Mark Pocan

Mr. POCAN

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. During our Special Order hour, we want to talk specifically about the need for unemployment insurance but, more broadly, about what we need to do to make sure that everyone in this country has access to opportunity. Just yesterday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty. President Johnson said, during his State of the Union in 1964: Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope, some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity. This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. It will not be a short or easy struggle. No single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won. The richest nation on Earth can afford to win it. We cannot afford to lose it. Those are the words of President Johnson 50 years ago when we started the war on poverty in this country. We created Medicare and Medicaid, the food stamp program and programs like Head Start. And we have great results from those programs. In fact, according to a new study, these initial programs, coupled with expansion of pro-work and pro-family programs, like the earned income tax credit, have helped reduce poverty by nearly 40 percent since the 1960s. The poverty line fell from 26 percent in 1967 to 16 percent in 2012, when the safety net is taken into account. Now, while there has been a lot of progress, we still have far too many people in this country who are still living in poverty or on the brink of living in poverty. Fifteen percent of Americans today are living below the poverty line, and that is just $11,490 for an individual. 46.5 million people in our country are living in poverty, and one in three Americans teeters on the brink of living in poverty. That includes 16 million children in this country. That is more than 700,000 people in my home State of Wisconsin. According to the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in Rock County, in my district, a county that I share with Congressman Paul Ryan, 22 percent of the children in that county are living in poverty. We still have vast inequality, income inequality. We have unlivable wages. And we still have Members of this body, Mr. Speaker, who want to chip away at that very economic security. It almost seems like today it is not a war on poverty, but sometimes it seems like there is a war on the war on poverty, that we are actually stepping backwards from the very improvements we made over the years from 1960. In fact, what we noticed that just happened was the not extending of the benefits, emergency unemployment benefits back in December, on December 28. It has affected 1.3 million Americans. Not only do we have issues like that, but we also have an attack on food stamps, where this very body has voted to cut $39 billion from the SNAP program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--$39 billion--affecting millions and millions of Americans. We have seen attempts to not allow us to raise the minimum wage, a minimum wage that is entirely behind where it should be. If you took into consideration where it should be, just for inflation from 1968, that minimum wage in 2013 dollars would be at $10.60--not $7.25, at $10.60. We are way behind keeping up with inflation. Income inequality is at an all-time high. We are finding that incomes for the top 1 percent have grown more than 31 percent since 2009, and the bottom 99 percent of people, their income has moved less than 1 percent. So we are in a challenging time. We know that there was an economic downfall across the globe, and especially hard hit, we feel it in this country. And while we are having dual activities happen, jobs are creeping back up, we are having progress, but still, 7 percent of people are unemployed. And while we have got those jobs creeping up, we still also notice that people are being left behind with this economy, and that is exactly why we have tried to do things like extending the unemployment insurance benefits for people. But unfortunately, in this body, in this very body, Mr. Speaker, austerity has ruled the day. Austerity has taken place, instead of prosperity. Instead of doing measures that would lift people out of poverty and help people get a job and help people be able to support their families, we are trying to take government down and down and down, like they did in Europe, and they have had disastrous results from doing that. That is not a path out of our current economic condition. We need to be investing in our people so that they have those opportunities. They can grab a ring at that ladder and get a good job and be able to get by. So there are so many things we need to do. Unfortunately, these attacks aren't just in this body, in the Congress. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, these attacks are even happening in the States. In my home State of Wisconsin, our Governor, Scott Walker, was recently on a CNN program. And when he was asked about extending unemployment benefits, his response was, the reason why the White House is so actively pursuing this, unemployment insurance, is they want to desperately talk about anything but ObamaCare. Can you believe the Governor of a State who is 37th in job creation, who promised when he was elected to create 250,000 jobs, and he has done a portion of that, is somehow trying to say that helping people to get out of poverty, helping people to be able to support their family with groceries and to be able to pay their rent or mortgage, at a time of still having record people who are out of work, while we are trying to start getting jobs to come back, at 7 percent, at that time, Mr. Speaker, that Governor can still only talk about ObamaCare, as all too often this body has done. We need to act now. The time to act on this, for this body, is now. 1.3 million people are currently out of work and trying to get those benefits they need so desperately during that period that have been cut off. And every week, across the country, 72,000 new Americans will lose their benefits if we don't do something--72,000 thousand people across the country. Mr. Speaker, in our Speaker of the House's district alone, you look at the largest cities in that district in Ohio: Springfield, Ohio, 60,000 people, that would be like having your entire city of Springfield go unemployed in a single week; in the city of Hamilton, 62,000 people, 1 week, all out of work; Middleton, 48,000 people, you can take that and the surrounding communities, all in 1 week, out of work if we don't do something. That is why, Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that this body do something. 1.3 million Americans have lost these benefits at the end of December, including 20,000 military veterans who aren't getting the benefits they need. These are hardworking people who are still trying to find jobs in this economy, but there are just not enough jobs yet available. And in many fields it is even tougher. Right now, 24,000 Wisconsinites have lost these important, vital lifelines, and the number just keeps going up every single week by 72,000 people. Yet, Mr. Speaker, the House Republicans adjourned Congress on December 12, more than 2 weeks before these benefits were set to expire. We could have done something, we could have stayed and worked, and instead we didn't. Now, because of that, we have 1.3 million and counting people who don't have access to these vital benefits. Now, let's just think about this. Under President Bush, five times we extended these benefits without any strings attached like this Congress is trying to do to this President, five times, and the unemployment was less than the 7 percent we are at right now. It is hypocritical for us not to do what we all did together five times under President Bush while people are still looking for work. The bottom line is you still need this money, not just to pay for groceries and to pay for rent or your mortgage, but you need things to be able to get a job. If you don't have the ability to pay for gas in your car, how are you going to be able to find a job? You need to be able to have that car to go to interviews to find a job. You need to be able to pay for your phone so you can receive a phone call for these jobs. These are all reasons why we need to make sure those benefits are available for all too many people in this country. There is also what happens to the economy when you don't have these benefits in place. Just in the first week since Congress cut off long- term unemployment, our local economies across America lost $400 million of potential economic activity, and that is going to grow every single week. So it is a double-whammy: not only the people who are desperately looking for work, trying to find that job, not able to find that job, but we are also going to have even more people be unemployed because of the overall impact that has on the economy. It has been said that 200,000 jobs would be lost in 2014, and we are going to decrease the gross domestic product simply by not doing these benefits. The bottom line is, there are so many reasons why we need to do this. Later, I am going to talk more about my State of Wisconsin and why it is important. I am joined by one of my colleagues here today who is actually the cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Representative Raul Grijalva. Representative Grijalva has served in Congress for six terms. He is a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and he also serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, where he is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. He is a tremendous Member of Congress. He has been a mentor to many of us who are freshmen, who recently have joined, and is a very strong member of our Progressive Caucus, speaking on behalf of each and every American who needs opportunity. It is my pleasure to yield now to the gentleman from Arizona, Representative Grijalva.

