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This week, House Democrats passed legislation to prevent a tax increase on middle class families. I was disappointed that Republicans chose to vote against extending tax cuts for the middle class, instead fighting to hold them hostage to add $700 billion to the deficit for tax cuts for the wealthy. During this time of economic uncertainty, we cannot increase taxes on the middle class. I hope the Senate will act quickly to ensure that come January 1, taxes won’t go up on families across the country.

I am encouraged by the fact that a bipartisan majority – nearly two-thirds – of the president’s bipartisan fiscal commission supported the report put forward. Though the commission has ended its work, our national conversation about returning America to fiscal balance has been energized by the commission’s efforts and I expect that conversation to proceed. A bipartisan consensus is forming around a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes hard choices on both the revenue and spending sides—an approach that includes putting our entitlements on more stable footing; responsible spending cuts that take all parts of our budget into account, both non-defense discretionary and defense; and fair tax simplification that also raises revenue.

I am pleased to announce that Rep. Jim Matheson will join the Democratic Whip team in the next Congress. He will join the current Whip team that is staying in place. Rep. John Lewis will serve as our Senior Chief Deputy Whip, and our Chief Deputy Whips will continue to serve our caucus: Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Rep. Joe Crowley, Rep. Diana DeGette, Rep. Ed Pastor, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Rep. Maxine Waters.

   

I am disappointed Republicans chose to play politics with a bill that enjoys strong bipartisan support and would increase access to school meal programs, improve the standards of food provided, and help reduce childhood obesity. The real purpose of this motion to recommit was to delay this bill from being signed into law.

The Centers for Disease Control tell us that, over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates have tripled. Nearly one out of every five American children between the ages of six and 19 is obese. That doesn’t just mean a lifetime of health problems for those children—it means a public health crisis that we all pay for. We pay for it in billions of dollars in health care costs each year. And we even pay for it in military readiness, with at least 9 million young adults too overweight to serve in our armed forces, according to a coalition of retired senior military leaders.  

“One Minutes” (15 per side); Suspensions (7 Bills); Postponed Suspension Votes (14 Bills).  

I congratulate Gov. Martin O’Malley on being selected to serve as the next chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He is an excellent choice, and I am confident that in this new role, he will exhibit the strong leadership that has made him extremely effective here in Maryland.

Today, the House has an opportunity to bring an end to two historic injustices. We can do so by approving the settlements in the Pigford and Cobell class-action lawsuits, helping to make amends to African American farmers and more than 300,000 Native Americans.

Millions of Americans are out of work, and many are tightening their belts; Federal employees must be no different. While I appreciate that the President reduced the length of his proposed pay freeze from three to two years, it would have produced significantly more savings had that sacrifice been shared between Federal civilian and military personnel--with a strong exception for the members of our military and civilian employees risking their lives on our behalf in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anywhere else they are serving in harm's way. It would have also added an element of fairness: there has been parity between civilian and military pay raises for 22 of the past 28 years in which raises were authorized, and hundreds of thousands of Federal civilian employees work alongside military employees in the Department of Defense and other agencies. In fact, the first American casualty in Afghanistan was a CIA agent--a federal civilian employee.