Paul Tonko

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, as you talk about the loss in any given year where a student may lose the opportunity in the classroom because of these cuts that are significant to education, that is one measurement; but let me suggest another. We see aggressive investment going on around the world in emerging powers out there, nations competing with us in that global marketplace on clean energy, innovation, an ideas economy. An ideas economy is a robust opportunity for a sophisticated Nation like ours; but it requires commitment, commitment to investment, investment in education. We take that intellectual capacity, and we make it work. We did that in the space race of the 1960s. President Kennedy, a rather youthful President in his time, offered a challenge to America, offered a challenge in a way that enabled us to invest in research, that enabled us to win the global race in space. That was an unleashing of technology in all told sectors of the economy and from every perspective of quality of life that was enhanced by the investments that were made.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, America's middle class, her determined, hardworking middle class, is challenging Congress. Will Congress respond to our middle class? We in the middle class are growing increasingly aware of the statistics that the wealth concentrated in the top 1 percent has grown exponentially--275 percent. Over the same timeframe, America's middle class has seen its wealth flatline, and if it's grown, something diminished like 15 to 20 percent. That is unsustainable. America's middle class knows it. They know that we need to invest in our middle class, empower the purchasing power, raise our children, invest in their education and higher education, invest in health care, invest in public safety, invest in job creation and job retention, invest in research that equals jobs. That is the commitment that they're asking for. They know it's within the grasp of Congress to fix it. They know increasingly the American Dream is growing outside their grasp. We need to go to work, provide jobs, the dignity of work for our middle class. We need to solve the problems of America through the eyes of our middle class.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Well, I think to just match some words to what your most recent statement was, we have to think back, too, and look at recent history to have it speak to us. We borrowed totally for the millionaire-billionaire tax cuts and for two wars that were being fought, and now we wonder why we have a problem, a deficit situation, and why we want to blame the worker. Now, look. We say it's about investing in the human fabric, in the core individual, making certain that the skills that can be unleashed by that investment are put into a work situation that can enable us to be a nation of discovery, a nation of innovation, of design, of invention. That's America in her greatest moments, and I think those moments lie ahead of us. I'm optimistic that if we do this plan of investment, we will see tremendous growth in our economy. We will see our competitive edge in the global market get all the sharper and more keen. However, it takes that investment. It takes that vision, laser sharp, and it takes the commitment to stand up against this tide to just slash and burn, as you indicated, after so many were witnessing that the very few were given a gift for which we borrowed. Now we're asking for someone else to have their turn--America's middle class. Pursuing the American Dream deserves that sort of attention. It deserves the dignity of work. It deserves the respect of those who lead this Nation, and for them to do it in a fashion that is going to respond in fullest measure. Representative Garamendi, it has been a pleasure to join with you on the floor.

Mr. TONKO. With a lot of weight on your back.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for bringing us together for some very thoughtful dialogue about the highest priority that is held by Americans coast to coast, and that is job creation, job retention. Make no mistake about it, there is no other higher priority. I agree with the previous statements made by the gentleman from Connecticut. Representative Larson spoke of the absolute simplistic equation of job creation and retention equals deficit reduction. It doesn't get plainer, simpler, or more sound than that. It is about creating jobs, reducing the deficit. The job growth will move forward in resolving several of our major issues out there. You know, your focus, Representative Garamendi, on the initial public offerings, the IPOs as they're referenced, they have dropped precipitously, and knowing that then is a downward spiral that doesn't find the sort of investing that is absolutely essential is a very troubling notion. You know, many will talk about just leaving it to the capitalist model, let it just work on its own. Well, it's obvious we need to prime the pump in many areas. You talked about my role in the State of New York. When I served as the head of the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, we found that investing from the public sector sources leveraged tremendous amounts of private sector capital. We see it in this global race. This global race on clean energy and innovation is driven by a robust competition. What we find are the counterparts, the competitors to our American industries are helped along the way with a co- investing, if you will, that comes from their native country. There are those economies out there that are co-investing with their private sector. Here we are asked to cut dollars for research and development, cut dollars for partnerships, cut dollars for incentives that will inspire that sort of robust quality that is essential if Americans are going to compete and compete effectively well. So our trends are out there. They are well documented. We saw that we