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POCAN. I have all sorts of stories that I would read but I don't have time to from construction workers who are out of work and need these benefits, from machinists who are out of work, a surgical nurse in Baraboo, Wisconsin. There are so many people who need these benefits, and the very stories that Representative Cartwright shared, I just have pages of these stories of people across the country who need these benefits to continue to get by while they are looking for work. They are not lazy. They are not sitting back. They want to work. And in this economy, they are doing everything they can to try to, but the economy is not ready for some of these people and we have to do everything we can. I do want to read one story. I had an opportunity this afternoon to meet with a constituent from Reedsburg, Wisconsin. She was recently the winner of Half in Ten's Our American Story: 50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty Storytelling Contest. Her name is Amy Treptow. She was here with her daughter, Anna. She has benefited from programs that we have put together for people who are lower income. I will read her words: I have always worked hard and played by the rules, but I was still living on the brink of poverty. My story is the story of millions in today's economy in which there aren't enough jobs and/or adequate training for the ones that are available. The basic need for more good jobs and training programs seems to be overlooked in today's conversation about poverty. I am a veteran and a divorced mother with two children. I went to school to become an elementary schoolteacher but wasn't able to find full-time employment, so I enrolled in a skills enhancement program at my local community action agency in Wisconsin. The program assists low-income adults that are working a minimum of 20 hours per week to gain job skills in order to be able to have a job that pays a living wage with health benefits. I was working as a contract teacher making $15,184 a year, which is far below the poverty line for a family of three. Once I enrolled in the program, I started to take coursework to get certified as a reading specialist. The program helped me with the tuition and other school expenses and provided me with case management services. I was also living in section 8 housing and received housing counseling, as well as participating in the agency's Family Self-Sufficiency Program. I am now a full-time employee with benefits as a reading specialist instructor helping low-income children, along with two other jobs, and I now own my own home. And she goes on. By providing these safety nets, the very safety nets that we celebrated yesterday on the 50-year anniversary of the war on poverty, we have helped someone like Amy and her family lift themselves out of poverty, but we have to do that right now in helping others. I would like to, at this point, yield some time to my colleague from Illinois, someone who has been a mentor to me my entire career in the legislature, and so glad to serve with her now in Congress, a very staunch Progressive, Representative Jan Schakowsky from the State of Illinois.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Cartwright, for not only your long-time advocacy on behalf of so many people, but for sharing the personal stories, because I think that is what matters the most. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Jackson Lee. I think you clearly explained the dilemma we have. While the economy is slowly bouncing back--and this President has brought us from a 9.8 percent unemployment rate he inherited down to 7 percent--and jobs are slowly being created, we still are noticing that there are still people being left behind. We have to recognize that as well. I believe Secretary Robert Reich wrote a piece that appeared today that explained that so well. Unfortunately, due to income inequality, the gap of the percentage of people who are poor, are working but still are not earning enough, we need to talk about that as well. I now yield to another one of my colleagues, one of my freshman colleagues who in fact has been elected by our Democratic class as the freshman class president. He serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs, and is also on the Committee on Natural Resources. It is my honor to yield to Representative Matt Cartwright from Pennsylvania.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much. It is so important to note that 37 percent of the people who receive these benefits have been searching for a job over 6 months, the very people who are going to be affected, 72,000 a week if this House doesn't act. I now yield to another colleague, someone who has been a stalwart member of the Progressive Caucus, is the senior whip for the Democratic Caucus, and she is currently a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee and a strong advocate for people who are trying to lift themselves out of poverty and find opportunity in America. It is my pleasure to yield to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Jeffries, and thank you for articulating, I guess, what I have been feeling also for the last year, my lack of hostage-taking skills. I certainly learned some in the last 12 months serving in this body. It is now my pleasure to yield some time to my colleague from California, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is the first Mexican American woman to be elected to Congress. She cofounded the bipartisan Congressional Study Committee on Public Health. She became the first woman to chair the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and serves as the chairwoman of their health care task force.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Waters. Your efforts over the years have been so appreciated by so many, and I hope the House Republican leadership will listen to your pleas and bring this to a vote. It is now my honor to introduce one of my fellow freshmen who has rapidly been recognized not only for his hard work and effort, but for his skills, and his work on behalf so many across this country. I would like to yield some time to my colleague Representative Jeffries.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Congressman Grijalva, for so articulately outlining the austerity policy of the House Republican leadership and their stunning lack of ability to get anything done to help the 1.3 million people who are out of work and the 72,000 Americans each and every week that are going to lose their benefits if this House doesn't act. It is now my pleasure to introduce a stalwart progressive in the U.S. Congress, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, as well as a member of the House Steering and Policy Committee. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. It is my honor to now yield to Representative Maxine Waters.

