Getting Americans Back to Work (Cong. Rec., May 19, 2021)
Summary
Congressional Record, House, pages H2547 and H2548, May 19, 2021. Under the heading Getting Americans Back to Work, remarks criticize an April job report that showed 266,000 new jobs added and describe business owners competing with Federal unemployment benefits for employees. Himes, under the heading Responding to Cyberattacks, speaks about cyberattacks and calls for American legal, diplomatic, and cyber capabilities to be used against DarkSide and Putin. Underwood speaks about the House passing a resolution dismissing an election contest. Fitzgerald, under the heading Federal Unemployment Bonus, says Governors in different States have decided to pull back on the $300 a week.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Getting Americans Back to Work (Cong. Rec., May 19, 2021).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-05-19-crec-2021-05-19-pt1-pgh2547-2-648280b7b2/
, SHA-256 fa5037f175c64ab0764cef04d3a24f3116afd20ce90d35d8059eb374ea995152.Full text
May 19, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2547
making that dangerous trek, and for ties with the ferocity and precision per week not to work. That equates to
all people who live along the border and, yes, the proportionality that these nearly $21 an hour. That is exactly why
and see this every single day. and many other cyberattacks would Texas and 20 other States have opted
What is happening with these girls? have provoked had they been under- out of Federal COVID unemployment
They get put in HHS and then get re- taken kinetically. insurance benefits. But there are still
leased. Guess where they are going. Let’s hurl the full weight of the States where business owners are being
They are going to Houston, Texas, to American legal, diplomatic, and cyber forced to compete against the Federal
try to be reunited with a family mem- capabilities against DarkSide and the Government for employees.
ber. organizations or countries that as- My own brother, Tyler, who owns a
All cities of the United States are sisted it. There is no reason why our construction company in Wisconsin,
border cities. All States of the United immense power, if applied, can’t result told me business has picked up for him.
States are border States. This crisis in jailed hackers, businesses sanc- What a blessing. Now, he is trying to
has continued to spiral out of control, tioned into bankruptcy, emptied bank hire additional employees to grow his
and we, here in Congress, as well as the accounts, and melted computers. business. He has just got one problem:
administration, must come together The same goes for Putin, who draws Folks are telling him they are making
and reform immigration and secure our no formal distinction between the more sitting at home at $17.50 an hour.
southern border. Kremlin and the private groups who They tell him if he wants them to
f supply it with propaganda, merce- work, he is going to have to pay them
naries, and hacking services. Putin re- $25 an hour.
RESPONDING TO CYBERATTACKS Situations like my brother Tyler’s
spects only the Machiavellian language
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The were hardly an unexpected consequence
of force and retribution. For him, all
Chair recognizes the gentleman from of paying workers more not to work.
else is tactical. So let’s demonstrate
Connecticut (Mr. HIMES) for 5 minutes. So expected, it seems as though when
Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, as I the cyber capabilities we have spent
billions of dollars developing. Let’s Democrats failed to get their minimum
rise, gasoline is once again flowing wage hikes through the Senate in Feb-
through the Colonial Pipeline, and we make sure that he and the oligarchs
who support him feel the fear and anx- ruary, they used the Federal unem-
are getting ready to undertake our rou- ployment insurance program to accom-
tine briefs—those of us who sit on the iety felt by millions of Americans con-
templating crashed email systems and plish the same result, albeit tempo-
Intelligence Committee and the Com- rarily.
mittee on Homeland Security—of this gasoline lines down the street.
The objection to my arguments has While there are many who are still
week’s cyberattacks. Many of them struggling from the effects of COVID,
will have come from Russia, from always been consistent: that as a high-
whether it be from health effects or the
China, from North Korea, from Iran, or ly networked nation, we are particu-
effects of lockdowns on their business,
from some shadowy criminal group, larly vulnerable to a cyber tit-for-tat.
millions more are taking advantage of
which is often sheltered or at least tol- In a cyber exchange, the Russians, the
the unemployment insurance system
erated by one of these countries. Many Chinese, or the Iranians might choose
and sitting at home playing Xbox in-
will have succeeded in stealing critical to attack our critical infrastructure,
stead of working and being productive
data or penetrating essential networks. like, say, a gasoline pipeline. Yes,
members of society.
