The American People Know What the Bottom Line Is

Floor Speech

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THE BOTTOM LINE IS -- (House of Representatives - February 11, 2009)

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Mr. WALZ. I thank the gentleman from Florida, and I thank you for leading this conversation.

I think the American public, what they're seeing is they're seeing a cross-section of this country. Listening to the gentleman from New York, listening to the gentlewoman from Ohio, from Connecticut, from Kentucky, talk about what they're hearing amongst the people. And I can tell you when we go back home--and I live in a small house in Mankato, Minnesota, in southern Minnesota. The house in front of me has been foreclosed for a year and a half. The property value on my house has dropped about 50 percent. We're seeing that across the country.

The pinch of this economy coming down and the frustration amongst the American people is palatable. You can feel it. They are frustrated, and they are angry. And the questions they are asking is this: "How come it seems like I'm working harder and getting further behind, and when I turn on the television, somebody else is taking a trip to the spa? Somebody else is getting a private jet? Somebody else is getting something for failing when I seem to be making the right decisions? I'm paying my mortgage. I'm trying to save money to send my child to school, and I'm not asking for the lottery. I'm not asking for a ten-bedroom house. I'm asking to try and achieve the American dream.''

And I think it's important to remember, we're as frustrated as you are. The Members you hear speaking today come from that. This is the people's House. This is where the voice of regular Americans is expressed.

Before coming to this House, my job in May of 2006, I was teaching high school and had done it for 20 years and never made more than $50,000 a year. I have proudly served our Nation in the National Guard, but I asked the same questions, too. How are we not getting further ahead? When I talked to someone about trying to get my two small children, Hope, age 8, Gus, age 2, how do I save for college? I said, "Well, then I will have to sell my house and live in a box because that is impossible for us to do that.''

The lifeblood and the ladder to success of the middle class was the ability to educate our children, to get a good public school education, to go to a good trade school or to a good college to try and move up. Those things are becoming further and further from us.

And the frustration that is felt in this country is because we have a system that did not respect those things, that did not put things in place to help the middle class. We were told if we helped and gave tax cuts to the wealthiest, wisest amongst us, they would rain down on us all of those blessings to get us there.

Well, what's happened is the average worker has lost $2,000 in real salary over the last 10 years. We are working longer hours. The American people deserve better. They are the most productive, most innovative people in the world. The middle class that built this country is now feeling the pinch. This piece of legislation is the down payment on putting things back in balance.

We're not against a free market. You will hear people come in here and talk about it. But there is no free market when those at the top are benefiting from everything, when those at the top are not being held to the same standards as those who are actually doing the labor.

And this piece of legislation and the gentleman--we've heard from many of them--I heard the gentleman from Kentucky talking about this being a parachute. My colloquialism, coming from a land of 10,000 lakes, is it's a life preserver. And that's what it is.

This isn't going to get us to where we need to go. What's going to get us is people standing in this people's House and hearing these Members talk: talk about the truth, talk about where the issues are, make real sacrifices. Don't ask the American people to believe talking points. Don't regurgitate the same old stories to them. Tell them where the economy is at. Speak to them as President Obama spoke to us about where we need to go, and then have the courage to say, "If it's not working, we need to readjust.''

This piece of legislation is going to be about $1,000 for 95 percent of the public. It's going to refund education and make sure that we're doing the things we need to do to build for the future. It's going to start moving us off our dependence on foreign oil and the tyranny of oil that drags us into conflicts we have no business in. Those are the types of things we can adjust. We can bring this back in, and we can debate in this House how we get there. Very valid points. I can tell you this deficit troubles me deeply.

But the fact of the matter is right now the private sector is not creating jobs. The private sector doesn't have capital, and we were slowly spiraling down. More layoffs, more people that are going to go hungry, more people that are going to depend on the government to get things that they don't want to. These are proud people. They want to work hard, be compensated fairly, and do the things that they enjoy doing with their families trying to move forward.

This piece of legislation can do that.

I say it time and time again--I heard the gentleman talk about it from New York--you stand here long enough and you listen to this long enough, and you will hear people re-talking about the issues and trying to frame it in a certain way.

The fact of the matter is this: our economy is not working correctly. The middle class is feeling the brunt of this. We are bleeding jobs, and we are slowly pulling things down making it more difficult for the middle class to achieve the American dream. This piece of legislation stops the fall or throws the life preserver, yet let's us readjust, get a handle on health care costs, make it easier to invest in education, make sure people are rewarded for doing the right thing--not for simply speculating--and get back to innovation and entrepreneurship.

So the gentleman from Florida, I want to thank you for continuously hosting these discussions, for gathering people from across this land, for making sure the people's representatives stand here and speak what's happening in southern Minnesota, what's happening in Connecticut, what's happening in Ohio, and to get the American public to understand this is not about politics; this is not about games; this is not about who's winning the House and how we can drive down support of the House. You people have a 14 percent approval rating.

Here is what I'm here to tell you. If we have a 14 percent approval rating, our Democracy is in trouble. We must speak the truth, we must be bold, we must move this legislation, and we must find solutions for the American people. That's what our purpose is. That's the greatness of this country. And the gentleman has brought together people who express that from across the country.

With that, I appreciate the gentleman's time.

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Mr. WALZ. I thank the gentleman, and again, it's a privilege for me to speak with each of these Members who represent this great country: 435 congressional districts, 300 million Americans, all with a dream that this country, by working hard, by making good choices, you can achieve those things that are not asking for the world, maybe have a home, be able to own that, be able to have a job that pays a living wage, be able to send your kids to college and see them live that dream. That's what we're asking for, and as the gentlewoman said, now is the time for opportunity.

All of us grew up in this Nation hearing the stories of whenever it got tough, the perseverance of the American spirit survived. Whether it was Valley Forge, whether it was Gettysburg, whether it was the deepest, darkest days of segregation in this country, we come out the other end.

Well, the American people need to know this chapter is not yet written. The end is not guaranteed. We have come to be somewhat complacent that it will work its way out. We need leaders like President Obama. We need the American public to stand up and say, We can get this right.

And, as the gentlewoman from Ohio said, I am optimistic. In southern Minnesota, we are leading the way in wind production. My district is the home of the Mayo Clinic. We are going to find a cure for the diseases that cause so much anguish in this country. We have groups like the Hormel Institute, public-private partnerships teaming together to find the cures for cancer, for diabetes, for other things down the road.

Those innovations will bring this country back. Those innovations will take us off this dependency on cheap imported goods while American jobs are outsourced and a living wage is crushed down. We heard that the auto industry failed because people made a living wage.

Those are the type of things that aren't solutions. They are talking points for politics. The group of people who got here today, here's what they care about: Making sure the voice of the people in their district is heard, making sure that we have a level, fair playing field, and we reward work and creating something. That is what we are asking for. This piece of legislation moves us in that direction.

I thank the gentleman for his passion and the gentlewoman from Ohio and all others who gathered. We're all in this together. The opportunities are there. But the time to do something is now. This piece of legislation is it.

I yield back to the gentleman.

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