mr. pocan: thank you, while we definitely want to make sure we are talking to the issues to this country and minimum wage is one of them. we want to highlight what happened two weeks ago and we hope this will be cured. outside officials shouldn't be allowed in the election. that election was not fair. thank you very much to the gentleman from california for your many years of service. we would like to discuss something that is very important. the democrats this week took on what sometimes is considered a very unique measure in this house, a discharge petition, because we have been fighting for over a year to try to raise the minimum wage in this country. there is a bill introduced by the gentleman from california, and senator harkin from iowa, that would raise the minimum 10.10. $ we kept up, it would be

$10.60. $7.25 andd, we are at people can't get by. you can't be in the middle class and you certainly aspire to be in the middle class. and we need to help lift that rising tide for everyone who gets that minimum wage because 16.5 million people will get a pay increase and eight million people will get an increase because they are at that margin already. these are numbers coming from the democrats and numbers coming from the congressional budget office, nonpartisan entity that provides the facts and figures. we help the economy and help those who are in the middle class and aspiring to be in the middle class and we can make this country a lot better. at this point i quo would like to yield to the state of pennsylvania, one of my freshman

colleagues, mr. cartwright from he state of pennsylvania. kyte kyte i want to say -- kite die i want to say i was -- mr. cartwright: i want to say i was impressed with the colloquy you had with mr. miller and i wish to associate myself with those comments. they were very well taken and i for one, and i know i speak on behalf of the entire congressional progressive caucus, but i for one hope that the national labor relations board revisits what happened in chattanooga, because what we believe here in america is free and fair elections and that includes labor union elections as well. we are here to talk about raising the minimum wage. and it was only appropriate that mr. miller from california was here with us this evening, because he's one of the

co-authors of h.r. 1010, the bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. a modest proposal, i should add. but let me attempt to address this house. i know that there are those who think that everything that could be said about raising the minimum wage has already been said, but allow me to address this house as if nothing had been said about raising the minimum wage in this country to $10.10. it is simply a matter of arithmetic. you know, if you just take what people were making at a minimum wage in the late 1960's in this country and put it on a cost index, a consumer price index, any kind of measure of inflation that has gone on since 1968, you see that, as my

colleague and good friend from wisconsin mentioned, it is well over $10.10 an hour. it's something like $10.60 an hour. so this is indeed a modest proposal to turn the minimum 7 to p from the mid $ $10.10 an hour. and there are good solid reasons we have in this country for doing this. my fellow members of the house, you have to remember what life is like for people who are making $7.25, $7.50, $7.75. people who are in that range are not bringing home enough money to make a living wage. they don't have enough money for the necessities of life. people who are working full time. you've heard the expression, the working poor. that's who we're talking about. these are the working poor. and think about what our society has to do for the working poor.

these are the people who have to take advantage of the supplemental nutrition assistance program, the snap benefits. they used to be call food stamps. these people don't make enough money, even though they work full time, to feed their families properly, so they resort to help from the snap program. who pays for the snap program? you might ask. all of us do. u.s. taxpayers. john q. public pays for the snap program. so it is john q. public, not the employers of these people making in the $7 per hour, not the employers paying for that, it's john q. taxpayer picking up the difference. it's the taxpayers paying for the snap benefits for the workers who, although they're working full time, their employers are not paying them enough so that they can feed their families, give them the

very basic necessities. what else? these are people that live in section eight housing, low income housing. everybody knows that. the projects. that's where they live, the people who make minimum wage right now, and try to feed and clothe and shelter their families on minimum wage in this country. so who pays the supplemental amount to keep the section eight housing program going? it's us. it's john q. public, john q. taxpayer. it's the american taxpayers picking up the difference because not enough is being paid to these workers so that they can sustain their families. but that's not all. what about head start? these are families that can't afford to send their kids to preschool. because when they're making minimum wage they can't pay the minimal fee to send your kid to preschool.