Only a few, like the recent attacks on there is risk, but that risk must be On top of a labor shortage driven by
the Colonial Pipeline, will ever become weighed against the fully unacceptable the Federal Government paying people
publicly known. status quo. not to work, President Biden is pro-
There is a long list of things that we Hitting back isn’t the only answer. It posing historic levels of spending and
must do to stop these attacks. We is part of the answer. In this new raising taxes on our job creators. His
should require private companies to world, a credible deterrent must be multi-trillion-dollar proposals, like his
tell the public, or at least the govern- combined with clearly articulated $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and
ment, when these attacks occur. We international rules, norms, and an un- $1.8 trillion American Families Plan,
should make sure that experts in derstanding of our national doctrines: will cost thousands of jobs through tax
places like the NSA and the FBI are all the things that helped keep the hikes amid an already struggling mar-
working side-by-side with network op- Cold War with the Soviets from becom- ket.
erators to address these attacks, and ing hot. What message does raising the cor-
we should have a clear policy on the Above all else, however, it is time to porate tax rate send to job creators
payment of ransom to ransomware at- change the game and impose the mean- when they are trying to rebuild in the
tacks. ingful costs that will finally deter our aftermath of the pandemic? It sure
But at the very top of the list is the adversaries. Until we do, we are all just sounds like we are telling them to take
need to fundamentally change the waiting for the next Colonial Pipeline their business overseas or hire less.
game by establishing a sure and swift attack. To bounce back from the Biden ad-
deterrence. f ministration’s dismal job reports in
Time and again, we do too little, too GETTING AMERICANS BACK TO April, which showed just 266,000 new
late. WORK jobs added, certainly underperforming
Five years ago, President Obama re- the Dow Jones estimate of 1 million
sponded to the Russian attack on our The SPEAKER pro tempore. The new jobs, we need to be stimulating
2016 election, the very essence of our Chair recognizes the gentleman from economic opportunity and growth with
democracy, with the expulsion of 35 so- Texas (Mr. NEHLS) for 5 minutes. less taxes and less regulation, which
called Russian diplomats and the clos- Mr. NEHLS. Madam Speaker, I stand will create good-paying jobs that en-
ing of a few secondary Russian facili- here today after speaking with busi- courage people to get back in the work-
ties, and he told Putin to ‘‘cut it out.’’ ness owners across my district and the force.
Putin barely felt the slap on the wrist. country. I have heard story after story What won’t fix our struggling econ-
We know that, because fewer than 4 of businesses struggling to get entry- omy is throwing money at the problem,
years later, a Russian intelligence level, minimum-wage workers back to which seems to be all the Washington
agency used a supply chain attack on work. Why is that? Because they are swamp knows how to do. The liberal
Microsoft and SolarWinds to penetrate actually having to compete, not tax-and-spend model is failing our
thousands of networks, including those against COVID or lockdowns, but economy and failing the American peo-
of the Federal Government. In re- against the Federal Government to get ple. Gas prices are up, homes are more
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with HOUSE
sponse, the United States—you guessed employees back to work. expensive, and the per pound cost of
it—expelled some Russian diplomats. In my home State of Texas, you can copper is more than double what it was
For the bad guys, the cost of doing make up to $535 in unemployment in- just 12 months ago.
business is very low indeed. surance, but add in the additional $300 We are not going to spend our way
It is time to strike back using our per week payments that came from out of this mess with $1-trillion pro-
unparalleled offensive cyber capabili- Federal COVID relief, and that is $835 grams that do nothing but serve liberal
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 20, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K19MY7.004 H19MYPT1
H2548 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 19, 2021
special interests. We do it by letting I also want to thank the House Ad- If you remember back when the
the free market flourish through lower ministration Committee and its hard- CARES package was moving through
taxes, lower regulation, and more eco- working staff for faithfully carrying Congress, there were a number of legis-
nomic freedom. out the Federal Contested Elections lators who identified that an issue was
This model worked under President Act by rejecting this attempt at dis- being created that didn’t need to nec-
Trump, who delivered record lows in enfranchisement. essarily be created, and that was addi-
unemployment for Blacks, Hispanics, Unfortunately, the contest in my dis- tional dollars being set aside for those
Asians, and women, and it will work trict was just one battle in a war that who would find themselves unem-
again, if only the Biden administration is still ongoing, a war on democracy, ployed.
will put the American people first and on voting rights, and on truth itself. As a former State legislator in Wis-
not special interests. It will take more than a resolution to consin, I had kind of gone through a
f defeat the big lie: a seditious effort to process back in 2008 and 2009, which ba-
delegitimize the 2020 election and every sically was an unemployment insur-
ELECTION CONTEST DISMISSED ance fund—and I would underscore the
future election.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The As the so-called debate about wide- idea insurance—that was in the red. It
Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from spread fraud that did not occur raged was as a result of the number of unem-
Illinois (Ms. UNDERWOOD) for 5 minutes. on, I have been shocked and horrified ployment claims that were being made
Ms. UNDERWOOD. Madam Speaker, by the willingness of so many people to in my State.
