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“SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING ANY FINAL MEASURE TO EXTEND CERTAIN EXPIRING PROVISIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H9987-H9995 on Dec. 20, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING ANY FINAL MEASURE TO EXTEND CERTAIN EXPIRING
PROVISIONS
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 502, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 501) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding any final measure to extend the payroll tax holiday, extend Federally funded unemployment insurance benefits, or prevent decreases in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 502, the bill is considered read.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 501
Whereas a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut instead of a full-year extension would cause additional uncertainty and complexity for private-sector job creators already struggling in the current economy;
Whereas, on December 17, 2011, President Barack Obama said,
``It would be inexcusable for Congress not to further extend this middle-class tax cut for the rest of the year.'';
Whereas, on December 17, 2011, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, ``House Democrats will return to Washington to take up this legislation without delay, and we will keep up the fight to extend these provisions for a full year.'';
Whereas, on December 17, 2011, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD): ``I'm disappointed that Senate Republicans would not agree to a longer-term extension of critical policies.'';
Whereas in 2011 working Americans received a temporary payroll tax rate reduction which allowed the average family to keep $1,000 more of their annual wages;
Whereas, on December 31, 2011, without action by the Congress, the temporary payroll tax rate reduction will expire, leaving nearly 170 million American workers with less disposable income as the economy continues to struggle;
Whereas the imminent expiration of the temporary payroll tax rate reduction is creating further uncertainty for families as well as employers who must adjust withholding amounts from their employees' paychecks;
Whereas the Social Security Trust Fund is now running a cash deficit, and over the next 75 years will require an additional $6.5 trillion to pay scheduled benefits;
Whereas, on January 1, 2012, without Congressional action, Medicare physician payments will be cut by 27.4 percent;
Whereas in order to preserve access to health care for the nation's seniors, two years of stable Medicare payment rates would provide the most certainty physicians have had since 2004;
Whereas a two-year period of stability would provide Congress time to develop a long-term replacement to the Sustainable Growth Rate formula;
Whereas 13 million Americans remain unemployed and the unemployment rate has been above eight percent for 34 consecutive months, the Congress should enact needed reforms to ensure a fiscally responsible unemployment insurance program;
Whereas H.R. 3630 as passed by the House provided a fully offset extension of unemployment insurance benefits in line with previous periods of economic duress and integrated common-sense reforms into the program, including a requirement that benefit recipients search for work and participate in reemployment services to help them get back to work;
Whereas construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, and to the United States Gulf Coast through Cushing, Oklahoma, is a $7 billion energy project that will enhance the energy security and economy of the United States;
Whereas the Keystone XL pipeline will create 20,000 direct jobs and 118,000 indirect jobs;
Whereas the Keystone XL pipeline has been subjected to three years of intensive environmental review, and was deemed environmentally sound by the U.S. Department of State in its August 26, 2011, Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS);
Whereas Keystone XL pipeline legislation passed by the House and Senate would allow the state of Nebraska to continue its environmental review of a new pipeline route to avoid the Sand Hills region and the Ogallala Aquifer;
Whereas H.R. 3630 as passed by the House will reduce the cost for employers to purchase and place in service new equipment next year, and continued expensing will serve as an incentive to make investments and foster greater business investment and job creation;
Whereas EPA's new proposed rules for boilers would cost manufacturers, colleges and universities, municipalities, and small businesses $15 billion and put up to 240,000 jobs at risk;
Whereas significant concerns with EPA's new proposed rules cannot be adequately addressed or remedied unless Congress passes legislation; and
Whereas the House of Representatives passed on October 13, 2011, by a vote of 275 to 142, with the support of 41 Democrats, legislation that would overturn EPA's Boiler MACT rules and require the agency to re-propose new rules in 15 months after date of enactment, with achievable standards, and an extension of the compliance period from three years to five years: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the Sense of the House of Representatives that any final measure to extend the payroll tax holiday, extend Federally funded unemployment insurance benefits, or prevent decreases in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries--
(1) extend the payroll tax holiday through December 31, 2012;
(2) extend and reform Federally funded unemployment insurance benefits;
(3) eliminate for two years the dramatic cut in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries;
(4) reduce spending from areas throughout the Federal Government, including a freeze on congressional salaries, in order to protect the Social Security Trust Fund, whose solvency would otherwise be diminished as result of the payroll tax holiday; and
(5) provide immediate job creation through--
(A) final approval of the Keystone XL pipeline;
(B) expensing for capital assets placed in service in 2012; and
(C) drafting new regulations for boilers that are achievable and cost-effective.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) and a Member to be recognized later each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Clearly, the economy and jobs is the number one issue for the American people all across this land; and if you were to ask the folks who create jobs what is the greatest impediment to job creation, they would say it's uncertainty.
Businesses don't know what taxes are going to be. Job creators don't know what the rules and regulations are going to be. Employees and workers don't know if their jobs will be lost. Doctors don't know whether or not they're going to be able to see Medicare patients. Patients don't know whether or not they're going to be able to see their doctors.
Therefore, the House believes what the American people already know: that more certainty, greater certainty, is imperative if we're going to get this economy rolling again. Consequently, we, the House, passed a bill that provides that certainty.
Our bill provides for a 1-year extension of the payroll contribution to Social Security, offset so that Social Security resources are not depleted;
Our bill provides for a 13-month extension of Federal unemployment benefits with real reform, including job training and helping folks get GEDs and allowing drug screening by States for those receiving benefits should they so desire;
Our bill provides a 2-year extension of payments to doctors caring for seniors--for Medicare patients--so that our parents and our grandparents can continue to see their doctors.