so where do they go? they go to head start. head start. a federally funded program. who pays for that? you already know the answer. you do. it's the american taxpayer, it's john q. public, paying for head start, because we've got working families that don't make enough, even to send their little kids to preschool. what's the point of all of this? the point is that these employers paying the minimum wage to these workers are paying so little that the american taxpayers have to step in and improve the lives of these people to such a basic level that they can feed them and clothe them and shelter them and give them the basic elemental education. in other words, these employers are freeloaders. they're getting a free ride off of the american public because they're paying the minimum wage, which is in the $7, and

it should be in the $10. you know, listening to this debate, the owner of a small business might say, well, wait a minute, that means i have to lay people off, because i only have so much money to pay my employees. so if you up the minimum wage o $10.10, i don't have as much money to pay each person so i have to lay somebody off. so i can pay the remaining people the $10.10 an hour. that's a fallacy. it is a completely bogus argument. and let me tell you why. because that is assumes that your business is -- that assumes that your business is a zero-sum game. it is not. to prove that we need go back a century to a great american businessman, a self-made man, henry ford, out of dearborn, michigan. what did he do? he started one of the greatest auto companies in the world. and a central tenant of his business principles was that he

going to pay his workers a living wage and he did and they asked him, mr. ford, why are you paying your workers so much? you don't have to do this. and the answer is, i want my workers to be able to afford the things that i'm building. if these people can't afford what i'm building, then i don't have a market. and that's where the magic word comes in. customers. if you pay $10.10 to your employees, it's not just your employees getting that increase in wages. it's everybody else's employees, everybody in america , instead of making in the $7's they get up to $10.10 and all of a sudden they have a few more coins jingling in their pockets and they might show up in your place of business. you're making customers out of millions and millions and

millions of americans by paying them a working wage, a living wage, a wage that will enable them to become your customers. so don't write off this argument and don't fall for this. the same old argument that has been used, trotted out time and time again for why we shouldn't raise the minimum wage. if we here in america had believed in following that argument, the minimum wage would still be $2.25 instead of what it is now. so think of the customers you will get and this is why raising the minimum wage just to what we would raise it to to account for inflation since 1968 makes sense. that i yield back with my thanks to my friend from wisconsin. mr. pocan: the gentleman from pennsylvania, would you yield to a question? mr. cartwright: certainly. mr. pocan: what you just said, talking about the buying power, putting that much money back into the economy. i look at it this way.

if you're someone who is making minimum wage and you get your wage increased to about $10.10. that extra money is not going into a savings account or something in the future. you're probably going to be buying things right now. you're going to buy a sofa maybe. the average c.e.o. now makes 354 times when the average worker makes. back in the late 1980's it was 40-1 ratio. now it's 354 times. when we put money into an average low-wage worker, that money goes immediately into the economy. they can buy a sofa. but when the gains that we've had in this country have gone largely to the top executives, the top 1%, top 1% and 2%, how many sofas can you buy at that rate and how does that affect the economy? do you have any idea how many sofas you could buy if you're a c.e.o. to try to keep up with this and help stimulate the economy? mr. cartwright: if stacked end to end, how far into space would those sofas reach is the question. it's a great point, mr. pocan, and of course you know the answer.

the answer is this. when we put that extra money in the pockets of the people who are making the minimum wage in this country, they don't put that money in their brokerage accounts. just to languish and not help others in the economy. they plug that money right back into the american economy and it turns into growth and it turns into jobs and that's what we were doing in 1968 when our economy was humming along and we were the pride of the free world. that's what we need to do again. we need to think about stimulating our economy the old-fashioned american way by paying american workers a living wage. i yield back. mr. pocan: thank you very much, again, i appreciate it. i'd also like to yield some time to another one of my colleagues, he's a freshman, but a returning freshman from the state of minnesota, my neighboring state, from the great iron ranges of minnesota, my colleague, representative rick nolan.

mr. knollenberg: i want to thank the gentleman from -- mr. nolan: i want to thank the gentleman from wisconsin and i want to associate myself with your remarks and those of the gentleman from california regarding what's happened at volkswagen. and the importance of the union movement in this country. if anyone wants to know where the economic success of the middle class in this country has come from, you just need to follow the union movement. as the union movement grew and strengthened, so did the middle class and jobs and opportunities. and as we've seen the decline in recent years, we've seen a similar decline in income and jobs and opportunities. and if anyone thinks for one moment that elections don't have consequences, they need to take a look at their history. i come from the iron range. we had a lot of mining and steel workers up there. back in 1948, if you'll alloy

