Bill Pascrell

I come to the floor today as someone willing to work towards reforms that will create jobs, strengthen our middle class, and pay down our debt. I am in favor of comprehensive tax reform with lower rates. I'm in favor of removing…

You cannot address, for instance, that issue in a vacuum without talking about what the trials and tribulations are of folks who are making $25,000, $30,000, $35,000.

I can't vote for this repeal. I can't let them down or their insurance will go up.

That means that the people of Texas pay, the people of New Jersey pay, the people of California pay. In essence, everyone pays for those who don't have insurance. Let's get straight on this. We can't afford this, and we must reject repeal.

Educating the public is critical?

I rise with all of my colleagues here to honor the victims of the tragedy in Tuscon and to speak of our great colleague Gabby Giffords. We are all encouraged by the signs of recovery that Gabby is showing every day she has been in the…

I am proud to say that we are finally doing the right thing to support our heroes from 9/11. The agreement we have here today is much less than we originally hoped for--but more than four and a half years after the death of NYPD Det. James…

Our families are hanging by threads-- literally--as we debate this tonight. We know the economic wreckage that occurred between 2001 and 2008. Double unemployment, flat wages, and unbridled greed. We didn't do a very good job in correcting…

One of the most important reforms expands eligibility to all workers whose jobs have been moved overseas, not just for those jobs that were lost to our free trade partners. If we allow this provision to expire, workers whose jobs have been…

The issue we come here to address today is not a Democratic or a Republican problem, but one facing each and every one of our nation's seniors in the Social Security program. Despite any political rhetoric, the lack of a Cost-of-Living…

I have heard in the last few moments about trickle-down economics--you know, here we go again--and I heard the quote of what works and what doesn't work. Let me tell you what doesn't work. If you look back just a few years ago, in 2000, we…

Today I rise to address the elephant in the room--the expiration of the tax rates that will occur 31 days from now. We all agree that it is imperative that we work together to provide America's working-class families with tax relief as…

Middle class families are the backbone of our economy, and that is why we should not wait any longer to vote on extending tax cuts for these middle class families. There is near universal agreement to extend these cuts. There is also…

Many folks from New Jersey, both first responders and workers, went to New York after this tragedy. There is no question that, when you look at the records, that there were people from all 50 States in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 and after…

I want to thank Chairman Levin for bringing this bill to the floor today, as well as the sponsors of this legislation, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Johnson for working in a bipartisan way on behalf of America's workers and manufacturers. In the Ways…

As you know, Speaker Pelosi gaveled in the 110th Congress on behalf of America's children. Today I am proud to say the House will consider this bipartisan bill to protect our children in youth sports. As cochair of the Congressional Brain…

This Congress has done more for small businesses than others in years. Billions in tax cuts. We funded the SBA, payroll tax holidays, incentives for capital investments, depreciation, on and on. Nine specific tax cuts. Tax and spend? No…

I support the rule. It's taken far too long to overcome the obstruction to this bill. This obstruction has impeded $30 billion in credit for small businesses. The credit squeeze has been one of the largest obstacles they are facing today…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My friends from both sides of the aisle, many people responded on 9/11, a lot of folks from New Jersey. They were put into a situation which they did not ask for, did not pray for. These brave people deserve to be…

We have short memories here. Ten years is a long time to remember, I will admit that, but it took the last administration in 2001 and in 2002--the first 2 years of that administration--to finally get us into the plus on private jobs. You…

As a former mayor, Mr. Speaker, I understand that a strong water infrastructure is essential. Municipalities don't have the money. This portion of the legislation aims to repair our crumbling water infrastructure, while leveraging private…

We cannot continue down this path. Our trade deficit is unsustainable. We must begin to tackle it if we want to create jobs here in the United States and remain a prosperous country in the future. There's no silver bullet out there that…

At the end of the day, the United States is the most open, accessible, and dynamic market in the world. We hold our trading partners, hopefully, to the same standard. We must tackle our trade deficit head-on so that United States…

In the last 6 months, we have gained 136,000 manufacturing jobs, private jobs. It's one of the few pluses that we can refer to. So there is hope for the future in terms of manufacturing if we do the right thing. I rise in support of H.R…

I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 275. I want to commend both Mr. Polis and Mr. Petri for their very succinct words. I know firsthand the benefits that our children receive from a robust arts education program, whether it is…