North American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be on the floor today to support a bill brought to the floor by the distinguished chair of the Appropriations Committee, Nita Lowey from New York. Her service on that committee for decades has been a blessing to our country.

I have seen firsthand her leadership for America's families, for our country, for our communities, and for our children. We have worked together on women's issues, HIV/AIDS, you name it, every subject, minority health issues and the rest.

And here we are today with this legislation that is so needed for our country.

It is really hard to understand what it is that people would oppose in the legislation. The Appropriations Committee has done a masterful job.

You have been a maestro, Madam Chair, as well as your staff, for putting this legislation together.

I am in Congress because of children. I am always here for the children. I wanted to start my comments by saying what this legislation would mean to a family of four.

This is a lifeline for workers and families who are facing this coronavirus disaster. For a family of four earning $24,000, Heroes 2 would mean direct payments, a $3,400 direct payment; unemployment benefits of $600 per week in enhanced UI benefits; tax credits up to $5,920 through the EITC, and a fully refundable $4,000 tax credit, equaling an additional $1,200 in refunds.

I mention that because some have said: Why don't you like this other bill and that bill? None of that that I just said, the tax credits, the earned income tax credit, the fully refundable child tax credit, none of that is in any of the Republican bills. None of the bills that you have seen other than this bill has that consideration for children.

So when people say: Well, why don't you take a half a loaf? Because the children need more than the heel of a loaf of bread. They need the best we can do for them.

It has an increase in SNAP benefits, an increase of $100 a month in most States, plus rental assistance and the ACA premium subsidy. This gives immediate eligibility for parents losing their jobs for the maximum health insurance premium subsidy under the Affordable Care Act, a benefit worth $1,386 per month.

Now, we can't do everything in a bill that is coronavirus focused. We have challenges in our country that we must address in a bigger way. But what we have here is coronavirus-centric, and that is important to note because people are suffering in a different way. Many of these families are food insecure. Millions of children in our country are food insecure, and this Heroes Act addresses some of that.

So in addition to thanking Nita Lowey for her leadership, I salute Bobby Scott for our children and for our workers. We want our children to go back to school. We want them to do so in a way that is safe. And Bobby Scott has provisions in here for that, whether it is actually in school, whether it is virtual, whether it is hybrid, or whether it calls for the ventilation that is needed.

And, again, for their fathers and mothers to go to work in a safe atmosphere by having strong OSHA language in here to protect workers. That is not in the Republican bill. That is not in the Republican bill.

We can come to terms on money, but the language is what is important.

The Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Frank Pallone, 4\1/2\ months ago, and even before that, proposed a strategic plan that I am sure he will talk about, and I thank him for that, a strategic plan in order to crush the virus.

The Republicans want to crush the Affordable Care Act in a time of a pandemic, going into the Supreme Court to crush the Affordable Care Act. Why don't we just come together, crush the virus? We can open our economy and our schools in a safe way.

And I thank you, Chairman Pallone, for your leadership.

The Natural Resources Committee, Chairman Raul Grijalva, what he has in the legislation is so important, especially addressing the needs of our Tribal communities in our country, which are so disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. I thank him for his leadership that in so many ways is in the legislation, but that being such an essential piece.

I thank the Oversight Committee chairwoman, Carolyn Maloney, for her leadership for the Postal Service, and I think we have finally gotten the message across on the Postal Service. Hopefully, we will get some cooperation there.

But not yet on the Census. The Census is so important. It is the life blood of who we are, the DNA of America, the people, and we are having a problem with that. It is not even about money. It is about policy. So I thank Representative Maloney for her ongoing leadership, 4 years culminating in this legislation now.

Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, so knowledgeable, for decades the chair or ranking member of the Small Business Committee. She knows about women and minority-owned businesses, and the most optimistic thing a person can do is to, I say, plant a flag for a small business.

How more optimistic can you be than to start a business? Perhaps, get married, but you kind of know what your risks are there.

But a small business, so needed the help in here for PPP, other help for hospitals--excuse me, for restaurants. Hospitals are in Mr. Pallone's section of the bill and the language for the healthcare providers is there.

But back to Nydia Velazquez. This is a big piece of the bill.

So what do we do for PPP? What do we do for restaurants? What do we do for arenas, small spaces around the country for entertainment and bringing people together--spatially distanced, of course. How do we balance all of this?

That is language that we are trying to resolve in our negotiations. I am optimistic that we can get there, but we couldn't do the best job possible without the leadership of Nydia Velazquez.

The Veterans' Affairs Committee, I thank Mark Takano for his important work for our veterans and the resources we have in the bill for our veterans.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richie Neal just has been brilliant in how we put money in people's pockets with direct payments and some of the other tax provisions that I talked about earlier for children that have no reference in the Republican bill as far as the children are concerned. And, again, my top priority is the children.

I thank Peter DeFazio, the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for his leadership and having the language in here, not just for the airlines, which is very, very important, and that is important because it is an essential--it is important, but people should know, when they say, ``Well, why should we help airline employees?'' well, we do because they have to have special certifications and special security clearances and the rest. If they lose a job and come back, it is months before they can come back, not like any other industry. So that is important.