So the House passed a 1-year extension of the payroll tax reduction and paid for it with reduced spending elsewhere. Yet the Senate, Mr. Speaker, wants 60 days and more uncertainty. The House passed a 13-
month extension of Federal unemployment benefits. The Senate wants 60 days and more uncertainty. The House passed a 2-year continuation of funding for doctors to see Medicare patients. The Senate--that's right, Mr. Speaker--wants 60 days and more uncertainty.
Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate agree that we ought to extend these items. There is no debate about that. The differences lie in whether or not we get our job done now or whether we punt the fulfilling of our responsibilities for another 2 months. The Senate's action is unworkable and unacceptable. Various organizations representing job creators have already said that a 2-month punt is unworkable and costly--therefore harming more job creation.
Now we're ready to sit down with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and on the other side of the Capitol to get a 1-year extension put in place before the end of this year. That's what you do when there are differences in the House and the Senate. Both sides have passed legislation, but we have disagreements. So now we ought to sit down, like Congresses have done for over 200 years, and work out those differences. We ought to do that today, not 2 months from now.
This resolution makes it clear that the House supports taking care of middle class families, seniors, and job creators. It makes it clear that the House stands ready and willing to work with the Senate to get this done. If our colleagues on the other side of the aisle support providing relief and certainty for middle class families and for seniors and for job creators, then they ought to support this resolution. There is bipartisan support for the proposals within this resolution, and there is bipartisan support for a 1-year extension.
I call on my colleagues to support this resolution and support the efforts under way to work out our differences with the Democrat-led Senate and to put in place a set of solutions that will create certainty for families, job creators, and seniors.
I reserve the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) will control 30 minutes.
There was no objection.
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.
{time} 1420
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I respectfully suggest to my friend from South Carolina that the best way to provide certainty for families and job creators and for seniors is to have a House-Senate conference committee work together before the end of the year.
I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my friend and colleague from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).
Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, last week the House passed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act with the support of both sides of the aisle. The economy is struggling--perhaps getting better, but struggling.
The President asked for a 1-year extension of the payroll tax holiday. We agree with that, a 1-year extension. Extend and reform the unemployment insurance plan benefits; we agree with that. A 2-year extension of the so-called doc fix. I'm a physician. I have been here now for 3 years. In the 3 years I have been here, Mr. Speaker, we've had six temporary extensions. This will be number seven. For access to care for patients, we must get a permanent fix for SGR or no patients are going to have access. And I have spoken to numerous colleagues who totally disagree with this 60-day extension. The true shovel-ready project, which is the Keystone pipeline, will give us access to energy in this continent with one of our best neighbors, Canada.
All of these issues that we've talked about are paid for with spending cuts, not tax increases and not deficit spending. The Senate, however, passed only a 60-day extension; the House, 1 year. Sixty days versus 1 year.
The distinguished Senator from Tennessee, Senator Bob Corker, just said, ``Senator Reid should stop this political gamesmanship, call the Senate back into session, and follow the `regular order,' '' which means both sides of the aisle, the House and the Senate, produce a conference bill ``to produce better legislation that reflects the will of the House and Senate.''
Like most Americans, we should be at work this week to finish the business they elected us to do. Please support this amendment.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Maloney).
Mrs. MALONEY. I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for yielding.
The Senate has gone home for Christmas. And just 5 minutes before I came to this floor, the President made an announcement from the White House that he supported the bipartisan Senate compromise bill that passed the Senate 89-10. And we need to pass it and wrap up this Christmas present for the middle class.
Instead of the pattern of obstruction that is constantly coming from the other side of the aisle, we should introduce the Senate bill here in the House and pass it for the American people. The House leadership should allow an up-or-down vote and extend the payroll tax cut, the unemployment benefits, and the doc fix for the middle class.
Without this 2-month extension, 160 million Americans will face a tax hike starting January 1. The idea that it is somehow acceptable to let this happen is to be blind to the economic struggles that American middle class families are now facing and to be totally, totally deaf to the cries for help from the many people--the 2.2 million Americans--who will see their unemployment benefits expire if we do not pass the Senate bill. This is an exercise in rigid partisan ideology that will also result in an additional 48 million seniors being denied access to their doctors.
No bill will make everybody happy. But to stop this Senate bill now, one that is so important to so many Americans, just to please the rigid ideology of the very few, it is the tail wagging the elephant, and it is obstructionist to the American people. And it is just in time for Christmas, and it is indefensible.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).
(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. BARTON of Texas. I thank the distinguished policy chairman, and I thank the gentleman from Idaho for his evenhanded leadership in the debate.
Mr. Speaker, I voted to send the Senate bill to conference, and I hope that both parties in both Chambers appoint serious conferees and really try to come up with a solution to the problem.
I do want to point out a few facts that have been avoided on both sides of the aisle. It's really not a payroll tax. It is a Social Security dedicated trust fund tax.
Since Franklin Roosevelt and the Congress created Social Security in the 1930s, payroll Social Security taxes go into the system by workers, employers, and self-employed individuals, and then benefits come out.
Last year, for the first time, we reduced the amount of Social Security taxes going into the system and gave an IOU from the Treasury into the Social Security trust fund. The extension, whether it's for 2 months or 1 year, of that same policy this year is taking $120 billion to $150 billion out of the system that's real money and putting into it an IOU that we will pay at a date future. This would be like if I went to the doctor and the doctor tells me that I have got lung cancer, and I say, ``Well, what should I do, Doctor?'' and he says, ``Smoke more cigarettes.''
