Rob Andrews

I thank my friend. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to a passionate voice to fight the ravages of outsourcing in our country, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

For years, the understanding in this country has been, if you show up for work every day and work your heart out and do your best, what you get in return is a good wage, good benefits, and a future that's secure as long as your company's…

I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the most effective leading voice for working people in America today, the senior ranking Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee, my friend from California (Mr. Miller).

The urgent priority of this country, and it should be of this Congress, is to get Americans back to work. There is not a corner of this country that's not been severely afflicted by the unemployment crisis in this country. Mr. Garamendi…

I thank my friend for yielding. In the earliest days of our Republic, our prosperity came from our abundant natural resources. Then in later days, our prosperity came from the fact that we were bordered by two vast oceans to our east and…

They are going to be very consequential decisions that literally affect the life and death of the men and women who serve.

The country would be ill-served if we make these decisions based on insufficient evidence.

This is not just another academic exercise where people debate the metaphysical question whether auditable statements are a good thing or a bad thing.

The question is whether we are going to make them based on good evidence or insufficient evidence.

the relevant committees of the House have written to the DOD and asked what guidance they have received.

if you expect to be audited, you begin to change your behavior. Members of Congress would be wise to maybe keep that in mind, too.

What brings us together is a need to create jobs for the American people, and I think people would agree there's three things we have to do to create jobs: The first is not fall off a cliff and have a default on our national obligations…

I think that my friend from California, the chairman, my friend from New York, the chairman emeritus, have it exactly right. The issue is jobs. And that's really what this bill on the floor today is about. One of the reasons, but for sure…

I agree with him, and I think that we owe it to the country to find common ground on economic growth. The best deficit reduction plan is full employment. And the best full employment plan will be one that we could come together on. I think…

This agreement offers the calm, reasonable compromise the country wants. Most Americans don't want to let the debt ceiling expire. This bill solves that problem. Most Americans say, You know what? You probably can cut about 5 percent in…

The inevitable consequence of this bill is that when the United States wants to extend the debt ceiling to pay our bills, we will have to reduce Medicare and Social Security. That is the inevitable consequence of these balanced budget…

I would like to reclaim my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

The biggest problem in this country is not that the American Government is about to breach its debt ceiling; it's that too many American families have already breached their debt ceilings. We have a jobs crisis in this country, and this…

I'm not talking about the sequestrations. I'm talking about the fact that this commission's instructed to find $1.8 trillion in cuts and Medicare and Social Security are not exempted from those cuts. This is a roadmap, this is a users…

If that committee wanted to close tax loopholes, would they need a simple majority or a two-thirds vote of the House?

I would like to ask my friend from California a question, and then I would yield. Is the gentleman saying that the text says that if the commission set up by this bill reports back a cut in Social Security benefits that that may not be…

The gentleman is correct. This is not a commission. It is a committee that is empowered to cut Medicare and Social Security. We will not stand for it.

There is an unfortunate time-honored tradition in the House of people coming to the floor and objecting to reductions in spending with heartfelt arguments as to why the spending is necessary and never offering any suggestions about where…

I appreciate the gentlelady. So I would just say to you that after 198 days of essentially nothing on jobs, they now bring to the floor a bill that says, let's fix the jobs problem by having fewer regulators watch the big banks. There are…

I thank my friend from New York for yielding. Tomorrow will be yet another Friday without a paycheck for 15 million Americans, and this is the 198th day of the Republican majority. It is the 198th day that they've brought no legislation to…