Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 159 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 No. 171 Senate The Senate was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, December 9, 2013, at 2 p.m. House of Representatives WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 The House met at 10 a.m. and was fact that President Karzai has refused would like to read the last paragraph called to order by the Speaker pro tem- to sign the proposal offered by the ad- of his editorial. He writes: pore (Mr. COOK). ministration. Is this the neighborhood we want to stay f Since we have been in Afghanistan, in? And fight for? And throw more money at? 2,285 Americans have given their lives We have achieved our goals in Afghanistan. DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO for our country, and 19,514 have been We have won. It is time for our troops to TEMPORE wounded. The time has come for Con- come home. If we stay for another decade, The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- gress to understand history. From the our good war could come to a very bad end. fore the House the following commu- days of Alexander the Great, to the So, again, Mr. Speaker, it is my hope nication from the Speaker: British, to the Russians, no one has that when we get into 2014, that both parties will come together and say that WASHINGTON, DC, ever changed Afghanistan. December 4, 2013. The American people are tired of the we need to debate on whether this I hereby appoint the Honorable PAUL COOK cost of war, both life and money. As I agreement for 10 years is worth one life to act as Speaker pro tempore on this day. said yesterday, it is my hope that, in or one dollar. And I believe it will be a JOHN A. BOEHNER, early 2014, the leadership of the House vigorous debate. I think it will be good Speaker of the House of Representatives. will permit a debate and a vote on the that the American people can see that f agreement that will obligate our coun- we hear them as it relates to this war in Afghanistan. MORNING-HOUR DEBATE try to Afghanistan for at least 10 more years. I realize that the vote will not Mr. Speaker, before I close, I have The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- change the agreement, because the got a poster from the Greensboro News ant to the order of the House of Janu- President does have the authority, but & Record dated February 27, 2011. It is ary 3, 2013, the Chair will now recog- this will give us a chance to represent the military carrying a flag-draped cof- nize Members from lists submitted by the people of America who, the major- fin off the back of a plane. How many the majority and minority leaders for ity, are opposed to this agreement. more young Americans will have to go morning-hour debate. It is unacceptable that we will con- and walk the roads of Afghanistan and The Chair will alternate recognition tinue to spend billions of dollars at a be killed and lose their limbs? between the parties, with each party time when, according to Special In- I hope that my colleagues in both limited to 1 hour and each Member spector General John Sopko, the waste, parties will join those of us in both other than the majority and minority fraud, and abuse is worse in Afghani- parties who want to have this debate leaders and the minority whip limited stan today than it was 11 years ago. on Afghanistan in 2014. to 5 minutes, but in no event shall de- We in Congress continue to cut fund- Mr. Speaker, I will close now by ask- bate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. ing for programs for the American peo- ing God to please bless our men in uni- f ple, but we refuse to withhold one sin- form, to bless the families of our men gle dollar from Karzai in Afghanistan. and women in uniform, and God to hold AFGHANISTAN No wonder the American people have in His arms the families who have The SPEAKER pro tempore. The given Congress an approval rating of 9 given a child dying for freedom in Af- Chair recognizes the gentleman from percent. ghanistan and Iraq. North Carolina (Mr. JONES) for 5 min- It is time to end the senseless waste f utes. of American lives and American money Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in Afghanistan. THE GAS TAX I came to the floor to speak about the I want to thank Roger Simon for his The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bilateral strategic agreement and the editorial in today’s Politico, and I Chair recognizes the gentleman from b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H7449 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 02:28 Dec 05, 2013 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0636 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A04DE7.000 H04DEPT1 pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with HOUSE H7450 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE December 4, 2013 Oregon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) for 5 min- broad and persuasive requesting Con- ring nationwide to the concept of a rep- utes. gress to tax them. resentative republic, the constant ask- Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, for Any resources would have a powerful ing of the question: Has this become as long as I have been in Congress, both effect on the economy. The relatively too gridlocked? Has it become too par- parties and two successive administra- small amount in the Recovery Act for tisan? Has it become too hard to be tions have danced around the issue of infrastructure created many jobs be- able to get things done? our infrastructure deficit. For all the cause there is a strong multiplier ef- Maybe we need to do it a different attention to the various fiscal cliffs, fect, about 36,000 jobs for each billion way. Quite frankly, the American peo- the looming infrastructure deficit is dollars invested. And these are family- ple know in their hearts that they every bit as critical. wage jobs all across America that should be represented, they should be For two centuries, infrastructure was aren’t going to be outsourced overseas. heard, justice should be done, trust a bipartisan issue, from Lincoln, with In less than a year, the transpor- should be here, common sense should the transcontinental railroad, to tation bill expires, and absent congres- prevail. The basic principle among so Democrats and Republicans coming to- sional action, we face a precipitous many people, that we should speak for gether to launch the interstate freeway drop in transportation funding next those who cannot speak for themselves, system signed into law by President year and a reduction of 30 percent over- that every American should be heard, Eisenhower. Subsequent road, transit all for the next decade. it goes from the Book of Proverbs to and water investments helped fuel our It doesn’t need to be this way. I am the very foundation of our constitu- economy and tie the Nation together. proposing we implement the three-step, tional system now. More recently, the failure to address 15-cent-per-gallon tax increase that So what do we do about that? long-term funding has also been bipar- was part of the Simpson-Bowles deficit Well, around the world we see it. We tisan. The Bush administration ignored reduction proposal. Communities and see the frustration of other people in strong recommendations from their industry need certainty, especially for other countries. We see it in Syria as own private sector experts that they larger projects that are multistate and they are split up in a civil war. We see empanelled to give advice. multiyear. it in Cairo, in the streets at yet an- Although the Obama administration And this should be the last Federal other set of protests. We see in Thai- did request and employ some modest gas tax increase. Over the next 10 land, the absolute corruption of their funding in the Recovery Act and has years, we need to replace funding for government breaking out in things. We proposed an infrastructure bank and transportation that is based on gallons see votes in the Parliament in the talked extensively and, I think, sin- of fuel consumed, which is going to be Ukraine right now as worldwide, con- cerely about the need for investment, declining, with something more sus- tinent by continent, there is constant what has been lacking has been a spe- tainable, a reasonable adjustment now frustration with their government and cific, concrete proposal from either and a permanent fix in the future, so people rise up in the streets. party to address infrastructure financ- we can stop this dance of avoidance. What do we do about it? How do we ing in America. We will find broad support for this lead? We are the leaders in our coun- While the political maneuvering has form of user fee, which, historically, try. So what do we do? occurred here in Washington, the gap has been acceptable to Republicans as Here is my quick admonition to us: in the highway trust fund has been well, including Ronald Reagan, who in- Stop running down America and each growing, and conditions of our roads, creased the gas tax a nickel a gallon other.