ignored manufacturing as a sector of the economy. We ignored agriculture, and we focused primarily on service sector. And then very narrowly within that service sector with the financial sector. We know what happened. We turned our back, let the watchdog leave the cage and allow for freestyle to go amuck. And what happened? Across this country people who had invested all their life savings into the trusted hands of portfolio activity were found without any sort of return. And then America's economy was brought to its knees. That is not the kind of outcome we want here. So we have said hey, let's go forward and we have witnessed now the growth of some 2.8 million private sector jobs. That's after a trend with the Bush recession of 8.2 million jobs lost. Just this past election day, I think you can see some trends out there that are finding the public swing to the Democratic message because they know it is about job creation and job retention. They know it is about investing in the tools and the tool kits that get us those jobs. We are an ideas economy, and we need to invest in those ideas, build the prototype, allow it to move to a manufacturing sector and be robust in our attempts. Make it in America is the mantra to which we have brought the conference, the Democratic conference, of this House. We are talking in straightforward language about revitalizing America's manufacturing sector. We can do it and we can compete keenly if we do it smarter. We don't necessarily have to do it cheaper. We have to do it smarter. I have talked in my tours with manufacturing throughout the 21st Congressional District in the capital region of New York State, I have talked with a number of manufacturers. We have done tours. We have visited and heard front and center from the leadership squad: there are thousands of jobs in this country from coast to coast for which skill sets have to be developed. If we move to an automated phase of manufacturing, there are qualities, there are skills, the academics, the analytical skill sets that are required in order for us to move forward aggressively. Now there is a sophistication in our society, a sophistication that finds us creating product lines not yet on the radar screen. People will suggest, they will lament that the glory days of manufacturing have passed us by. No, we need to move forward aggressively and proactively in creating the agenda that will develop the products of the future. If someone is to suggest that every idea out there, every concept of a product has been conceived, designed, engineered, manufactured, produced, we are kidding ourselves. And so this is an investment in the future. This is a visionary attempt to pull us along into an area that was ignored and ignored, that found that ignoring of the manufacturing sector found us falling into the woes of a recession. And so it's time now for us to do it smart, to do it in a way that invests in our manufacturing base, celebrates the empowerment that small business brings to the fabric of our economy, the small businesses, the economic engine that provides the jump start to our economy. They need the assistance, and that has been our effort here: talk about revitalizing manufacturing, supporting small business, moving forward with education, higher education, and research and development to move the ideas economy along. That's America at her best. That's her pioneer spirit, and let's continue to move in that direction. Again, thank you for bringing this dialogue to the floor.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Jackson Lee, for your outstanding leadership on behalf of the Texas district that you represent with your outstanding leadership on this floor. You're so right. Everywhere we turn, you can see job creation and what it means to the local regional economy. I have a touring concept that we do in our district, and we have a roundtable discussion routinely held with the small business community. And it is just profound to go around and see how many people are investing in manufacturing out there; and their product delivery is powerful, and the fact that they're exporting is an encouraging and enthusiastic thought. So it's all about showcasing what can happen. And just think of it on a grander scale when we provide the underpinnings of support, when we invest in that concept of manufacturing and move forward with the incubator networks and all of the activities that nourish this sort of comeback story that is so essential right now after this economy was brought to its knees by an approach that was hard-hearted to manufacturing. It ignored what was happening. The same is true in agriculture, and we will maybe talk about that in a few minutes.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. And I think it is about investing, the key word; investing our way to a stronger tomorrow, investing our way to opportunity, investing our way to prosperity. I see it all the time. The dollars that were invested from State sources, public sources, and some Federal dollars into the capital region of New York that I represent leveraged tremendous private sector dollars with an investment in the bottom-line calculation in nanotechnology, in semiconductor science, in chip manufacturing, and in green collar workforce development. These dynamics are so powerful that they have lifted that region to the first of all hubs in America for job growth of the green collar variety, and in the top five as a hub for high-tech growth. So it happens. When you invest, it happens. Now, speaking about sound voices for a resurgence in our private sector job growth, in our public sector support networks, for those employees, a tremendously dynamic voice from our new freshman class, Representative Terri Sewell from the great State of Alabama. Representative, thank you for joining us this afternoon. And I know that you've been a very powerful voice for job creation, job retention in our economy.

