Ed Perlmutter

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, how much time does each side have remaining?

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I reserve my time so we can kind of even up.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I continue to reserve.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I'd like, Madam Speaker, to yield 1 minute to my friend from New York, Mr. Bishop. (Mr. BISHOP of New York asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PERLMUTTER. At this time, Madam Speaker, I'd like to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California, Ms. Barbara Lee.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee, and as she's getting ready, I would say to my friend, Dr. Price from Georgia, there's not anything in that bill about mice, $30 million for mice. We talked about it yesterday. It's not in there, and I challenge him. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I would like to inquire how much time remains, Madam Speaker.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I'd like to yield 1 minute to my friend from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I would like to yield 1 minute to my friend from Ohio (Mr. Boccieri).

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah).

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, how much time do we each have?

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I would like to reserve the balance of my time for closing.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, my friend from California's story about the gentleman who committed suicide underscores the urgency of this matter. This is not a time for delay. This is not a time for inaction. It is a time for action. The President has requested this bill get passed to put America back to work. This bill will maintain or create 3.6 million jobs. We've lost hundreds of thousands of jobs over the course of the last few months. We need to stop that downward spiral and this will do that. It has five major components. First there's construction and reconstruction of our infrastructure. Current jobs, long-term investment. A look to the new energy future, new jobs in science and technology, in health care and in energy. It gives our States a chance to stay on their feet by backfilling some of their losses for teachers and firefighters and policemen and maintenance workers. There is a tax cut for 95 percent of America in this bill. Finally, there is a piece that helps those folks who have been hurt by this downturn with Medicaid and food stamps and unemployment insurance. This bill is a fantastic step forward. There will be a series of steps that have to be taken and it will take time. But we have faith in the American people. We have faith in this country. We are going to change the direction of this Nation and put 3.5 million people back to work. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question.