Mr. POCAN

Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative Polis from Colorado. Again, you have been an outstanding advocate on behalf of the American worker. And I too did the exact same thing. I looked at sections of this, and my staff weren't allowed; but even more troubling, I wasn't allowed to take notes about the language of these agreements. But from what I saw in the agreements was definitely no better than past agreements and very likely could be worse when it comes to labor standards and when it comes to our procurement policies allowing us to have Buy American laws. So the Congressional Progressive Caucus today really wanted to highlight the American worker. And the two issues that we wanted to highlight tonight, one was the need to raise the minimum wage, something we expect the Senate may be taking up yet this year, and that we hope this body will take up. And let's raise that minimum wage to $10.10, just like the proposal that we have before Congress. Secondly, let's make sure we have fair trade deals, not just free trade, but fair trade deals that protect the American worker, protect the environment, protect our businesses around intellectual property and other concerns. We can do that. And the Congressional Progressive Caucus will continue to do that. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you again, Representative DeLauro, for your many years of advocacy for the American worker and your continued strong passionate advocacy on behalf of the American worker. Thank you. One of the things that, as we talked about the various provisions, there are literally over 20 chapters that involve everything from labor conditions, the environment, procurement, food safety, intellectual property, on and on. This is a wide, wide variety of topics that are covered in the trade deal. And the fact that Congress could maybe lose its say through a fast track agreement would be completely egregious because we are elected by the people. We have to represent our constituents and make sure we defend that worker in our district. If you take away Congress' voice, that is wrong. Whether it is done by a Democrat or a Republican, we must have our say. People will say that somehow we are anti-trade. We are, in fact, very much pro-trade. We just want it to be fair trade. We want it to be drafted carefully and correctly, and I believe you can do that. But when you have an agreement like we have seen with past agreements and what we expect so far to see in the TPP from some of the leaked text, it looks again that the interest of global corporations will be ahead of the good of the American worker. There are situations where a foreign-owned business could have more power than our own sovereign courts on issues, and where Buy American policies can be undermined, where corporations can be incentivized to move their production offshore, and it can engage us in a race to the bottom on worker protections, wages and rights. And the American worker gets left behind. We simply can't do that. We need to make sure that Congress has every possible say in a trade agreement, especially something as wide as the Trans Pacific Partnership can include. We need to know what is in these laws; and if you think about it, we don't know that. You just heard Representative DeLauro and me, who have been following this issue, we don't even know exactly what is being negotiated in this agreement. So we have a lot of questions, and we have very few answers. Does the agreement do anything to tackle currency manipulation? We don't know. Does it include enforceable environmental and labor standards? We don't know. And how much does it deal with the blatantly non-trade items from, food safety to financial regulations to Internet freedom? Once again, the answer is we don't know. Yet, despite all these unanswered questions, despite the fact that most Members of Congress have barely gotten a chance to see leaked portions of the agreement, and despite the fact that this deal will have lasting repercussions on our economy and our workers, once again, there is word that we are hearing they are going to try to fast track this through Congress. And that simply is not acceptable. Given all the lingering questions that we have out there on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, I firmly believe that rushing this bill through Congress is both dangerous and irresponsible. Just earlier this year, I led a letter, with 35 other freshman Democrats, expressing similar concerns about transparency and making sure that we have a bill, a trade deal that is in the best interest of our constituents, our workers. Madam Speaker, our job in Congress is to represent the people who sent us here. It is not our job to represent the interests of foreign corporations or CEOs who want to find the cheapest labor they can to increase their profit margins, and it is not our job to sit on the sidelines while more bad trade deals get passed through this body. We have a responsibility to the American worker to ensure that they can compete on an even playing field with workers across the world. If we compete on an even playing field, we will always win. We have the work ethic. We have the ability to do that. But unless we are given that equal opportunity, the American workforce cannot be treated in a fair and sustainable way. They can't compete when their jobs are shipped overseas, or their wages get driven down so low that they face almost unlivable conditions. We can and must do better for our workforce. We can raise the minimum wage. We can pass job-first trade deals. We can invest in our workforce through education and job-training programs that prepare the American people for the challenges of the 21st century. That is what the Congressional Progressive Caucus is committed to doing, and that is what I am committed to doing. That is why I encourage the entire body to help us move forward. Madam Speaker, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has done the best we could tonight to try to raise----

Mr. POCAN. And medicine. Much less labor standards. We know in Vietnam the wage is 28 cents an hour. That is 4 percent of our currently already low minimum wage. To think that somehow we can have fair trade with a country that has 28 cents as minimum wage, that the factories have violated safety requirements eight out of 10 times they have been inspected, that workers routinely fail to get the minimum 4 days a month of rest. This is not a trade partner that you can have in a trade agreement that is going to at least raise the level for American workers. It can only lower the level. And another concern I know you and I have had, Representative DeLauro, has been on procurement and what exactly is in this agreement on procurement. I was an author, when I was in the State Legislature in Wisconsin, of Buy America laws, to make sure that our tax dollars went to goods that supported American workers. The very language that has been in these trade agreements could take away our ability to have Buy Local and Buy American laws, and we need to change that. So, again, thank you so much for your efforts on this. We are going to work with many other colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do what we can to defeat this fast track.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you, Representative DeLauro, not only for your long history of standing up for the American worker and trying to get fair trade and not just free trade, but also for really giving a strong explanation about the problem with food coming into our country.

