Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, on Monday, June 8, 2009, I was not present for 3 recorded votes. Please let the record show that had I been present, I would have voted the following way:

Roll No. 311--``yea,'' Roll No. 312--``yea,'' Roll No. 313--``yea.''

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 314, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have vote ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize John Brenneman, an outstanding naturalist and public servant from the 12th Congressional District of Florida. John has worked tirelessly for the Florida Cooperative Extension Service and Imperial Polk County for 30 years. His devotion to improving local water quality and educating lakefront homeowners is evident through his continuing commitment to serve the public with excellence and integrity.

John's academic achievements have shaped his career in water management. He earned both his B.S. in Agriculture and his Masters of Agricultural Management and Resource Development from the University of Florida. He is also a certified instructor for the Florida Master Naturalist Program Wetland, Coastal and Upland Modules. With this certification, he actively assists rural pond owners in becoming good stewards of their water property. He has taught them how to manage surface waters and fisheries to enhance the aesthetics of their pond, while maintaining sound water quality.

John has an obvious passion for educating the public and is responsible for developing a program to educate lakefront residents entitled, ``Living at the Lake.'' This primer has been used extensively for Florida's lakefront homeowners and by others interested in central Florida's lake resources. John also coordinates the Polk County Extension Water School. This program is designed to provide local officials with valuable information to prepare them for addressing important water issues and policies.

John has also molded young minds and shaped lives through his work as a 4-H Agent. For many years, John chaperoned trips to 4-H Congress and 4-H Camps where he taught courses, led fishing expeditions and counseled young people on character and values. His own example is what provides the best lesson for a life of service, love, and faith. I say this as one who benefited from his mentoring.

John's experience and influence reaches beyond Polk County lines. For ten years, John worked to educate businesses and residents through the natural resource education program as a multi-county agent. Additionally, John has worked with volunteers associated with the University of Florida's LAKEWATCH program which was designed to monitor water quality in local lakes. As a result of John's efforts, data was collected from local lakes on a monthly basis and entered into an extensive database used for profiling the local waterscape.

John and his wife, Terri, have been married for almost 36 years. They have one daughter, Emily, and three sons Jacob, Adam, and Joseph. When not tending to his work or bragging about his grandkids, John is a Sunday school teacher and Deacon at the First Baptist Church at the Mall.

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 257 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor a local civil servant. Ms. Peggy Collier has served as a crossing guard at Highlands City Elementary School for forty years come this May of 2009, when she will retire. Ms. Collier began her career on May 1, 1969 and has since rarely missed a day of work. No matter the weather, almost nothing prevented this local Highway 98 icon from helping usher our children into their school day.

I wish to congratulate Ms. Collier for a long, successful career and I wish her well in retirement.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for the time.

You know, in the confusion and the smoke and mirrors of what frequently passes for floor debate, the budget every year actually offers us very clear contrasts between priorities and the vision and the direction for the Nation.

America is at a historic crossroads. We have severe recession, record foreclosures, lack of credit, growing deficits, and high unemployment.

This year alone, Congress has spent $787 billion on an economic stimulus and another $480 billion on what's called an omnibus. This does not take into account the TARP spending, the Federal reserve lending programs that currently expose over $5 trillion in government capital to financial institutions and companies.

We are in the midst of an all-out economic downturn not experienced in generations, and yet, while families are cutting back from their own spending and reprioritizing their budgets, the Federal budget just keeps spending. Families and small businesses, and even local and State governments, have to make tough decisions, quite frankly decisions this Congress has been unwilling to make.

This isn't a budget. It's an invoice. It's at best a $3.5 trillion IOU deliverable to every hardworking family across the country, courtesy of Washington, DC. You earn it; we'll spend it.

The administration and the Congress had an opportunity to produce a responsible budget that would do more than throw borrowed money at old problems. Instead, we're debating a budget that proposes more spending, more taxing, more borrowing and no reforms.

If the majority's budget is supposed to represent a new era of responsibility, I'd hate to see what this Congress considers to be irresponsible. Washington continues to ask hardworking families to make tough decisions on their own, but the double-speak coming out of our Nation's capital is quite the opposite.