Mr. PERLMUTTER

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 157 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I'd like first to respond to my friend from North Carolina when she was making complaints about the States and the States should stand on their own. Generally I would agree with that. The trouble is we're in some unprecedented times. In Colorado, for instance, our economy was humming along. We were doing very well. And in the last 3 months, we've seen things really come to a halt in many ways, and job losses have been mounting. This is the same thing that is occurring across the country. And unless we jolt this economy back moving in the right direction, we're going to have greater and greater trouble for a longer and longer period of time. And I would just point, as my good friend knows, to an economist named Mark Zandi--who was the consultant and adviser to Senator McCain--in a report that he gave to people on January 21, 2009, about the importance of moving a major piece of legislation like this forward so that we develop jobs across this country. And the proposal that the Republicans had put forth, instead of 3.5 million jobs, was only going to create 1.3 million jobs. And it was based only on tax cuts, which is sort of what we heard through the last 8 years: Let's cut taxes, let's prosecute a war in Iraq, let's turn this country's finances upside down. It's time to change the direction of this Nation. That's what we're doing with this bill. We want to get it going again. We want to create a good future for ourselves, our kids, and our grandkids and leave them with a country they can be proud of. And that starts with this administration of Barack Obama. It is going to be key that we pass this recovery act. But the bill in front of us, the rule in front of us is about suspension measures. And as you mentioned there are Abraham Lincoln, and at this point we expect the Heart Association, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Ms. Ephraim. The bill on the Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be taken up, and it will have 500,000 jobs being created to develop a smart grid, advanced battery technology, and energy efficiency across the country, tax incentives to spur energy savings and green jobs, energy efficiency savings in homes across the country, upgrading low- to moderate-income housing that is either owned or underwritten by the Housing and Urban Development authority across the country, transforming our economy with new science and technology, lowering health care costs. One of the key pieces--and to my friend from North Carolina as you were complaining about assisting the States--is maintaining our teachers in our local schools who have seen their tax revenue fall off, who have seen the ability of the States to help them fall off. I know I want my kids to get the best education they can get. I don't want there to be any disruption, and I want them to be in schools that are well constructed. This bill will help do that. Finally, the Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been an effort at bipartisanship unlike anything that I've seen while I have been in Congress. President Obama reaching out to your side of the aisle, inviting and participating with the members of your caucus, much of the bill being driven by at least three Republican Senators--two from Maine and one from Pennsylvania. The use of the moneys will be on the web so that every American or anybody across the globe who wants to check in to see how the money is being used and where it's going will be visible and open and apparent to them. This is a time we must act, and we are going to act. We're going to get this country back on track. We're going to change the direction of this Nation. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I'd like to know how much time remains on both sides.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. No. I will wait and speak in my time. Okay. Thank you very much.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, House Resolution 157 authorizes the Speaker to entertain motions for the House to suspend the rules at any time between now and tomorrow. As most Members know, clause 1(a) of rule XV of the Standing Rules of the House only allows for consideration of bills under suspension of the rules on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The House has before us today and tomorrow many bills honoring the service of great Americans, recognizing the achievement of amazing athletes, and bringing attention to Americans issues affecting millions of our countrymen. In order for the House to proceed, we must allow for consideration of these matters under suspension. Therefore, the House must pass House Resolution 157. Should this resolution pass, the House will debate several measures of importance to the American people. First is House Resolution 110 by Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, which congratulates the Pittsburgh Steelers for winning Super Bowl XLIII. It's hard for me to say that, because I am a lifelong Denver Broncos fan, and it hurts to see the Pittsburgh Steelers winning that game. But it was certainly one of the Super Bowl's most exciting games ever, and the Steelers played a tough and entertaining game that earned them the championship. The final minutes of that game will surely go down in football history as some of the most thrilling ever. While the Steelers did well this year, next year they're going to have to go through Denver if they want to repeat. Second is House Resolution 112 by Representative Christopher Lee of New York, which expresses support for American Heart Month and the National Wear Red Day. Roughly 80 million Americans have some form of heart disease. Many forms of heart disease are preventable through proper diet and exercise. And as a member of the Congressional Fitness Caucus, we continually strive to promote these principles of healthy living. Representative Lee's resolution promoting awareness of heart disease will demonstrate Congress' commitment to saving lives across this Nation. House Resolution 139 by Representative Phil Hare of Illinois commemorates the bicentennial of the birth of our great President, Abraham Lincoln. I certainly cannot describe the achievements and history of President Lincoln in the manner in which he deserves. Every Member of Congress knows Abraham Lincoln gave his life for his country and saved our Nation, as does almost every single person in this country. Honoring his bicentennial is a small token to show our gratitude. And today we will have a ceremony at 11:30 Eastern Standard Time in the Capitol Rotunda honoring President Lincoln's birthday, and President Obama will attend that ceremony. House Resolution 663, by Representative John Barrow of Georgia, designates a post office in Sparta, Georgia, as the Yvonne Ingram- Ephraim Post Office. Yvonne Ingram-Ephraim was a beloved elected official in Sparta, Georgia, and designating a post office in her honor is a wonderful tribute. These bills and resolutions celebrate great Americans and bring attention to an issue important to millions of Americans. I look forward to hearing more about these bills and resolutions so that the House of Representatives can express to the Nation our recognition of these individual and team achievements. For this reason, I hope we will agree to the resolution. There is an additional provision in the resolution which amends the rules of the 111th Congress so that we can convene at 9 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, instead of 10 a.m., so that we can begin our work earlier, in hopes that we can return to our families and our homes and our districts earlier on those days. This is an important rule which will allow us to debate several matters, and will allow a change to our rules so we can return to our districts a little earlier on Fridays and Saturdays. I urge my colleagues to support this rule. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this resolution.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. To my good friend, let me reserve the balance of my time and turn it back over to you.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. To my good friend from North Carolina, I have seen the House version and I have seen the Senate version, and I have highlights of the compromise. That's what I have. And so between the House version and the Senate version and the description that we received, the outline that we received as the bill is being drafted, as the compromise is being drafted, I can tell you what's in the bill. And I'm not going to let my friend from Georgia trivialize this thing because too many people's lives are at stake here.