I mean, we paid more out in Social Security benefits this current year than we paid in, and this exacerbates the problem. I would ask that we come up with a permanent solution, Mr. Speaker, and not keep avoiding the problem.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).
Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, this has been a terrible year in Congress. The intransigence of the Republican leadership and the Tea Party Republicans has brought us to the brink of crisis again and again. And now we're playing another game of chicken with the lives and well-being of millions of American families at stake.
Did the Republican leadership in the House just learn today that at the end of this month, in 10 or 11 days, these tax breaks, the unemployment insurance, and the physician reimbursements were going to expire? No, they learned about it earlier. So they packaged a bill. And the only way they could figure to pay for it was to take it out of the Federal employees, ask the elderly to pay more for their Medicare, to cut back on spending, never to raise taxes on people who make $1 million a year.
The Senate had the same issue before them, and the Democrats there wanted to have a tax increase. They couldn't get that through. So the Senators negotiated a short-term extension for 2 months because they couldn't agree to 1 year, and that passed overwhelmingly. That is what we should be voting on today.
Instead, starting January 1, the House Republicans are bringing a tax increase to 160 million Americans, forcing 2 million Americans to the edge of despair as their unemployment benefits run out, and scaring 48 million seniors who worry about their doctors opting out of providing services under Medicare.
And to add insult to injury, this resolution seeks to impose the Republicans' extreme antienvironment agenda onto legislation essential to the economic security of the American people. This has been the most antienvironment House of Representatives in the history of Congress, and this resolution is a fitting capstone to this dismal record.
{time} 1430
House Republicans are holding payroll tax cuts, unemployment insurance, and payment to physicians under Medicare hostage to the rapacious demands of the oil and gas industry.
The House Republicans want to force the President to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. They forget that the future of our economy lies in clean energy, not increasing our reliance on the dirtiest source of gasoline imaginable. They would like to hold the pipeline as one of the prices for their blackmail, but they also want to give some other special interest favors; a lump of coal for American families, but at the same time they want EPA's public health standards, which would prevent up to 8,100 premature deaths and 5,100 heart attacks every year, they want to eliminate those public health benefits that come with clean air. And instead, they want provisions in this bill, which has nothing to do with this issue, they want these provisions to allow more mercury, lead, and arsenic pollution in the air we breathe.
We've seen this over and over again. They cannot agree on a compromise to pay for anything. They cannot agree on letting something happen without putting in the anti-environmental riders. Once again the Republican leadership has shown the lengths to which they will go to impose their radical, extreme agenda, sacrificing the public health and welfare of the American people.
The Senate at least came up with a bipartisan compromise for 2 months. This House Republican leadership will put us in a situation where all of these expiring provisions will in fact expire, and the American people will be done a great disservice by this action.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to a productive and excellent member of our conference, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. I thank the chairman for yielding. I want to thank him for his leadership of the Republican Policy Committee and his work on this legislation.
Last week the House passed a 1-year payroll extension which included a provision to override the administration's decision against the Keystone pipeline, a real shovel-ready project. The President's decision will delay the Keystone project until 2013, after the election, which clearly reveals this is a political not scientific decision. On August 26, the Department of State deemed the project to be environmentally sound after 3 years of analysis.
In late October, I was fortunate to visit Alberta, Canada, which is America's largest trading partner, and witnessed firsthand the Canadian oil sands development and the extraordinary environmental safeguards to produce oil in North America. The construction of this environmentally advanced project will create 120,000 new jobs in America. With record unemployment, Americans need jobs now. And I know firsthand that the workers in the Michelin Tire Corporation of Lexington, South Carolina, are ready to produce huge earth mover tires, and MTU will produce engines.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I want to remind my good friend from South Carolina that the Keystone pipeline is in the Senate bill.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from California, Mrs. Susan Davis.
Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, we are here today because the Senate did a terrible thing in the eyes of the House majority: they had the audacity to work together and come up with a compromise.
At the request of the Speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader reached a compromise on a payroll tax cut extension. There were even high fives among Senate Republicans after that Saturday vote. Eighty-nine Senators voted for, including 82 percent of Senate Republicans. The Speaker called it a ``good deal.'' But then came the revolt from House Republicans.
People are asking, Mr. Speaker, and I think it's a fair question to ask: Do House Republicans really want Congress to function? By denying a vote on this bipartisan compromise, it allows them to continue to push their theme that Washington is dysfunctional and does not work.
Had the House majority brought up a clean tax bill last week, we would not even be here today. But instead, they offered a bill loaded with special interest riders that was designed to fail and, in fact, it did fail. The majority claims that it wants certainty with a long-term extension of the middle class tax cut. Yes, and many here, including myself, we do want a long-term extension, and those negotiations will continue.
If the House majority was talking about tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, they would roll out the red carpet. But when it comes to help and support for the middle class, they pull the rug out from under them.
It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that they are willing to support a $120 billion tax increase on Americans fighting to restore the American Dream rather than accepting this bipartisan compromise that is before us today.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, how much time remains for each side?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia has 22\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from South Carolina has 19 minutes remaining.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).
Mr. McCLINTOCK. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, in all of this debate, I think that both parties have overlooked a critical problem. Both versions of this bill impose a permanent new tax on every mortgage backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To pay for an additional 2 months of tax relief under the Senate version or 12 months under the House version, more than $3,000 in new taxes will be imposed on every $150,000 mortgage backed by Fannie or Freddie. A family taking out a $250,000 mortgage will pay $5,000 more in taxes directly and solely because of this bill hidden in their future mortgage payments.
