Jobs for America Act

Floor Speech

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I thank the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4, the so-called Jobs for America Act. It brings to mind occasions where, as a youth, my sister and I would go to my uncle's house in Cleveland. My uncle's wife would prepare a lot of food, and we would sit down and eat. The food would taste terrible. We had a couple of more days to be there, and so we hoped for the best. The next day, when we sat down at dinner, we had leftovers.

This is what this bill reminds me of. It is a package of anti-consumer, anti-safety, anti-environment bills that the House has already passed. This omnibus legislation is emblematic of a Republican Party that lacks vision or direction for Americans that demand cooperation and leadership.

This bill smacks of a new Republican leadership that is still on training wheels, unable to work across the aisle to deliver real solutions to grow the economy and create jobs; but what is new from a Republican Party that voted dozens and dozens of time to defund and defeat the Affordable Care Act, the same law that is helping American families by keeping millions of young people--be they recent college graduates looking for their first job or students still in school--on their parents' insurance and out of a cycle of unpayable medical debt?

Well, Mr. Speaker, it is time for the training wheels to come off so that this Chamber can, once again, do the work of the American people.

There is a clear, unmistakable thirst in our country for cooperation, bipartisan solutions, and getting things done. The American people look to the House of Representatives for leadership, not one-sided messaging bills that this Chamber has already warmed up, served yesterday--it was bad--and, today, we are eating the leftovers.

This Chamber has already considered and passed these bills, and they have no chance, no hope, of becoming law. The so-called Jobs for America Act includes a number of dangerous bills straight from the wish list of industrial polluters and unsafe manufacturers. This legislation will not create a single job.

It exists only to minimize corporate accountability while maximizing the likelihood of dangerous, unsafe conditions in our homes, vehicles, workplaces, and throughout the environment.

It is time to work together to forge real solutions, Mr. Speaker, not the same dangerous legislation that this Chamber has already passed.

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