to ensuring our Nation's competitiveness in a global economy. A majority of new jobs in the next decade will require a college degree, which makes higher education an economic necessity for most Americans. Ensuring all students have the opportunity to go to college will strengthen our economy, grow our middle class, and invest in our future. Yet, education costs continue to rise year after year, pricing some people out of an education. College costs have dramatically increased. Over the last decade, the cost of attending a 4-year institution has increased 66 percent over the rate of inflation. For 2-year institutions, tuition and fees for students have increased 47 percent beyond the rate of inflation. According to the College Board, the annual cost of attending an in-State public college is now well over $22,000 a year. These rapidly rising costs are pricing hardworking families and students out of an education. Congress can--and must--act to ensure college remains affordable for hardworking families, and there are things that we can do to do just that. First, Congress must act immediately to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1. I've supported the Student Loan Relief Act, which would extend the current student loan interest rate, 3.4 percent, until 2015. Unfortunately, the Republican plan passed last week, the Making College More Expensive Act, would put college out of reach for many of my constituents and students across this country. I opposed the Republican plan, which would create a variable loan interest rate system, letting student loan rates spike, forcing students to pay higher interest rates. I continue to believe that students deserve the certainty of a fixed student loan interest rate. An ever-changing rate, as the Republican plan would provide, would create more anxiety and uncertainty for millions of families, and that's just the wrong approach. Hardworking students and parents have already been saddled with $1 trillion of student loan debt. Congress should be working to ease that burden. It's time that Congress return to regular order and prevent student loan interest rates from doubling at the end of the month. That means doing what we were sent here to do: going to conference to work out the differences between the House-passed version and the expected Senate version of this bill. The clock is ticking, and rates for millions of students will double on July 1 if we don't act. Congress shouldn't let rigid partisanship get in the way of preventing what equates to a massive tax hike on students and their families. Instead, let's do our job and legislate. Disagreement on parts of a bill is not an excuse for delay. Second, we should enact legislation to allow families to save more for college. Recently, I introduced a bill with my Republican colleague, Congressman Tim Walberg, giving greater flexibility to families to save money for tuition, books, and other educational expenses. This bill, the Helping Families Save for Education Act, would increase existing caps on Coverdell savings accounts and allow families to contribute more over longer periods of time. These types of accounts offer families a tax-advantaged choice to save for a child's educational expenses. Currently, families or beneficiaries can contribute a maximum of $2,000 a year. Our legislation would increase the maximum contribution annually for most working families. Families and students, under our legislation, would also be able to save for college for an additional 4 years, until the student turns 22 years old. Third, we must continue to provide and fully support Pell Grants, which provide needs-based grants to low-income students. No one who wants to go to college should be priced out of doing so. So I, along with my Democratic colleagues, stand ready and eager to ensure a college degree remains in reach for every student, no matter what their means. Finally, we must keep the cost of attending college low by continuing direct State and Federal support to universities. In my home State of Michigan, we are blessed with great public institutions that provide a world-class education to our citizens. Unfortunately though, in recent years we've seen direct financial support to these universities slashed. Such cuts are then passed on to students and families. If investing in education remains a priority for this Nation, we must invest in college for our students. I ask a simple question: What's more important than the education of our children?