This is atrocious public policy. It shifts the burden for this bill to future home buyers, kicks the housing market when it's already down, makes it that much more expensive for home buyers to re-enter the market, and adds to the pressures that have chronically depressed everyone's home values. That's the reason that both the Senate and the House versions need to go back for major revision.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin).
(Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. LANGEVIN. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I find it thoroughly unconscionable that House Republicans are preventing Congress from working its will by stifling a vote to support a bipartisan Senate compromise to extend unemployment benefits and the middle class tax cut for 2 months. While I strongly believe the middle class tax cuts and other provisions within this bill deserve a full-year extension, the utter intransigence of Tea Party Republicans has made compromise without a self-imposed crisis practically impossible.
We could have spent the better part of a year working on this bill, and others like it, to buoy our economy and help Americans get back to work. Instead, the Republican majority spent most of the entire session considering multiple bills to repeal health reform, rescind environmental protections, and further deregulate the financial industry, none of which helps create jobs for my constituents back in Rhode Island.
Now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made a last-
minute decision to derail a compromise on the one bill that economists agree would actually stimulate the economy. As a result, when families across Rhode Island come together to celebrate the holidays, they are going to face the possibility of paying higher taxes or seeing their unemployment benefits expire in the new year. This is unacceptable and it is unnecessary.
Mr. Speaker, Americans are weary of the political games and the broken promises that have brought us to this point. They want a Congress that can come together and legislate in their best interests. Instead, House Republicans are holding the middle class tax cuts hostage to further their political agenda, despite calls from members of their own party asking them to accept a bipartisan compromise which overwhelmingly passed the Senate 89-10.
I urge my Republican colleagues to stop risking the welfare of the American people for their political leverage. Give us the opportunity to pass a 2-month extension so that our constituents have some reassurance that they won't be worse off come New Year's Day. The interests of the American families deserve to be put before the interests of political partisanship. During this holiday season, I pray that this Congress can honor that.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a dear friend and a wonderful member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).
Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his excellent work on House Resolution 501, which expresses what we as Republicans stand for as we fight to provide accountability for hardworking American taxpayers.
{time} 1440
We are for certainty for these taxpayers. We are for unemployment insurance reforms. We are for freezing Federal salaries. We are for certainty for our seniors. We are for fairness for our doctors and hospitals. We are for jobs for the American people in the form of the Keystone XL pipeline, in the form of Boiler MACT, and the other bills that will help put thousands of Americans back to work. We all know that Washington takes too much and Washington wastes a lot of the money that it takes, and the American people want to see more of that money left in their pocket.
Indeed, Mr. Speaker, part of the debate that is taking place today is about a transition that we are going through, and House Republicans are grateful for the opportunity to lead this transition from a government that is addicted to the taxpayers' money--yes, indeed, it never gets enough--to a government that is going to be accountable to the hardworking American taxpayer.
Now, for some of my colleagues, they may want to call that
``radical.'' They may want to call it ``extreme.'' They may want to say that it is holding ideas hostage. It is about freedom. We stand with hardworking taxpayers.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlelady from Tennessee that that is exactly what this bill is designed to do, put into the pockets of 160 million Americans an extended tax cut.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison).
Mr. ELLISON. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, we're here because for the last year the majority could have come down here and we could have had this debate all this time. But at the 11th hour after they signaled to the Senate, work it out, get a deal together because we have not done it, the Senate did work that deal out. And now that it has come back, our friends in the House majority have said ``not good enough,'' conveniently after the Senate has gone home.
It feels like a setup. I don't question motives, but it feels that way. And it goes to the heart of the matter: Is the government here of the people, by the people, for the people and for the benefit of the people? Or do people basically have hostility to government and want to make government look dysfunctional at every turn?
The fact is, Mr. Speaker, there was an agreement in the Senate. It was coming over here, and it looked like government was going to prevail and that we had gotten our act together and worked it out. But before that ever happened, the people who stand in opposition to good government broke that deal apart. The people who believe that government should be shrunk to the size where it can be drowned in a bathtub could not possibly let a deal for the American people go through, and they've smashed that deal.
And right now, this year, the clock is running out. The Senate has gone home, and our friends on the other side of the aisle are playing a dangerous game with the lives of 160 million Americans.
It's a shame and a disgrace. We ought to pass this bill the Senate sent over here and stop messing around with the livelihood of Americans.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to yield 3 minutes to our Republican chair of our conference, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling).
Mr. HENSARLING. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, if my friends on the other side of the aisle are confused about why we're here, let me enlighten them. It's because the President's policies have failed. In the Obama economy, employment has been at, near or above 9 percent ever since the gentleman was elected. One in seven are on food stamps, and small business start-ups are at a 17-year low. So, Mr. Speaker, that's why we're here today. I think almost everyone in this Chamber agrees, yes, we want to extend the Social Security payroll tax holiday.
But what is so curious to me, Mr. Speaker, is I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle say, we need to do it for a year, but we're only willing to vote for 60 days. I don't understand that, Mr. Speaker. And I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle saying, middle-
income families deserve this $1,000 tax cut; yet they're only willing to vote for $160. And then they say, we have to pass it today, we can't let New Year's Day come without passing this; and yet they won't appoint anybody to a conference committee, and everyone is getting ready to run to the airport. I don't understand it, Mr. Speaker.
So the question is, are my friends on the other side of the aisle interested in making a law that will help American families and hardworking taxpayers, or are they interested in making a campaign issue that they can recycle every 60 days? Only they can answer the question.