last week, we passed a resolution dis- tell dangerous, flat-out lies, people who There was a nonpartisan commission
missing the last House election contest should know better, including, terrify- that had been created to kind of over-
of the 2020 cycle, in the 14th District of ingly, elected officials at every level of see this process, without getting too
Illinois. government. far into the details. It had worked,
Before this resolution came to the I desperately hope for a future where where there had been some give and
floor, the Committee on House Admin- the fabric of reality itself is no longer take. Employers and those who rep-
istration approved it with unanimous under attack, because there can be no resented employers knew that there
bipartisan support. compromise here. There is nothing to would be X amount of dollars taken
I am incredibly honored that my compromise on. The choice is simple: out of everyone’s payroll that would
community chose me to represent truth or lies. supplement or pay for the premiums
them in Congress again, and I look for- In the meantime, Madam Speaker, associated with unemployment, and
ward to a productive term. let me tell you about the reality that the system worked. But when the up-
But I am not here to take a victory others have left far behind. The reality tick came as a result of the economy
lap. This is an important moment, not is that the American people chose sputtering at the time, it went into the
because of which candidate won, but Democrats to lead the House, the Sen- red.
because the constitutional rights of my ate, and the White House. In reality, It is just a reminder, I think, of what
constituents were upheld, despite my Americans voted for healthcare, for we find ourselves kind of in the midst
opponent’s efforts to disenfranchise the childcare, and for a safe climate and of right now. As I said, some earlier
very people he sought to represent. environment. speakers referenced this. We have this
Much like the previous President, my $300-a-week bonus that so many people
opponent ignored voters’ voices by de- b 1030 are calling it right now. And I get it; I
claring himself the winner days before In reality, Americans chose historic am not trying to be too judgmental on
the results were in. Once the votes had numbers of women, people of color, and people who actually find themselves in
been tallied, he again joined the former LGBTQ people to represent them in that position.
President in making baseless allega- this Chamber. But what we are hearing from em-
tions of fraud and conspiracy. There are people who refuse to face ployers is that, as a result of the new
After a careful consideration of the this reality, like my erstwhile oppo- dollars being in that unemployment
merits of his case, the committee nent, the former President, and far too system, it is doing two things. The
found that my opponent’s many argu- many others in positions of great re- first thing it is doing is obviously put-
ments about supposed irregularities sponsibility. Their denial of the truth ting the regular private-sector market
failed to add up to a credible claim to is incompatible with the democracy we that employers are typically used to,
the result he wanted. all swore an oath to defend. and it is forcing them to kind of either
Exhibiting the utmost disrespect for A few months ago, we endured a vio- increase wages to the point where it
his own would-be constituents, he even lent insurrection here in this building, doesn’t work for them. It just won’t
went so far as to attempt to invalidate an all-too-real manifestation of this work for their small business model.
thousands of ballots, under a techni- widespread assault on reality. We sur- They can’t afford it and still be able to
cality that the Illinois Supreme Court vived the attack, but we are still in the put out goods and services.
had already deemed invalid under both midst of an insidious erosion of norms The other thing it does, though, is it
the State and Federal Constitutions. and policies that threatens our democ- keeps people on unemployment. So
Specifically, the court warned that racy, including by sowing distrust of what we are experiencing in our
the standard my opponent sought to our elections and our democratic insti- State—and I think I am hearing that
apply in this case would allow corrupt tutions. other States are experiencing the same
officials to deliberately toss out ballots Madam Speaker, I urge my col- thing, and I think we are up to 19 dif-
of voters whom they had reason to be- leagues to join me in rejecting these ferent States right now—Governors
lieve voted otherwise than they de- attacks on our democracy by living as have made a decision to pull back on
sired, which is exactly what he at- though the truth were true. the $300 a week. It is certainly
tempted to do. f cratering these unemployment insur-
By passing the resolution dismissing ance pots again. They can’t keep up
this baseless contest, the House upheld FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT BONUS with it.
the results that were verified by seven The SPEAKER pro tempore. The So I am here today to just tell the
county clerks, including four Repub- Chair recognizes the gentleman from constituents of Wisconsin and, really,
licans, and certified by the State of Il- Wisconsin (Mr. FITZGERALD) for 5 min- nationwide, as we see State by State
linois. utes. and the economy kind of moves in one
On behalf of my constituents whose Mr. FITZGERALD. Madam Speaker, direction, that there has to be a
dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with HOUSE
voices were heard despite these efforts I rise today to talk briefly on a topic change. It is not even a partisan issue.
to silence them, I want to thank the that has come up numerous times al- Something has to give here in the
many election officials and volunteers ready this morning. I just attended a short term, and I would certainly hope
who safely and successfully adminis- meeting of the Small Business Com- that President Biden would take a
tered the highest-turnout election in mittee in which we had an extensive deeper look at this. I think the House
history, during a pandemic. discussion as well. and the Senate should actually move in
VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 20, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K19MY7.005 H19MYPT1
File and source
- File
- CREC_crec-2021-05-19_crec-2021-05-19-pt1-pgh2547-2.pdf
- Size
- 224,809 bytes
- SHA-256
- fa5037f175c64ab0764cef04d3a24f3116afd20ce90d35d8059eb374ea995152
- Original
- www.govinfo.gov