House Proceeding on Jul 31st, 2009 :: 3:07:15 to 3:12:20
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3:07:11 to 3:07:31( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: do what it was supposed to do, spur car sales in this sluggish this will keep it going, hopefully. i'd urge support for the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. lewis: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. chairman, i rise to point

3:07:15 to 3:12:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jerry Lewis

3:07:32 to 3:07:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: out the absurdity of the situation weind ourselves in today. in the majority's haste to slam legislation through the floor with almost no consideration at the committee level, with no time for consideration by the house membership in general, and with absolutely no ability for the members of this body to amend bills on the floor, we

3:07:55 to 3:08:15( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: are now seeing the effects of such short-sided martial law tactics. mr. chairman, the cash for clunkers program was passed on the suspension calendar, so no members were able to offer amendments. the senate had a exarble which will with some significant differences.

3:08:16 to 3:08:36( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: the house and senate bills should have gone to full and open conference so those differences could have been negotiated and a conference report then brought for a vote. instead the leadership of this body, without consultation or negotiation, struck the house version of cash for clunkers, they stuck it on what was

3:08:37 to 3:08:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: supposed to be a, quote, clean war supplemental, a bill only for the purpose of funding and supporting our troops and our efforts overseas and the war on terror. they had to do that because of the mess the majority created of the conferenced bill and i use that term loosely as mostf the funding levels and programs were

3:08:58 to 3:09:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: determined not in a conference but by the house leadership and by my chairman. but when it came to counting votes, the leadership and the chairman had to do some dancing and started loading up the war supplemental with extraneousnd unrelated items on -- all of

3:09:19 to 3:09:41( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: which need to get more votes. cash for clunkers was one of those items. my colleagues in the senate, senator feinstein in particular and senator coins, had some serious concerns with the house bill. senator feinstein tried to negotiate some changes to improve the program, but was rebuffed, as i understand it, by my chairman.

3:09:42 to 3:10:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: basically they were told it was his way or the highway. here we are today, not one hearing on the cash for clunkers program in the appropriations committee, not one hearing on the needs of the program prior to receiving funds, no one hearing on how the first $1

3:10:03 to 3:10:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: billion has been spent, not one hearing on how much money the program will need to get through the fiscalear. instead we find ourselves on the suspension calendar for the second time in three days. bailing out another program, shoveling another $2 billion out the door this fiscal year after

3:10:25 to 3:10:45( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: we shoveled $14 billion o door to bail out the highway programs and other related items. my colleagues are going to pat themselves on the back for finding an offset for this transfer and for that i say two things. first, you should have been finding ways to offset spending all year.

3:10:46 to 3:11:07( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: second, if there was an extra $2 billion in a stimulus program that w suitable for a different purpose, why did we spend the $2 billion in the first place? how many other billions of dollars are in the stimulus not being spent that we can return to our taxpayers? now, many of my colleagues will

3:11:08 to 3:11:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: say, this is a great program, a necessary -- and necessary for the revitallyization for the economy and the car did industry and i'm not really going to argue with those goals. those are good goals and we are looking for solutions. however we are sure this program is working like it's supposed to. i don't think so. how is it that we didn't hear of

3:11:31 to 3:11:51( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: this funding problem until last night and even then we were told there's roughly 24 hours before they were going to shut down the program? this program has only been up and running one week. if that is how the government is going to handle $1 billion programs affecting all americans, i ask, whatever will

3:11:52 to 3:12:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: we do if the administration takes control of our health care system? i quote one car dealer from new york, if they can't adnister a program like this, i'd be a little concerned about my health insurance. i would say, amen. and i reserve time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california

3:12:13 to 3:12:21( Edit History Discussion )

Jerry Lewis: reserves his time. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. obey: mr. speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the