Rob Woodall

Mr. WOODALL

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds to say what I fear will fall on deaf ears, and that is that H.R. 1255 will not become the law of the land until the Senate passes it and the President signs it. The Senate passes it and the President signs it. That is the only thing we're talking about doing here today. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Again, I want to point out, Madam Speaker, one of the great joys of the job is being able to work with colleagues across the aisle. I think Mr. Andrews is 100 percent right, 100 percent right, because what he struck on is one of those narrow opportunities where the Constitution actually gives the government the responsibility to act. And that is one of the wonderful things, Madam Speaker. I may be new here on Capitol Hill, but the job came with an instruction book. It is kind of neat. It came with an instruction book. It is the United States Constitution, and it tells us what it is we should and shouldn't be doing, what it is we should and shouldn't be funding.

Mr. WOODALL. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. WOODALL. Reclaiming my time, I am so thankful to you for bringing that up, because I actually intended to speak to that. That is critically important, Madam Speaker, and it has been ignored throughout this whole debate. Do you know what happens in a government shutdown? Those heroes of this country do not get paid. Now, understand that. In a government shutdown, this is a bill to provide a special rule so that we don't get paid, but by the ordinary function of law, our men and women who serve this country at home and abroad in uniform do not get paid. Do not get paid. Now, it is alarming to me, because I know you share my passion for that, that this is the only solution that has been brought to the floor. I am one of the cosponsors who brought it to the floor, and we have had nothing but contempt for this effort. I am not saying this is the end-all, be-all of good government. In fact, I would associate myself with Chairman Dreier's remarks. I hate that we have to do this. I have been in Congress for 90 days, Madam Speaker. I haven't gotten to work on the new agenda yet. My time has been wholly consumed with trying to sort out the problems from last year, and it is frustrating to me as someone who wants to look to the future and not look to the past. But I thank the gentleman for bringing up our men and women in uniform, because they are outrageously disadvantaged by a government shutdown. Say what you want to, because I know my friend would agree with me; when we have a tea party rally on The Mall, they are 100 percent supportive of our men and women in uniform and want to see those folks get paid. This is the only bill to do that.

Mr. WOODALL. I would love to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to say that one of the great joys of serving in this body is when you get to take a stand on something you really believe in. And while I have great respect for my friend from New Jersey and I know he represents his constituency well, my constituency does not believe that the government has the power to create a single job. Not one. In fact, my constituency believes that every single person that the United States Government hires is a job that would have been done in the private sector. It would have been done better in the private sector. It would have spurred the private sector economy, but, instead, we suck that into the Federal Government. We understand that entrepreneurs create jobs. Entrepreneurs create jobs. And I will say as we continue to count the days since the House has passed H.R. 1 and the Senate hasn't acted, it is the same number of days, Madam Speaker, since I came to this floor, probably shortly after my friend from New Jersey spoke on the H.R. 1 rule, to say if you want to do away with those tax subsidies, if you want to go after the oil companies, if you want to go after the lobbyists, if you want to go after the special exceptions, join me on H.R. 25, the Fair Tax. Not one new friend of mine from the other side of the aisle has joined me since that speech, the only bill in Congress.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to associate myself with the gentlewoman's remarks. Those comments on the bottom of the board are as true today as they were a year ago. There is no deeming in this bill. And I give my colleagues on the other side of the aisle the benefit of the doubt that they know that and that is just the spin for today. There is no deeming in this bill. This bill says one thing and one thing only about H.R. 1, and that is, that if the Senate cannot act, we are going to give the Senate some cover. If the Senate doesn't want to commit to H.R. 1 for the remainder of the year, we give them the opportunity to incorporate the language of H.R. 1 into this bill, send it to the President's desk for his signature, make it the law of the land, while we continue to work to sort out our budget differences. Now, that is critically important; one thing and one thing only this bill does: gives the Senate the opportunity to say, you know, for whatever reasons--and the reasons are still a mystery to me--we can't pass legislation in the Senate. We can defeat things all day long, but we can't pass anything. I'm not sure why that is. This bill says: but none of us want a shutdown. Now, I have got to be honest, Madam Speaker. I am beginning to wonder if ``none of us want a shutdown'' is actually a true statement, because there are some folks who seem to be driving us right down that road. This is a bill that just gives us another option, another arrow in our quiver to say, if you cannot act, Senate, if you are paralyzed by inaction, pass this bill, and we will continue those negotiations while H.R. 1 is the law of the land. And I would like to say to my friend from Michigan, I thank him for his support of the rule. I hope I can persuade him to support the underlying resolution. He suggested that by penalizing Members of Congress for failure to act and curbing our salaries, that would somehow encourage a compromise that would spend more out of other people's pockets. I certainly share that fear if that is what this bill does, but it does not. What it says is the very best deal we have been able to negotiate among ourselves here in the House was H.R. 1. The most conservative and the most liberal, the work product of all 435 of us, is what came out of this House in H.R. 1. And it says, let's fund at those levels that we are already agreed on, that has already been the work product of the people's House, the most responsive body in politics. Let's incorporate that as our baseline while we continue to discuss. So it is not going to spend an additional nickel out of anyone's pockets, Madam Speaker. It is only going to say to the Congress and the Senate, if you do not work, you do not get paid. And I cannot think of a constituent back home who would disagree with that. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 2 minutes to my good friend from Michigan (Mr. McCotter).

