Providing for Consideration of H.R. Build Back Better Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, by adopting this rule, we are now lining up at the runway in preparation to land the plane on Build Back Better.

As we wait for the CBO to complete its work and produce its analysis, which I believe will confirm an estimate from the White House based on the Joint Committee on Taxation's analysis of the bill's revenue impact, and the preliminary scoring from CBO that this bill is fully paid for.

Now, I am not saying it doesn't spend money. It does not create debt. When the Republicans passed their tax bill, of course, they gave themselves a ceiling of $1.5 trillion that they did not pay for on the assertion that that tax cut would pay for itself.

The problem is none of their tax cuts have ever paid for themselves. None. Zero. Zip. This bill is paid for. And what it will do for the American people will be life changing for working families and moms and children in this country.

Today, we are going to pass a rule, which will allow for the consideration of this bipartisan infrastructure bill to invest $1.2 trillion.

I was talking about Build Back Better. I am now talking about the bipartisan infrastructure bill, 69 Senators voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which will make an extraordinary difference in the lives of the people in this country and, as importantly, job creation in this country, a million jobs per year. That is what this rule will do.

This bill will help our businesses create millions of good jobs here in our country, and it will make significant investments in promoting the deployment of clean energy technologies and making our infrastructure more resilient against climate change. That is what this bill will do.

And again, I am referring to the bipartisan infrastructure act passed with 69 votes in the United States Senate, almost half of the Republicans voting for it. This legislation will mean that our majority has delivered a major victory for the American people in a bipartisan way, and passing this rule will mean that next up is the transformational legislation to invest in America's human infrastructure--our children, our families, and opportunities for the most vulnerable in our country to access the American Dream.

Unlike our Republican friends who passed their tax bill, which was about 85 to 90 percent of it going to the wealthiest Americans, this bill deals with all Americans, particularly those who are the most vulnerable, most challenged, and having the most difficult time in our country.

So let's get this done today and show the American people that their Congress works for them. We ought to vote ``yes'' on this.

Now, let me say what this rule provides for: a bill which will add 1\1/2\ million jobs per year. This bill, the Build Back Better bill, will add 1\1/2\ million jobs per year and, on average, across the whole decade, increase labor force participation and accelerate the return to full employment; increase our total GDP by $3 trillion throughout the next decade; keep prices stable and decrease inflationary pressures as we continue our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nation has long underinvested in its infrastructure.

Now, I am sure as my friends across the aisle will remember, in 2016, President Trump was then campaigning for office, and he pledged to the American people that he would present a trillion-dollar infrastructure program for this country. 2017, no such infrastructure bill. 2018, no such infrastructure bill. 2019, no such infrastructure bill. But in early 2019, the President said $1 trillion is not enough; we ought to do $2 trillion. That was President Trump. $2 trillion was his suggestion.

And we asked him: Mr. President, we will support that. Tell us how you think we ought to fund it. Oh, we have to fund it?

The President never came forth with either a bill or with funding for a bill. So we didn't pass that.

This President said, no, we do need infrastructure, and the figure that Trump used is not, certainly, what this country needs, but it is a very good start. So he sent down a bill to accomplish that objective. That bill was not the one we passed because eight Senators from the Republican side of the aisle and eight Senators from the Democratic side of the aisle got together and talked about what we can agree upon.

I hear so much, particularly when I have colloquies with the minority whip about bipartisanship, that we ought to come together, that we ought to work together. Well, eight Senators on the Republican side and eight Senators on the Democratic side did exactly that. And what happened? They then went down to the White House; they talked to the President; and the President worked with them, and they agreed.

So this is a bill that the President, 19 Republican Senators, and 50 Democratic Senators agreed was good for America. And that is what we are enabling tonight.

The Nation, unfortunately, has long underinvested in its infrastructure and social needs and has been slow to respond to the threat posed by climate change. Our national security apparatus, including the four-star generals who lead our various service arms, has said the most existential threat to the security of the United States of America is climate change, global warming. This bill deals with that existential threat.