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. I come from Flint, Michigan, a working class community. I represent Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, and it's a community that's proud of the fact that in this area--and it's true across the country--the notion has been that, if you work hard, if you train yourself, if you focus on a trade or go to school, you'll be paid a wage or a salary commensurate with the contribution that you make to the work that you're doing. We live in a time when we're seeing decreasing compensation for the value that the worker brings to the working place. Between 1945 and 1975, we saw worker productivity rise in this country by 97 percent, and we saw household income rise in that same 30-year period by 95 percent. There was some parity in the contribution that workers made and the compensation that they received. You fast-forward to the last 30-year period, and we've seen a period of economic growth and expansion, increased productivity--80 percent over the last 30 years-- but in real wages, a 10 percent increase in productivity. One of the reasons that we've seen such a drop is that we are not compensating the average workers for the quality and the work that they do and that they contribute to the highly productive society that we live in. This is yet another attempt to continue the race to the bottom, where we continue to see real wages go down and productivity continue to rise. I have done a tremendous amount of work in local development. As a public and private citizen, I have been involved in lots and lots of construction projects involving hundreds of millions of dollars, and I will tell you one thing: there is absolutely nothing sacrificed by making sure that the people who do this important work are paid wages that are fair and that fit the marketplace. It is not only good for those families that benefit from a decent and fair wage, but it supports those local employers and those small businesses that we all talk about every day that we're trying to support. Where does the money come from into communities that support those folks? It comes from the fact that the workers have a decent living wage that allows them to pay their bills, set a little money aside for their families and contribute to a local economy. Davis-Bacon wages contribute to the ability for workers to be trained as well. This is the wrong direction for this country. This is certainly the wrong direction in this particular budget connected to the work that our Nation does when what we fought for in this country was a society that rewards people for the quality and the quantity of their hard work and their training that they put to work in doing these tough construction jobs particularly. When we're already seeing private sector wages go down, we ought not as a Nation participate in this race to the bottom. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KILDEE. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, today we're considering the Republican's latest attack on workers' rights. Republicans are calling this bill the Working Families Flexibility Act, but a more appropriate name would be the More Work, Less Pay Act. This bill is bad for middle class families and would make life worse for workers. It would essentially end the 40-hour workweek by permitting employers to not pay overtime to workers who exceed 40 hours per week. Instead, it would allow employers to hold earned comp time in their control. It would allow employers to refuse the right of workers to take time off to help a family member in need or attend a parent-teacher conference. That's wrong, Mr. Speaker. Productivity of our Nation's workers is at an all-time high, yet again we see efforts to whittle down the rights of hardworking families. Instead of focusing on attacking workers, maybe we should focus on creating good-paying jobs. That's what our constituents want. That's what Americans want.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, my constituents and the American people deserve a budget. One of our principal duties in Congress is to pass a budget. Yet Congress has already missed the legal deadline this year because the Republican leadership has not yet appointed conferees to continue budget deliberations. Yesterday, I joined many of my colleagues in signing a resolution calling on the GOP leadership to appoint conferees to a conference committee to continue working on the fiscal year 2014 budget. After years of calling for regular order and for the Senate to pass a budget, which they did in March, I now find it ironic that Republicans are dragging their feet and stalling budget negotiations by refusing to appoint conferees. We certainly have differences of opinion regarding budget priorities, Mr. Speaker; but that's no excuse for continued dysfunction and delay. I ask you to appoint conferees today, and let's work to find a bipartisan compromise on a budget. Democrats stand ready to act to pass a budget that grows our economy, creates jobs, strengthens the middle class, and replaces the reckless, across-the-board sequester cuts.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Mershon Chapter of Trout Unlimited on the 50th anniversary of their founding. The chapter, located in my district in Saginaw, has played a key role in the birth and growth of Trout Unlimited nationally. This great achievement is a testament to their dedication and passion to fight for clean water, healthy trout and the continued enjoyment of trout fishing. Their contributions to our community and the Great Lakes region over the past 50 years are achievements to be celebrated and commended. The chapter has worked hard over the years to improve trout habitat and maintain Michigan's waterways, and I thank them for their efforts in community education and stream restoration projects. As a leader in environmental conservation, the Mershon Chapter has made great advancements in the scientific understanding and responsible treatment of trout. I commend the chapter's tireless work to restore the Au Sable River and Rifle River banks by dredging loose sediment, planting cedar trees, and moving rocks to combat run-off. Their work shoring riverbanks, by cabling structures that support the banks, has ensured that the rivers can continue to be used each spring for the transportation of timber to ports and mills. This work significantly benefits our economy, our environment and our community. Along with the entire Trout Unlimited organization, the chapter has dedicated thousands of hours to provide happiness and to improve the well-being of the people of Michigan, and the contributions the chapter has kindly donated to environmental restoration efforts has helped to ensure that future generations will continue to enjoy and benefit from Michigan's freshwater ecosystems. Furthermore, the waterways that they help protect assist in the state's commerce and provide fresh drinking water to millions of people who live in the Great Lakes area, which is essential to all residents in our state. Their leadership and influence will serve as an example to others in our area and has earned them the highest respect and honor. I want to thank the Mershon Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and congratulate them on their 50 years of service. I wish them another 50 years of success in the future.