Official Truth Squad

Floor Speech

OFFICIAL TRUTH SQUAD -- (House of Representatives - February 06, 2007)

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) works very hard on organizing our Truth Squad and making sure that we are getting the word out about what needs to be gotten out in terms of the issues that are important, I think, to the American people. We are going to talk about the economy and what is happening to the economy in the United States, and I want to talk a little bit about that to begin with until Mr. Price gets here, and I probably will recognize my colleague from Tennessee, who is also here to speak on this issue, and ask him if he would share some comments.

The first thing I want to say is that our economy is in wonderful, wonderful shape. It is the best economy that we have had in this country for many, many years. Now, a major reason that the economy is in such great shape is because of the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. I was not here when those tax cuts were passed, but I am very pleased that they were passed and that they brought about such a positive economy for this country. We have the lowest unemployment rate that we have had in 50 years. We have growth in all sectors. We have more people owning their homes than have ever owned them before. Incomes are up and revenues are up.

And I want to say something about revenues, using some information from the Heritage Foundation. Tax revenues in 2006 were 18.4 percent of gross domestic product, which is above the 20-year, 40-year and 60-year historical averages. The inflation-adjusted 20 percent tax revenue increase between 2004 and 2006 represents the largest 2-year revenue surge since 1965 and 1967.

There is a myth out there that tax revenues are low. Tax revenues are actually above the historical average, even after the tax cuts. We know that tax cuts are good for this economy; they are always good for the economy. The more money that we leave in the hands and the pockets of our taxpayers, the better off we are. When the government appropriates that money and spends it, the government is very inefficient in its spending of that money, and that does not grow the economy, contrary to what many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would like to say.

We are going to talk again more and more about the economy and the fact that it is in very good shape. And it is very unfortunate that the economy doesn't get the positive press that the economy has gotten under Democratic Presidents, when in fact most of the time the results of the good economy are coming from a Republican Congress, which knows how to do things in terms of growing the economy.

I would like to recognize now my colleague from Tennessee, who is here to make a presentation on this issue, also. I know that he will bring some enlightened points to the discussion.

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Ms. FOXX. I thank Mr. Davis, the gentleman from Tennessee, for his remarks. And I appreciate his being involved and sharing some information with us that is so important. This is his first term, and he has done a wonderful job.

He is my neighbor to the west. His district in Tennessee joins the 5th District in North Carolina. We both live in a wonderful, wonderful place. Every time somebody speaks to me about where I live, they say, what a beautiful place you live in, and I feel that way about it. And I want to say that it is a great honor to serve in Congress, but I can tell you that my feet are planted very firmly on the ground in the 5th District of North Carolina, and I don't ever forget where I came from and the people that I represent.

I want to talk a little bit on this issue about the economy that Mr. Price set up today for the Truth Squad. And I know he is going to be here probably very shortly, and when he does I am going to yield back to the Chair and hope that the Chair will recognize him so that he can continue this discussion.

I want to talk a little bit today about the economy and an egregious situation that we are facing here in the Congress as it deals with unions. I have come to the floor several times in this session and talked about what I consider the hypocrisy that is going on in this Congress by the majority party. We are having black called white and white called black in terms of pieces of things on the paper. It is astonishing to me the hypocrisy that is going on. And I think there is probably no more greater piece of hypocrisy than this so-called Employee Free Choice Act which has been introduced by the Democrats. It deals with the ability for unions to twist people's arms to get them into unions.

The unions have been steadily losing ground in this country for many, many years. My understanding is that the percentage and number of U.S. workers that belong to unions declined again in 2006, after having stabilized a little bit in 2005. BLS data show that only 13 percent of all construction workers were members of building trade unions, and that is down from 18 percent in 2001.

There is a steady erosion in the percentage of construction workers represented by unions in the past 23 years. What is happening is because the unions are losing membership, they want to take away the secret ballot.

I am going to enter into the Record today several different pieces which I have in front of me that I am quoting from. I am going to quote from a Wall Street Journal article of February 2, and from some other information which I will enter into the Record. But I want to read the beginning of this article from the Wall Street Journal because I think it is so pertinent. It says: ``Why is the new Congress in such a hurry to take away workers' right to vote?'' It seems extraordinary, but the so-called Employee Free Choice Act is right there near the top of the Democrats' agenda. This legislation replaces government-sponsored secret ballot elections for union representation with a public card-signing system.

One of the reasons that union membership is down so much in this country is because of the abuses of the unions, and also because our economy is so good. And, again, I think that Representative Price is going to talk more about the economy. I mentioned earlier that it is the best that it has ever been in terms of wages, in terms of income and wages and homeownership and the burden that we place on the American people from the government. But people don't need to join unions like they needed to 125 years ago or so. We did have abuses in this country by employers, and I am very sorry about that, but those abuses don't go on anymore, and people are finding out they don't have to belong to unions.

But the Democrats, who are so beholden to unions, want to take the right of a secret ballot, which is so fundamental to us in this country, and which they argue for on this floor for voters, and they want to take it away from union members or people who are thinking about forming a union. And I, again, want to make some quotes, because this article is so excellent.

Most important, it is totally unreasonable to deny all 140 million American workers the right to a secret ballot election because some employers break the law. Yes, occasionally somebody may not do what they are supposed to do. Not only is such a remedy disproportionate, it is counterproductive. If one goal is worker empowerment, how can a worker be better off if both his employer and his prospective union boss know his views on the union when the secret ballot is replaced with a public card signing? For the worker, it is the ultimate example of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Mr. Edwards, who is running for President, has said that if you can join the Republican Party, you should be able to join a union by simply signing a card. But Mr. Edwards' analogy is a very false one, because signing a card to join the Republican Party does not oblige you to vote for the Republican ticket in a secret ballot election. And I quote again from the article from the Wall Street Journal: ``The Employee Free Choice Act would take care of that by abolishing such elections. If the Edwards principle was applied to the political process in the 28 non-right to work States, Karl Rove and Republican Party organizers could force all Democrats and Independents to become Republicans and pay dues to the party if a majority of voters signed Republican cards. That's free choice?''

The final proof that this bill is about union power and not worker choice is revealed by its treatment of the flip side of unionization: decertification elections. These are secret ballot elections in which workers get to decide that they have had enough of the union. Under the Employee Free Choice, can a majority of workers decertify the union by signing a card? Not on your life. Here, unions want the chance to engage in a campaign to give workers both sides of the story and maybe do a better job of representing them before the union's fate is decided by a secret ballot vote.

Again, the hypocrisy is absolutely mind-boggling, and is just one more example. We have bills called one thing and they do another. It just goes on and on and on. But I think it is very important that we point out this particular hypocrisy, because the title of this bill, the Employee Free Choice Act, is I think particularly egregious in this respect.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time.

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