On the recordSeptember 21, 2012
I thank the gentleman so much for yielding and for pointing out how languishing in the House of Representatives are many pieces of legislation that have passed the United States Senate in a bipartisan way with a Democratic majority. Yet here in the House, where we have a Republican majority--and as you pointed out, some of these bills have actually passed their own committees led by Republicans--are still not being considered on the floor today. So we are going to adjourn and will not meet again for almost 2 months--the earliest adjournment before an election in over 50 years. Republicans are going to turn off the lights in this Chamber, shutting down debate on matters of serious consequence to Americans and the economy. Shame on them. We should be staying and dealing with those bills. They have voted, for example, time after time to repeal ObamaCare and to protect tax cuts for the wealthy and rich corporations, but have taken no action on preserving tax cuts for the middle class--for 98 percent of American taxpayers. They've not taken any action on the Violence Against Women Act, which passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 68-31. For the many years that the Violence Against Women Act has been enacted, it has always had bipartisan support.…