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to talk about the engine of our economy--the American worker. The American worker is known for their ingenuity, their work ethic, their drive, and their ability to get things done faster, better, and more efficiently than our competition. But also, unfortunately, the American worker is working harder than ever and they still aren't getting ahead. The obstacles facing our workforce have never been greater. Too many people are still unemployed or underemployed, too few possess 21st century skills needed by employers, and the workforce protections fought for by generations are under attack like never before. But tonight, the Congressional Progressive Caucus would like to focus on two issues promoting worker fairness: First, we want to ensure that we value and respect work through a fair wage; and second, we want to ensure that our country pursues fair--not free, but fair--trade deals that ensure American workers can compete on a level playing field. Mr. Speaker, we are now in the biggest sales season of the year. Having already passed Black Friday and Cyber Monday, businesses are relying on the sales of the next month for their yearly profits. But a major problem faces our retailers this season. Too many people, many of them employed by retailers themselves, do not make enough money to purchase the consumer goods that drive our economy. It has been 4 years since minimum wage workers have received a pay raise. Since that point, incomes of the top 1 percent have grown more than 31 percent, while CEO pay is 354 times that of the average employee. Meanwhile, the minimum wage, in its real value, is at historic lows. Adjusted for inflation, the 1968 minimum wage was at $10.60 an hour in 2013 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index. The minimum wage today is only $7.25. That comes out to approximately $15,000 a year for an individual and $30,000 a year for a family with two parents. The typical big business CEO, who got a 16 percent raise in 2012, got paid $15.1 million. That person will make more in a couple of hours than a full-time minimum wage worker will make in an entire year. Making $15,000 a year working full time is simply not enough to get by in the United States. Think about the cost of rent, food, transportation. These costs keep going up, but the minimum wage does not. Is there any wonder why tomorrow Americans across the country will strike at food stores for a livable wage. I joined one of these food strikes earlier this year in Madison, and I was inspired by the encourage of workers when they spoke out and took the risk of losing their job in order to talk about the low wages they were receiving. Something is wrong when in the richest country in the world, full-time workers have to strike because they can't afford their basic living expenses. When millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules can't support themselves or their families, when they live in poverty, we face an economic crisis. Consumer spending goes down, deficits go up, and the gap between the small group of the very rich and the large group of the very poor grows even wider. Mark Zandi, a chief economist for Moody's Analytics, recently said for the economy to thrive, we need everyone participating. Mr. Speaker, corporate profits are thriving. The stock market is thriving. The top 10 percent of the country are thriving. According to tax expert David Cay Johnston, the top 10 percent earners took in 150 percent of the increased income in this country between 2009 and 2011. In fact, 40 percent of the increased income since 2009 went to the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, those making at least $8 million in 2011. But do you know who is not thriving? Well, pretty much everyone else. During that same time period, incomes fell for the bottom 90 percent of Americans, and the minimum wage continued to lose its value. This is not a sustainable future for our economy. As the President said today in a speech, the combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe. Democrats proposed a solution, and we are honored to have the President's backing. Congressman George Miller of California and Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa have introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013. This bill, which already has 150 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, would gradually increase the minimum wage over 3 years from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour, and it would be indexed in the future to increases in inflation thereafter. I have already detailed the negative effects of today's unlivable minimum wage; but if we pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act, 30 million Americans would receive a pay raise. Thirty million Americans would have more money in their wallets to support their families and therefore support our still-recovering economy. And who are these 30 million Americans, Mr. Speaker? Critics charge that these are all a bunch of high school students trying to make a little extra cash, get some work experience, and if you raise the minimum wage, you will take away opportunities from young people. Well, let me put that claim to rest. It is a myth. Nearly 90 percent of the workers who make the minimum wage are 20 years or older. More than half are over 25 years old, and 55 percent work full time. In other words, they rely on minimum wage for their full-time work; and 44 percent have some type of a college education, an associate degree or a bachelor's degree or higher. And 56 percent of those low-wage workers are women. And yet the critics still persist with these myths that somehow raising the minimum wage will slow down hiring, especially for small businesses. Just last month, Speaker Boehner was asked about the minimum wage and he said: When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens, you get less of it. He continued: At a time when the American people are still asking the question, Where are the jobs? why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people? Well, Speaker Boehner has a very different experience than we have heard from experts across the country and my experience as a legislator in the State of Wisconsin. Every single time we raised the minimum wage in recent history in Wisconsin, more people entered the workforce. It actually created more jobs by offering that increased wage. More people decided they were willing to go out and work. The same has been shown to be true at the national level. I support raising the minimum wage, as do Businesses For a Fair Minimum Wage. So does the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce and the American Sustainable Business Council. A number of business organizations see the very key to helping fix the economy is to help raise that minimum wage. In fact, two-thirds of small business owners across the country, according to a poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research on behalf of Small Business Majority, two-thirds of small business owners across the country support raising the minimum wage because small business owners, like myself--I have owned a small business for 25 years--understand two things. First, when you pay your workers with a decent wage and treat them with respect, you earn their loyalty. You get their hard work, and your business does better. That's why 85 percent of small business owners already pay their workers more than the minimum wage. Second, small business owners know that we need customers and we need people making enough money to afford the very products and services that we sell. When you give a pay increase to the people who need it the most, that money goes directly back into the economy and helps support a rising tide, lifting all boats in the economy. Sixty-five percent of small business owners agree that ``increasing the minimum wage will help the economy because the people with the lowest incomes are the most likely to spend any pay increases buying necessities they could not afford before, which will boost sales at businesses. This will increase the customer demand that businesses need to retain or hire more employees.'' This is backed up by research, contrary to what Speaker Boehner and other critics will say. Extensive research refutes the claim that increasing the minimum wage causes increased unemployment and business closures. In fact, according to the Economic Policy Institute, raising the minimum wage would actually have a positive impact on our economy by investing those dollars right now in the economy when we need it the most. When we increase the minimum wage, we raise wages for 30 million Americans, increasing salaries by $51.5 billion over the next 3 years. And that is not just helping the wages of people who make minimum wage, but for millions of Americans whose salaries are pegged to the minimum wage. That is extra earnings that could be put in our economy right now when we need it the most. We could increase consumer spending at a time when weak consumer demand is one of the biggest obstacles facing our economy. These extra earnings would increase the gross domestic product by $33 billion over the bill's 3-year period, generating 140,000 jobs. So when we increase wages, we increase consumers' ability to buy, which increases the gross domestic product and therefore increases jobs. At the very worst, raising minimum wage has no effect on employment, but it does provide a greater standard of living for millions of American workers. That is why 80 percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage, including 57 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of self-identified conservatives. It is a commonsense economic policy; and as a small business owner, I know it is a good business policy. The Senate will hopefully consider an increase by the end of the year, and I encourage the people's House to do the very same. That is one issue that is really important, but I want to just read a couple of quotes from business people specifically about raising the minimum wage. Let me read a quote from Business For a Fairer Minimum Wage director Holly Sklar who said: The biggest problem Main Street businesses face is a lack of customer demand. With the Federal minimum wage stuck at $7.25 an hour, just $15,080 a year, workers now have less buying power than they did a half century ago in 1956, and far less than they had when the minimum wage was $10.55, a high point in 1968, adjusted for inflation. We can't build a strong economy on downwardly mobile wages. It is time to raise America by raising the minimum wage. There are small business owners who have said the exact same thing, who realize what we need to do with the economy. Camille Moran, owner of Caramor Industries and 4 Seasons Christmas Tree Farm in Louisiana said: A minimum wage increase is long overdue. It is not right or smart for any business to pay a wage that impoverishes not only their working men and women and their families, but also impoverishes our communities and our Nation. Boosting the wages of low-paid workers who could then purchase goods and services they need is the best medicine for our ailing economy. Let me read from another business owner specifically about raising the minimum wage. This is David Bolotsky, founder and CEO of Uncommon Goods in Brooklyn, New York: Businesses don't expect the cost of energy, rent, transportation, and other expenses to remain constant; yet some want to keep the minimum wage the same year after year despite increases in the cost of living. That kind of business model traps workers in poverty and undermines our economy. The minimum wage should require that all businesses pay employees a wage that people can live on. I have more and more stories from small business owners who get that the best thing we can do right now is provide the minimum-wage worker an increase in pay, put that money into the economy, create those jobs, and let's give a boost to what we need to most in America. But the second issue that we want to address with the Congressional Progressive Caucus Special Order hour on the American worker is a trade deal that is coming down the pike possibly as early as the end of year, and that is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We have spoken a lot today about the need to ensure workers receive a fair wage for a hard day's work, but we are also concerned about another way our workers can get the short end of the stick, and that is with unfair trade deals that decimate American industries and ship jobs overseas. Unfortunately, we appear to have a massive, secret, and likely very harmful unfair trade deal on our hands. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or the TPP for short, is a NAFTA-style agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations that have been largely negotiated in secret, and seems to not just repeat but perhaps worsen the mistakes made in the past. In fact, this coming week, TPP negotiators are going to meet again in Singapore, and they plan to have a deal by the end of the year, in less than a month. That means we may be less than 30 days away from having a final TPP deal, a deal that we have no idea what it may contain. While we may not know what is in the bill, we do know what we have been promised, and it is similar to promises that people across the country and in my State of Wisconsin have been told before about these massive trade deals, from NAFTA to CAFTA to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. We have been told that free trade would lead to increased U.S. jobs; it would reduce our trade deficits; it would boost our exports; and it would lead to improved human rights and labor standards around the globe. Unfortunately, almost every single one of those promises has gone unfulfilled. In Wisconsin, we have seen the devastating effects of free trade agreements such as NAFTA to our local manufacturing industries and our jobs. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5 million Americans have lost manufacturing jobs since the passage of NAFTA. A recent report found that the U.S. actually experienced a net loss of 700,000 jobs to Mexico from NAFTA. As a small business owner myself, I have seen the number of American-made products dwindle that used to be available and made here in the United States. The record on trade surpluses is equally as damaging. The year before NAFTA went into effect, we had $1.66 billion trade surplus in goods with Mexico. Last year, we tallied a $62 billion deficit. And just 1 year after the U.S.-Korea FTA took effect in March 2012, our trade deficit in goods with South Korea has increased by $5.5 billion, a 46 percent increase. Meanwhile, in countries from Mexico to Colombia to Bahrain, promises of improved labor rights have instead been replaced with reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the U.S. Department of State of continued, and oftentimes worsening, abuses. So with all of these examples behind us, and with our economy continuing to recover slowly from the financial crisis, it should be our Nation's priority to pursue transparent trade policies that promote American industry, protect American workers, and improve the economic interests of middle class families across our country. But as I have mentioned before, the TPP is no better than the deals of the past, and it could even be worse. At this time, I yield to my colleague from the State of Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro). She is the cochair of the Steering and Policy Committee and the ranking member on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Subcommittee. She is also a long-time legislator and a hero of mine in Congress.

