Washington, D.C.  – Today, U.S. Congressman John Dingell (D-MI15) issued the following opening remarks at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce markup of H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011; H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011; H.R. 3309, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2011; and H.R. 3310, the Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2011: 

“Mr. Chairman, today’s and tomorrow’s Committee proceedings are and will be an unfortunate waste of time.  We are considering bills that have not a hope of being taken up by the Senate, much less signed into law by the President.  These bills will do nothing to put Americans back to work.  They certainly will do nothing to address the real problems the Committee should be dealing with, such as affordable health care, energy independence, and sensible environmental laws that balance health concerns with the need to boost the economy.  We are instead wasting valuable time on the House Republicans’ express desire to pursue ideological agendas at the cost of real progress for the American people. 

“This isn’t to say that my Republican colleagues haven’t identified problems that need to be addressed.  For example, the Federal Communications Commission has seemingly disregarded its own statutory limits in promulgating a net neutrality order.   It has routinely flouted my requests for information about voluntary incentive auctions of spectrum.  Process reform is necessary, but my Republican colleagues go too far in H.R. 3309 and effectively cripple the Commission instead of fixing it.  Likewise, H.R. 1633 prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating what it already cannot and has said it will not, and H.R. 1173 repeals a program that the Department of Health and Human Services cannot implement at this time. In short, these are at best dilatory measures meant to distract Congress and the American people from more pressing matters.

“Congress and this Committee in particular, have a responsibility to the American people to help them to live, compete, and work in the 21st century.  I do not believe that the bills before us will help us to meet this goal.  As I discussed in a recent article that appeared in Politico, this Congress has a dismal record of passing legislation that is ultimately signed by the President.  Only 54 bills have been signed into law to date, whereas a total of 333 bills were signed into law during the 104th Congress when Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and there was a Democratic President.

“I remind our colleagues that while this session of the 112th Congress has been largely fruitless, we do have time before the end of the year to set things straight.  I urge my colleagues to roll up their sleeves and spend the rest of December working on legislation that has a future and will meaningfully improve the lives of Americans.  Thank you for your courtesy, Mr. Chairman.  I yield back the balance of my time.”

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