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, on April 9, 2013, I unfortunately missed three votes, which included rollcall votes 90, 91 and 92. If I had been present, I would have voted in favor of rollcall vote 90. If I had been present, I would have voted in favor of rollcall vote 91. Lastly, I would have voted in favor of rollcall vote 92.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, today, the Senate is taking up commonsense legislation to help reduce gun violence in America. I have and always will be a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, and I strongly support the constitutional rights of my constituents to own guns. This bipartisan legislation to expand background checks does not infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Instead, it strengthens our existing system of background checks to help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous offenders. Forty percent of guns sold in the United States currently don't go through background checks. Failing to act means that just anyone can continue to buy weapons at gun shows or over the Internet without being subject to a background check. The vast majority of Americans support background checks. Democrats and Republicans support background checks. The vast majority of responsible gun owners support background checks. It is commonsense legislation that should be enacted, and it will make our country safer. I urge the House to take this up as soon as the Senate completes its work.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the House Republicans and Congressman Ryan released their budget, which, unfortunately, once again seeks to balance the budget on the backs of seniors, the middle class, and the most vulnerable among us. The GOP budget presents the same failed policies that Americans rejected last fall. This budget is full of false realities, fuzzy math, and the wrong priorities. Instead of closing the corporate jet loophole, the Republican budget ends Medicare as we know it, turning health care for seniors into a voucher program. Instead of ending billions in tax subsidies for Big Oil, the Republican budget slashes Medicaid for the most vulnerable among us, turning it into a block grant program. And instead of asking the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share, it wants to kick millions of people off health care plans by repealing the Affordable Care Act--well, actually, repealing the parts of the Affordable Care Act that provide care for people but somehow preserving the cost savings and the revenues that it delivers. Instead of targeting the most vulnerable communities and placing the burden entirely on the middle class, Republicans should work with Democrats to put in place a balanced and bipartisan budget that puts Americans back to work.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, it's now March 5, and sequestration cuts are starting to take effect. Instead of working together to find a compromise that would avoid these automatic spending cuts, House Republicans stood by and watched the March 1 deadline come and go. Now, $85 billion in deep, indiscriminate cuts that will eliminate 31,000 Michigan jobs are upon us. These cuts will harm Michigan families and slash programs that my constituents rely on every day. And many of the most dire consequences of the sequester won't be felt immediately. The truth is, due to Republican inaction, the wheels are now in motion, and we are on a course that has real negative impacts on millions of Americans. Congress should be working to find a bipartisan solution to avoid these indiscriminate cuts. Democrats put forth a plan to stop the sequester. I know, I cosponsored it. House Republicans would not even let it come to the floor for a vote. Mr. Speaker, we need to work on an approach that will fix sequestration while reducing the deficit responsibly. I stand ready to act. So do my Democratic colleagues. Let's get to work.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, there are just 3 days before $85 billion in harmful across-the-board spending cuts take effect. And here we are again, with an all-too-familiar manufactured crisis poised to strike our economy with another self-inflicted wound. Month to month, crisis to crisis, this is no way to run the world's largest economy. Letting sequestration happen is not responsible government. The sequester was designed last year to scare Congress into responsibly reducing the deficit. It created a doomsday scenario: draconian damaging cuts--disliked by both parties--intended to force Democrats and Republicans to come up with a balanced alternative to reduce our deficit. Sequestration cuts are not targeted to eliminate waste or unnecessary programs. Rather, they slash programs across the board, regardless of their effectiveness. This threatens our economic progress, jeopardizes our military readiness, and reduces funding for national priorities like education and medical research. Mr. Speaker, sequestration would be devastating for Michigan and our Nation's economy. The sequester eliminates jobs at a time when Congress should be working to create them. Our country has been moving in the right direction: 35 straight months of private sector job growth; 6.1 million private sector jobs created. There's no doubt we can do more to grow our economy and the middle class, and letting sequestration happen is a giant step backward for our economy. Economists across the political spectrum agree that letting sequestration happen will slow our economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that sequester would reduce our economic growth by a third this year alone. Sequestration cuts affect the most vulnerable people: middle class families, seniors, students, people with disabilities, the unemployed, and those who