Mr. TONKO. You are most welcome, Representative Sewell.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Representative Sewell, absolutely right on in your focus as to the strengthening and the value added of small business. H.R. 1730 is a powerful response to the needs of small business, making certain that the savings opportunities, especially in those early startup years, are made more valid and more available to small business as a network. Certainly the small business community is a tremendous corporate citizen in the fabric of our communities, and they get tethered into our communities in a way that enables them to grow and prosper, all while adding jobs and providing the intellect and innovative sort of spirit, which is important. Speaking of colleagues who have been outstanding voices on job creation, job retention, we know that Ohio has been in the news lately. And we have one of those voices from Ohio serving in the Democratic Caucus, one whom I am very proud to know and work with. Representative Tim Ryan, representing communities like Youngstown and Akron, has been a very powerful force in acknowledging that it's investing in job creation that is our number one concern right now. We've seen what's been happening in Ohio. There is an outburst of pride coming from that State about the activism that is really speaking to and empowering the middle class. And we empower the middle class by providing jobs. Representative Ryan, thank you so very much for being that outstanding voice.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Ryan, what a great coalescing going on in Ohio, and what a statement by the middle class, of people of all backgrounds coming together speaking with one voice, based on a common thread of jobs, the dignity of work, powerful statement. And we should all be motivated and inspired by that outcome. You talked about government's role to plant the garden. Let me just talk about another sector just to associate with that element of agriculture just for a bit here this afternoon. Why such a struggle on this House floor to get the dollars for farmers who were impacted by natural disaster? I saw record flooding in my district. We had wonderfully productive soils in the upstate regions of New York State. You would think that it wasn't part of some industrial sector, that there wasn't an ag sector in our economy. All they were asking for was to have debris removal dollars, to have farm land restoration, crop land restoration dollars at a time when we were impacted by the ravages of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Was that too much to ask? Well, I'm happy to see that the push here in this House coming from those of us who have visited those districts and really pushed the agenda are able to account for $338.6 million being added so that we can take programs like the Emergency Conservation Program, the Emergency Water Protection Program, and allow for restoration of farm land, debris removal and all the activities that will drive productivity back to the farm. All they were asking for was a chance to recover from the forces of Mother Nature. And if you can't assist in a situation like that, if it took this tug of war, if it took advocacy, if it took putting a bill in the House to really push everyone to move on behalf of our farmers--you know, I voted against that original package because they said zero additional aid for the ag community. Unacceptable. So you talk about government planting the garden. That's just a sampling of investing that was critical so you could keep those ag forces going, those ag related jobs. Absolutely critical, not only to our economic recovery, but to the nutritional impact that it bears for all of America's families.

Mr. TONKO. And it took putting the flood lights on to the situation, where in the middle of tragedy we're looking to change the rules; we are looking for offsets in order to provide assistance to our national farmers' impacted farms under water, valuable farm land being eroded away. And we changed rules? I mean, it was unacceptable. And just speaking to that hardheartedness was an exercise for me that was a learning curve because it took every bit of providing evidence, from pictorial evidence to documentation of loss that finally moved this House to respond to the needs of our farmers. So, that being said, it's about, I think, investing, as has been said here in this special order hour. It's about investing and believing in America. The middle class needs that empowerment. They deserve and require it. Think of it. None of the strata can survive without a powerful middle class. Someone needs to build the product, someone needs to purchase the product. Enhancing the purchasing power, growing consumer demand will drive private sector jobs growth. More expectation, more desire to buy products, you put more people on, you develop product line. It works. It's a simplistic thing to follow. It's a pattern that's sensible. And so what we want to do is make certain that we empower that middle class. We've seen a lot of outbursts about the social and economic injustice out there, and it's about providing a reasonable approach so that our middle class can be vibrant again. I think it's what people were stating a week ago at the polls. They were saying, we're listening to the Democrats' message; we're embracing it and we're shifting our loyalties. We're now choosing to side with those who are talking about a wise approach, investing in job creation, which equals deficit reduction. Basic, simple, sound.

