The American Economy

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Ms. Kaptur, you've gone too far. Thank you so very, very much for picking up.

Tonight is a very special night for California. We lit the holiday tree in front of the Capitol. It was a tree that came from a community very close to where I was raised in California. I was out there with the choir from Summerville High School in Tuolumne County, an area that I represented for some 20 years, and then others around the area. A beautiful, beautiful tree from the Stanislaus National Forest in California.

There really is much to celebrate and much to be concerned about in America. We are still a very great country. We're the strongest, wealthiest place on this Earth. We have incredible opportunity and potential. I saw it in those kids that were singing in front of the Nation's Capitol this evening. Yet there's so much pain, as was pointed out by you and our colleague from Houston earlier.

Americans care about each other. They deeply are concerned about what's going on in our communities, and they want solutions to the problem. That's our task. There's 435 of us here and over in the Senate another 100. And, of course, the President. It's our task to find the solutions. The President has put forth a very powerful program called the American Jobs Act. One piece of it has, fortunately, passed. It was passed just a few days after Veterans Day when I guess we were out at the parades, and we made promises to take care of the veterans. Fortunately, a piece of legislation did pass. Only one part of the American Jobs Act, though there's much more to do.

My colleagues, Ms. Kaptur, and the gentlelady from Houston, we're talking about a piece of it. The veterans piece provides employers a very powerful incentive to hire a veteran. A very, very powerful incentive. You can reduce your taxes by $2,600 to hire a veteran that's been unemployed; a long-term unemployed veteran, $5,600 reduction in your taxes; and in addition to that, the President proposed that if it is a veteran who is disabled as a result of their service, a $9,600 reduction in taxes.

That's right off the tax line. So we've got to get the message out to employers: Hire, put people back to work, the veterans. It's one of the elements the President has proposed in his American Jobs Act.

And you were so powerfully putting forward just a moment ago the issue of
the payroll tax deduction. It's going to end. There will be a tax increase for every American who is earning up to $106,000, a tax increase average of $1,500 across this Nation. We want to keep that tax reduction in place. We Democrats do not want a tax increase on the working middle class, no.
But again, as was pointed out just a moment ago, our Republican friends are saying, Well, that's a good idea, but where are you going to get the money? You can't get the money from those whose annual income is more than $1 million; $1 million a year annual income, you can't tax them. That's not fair to tax those people. They're the job creators.

Baloney. They're not the job creators any more than any other small business in the community who doesn't even come close to having an annual income of $1 million.

So let's be fair about this. They've had an enormous tax break over the last decade. It's time for them to come forward and to share in the burden of America and put Americans back to work. The American Jobs Act works.

Let me now turn to my colleague from New York.

Well, Ms. Kaptur, you're running this operation, so, please.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might just interrupt you, Mr. Tonko.

You mentioned sound progressive policies. We've all been back home over Thanksgiving. I've talked to a couple of those people that are on that blue line way up there, and they're willing to pay a little more for fairness. But I also have heard from some who say, well, we can't do anything until you control Medicare. And what do they recommend in Medicare? They recommend extending the age from 65 to 67. And I'm going, What sense does that make?

When you consider that Medicare was started in 1964, 51 percent of those men and women over 65 had no health insurance. Today, virtually everyone over 65 has health insurance. It's Medicare. It is one of the solid bedrock programs that keeps people--seniors--from falling into poverty.

Back in 1964, 30 percent of the seniors were in poverty. Without Medicare, they would be in poverty again today. And yet our Republican colleagues want to terminate Medicare, literally turn Medicare over to the private insurance companies who I know, as a previous insurance commissioner, will not provide a reasonably

priced policy or benefit to somebody who is 65 because those are the people that get sick.

Similarly, they have said repeatedly since the 1930s that they want to terminate Social Security. We hear that. We hear the background buzz around this building. They want to terminate Social Security. These are the programs that give American seniors the dignity and the opportunity not only to live a good life, but to even live, to stay alive.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Same tax rate, doesn't change at all.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Surcharge is only on the amount over $1 million.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. If I might, Ms. Kaptur, a fascinating piece of information came across my desk today, and it had to do with the Affordable Care Act, which our Republicans like to call ObamaCare. Hey guys, it's working. It's working.

You just talked about spendable income. Let's see here: 2.65 million seniors, because of the Affordable Care Act, had an average of $569 additional in their pocket as a result of the discount drug benefit program. Wow. It was incredible. It actually, the 50 percent discount on brand name drugs, saved $1.5 billion for 2,650,000 seniors. Saved $1.5 billion, an average of $569 per senior.

It's working. It's working. And also, very interesting, these kinds of statistics come across, and normally we ignore them. But the annual wellness program, 1,931,927 seniors were able to take advantage of the annual wellness program that is in the Affordable Care Act; 24,175,608 seniors took advantage of the free service program in the Affordable Care Act.

So when folks are out there and they're putting down ObamaCare, be careful. It's not a negative. It's a very, very strong positive.

And you'll like this one, Ms. Kaptur. Hang on a second. Ohio. One million, let's see here, 1,864,243 seniors took advantage of the affordable care and 50,178 seniors in Ohio took advantage of the discount, the drug discount. It's working. That's exciting.

This is legislation that we passed that's actually helping the seniors and the economy by putting money back in their pockets, rather than in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Excuse me for getting back into this, but Mr. Tonko gave me that look that says what about New York? 1,410,533 New York seniors were able to get free medical services, and 127,691 were able to take advantage of the 50 percent drug discount. Good for you. You voted for that act. I voted for that act, and I didn't even talk about California. Should I?

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Yes. 1,962,809 seniors in California were able to get free medical services and 139,396 were able to take advantage of the 50 percent drug discount. $569 average savings for seniors. It's working. The Affordable Care program is working for seniors, and it's putting money back into our economy to grow this economy.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. We also know that there are--I don't know the exact number--I think it's about 20-some million young men and women, age 21 to 26, are now back on to health insurance, their parents health insurance as

a result of this law. We'll pick up that statistic as soon as I get my hands on it, but I think that's the number, over 20 million.

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Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank you so very much.

Marcy Kaptur, thank you for grabbing the microphone early on. I was down with that Christmas tree and the lighting ceremony from California. I got here just in time to pick up a couple of these issues.

We know we can put men and women back to work. We have the tools. The question is whether this House has the will to do so and not increase our deficit. We can actually do this and not increase the deficit, take people that are not paying taxes now, put them back to work.

The Affordable Care Act is working. And we know that we can continue the
unemployment benefits, and there's a way of paying for it. You show it there on that. The super wealthy, it's time for them to pick up their fair share.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful evening and telling the story of the prosperous America that we can have once again. This is America. This is a great country. We have within our power to get back on our feet and to charge forward, and we really appreciate all that you're doing to make that happen in the great Midwest and in New York and in Houston.

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