-- allow me to just do a little history here, and leading up to hat, the steel workers union proposed contracts that would allow them to negotiate pensions and health care benefits and wouldn't you know, the nlrb in 1947 said, no, you can't do that. that's not ok. that's off the table. that's not a subject for negotiations. and guess what? not many people had pension benefits and health care at the time. well, it became a big issue in the 1948 election. and harry truman, as we all know, won the election. well, guess what? he had the opportunity to appoint a number of people to the nlrb. and that issue was brought before the nlrb again and guess what, this time the nlrb ruled

that, no, it is appropriate for unions to negotiate for pensions. to american for health care benefits. and that is the result of an election contest and the union movement coming together, it was the genesis of a generation that had prosperity and opportunities perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the history of this country. i've submitted, back when my generation entered into the employment market, if you were going to be a failure, you had to have a plan. there were just such an abundance of opportunities. and i'm sometimes ashamed and embarrassed that my generation doesn't want to step up and do for this generation and the next generation what was done for us. . so i commepped you for what you're doing here today and i want to associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman

from pennsylvania. we could go on, we could add more to the litany of things that are costing the rest of us, the -- to subsidize the businesses in this country. i know about business. i spent the last 32 years of my life in business. i'm a business guy. it breaks my heart to see working men and women having to go to the food shelves to get food to feed their families. so i rise here tonight to talk about the minimum wage, just briefly, and you know, we hear about all these millions of new jobs that are being created in recent years, one of my constituents said to me the other day, he said, you know, it's a darn good thing we created millions of new jobs because a guy needs two or three of them to make a living. well that is in fact what is happening. and it's small comfort to someone who is working these minimum wage jobs to know if they can put two or three of them together they can provide

for their family, make the rent payment, the mortgage payment, buy the groceriesing clothing for the kids. but -- but -- you put in two or three jobs, there's no time left for the family. a minimum wage increase is ro-family. it is pro-american. it's the foundation of what made this country the great country that it is. mr. speaker, i hear all the time in my district as i travel and stop at the cafes and the filling stations and the convenience stores about these people that are working two and three jobs, just to make ends meet. and all because our minimum wage is simply not enough to take care of our families. the lack of a decent and fair minimum wage is unfair to families, it's unfair to

children, it's unfair to the elderly, it's unfair to the hardworking mothers and fathers, men and women in this country who go to work every day. providing the goods, the services, that we need so that we can continue on the path of the great nation that we have been. mr. speaker, it's time that we raise this minimum wage. where i come from, morality and ethics dictate it. if someone is willing to go to ork every day, and every week, and every month, provide essential goods and services for the rest of us and this nation, they're entitled to a wage that will allow them to live with a modicum of comfort and dignity. that's what this is all about. so mr. speaker, let us vote on

this issue. you know, you know what the outcome will be. we will increase the minimum wage if we're given an opportunity to vote on it here in this house. i know there are plenty of republicans and democrats who will vote to do that. let's restore democracy to this institution. let's allow this matter to be brought before the house. let's have a vote on it. let's give america a pay raise, now. it's desperately needed. thank you, mr. pocan, mr. speaker, members of the house. mr. pocan: thank you, mr. nolan. i think what you're referring to is exactly what the democrats are doing this week. we are initiating a discharge petition. we need to get 218 members of this house to sign that to force a vote. the house leadership has refused to have us have a vote on giving america a pay raise. and because of that, we are taking what is generally a pretty unusual motion, in other

words to discharge, to actually get enough people to sign and say, we want to vote on this, so we can pass it. i completely agrow with you, mr. nolan if we put this on the floor, it will pass unless the republican leadership doesn't allow us to get this up here. thank you for all your efforts not only to get people to sign the discharge petition but for all the families in minnesota. thank you. mr. nolan: thank you, mr. pocan. mr. pocan: one thing we've talked about tonight is why we want to increase the men mum wage, how it's going to put money into the economy. this isn't the democrats saying this, it's the economic experts. the economic policy expert said if we raise the minimum wage we'd create 85,000 new jobs within three years and put a $22 billion boost to the economy. and that means $500 million alone to the state of wisconsin. $500 million to my state and $22

billion to the overall economy. and what's more, you'd lift 900,000 americans out of poverty, according to the congressional budget office system of we would lift people out of poverty, give people the ability to support their families, and the ability to actually have a chance at living in the middle class. right now on the minimum wage, your monthly gross salary is about $1,250. now how many of you think you could live, paying rent or your mortgage, paying for groceries, paying for your utilities, paying for gas or a bus or however it is you get by. think about the bills you have. could you live on $1,250 a month? that's what the minimum wage is right now. less than the real value in current dollars it was in 196 . it should be up to $10.74, i believe if we kept up with inflation. there's a lot of myths out

there. you'll hear people on the other side of the aisle say, this is all for teenagers, why are we going to lift the wage? the average person who receives minimum wage is 35 years old. how many percent of people in the minimum wage are teenager? 12%. again, not the democrats saying that, the congressional budget office. our nonpartisan agency that we go to for numbers says that. so if we raise this minimum wage, we will lift 900 million out of poverty, directly support 24.5 million workers, about 2/3 of those people directly with an encrease in wage at the minimum wage level and another third at the $10 level who will see a ripple effect of a boost in wages. we'll help the economy right now by putting that money into the economy and all the -- in all the ways that were talked about tonight and we know that this will not have a detrimental effect on the economy. now some will say that it's going to cost jobs. i condition tell you, my state of wisconsin, i spent $14 in the

legislature before i came to congress. every time we raise the minimum wage, there was an increase in jobs available. more people went into the work force because we were actually offering a greater wage and gave people incentive to get into the work force. there are studies that compare, state by state, county by county, where one had a minimum wage increase and one didn't and there's been no ill effect in the county that did versus didn't based on raising the minimum wage. there are 600 economists, including seven noble economists and noble -- zen nobel economists and nobel economy prize winners who agree it will have no or negligible effects in the increase of jobs but everyone agrees it will help those who are living in poverty, working minimum wage two or three jobs to get by or those who are just making above it and will see that ripple effect. there's no question, we need to give the workers of this country

a pay raise. for all too long, we haven't done it. for all too long we haven't kept up with inflation. you simply can't get by on roughly $15,000 a year that 12k4rrs,250 a month is impossible. we're not talking about teenagers, we're talking about the average person being 35 years old, heads of households, who are working one, two, maybe three part-time jobs to get by. so the progressive caucus is here tonight and we're talking not only about what happened at the union election in chattanooga but about raising the minimum wage. the democrats in this hoss have initiated a discharge petition to force a vote. let us vote, mr. speaker. let us vote on raising the minimum wage. if you let us vote, i know there are enough fair-minded republicans that will join with the democrats in this chamber and we will raise the minimum wage but only if we're allowed to. we are making every effort and the progressive caucus will continue to do this.

we were the ones who went and asked the president to raise it for people who get federal contracts and the president made that order. wie happy the president did that. but we are going to continue to push this in every way possible so that people can live comfortably in the middle class and those who aspire to can get into the middle class. mr. speaker, with that, i would like to yield back the remainder of my time and i thank you for allowing the progressive caucus to have this time this evening. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013rks the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis, for 30 minutes. mr. polis: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, we are here today as part of the new dem coalition, the new democratic coalition immigration task force, which i'm proud to co-chair along with my colleagues, representative garcia and representative castro. i'm here to discuss immigration

reform. and what the path forward is. for an issue that over 70% of the american people agree, an issue that right now threatens the security of this country, that continues to cost taxpayers money, but with the passage of a simple bill that already more than 2/3 of the senate has supported, would reduce our deficit by hundreds of billions f $s, finally secure our border, restore the rule of law within our country, and ensure that never again do we have millions of people in this country illegally. more than a year ago, the new democratic coalition helped pave the way in immigration reform with a list of detailed principles on immigration reform. it will reduce democratic back logs, reunite families, create

jobs for americans and spur competitiveness. in august we issued a letter to speaker boehner demanding he introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill and if he failed to to so, we would introdouse our own. no bill was forthcoming so new democratic co-legislation members worked with a diverse group of colleagues on both sides of the aisle to introduce the house's only bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, h.r. 15, last october. since then, we have met with countless stake holders from business owners to law enforcement to agriculture to the faith-based community. all who support moving the ball forward and support our bill, h.r. 15. businesses, tech companies, faith leaders and our voters are demanding action on fixing our broken immigration system. yet despite a level of consensus rarely seen in our country on an issue, and rarely seen in washington on an issue, the loudest, most extreme voices on

the other side of the aisle have thus far been successful in preventing this body from acting and solving a problem that the american people want solved. one of my republican colleagues even equated dreamers, young, de facto americans who grew up in this country and know no other country and want nothing more than to pay taxes and contribute to make america better, one of my republican colleagues compared dreamers with drug mules. with disparaging remarks about the size of their calves. and he continues to refuse to apologize for his hateful comments. these kinds of deplorable, intolerant remarks are dividing our country but they should not divide this chamber. they should not prevent a commonsense bill from coming forward. house republicans need to reject the offensive and unproductive rhetoric of some of their

