Legislative Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. I hope that was not a Freudian slip of our confidence in the ability to get that done as quickly as we would like.

In any event, I think that is appropriate, and I am hopeful that we can, in fact, accomplish that.

I want to tell the majority leader from my perspective that if we don't get that done in the short term, then I would be very reluctant to support continuing resolutions at the level which has now been substituted for the agreement that was reached in the bipartisan budget agreement.

There are substantial differences, as you know, in the 302(a) allocation, the allocation of discretionary spending, one at $1.012 trillion and one at $986 billion, so that there is a substantial discrepancy between those figures.

We reached agreement on the higher number. The Senate came down about 45, the House went up about 45 and reached a compromise. I think America was pleased that we reached a compromise. I would want to be on the record as saying that if we went to longer term CRs, I would want to have some serious discussions about the level of those CRs in terms of the operations of government.

The other issue I wanted to ask the gentleman about, as you know, we had a previous question yesterday. That previous question, had it been defeated, would have allowed the House to consider the extension of unemployment insurance for 3 months, consistent with what the Senate had proposed. Now, the Senate has not reached agreement on this issue, but unfortunately that has not been considered on the floor this week. As the gentleman knows, 72,000 people a week are losing their unemployment insurance. That adds to 1.3 million that have already lost their own insurance on December 28.

I know it is not listed on your sheet, nor did you mention it in your comments on the floor. Can the gentleman tell me whether there is any prospect of the unemployment insurance bill coming to this floor? Mr. Tierney has a bill that he has introduced that I think probably enjoys, at this point in time, well over 150 Democrats, and I think all Democrats will sign on to it. I would hope that we together, as we did when President Bush was President, and we did it five times, I would hope that we could extend unemployment for those people who were relying on it to put food on their tables.

I yield to my friend.

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for his comments.

First, I would say, there is nothing to disagree with in what the gentleman has said. We do want to focus on jobs. We do want to focus on creating jobs. We do want to focus on growing the economy. The gentleman is absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, as the gentleman knows, he and I have discussed the agenda that Democrats have been talking about for 2 1/2 years, and it is called Make It In America.

That Make It In America agenda focuses on manufacturing and growing opportunities in this country for good jobs for skilled workers and unskilled workers, frankly, but mainly skilled workers in the new manufacturing environment in which we find ourselves. That ought to be our long-term objective.

I would say very candidly, Mr. Speaker, we ought not

in the short term forget those who have been deeply damaged by the economic dislocation that has occurred in our society, in our country, and frankly globally over the past 5 years, or actually starting in December of '07. We ought not to forget those people, because while a future investment is very interesting to them, and I am sure important to them, their critical interest is in putting food on their table today, tomorrow, and the next day. I think the richest country on the face of the Earth could do both, I tell the gentleman. And I think that we ought to do both, and we have done both in the past.

We had some job figures that were out today, apparently 87,000 jobs in the private sector. That's not enough. We lost 13,000 in the public sector apparently for a net of 74,000 appreciation of jobs. That's not nearly enough. The gentleman would agree, I know, to solve the problem that we have.

The gentleman talked about the SKILLS Act. That bill would freeze the Workforce Investment Act program funding for fiscal years 2014 to 2020. We would make no more investment in doing what the gentleman has said we want to do. It has already been cut by half since 2001 and would also consolidate or eliminate 35 programs, most of them the Workforce Incentive Act programs, into State block grants that they could spend on things of their choice.

I am not saying that some States wouldn't make good choices. I think they would. Other States would make different choices, and we may or may not agree with those. But I certainly tell the gentleman, and he and I have had the opportunity talking together, the Make It In America agenda, or a jobs agenda, or whatever that agenda is called, is certainly something we ought to pursue.

Let me transition, if I might, Mr. Leader, to talk about another issue which analysis of almost every economist and the Congressional Budget Office say will help grow the economy, and that is comprehensive immigration reform. We continue to believe that that is one of the most important issues that this Congress in this second session of the Congress ought to deal with. Can the gentleman indicate whether there is any possibility of either, as I said in weeks past, bringing the four bills that came out of the Judiciary Committee or the border security bill that came out of the Homeland Security Committee, I might say, unanimously? None of those five bills have been brought to the floor.

The Speaker said just the other day, I am trying to find some way to get this thing done. ``Thing'' being immigration reform. He said, It is, as you know, not easy. Not going to be an easy path forward, but I made it clear since the day after the election, it is time to get this done.

The Speaker said that November 13, 2013, a couple months ago. We are very, very hopeful that the Speaker will pursue that, the House will pursue that, and the majority leader will put on the floor legislation on which we can act. We may or may not agree with the legislation brought to the floor, but we think it needs to be given attention, consistent with Speaker Boehner's observation, and CBO's assertion, that that would have a substantially positive effect on growing the economy and creating jobs.

I yield to my friend.

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the leader for his comments.

Certainly we are not proponents of ``my way or the highway,'' and I am glad, I do believe, that hopefully the majority leader is not either.

Briefly, on the SKILLS Act, we have legislation, of course, on our side of the aisle, a number of pieces of legislation which deal with training, job skills, and we are certainly prepared to work on those. Unfortunately, as the gentleman knows, that bill passed out in a partisan way. There were two Democrats who voted for it. But I am certainly willing to work with the gentleman, and I think our side of the aisle is willing to work with the gentleman to invest and to give flexibility so that we can recognize, obviously, that what may be needed in my district or the gentleman from Virginia's district is different from a district in Washington State or California or Texas or Florida or Maine. So I want to assure the gentleman that we are prepared to work on that.

Next, can I ask you when those principles that you talked about might be expected, because I think that would be a very positive step forward. But, in my view, if we wait long, comprehensive immigration reform will not get accomplished, as I believe it should be, in the next few months.

I yield to the gentleman.

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman.

And in conclusion, let me simply say, Mr. Leader, that we welcome moving ahead on the omnibus. We think that is very critical. We hope that we can address the unemployment insurance issue, not as a substitute for focusing on growing jobs and growing the economy, which is essential, but in recognition that some 1.3 million people--growing by 72,000 people a week--are in deep distress, and we want to help them. We think that is the right thing to do. And we think America can do both, grow the economy and help those who have been hurt by the decrease in the availability of jobs available.

Lastly, I might say, that we also hope that we can get to immigration reform as quickly as possible, and we look forward to seeing those principles.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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