Now, Mr. Speaker, it is inconvenient in tough economic times that our constituents have to work over the holidays. Maybe it should be inconvenient to us as well. We stand ready. We just can't do our job if the Senate Democratic leader refuses to appoint anybody and if the House Democratic leader refuses to appoint anybody to sit down and negotiate in good faith. I'm sorry it's inconvenient for my friends on the other side of the aisle to work during the holidays.
Then last but not least, I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle saying we need something that works for the American people. Well, guess what? Once again, they didn't consult with the American people. All of the employers that we hear about are saying this is unworkable. The Associated Builders and Contractors, I quote, talking about their 60-day plan: ``This sort of temporary fix underscores Congress' uneven ad hoc approach toward the economy and causes more harm than good for America's job creators.'' I hear from job creators from my own district in Kaufman County, Texas: ``The 2-month extension is more hassle than a help. It's impossible to budget and plan for an unknown.''
Mr. Speaker, if you want a year of tax relief, vote for a year of tax relief. If you want $1,000 in tax relief, vote for it and be willing to work over the holidays.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I remind my friend from Texas that according to all reports, last month 43 States registered a decrease in unemployment, the first time that's happened since the year 2003.
With that, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns).
Mr. TOWNS. I thank my colleague and friend for yielding.
I rise because I believe we have lost sight of why we are here. I want to remind my colleagues that we are here to represent the American people. We are here to ensure that as many as possible have the resources they need to pay their bills, feed their families, and maintain a suitable place to live. Today, there are millions of Americans who are struggling and do not have a suitable place to live.
Many people are suffering because of an economy that is beyond their control. The bottom line is they need us to do something about it. They need us to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for at least the next 2 months until we can agree on how to do it for the entire year.
The last thing working Americans need to see is a reduction in their paychecks because we failed to extend the payroll tax cuts. We can today make sure they at least get some assistance for the next 2 months. Then we can reach an agreement on how to do this for the entire year. That doesn't seem to be unreasonable. It's just 2 months.
We need to vote on the Senate bill today. And as my colleague was talking about not leaving town, you're right. We should not leave town until we pass this bill, and we need to let millions of struggling families and children know that they will have some relief at least for the next 2 months so they can enjoy the holidays, so they can really believe in merry Christmas and a happy new year. And that's all we need to do before leaving here is to pass it for 2 months, just 2 months.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to my physician colleague from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon).
Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 501. As a cardiothoracic surgeon, I often worked through the holidays since, guess what? No one chooses when they have a heart attack. I did my job. I'm here today to do my job, and I'll work through the holidays if that's what it takes. We have 11 days to pass a tax relief bill along with the extension of unemployment insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and, finally, 11 days to prevent a 27 percent cut to Medicare that will put American seniors at risk of losing their access to quality health care.
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Seniors rely on being able to see their doctors. This 60-day patch does nothing to create certainty for providers of seniors; in fact, it jeopardizes their care.
I support the bill we passed last week. I support this resolution. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on House Resolution 501.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina has 12\3/
4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 16 minutes remaining.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to a freshman Member from Mississippi (Mr. Nunnelee).
Mr. NUNNELEE. I thank the chairman for yielding.
I rise in support of the House-passed provisions, specifically the provisions relating to unemployment insurance reform.
We passed a full year, we extended the benefits, but we added commonsense reform, things like strengthening enforcement of waste, fraud, and abuse in unemployment benefits, strengthening work search and education requirements, and allowing States to test for drugs for those that are receiving benefits. It's very simple: If men and women that are working have to pass a drug test in order to draw their paycheck, those receiving unemployment benefits ought to have to pass the same drug test.
So I call on Harry Reid to bring the Senate back to work so that we can reach a full year's agreement that includes these reforms to our unemployment insurance.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to my friend, another physician colleague and a colleague from the State of Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).
Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding, and I rise in strong support of H. Res. 501 and commend the gentleman for the work he has done.
Colleagues, House Resolution 501 restates the provisions in House bill H.R. 3630 that we passed last Friday in a very bipartisan way and sent it over to the Senate--things like, yes, extending the payroll tax cut to 160 million middle-income Americans for a full year; allowing 99 weeks of unemployment insurance coverage for those individuals who have been out of work for more than 6 months, we do that for an additional year; and last but not least, to mitigate the payment cut, the 27 percent payment cut to health care providers who need to be there for our senior citizens. We do this all, and we pay for it in a responsible way.
Now, let's be serious about the controversy here in regard to this Senate amendment versus our bill, H.R. 3630. And it's time, Mr. Speaker, to end the mendacity. There is not one scintilla of logic in the Senate amendment to House bill H.R. 3630. The only thing that makes sense is the Democratic majority in the Senate wants to pay for these things by raising taxes on job creators. We in the House want to pay for it in a much more responsible way, raising taxes on nobody, but freezing salaries for Federal employees--yes, including our ourselves--
for the next 3 years.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.
Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
And the sale of electromagnetic spectrum, which will raise some $8 billion and create thousands of jobs.
So let's not make any pretenses about this. The House and the Senate have choices: They can name the conferees, they can come to conference, and they can get this done, or they can let these bills fail and fail the American people.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).
Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, instead of doing what's best for the American people, we are once again dealing with the same old partisan politics that has plagued this Congress this entire year.
The Senate amended and passed a bipartisan bill that would extend the payroll cuts for millions of workers and families and protect unemployment benefits for Americans while ensuring our seniors have access to critical health care. This Senate version reflects a compromise that was negotiated in good faith, Mr. Speaker, by both Senate Democrats as well as Senate Republicans. It was overwhelmingly approved by 89 Senators, including 39 Republican Senators.
As Members of Congress, it is absurd, I believe, that we are being deprived the opportunity--denied the opportunity--to vote for a bill that would add certainty to the economy and to the people that we represent.
