Rob Woodall

Mr. WOODALL

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to a freshman from Texas (Mr. Canseco), my very good friend.

Mr. WOODALL. I thank the gentlelady. Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to my good friend and leader, the chairman of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier). (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WOODALL. I would just say, as I beg the gentlelady's forgiveness, that as a freshman, I'm just trying to get things done. I'm trying to make things happen. This bill is one of those steps along the way.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 60 seconds to apologize to the gentlelady from New York. I am told by my team here that normal order would have been to yield to you before I yielded to my colleague. I'm new, and I apologize for going out of order in that way.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the chairman for that explanation, because constitutional principles are paramount, are absolutely paramount on this side of the aisle, and so is accountability, so is accountability for our actions here in this body and our actions across the way. And I could not be more pleased to be a cosponsor of the underlying resolution because it does hold us accountable and says no work, no pay. No work, no pay. This is April Fool's Day here in the House of Representatives and across the country. We are talking about jobs every day. Every day in this body we are talking about jobs, and yet the debate this morning is focused on are we doing enough debating about a bill that already has been the most aggressively debated bill this Congress has seen in over a decade. I want to invite my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in the United States Senate to join me as a cosponsor of H.R. 25. H.R. 25 is the Fair Tax Act. It is the only bill in Congress that eliminates every single corporate loophole, exception, lobbyist-inserted provision. Not a one survives the Fair Tax. It is the only bill in Congress that eliminates the payroll tax, that largest tax that 80 percent of Americans pay. Do you want to talk about American families and their pain? Let's talk about the largest tax that American families pay. It is the payroll tax, and H.R. 25 is the only bill in the United States House of Representatives that eliminates the payroll tax in favor of a flat rate personal consumption tax that ceases to punish productivity and begins to reward those activities that build jobs in this country. It is the only bill in Congress that puts American manufacturing on a level playing field with the rest of the world. Do you want to talk about jobs or do you not? Do you want to get America back on track or do you not? Because this is a point of order that we know doesn't exist. It is a point of order just designed to fill the airwaves first thing in the morning. If you want to fill the airwaves, fill it with promises of jobs. Fill it with promises of ending the Tax Code that drives jobs out this country and bringing in that capital that we so desperately need. Again, Madam Speaker, there are no unfunded mandates in this bill. This has been the most aggressively debated bill that this Congress has seen in a generation, I would argue. The only two things the underlying legislation does, it forces the government to stay open with funding levels, those funding levels provided in H.R. 1 if the Senate passes this bill, and it insists that no work in Congress receives no pay. Forty days we have waited on the Senate to act. They have defeated two bills, but they have passed nothing, Madam Speaker. They have passed nothing. If you want to talk about jobs, if you want to talk about certainty, you have to bring a proposal to the table. This is a freshmen proposal that reaches out to try to do something to make things happen. I don't know how you guys break logjams in this city. Clearly, it is not easy. Last year there was a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic White House, and you still couldn't get a budget passed. You still couldn't get appropriations bills passed. So, clearly, logjams are complicated things. I am not here to assign blame for those logjams. I am here to offer solutions. Over and over and over again you see folks rising here to offer solutions. Madam Speaker, with that, I ask that you overrule that point of order and allow us to get to the underlying bill.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, this rule that we have today provides for an hour of consideration on a bill that would do two very simple things. First, it would provide that, if the House and the Senate fail to do their business, they fail to get paid. It's a pretty basic principle in America: no work, no pay. If the House and the Senate fail to get together and solve this budget crisis, no pay. All the underlying resolution asks is that the Senate act--Senate act. They don't have to agree with the House. They just have to act, act, and send something to the House for negotiation and consideration. The second thing this bill does--and it's every bit as important as no work, no pay--is that this bill says, for whatever reason, if the Senate cannot act, if the Senate cannot pass something--they've defeated two things but they have passed nothing--then the text of H.R. 1 will control the appropriations of the United States of America and the government will not shut down, will not shut down because we will continue to operate under H.R. 1 funding levels until such time as the Senate can affirmatively pass yet a different bill. I rise in strong support of that underlying legislation, Madam Speaker. For the opening of this debate, I yield 5 minutes to my good friend from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

Mr. WOODALL

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. WOODALL. I don't know where to begin. The misrepresentation, after misrepresentation, after misrepresentation. I don't impugn anyone's motives. I admire the passion. But if you really believe with no work, no pay--and I wish we still had that board up there--if you really believe it, all this time we've been spending talking about the Constitution, don't you think we ought to do that in a constitutional way? I do. Because if we say it, we ought to mean it, and we ought to stand by our conviction. Madam Speaker, to speak to these constitutional issues, I now yield to my chairman, the gentleman from California.

Mr. WOODALL. I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit, Madam Speaker.