Mr. POCAN. I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. POCAN

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the House bring up the Senate amendment to H.J. Res. 59, to open up the government and go to conference on a budget so that we can end this Republican government shutdown that is costing the U.S. economy $160 million a day.

Mr. POCAN

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, last night, I spoke with a woman in Madison, a Federal employee who works as an air traffic controller and helps ensure the safety of thousands every day, and she asked me why should she be working when she doesn't even know if or when she will get paid--and I didn't have a reasonable answer for her. I received a letter from a woman in Baraboo who relies on Federal contracts to run her small business. She asked me how she is going to be able to make payroll this month if the government doesn't pay its bills--and I didn't have a reasonable answer for her. I don't have a reasonable answer for why the Wisconsin National Guard can't conduct its training, why local small businesses can't grow their business and have loans through the Small Business Administration, and why 113,000 infants, children, and pregnant women can't receive nutrition assistance from the WIC program. Mr. Speaker, it is time the GOP House leadership starts acting like responsible Representatives. Let's reopen government; let's prevent our country from defaulting; and then let's sit down and negotiate our budget, as Democrats have been requesting for the last 6 months. It is time to do our jobs.

Mr. POCAN

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Takano. You did a great job pointing out every time a press release came out and they realized one of the impacts of shutting down the government, they tried to put a little chewing gum in the crack in the dam rather than actually addressing the problem. They've done that multiple times. They have done it through what we call around here ``gotcha votes'' to try to make a point, but they have not provide the solution we need, which is what we're demanding and 18 Members on the other side are demanding, which is a vote on a clean continuing resolution so that government can continue.

