Waiving Requirement of Clause 6(a) of Rule XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 1487 provides for consideration of a rule that allows for the same-day consideration of a conference report to accompany H.R. 4173 and a measure that includes the subject matter addressed by H.R. 4213. Additionally, this rule allows for legislation to be considered under suspension of the rules through July 3, 2010, and allows for the consideration of concurrent resolutions providing for adjournment during the month of July.

Mr. Speaker, this is a simple and straightforward rule. It allows the rules for the Wall Street reform conference report in either the tax extenders jobs bill or subject matters related to the jobs bill, such as unemployment insurance, to be considered on the same legislative day that they report it out of the Rules Committee. This is an important step that must be taken if we are to pass these bills before the Senate adjourns for the funeral of Senator Byrd.

This bill allows for clear actions, up-or-down votes on the conference report to prevent Wall Street from melting down like it did 2 years ago and a bill to provide unemployment compensation to people who have lost their jobs who cannot find work in this economy.

Mr. Speaker, these are clear-cut choices. Either you support fixing Wall Street or you don't. Do you believe unemployed Americans looking for work should receive unemployment benefits to help them pay for their mortgages, utilities, and food for their families or do you not?

So far my Republican friends have been on the wrong side of these issues. I can only hope that they change their minds and decide to put everyday Americans first instead of continuing to play politics with these issues.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, my Republican friends have consistently been against reining in the excesses of Wall Street. I'm not shocked that they have that view because they've always had that view. I am dismayed.

But the American people want us to pass a regulatory reform bill. They also want us to extend unemployment benefits to those who are out of work. Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues have been blocking that. So that's what this rule does, allows us to actually do something, and do many things, quite frankly, that the American people want us to do.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that the previous speaker didn't talk about the Wall Street regulatory reform bill that my friends on the Republican side of the aisle have been trying to block.

The minority leader in a recent interview said that the bill that we are bringing forth in Congress, this is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon. I find it disturbing that anyone would characterize this financial crisis that was brought on by Wall Street as an ant. I mean it impacted millions and millions of our citizens.

I will ask to put this interview that appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in the Record.

In that same interview, and I think it's important for my colleagues to know, the minority leader talked about his belief that we should raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70. Clearly, we need to talk about how we keep Social Security solvent. But he then went further to say that we should take that money and not put it into Social Security but pay for the war. So our senior citizens should pay for this war, the rest of us don't, but the burden once again falls on our senior citizens.

We know what they're about. We know what their beliefs are. And given an opportunity to take back control of the House, we know that they will try to undo Wall Street regulatory reform and try to undercut Social Security.

Mr. Speaker, I would appreciate it if I were not interrupted while I am speaking. And we know what they believe. And it is in this interview which we will put in the Record.

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, my objection about Mr. Boehner's statements with regard to Social Security was that he wanted to take the money from Social Security and pay for the war. Not put it into a Social Security trust fund, not to shore-up Social Security. That's what bothers me, is their continued determination to undermine the Social Security system.

Mr. Boehner said in his interview that we should raise the retirement age to 70, take their money, and put it towards the war. For 8 years, they abdicated their responsibility to pay for the war. Now they want to pay for it on the backs of senior citizens. That's what I object to. That's what I object to.

And the other thing, Mr. Speaker, is that we hear time and time again, Well, we all want to deal with the excesses in Wall Street. We all want to do this; we all want to do that. But when it comes time to do anything meaningful, they are missing in action.

So this is an opportunity for us to get something done, and I urge my colleague to support the bill.

At this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sánchez).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, my friend from Georgia's proposal represents less than one-tenth of 1 percent of what was borrowed to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Let's get serious here. And when I see that poster that says ``YouCut,'' what they don't show you is what they're cutting and what they want to cut is Social Security, and the minority leader made that very clear in his interview, that they're going to basically take money out of Social Security to pay for the wars. Our senior citizens who have fought in wars, who have worked in our factories, who have raised our families are being told to pay for the wars.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee.)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I hope we all can agree that we shouldn't be cutting Social Security. I hope the minority leader will get on the floor and will retract his statement that we should be cutting Social Security to pay for this war. They have abdicated their responsibility for 8 years, and now they want the senior citizens of this country to pay for this war. I think that's wrong.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, again, the proposal that the Republicans are talking about today represents less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the Bush tax cuts that weren't paid for. I mean, where was the fiscal responsibility then?

At this point, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, just in response to the last speaker, this gimmick that the Republicans have brought to the floor is really just that--a gimmick. $120 million a year they're going to save. Let me just put that in perspective. Just two policies dating from the Bush administration--tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--accounted for over $500 billion of the deficit in 2009, and will account for almost $7 trillion of deficits in 2009 through 2019, including the associated debt services cost.

We need to get serious about dealing with the debt and dealing with our deficit. But let's make one thing clear: When Mr. Bush came to power, President Clinton left him a budget surplus. No deficit. We're paying down the debt. When Mr. Bush left office, he left Barack Obama with a record deficit that he is now trying to dig us out of in the midst of one of the worst economies since the Great Depression. So when they get on the floor with these gimmicks, let's understand what they are--they are gimmicks. If you want to get serious about reducing the debt, then let's get serious about it.

I will tell you one thing I do disagree with him on very strongly. Again, I'll go back to the article I referred to before when Minority Leader BOEHNER talked about raising the retirement age of Social Security to 70 and taking that money and not putting it in Social Security to keep that program solvent, but then moving it to pay for the wars. I think that is wrong. I think our seniors deserve better than that.

I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Bean).

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, the American people are frustrated. They're frustrated that we haven't passed a Wall Street regulatory reform bill sooner. I think my friends on the other side of the aisle just don't get it. I don't think they understand that an unregulated Wall Street with no checks and balances will produce another economic crisis like the one we are trying to dig ourselves out of right now. The Republican minority leader, Mr. Boehner, said, This is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon. An ant? It was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

America has lost 8 million jobs and $17 trillion of retirement savings and net worth. The irresponsible fiscal policies of the previous administration--and a lot of my friends on the other side--were much more than an ant to the American workers and their families and small businesses. They have suffered greatly because of Wall Street's excesses. And this notion that somehow we should just let Wall Street continue unregulated I think demonstrates that my friends on the other side of the aisle just don't get it.

Madam Speaker, this rule would also allow for the same-day consideration of an extension of unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs. Americans are frustrated because they can't understand why Congress can't just approve this. What is the big deal? My friends on the other side of the aisle say, Well, we can't afford it. Yet when it comes to war or when it comes to tax cuts for wealthy people, we are a bottomless pit. But the fact of the matter is, we have an obligation to help those who are suffering because of this bad economy, and hopefully we will do that.

Madam Speaker, let me finally say that when we enact this bill today, this will be tough legislation that will end an era without accountability for Wall Street and big banks that cost us 8 million jobs. It will rein in big banks and their big bonuses. It will put an end to taxpayer bailouts and the idea of too big to fail and protect and empower consumers to make the best decisions on homes, credit cards, and our own financial future. The American people want us to pass this bill. They want us to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, and hopefully by the end of today, we will do both.

So, Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.

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