House Democratic Agenda

Floor Speech

Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, sadly, the majority is pressing forward later this week with two partisan messaging bills cloaked in the rhetoric of creating jobs and expanding opportunity, bills that actually do neither.

We will today and tomorrow, for the most part, I think, proceed in a bipartisan fashion, where we will have views on both sides of the aisle that agree and that disagree with the actions we will take on the continuing resolution and the amendment that will be considered to give authority to the President of the United States to train and equip those who are confronting ISIL. However, after we consider that, we will proceed again on the partisan messaging bills of which I spoke. This, unfortunately, has been the pattern throughout the 112th and the 113th, this Congress.

The American people are rightfully disgusted--in some cases, despairing--and certainly tired of the partisan games that lead only to gridlock that have made this Congress the most unproductive Congress in which I have served. This is my 17th Congress.

The American people are tired of watching the Republican majority walk away from their responsibilities to govern in a bipartisan way. They are tired of Republicans walking away from our middle class when they have refused to raise the minimum wage, which has a majority of votes on this floor for passage.

The minimum wage today, if it were in 2014 dollars and 1968 levels, would be $10.77. That means those at the lowest ranks of earners in America have seen their buying power degraded by over 40 percent since 1968, and yet we won't even bring it to the floor. When I say "we,'' the Republican majority won't even bring it to the floor for a vote, and it has a majority of votes in my opinion.

They won't bring a bill to the floor that ensures equal pay for equal work. Every woman in this House and every man in this House except for the leadership are paid exactly the same thing irrespective of their gender. Americans believe that is the right thing to do. We can't get a bill to the floor.

We need to make higher education more affordable. Student loans have the ability to be refinanced just as mortgages can be refinanced. We can't get such a bill to the floor.

They are tired of Republicans' obsession with undoing the patient protections and cost savings of health care reform. We spent 4 years pretending that we were going to repeal it as opposed to fixing that which could be made better on behalf of the American people.

They are tired of watching Republicans walk away from every opportunity to get our fiscal House in order, as they did with the Biden talks; the Boehner-Obama negotiations; the supercommittee, composed of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats; walked away from averting the sequester; shut down the government; and several missed opportunities to pursue fiscal sustainability.

The American people are, as I said, distressed, dismayed, and, indeed, angry at the Congress, all of us, because they see their board of directors of the greatest country on the face of the Earth not working.

They are tired of Republicans' failure to move forward with bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. That, again, has the votes on this floor to pass, but they don't bring it to the floor.

The Republican Congress has made it clear that their message to America is: You are on your own.

You are not earning enough minimum wage? You are on your own.

You lost your unemployment insurance? You are on your own.

Sandy comes and visits the Atlantic Katrina visited. And what did we do on Sandy? We said, You are on your own. A majority of Republicans--an overwhelming majority of Republicans--voted against helping those who were struck by Sandy.

Export-Import Bank. You are in a business that is trying to export goods. You are getting a little help. You are being competitive with the rest of the world. What does this Congress say? You are on your own. Yes, we are going to extend it for a short period of time, but there are a majority of votes on this floor to extend it for a number of years, which will give confidence to the economy and to exporters and lenders that it will be in place. But what did we say? You are on your own.

You want to buy a home? Well, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee wants to eliminate Fannie and Freddie and say, Yes, you are on your own.

You need terrorism risk insurance to build and get a loan for commercial construction? It is not on the floor. You are on your own.

The American people are upset with us--and rightfully so. I am upset with us. This Republican Congress has made it clear that it is about political messaging and nothing else. That is what they said to women when they voted against the Violence Against Women Act, an act which had passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan fashion when it was adopted and when it was reauthorized, but this Congress could not get a majority of the Republicans to vote for it. It passed after 8 months of delay because Democrats voted overwhelmingly for it--what they said to small business owners when they voted against that Sandy relief, and it is what they told unemployed workers when they voted not to extend emergency unemployment.

While House Republicans are using September to continue sending messages to the American people, House Democrats are talking about lifting up the middle class, giving a jump-start to the middle class. This month will be one of sharp contrast and, yes, next month and, yes, November.

There are choices to be made, a sharp contrast. The overwhelming majority of the American people are for every one of the issues that I have just mentioned. Poll after poll after poll shows them to be so.

There will be a contrast between obstruction and progress--between Republicans who have said their number one priority is winning an election and Democrats who want to win the battle for economic equality and economic opportunity for the American people.

The American people deserve a Congress that is on their side. House Democrats are committed to doing what is necessary to jump-start our middle class, create good jobs, and open doors of opportunity for all Americans.

Jump-starting the middle class means helping more of our businesses make it in America and create jobs that pay well. We, by the way, passed yesterday "Make It In America'' legislation--good legislation, bipartisan legislation. It was done on a voice vote. The reason it was done on a voice vote is because there was some concern that a large number of Republicans might vote against it. That would have been a bad vote for them, so we passed it on a voice vote.

It means equal pay for equal work and greater access to affordable child care. It means access to higher education, spanning job training and opportunity. It means enabling more Americans to own a home, save for retirement, and know with certainty their children will be better off than we are and that they were.

That, Madam Speaker, is what the American people expect us to do. It is so sad that we haven't been doing it. It is so sad that we cannot have the House work its will, which is, of course, what the Republicans said in their pledge to America. That is what the young guns told us they were going to do. We have had more closed rules than any Congress in which I have served. That means that ideas can't be put forward.

Madam Speaker, the American public will have a choice between a stark contrast of who is on their side. Let's hope the next Congress is a Congress of which the American people can be proud.

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