Mr. WOODALL. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. But I will just say to you that in 1999, a Republican Congress, a Democratic President, enacted the foreign relations authorization bill, by reference, in an appropriations bill. That's what we're doing today. Folks, if you don't like it, call your Senate colleagues and get them to act. This is where we need to be. We need action from the Senate. Call your Senate colleagues. I've called them. I need you to call them, too. We need to move this ball forward. If the government shuts down, our military men and women don't get paid, Madam Speaker. If the government shuts down, our USDA inspectors go home and beef and chicken leave our shelves in the grocery stores. This isn't play time, going back to our children references. This is serious business. Folks sent us here to do serious things. And I could not be happier, Madam Speaker, then, for the second provision in this bill to say if you don't work, you don't get paid. It's a basic premise in this Republic, no pay for no work. I'm very proud of the work that we have done, and I implore my colleagues to contact their Senators and get them to do something. Something. This is what we have from the Senate so far, Madam Speaker. We deserve better. The American people deserve better. And, dadgum it, the Senate can do better.

Mr. WOODALL. Reclaiming my time, I will say that this is a unique procedure and these are unique times.

Mr. WOODALL. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman.

Mr. WOODALL. Absolutely. I appreciate your asking. I appreciate your asking because having had my motives impugned throughout the day, and I know with the collegial relationship that you and I have in the Rules Committee, you know for a fact I wouldn't be here otherwise. I wouldn't be here otherwise. Now, I'm no scholar of House activities. I know we have passed bills in this House that have incorporated things by reference before, and I'm sure we will do it again, not outside the process. To suggest--and you appreciate this, I say to my friend from Florida--to receive constitutional instruction from the team that brought us ObamaCare is troubling at the most basic levels.

Mr. WOODALL. In that case, I would be delighted to yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, can you tell me how much time I have remaining?

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have had a lot of talk on the floor today about children. We've been reading children's stories and been shown children's books. I've been harkened back to my own childhood in the 1970s and ``Schoolhouse Rock''; and for folks who have not seen the ``Schoolhouse Rock,'' there's an entire DVD now. It's advanced. I recommend that you pick a copy up for the young people in your life because it really is a fantastic beginning step about what it is that we're all about here, what it is that we're all about. The Preamble is in that ``Schoolhouse Rock'' category. No more kings is in that ``Schoolhouse Rock'' category. And what they talk about is what does it mean for us to be Americans; and what it means is that folks elect their Representatives and they send them to Washington, D.C., and they say get your business done, get your business done. That's what we're trying to do with this resolution here today, get our business done. I just want to read from the bill. It saddens me. I'm so thrilled that so many Americans watch what we do here on the House floor to hold us accountable, and I'm so saddened by all the misinformation that's circulated. I read here directly from the bill: ``If the House has not received a message from the Senate before April 6, 2011, stating that it has passed a measure providing for the appropriations for the Departments and agencies of the Government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, the provisions of H.R. 1, as passed by the House, are hereby enacted into law.'' This bill that we send to the Senate, for the Senate to pass, and the President to sign, those provisions are hereby enacted into law. Now, I just want to study that a little bit closer. If the House has not received a message from the Senate stating that the Senate has passed a measure providing for the appropriations of the United States Government. Folks may be wondering, Madam Speaker, why is it that we're doing that now? Wasn't that supposed to be done last September? Yes, it was. It didn't get done. Should that have gotten done last December? Yes, it should have, but it didn't get done. So we're here today to get it done. Forty-one days ago we passed a bill to fund the government. This entire body worked its will in a process that was as open as this House has ever seen: Democrats and Republicans working together, Republicans winning amendments, Democrats winning amendments, Democrats losing amendments, Republicans losing amendments. It made me proud to be a Representative and to serve in this body. It was the best work product this House could put together. We sent it over to the Senate 41 days ago. The Senate defeated it, fair enough. Folks don't have to agree with me. Fair enough. What they do have to do is they have to act. They defeated our bill, H.R. 1. They defeated a Democrat bill. Then they've done nothing. I got a call earlier today. I held up a board just like this talking about what the Senate had done. Well, there's nothing on this sheet of paper, folks. Golly, you held up the wrong sign. The answer is, no, it's the right sign. Nothing, nothing have we received from the United States Senate. It's the same on both sides, blank. How in the world are we supposed to fund this government with nothing from the United States Senate? This bill does two things and two things only, Madam Speaker. It says, Senate act. You don't have to act like us, act like Democrats, just act. Act. Do something, send us something, begin the process, make it available. Act.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds to answer my friend from Vermont's question, which is that it is not an appropriate thing to mislead the American people, so I'll just read one more time: Having passed the House, having passed the Senate, and be signed by the President. That's the regular order. I'll say to my friend that I'm sorry we didn't have time to finish our discussion yesterday in the Rules Committee. I really am sorry that we were called away by votes. With that, I would like to yield 2 minutes to my very good friend, a freshman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta).

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to a good friend and mentor, the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Broun.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, at this time I am very proud to yield 30 seconds to my good friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

Mr. WOODALL. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to one of my fellow freshmen, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Griffin).

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, at this time I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good friend the gentlelady from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins).

Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, at this time I yield 2 minutes to a gentleman from your home State, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger).