Post by bot on Oct 9, 2015 19:02:56 GMT -5
Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference on Export-Import Bank Discharge Petition
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (CA), Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Gwen Moore (WI), and Congressman Denny Heck (WA) at a press conference today on the discharge petition to force a vote to reopen the Export-Import Bank. The discharge petition was signed by 218 Members, both Democrats and Republicans. Below is a transcript of his remarks and excerpts from the question and answer portion:
“We worked as team to get this done to support [Ranking Member] Maxine Waters, [Ranking Member] Gwen Moore, and [Rep.] Denny Heck, who has been an extraordinary champion of Export-Import Bank, as Leader Pelosi said. Tom Donohue of the Chamber of Commerce said if we didn’t do this, it would be unilateral disarmament. It would be saying to the rest of the world: you’re going to be able to compete, and we won’t. When we last worked on this in 2012, [former Majority Leader] Cantor and I, [Rep.] Waters, [Rep.] Moore, [Rep.] Denny Heck, when we last did this, we got over 300 votes.
“What today shows was when we work together, when people are allowed to express their will – we had 42 Republicans sign a discharge petition. It’s the [seventh] discharge petition… since 1930. Over eighty-five years [and] only [seven] of these have been signed and enacted. So, now, on October 26, we will be able to consider what I think is a bill to make America more competitive, as the Leader said, to be able to make it in America and sell it here and around the world.
“So, that’s what this day was about, and I congratulate all of my colleagues here. This was a success, of course, that has many mothers and many fathers. We’re very pleased today. This was a victory for America – not a victory for party – but a victory for America and a victory for American workers. So, I’m very pleased now to yield to the Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee who has worked tirelessly on this effort with Gwen Moore and Denny Heck, Maxine Waters of California.”
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“I want to reiterate what the Leader said. We have a Speaker, and the Speaker of the House has said he doesn’t want to see the government shut down and he doesn’t want to see the debt limit compromised. I would hope, expect, and believe – and I think today was an indication of that – that this Speaker wants to make sure that before he leaves, America is well served by his leadership.”
“I want to make it very clear what Ranking Member Waters just said. What this rule provides, that we just discharged, was for the bill that got [over] sixty votes on the Floor of the Senate. So, that this is not a bill that has not already passed the Senate. It has. Now, it was attached to the [highway] bill. So, it’s not the same so it won’t go directly – if we pass – it won’t go directly to the President, but it is the bill the Senate has already passed by almost a two-thirds vote. And I would certainly hope, under those circumstances, Senator McConnell will take it up, realizing that sixty-four of his Members, as we saw 218 [Members] right here [in the House] said, this is critical for jobs in America. And I would hope that Senator McConnell, under those circumstances, would facilitate bringing a bill that has already passed his [chamber] with almost two-thirds to the Floor.”
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