Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, when I was 23, I decided to open a small business in my home State of Wisconsin, a business which I still own today nearly 3 decades later. I know what it takes to create jobs, good family supporting union jobs. I know what a headache misguided regulation can be.

No one supports dumb regulation. There is a regulation that says it is a crime to sell ``turkey ham'' as ``ham turkey'' or with the words ``turkey'' or ``ham'' in a different font. That is just dumb.

But I also know that rhetoric about regulation can go too far and in the wrong direction and sometimes be done for the wrong reasons. Last week, we all heard loud and clear that there is economic anxiety in this country, more than anyone ever imagined.

While the economy has largely come back from the crash of 2008, too many are working more hours for less, and many don't earn what they used to in jobs that have left us and have gone overseas. The last thing we should be doing right now is anything that costs us jobs in this country, and that is exactly what this bill before us would do today.

This motion to recommit is simple. We should support any rules and regulations that help put Americans back to work. I think that is something everyone should be able to agree with; but, unfortunately, some in Congress want to stop all sorts of regulations, even ones that help the American people get back to work, just because some powerful special interests don't like them. That means you would throw out regulations that have the ability to help increase people's paychecks and create jobs right here in America.

Let's face it. President Obama knows a thing or two about creating jobs. Under his administration, over 13 million jobs have been created--twice the number that were created under President Bush--and we have added jobs consistently for the last 73 months. That should be something we are all glad about and support. It is no wonder that President Obama's approval rating is at 56 percent today; but now Congress wants to take away the President's ability to continue to help the economy--Congress, which, by the way, cost 1.6 million jobs through passing sequestration; Congress, which cost the economy $24 billion when we shut down the government a few years back; and Congress, which can't even pass a budget or appropriations bills--the essential 101 of government.

Congress is going to tell the President what he is doing wrong and what he should and shouldn't do while he is still President. Really? Remember, the President's approval rating is 56 percent, and the majority's rating is about 15 to 20 percent. So Congress is going to tell the President what he should do even if it would cost us jobs.

That is not the message from last week, my colleagues. People want more job growth and bigger paychecks, not less.

If you are serious about stopping bad regulation, we are with you. If you simply want to stop the President from continuing to be President for the remainder of his term and stop us from creating jobs by doing that, you didn't get the message from last week--but we did. We are hyper-focused on creating good, family supporting jobs, and we aren't going to stop a President who is doing that just so Republicans can say ``thank you'' to some corporate special interests.

I urge my colleagues to support the Democratic motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source