Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendments to H.R. 4899, Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise in strong support of this rule. This is a difficult rule. It is a difficult rule because it deals with an extraordinarily important subject. This is an extraordinarily important rule. It is important to every Member of this House, on either side of this House, of whatever ideology they bring to this House. It is extraordinarily important to the American people.

It deals, as I said, with the lives and welfare of our young people. It deals with the security of this Nation. It deals with the safety of our people. It deals with the objective of not only teaching our children, but in eliminating terrorists who would put them at risk.

I rise in support of this rule because I think that the very difficult line of trying to give every Member the opportunity to reflect their point of view, which, of course, in a body of 435 people is very difficult, but I think this rule attempts to do that.

We know that the fiscal course that we are on will ultimately lead to bankruptcy unless we act to change it. That is why this rule also projects fiscal discipline in the budget enforcement resolution that is included within the ambit of this rule.

Whenever you hear someone blame our debt on this Congress' so-called out-of-control spending, you can be sure they're more interested in pointing fingers and scoring political points than solving problems. That's especially true when you hear those complaints from those who presided over a lot of debt. Some of us voted for a lot of debt along with them, some of us did not.

In the long term, our structural deficit stems from the retirement of the baby boomers and spiraling entitlement costs. It is therefore in the budget resolution that we tip our hat in a favorable way to the commission that has been established by the President. It's said that we are hopeful that they will come up with substantive recommendations that will get us from where we are to where we need to be--a return to fiscal balance.

It also says that our committees ought to look carefully at the ways and means that we can save dollars, eliminate waste, and make more effective use of the tax dollars--indeed, save tax dollars. The American people want us to do that.

This budget enforcement resolution included in this rule will also say that we will honor statutory PAYGO, that we will pay for what we buy, that if this generation deems something an important priority for us to purchase that we will pay for it so that our children and our grandchildren will have the option of making their priorities and will not have their priorities made for them by us.

In addition to this bill, it provides for the consideration of domestic spending priorities, largely to save jobs. Particularly, we have teachers in this country who are subject to layoffs because of the severe recession that we have been involved in and because of the precipitous falling of revenues to States, therefore putting the education of our children at risk.

The administration asks for far more money than Mr. Obey has been able to include. They also ask for it to be unpaid for, but if we are going to be honest about PAYGO, we need to pay for things. This bill will pay for the increase in teacher assistants. Mr. Obey scrubbed all of the appropriation accounts and has come up with sufficient dollars to do that. I think that is what the American public wanted us to do, and that is what Mr. Obey has done. I congratulate him for that.

This bill will provide for additional border security on our southern border. We understand there is a crisis on the southern border. This President has responded to it. This bill responds to it.

In addition, we provide, obviously, for FEMA money. FEMA is running out of money. We have had a number of natural disasters around this country, and FEMA has responded. This bill provides for the dollars necessary for FEMA to have the resources to respond to those emergencies.

This rule provides for an amendment which will provide money for Haiti. It provides for other priorities of our country. Some will, perhaps, disagree with those priorities, and others will agree with them; but we will consider them on this floor.

I say to my friends that this rule provides for three options, as Mr. McGovern, I think, will explain further, so I will not go deeply into them.

There will be, perhaps, those who will say we ought not to fund the effort in Afghanistan at all. They will have that option. There will then be an option that says, no, we will appropriate this money, but we need to limit it to extricating ourselves--drawing down our forces from Afghanistan.

Mr. McGovern and Mr. Obey have another alternative which will provide for the administration's providing us with information both in a National Intelligence Estimate and in a plan for withdrawal. They will expand upon that; but that gives, I think, almost everyone in this House the opportunity to express their views as to what ought to be done.

I urge my colleagues at this hour, on this, perhaps, last day of our session before the July 4 break to approve this rule, which, I believe, gives Members the options that they can be comfortable with in voting ``yes'' or ``no.'' I will urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and certainly a ``yes'' vote on a number of pieces of this legislation. I will not vote for every one of these amendments, but they ought to be made in order.

I appreciate the work that Mr. McGovern has done. I appreciate the work that Mr. Dreier has done. I want to thank them both. They may have different views, but it is my understanding that this was brought to the floor in a reasonable and considered way.

In closing, I want to thank DAVID OBEY. No one in this House works harder. No one, frankly, is under more pressure than Mr. Obey. Everybody in every State, every locality, every city and every person who wants a road, a bridge or a public facility talks to Mr. Obey on a regular basis. I know that Mr. Boehner and I, as the leaders, have a lot of people talking to us when we come on this floor, but nobody talks to anybody more than they talk to Mr. Obey. Mr. Obey has focused on this, has worked on this, and has brought to the floor, I think, a bill that we can be proud of, that we think will move America forward, a bill that will help stop the loss of jobs, particularly in our educational community. So I thank Mr. Obey for the leadership that he has shown and for the commitment that he has made.

Now, I want to tell my friends on our side of the aisle that the administration is not happy with some of the pay-fors which we are committed to. The administration and our side of the aisle overwhelmingly were for statutory PAYGO, saying that we would pay for what we bought. The administration, understandably, has some reservations about some of the offsets. However, nobody is ever happy with all of the tough decisions that have to be made. So I would urge my colleagues to pass this bill and to pass the amendment that Mr. Obey will offer on domestic discretionary spending. I would ask us to send this bill to the Senate.

I regret that the Senate has gone home. I am sorry that the Senate has gone home. I am sorry the Senate is not available tonight or tomorrow to consider this legislation. I understand that we have lost a great Senator and a dear friend in Robert C. Byrd. I will be going tomorrow to the memorial service for Senator Byrd, and then I will return here. I would have returned ready for business, as I think we should complete this piece of legislation, and I would have hoped that that might have been the case.

I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding. I urge my colleagues to let us move forward on this important piece of legislation, not only for the safety and security of our troops, not only for the effort to ensure that terrorists are hunted down and defeated, but also to ensure that, here at home, we take care of the people and that we pay for those who we take care of here at home. We are not going to pay for the emergency that exists overseas, but this is a good rule. The options are clear for all, and the effort that we make here is important for our country and for our people.

I urge adoption of the rule. I urge adoption of the Obey amendment. I urge the careful consideration of the other three amendments that will be offered as well.

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