members and finally show real leadership on immigration reform . that majorities of republican voters support. the only floor vote that we've even had this entire legislative session on immigration was a vote to defund the deferred action program, to defund the daca program, a vote to deport dreamers, to not allow dreamers to get right with the law and get a provegsal renewable working permit. sadly that amendment passed the house. we were able to stop it, it didn't happen, the program continues, we encourage president obama to extend the program, but the -- just to show the american people where congress is and what the republicans have done, the only immigration bill that they've even voted on was to deport dreamers.

the house majority can't continue to sit by and allow extremists to define their party. w the release of immigration principles by the republicans on reform was a very positive first step and we encourage the republicans to work with democrats to construct a bill based on these principles, many of which we believe are consistent with those of the new democratic coalition and consistent with h.r. 15. we're happy to look at new ideas built on the principles we can establish together and a commitment to fix our broken immigration system, but again, our patience can't last forever. if there's continued republican failure to bring a bill forward, we will have no option but to take out a discharge petition on the only bipartisan bill that exists. . if the speaker won't lead, i

leadership of this body will lead and take the agenda into our own hands and allow a vote that will pass, a bill that will then pass the senate, and be signed by the president. we're joined by a co-chair on the immigration task force, a leader in the fight to reform our immigration system, the representative from texas, mr. castro. i yield to the gentleman from texas. mr. castro: thank you, congressman polis, and thank you for your leadership on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. i'm proud to join you and congressman garcia from florida as co-chairs of the new dem coalition, advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. as you mentioned there are very compelling moral and economic reasons for the united states congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the year 2014. we know, for example, that there are a handful of american industries, four or five or six major american industries, that literally would not exist the

way they do and would not be nearly as productive as they are but for immigrant labor. both legal and undocumented immigrant labor. for example, we know that about 40% of the tech businesses that have been started in silicon valley have been started by foreign-born persons. by immigrants. we know, for example, that with respect to the agricultural industry, they self-report that 50% of their workers are undocumented. which properly means that 75% of their workers are undocumented. so, on everything from the high-tech industry to the agriculture industry, construction and other trades, we can appreciate, especially myself coming from the great state of texas, that does more trade than any other state in the nation, has the longest border with mexico of any state in the nation, we can appreciate the role that immigrants have played in our

society and continue to play in our economy. and i want to share with you, congressman, just a quick story of an immigrant i met recently back home in san antonio. because i know that over the course of this debate there has been a lot of divisiveness, some disparaging remarks that have been made about immigrants. the overwhelming majority of these folks are not people who come to america to do us any harm or to commit crimes. these are people who are fundamentally seeking a better life in the way that throughout the generations people have come here to this country. and so a few months back, right around the time of the government shutdown, i went back home to san antonio when we had -- i was home for about 36 hours, and my hair had gotten too long so i decided to get a hair cut. and it was a sunday and the place that i usually go to was closed so i drove around and i came to this strip mall and i was looking for a place that might be open. and i came across this place

called jay cuts. and i went inside and i sat wn and there was a woman who welcomed me into the chair and she started telling me her story as she was cutting my hair. she told me the story of how she arrived in the united states. and she said that she had come from latin america, i guess about 25 years ago, that she had come in a raft across the rio granled. and she had ended up marry -- grand. and -- rio granled. and she had ended up marrying -- rio grande. and she had ended up marrying an american citizen. she had worked for years and been cheated out of money by her employers. she mentioned one job that had promised her, you know, $100 or $1,000 turned into $100. and after that she worked at fantastic sams and super cuts, a few hair cutting chains and that's somehow she learned how to speak english. but the long and short of it

is, eventually this woman came to own her own hair salon, became an entrepreneur and was now employing other people and she said that her brothers, who had also immigrated, also were business owners now. promising e are very and not atypical stories of immigrants who come here and are very productive members of our society and who have a lot to contribute and it's been my hope throughout this debate that in the rhetoric that comes out of the united states congress, that we will realize and acknowledge that immigrants play such an important role in the life of our nation and that they always have. that this is a nation of immigrants, continues to be a nation of immigrants, and i would also say that there is a scarier day in america than a time when everybody wants to come here. the scarier day is a time when nobody wants to come here. and that is the day that we should truly be worried about.

i yield back to you, mr. polis. mr. polis: i thank the gentleman from texas. the strength of our nation, a nation built on immigrants, is that the best and brightest and hardest working from across the world want to move here. and the countries that have a bigger problem today are those that are losing those people. not us, the country that is -- or stands to gain some of the best, most highly motivated and talented people from across the world, just as my great-grandparents came to these shores to make our country stronger. i know that by working together we can accomplish that. you have ever seen the unprecedented degree of coalition behind immigration reform? you have ever seen agriculture and faith-based communities and the business community and labor and business together on an issue in your time in public

service or before? have you ever seen that on an issue? mr. castro: no. you raise an incredible point. i served 10 years, five terms in the texas legislature, this is my first term in congress, but consider this. you know, last year, in 2013, we had what was on record the least productive congress in american history. something like only 58 bills went to the president's desk. and so you can imagine in this place there's a lot of gridlock. the wheels essentially in 2013 came to a halt. but of all of the major issues, immigration reform is the one that had the most bipartisan support and the strongest support. and consider this for a second, i think it was sometime in the summer, the president of the united states had a press conference over at the white house and he had, standing on either side of him, the head of the u.s. chamber of commerce and the head of the afl-cio. now, think about that for a second. how often do you have the head of the u.s. chamber of commerce and the head of the afl-cio

standing next to each other agreeing on anything? but that's how deep and how profound the wide range of support is for comprehensive immigration reform. and it's not just business and labor. it's people from throughout the political spectrum, the evangelical community that, you know, quite honestly has been fairly conservative. so the religious community. the social advocates who are ordinarily on the left. it has just been a wide array of people from throughout the political spectrum who have come out in support of comprehensive reform. which really begs the question, why congress has not moved on this issue when on the other side there has been no organized opposition, there has been a clear indication that a majority of americans support comprehensive immigration reform. and so it's left a lot of americans wondering, why on earth congress can't pass

comprehensive immigration reform? mr. polis: i think most americans, like myself, are somewhat offended that we don't have the rule of law in this country. there are millions, 10 million, 12 million, we don't even know how many people that are here illegally. we don't know where they are, we don't know what they're doing. it's a security risk. it's an economic risk. are they paying taxes? there's been studies to show they pay some, they might not be paying others. we need to fix this. i've gone to town halls in the most conservative parts of my district and i say, is there anybody here who thinks immigration system is working great? i haven't met a single constituent who does. they want it fixed. they want to make sure that people are required to get right with the law and get in line behind people who did it the right way and are already in line for an eventual green card or citizenship. that's exactly what the bipartisan bill proposes. it provides a way that people can register with the law, mandatory workplace

authentication to ensure that anybody who gets a job going forward has at least a provisional status that allows them to have that job. only about -- under 10 pk%, i think it's 8 -- 10%, i think it's 8% or 9% of companies in this country use e-verify. we need to improve e-verify. we need to make sure there's money in the bill to make sure it's correct. and we immediate to make it mandatory -- and we need to make it mandatory. an get in line behind other americans -- and get line behind other americans, people who are in line for a green card. there's a lot of misper essentials about the bill. one thing that's important to talk about, this bill that's being proposed, don't confer citizenship on anybody. zero people are made citizens under this bill. that's as it should be. you don't want to reward illegal behavior. what you want to do is say, get right with the law.

pay a fine, a penalty, you violated the law. what should the penalty be? pay that fine, register, get right with the law, and you know what? if you demonstrate that you've become a productive american and you learn english and you have a job and you support your family in 13 years, 12 years, 15 years, you can stand for american citizenship. take a test. and eventually become an american citizen. but no one should be rewarded for violating the law under this bill. and no one is. what it does is it creates the line. and what's so frustrating today is people say, oh, why don't they get in line? when in reality there is no line. if you are a parent of an american child who's growing up here, there is no line for you to be gone for 20 years while your child is being raised without you. that doesn't make any sense. you have to create a way that we can do this within the

