Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Van Hollen.

I think the previous speaker forgot to mention the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, totaling $2.3 trillion. The war in Iraq was conveniently left out. The process of sequestration was ill-considered and the result is all around us.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. NEAL. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. We are having a good moment here. Don't spoil it, all right?

Mr. NEAL. Listen, I was happy to have it until I heard that the Republicans were responsible for all of the good things that are in this, and the Democrats were only responsible for the revenue side.

Revenue is at about percent of gross domestic product right now. Those are the Eisenhower years. We need to have this discussion.

Now, let me say this as well. Mr. Ryan deserves to be credited, as does Mr. Van Hollen, with the measure that is in front of us today. But if we can get past some of the acrimony and some of the ill-considered language here, maybe we could find a path forward.

The Medicare picture has brightened substantially. It is wild what has happened. The automobile sector is doing much better. The private sector in general is. Americans are shedding debt, but not to miss the point that there is a very elusive term that needs to be addressed in America today, and it is a term of confidence. The government shutdown shaved 1 to 2 points off of gross domestic product. That is reality; that is not fiction.

We need to get past, again, the harsh language that has now taken over this institution and provide investors and provide the American people with the idea of some confidence to unleash the forces of that $2 trillion that is sitting here domestically and another trillion that is sitting offshore. This is the sort of conversation that we need to have. This is a confidence-building measure. It does lighten up some of the spending caps, again, that would have caused grave damage to the economy. We should have found the time to help out on the issue of unemployment benefits.

Mr. Speaker, we did the doc-fix this morning. I favor it; $8 billion over 3 months. We could have found money in this budget to extend unemployment benefits to American families.

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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, Section 203 in the Bipartisan Budget Act restricts access to the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (DMF).

This provision requires the Secretary of Commerce to create a program to restrict access to the information contained in the DMF for a three-year period after an individual's death. Under this program, only individuals that are certified by the Secretary to have a legitimate need for the information and agree to maintain the information under safeguards may access DMF information.

In implementing this section, the Department of Commerce in promulgating regulations for the certification program should provide sufficient time for legitimate current users of DMF information to comment on the regulations, especially as it relates to the timing of the effectiveness of this Section and as it relates to the authority to release the DMF to the public.

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