It is unacceptable that some of my Republican colleagues in the House have once again refused to compromise.
Our constituents elected us here to make their lives better, not worse. This latest Republican grandstand will cost the American public dearly. As a result, 160 million middle class Americans will see a payroll tax increase, and over 2 million Americans, including almost 25,000 Alabamians, will begin losing their unemployment benefits.
While I had hoped for a 1-year extension, like many here, this 2-
month compromise is better than the alternative, which is to let millions of Americans suffer economic hardship.
It was Martin Luther King who said that the time is always right to do what is right. It is right this holiday season to make sure that the American public enjoys the blessings of this holiday season by being assured of the protections that they've already so greatly earned.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy).
Mr. DUFFY. I appreciate the gentleman for yielding.
I am sick of the demagoguery. I think it is important that we truly talk about the facts. This is not a debate about whether we're going to extend the payroll tax holiday or not. This is a debate about what kind of extension we're going to get. Is it going to be 1 year or is it going to be 60 days?
To be clear, we are advocating for a 1-year extension, which is a
$1,000 tax break for every American in this country. My friends across the aisle are advocating for a $170 payroll tax cut. $1,000 versus
$170.
We're talking about Christmas gifts. A $170 payroll tax gift is not a Christmas gift to the American people, but $1,000 would be. The only gift I hear being offered here is the gift to the Senate colleagues who want to go home for Christmas.
Let's stay here and do the work of the American people, make sure we extend the payroll tax holiday, and make sure we give certainty to every American throughout the country.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).
Mr. GARAMENDI. I think somehow I made a mistake. I came over here to listen to the debate, and it's almost like ``Alice in Wonderland,'' like we all fell down the hole here--up is down, down is up, black is white, white is black. I mean, this is confusing to the folks out there, so let's just try to understand where we are at this moment.
We sent a bill--that is, the Republicans in this House sent a bill to the Senate that was rejected, rejected for several reasons. One of them was the pay-for, how is it going to be paid for--ways that dealt, I think, unfairly with workers who are unemployed. It shortened the period of unemployment not to 99 weeks, but even shorter, to just over 50. And it also went after Medicare recipients, causing them to pay more. It was rejected by the Senate.
The Senate put together a compromise. Ninety percent of the Senators--well, just short of 90 percent--89 Senators, Democrat and Republican, voted for a 2-month compromise that was paid for, with the understanding that they would spend the next 2 months trying to figure out how to make this thing last a whole year.
We're really far apart on many of the underlying things, and so here we are running up against the deadline. And, by the way, if we had a conference committee, if we actually had a conference committee and they came to a conclusion before the end of the year, did anybody consider the Senate rules? There is a potential of 90 hours of debate in the Senate before it could be taken up and passed.
So what are we doing here?
We ought to think about the people out there and about the foolishness of all that's going on around here. Let's just agree to where the Senate is. We've got 2 months to figure out how to make the rest of the year work. And the rhetoric goes back and forth.
We're not in ``Alice in Wonderland'' here. This is about the people of the United States. We have an opportunity to get this thing done only for 2 months. Nobody is happy about that, but at least we can get it done and we can come back and deal with some very difficult underlying issues for which there is no agreement at this moment. We need time to do that. The conference committee could surely not do that.
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Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Griffith).
Mr. GRIFFITH of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I think that if Thomas Jefferson had just dropped back into this body, he would think he was Alice in Wonderland because when he wrote the wonderful ``Jefferson Manual of Parliamentary Procedure,'' he made it very clear that we had two bodies in this government, the Senate and the House; and each was to act independently one from the other in order to come up with what was right for the American people.
We are now told today that we are supposed to except a compromise that the Senators compromised on and then left town to go home to celebrate their holiday.
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think that's appropriate. I think we should do what the system called for when our Founding Fathers put it together, that is, they do their business, we do our business, and we do what we think is right. We are trying to do what we think is right here today.
This resolution includes many parts. One of those parts that I think is extremely important is the Boiler MACT part. It had 41 Democrat votes in this House. It has 13 Democrat cosponsors in the Senate. It is a very bipartisan and popular measure, and I hope we adopt the resolution.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, how much time is now remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina has 8\3/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 11\1/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to a physician colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).
Mr. CASSIDY. I actually again agree with my colleague, Mr. Garamendi. There has been a lot of sturm und drang, but there's actually something that we can agree upon here.
First, I'll say that President Obama, many congressional Democrats and House Republicans all agree that 12 months would be better than 2 months in terms of the extension of these things. The Senate disagreed. They did it for 2 months.
The Constitution says that if the House and the Senate disagree, the two come together, have a conference, a compromise, common ground is found, and then both Houses vote upon it. For some reason, we don't want to go through that process. For some reason, Senator Reid does not want to bring his people back from vacation to vote.
Now, I will say that all this other conversation about issues kind of obscures--I think, almost is there to obscure the fact that this is about whether regular order will be followed, whether the constitutional method of resolving differences will be employed.
Now, I would say that I ask the Senators to pay attention to what the Constitution says, to do the work of the American people. I know it's inconvenient. I know it's a holiday, but this is too important. Let's not give up on the process.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy).
Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, families are doing holiday shopping, planning budgets. So are employers.
Now we're being asked to accept a 2-month plan here, $166 per family, and a message of: Trust us and we'll come back.
Congress needs to be doing more than rehashing this again. We need to be dealing with unemployment, the deficit, and not just spending more time over 2 months.
