Press Releases

Statement of U.S. Representative James P. McGovern
Rule for consideration of H.R. 3630
December 13, 2011

I thank the distinguished Chairman of the Rules Committee, Mr. Dreier, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise in opposition to this closed rule and to the underlying bill. M. Speaker, this bill and this process is so lousy that I barely know where to begin today.

Let's start with the process.

The way this bill was conceived, drafted and brought up may be the worst yet under this Republican-controlled Congress.

Simply, this process is shameful. It is an embarrassment.

This 369 page monstrosity was presented on Friday afternoon. I use the word presented because it was introduced on a day when no committee met and we had no votes in the House.

It was referred to 12 committees - that's more than half the committees in the House - but no committee held a hearing or a markup on this bill. It never saw the light of day in any of these committees.

There are 348 Members who sit on the Committees that have jurisdiction over this bill. That's 348 Members of the House who should have had the opportunity to offer amendments and question witnesses about this bill in committee markups and hearings. Not one of these Members had that opportunity.

And this lousy process leads to bad legislating.

Just look at this bill. It's long and it's sloppy. The Republicans who rushed to put this bill together have already found one error. Who knows how many more there are in here?

Last year, Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, Whip McCarthy and other Members of the Republican leadership rolled out their Pledge to America, their campaign pledge to run this House in a more open way.

Yet all year long they have been chipping away at their pledge. And now we have this bill that flat out breaks their pledge.

In their pledge, the House Republicans promised to quote -end the practice of packaging unpopular bills with "must-pass" legislation to circumvent the will of the American people. Instead, we will advance major legislation one issue at a time. - End quote.

Yet we have three provisions - extension of the payroll tax cut, extension of unemployment insurance and the SGR or doc fix - that are must pass by the end of this year. And do we have a clean bill that is free from unrelated provisions?

Of course not. That would be logical and make too much sense.

No, M. Speaker, the bill we have before us is loaded up with goodies to mollify the extreme right wing that is in charge of this House.

Along with the extension of the payroll tax cut and the doc fix, this bill includes the following:

Requires the approval of the controversial Keystone pipeline; requires millions of seniors to pay more for healthcare; increases taxes on working families by forcing large, end-of-the-year healthcare payments; slashes prevention funding that actually reduces Medicare and Medicaid costs; undermines air quality, endangering the health of children and families by blocking mercury pollution reduction; cuts retirement programs for federal workers; and extends the pay freeze for federal workers.

Each of these provisions are different - they have nothing to do with each other. Why are they bunched together in one bill?

And these policies are bad for America - they are bad for the American people. Yet the Republican leadership continues to push these extreme and harmful provisions.

And even though the unemployment insurance program needs to be extended, this bill actually erodes this important program by cutting unemployment insurance benefits for one million Americans who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and it imposes new limits on unemployment compensation by restricting benefits employees have paid for.

Why is always so difficult in this House to help middle class families and those struggling to get into the middle class?

Why do you throw roadblock after roadblock in front of middle class Americans who are trying make their lives better? Why do you continue to make it virtually impossible for us to help average people - while at the same time doing everything in your power to protect subsidies for big oil companies and tax cuts for the Donald Trump's of the world?

Extension of the payroll tax cut, extension of the unemployment insurance program and the doc fix should not be controversial and these extensions should have been done a long time ago.

Yet here we are, weeks before the year ends, and we're debating a huge Christmas tree that tries to undercut the clean air act, that jams through a controversial pipeline proposal, that undercuts our nation's health systems.

My friends on the other side of the aisle are playing a very risky game. We know that failure to extend the payroll tax cut will mean a $1500 tax increase on middle class Americans. We know that 160 million Americans will see their taxes go up if we don't act before the end of the year. So why are Republicans bringing a bill to the floor that we know will not pass the Senate? Why are you wasting precious time?

The Republican leadership insists on playing chicken with the American people just to score cheap political points.

This is not the time for political theatre. No, M. Speaker, this is the time for responsible leadership. It's time to do the right thing for the American people and drop these controversial provisions from this bill. This is not the time to increases taxes on middle class Americans. It's time to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and the doc fix.

M. Speaker, this House needs to get back to doing the people's business. And the people's business is jobs. It would be nice if my Republican friends would allow the president's jobs bill to come to the floor for a vote - rather than bills that reaffirm our national motto or make it easier for unsafe people to carry concealed weapons from one state to another.

I'd say to my Republican friends - the American people are outraged. They're outraged at your indifference to the middle class. They're outraged by your callous attitude toward the most vulnerable in this country. They're outraged that you're playing politics with their lives.

M. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to do the right thing - to pass a clean extension of the payroll tax cut, properly extend unemployment insurance and the doc fix.

Do the right thing and do it the right way. That's all the American people are asking for.

I reserve the balance of my time.