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I am here on behalf of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in our Special Order hour to talk specifically about what is happening this week, or better yet what is not happening this week, in Congress. Mr. Speaker, it has been almost exactly 48 hours since the GOP government shutdown in this country; 48 hours since 800,000 Federal employees have been furloughed; 48 hours since our national parks have been closed; 48 hours since the Small Business Administration is no longer issuing new loans; 48 hours since the Centers for Disease Control won't be able to monitor the influenza season coming up; 48 hours since the National Institutes of Health has essentially shut down; and 48 hours since we are costing the U.S. economy $300 million a day. This isn't a number that the congressional Democrats or the Progressive Caucus has come up with. This is coming right from an article from Bloomberg News. According to Bloomberg News: A partial shutdown of the Federal Government will cost the U.S. at least $300 million a day in lost economic output at the start. They go on further: Government spending touches every aspect of the economy and disruption of spending more than the direct loss of income threatens to damage investor and business confidence in ways that can seriously harm economic growth. It goes on to explain two major reasons why we are going to have this impact of $300 million a day. The first is the fact that we have the furloughed workers: Each day the shutdown drags on, the more Federal employees will discount the possibility that they will go back to work soon and they will pull back on their spending. Specifically, one Federal employee is quoted saying: The shutdown affects me greatly. I have a mortgage, and I'm the sole provider for my two daughters, one of whom is in college. That is what we are doing right now to the U.S. economy by strangling our Federal employees who serve this Nation so well. But also, consumer confidence is directly impacted by this GOP shutdown of the government. Again, from the article: If a shutdown drags on, it would start to shake consumer and business confidence more broadly, economists said. Household spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy. Further it says: A shutdown will probably add to the budget deficit because it is costly to stop and start programs. Adding to our deficit, costing us $300 million a day, shutting down essential services that people expect from our Federal Government. We are 48 hours since we have entered this manufactured crisis over the GOP having a tantrum over the Affordable Care Act and taking us all hostage. But right now at this very moment we could stop this with one single vote in the House of Representatives. One single vote can stop the damage to our economy and the shutdown of the Federal Government. There is a clean continuing resolution that has passed the Senate. Does it have everything that I or the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants? Absolutely not. In fact, they are still keeping in the number that is being proposed by the Senate, the indiscriminate sequester cuts between now and November 15. But we are willing to compromise and accept something that many of us have voted against in the past in order to bring our economy back in this country. In fact, I think one thing hasn't been told very much. When you look at the various budgets, once again, this Congress has not passed a budget. This House has passed a budget, the Senate has passed a budget, the President has introduced a budget, but this House leadership has refused to appoint conferees for over 6 months to have a national budget. But what was the budget line that the House Republicans passed in this House last spring--$967 billion? What did the President have in his proposal--$1.2 billion? What did the Senate Democrats have--about $1.06 billion? What does this continuing resolution propose for a figure--$986 billion? That is over 90 percent of the way from the President's budget to what the House Republicans wanted--only 2 percent from the number they were looking at. Yet the House Republicans refused to budge and pass a resolution that can end the government shutdown and fix this economy. So why do we have these reckless, irresponsible demands from the tantrum-throwing, breath-holding, hostage-taking, Tea Partying wing of the Republican Party? Well, they think it is a bad idea that millions and millions more Americans should now have access to health care through the Affordable Care Act. We have voted not just once or twice to try to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, but we have voted 46 times in this body--46 times that they have held their breath and tried to remove the Affordable Care Act. But the bottom line is this Congress voted for the law, the President signed it into law, and the Supreme Court has upheld the law. It is the law of the land no matter how much some people may not like it, no matter how many times they have held their breath over this and brought this Congress to a vote. It is the law of the land. But because of that, they are willing and have shut down the U.S. Government--a completely unacceptable answer to their issue. There is the compromise solution I have talked about. A clean continuing resolution has already passed the Senate. With a simple vote of this body, Mr. Speaker, a simple vote of this body, it would go directly to the President and be signed into law. No other delays. Not the delay tactics we have seen for the last 2 days with a bunch of votes that meant nothing in this body. With one vote we end the government shutdown. Mr. Speaker, take ``yes'' for an answer. We are willing to compromise and do this. We demand a vote. We demand a vote and an opportunity in this House to end the government shutdown. But for some reason Speaker Boehner will not bring this bill to a vote. We tried today, and through parliamentary procedures they blocked us from having the ability to take that vote. Well, do you know why they won't schedule this for a vote? Because they know if they brought it to the body it would pass, and the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, as small as sometimes it is, would lose. Here is the bottom line. I know that people as they watch this whole debate--and you hear from everyone--are confused. Who is saying what and what is the real truth on this? The bottom line is the facts don't change. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. Despite 46 times to repeal it, it is still the law of the land. With a government shutdown, it is still being continued today as the law of the land. All we are doing in this hostage-taking is hurting our economy and hurting the people of this country through a government shutdown. So, when people are confused, I have to admit that I'm confused. I'm one of the new people around here. When I look at this, as I've told people recently, I feel like I serve in the Nation's largest kindergarten, only this kindergarten has control of the checkbook and our nuclear arsenal. It's scary to think that this body refuses to end the government shutdown through a simple vote on a clean continuing resolution; but what's even more confusing, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that it's not just the Democrats who are willing to compromise, but there are now 18 Republicans who have said they are willing to vote for a clean continuing resolution, that they are willing to end the government shutdown. There is a 17-vote margin on the Republican side, and more than enough people have said they will vote for a continuing resolution should they be able to. Let me just go through each and every one of these. Representative Scott Rigell tweeted out from the State of Virginia twice on this subject. First, he tweeted out: We fought the good fight. Time for a clean continuing resolution. That was on October 1. On October 2: Pain to our military and economy is real. A shutdown doesn't advance our goals. This is from a Republican Member who serves on the Budget Committee, which I serve on, who knows the real impact that we are having on the economy. So that is one Republican saying, Mr. Speaker, we demand a vote. Then there is Florida Representative Bill Young, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, a very important committee that understands government funding. He told the Tampa Bay Times that he is ready to vote for a clean funding bill: The politics should be over. It's time to legislate. Mr. Speaker, that's two Republicans willing to pass a clean continuing resolution. Then there is Representative Charlie Dent from the State of Pennsylvania, who also serves on that all important