We're telling families to accept $166 instead of $1,000. For that
$166, that's about a week and half of groceries for a family of four. For that same family of four, we're talking about 12 months of gas bills, 11 months of diapers, 10 electric utility bills, 9 months of baby formula, 8 months of cable, 7 months of auto insurance, 6 weeks of groceries, 5 months of gasoline, four student loan payments, three car payments, two credit card bills, and one mortgage payment for your house.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Cleaver.
Mr. CLEAVER. I sat in my office and listened to this debate; and the one thing I know is that neither side is listening to each other. Everybody's just trying to say something. The people at home are probably trying to figure out if there is any sanity anywhere in Washington. We're having fact-free debates, and the truth of the matter is that we're putting ideology over logic.
I'm not going to be here on Christmas. You can get whatever people you want. You can send all kinds of things into my district. We're on the verge of the second holiest holiday in my religious tradition. I'm going to be home. I'm going to be in church.
This is sick. This is sick. And the people all over the country, the people in the gallery, they know that they are watching dysfunctionality at its best. I'm ashamed, ashamed that this kind of thing is going on and the world is watching.
All we need to do is wait until a better season so that we don't look as bad. Every minute we debate, our poll numbers drop. It's probably at a point now where they can't drop any further.
But can't we stop this and start trying to rationally deal with the business of the public?
We're not listening to each other. The media just wants to listen to see if anybody's going to say anything that's caustic. The red meat crowd is waiting for somebody to say something insulting to the other side.
We ought to be listening to our better selves. We ought to call the best in us out right now, solve this problem, and go home and be with our families.
I'm going to be with my family. You guys can stay here and scream at each other all you want. I'm going home.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would remind my friend that it was President Obama who said:
This Congress cannot and should not leave for vacation until that--until they have made sure that that tax increase doesn't happen. Let me repeat that: Congress should not and cannot go on vacation before they have made sure that working families aren't seeing their taxes go up by a thousand dollars.
Mr. Speaker, in order for their taxes not to go up by $1,000, the length of time of the payroll tax reduction has to be 1 year, not 60 days.
I am pleased to yield a minute and a half to my friend from Texas
(Mr. Culberson).
Mr. CULBERSON. We're sending this bill back to conference because we share Speaker John Boehner's core governing principle to do the right thing for the right reasons for the country. And the right thing to do here is to make sure nobody's payroll taxes go up for at least a year. The House bill does that.
If you want your payroll taxes to go up in 2 months, then you would support the Senate bill.
We are sending this bill back to conference because the Senate bill, unlike the House bill, the Senate bill does not require people applying for unemployment to either get a GED or show that they're working their way towards a degree. The Senate bill doesn't do those things. So we're obviously sending this bill back to conference.
The House bill also gives States the flexibility to require unemployment beneficiaries to submit to drug testing, which is something common sense that everybody in the country can understand.
The Speaker also included in the House bill the ability for businesses to expense 100 percent of the money they invest in new investments and that, obviously, is going to create jobs immediately. The Senate took that language out.
This is just not complicated. If you want your payroll taxes to stay the same for 12 months, then you would support the House bill. If you want your payroll tax to go up in 2 months, then you'd support the Senate bill. This is not a complicated debate. This is very straightforward.
We in the House want to make sure that nobody's tax goes up for at least 12 months so people can plan, so businesses can predict, so they can expense money that they can invest so that they can create jobs. We also want to make sure that businesses in America can continue to create jobs.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Maryland (Ms. Edwards).
Ms. EDWARDS. 160 million Americans are wondering why Republicans want to raise their taxes on January 1. There are 2.2 million Americans wondering why the Republicans think that what unemployment people need is a drug test instead of a job or, in the absence of that, unemployment benefits.
Doctors all across this country who treat Medicare patients, Mr. Speaker, are wondering why it is that Republicans want to ensure that their doctors receive 25 percent less than they should for treating Medicare patients.
I have to tell you, I am with the American public. I'm completely confused about why Republicans in this Congress want to send Americans into January 2012 without an unemployment check, with a raise in their taxes, and cutting their Medicare benefits. That's what the American people want to know and don't understand. And they want to know why these House Republicans can't go along with what House Democrats want to do, what Senate Democrats already voted to do, what Republicans in the Senate already voted to. And it's time for us to do the business of the American people.
{time} 1510
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire of my colleague as to how many speakers he has remaining?
Mr. CLYBURN. I have two speakers left.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina has 5\3/4\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from Georgia has 7\1/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield a minute and a half to my physician colleague from the great State of Maryland (Mr. Harris).
Mr. HARRIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Floor Leader, for yielding the time.
The last time the Senators passed a major bill over just before Christmas, it was 2009. It was the ObamaCare bill. That last Congress, the 111th Congress, decided not to go to conference and accept what the Senate sent over.
Mr. Speaker, I ask those Americans watching to ask themselves: How did that work for you? That's what they want us to do with this piece of legislation, just accept what the Senate says. They want to go home for Christmas, and we'll just see how it all works out. Didn't work out so good that time; won't work out so good this time.
The gentleman from California said you almost need a playbook to figure out what's going on. Mr. Speaker, thank goodness we have one. It's called House.gov. You can go and you can see exactly how your Representative voted on a 1-year tax cut extension.
We took a vote last week. You can go see that one. We're going to take three today, whether you want a 1-year or a 2-month. Go to House.gov. You don't have to believe what anyone says on the floor. Go to House.gov.
Now, Mr. Speaker, let's talk about the other part of the bill, which is a 2-year Medicare fixed SGR. I ask those seniors who are watching, pick up the phone once this debate is over and call your doctor's office. Ask him one question: Do you want a 2-month fix or do you want a 2-year fix? That's all. Simple question. Let's see what the doctors want.