Mr. TONKO. I think the people feel at risk when they believe that those who have this highest concentration of wealth have just so much influence on the outcome in Washington that it's unacceptable. And they now know who's paid the price. You know, the middle class, when given the opportunity, remains silent, or at least mildly content. When you take that away and you then involve this unjust outcome to impact them, then they get angry. So the outburst here is we need the investing. We want our children to have the opportunity to reach for the American Dream. It has always been the passion that drives this country. And when you talked about the global race on space during the JFK years, President Kennedy acknowledged up front we're going to do this, not because it's easy, but because it's hard. People know that these are tough decisions, but they also want to hear the commitment. They want to hear conviction. Are we going to support, are we going to be the underpinnings of human infrastructure, the development of a workforce, training, retraining, education, higher education; incentives that provide for research so you can be a land of discovery, a land of creating product line, of traveling into new spheres of influence that can just express the magnanimous quality of America and all she offers? When you suffocate those areas of potential, you're denying the middle class its chance at the American Dream. And that's what this is about. People see undue influence coming from a very few and denying the vast majority their chance at the American Dream. And that's what this Nation has always been about. It's been there as an ideal. It's been a beacon of hope. It's seen as a garden of opportunity, and we need to culture, move that culture forward in a way that is driven by sound programs, sound projects, sound policy. It's about the programs, projects, and policies.

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TONKO. This has been a Special Order hour that I've enjoyed. I thank the gentleman from California.

Mr. TONKO. And essential services that are performed. You talked about water and sewer opportunities, the construction projects that we require. It's about human infrastructure, capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure. If we feed that with soundness of investment--not just spending and throwing money at something, but with an accountable plan, one with a vision, one with goals, one that embraces a soundness of future--we are ahead of the race of anyone else out there. We can maintain the soundness of leadership in this global economy if we believe in ourselves, if we believe in the American Dream, if we invest. We've been joined by Representative John Garamendi from the great State of California. He kicked us off. The hour came into my hands, and now you're back to revisit. So we thank you Representative Garamendi, again, for serving as inspiration to really get the thought process moving and verbalize where we are as a powerful conference in this House and where I think we've attached to the great thinking out there, the overwhelming thinking of Americans.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Fudge, for bringing us together this evening on a very important discussion, one that focuses on the fundamental underpinnings of this democracy, the ability to vote, right to vote, and encouraging voters to come to the polls. This sort of effort that is being taken seriously by far too many as a form of reform is discouraging. This is an attempt, I believe, to discourage folks from voting across this country, from an effort that is somewhat presented in this description of going after voter impersonation fraud which, obviously, is something that everyone would be concerned about. But the element here is not to do that. No one can point to this overwhelming evidence that there is this voter impersonation fraud that gets addressed by this sort of approach. What we have here is denial. It's a denial that may impact as many as 5 million Americans. At a time when we should encourage a thoughtful democracy, encourage participation, this focuses on many who would be disenfranchised. Those who are of lower socioeconomic strata, those who are persons with disabilities, the minority community, the elderly community, those are the targeted forces here. And it is an outright attempt, I believe, to dissuade those who are eligible from voting. And if we can move forward and encourage people to vote and spend the resources that would be required in the individual States to go and develop this ID system, we could spend those dollars in a better way to go after fraud in a more targeted fashion. This, I think, is an underhanded approach to taking the voter population that currently exists out there, reducing it, and placing a hardship on people, many of whom do not have IDs. It is suggested that some 11 percent, or 20 million Americans, don't have those IDs, government-issued IDs that would be required with the reform effort that's under way. So we need to see this for what it is. We need to encourage policy that will enhance the numbers of those voting and go after fraud in a very targeted way. This is not the answer. There is no fundamental proof. There is no proof positive that it will attack and discourage the voter impersonation fraud out there. It simply doesn't happen. Again, Representative Fudge, thank you for leading us in what I think is an important discussion on far too many situations out there that are being taken forward in a way that will be counterproductive.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, far too many Americans hurt today. They hurt because of unfair tax policy. They've witnessed, as more and more reports are issued, that the top income stratum has seen its income grow by 275 percent, while those of more modest means have seen a growth of perhaps 15 to 20 percent, and far too many have seen no growth with a flat outcome. They also witnessed no meaningful jobs agenda coming from this House over the last 10 months. Throughout the course of the first session of the 112th Congress, they are waiting for a jobs agenda. So, Madam Speaker, as the House drags its feet, America struggles. Many struggle to find a job. Many struggle to keep a job. Many struggle to make ends meet. Many struggle to make student loan payments. Many struggle to pay those mortgages. We need to go forward with a progressive agenda that responds to strengthening the middle class, strengthening the purchasing power of the middle class. Without a strong middle class, there's not a strong America.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Well, Representative Sutton, you know, I hear people who listen and endorse our concepts, but they'll ask, well, how do we afford these investments? Well, the work done here in the House on the floor, in the United States Senate is all about priorities. So it's establishing the right priorities. I have a bill that would cap well below the 700,000 that we now allow for contractors to this government, to have that reduced. We need to belt-tighten inefficiency, waste, fraud, outmoded programs. Go after it, but don't cut programs that serve the middle class and invest in job creation. Establish the right priorities. I know we are running out of time, so thank you for bringing us together on the House floor.