Appropriations Committee. Back on September 29, in the Huffington Post, he said: I am prepared to vote for a clean continuing resolution. The hourglass is nearly empty, and it's time to get on with the business of funding the government and come back to fight another day. Mr. Speaker, that is three Republicans who disagree with being held hostage by the Tea Party wing of your party. Then, from California, there is Representative Nunes, who serves on the Ways and Means Committee, another committee that deals directly with our country's finances. This is coming from a Twitter from a reporter from the Huffington Post: Representative Devin Nunes says he'll vote for the latest GOP plan, but will support a clean continuing resolution if it comes down to it. This is four Republican Members, Mr. Speaker, who disagree with the GOP's hostage-taking by the Tea Party wing of your party. Then, from the State of Minnesota, there is Representative Erik Paulsen, who also serves on the Ways and Means Committee, who had told a local TV reporter in Minnesota, FROM KARE-TV, channel 11, and they tweeted out, saying: Representative Erik Paulsen tells me he's willing to break with GOP leadership and vote for a clean resolution if given the chance. That's five Republicans, Mr. Speaker, who are going back home and telling people that they would vote for a clean resolution if you would give them a chance. Then, from the State of Virginia, there is Representative Frank Wolf, who serves on the Appropriations Committee. His aide told the Hill newspaper that he would support a clean continuing resolution. In a statement on the House floor on Tuesday, Wolf said: This is bad for America. It is bad for America. Enough is enough. It's time to be leaders. It's time to govern. Open up the government. Six people. Those aren't the words of the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. These are Members of the Republican Party. If you give them a chance and demand a vote, we will be able to pass that. That's six Members. What about Representative Jim Gerlach from Pennsylvania? Again, he serves on the Ways and Means Committee. He put out a press release, and this is directly from the press release: Jim Gerlach said Wednesday that he would vote in favor of a so-called ``clean budget bill'' that funds the Federal Government at current spending levels. That's seven, Mr. Speaker. Then Representative Lou Barletta, from the State of Pennsylvania, according to the Bethlehem Morning Call, said he would: . . . absolutely vote for a clean bill to avert a government shutdown. I think that's eight Members, Mr. Speaker, on your side who are willing to join the Democrats and be adults and get our job done. The ninth adult is Representative Leonard Lance from New Jersey. His chief of staff told the Huffington Post: . . . that he had told a constituent on Wednesday that Lance has voted for clean government funding bills in the past ``and would not oppose doing so again should one be brought to the floor.'' Eight. Let me make sure I'm right. Let me count through these, Mr. Speaker. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I'm sorry. That's nine Members. Here is No. 10. He is Representative John Runyan from New Jersey. He joined with other moderate Republicans in calling for the House to vote on a clean, short-term funding bill that would reopen the government, which is according to the Burlington County Times. Ten of your Members are telling reporters in their districts that they want the opportunity. Don't make them not be able to tell the truth in their districts if they want to vote for a clean resolution. We can end this government shutdown. That's 10. Here is No. 11, Representative Frank LoBiondo from New Jersey. He called the situation ``unacceptable''--his word. He told The Press of Atlantic City: . . . that he was in favor of ``whatever gets a successful conclusion to this'' and a ``clean'' continuing resolution, which does not include the postponement of the Affordable Care Act ``as one of those options.'' That was No. 11. Let's get you a 12th vote, Mr. Speaker. It's a 12th vote from Representative Mike Fitzpatrick from Bucks County in the State of Pennsylvania. He issued a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, saying: He supports a spending bill at current funding levels, and aides said that he would back that approach if it were presented for a vote. No. 12, Mr. Speaker. I believe that's No. 12. No. 13. We'll call it ``lucky 13'' in this case. Representative Mike Simpson from Idaho--again, serving on the Appropriations Committee-- told a Roll Call reporter Tuesday night: I'd vote for a clean continuing resolution because I don't think this is a strategy that works. Mr. Speaker, 13 Members of the Republican Party disagree with the Republican Party on the strategy to hold our country hostage and ruin our economy. No. 14, Representative Pat Meehan from Pennsylvania, according to a press release he put out, said: At this point, I believe it's time for the House to vote for a clean, short-term funding bill to bring the Senate to the table and negotiate a responsible compromise. No. 14, Mr. Speaker. This is No. 14, who wants to cooperate and give us 6 weeks to work out a compromise between the two Houses so that we can have what should be a budget in this country. No. 15 is Representative Michael Grimm of New York. In a statement released by his office on Monday, the New York Republican argued that demanding ideological purity is ``not looking at the big picture.'' An aide of his told the Huffington Post that he supports a clean continuing resolution. I am sorry to do this again, but I'm going to have to make sure I've got the count right, Mr. Speaker. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Members of your party. No. 16 is Representative Peter King. I think he was one of the first Members to do this. He said he thinks that House Republicans would prefer to avoid a shutdown, and he said he will only vote for a clean continuing resolution to fund the government, according to the National Review Online. He is No. 16. No. 17 is Representative Randy Forbes out of the State of Virginia, who told the Virginian-Pilot that he supports the 6-week clean funding bill that passed in the Senate: Unfortunately, for us, this is not a game. This is real lives of people. That's No. 17. Finally, No. 18 that is officially out there, Mr. Speaker, is Representative Rob Wittman of Virginia: I voted to avoid a government shutdown at every opportunity, to continue government funding, and although I have not had an opportunity to do so to this point, I would support a clean continuing resolution to get our government back up and running. He put that in an email that he shared with Post Politics. That's 18. You have a 17-seat margin on the Republican side, Mr. Speaker, and 18 people on your side of the aisle will join the responsible adults on this side of the aisle. Call us back tonight, and tomorrow we will end this crisis and not cost our economy $300 million. Mr. Speaker, I have a bonus for you. I think there is a 19th person who is on the cusp of saying the same thing--from my own State, Representative Reid Ribble. He is someone I am working with. He and I have a bill together right now to try to get a budget process every 2 years because we think it might be a better way to actually get this country back on track. According to the Pierce Herald County paper in Wisconsin, here is what he said: Two wrongs don't make a right. Then this is a quote from WHBY radio 1150 AM in Wisconsin: A Republican from northeast Wisconsin says it's harmful and embarrassing that lawmakers couldn't reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown. Congressman Reid Ribble of Sherwood says he is encouraging his colleagues to send short-term spending proposals to a conference committee so Members of the House and Senate can work out a compromise. Ribble says he is meeting with the House Speaker today to discuss their strategy and what they're going to offer. He says he is optimistic that the shutdown won't last long and that they can at least agree to a short-term solution. Mr. Speaker, in the coming hours, more of your Members are going to stand up and get the keys back from the Tea Party wing of your party. Before you have to call a tow truck to pull this country out of a ditch, get the keys back. Demand a vote. Give us a vote on a clean continuing resolution, and we can end this right now. I am joined by another member of our Progressive Caucus, another freshman member who brings good common sense and a good educational sense as a former teacher to this body. It is my opportunity to yield some time to my colleague, Representative Mark Takano from the great State of California.