The Democratic budget we are reconsidering today will not end Washington's spending spree but further saddle future generations with irresponsible spending priorities of this Congress and this administration. It assumes a peak deficit using terms and numbers that are inconceivable.

I thank the gentleman.

It is important that we adopt the Republican budget that offers no new taxes, lower spending, and lower deficits, and a lesser burden on future generations, who are going to be expected to carry America into the 21st century as a strong capitalistic and free society and not the Venezuelan model that we are creeping ever closer to each day.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Resurrection Catholic Middle School in Lakeland, Florida, on winning the Polk County Middle School E-Team Academic Tournament. In addition to winning the overall award, Resurrection Catholic School won the eighth-grade competition. This victory is the first for Resurrection, after taking second place in the previous two years.

Teams of sixth, seventh and eighth graders represented their schools and tested their knowledge of economic terms, language arts, mathematics and social studies. Thirty one schools participated in the competition this year with only six schools advancing on to the final round.

Coleman Cavanah, Alanna Wehle, Andrew Noonan, Tanner Donahoo, Matthew Murphy, Keegan Rand, Zoe Holmquist, Matthew Patterson, Emily Collins, Courtney Krakowski, Justin Lucas, Gabe Tone, Gabby Dilullo, Jarrad Pazda, Andrew Goding, Jacob Murphy, Riley Perrow, and Andreana Paz were all a part of the Resurrection E-Team. These students spent countless hours after school, studying an array of subjects and taking many practice tests over a course of nine weeks. Their dedication truly exemplifies academic excellence.

I would like to recognize Principal Nancy Genzel and Coaches Maryellen Krakowski, Cindy Stanford, and Lisha Fletcher for the positive example they set and for the leadership they provide. Their diligent work properly prepared these students for the competition and led them to this amazing success.

I commend Resurrection Catholic School for leading the way in excellence and for their commitment to empowering young minds. Congratulations on your success!

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor a longstanding civil servant in the Social Security Administration (SSA). Mr. Gregory Alan Elkins was a Title XVI SSI Office Supervisor with the SSA. He worked for the SSA for over 35 years.

Mr. Elkins was hired as a Claims Representative in Lima, Ohio, in October of 1973 and continued to work there until February of 1979. Keeping the same title, he then moved to the Tampa District office. He stayed in the Tampa office until it moved it's location to Plant City, where he stayed until September of 1991.

He moved within the agency to become a Field Representative at the Lakeland office and stayed there until June of 1999. He then earned a promotion to the position of Public Affairs Specialist, the first to take that title in the state of Florida. He stayed in that position until November of 2007 when he took his current position as a Title XVI SSI Office Supervisor. Mr. Elkins is due to retire from this position in March of this year.

On a personal note, Mr. Elkins has a long history of working with the staff in my district office. His knowledge of SSA rules and regulations has been an incomparable boon in helping constituents in my district with their claims. He has spoken at many Medicare Seminars that our office has held to advise our seniors with regards to Social Security, retirement, disability, survivors' benefits, and more. I wish to congratulate Mr. Elkins for a long, successful career and I wish him well in retirement.

Madam Speaker, on Monday, March 16, 2009, and Tuesday, March 17, 2009, I was not present for 6 recorded votes. Had I been present, I would have voted the following way: Roll No. 125, yea; Roll No. 126, yea; Roll No. 127, yea; Roll No. 128, yea; Roll No. 129, yea; Roll No. 130, yea.

Madam Speaker, the state of health care in our country can be well measured by the quality of service provided by our

nation's hospitals. I applaud Winter Haven Hospital as it celebrated its designation as a nursing Magnet hospital on Tuesday, February 24, 2009.

The Magnet distinction is a great accomplishment for Winter Haven Hospital, the first institution in Polk County to achieve this honor. The American Nurses Credentialing Center established the Magnet Recognition Program to recognize excellence in patient care and nursing practice in healthcare organizations across the country.