Mr. TONKO. My pleasure, Representative Sutton, and thank you for bringing us together into a format of thoughtful discussion on the House floor. You're very right. It's about the American Dream, pursuit of the American Dream. And I believe what many people across America are espousing right now is take a look at the problem from its broadest perspective in order to propose the solution. And if we are just going to do an instant snapshot and not really deal with the facts at hand, it will get us in trouble. It will be wasted energy. We'll be spinning our wheels. What they've suggested is looking back at how we came to the problem. We borrowed totally for a millionaire-billionaire tax cut. We borrowed from China and Saudi Arabia to give everyone in that category a tax break. Now, borrowing has happened throughout the course of government and there are oftentimes societal needs that get met. So I would ask: What was the good that was bought here? And it translates into a loss of 8.2 million jobs. So we borrowed from millionaire-billionaire tax cuts and from foreign economies in order to get a result of 8.2 million jobs lost. That's the starting point. And this Presidency, the Obama Presidency, has been about growing jobs, providing the reforms that are essential. And so today, people are speaking out. They're speaking out about the fundamental unfairness that exists out there, and they want that transformed into fairness. They know, they acknowledge, and we agree that people struggle to find a job. They are struggling, as we speak, to find a job. They struggle to keep a job. They struggle to make ends meet. This is the fight. This is the concern. It's about empowering the middle class and empowering the purchasing power of the middle class, which serves all income strata tremendously well. If we have a robust middle class, if we have a purchasing power that is enhanced, people then begin to invest. They begin to share that with the regional economy, State economy, and national economy. It's as plain as that. People are now connecting the dots. They saw where we went with the policy of the past, they saw the deep hole that drove us into, and now they're saying, we want reform, fundamental reform. It's about providing justice to the middle class. I am so happy that you're here encouraging this discussion. The dialogue must be carried forth in order to share with the general public exactly what happened and what needs to occur now as we go forward.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Before I came to the House just 3 years ago, I served as president and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. We saw what small business creation was about from an innovation economy perspective, from a clean energy perspective. We can grow our self-sufficiency for energy supply simply by moving toward an innovation model. How does it happen? We know most of the job generation in the last decade, if not the great majority of job creation, was done through small business, through the entrepreneur, through an investment in the ideas economy. If we were going to invest money, should it have been these tax cuts for those high on the perch or should it have been for those start-ups that needed their investments to grow jobs in the local regional economy? That's what it's all about. It's what people have told me in their statements as they've gathered in communities. They've said it's about the pursuit of the American Dream, but from their perspective, it's like the evaporation of the American Dream. It's fizzling away from them. They want to be able to embrace that dream. If they play by the rules and if they work hard, they should expect to achieve success, but we're taking that away from the middle class. We should provide the tools--give them the toolkit for job growth via small business, innovation and an ideas economy. We drove an economy as an infant Nation. We developed the Westward Movement and then an Industrial Revolution, and we impacted the world with our product delivery through all of the factories across America. That pioneer spirit is still alive within us. It's within our DNA. Yet now, as a sophisticated society, we've grown to a new realm of product development and ideas, and we are in the midst of a need globally for all sorts of inventions and innovation for energy solutions, for health care solutions, for communications. We have the technical wizardry. We have the intellect. We have the intellectual capacity that needs to be embraced by this Nation. The House ought to show leadership in that regard. We ought to tap into that resource and enable it to be the job manufacturing center across this country--small business, entrepreneurs, an innovation economy: moving ideas along from prototype to manufactured concept. That's how you make a down payment and investment in areas that grow an economy, not this rewarding of people simply because they're of an income strata and receive a tax cut at a time when we need it to invest in an innovation economy. If you look at the global race on clean energy and innovation, countries are bulking up in