Hoyer: Ex-Im Vote Is an Example of Democrats and Republicans Working Together to Achieve Positive Results for the American People

Press Conference

House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined 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 this evening following House passage of a bill to reopen the Export-Import Bank. Below is a transcript of his remarks:

"We have just had a historic vote on the Floor of the House of Representatives. This is the first time since 1979 that a bill was brought to the Floor as a result of a motion to discharge the Rules Committee. Now, there have been seven motions to discharge that have gotten 218 [votes], but they have then been brought to the House Floor by the Rules Committee itself, not by the petition itself. So, this case, [it was] the first one since 1979 that had to go through the whole process. It was a historic vote, and it was regular order, as Mr. Fincher and Mr. Lucas pointed out, in that a majority of the majority voted yes. Three-hundred and thirteen Members voted "yes,' of which, 127 were Republicans and Members of the Majority party, and 117 [Republicans] voted "no.' So, by ten Members, Mr. Fincher and Mr. Lucas were representing the majority of their party. The reason they were representing the majority of their party, as was the case when [former Majority Leader] Mr. Cantor and I came together, working together with Chairwoman Waters, passed with a majority of Republicans and unanimous Democrats in 2012.

"Today, Democrats and Republicans joined together. How much we could accomplish if we would do that on a regular basis. How much better this Congress would work if we came together on a bipartisan basis. I represented to Mr. McCarthy, the Majority Leader, for well over a year and a half, as Ms. Waters did in Committee, that the majority of the Congress -- and we believed the majority of Republicans -- were for this bill, and I said that often on the Floor of the House. Notwithstanding that, the Chairman refused to bring this bill forward.

"Reopening the Export-Import Bank will help American businesses save and create jobs for American workers. That's what this bill was -- a bill about jobs for American workers. What we saw today was an example of how when the House is allowed to work its will, Democrats and Republicans can work together to make progress and achieve positive results for the American people.

"Now it is time for the Senate to take up this bill and send it to the President for his signature. And I would urge the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Senator McConnell, to take this bill up as we have passed it. This bill, as we have passed it tonight, has sixty-four votes on the Floor of the Senate. How do I know that? Because they included [it] in their highway bill. What we did was amend the Heitkamp/Kirk bill into the Fincher bill as a replacement, and that's what we passed. So, this bill has already been considered by the United States Senate, already received sixty-four votes, and given the fact that [it got] 313 votes in the House of Representatives, which is to say seventy-five percent of the House voted for this bill. Sixty-four percent of the Senate has voted for this bill. I would say to my friend, the Majority Leader Mr. McConnell, given seventy-five percent support in the House, sixty-four percent in the Senate, this bill deserves, and the American people deserve, the American economy deserves that this bill be put on the Floor and passed by the Senate forthwith. It has already been considered.

"I want to thank the folks behind me. I want to thank [Rep.] Maxine Waters, who has been a tireless fighter all of her life for important issues, both in the California Assembly and here in the Congress of the United States. She and I have served together for a long time, and one of the things that I've always been impressed with [is] that if Maxine Waters believes in something, she doesn't let it go until she wins the issue. Her leadership on this in Committee, on the Floor, on the phone with the press, [and] among the community was absolutely essential. And then [Rep.] Gwen Moore, who is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee, thank you, Gwen Moore. You never gave up. You never gave in, as [Rep.] John Lewis would say. And she kept her eye on the prize. And the prize was not that we win, it is that America wins for jobs for American workers. And then lastly, let me mention this guy behind me. Nobody -- the three of us worked very, very hard -- nobody worked harder than [Rep.] Denny Heck. I think all three of us say that. Denny Heck was focused on this like a laser. As Leader Pelosi observed this morning, [he] got 187 sponsors on this bill in less than a day. He's a little happy about this as you can tell. The fact of the matter is that Denny Heck was a bulldog focusing our Members, [Republican] Members, and the public on the importance of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank so that America can remain competitive and create jobs.

"So, I want to thank -- this was a team. The four of us were a team. We did so many press conferences on the phone and in person with all of you. All of you have heard me talk about it and the three of my colleagues behind me talk about it. This was a team effort, and it was a team much larger than the four people who stand before you. Every Democrat was on this team. [Reps.] Steve Fincher and Frank Lucas, I want to say it again, who showed courage and conviction and had the confidence that the majority of their Members were with them. I, frankly, was so happy tonight that, in fact, they were correct, and a majority of their colleagues had the courage to stand up with [Reps.] Fincher and Lucas and vote for a bill that they knew was good for America."

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