Mr. POCAN. If I could ask a question of the gentleman. You mentioned that the Senate 18 times has tried to find a resolution to having a budget in this country. There are a number of us who serve on the Budget Committee, including Representative Jeffries from New York State, who is going to speak in a little bit, who for 6 months have been asking for the Republican leadership to appoint conferees so that we could actually do exactly that. Do you remember when the Republicans finally proposed a conference committee?

Mr. POCAN. I believe it was between 11:40 and 15 minutes to midnight on the deadline before we had to shut down government.

Mr. POCAN. March 23.

Mr. POCAN. Well, again, thank you, Representative Jeffries, so much for explaining to the American people exactly what has happened and transpired in the last few days and why it's so important that we demand a vote and get a vote on a clean continuing resolution. I would like to close with a letter that I received from a constituent in my district, and I just want to read the parts of the letter I think that are especially relevant. This is from a woman who has a business in the Baraboo, Wisconsin, area. This is a quote from what she wrote: I'm the owner of a small business environmental laboratory which provides jobs to 29 people in the Baraboo area. Approximately 60 percent of our work is under direct contract or is a subcontract on EPA--Environmental Protection Agency-- Department of Defense, and USGS, Forest Service, and NOAA projects. This shutdown means that, one, many of our upcoming projects may be canceled or delayed in a month that was going to finally make a financial success of my business, and two, we don't know when we will receive payment on approximately $300,000 of outstanding invoices, meaning, I don't know how we'll make our payroll or pay our vendors. We may be small, but my company brings in close to $2 million a year into Wisconsin from across the country and have just added three new employees. If an agreement on the budget isn't reached right away, my little contribution to the economic recovery will be reversed, or even worse. Please help find a way out of this mess. Mr. Speaker, please, for the sake of this small business owner in Baraboo, Wisconsin, for the sake of the pregnant low-income woman in Madison, Wisconsin, for the sake of the Federal employees and the civilian employees on our military bases, for the sake of all the people who are affected by this government shutdown that the Republicans have forced upon this country, listen to your own Members. You don't have to listen to the Democrats. Listen to the 18 Members and growing on your side who have said this strategy is a failure. It's time to pass a clean continuing resolution. If you listen to your Members, a majority of this House--you are not the speaker of the Tea Party. You are not the speaker from the Office of Senator Ted Cruz. You are the Speaker of the entire House of Representatives. And now a majority of this House is demanding a vote, that we pass a clean continuing resolution at your numbers. You won. Let's get this country opened, and let's help the economy bounce back to where it needs to be. Mr. Speaker, with that, from the Progressive Caucus of Congress, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. POCAN. Thank you so much, Representative Jeffries, for very clearly explaining to the country the situation and what's unfolded in these final days and final hours before the government shut down. You know, there is no question that people on this side of the aisle are willing to compromise. We're compromising to a number that is nearly identical to what the Republicans have proposed so that we can, for the next 6 weeks, figure out our finances. You and I both serve on the Budget Committee. You know we've been trying for--how long was it, Representative, again? How long were we fighting for this?

Mr. POCAN. Absolutely. Thank you again for your leadership, Representative Takano. I appreciate it. Completely from the other coast, we have another freshman Member who is a strong member of our Progressive Caucus and a former legislator from the State of New York and now a Representative in Congress in the State of New York. It's my pleasure to yield some time to Representative Hakeem Jeffries.