their investments. They're investing in research and development. We're cutting those programs--the advocacy to cut. The President has said in his American Jobs Act proposal to invest in research, to invest in the small business community, to invest in job creation. That's the sort of investment that gets America to the new realm of job creation. The investment that has been made to this point has been about investing in tax cuts. That's an order of spending that we cannot endure, so we need to go forward with, again, a strong agenda for the middle class. It has been said over and over through the years: no pain, no gain. The middle class is absorbing all the pain, and they're now questioning: Where's the gain? They can't take the pain of overtaxation. They can't take the pain of unemployment. They can't take the pain of program cuts like Medicare, like Medicaid, like job creation, research moneys. These are the painful measures that have been induced their way, and they say ``no.'' They say emphatically ``no'' to that. Now they want to know: Where are the jobs? They've asked the right question. I am very proud of the conference in which we serve. The Democratic Caucus has been about manufacturing, about making it in America, the jobs agenda, tax fairness, policies that take us forward, not backward. So again, Representative Sutton and Representative Garamendi, it is great to add my voice with yours in this House for a legitimate agenda for the middle class. It's about empowering our middle class--the strength of America, the fabric that takes us forward.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Sutton, I've heard you talking on this floor about the plight of Ohio workers. I've heard you speak to the wisdom of sound investment for workers, that it's about empowering the worker. They have a voice in Betty Sutton that shows compassion, care and concern. They have a voice in Representative Garamendi about being smart about our agenda. We must see it through the eyes of the American worker--people who are being taxed unfairly because they make money through work--and know we're taxing differently those who make money on money. It's a different scenario. Your advocacy, your passion, your empathy for workers is stated repeatedly from both of you on this floor, and that's what should motivate and inspire us.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 720 I was unavoidably detained. I conducted a previously scheduled telephone town hall with constituents of the 21st Congressional District of New York. The telephone town hall addressed flooding concerns associated with recent disasters that impacted the district. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. It is. I think it highlights exactly the concern that many of us have in terms of the response to what is--what has pretty much rendered some areas of our country to be acknowledged almost as a war- torn area where craters have been created by the force of water, where roads are no longer in play, where businesses have been shut down, where homes have been lost totally to the waters, to the rivers that flow in their communities. And when you look at that devastation, you would think that the first thing we would do is respond in earnest and quickly and with a depth of acknowledgment that appropriates resources to get things going again. Well, our farmers need assistance, and they're not getting it through the response here with the concurrent resolution. It's a trade almost that we are asked to make about offsets that we can find. These are people that are looking for their children's school clothes in the rubble. They're searching for pictures of grandparents to have something to cling to in the aftermath of that devastation. They are wondering if they will ever open their business again, and we're not responding fully. We're looking for ways to cut so as to slide dollars over. Are you going to cut that youngster who now has no home? Are you going to cut her education? Are you going to cut his health care? Are you going to disavow any need for public safety? These are the efforts, these are the challenges that when America reviews the process, it gets cynical, and I understand the cynicism. There's a lot of concern about stepping up to the plate and showcasing for America what effective government is all about. This is what my district is looking for right now. And when they hear about this expression of offsets, I know people in my district, I have known them for years, they are like extended family after 3\1/2\ decades of representing them at some level of government. And I know their philosophy may not be my political philosophy, but they are angered about the talk of offsets, as they have to look for new homes and look for shelter and for food and clothing. They are angry to hear about this offset. They are angry to hear about the total disavowing of ag assistance when now they have to rebuild their fields, clear it of debris, and re-create the watershed areas that they need. These are urgent measures, and they are not going to be tolerating any sort of political gamesmanship.