Recognition as a Magnet organization requires that an institution meet a series of quality indicators and standards in nursing practice. Only about 5 percent of our nation's hospitals have attained this honor, which is a true testament to Winter Haven Hospital's commitment to quality healthcare.

Since its establishment in 1928, Winter Haven Hospital has proven itself time and again as a strong local hospital with a reputation of quality specialty care and exceptional patient relations. In 2003, Winter Haven Hospital received the Best Places to Work Award by Polk Works Workforce 2020. The hospital has also received high marks for its Stroke Center, including the Gold Get-With-The-Goals Stroke Award received in 2008. Winter Haven Hospital has also earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval, and consistently extends a great deal of resources to community support, including babysitting classes for young teenagers and cancer support groups.

Under the leadership of President Lance Anastasio, I am confident that Winter Haven Hospital will continue to be a leader in providing high quality healthcare to the citizens of Central Florida and continue to grow as a center of medical excellence.

Madam Speaker, the Winter Haven Area Transit (WHAT) began as a three-year pilot program funded jointly by the City of Winter Haven and the Polk County Board of County Commissioners. It is now celebrating its 10th anniversary, marked by a special time capsule ceremony on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.

WHAT served 47,553 riders in its first year and served 589,747 last year. WHAT now provides transportation to Bartow, Eagle Lake, Auburndale, Lake Alfred, Lake Wales, Haines City, Lakeland and Winter Haven. It has a fully functional state-of-the-art transit terminal serving thousands of riders each day.

The WHAT is operated under the Citrus Connection, which serves Lakeland--another city in my district. The Citrus Connection estimated that riders save $1,300 they would otherwise spend on car expenses such as gas, title payments, maintenance, insurance, or parking fees. Given the pervasive ridership, the WHAT system puts money back in the pocket of taxpayers who would otherwise use it to unnecessarily sit in traffic.

The WHAT system moves people more efficiently to places of employment, shopping districts, medical appointments, and generally improves the quality of life of local residents.

Finally, I would like to draw attention to Winter Haven resident Larry Murphy, because this system would not have been put in place without his efforts. Mr. Murphy gathered 175 signatures on a petition and continually pushed his case before the city commission for the bus service. His efforts paid off and have been enjoyed by 2,687,618 riders over the past 10 years.

Mr. Murphy's vision was to help people get where they needed to go. His advocacy is what got the Winter Haven Area Transit buses. His legacy is what keeps them moving forward.

Happy 10th Anniversary to the Winter Haven Area Transit and a great thanks to Mr. Murphy.

Madam Speaker, on Friday, March 6, 2009, I was not present for three recorded votes. Please let the record show that had I been present, I would have voted the following way: rollcall No. 107, ``nay''; rollcall No. 108, ``yea''; rollcall No. 109, ``yea''.

Madam Speaker:

Requesting Member: Representative Adam H. Putnam

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009

Account: FY09 Financial Services appropriations bill, Small Business Account

Project Funding Amount: $298,257

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Florida Department of Citrus

Address of Requesting Entity: Post Office Box 148, Lakeland, FL 33802

Description of Request: In order for small business citrus operations to remain viable in an ever competitive marketplace and lessen their reliance on manual labor, an effective mechanical harvesting technology must be developed. These small business operations are currently at competitive disadvantage, as they are one of the last sectors for which mechanization has become an effective alternative. Such technology is critical for the future economic survival of Florida's small business- run citrus operations.

For this reason, funding is sought for the benefit of citrus small business operators, directed to the Florida Department of Citrus, to continue completion of the development of a mechanical harvesting abscission compound, through the FY2009 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill.

Madam Speaker, on Thursday, March 5, 2009, I was not present for a recorded vote. Please let the record show that had I been present, I would have voted the following way:

Roll No. 106--yea.

Madam Speaker, on Monday, March 9, 2009, and Tuesday, March 10, 2009, I was not present for 6 recorded votes. Please let the record show that had I been present, I would have voted the following way: Roll No. 110--``yea''; Roll No. 111--``yea''; Roll No. 112-- ``yea''; Roll No. 113--``nay''; Roll No. 114--``yea''; and Roll No. 115--``yea''.