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. The Fifth. Let's see what you would get. You would get approximately 7,600 jobs. So this is about jobs across this country. We've been losing jobs at an incredible rate, at a rate of at least 600,000 jobs per month for the last 3 months. We must stop it. We must stop that job loss now. We cannot let it go any further. There were 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. It is time to reverse this. We cannot continue to go on this path. We are going into a spiral. The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to rejuvenate this economy and to get it back on track. It is not going to be easy. It will take a series of bills and efforts, and it will take time, but this is about action, about action now. So let's talk about what is really in the bill. First of all, there are no earmarks. For anybody and everybody who is listening to me speak this morning: There are no earmarks in this bill. There is no earmark for rats in San Francisco. There is money that goes to the EPA and to the Department of the Interior for the cleanup of wetlands or for maintaining wetlands. Apparently, this is on a list of ready-to-go projects, but it, like many others, must compete within the departments for that money. It is not a specific earmark within the bill. Now, that trivializes this bill. This bill is in five parts. The first part is construction and the reconstruction of this country. It is new construction for roads, bridges, transit, and the energy grid. It is billions of dollars which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. In fact, this bill is intended to maintain or to create 3.5 million jobs in America for Americans. Number one, construction. Number two, it is to really capitalize on the science and technology that we have within this country. It is so that we develop a new energy economy, energy research, energy development, energy manufacturing so that we are not hooked on oil from across the seas and so that we aren't at the whim of countries that, in some instances, would not like to see us do well. So this is about developing a new energy economy, and there are thousands and thousands of jobs, including upgrading some million homes across America to energy-efficient standards. One, it is jobs. It is jobs for carpenters, laborers, electricians, and for steelworkers--every kind of job imaginable. It is for lots of small businesses and for lots of contractors, and it has the added benefit of helping to reduce our energy consumption. Wow, that would be a real wonderful thing if we could have that. There are also billions of dollars in this to upgrade our medical information technology, our health information technology, so that records are available to doctors, to hospitals, to health care providers so that there are no mistakes, so that there are clear directions, but there are also safeguards within the bill to make sure that people's personal health privacy issues are protected. That is an important element to move us forward in the health care industry. Ultimately, it will save billions of dollars. First of all, there is IT business, IT work in here for a whole variety of people, and it ultimately will save the health care system and our country billions of dollars. I want to get through the five sections, and I will yield to you for 30 seconds or so. The first piece is construction and reconstruction of this country so that we have jobs now and an investment for the long term. The second piece is innovation and science and creating a new energy economy. And also there is significant money in this bill for the National Institutes of Health, NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control to develop new ways to combat various diseases across this country. The third section is to assist our States who have seen their revenue fall off tremendously because people are not earning incomes, businesses are not deriving revenues, business has fallen off, people are being laid off. And so the States have tremendous shortfalls which will result in the loss of jobs across America through our State governments and our local governments at a time when we can least afford it. We need people to be doing teaching, we need our policemen, we need our firefighters, we need our maintenance workers, we need our engineers. We need the people in the system who are going to help folks who have been laid off, for goodness sakes. Tremendous piece in this bill to help our States maintain the services that they provide today because those are safety nets. Those are important across the board. The fourth piece is the tax cut piece, and my friend from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) was talking about tax cuts. In this bill, 35 percent of the bill is devoted to tax cuts, and 95 percent of Americans will benefit by this bill with respect to tax cuts, not the wealthiest 5 percent, but 95 percent of us in middle income and the middle income range. So 95 percent of Americans will benefit by this bill in terms of certain tax cuts, as will small businesses. Unlike the prior administration, which focused on the wealthiest people in America and gave them tax cuts, this administration and this Congress will look out for the regular American, the regular Joe and Jill out there so that they can benefit by some tax cuts and not just the richest people in America. The fifth piece in this bill is to assist folks who are hurting, who've been laid off, who need unemployment insurance, who may need Medicaid because they can't get any medical care otherwise, who may need food stamps. So it's just the basic assistance that this country gives to its people in times of trouble. So this bill--and it is a big bill, no doubt about it--but we have a big problem to combat. And the purpose of this is to create jobs and maintain jobs and rebuild this country, and that's precisely what it does. And I'm not going to allow my good friend from Georgia to trivialize this bill. It is too big and it is too important. And I appreciate his comments, but we've got to focus on the key piece of this which is jobs and taking this country into the future instead of hanging back as we have over the past 8 years. With that, I would yield my friend 30 seconds.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. I will yield in a moment, but first, I want to talk a little bit about what is actually in the Recovery Act and not as it has been trivialized by my good friend from Georgia. First of all, in looking at some notes we have here, he, in his district--and I think it is the First District of Georgia--would get 7,700 jobs from the bill that is being considered. The Republicans had two Members from the House as part of the conference committee, and the Republicans had at least two Members on the Senate conference team, and the Senate chaired the entire conference. So if he rails about anything, he ought to rail against his friends and against his colleagues who were on the committee for not sharing information with him. His Republican colleagues had a chance and have been part and parcel of every discussion if they've wanted to be. So let's just shove that aside and really talk about what the bill is about. The bill is about jobs, jobs all across this country, from 7,700 new jobs in his district in the Savannah, Georgia area to my neighborhood in Colorado, to Lakewood, to Wheat Ridge, to Arvada, to Aurora where I get approximately 7,600 jobs. Ms. Foxx, I'm not sure which district you represent in North Carolina.

Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I appreciate my friend from Georgia who has gotten my blood boiling at 10:15 in the morning. So, to my friend from Georgia, I have to say, first of all, the rule that we have before us is about the Pittsburgh Steelers, the American Heart Month, Abraham Lincoln, and about Ms. Ephraim. I look forward to him and to our other colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle voting against the rule for Abraham Lincoln, for the Pittsburgh Steelers, for the American Heart Month, and for Ms. Ephraim. The focus needs to be on those four suspension rules, but since he has brought up the fact that he is concerned----