Sense of House Regarding Any Final Measure to Extend Certain Expiring Provisions

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to claim time in opposition as the designee of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Unemployment rates, according to a recent report this morning, fell in 43 States during the month of November--the most States to decline since 2003. The media are reporting that the economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs 5 months in a row--the first time that has happened since 2006, which was before the Great Recession.

Mr. Speaker, 89 Senators--50 Democrats and 39 Republicans--have passed a bipartisan agreement to extend the current payroll tax, unemployment insurance benefits, and Medicare doctors' payments for another 60 days so that we can continue to seek common ground for a full 12-month extension and keep these great numbers in front of us.

Let there be no mistake. The only way for the Members of this body to prevent a tax increase on 160 million working Americans is to pass the Senate's bipartisan agreement. The only way to prevent cutting off unemployment insurance for 2.2 million Americans who are currently unemployed and looking for work is to pass the Senate's bipartisan agreement. Let me be crystal clear. The only way to prevent cutting funds to pay doctors who care for Medicare patients is to pass the Senate's bipartisan agreement.

The Senate Democratic leader and the Senate Republican leader demonstrated to the American people that Democrats and Republicans can work together. They passed a bipartisan compromise to get this done.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents continue to ask time and time again: Why can't you guys work together to get something done for the American people? It is a good question. It is a fair question. And the Senate has answered that we can.

It is my fervent hope that we in this body join them today and do the right thing for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.

I would like to say to my colleagues on the other side that there is much more to legislation than a time line--2 months of certainty or we could go with the bill that this House passed.

It was a year. It was their year. What did they do in that year's time? They cut 40 weeks off of unemployment. Now, that might be good for them, but it's not good for the people in my State where, in spite of all of the great numbers that I spoke about here earlier this afternoon, 100,000 more private-sector jobs created over the last 5 months, the biggest number since 2006.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. CLYBURN. I yield myself an additional 30 seconds.

Now, the only way for us to really instill certainty in the unemployed and in those 160,000 million Americans who would like to continue to have their tax cut is for us to pass the Senate compromise and for us to really say to those people that we want you to have a pleasant holiday season and we'll all come back here the first of the year and give you an additional 10 months.

How much time do I now have remaining, Mr. Speaker?

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close as I opened.

I said at the outset that we've been getting some tremendous, what I would call tremendously positive numbers for our economy in the past several months, and I believe the American people are beginning to create more certainty in their lives.

I would hate to see us disrupt that by continuing to debate this issue when we know full well that our failure to pass this bill will almost guarantee that 160 million working Americans will see their taxes go up and their paychecks go down.

There are 2.2 million people who are currently unemployed through no fault of their own, who are looking for work and who would like to contribute to the deficit reduction that we are trying to gain, but we will see them continuing in the unemployment status, without their benefit, if we fail to pass this bill.

Also, the 48 million seniors who have developed relationships with their doctors, who during this time of year depend upon the medical profession for their quality of life, could very well see their doctors experience a 27 percent decrease in their reimbursements if we fail to pass this bill. We know what will happen. These doctors will walk off the field and will refuse to treat Medicare patients.

I would hope that my friends would come to their senses and pass the Senate-passed compromise.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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