Mr. TONKO. I think if I might, Representative Garamendi, that's where I can acknowledge that my district regardless of political persuasion, regardless of philosophy, people have been impacted by those statements. They are just trying to process that sort of thinking that would just call to a grinding halt any response that is going to be sufficient simply because it is ruled by some sort of new restrictive qualities. Well, these are people in pain. These are people who are hurting through no fault of their own. They have been impacted by the forces of Mother Nature. We have seen it, as you have rightfully said, from coast to coast. There have been tragedies out there and disasters and challenges galore through the ages of our history. And we have always responded in that American pioneer sort of way, to be there, roll in the assistance and take care of it. When one amongst us is hurt, everyone feels the pain. So this is really tragic, and it then challenges our bigger picture here. If we can't be responsive in moments like that, how do you convince some in the House that the urgency to invest in an innovation economy, to invest in a global race on clean energy and innovation, how do you encourage them to understand the urgency for that moment, because if we are just living for the moment and not looking forward, if we don't have the vision as is suggested, we shall perish. That is just what we need right now. We won the global race on space because with passionate resolve we determined that we were going to land the person on the Moon before any other nation; and we did it. We unleashed untold levels of technology that impacted every sector of the economy and every dynamic that defines our quality of life. From health care to communication to energy generation to education and beyond, all of that was impacted by the pioneer spirit of the global race on space. We are at that same sort of defining moment. Are we going to shine? Is this going to be a shining moment for America? Are we going to allow the challenge to pass us by? Is that American in spirit? I would suggest not. The moment today requires the sort of belief in our Nation's ability, and the leadership that should be expressed in the Halls of government here in Washington is silenced by that sort of thinking. And so we can, we must, we need to go forward with the soundness of investment in an innovation economy. When we talk about growing jobs and investing in the American worker, think of it, the linchpin to energy independence, battery manufacturing, advanced battery manufacturing. I see it happening in my district. But it started with R&D. It starts with an investment of ideas, moving them along and building the prototype. You mentioned earlier that my district was the host territory to the Industrial Revolution. That didn't just happen. There were people with boldness that said, let's create a port called New York City, and let it connect the great ocean to the Great Lakes. Because of my location, my geography, upstate New York became that link to a great ocean, to the Great Lakes. It inspired the birth of a necklace of communities called mill towns that then rose to be the epicenters of invention and innovation. That pioneer spirit is alive today in my State, in your State, and in the 48 other States. We should be proud of that. We should nurture it. We should make certain that it speaks forcefully to job creation. That's the plan of the President's American Jobs Act, and it's the vision of Make It in America that you and I so often speak to during these Special Orders on the House floor.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, it is often said that a nation can be measured by the work it does for those in the dawn of life, and the quality of life for those children living in poverty understandably is reduced. And so the challenge to all of us in this country, what ought to move that moral compass of America, is the reflection on that statement that you just made. If we're content with that statistic, if we're content with the direction in which that statistic is moving, then it is a puzzling statement. It ought to haunt us as a society. And as we weaken and as we grow more and more into the ranks of poverty, the entire Nation, all income strata, are challenged by that. We are all weakened by that statistic because as we empower each and every American, we, as a nation, collectively grow stronger. The impact is not only just living in poverty, it is more incidents of disease, risks to health care and poorer education. We need to strengthen the homes. You don't do it with policies that obviously have created this growing divide. That gap is growing between the comfortable and uncomfortable, and it's why there has to be this revisitation, if you will, of tax policy. Now there are those who say, well, if you adjust this, it's class warfare. It's not class warfare. If everything were at its even level and you adjusted it, you could call it class warfare. This is an exercise in justice, social and economic justice. And it also can be argued that if we had those higher tax rates and we had a series of years of economic growth in the Clinton years, then how do you rationalize the tax rates having been higher back then? It certainly could be argued that it didn't ward off economic growth, economic strengthening of our Nation. So there is a call here, a clarion call, a wake-up call to visit policy that will undo this social and economic injustice. It hurts all of us, and it can't continue. I know that in the stats that you shared there is another one, another statistic that is troublesome. We have now dropped below $50,000 as the median household income. I believe we are in the range of $48,000 to $49,000, maybe perhaps just slightly more than $49,000. That is troublesome. As that median continues to dip, that is a hurtful acknowledgment that there are failed policies out there that need to be turned around.