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, MAY 15, 2013 No. 68 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was cans. I’ll be speaking more about that Because of the sequester, we are at called to order by the Speaker pro tem- from this floor in coming days, as I risk of 70,000 young people kicked off pore (Mr. BROOKS of Alabama). know some of my colleagues will. Head Start; 10,000 teacher jobs at risk f What I find—and I believe most for title I cuts; 4 million fewer Meals Americans find—incomprehensible is on Wheels for seniors; 600,000 women, DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO how this House could waste its time on infants, and children dropped off the TEMPORE such a blatantly partisan vote when rolls; emergency unemployment insur- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- the effects of sequestration are having ance cut by 11 percent for 2 million fore the House the following commu- a growing negative effect on our econ- out-of-work Americans; 2,100 fewer nication from the Speaker: omy and on the lives of so many Amer- food-safety inspections. That’s a drop WASHINGTON, DC, ican families. That ought to be our of 18 percent to make sure that our May 15, 2013. focus this week and every week until food is safe. And one-third of combat I hereby appoint the Honorable MO BROOKS we find a solution, Mr. Speaker. air units are grounded. to act as Speaker pro tempore on this day. Speaker BOEHNER has said that this The responsible path forward is for JOHN A. BOEHNER, 37th repeal vote is justified because Democrats and Republicans to work to- Speaker of the House of Representatives. freshman Members have not had an op- gether on a big and balanced approach f portunity to vote on that issue. If that to deficits that restores certainty to our businesses and families. MORNING-HOUR DEBATE is his view, then, by the same rea- soning, he should allow a vote on a bal- Four times Mr. VAN HOLLEN, the ranking member of the Budget Com- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- anced alternative to the sequester. mittee, has offered an amendment to ant to the order of the House of Janu- Freshmen have not had a chance to the sequester, which would get to the ary 3, 2013, the Chair will now recog- cast their votes on whether to replace same deficit reduction, but in a way nize Members from lists submitted by the entire sequester with a big and bal- that was prioritizing those things that the majority and minority leaders for anced solution to deficits. are important in our country and morning-hour debate. If the House proceeds with a vote on eliminating those that are not, and The Chair will alternate recognition repealing the Affordable Care Act on raising some additional revenues, as between the parties, with each party the grounds that Members deserve an limited to 1 hour and each Member well. opportunity to be on the record on such Not only has that not been consid- other than the majority and minority an important issue, surely, Mr. Speak- leaders and the minority whip limited ered, but the Republicans have refused er, we also ought to have a vote on re- to allow that amendment on the floor. to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall placing the sequester, which we know debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. Yet we have the 37th time to repeal the is having adverse effects on our econ- health care bill, which is already bene- f omy and on our national security. fiting millions of Americans. It’s not a American families and businesses are SEQUESTRATION responsible use of congressional time. facing greater and greater uncertainty I urge the Speaker and the Repub- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The as the result of the sequester and the lican leader to cancel this repeal vote Chair recognizes the gentleman from unwillingness on the part of Congress and get back to business by allowing us Maryland (Mr. HOYER) for 5 minutes. to take a meaningful, bipartisan action to consider a balanced alternative to Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this week to stop it. With this uncertainty, busi- the sequester this week. the House will be voting for the 37th nesses have slowed hiring and in some I also urge them to bring to the floor time to repeal the Affordable Care Act. cases have even begun to lay off work- a motion to go to conference on the This vote comes at a time when we ers. budget. My Republican friends pleaded are facing serious and pressing chal- This indiscriminate and irrational for the Senate to pass a budget. The lenges, one of the most important of nature of the sequestration means that Senate passed a budget; we passed a which is the operations of the seques- it’s ill effects will be felt across our budget. Regular order is going to con- ter. That is 37 votes to repeal the Af- economy and society without regard to ference where we could, in fact, come fordable Care Act. our priorities. It also means that none to an agreement on a big and balanced Let us set aside for a moment the im- of us, not one of us in this Chamber, is deal to replace this negatively impact- portant issue of how health reform is immune in our own districts where ing sequester. working and making quality care ac- constituents will see a reduction in There is nothing on the schedule to cessible and affordable for more Ameri- services and dislocation. do that, either to repeal the sequester 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. H2607 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:23 May 16, 2013 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A15MY7.000 H15MYPT1 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with HOUSE H2608 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 15, 2013 and change it or to go to conference, boundaries, without ethics, and with- was an eyewitness to one of our Na- but a 37th vote that will go nowhere. out a shred of respect for the Constitu- tion’s worst industrial tragedies—the And everybody who knows that to be tion or you. These individuals are some Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. He re- the case is on the floor this week. How people on some floor of some building counted how he saw girl after girl ap- sad. named after some dude that you’ve pear in the reddened windows, pause f never even heard of messing with your for a terrified moment, and then leap life. to the pavement below, to land as a RETURN THE POWER BACK TO mangled, bloody pulp. He said it went THE PEOPLE b 1010 on for what seemed like a ghastly eter- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The And if you don’t think that wiretaps nity, and described how the firemen’s Chair recognizes the gentleman from or IRS audits are going to hit you, life nets were torn by the impact of Florida (Mr. RADEL) for 5 minutes. think again. Two groups from my home falling bodies. Mr. RADEL. Mr. Speaker, in this in southwest Florida were hit so hard This inferno at a sweatshop garment great country of ours, since our found- by the IRS that they quit. They shut factory in New York City employed ing, we’ve always had a distrust of gov- down their groups. That was it; enough mostly poor, immigrant women. One ernment. And, quite honestly, I think is enough. This is the clearest example hundred forty-six workers died that that’s a healthy thing, most especially of how the government is coming after day because it lacked proper stairways, today as we learn about what both the you to strip away your most basic fire escapes, and managers had locked Department of Justice and IRS have rights. These groups were made up of all of the exits. This tragedy shook our done. hardworking Americans just like you. Nation and led to lifesaving workplace What we are learning is that this is a Their goal: to teach people about the safety reforms. threat to your First Amendment: free- Constitution. Think about that for a A century later, I recently met a dom of speech. And let there be no second. They wanted to teach people young Bangladeshi garment worker question the order of importance. It is about the very document that tells you named Sumi. She, too, jumped from a your very first in your Bill of Rights: you have the right to say what you window of the Tazreen garment fac- freedom of speech. want. They’re now gone. tory. She survived, but 12 of her co- I believe that these rights are so sa- And let’s look at the Department of workers who jumped with her did not. cred, so precious that I’m introducing Justice wiretapping, seizing and prying More than 100 others who never had the the Free Flow of Information Act to into the lives of journalists. I worked opportunity to jump were found inside protect journalists from the prying as a journalist for almost 20 years, liv- of the factory dead.