Providing for Consideration of H.R. 348, Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, where are the jobs? The question resonates throughout our Nation. It is the driving force behind every solution the Republican majority has offered to this body and every solution this administration has rejected.

I am pleased to bring forward this rule on behalf of the Committee on Rules. This rule provides for consideration of H.R. 348, the RAPID Act, and H.R. 758, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2015.

The Committee on Rules met on this measure yesterday evening and heard testimony from a Republican member of the Committee on the Judiciary and two Democratic members of the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on Rules solicited amendments for both these measures, but no amendments were submitted for the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, making the rule closed. There were 11 amendments submitted for the RAPID Act by both Republican and Democratic Members. This rule makes 10 of those in order. Let me repeat that: 11 amendments submitted, and 10 of those amendments are on the floor. Both the RAPID Act and the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act went through regular order in the Committee on the Judiciary, including robust amendment debate.

This rule provides for 1 hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary for each piece of legislation.

I appreciate the hard work of the Committee on the Judiciary chairman, Mr. Bob Goodlatte, and his full committee and subcommittee staffs in bringing forward these key reforms. It would take more than 60 minutes to list all the ways Republicans have worked to encourage economic growth and create jobs in the 114th Congress. We have worked tirelessly to pass litigation reforms that would promote access to court and ensure the cost of litigation isn't being used to force settlements.

I am a proud cosponsor of the RAPID Act because men and women across the Nation are ready to go back to work. Republicans are committed to giving job creators the confidence to take projects off the drawing board and onto the worksite.

A 2012 U.S. Chamber of Commerce study of proposed projects in just one sector of the economy, the energy sector, found that if a modest number of these projects were allowed to move forward and begin construction, the direct and indirect economic benefits would be tremendous--hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars annually.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are in the pipeline, and Republicans believe we should streamline the approval process so that these projects are either approved or denied, not left languishing year after year after year.

Americans need jobs now. They have bills to pay and families to feed. The RAPID Act is one of a number of solutions offered by House Republicans that would break down unnecessary Federal barriers and allow employers to break ground on the projects that offer Americans jobs and economic growth.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, NEPA, was designed for an important purpose, one that should be preserved. The Committee on the Judiciary has done important work exploring the original goals of NEPA and hearing from experts in the field and academic scholars. The facts are clear: The NEPA process we have today is far removed from what the authors intended. It is normal for the review process to take years and years, and in some cases over a decade. Imagine how the world has changed in the past 10 years. It is absolutely mind-boggling that a review process for any project would take a decade.

We live in a world where technology has made the impossible possible. There is no excuse for relying on old methods or overly complex regulatory frameworks. It is time for Federal regulators to stop tying up capital and prioritizing endless paper pushing over job creation.

We can do better as a nation. Our economy and our families depend on us doing better.

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

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we just got back after spending time in our districts, and I know, in my case, one of the reasons that we are back today dealing with regulatory issues is just a couple of examples that just continue to come up in conversations.

There were always questions about, frankly, what are we doing in Washington, what are we not doing in Washington, but there was a common theme when I went to small business, factories, and when we do roundtables. The common theme was: Why is Washington constantly keeping me from doing what I can do or need to do in my business? Why are we continuing to get regulation after regulation after regulation that keep us from expanding our business?

I had a businessowner tell us in a roundtable that right now there were several businesses he knew that would be willing to hire upwards of 20, 30, 40 folks, but right now they are bound by the caps that they find under the healthcare law. They don't want to go over a certain number--that magic 49. They don't want to get involved in other areas that are keeping them constricted to this point.

So when we look at these packages of bills that we are looking at, frankly, we are looking at everyday moms and dads; we are looking at businessowners; we are looking at the folks who are the economic engines of the United States; and we are saying the government should not be the inhibitor of your company. The government should not be the part that is stopping you from creating jobs, from getting that next big idea, from having that next product that hits the market that takes us to that different level or hiring that next person who has that spark, that creative energy to say: ``Here's the next idea that changes even how we are here today.''

So when we deal with this and we look at it, the question really is: What drives jobs? The House majority, the Republican majority, constantly has looked at what it means to be an entrepreneur and to have people that you employ. What does it mean? It means giving someone a chance.

This summer, I had the awesome fun or joy, if you will, of watching my son get his first job. He started to work at a grocery store, and I can remember at first he was all excited. He went through all the process and he got that job. The best day was when he actually came home after working and he was tired, but yet it was payday. He came in and he looked at me and he said: ``Dad, I got my paycheck.''

And for a moment, regardless of how much that check was--this is not a story about seeing taxes for the first time; my son has lived in my house and he understands the burden of taxes, so it was not any of that--it was just the joy in his eyes that someone had given him a job and that he went to work. It was that pride of having money that he could spend. There is a new person in the economic engine.

That is why we continue to bring these bills forward, so that government can be out of the way and be its proper role, not the roadblock to job creation. When we do that, then the people of the United States can look at this House Republican majority and know our best interests are with those who get up every day looking to make life just a little bit better.

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

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear, just to clear up a couple of things here. One, let me be clear that nothing in this rule or the amendment waives the normal Rules Committee hearing process.

It simply provides us with the flexibility to consider bills on the floor sooner while the Pope is here. It does nothing to waive the normal committee process for bills that should go to Rules, just to clear up that.

I do appreciate the gentleman from Colorado's concern about our speakers and the fact that he was counting today. I was glad to see that he had three people come to speak on the rule that had nothing to do with the bills in the underlying rule. So that was pretty impressive.

I will stand with one person speaking on the rules and the truth of the fact that regulatory burden has a crushing role on business. I will stand, one, by myself all day.

And then in just a few hours, when we discuss this in the debate process, we will have plenty of people to discuss the actual bills themselves.

So let me close up by talking about what we are here for. My friends across the aisle want to portray House Republicans as being against things and against people.

Yes, it is true we have said ``no'' to bad policies and priorities of the administration. We have refused to turn a blind eye to those who exploit our legal system.

We have said ``no'' to the Federal regulators who are indefinitely delaying projects that would put Americans back to work.

We have said ``no'' to the tax more, spend more, save less, Big Government, job-killing machine that is crushing the American spirit and our economic growth.

But this majority says ``yes'' to solid, principled legislation that protects Americans' personal and economic liberties. Later today, we will say ``yes'' to life.

We will vote to protect the babies born alive despite the efforts to abort them. Regardless of the circumstances in which a baby is born alive, they are a person just like you or I. To fail to recognize their humanity is to deny our own.

This House majority says ``yes'' to fiscal responsibility, ``yes'' to the commonsense principle that our Nation should have a budget and actually stick to it.

We say ``yes'' to responsible oversight efforts because we understand, as our Founding Fathers did, that Americans' rights and liberties are only safe while the Federal Government is held within the bounds of the Constitution.

We say ``yes'' to free market principles because we recognize that economic growth is rooted in the ingenuity of America's entrepreneurs, not government programs.

We have replaced government with growth and regulations with reform. We have restored transparency and trust. We have given our Nation reason to believe that one day our children won't be looking for a job because government has crushed them. They will be creating jobs.

House Republicans have heard the cries of the American people, and today, tomorrow, and every day to come we will continue to fight for them. We will fight so that they can realize their hopes, their dreams, and their ambitions.

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