may become unemployed if these cuts go into place. We can't pretend that these cuts are just numbers in a budget. If sequester is allowed to happen, Michigan alone stands to lose 31,000 jobs in just 6 months. There will be 750,000 jobs lost nationally by October. Michigan schools would lose $22 million in funding, eliminating 300 teachers and aides in the classroom. An additional $20 million would be cut for educational support for children with disabilities. Head Start would be eliminated for 2,300 Michigan children. Almost 2,500 low-income students in my State would no longer receive aid to help them pay for college. These cuts are real, Mr. Speaker. Just last week I cosponsored legislation with my Democratic colleagues to avoid the sequester, but Republicans won't even bring the bill to the floor for a vote. The Democrats plan to avoid sequester through responsible spending cuts, increased revenues, and promoting economic growth. Our plan eliminates taxpayer-funded subsidies for big oil companies. In a time of record oil profits and $4-a-gallon gasoline, it baffles me that our country continues to subsidize companies like ExxonMobil and BP; yet Republicans are willing to pink-slip 750,000 American workers just to protect billions of dollars in handouts for these five big oil companies. It's time to end these subsidies. There's no question that we need to cut the deficit, but we need to do it in a balanced way that protects the middle class. The Budget Control Act passed before I came to Congress reduced the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, mainly through spending cuts. There are certainly other areas that should be cut, but we should be strategic in cutting spending to reduce our deficit. Sequestration takes the exact opposite approach. It irrationally cuts programs that have proven to be effective and are worthwhile investments. Congress needs to act immediately in order to avert the sequester. Republican inaction threatens to leave these indiscriminate cuts in place, killing jobs, undermining public safety and first responders, and injecting more uncertainty into our markets, harming our economy. Our Nation cannot afford any more uncertainty, obstruction, and delay. Democrats are interested in real solutions, not sequesters. Mr. Speaker, now is the time to act.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, it's deja vu all over again. Here we are just 2 weeks--5 legislative days--away from sequestration, and yet the House is about to leave town for a 9-day recess. That's unacceptable. We should be working every day to avoid this sequester and to avert it. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem determined to make sequestration a reality. Democrats stand ready to work in a bipartisan manner to avoid this. Yesterday I met with Federal employees and college leaders from Michigan who are deeply concerned about how the cuts will affect middle class families, students, and senior citizens. Here's sequestration by the numbers: 750,000 jobs eliminated by October; 20 percent reduction in the Pentagon's operating budget; 70,000 children kicked out of Head Start; 21,000 fewer food and drug inspections; 4 million fewer meals served through the senior nutrition programs. We need to find a balanced and responsible approach to reduce our deficit, for sure, but not let irrational, across-the-board cuts take effect. Doing so will devastate this economic recovery.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, last night at his State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a real job creation plan to grow our economy and strengthen America's middle class. However, sequestration is just 15 days away, threatening to stall our economic recovery. Sequestration would be devastating for many programs and services that my constituents and all Americans rely on: Head Start; the Women, Infants and Children--WIC--nutrition plan; medical research funding; Indian Health Service; police officers; and food inspectors. Funding for all these crucial areas would be decimated. Sequestration would also make our country less safe by implementing reckless, across-the-board defense cuts. We've already reduced the deficit by $2.5 trillion, mostly through spending cuts. There's no question we can eliminate additional wasteful spending. However, we should be strategic in finding ways to reduce our deficit. With sequestration looming, Madam Speaker, Americans need real solutions, not another eleventh hour cliffhanger.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, America's manufacturing sector has played an invaluable role over the last century in propelling our economy and creating a strong and vibrant middle class. Manufacturing continues to be a bright spot in our economic recovery. Since 2010, the U.S. has added over half a million manufacturing jobs. That's progress. But in a time where millions of Americans continue to struggle, we can and must do more. Congress should be working every day to rebuild our economy and create good paying jobs right here in America, not overseas. That's why I support the Make it in America agenda, which will strengthen manufacturing and rebuild our infrastructure. It will also maintain our Nation's leadership in innovation and educate a 21st century workforce. The Make it in America agenda is a real jobs plan for this country. Democrats stand ready to act. Mr. Speaker, my constituents and all Americans cannot wait any longer.

Mr. KILDEE

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, last week on the fourth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, I met with women leaders in my district to discuss the importance of ensuring women earn equal pay for equal work. The women I met with told personal and powerful stories of how continued wage disparities have affected their families. In cities like Flint, Saginaw, and Bay City, women still only earn about 74 cents for every dollar that men do. That is unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, the time is long overdue for women to be paid equal pay for equal work. Women make up half of our workforce, yet they are not paid the same as men for the same work. This means women have less money for groceries, for rent, for child care, and for the everyday needs of their families. Mr. Speaker, that's why I have cosponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act, which seeks to close disparities in pay. It's time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. Until women receive equal pay for equal work, we will not be the just society that we ought to be.