I know we in Washington like to think we know best for everything that goes on, including what our Medicare seniors want and their doctors want. I ask our seniors to do that.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, some have suggested that we're choosing between 1 year and 2 months. The fact is that by rejecting the Senate bill, which would have created certainty for 2 months, we are instead replacing that with uncertainty that begins in 2 weeks. Going the direction we're going in, in 2 weeks we won't know what the situation will be for payrolls that start on the 1st of January.
A full-year consideration is not going to be achieved in the next 2 weeks. The doc fix we've been working on for years; unemployment compensation and tax policy we've been working on for a long time. The idea that we're going to appoint a conference committee and they're going to meet and agree and figure all of this stuff out in a couple of days, we tried that with the supercommittee. It didn't work. This little conference committee is not going to solve all of these problems in the next 10 days.
So we have a choice: 2 months of certainty or a few days of total uncertainty. Who knows what's going to happen.
Economists have said if we don't extend the payroll tax and unemployment compensation that it will have significant adverse effects on the economy.
So we should do this. We should do it for 2 months and work on it for 2 months, and hopefully we'll have a solution at the end of 2 months. We certainly won't have a solution at the end of 2 weeks.
So that's the choice.
When people talk about certainty, this is a group that talked about certainty and then changed the regulations on light bulbs that have been in effect for 4 years on a 2-week notice. Here we are with certainty for 2 months, and they say, well, uncertainty is a problem, so let's do it in 2 weeks.
Let's have some certainty, 2 months of certainty. Let's work on it, and we can get a full-year solution. We're not going to do that the way we're headed.
I would hope, Mr. Speaker, that we would adopt the Senate amendments, leave town, send the bill to the President and be finished with it rather than invite all of this uncertainty which is certainly going to befall us if we don't do that.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I am pleased to yield a minute and a half to my colleague from the great State of Texas (Mr. Conaway).
Mr. CONAWAY. I thank the gentleman.
This is really hard to listen to in the sense that we are being asked to simply accede to the wisdom of the Senate. The wisdom of the Senate would say that long-range planning is 2 months. The wisdom of the Senate would say let's pay for 2 months' worth of these fixes by a permanent increase in mortgage insurance. That's unwise.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to abdicate my responsibility to vote what I believe is in the best interest of the county and the best policy simply because it's Christmas.
Now, we've got 2 weeks to work this out. The House has already passed an extensive bill that fixes and addresses these issues across a broad spectrum of the fixes. And to have the other side over and over say it's really the wisdom of the Senate that you should accede to, it's really the wisdom of the Senate, look what the Senate did, Mr. Speaker. It's irresponsible on every level to simply say 2 months is somehow going to fix these problems, that we can avoid dealing with the issue for another 2 months and then that's wise?
I would argue that my colleagues on the other side are wrongheaded in this regard. We have a bill that fixes this for 2 years, 1 year on the unemployment and taxes. We've got the pay-fors in place. The conferees can come together and get this worked out over the next week and a half that we've got before these things go into effect and bad things happen.
To ask us to yield to the Senate, to accede to the Senate's wisdom is wrongheaded on every level, and I refuse to do that, Mr. Speaker, and would argue that the House-passed bill that we passed last week should be the base bill on which we go to conference on and to work out these differences.
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?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 2\1/4\ minutes remaining.
Mr. CLYBURN. I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman from South Carolina has indicated, we can have 2 months of certainty if we follow our lead. The Republicans have said that we'll get 1 year of extension if we follow their lead. By tomorrow afternoon, we'll see who's telling the truth.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, may I say to my colleague that I am prepared to close if the gentleman is prepared to close.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina has 2 minutes remaining.
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.
{time} 1520
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.
General Leave
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Res. 501.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Georgia?
There was no objection.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, somebody once said that whether you say you can or you can't, you're right. The other side says they can't. The other side says we can't. We believe we can.
Mr. Speaker, we have two different versions of H.R. 3630. There is a House version and a Senate version. Everybody who knows about the United States Government knows that when you have two different versions you come together in a conference committee. You come to common ground, work out the differences, and move the bill back to both Chambers.
What are the differences?
In the House bill, we protect seniors' access to their doctors for 24 months. How about in the Senate bill? It's 2 months;
In the House bill, the Federal unemployment benefits extension goes for 13 months. In the Senate bill, it's 2 months;
As for the payroll tax cut extension, in the House bill, it's 12 months. In the Senate bill, it's 2 months;
As for the payroll tax cut for workers earning $50,000 a year, in the House bill, it's $1,000. In the Senate bill, it's $167.
There is a pay freeze for Members of Congress and Federal workers included in the House bill, not in the Senate bill. There is the ending of unemployment and food stamp benefits for millionaires in the House bill, not in the Senate bill.
So, Mr. Speaker, this is about two different bills. It's about certainty. It's about certainty for families and for job creators and for seniors. It's also about real jobs for real people. Our bill provides certainty and 20,000 jobs with the Keystone pipeline construction and another 120,000 new jobs in the supply chain for the pipeline: positive policy.
Why wait? Why wait, Mr. Speaker? Why not make a decision in the next few days on these tax and health care and unemployment extensions? What's the economic or the policy argument for putting this off for another 2 months? The truth is that there is none, and there are strong arguments against delay. We ought to be working on alleviating the uncertainty that that would bring about, not adding to it.
Mr. Speaker, I call on my colleagues to support this resolution and to move forward positively for families, for job creators, and for seniors.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 502, the previous question is ordered on the resolution and on the preamble.
The question is on the resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.
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