system of law that is to the benefit of the american people. prevents people who don't have documentation from undermining wages, for other americans. makes sure that they can buy their own health care so that taxpayers aren't left on the hook for health care. for people that can't even buy insurance if they want it. there's a practical -- there's practical reasons that this saves money for the average american family, this helps push up wages for the average american family, it reduces our deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. we could use that as a pay-for. we always look for ways, we could use that as a pay-for a tax cut for the middle class, we could use it as a pay for d to fund universal preschool. we could use it as pay-for to ensure that we have the military preparedness we need to meet the challenges of the 21st century. or to honor our veterans. who have served us in our recent conflicts. mr. castro: you bring up a wonderful point which is that,

you know, you've got -- we have in our nation, you know, 10 million to 15 million people, undocumented immigrants, who are essentially off the radar, that we can't account for. so a large part of this bill is bringing these people out of the shadows and making sure that we can account for their activities, making sure that they're paying taxes, that they're able to purchase health care insurance. right now, as you know, in colorado, and certainly we know in texas, when somebody shows up at a county hospital and they can't afford to pay for their services, theirmental services, all of us -- their emergency services, all of us as taxpayers end up paying those bills and that includes a lot of undocumented folks. those services of course have to be provided and everybody needs to be provided emergency services. and so this would be a way to essentially bring them under the grid, understand who they are and bring them into society's fold. those are definitive benefits of the bill that we propose. mr. polis: another sector it

would be great for is the real estate industry and homes. many immigrants who don't have their status currently are forced to rent. sometimes under the table. they would be able to finance and buy their own homes. helping to revitalize areas that have high vacancy rates and lots of foreclosures. we have areas in colorado that continue to be hit by foreclosureses. we would love to introduce new buyers to those markets and help ensure that families have good, stable homes to raise their american children in. another thing that i think a lot of americans don't realize is that in many cases, the children of these families are american nationals. so you might have in one family two americans, one person with a green card and two that don't have paperwork. so, what should the solution be? should it be to second all of them to another country? -- send all of them to another country? are you going to send an american citizen, who's never

even been to another country, back to another country because they're an 8-year-old who rely on the parent? are you going to force them into the foster care system because you're just taking the parent? this country is about family values, mr. speaker. immigration reform should unite families and celebrate what has always been the backbone of our strength as a nation, the american family. we are joined by another leader in the battle to replace our broken immigration system with one that works for our country, the gentleman from california, mr. cardenas. i yield to the gentleman. mr. cardenas: thank you to the gentleman from colorado. i want to explain a little bit about why i believe we have the greatest country on the planet. it's because people like my parents with only a first and second grade education, without much opportunity in the country they were born and raised in, started a new life here in the united states of america which

gave me and my brothers and sisters, all 11 of us, more opportunities here in america than we could have had in my parent's home country. every day i'm on these sacred -- in these sacred chambers serving the american people, i count my blessings. i personally know what comprehensive immigration reform can accomplish, not only for 11 million undocumented people who are already our neighbors and friends, but for american businesses and the u.s. economy. i mentioned about my mother and father with a first and second grade education and how their children got to go to college and we have doctors degrees, master's degrees, bachelors degrees, every single one of our household pays more in taxes today than my parents ever made in gross income in any given year. i point that out, it's because this country was founded on immigrants. and it's that immigrant spirit that today is creating more jobs

in american -- for american-born citizens. this is a country where people are given hope. this is a country where people come from other parts of the world and they kiss the ground that they've arrived on. and they love our country. they love this country. they love what they've made now their country. and they are contributors to what's great about this country, the greatest economy in the world. house republicans have a choice to make on immigration reform. are they going to do what's right for americans? or will they let anti-immigrant members of this congress who absurdly call good students right here in america, dreamers, they call them drug mules. will they let these people be the members of the juries of their party about immigration reform? that is why the chamber of commerce and more than 630 business organizations are urging us, congress, to modernize our broken immigration

system. we must create a less cumbersome path to legal immigration. improving our outdated system will encourage long-term success, comp rehence i immigration reform will attract young foreign workers who will help reduce the deficit by as much as $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years. that improves america. they will help the economy grow by nearly 5% over the next 20 years. they will jump start housing recovery, adding $60 billion every year to our american construction economy. american wages will increase and legal immigrants will add more than $100 million in tax revenue to benefit all americans. moreover, attracting the best and brightest talent abroad will cement america's competitiveness in the global economy for generations to come. we need to fix this broken immigration system, we need to

