Providing for Consideration of H.R. 325, No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013
by Representative Rob WoodallPosted on 2013-01-23
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WOODALL. I thank my chairman for yielding.
I used to come to this podium, Mr. Speaker, and say I'm just a House
freshman, but this is what I think about things. I'm now a House
sophomore. It's been 2 years and 1 month since I arrived here; and if
you told me 2 years ago when I arrived that we were going to be
bringing five-page pieces of legislation to this floor for up-or-down
votes by this body, I wouldn't have believed it because I've watched
the way this House has operated for over a decade.
I see these bills--and Mr. Speaker, you've seen them too--these bills
that folks have to carry down here on a dolly, those bills that they
drop them down here on the rostrum with just a thump. Folks can't read
those bills; folks can't analyze those bills; folks can't digest those
bills. But this one that we have today deals with an incredibly
complicated topic, the debt ceiling, an incredibly controversial
topic--how it is that the House and the Senate get their business
done--and yet we bring it in five pages that every Member of this body
has had a chance to read and digest, every Member of this body.
We had a hearing on it in the Rules Committee yesterday. And here on
the floor today we're going to debate this bill not just with one
committee of jurisdiction, with the Ways and Means Committee getting
time, but with two committees of jurisdiction, the Ways and Means
Committee getting time and the House Administration Committee getting
time.
You know, it's unusual, Mr. Speaker, that we have a bill that the
Speaker of the House has decided to bring forward, that the majority
leader of the Senate has praised the Speaker for bringing forward, and
that the White House has said it doesn't have any objection to. That's
unusual. Candidly, it makes me a little suspicious. That's the way it's
been around here. I think my colleagues on the Rules Committee would
agree. So often we get so used to the controversy that if we can't
fight about something, we start to wonder what's wrong, what's wrong
that we can't fight about something. I'll tell you, Mr. Speaker, we're
going to have that opportunity to fight. We don't have that roadmap
yet. Of course, the House has laid out its budget roadmap year after
year after year after year. Certainly, the 2 years I've been here, the
House has done its job--much to the credit of my colleagues on both
sides of the aisle--and passed a budget. This year, rumor has it the
Senate is going to do the same thing.
This bill certainly puts an incentive in place for both the House and
the Senate to get their job done, but how is it that we're going to
tackle those tough decisions that my friend from New York, the ranking
member of the Rules Committee, talked about, those really difficult
financial decisions, talking about those obligations we have in the
future that we have absolutely no plan or means to pay for. How are we
going to grapple with those decisions? Well, I'll tell you, I wish we
had gotten a big deal in the debt ceiling debate of August of 2011. We
got a step in the right direction, but we didn't get it all done. I
wish we had gotten it in the Joint Select Committee. We didn't get it
done. I wish we had gotten it in the fiscal cliff debate of last year.
We didn't get it done.
But I believe--maybe it's just a hope, Mr. Speaker--but I believe
that if the Senate has the courage to lay out its path for America--its
path for America's budget and dealing with America's obligations--and
if the House has the courage to lay out its vision for America, its
vision of dealing with America's obligations, that we're going to find
that opportunity to come together to make those decisions that have to
happen.
Now, I hope I'm not speaking out of school, Mr. Speaker, but I had a
chance for some constituents in town--some of my business leaders, some
of the great entrepreneurs from my district, they're in town. I took
them by to meet with Speaker John Boehner. I'll tell you, I come from
one of the most conservative districts in the United States of America;
Speaker John Boehner is not always the most popular name in my
district. But I brought them by to meet him because I wanted them to
hear from him directly and he said this to them, he said: We have real
opportunities in divided government, real opportunities to come
together and do the big things that matter; that only in divided
government can you bring together the best ideas from both sides and
put everybody's fingerprint and stamp of approval on them and do
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those things that really make a difference for America. And my goal is
to do those things while I'm leading this, the people's House.
I take him at his word, Mr. Speaker. And if giving this 90-day
extension so that budgets can be passed gives him that opportunity,
I'll do it.
A colleague of mine yesterday said, ``That stuck with me.'' He said,
``I've had people I respect a whole lot less ask me for a whole lot
more.''
I have great respect for our Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan. I
have great respect for our Rules Committee chairman, Pete Sessions. I
have great respect for the Speaker of the House. If they tell me
another 90 days is going to give us that opportunity to do those big
things I think we on both sides of the aisle want to do, I'm there.
I support this resolution, Mr. Speaker, and I hope folks will support
the underlying bill.