The policies being considered would direct the benefits of the stronger growth to lower income Americans. Now, that may be why it is sort of not what my Republican friends think ought to be done. Although the whip talked about that somewhat, that is not what their bill did.

It addresses the long-running skewing of income and wealth distribution in America, the richest country on Earth, where we have so many people in poverty, so many children who don't have a good education, so many children who don't have the healthcare they need. This bill addresses those issues.

On November 3, 2021, according to the Economic Policy Institute, ``The Build Back Better Act's macroeconomic boost looks more valuable by the day.'' They said their analysis shows that the U.S. economy is not overheating due to too much fiscal relief and recovery provided earlier this year. Expert after expert says that.

Did we have pent-up demand? We did. Are we having a supply side problem because of the pandemic? That is absolutely accurate. The Build Back Better agenda will ease bottlenecks and improve the resiliency of our supply chains.

It also boosts long-term growth and economic security through public investments and deeper social insurance. It provides a macroeconomic insurance policy against aggregate demand growing too slowly in coming years.

An open letter from Nobel laureates in support of the economic recovery agenda said this: ``Success in the 21st century will require building upon the bipartisan infrastructure deal that has passed the Senate, which prioritizes investments in our Nation's `hard' infrastructure.'' That is what this rule will provide for.

Furthermore, they say: ``The President's Build Back Better agenda employs a broader conception of infrastructure by making critical investments in human capital, the care economy, research and development, public education, and more, which will reduce families' costs.''

``Because this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity,'' they went on to say, ``and will enhance the ability to more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer term inflationary pressures.''

That was Nobel laureates talking about this economic recovery plan. It was signed by 15 of those Nobel laureates.

Madam Speaker, the last 20 months have presented our Nation with challenges we could neither have foreseen nor envisioned. A global pandemic took the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million Americans. If you went out to the lawn surrounding the George Washington Monument, you saw rows and rows and rows of white flags indicating those over 700,000, almost now 750,000 Americans who lost their lives as a result of this pandemic.

We responded in a bipartisan way, and because of it, we did not go into a depression. Because of it, we saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives, maybe millions of lives.

Because of our investment, we saved businesses. Because of our investment, we saved jobs for literally millions of Americans.

From February 2020 to February 2021, 2.3 million women in our country left the workforce, in many cases, to care for children who had to stay home from school or care for a sick loved one. Very frankly, this bill, as well as the Build Back Better Act, will address the critical shortage of childcare in this country.

Thankfully, because of the swift development and deployment of lifesaving vaccines, our economy is coming back. I don't know whether any of my Republican friends mentioned that we created over 500,000 jobs last month. This administration has enjoyed over 5 million new jobs in America. That is twice the number of jobs that Mr. Trump had in his best year. And 7 million more jobs, because Mr. Trump in his last year lost 2 million jobs--now that was because of the pandemic, we understand that. But to say that 500,000 new jobs is not an economy that is growing and providing sustenance for its people.

The delta variant continues to impact, of course, that recovery, which is slower than we would like to see. Our economy, however, has brought back nearly 5 million jobs since President Biden took office: now 5.5 million jobs. Americans are getting back to work. And what this bill will do is to encourage the continuance of the growth of our economy, continue to grow the ability to educate and raise our children, the ability of women and single parents--male and female--to be in the workplace. We need their expertise, we need their talent, we need their energy. And providing safe, reliable, affordable childcare will make such a difference.

Madam Speaker, this bill that we provide for, being considered as we end this debate, will help America grow. And the bill that the rule provides to consider at some time in the near future, will provide Americans with a better, safer, more secure life. For them, for their children, for their friends, and their neighbors, let's pass both of these bills.

Let's pass the bipartisan infrastructure framework tonight. And let us in the very near future, as this rule provides, pass the Build Back Better Act.

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