stop sending these bright ph.d.s who come to love america, who get the degrees, and then we just send them home. when they want to stay here and create a company that will employ american citizens, create wealth for american citizens right here on our soil. 40% of fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. tech giants like google, ebay, and intel were founded by first or second generation americans. these pioneering companies employ millions of americans alongside american-born citizens. immigrants have spurred significant innovations and conducted critical research, pushing the united states forward. i urge congress to tack they will bureaucratic immigration backlog, regiant families and supercharge the economy for all americans. comprehensive immigration reform

must happen and it must be done well, creating a modern system that's fair and efficient for everyone. a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would require people who came here undocumented, yes, to pay fines. yes, to learn english. and we'll secure our borders even more than they're secured today. that's the kind of comprehensive immigration bill i think every american wants to see happen. unfortunately, the leadership of this house of congress is unwilling to put that bill on the floor. that's why i'm here today, to urge commonsense action on the floor of the united states congress so we can do what's best for the economy of the united states of america and that is to pass comprehensive immigration reform. thank you very much. mr. polis: i thank the gentleman from california who has been a terrific leader in the fight to fix our broken immigration system for his heartfelt and -- for his heartfelt comments. i wanted to quote from last week, a "wall street journal" op-ed that criticized the republicans' failure to act.

it's not every day "the wall street journal" criticizes the republicans in harsh words, it's kind of one of those man bites dog stories but they didn't mince words. they wrote, republicans have killed immigration reform for now but a recent study shows in the real economy, it's needed. the irony is that many republicans who support handouts to farmers oppose reforms that wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime and would help the economy, end quote. so rather than help farmers succeed in the private sector by hiring employees they want, the republicans are seeking to keep them on the public dole, giving them taxpayer money rather than allowing them to operate in the marketplace and sell their products at the market. the nonpartisan congressional budget office found that the senate comprehensive bill, which h.r. 15 is based on, would raise wages for americans by $470 billion, create an average of 121,000 jobs for american

citizens and encrease the growth of our g.d.p. by 3.3%. polls continue to show, poll after poll, that vast majority of the american people support immigration reform, republicans, democrats, every demographic, every state, support immigration reform. congress' failure to act is becoming inexcusable. look, if the republican majority puts together a bill based on the principles they laid out, let's have a floor discussion and let's get something done. if they fail to fill the promising words of the principles with an actual bill then we will take the only bipartisan bill we have, h.r. 15 and file to discharge it. what does that mean? that's the only way the membership of the house of representatives can bring a bill to the floor without the speaker's blessing. we would love to work through the speaker. we challenge the speaker to lead. we applaud and our new dem coalition put out a statement applauding the immigration principles, saying we can find

common ground and pass a bill. but there needs to be a bill, mr. speaker. there needs to be a bill. if there's not, let's move forward with the one we have, which would pass tomorrow on the floor of the house. i am honored to yield to a leader in the fight to reform immigration, a co-chair of the new democratic coalition immigration task force, my colleague from florida, mr. garcia. mr. garcia: i thank the gentleman from colorado. there should be no question by now, immigration reform is good for america and americans want immigration reform. nearly 80% of americans agree and up to 70% of republicans support reform with a pathway to citizenship. the issue is not simpley about justice and fairness. it's about ensuring america's economic prosperity. in florida alone, legalizing all

the currently undocumented immigrants would generate $1.3 billion of new tax revenue and reate 97,000 new jobs. mr. speaker, fixing our broken immigration system will help small businesses expand, foster innovation, increase productivity, raise wages, and help create thousands of jobs. comprehensive immigration reform makes all americans better, makes our country richer, it makes opportunity for all. you know, mr. speaker, one of he great tragedies of some countries is they fail to realize what they're truly good at. if there is something that america is better than any other nation at, it is making americans. throughout the history of this great -- great nation, generation after generation, we have made new americans, better

americans, and a greater america. the statement mr. polis mentioned earlier, referring to dreamers as drug mules, was ludicrous. but doubling down on those remarks was down right appalling. you know, the gentleman from iowa not only offends dreamers, offends undocumented -- he offends all americans. ,nd in defending the statements e claims made that derogates and disturbs, and then he goes further by saying, those who attack him simpley won't engage on the facts. well, yes, the choice of words is offensive and as the son of an immigrant i am offended. but the claims are also patently false. and they shouldn't be an excuse

for not moving immigration reform. so i want to thank pli colleagues tonight and i want to thank the speaker for the time of the time has come to pass immigration refore, the opportunity is now, let us not wait, it hurts our country. hank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman want to offer a otion? mr. polis: i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the