But Mr. DeFazio also has an important chunk of money in the bill for transportation, writ large and some other ways, that is urgent and coronavirus connected. And that is very important, as well, and I thank him for his leadership in that regard.

But read the bill. I salute the chairs. This is about having scientific, institutional, academic bases for the amount of money that we are asking for.

We had a bigger bill, 3.4. The other side said: We are not going there.

So we came down a trillion dollars.

No, not yet.

We came down another $200 billion, not by violating any of our priorities, but by shortening the time, just shortening the timeframe and moving some issues to the other arena that Madam Chair works in and that are in our regular appropriations bills as we go forward.

So this is really important. One bill is not as good as another.

Why not take something instead of nothing?

Why should that be the standard for America's children? We have to fight for the best that we can get for them, and I feel certain that we will have a level of success. People have to know.

One of the problems that I have, the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans on this issue is, in the Republican bill, they have a $150 billion benefit for some of the wealthiest people in our country--$150 billion.

In our bill, we strive to have $149 billion for our children for the earned income tax credit, for full refundability and the rest.

No.

So we took it down to $54 billion, and it was still waiting to see if we get acceptance of that.

$150 billion for the wealthiest people in America, tax, net operating loss.

149 for America's working families, no. We took it down to 54. We took off $100 billion to gain agreement.

This is not just a money debate and a language debate; it is a values debate. It is important for people to know what this fight is about.

So it is called the Heroes Act, and it is called the Heroes Act because we are honoring our heroes. Everybody wants to wave and have cutouts at the game and all that. Honor our heroes by making sure they have their jobs.

These are our healthcare workers, our police and fire first responders, our teachers, our transportation, our sanitation, our food workers and the rest who make our lives function. We couldn't do what we do without them doing what they are doing. Many of them are risking their lives to save lives, and now they may lose their jobs.

Why?

Let the States go bankrupt. That is what Mitch McConnell said. Let the States go bankrupt.

And what did the President say? Well, those blue States, why should we send them any money?

Because the people have needs, and we have to meet them.

We lose all ability to thank them if we say: That is nice, but we don't care if you lose your job. You can go on unemployment insurance.

What have we accomplished? We have diminished the services to people, probably raise taxes in some of these places, and people lose their jobs. Over a million, closer to a million and a half of State and locals have lost their jobs already, and it is predicted that 3\1/2\ million more will lose their jobs if we don't act on this.

So this is an important pillar of this bill, supporting State and local government. That is one of the areas that we are, shall we say, negotiating.

Next, crush the virus. Mr. Pallone has a plan. Crush the virus so that we can again open our schools, our businesses, our economy. And we are long overdue.

Well, this bill is 4\1/2\ months old because, at the time we passed it, the leader in the Senate, Mr. McConnell, pushed the pause button. He pushed the pause button. We have got to wait and see.

Since that time, over 100,000 people have died. Hundreds of thousands have become infected because he pushed the pause button and said: Let the States go bankrupt.

So this is why we come here today, to debate policy on how we think we can best meet the needs of the American people. And we think we can best meet the needs of the American people with the provisions in this bill. I thought it was really important for us to formally put forth the work of our chairs, which is excellent, which meets the needs of the people.

Representative Waters, you heard from her earlier. Families are on the verge of eviction. Families on the verge of eviction get support in this legislation.

People who can't pay their mortgages are helped in this legislation. I thank Chairwoman Waters for that as well. It is her work on the restaurant legislation to help many more small businesses get help from this legislation.

This is a tall order.

People say, well, we should have a skinny package. No, we don't have a skinny problem; we have got a massive problem.

Now, you don't believe so much more in the role of government than we do. Let's come together, find our common ground, but let's not just say let the children pay the price because we want to have a bipartisan bill.

No, we don't want the children to pay the price so we can have a bipartisan bill. We want to have a bipartisan bill that supports the children. I feel confident that we can do that.

But we can't do that if we take the path of least resistance and just say let's do whatever they put forth. That is doing their bill. That is not doing the people's work.

So, again, over 200,000 people, we know 207,000 people have already died, more than 7 million affected. A million people in the world have died.

We have legislation because of Chairwoman Lowey's expertise, respect in the world. We have provisions in the bill that affect our relationship in terms of how we fight the COVID virus globally, because none of us is safe unless we make sure that all of us are safe.

So I urge a ``yes'' vote on this legislation. It goes a long way to doing what we need to do. It sets an example that, as I say, we cut a lot out by just cutting the time on it. Pretty soon, we will have to have legislation again. That will be probably next year. And this legislation goes to early next year rather than later next year, but the timing is really important to do it now. It is long overdue. It is what this country needs.

And, again, I say thank you to our heroes. We thank you by making sure you have the job, the benefits, and the rest that you have earned, and by not just giving you empty gratitude but the gratitude of supporting you and the important roles that you play in our lives with assurance that you will have your job as you risk your lives to save lives.

Your children will be able to go to school safely whether it is virtual, actual, or a hybrid, and when they do that, they will do so in a way that we have enabled, because education has some funds in here, but without State and local, the education function cannot be borne out to its fullest extent.

Mr. Speaker, again, I thank the distinguished chairwoman for yielding me the time. I have great excitement because of the work of our chairs about the quality of this legislation and the necessity that we come as close to it in a negotiation for the children.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source