Middle Class Economics

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. I thank both of my good friends.

I certainly thank you, my good friend from California, Mr. Garamendi,
for the consistency with which you have taken on these Special Orders.
You don't need my support, but I thought I would come down and offer my
support, not only because of how comprehensive have been your comments
to remind the American people of how important our bill is, the surface
transportation bill; but I would like to just take a few minutes to
relate to what I have heard both of you say. Indeed, I have heard you
mention jobs and the economy in one form or fashion, but I want to take
this moment to indicate the link between jobs and the surface
transportation bill. What makes me want to do this is the Gallup Poll.

We have always known that the surface transportation bill and,
indeed, that infrastructure has been an engine of the economy, and one reason is that it throws off jobs. It starts, of course, in construction, but
then, more than any other sector, it stimulates jobs all the way up,
jobs that support all the way up. That is what the GROW AMERICA Act
will do. Of course, if you want to do that, you need stable funding.
When I looked at what the American people want, I saw immediately the
link between that and this Special Order hour today. If you look at the
most important problems in American life, it is amazing what they are.
The Gallup Poll asked, What is the most important issue for the
American people?

There were eight issues. Of those eight issues, seven out of eight
have to do with the economy.

Number one was economic problems, divided into the economy and
unemployment and jobs. Federal deficit and Federal debt were there, but
everything else was about jobs and the economy.

There are gaps between the rich and the poor, lack of money--that is
how the American people put--wage issues, and the high cost of living.
There you have it. What is the best way to do what Americans want.

I agree with my good friend from California, we had a good hearing
this morning, but I wonder if both of you weren't surprised that there
was not more talk in this very bipartisan hearing that we had about
jobs and the relationship to the surface transportation bill. I think
there is a reason for that. That is that we can't yet pass the first
hurdle: How are we going to pay for it? It costs money.

Your chart there--rail, buses, ports, bridges, highways--are not
free. We are so hung up on trying to do the impossible, fund all of
those without money, that we can't get to what the money will do. We
are approaching the absolute deadline, May 31. The construction season
is already here. It is 65 degrees in Washington, D.C., today.

I wonder, Congress knows that that very first bill, that Eisenhower
bill in 1956, had a 13-year authorization because the Republicans in
the 1950s were attuned to how long it takes to do exactly the kinds of
things, Mr. Garamendi, that your chart points to, and you need an
authorization more than a few months or even a few years to get that
done--a 13-year authorization. No wonder that those post-World War II
years were the very best years for the American economy.

The States simply cannot make capital improvements. That is what your
chart speaks to. Every last one of those is a capital improvement. You
can't do it without capital funds that come in bulk. The States, of
course, have thrown up their hands. How many of them have just said,
``We have got to do it if Congress won't do anything; we just can't go
on like this''? Of course, they are forgoing the projects they most
need because no State has that kind of funds. Eleven States don't even
have the option of putting up their own funds, they depend so heavily
on Federal funds.

But to show the link that I came to the floor to make to jobs, the
occupations with the largest growth today would make the American
people cry. Number one is personal care aides. Heaven knows we need
them. We are having a big rally here in the District tomorrow because
of the low pay of these workers. But at the bottom is construction
laborers. The personal care aides make median $19,000, almost $20,000.
The construction laborers make almost $30,000. That is a difference
between a higher-wage job and those are the kind of jobs you are
talking about, Mr. Garamendi--and a low-wage job. We are making only
low-wage jobs because we are not, in fact, funding bills that would not
only deal with rail, buses, ports, bridges, and highways, but the other
parts of our transportation and infrastructure that my good friend has
also mentioned.

Of the fastest growing occupations, the top 10, only two have to do
with what would grow America--insulation workers and brick and stone
masons, Those are only two of the top 10.

In my own district, the District of Columbia, I would hate to ask you
to guess what is the occupation with the largest job growth--security
guards. We need security guards and we welcome security guards, but I
want my two friends at the podiums to know that not one job, not one
truly high-paid job, except registered nurses and lawyers--God forgive
us--is on this list.

So I come to the floor to thank both of my good friends for the
conversation you have been having, to join it, and to link it to what
worries the American people. They can think about nothing these days.
They don't even think about ISIL. They hardly even thought about the
Department of Homeland Security bill that we just passed here only last
week. They can't think about anything except that as we say, rightly,
there is a growth in jobs, and yet their wages stagnate because the
growth is not where the wages would grow.

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Ms. NORTON. Well, my additional thoughts are really stimulated by the
comments that both of you have made. You spoke about manufacturing. One of the reasons, one of the first things that occurred that got out of
this recession was that manufacturing began to come back in America;
and now, of course, corporations are finding good reasons to
manufacture in America, and particularly at this time.

Mr. Tonko, in essence, you were talking about stimulating the
economy, and the best way to do it is to build something. You mentioned
the buildings in Washington. If you look at the cornerstone of
virtually all the public buildings downtown, the buildings that people
come to see, the Federal buildings, they all have a 1930s cornerstone,
because that is when we stimulated ourselves out of the Depression.

Mr. Garamendi mentioned Amtrak. Well, this is the hub of Amtrak, my
own district. I must tell you, when I think about high-speed rail,
speaking of Amtrak--and we haven't put the first high-speed rail on
line, not the first, which puts us behind not only all of our allies,
but even some developing countries.

It makes me almost ashamed to be on this committee, we are so behind.
If we really wanted to get the economy going, we would give ourselves a
deadline for high-speed rail. We would understand that if you want to
move your economy quickly, you do not do something like cut taxes. You
build things. You build America.

I don't know how much time you have left, but I just want to thank
you for the leadership, Mr. Garamendi, that you have taken and to say
to you that I am with you as we continue to remind this Congress that
this should be one of its foremost tasks this year: our surface
transportation bill.

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