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my good friend, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

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

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on both sides.

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

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 16 seconds to point out the irony of being lectured on job creation by the crowd that left us $14 trillion in debt and mortgaged our children's future. This bill is about responding to our children's needs. This bill is about providing a better day tomorrow than we have today. I stand proudly in support of it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. While I would love to yield to the gentleman, I suspect what I would hear, if I can presume, is a discussion of the constitutionality of this provision that's here before us today. The good news is I read the instruction book before I came to the floor today and I'm very comfortable with where we are headed. I would encourage my friends to support us on this resolution. Again, it is not the end-all, be-all of government. It's a step in the right direction. And if you are going to have an all-or-nothing attitude, I'm not sure that we are going to get things done. I wish you would work with me incrementally to make this happen. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Reclaiming my time, I thank my friend. Because he's absolutely right, and that's critically important. There are those who would have you believe that the House is insisting that it's its way or no way at all, but that's not the case at all. We just did our job here, and we're waiting for the counteroffer. How do you negotiate with this? You can't, Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. WOODALL. I want to say--and I thank my friend for sharing with me--that's the kind of thing that goes on. I mean, folks often see the frustration on the House floor. You often see the tempers at their height. But the kind of thing that goes on behind the scenes that you don't usually see is exactly the kind of thing I grew up with on TV. And I thank the gentleman for bringing this chart this morning. Our colleague, Mr. Hastings, actually sang this song for us yesterday. And it was a wonderful treat in the Rules Committee, I think we would all agree. But as you know, when you listen to this song, Madam Speaker, once the bill passes the House, it goes to the Senate and the Senate acts. The Senate acts. There's all these pleas for negotiation, the suggestion as if we're not doing enough on the House side. Longest debate this House has had, most amendments, more amendments, in fact, on H.R. 1, the bill that's contained in this underlying resolution, than we had on all appropriation bills combined over the past 4 years. This is the proud work product of the House, H.R. 1. Here's the work product of the Senate, Madam Speaker. It's right here. As my colleague asks, pleads, in fact, that we negotiate with the Senate, here's what the Senate has offered. How do you negotiate with that, Madam Speaker? How do you negotiate with that? This is what we learned about. This is what our students are studying across the Nation. This is what the Senate has given us to work with. Now, you tell me, as a freshman, what is it that I'm supposed to do? What it is that I'm supposed to do when the Senate fails to act? And what we have done is to say, if the Senate fails to act: You can't pass anything; I don't know why. So just go ahead and fund the government, prevent the government shutdown, fund the government at H.R. 1 levels, and let's continue that negotiation. I look forward to the day when we don't have a blank sheet here.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to ask my good friend Mr. Polis if he would be kind enough to lend me his chart for a moment.

Mr. WOODALL

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to a very serious reform-minded freshman, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita).

Mr. WOODALL. I would like to let my chairman finish.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I would say that I may be a freshman, but I know it cannot be said any better than that. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 194, I call up the bill (H.R. 1255) to prevent a shutdown of the government of the United States, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds just to remind the gentlelady that Article I, section 7 says all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives. We failed to do that in the last Congress, and that's why the gentleman stands here today with this bill, proudly. With that, I yield 2 minutes to a very good freshman colleague, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Landry). (Mr. LANDRY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield 2 minutes to one of my freshman colleagues, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert).