Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman from Texas for the opportunity to rise in support of this important amendment and to rise in support overall of the REINS Act, a critical tool in the battle against overregulation, which is destroying jobs.

The gentleman from Georgia talked about whether or not regulations actually destroy jobs. Well, from my home State of Kentucky, I can tell you we've lost 5,700 coal mining jobs in east Kentucky as a result of this administration's overzealous overregulation of our coal industry.

Small business owners from across Kentucky continually tell me that they want to create more jobs and grow their businesses. They want to help put food on the table, gas in the tank, and more money in the pockets of Kentucky families, who are hurting under this administration's war on coal. But costly and burdensome regulations coming out of unaccountable Federal agencies are raising their cost of doing business, leading to higher prices for consumers, fewer jobs for workers, and weakened American competitiveness.

While Federal regulations wreak havoc on families in Kentucky, small businesses, and our overall economy, the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats writing them are hiding behind the fact that they are not always required to fully analyze the impact their proposal will have on jobs.

If you want to know about the impact of these regulations on jobs, come to eastern Kentucky and see those lost jobs.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 358, I was unavoidably detained and unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Stated against:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the accomplishments of a Kentucky native, Aitkin Buckler, who will be the first inductee to the Bath County Agriculture Hall of Fame.

Mr. Buckler was a lifelong tobacco and beef cattle farmer in Bath County, and was an agriculture leader in the community. He served as President and Vice President of the Bath County Farm Bureau Board, as well as President of the Bath County Cattleman's Board, and was an active member of both organizations for over 20 years. Additionally, Mr. Buckler volunteered on the Bath County Soil Conservation Board for 20 years while serving as vice-chair for seven years. Mr. Buckler recently passed away, but his contributions to Bath County remain.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in expressing our condolences to Mr. Buckler's family for their loss, but also join them in the celebration of a life well lived. I would also like to extend my personal gratitude to Mr. Buckler for all that he did to better our community and our Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Royal Spring Middle School in Georgetown, Kentucky, and to congratulate them on being named one of the top performing middle grades schools in the country. Royal Springs Middle School will be recognized with 119 other high-performing schools from across the nation as a School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform at their annual conference June 27-30, 2013 in Arlington, Virginia.

Through the Schools to Watch initiative, the National Forum identifies schools across the United States that are well on their way to meeting the Forum's criteria for high performance--schools that challenge all students academically, are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence, and provide every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and support.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in commending the Royal Spring Middle School for its commitment to its students and in congratulating the school on this well-deserved recognition. I would like to extend my personal appreciation to the Royal Spring Middle School for not only improving the lives of its students, but also bettering our Commonwealth.

I thank the gentleman, and I appreciate the opportunity to address the President's Climate Action Plan that he unveiled yesterday and what this really means to my fellow Kentuckians and my fellow Americans all around this country.

As you see from the exhibit right here, this is the quote from the President's climate adviser:

A war on coal is exactly what's needed.

While Kentuckians and Americans all around this country are suffering from high unemployment--in large part due to the 5,700 coal jobs lost over the past 2 years--yesterday, the President of the United States re-declared the war on coal.

We know that 1 year ago, the President, through his New Source Performance Standards regulation, imposed an effective moratorium on coal-fired power plants coming online in the future. Yesterday, the President said that he wants to apply that moratorium to the existing coal-fired fleet.

Mr. Speaker, my fellow Americans, the President's Climate Action Plan reveals a leader of our country who is woefully out of touch with the economic realities facing the American working family. Unemployment is still at 7.6 percent across this country; 5 consecutive years of unemployment higher than 7.5 percent. Five years in a row where the workforce participation rate--where the percentage of Americans who are of working age population are actually in the workforce--is only 58 percent. Fifty-eight percent of all working-age people in this country have jobs. That's all. That's 5 percent below the historic average of 63 percent.

Twelve million Americans struggling to find work, wages falling for 5 consecutive years, three-quarters of Americans' paychecks are insufficient to get them by each and every week--they're living paycheck to paycheck. What does this President do? He declares a war, not just on coal, but the working families of America. And worse, he's doing it by making an end run around Congress. His own Democrat- controlled Congress in 2009 refused to pass his radical energy rationing scheme, cap-and-trade, through legislation. So now this President says, Well, Congress doesn't matter, and so I'm going to impose this on the American people through bureaucrats in the executive branch.

Mr. President, you are not king. The Congress of the United States is the law-making body, and the unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch cannot do this without proper statutory authorization. That's why we need the REINS Act. That's why we need to rein in burdensome regulations. That's why we need to make sure that unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in the executive branch don't seek to impose by fiat a regulatory apparatus that commands and controls the American energy future.

This is a question about American energy freedom, a top-down command and control approach versus American energy diversity. The President wants to impose energy rationing, and we say let the American people decide what their energy sources should be.

Half of all energy production in the United States in 2008 came from coal. Ninety percent of all electricity in my home State of Kentucky comes from coal. In 2012, however, only 37 percent of our electricity came from coal. This President wants to take that number down to 0 percent. So when the President's climate adviser says that he wants a war on coal, he means it.

This is what I want to conclude with. This is not just about statistics about coal jobs lost or energy freedom or the fact that we've lost nine power units, coal-fired power units, in Kentucky in the last several years. This is about human beings. This is about people who have lost their jobs. This is about the President of the United States attacking a way of life.

President Obama and his administration display a stunning lack of compassion. Not once in his remarks yesterday did we hear any recognition, any understanding of the suffering the administration's new proposals will inflict in the communities of central Appalachia, in the suffering of the communities that have already endured a disproportionate share of pain during the last few years. The President's climate action plan substitutes numbers and theories for flesh and blood. It presents climate change as a perpetual crisis justifying one regulation on top of another without any consideration of the cost to real people.

How much is enough, Mr. President? Where does it all end? By the Obama administration's own admission, U.S. carbon emissions fell to the lowest level in two decades. The President, of all people, should read this statistic and conclude it's time for some breathing room, time to let the coal industry adjust, time to let people recover. But you don't offer breathing room in a war.

In yesterday's New York Times, the White House climate adviser said a war on coal is exactly what we need. But this isn't just a war on an entire American industry; it's a war on coal miners and their families. And these coal miners, the 5,700 coal miners who have lost their jobs in eastern Kentucky over the last 4 years under this administration, they depend on those paychecks; their families depend on those paychecks. They don't have the political clout to attract this President's attention or concern, but they are Americans. What a dramatic shift from a half century ago when Presidents Kennedy and Johnson focused so much energy on alleviating poverty in the very same mountain counties the Obama administration is now ravaging with these heartless policies.

Mr. President, if you truly care about people, come to eastern Kentucky. See what happens when $70,000-per-year jobs disappear overnight because of unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. At least give us some consideration of that. Better yet, start working with the coal industry to address climate change concerns and stop trying to kill it. It's time this administration put people ahead of its radical ideology.

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 271, I was unavoidably detained with a constituent and unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment No. 43 Offered by Mr. McClintock

Mr. Chairman, we should explore the opportunity to produce industrial hemp here in the United States. This amendment would allow us to take a first step carefully and deliberately. It will allow research institutions in our States, including my home State of Kentucky, to grow industrial hemp for the purpose of agricultural research, helping provide the information we need to consider future expansion of production.

Our States deserve this opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness and viability of this crop for our farmers. Kentucky was once the Nation's leading producer of industrial hemp. I encourage and support the passage of this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of an amendment, one to ensure certainty and advance notice of any changes to crop insurance eligibility for our family farmers.

On December 18, 2012, the RMA made a decision to alter the 2013 provisions of insurance for flue-cured and burley tobacco to impose a more stringent rotation schedule on tobacco farmers. Starting this year, farms have to rotate land every 2 years to qualify for crop insurance coverage. Farmers had already made their preparations for spring planting at the time of this untimely announcement, and there was no public involvement or formal rule-making process. Many farmers had already purchased fertilizer, signed leases and made other business decisions under the impression that the land they were making preparations for would be covered under the previous requirements.

Had these farmers been made aware in advance of these changes that rendered many ineligible for crop insurance coverage, they would have had sufficient time to make alternative plans. This amendment would prevent this problem for any commodity moving forward.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment is very simple. It would not overturn any existing crop insurance requirements, but it would simply give our family farmers, including those in Kentucky, particularly Burley tobacco growers, the time they need to adjust to future changes in crop insurance requirements. It would require that any changes to current crop insurance policies be published and open for public comment at least 60 days before June 30, and at least 60 days before November 30 of the preceding year. These dates are the self-imposed deadlines the risk management agency sets each year to announce any changes to existing policies for the ensuing crop season.

I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Whayne Supply Company in Lexington, Kentucky, and to congratulate them on their 100 Year Anniversary.

Whayne Supply Company, headquartered in Louisville, was founded by Roy C. Whayne, Sr. in 1913. He was the only employee during the company's infancy, and sold items such as light engines, pumps, and bicycles. Twelve years later, he began what would become a very long- term relationship with Caterpillar, and today the company employs over 1,300 people, operating 15 facilities in 12 cities in Kentucky and Indiana.

Whayne Supply Company is well-known for its equipment sales, rental and service offerings throughout Kentucky, but is also contributes to our Commonwealth in other ways.

Whayne Supply has installed and services power stations and generators at medical centers to ensure that power is supplied to the hospital during power outages, and provides the same service to broadcasting stations so that these radio stations can continue to operate during power outages. Whayne Supply also supplies and services hybrid school buses throughout the state.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in congratulating the Whayne Supply Company on 100 years of successful business. I would also like to extend my personal appreciation to the Whayne Supply Company and all of its employees for all that they have done and continue to do for our community our the Commonwealth.

I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this Special Order this evening. This is a very important topic, and I applaud Mr. Collins and Mr. Yoho for forming the Freshman Working Group on Regulatory Reform. Regulatory reform is desperately needed in this country to get our economy back on track.

We have seen persistent high unemployment in our country for the last 5 years. We got another bad jobs report just last week: 7.6 percent is the unemployment rate. But even more alarming than our persistent high unemployment rate is the fact that we have underemployment in this country. Only 58 percent of the American people who are eligible for employment who are of working-age population are actually employed. Only 58 percent.

Yes, we have a high unemployment rate. Yes, it has been persistently over 7.5 percent for the last 5 years. But even more troubling is the fact that only 58 percent of working-age people in this country are employed. That is 5 percent below the average employment rate for working-age people prior to the recession, and that number has been static for the last 5 years. So the question we have to ask ourselves is why is this happening; why are the American people not getting back to work.

Well, one of the primary impediments to economic recovery, to job growth, and job creation is the avalanche of new rules, regulations, and red tape coming out of Washington, all of which impose huge costs on businesses and create a destructive environment of uncertainty in the private sector. And it affects virtually every sector of our economy. It affects the health care sector with ObamaCare and the reams of regulations coming out of HHS. It affects the financial services industry with Dodd-Frank and all of the rulemakings. You know, Dodd- Frank authorizes over 400 new rules and regulations. A little more than half of those have been issued. According to certain estimates, compliance with those regulations equals about 24 million hours annually in man-hours to comply with the Dodd-Frank rules and regulations. To put that in perspective, 20 million man-hours was what was required to build the Panama Canal. This is literally an avalanche of rules and regulations crushing our financial institutions and impeding access to credit for entrepreneurs and small businesses. It's affecting the energy sector

where environmental regulations are destroying jobs.

In my home State, the coal industry has been devastated by the EPA's assault on the coal industry through over-regulation of the energy sector. In most countries that conduct mining activities, about 2 years is the average length of time for a regulator to review an application for mining. In the United States today, it takes 7 years for EPA regulators just to review and approve a surface mining permit.

So this backlog and this overregulation of mining activities is resulting in massive layoffs. Mining in central Appalachia is at its lowest production level since 1965. We've lost 4,000 coal mining jobs in just the last couple of years in eastern Kentucky as a result of the EPA's overzealous overregulation of the coal industry.

Yes, it's driving utility rates higher. Yes, it is certainly bad in terms of low-cost electricity for our manufacturers and small businesses and our seniors on fixed income, but it's also costing jobs. And it's having a negative impact on all of those people whose paychecks take care of their families.

We talked about the impact on health care. I had an administrator of a local small hospital in central Kentucky tell me that it used to be that they took care of patients. Today they take care of paper.

A small banker, community banker in eastern Kentucky told me that it used to be, in the community banking business, that they would provide loans and make a business decision based on the creditworthiness of the borrower, whether it was a farmer or a small business owner or an entrepreneur. Today, this banker says that the government makes that decision for them because of the avalanche of new rules and regulations.

There's another important dimension to this in addition to impeding economic recovery, and that's our Constitution. For the last 80 years, the growth of the administrative state has been a huge detractor from the original meaning of our Constitution. It has been offensive to the separation of powers doctrine. And one need only look to article I, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which simply reads:

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a

Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a

Senate and House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, the word ``all'' should be recognized as granting the Congress exclusive legislative power. And yet, for the last 80 years, as the administrative state has grown in Washington, the Congress has delegated its lawmaking powers to unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch. And so what we need to do in Congress is we need to rehabilitate what's known as the nondelegation doctrine, the idea that Congress shouldn't delegate away its lawmaking powers to another branch of the government.

In the last several years, we've seen a dramatic growth in the regulatory burden on the private economy. The pages in the Code of Federal Regulations hit an all-time high of 174,000 pages in 2012. That's an increase of more than 21 percent during the last decade.

In 2012, the cost of Federal rules exceeded $1.8 trillion, roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Canada, which is about $1.81 trillion, and India, $1.82 trillion.

The regulatory burden cost each U.S. household approximately $14,768, meaning that red tape is now the second largest item in the typical family budget after housing.

And in 2012, 4,062 Federal regulations were at various stages of implementation. The government completed work on 1,172, an increase of 16 percent over the 1,010 that the Feds imposed in 2011, which was a 40 percent increase over the 722 in 2010.

And another measure of the regulatory burden, the pages in the Federal Register. By that measure, the Obama administration did not break the all-time record of 81,405 pages it set in 2010. But the 78,961 pages it churned out in 2012 mean that the President has posted three of the four greatest paperwork years on record.

Mr. Speaker, this avalanche of red tape is strangling American economic recovery. It is an offense to the Constitution of the United States, and it lacks all common sense. For the sake of the U.S. Constitution, for the sake of economic recovery, for the sake of common sense, and for the sake of the American people who are suffering in one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression, we need to rein in burdensome regulations.

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Bourbon Day, I rise to celebrate Kentucky's signature spirit.

Kentucky's signature bourbon industry has enjoyed significant growth domestically and abroad, creating billions of dollars in economic activity and over 9,000 jobs, including thousands in the legendary distilleries along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Unlike vodka or gin, bourbon is required by law to be stored for at least 2 years in charred white oak barrels. However, bourbon distillers are unable to deduct their expenses during that unique aging process, placing them at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace.

This week, I introduced a bipartisan Aged Distilled Spirits Competitiveness Act, which would amend the Tax Code to fix this inequality and help level the playing field for Kentucky's signature bourbon industry.

American products can successfully compete with any in the world. This House is working overtime to enact policies that will promote American competitiveness, remove barriers to

job creation, and spur this Nation's economy. I am confident that, with the right tax policy, we will produce even more growth and job creation for the people of Kentucky.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the American Cancer Society and the Relay For Life of Jessamine County, and to thank these organizations for their work in the fight against cancer.

In May 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, ultimately raising $27,000 to help the American Cancer Society fight the nation's biggest health concern-- cancer. A year later, 340 supporters joined the overnight event. Since those first steps, the Relay For Life movement has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, raising more than $4 billion to fight cancer.

The Relay For Life of Jessamine County, Kentucky was formed in 1997, and over the last 16 years has raised over $800,000 toward the fight against cancer.

These organizations work to create a world where cancer will no longer threaten our loved ones like Abrielle, a three year old who was diagnosed in October of 2012 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She is currently being treated at the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with Abrielle and her parents, Matt and Lacy, during this difficult time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in expressing our support for Abrielle and her family, and in commending the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life for their contributions to the fight against cancer. I would also like to extend my personal appreciation to the Relay For Life of Jessamine County for all that they have done to better our community and our Commonwealth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Kentucky native John C. Toy, a true American patriot.

John C. Toy was born on August 14, 1918, in Montgomery County, Kentucky to Ella Lee and Edward Joseph Toy. Mr. Toy joined the Army in June, 1941, and was stationed at Schofield, Honolulu, Hawaii, in the anti-aircraft division. While there, he survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He served in the Army until 1945 when he was Honorably Discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Since his military service to this country, Mr. Toy has remained active in his community by teaching Sunday school at the First Church of God in Mt. Sterling, serving on the Board at Mt. Sterling Swimming Pool and Park, as a Member and Past Commander American Legion Post 22, and as current President of the Kentucky Pearl Harbor Association.

Mr. Toy is married to Gerturde Fletcher of Bourbon County, and has been blessed with two daughters, Pam Ishmael and Sandy McDonald, as well as three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

As a U.S. Congressman, I am forever grateful for John C. Toy's service to our country. Because of his bravery and that of his fellow men and women in uniform, our American freedoms are protected for future generations. Truly, he is a hero to us all.

Mr. Speaker, the IRS has broken faith with the American people. The agency responsible for administering our Tax Code has admitted targeting Americans for their political beliefs.

American families across the country are disappointed and fearful. They are disappointed that the administration that promised hope and change has used its enforcement power as a political weapon. They are fearful of a government that has expanded under President Obama at an alarming rate. They are disappointed that our President has not taken responsibility for his administration's shameful behavior. They are fearful of corruption that is the logical result of a rapidly expanding bureaucracy and an administration that confuses playing politics with leadership.

Hardworking families deserve better. Federal agencies have a responsibility to be above politics, and we have a responsibility to hardworking American families to hold accountable those who politicize decision-making and those who are untruthful about those decisions.

Mr. Speaker, spring is upon us, a season that is important to several of Kentucky's signature industries. Not only does spring signify horse racing and the Kentucky Derby, but it also marks the beginning of the adventure and outdoor tourism season as well.

Tourism is an $11.7 billion signature industry in my State, employing over 166,000 Kentuckians and accounting for 1 in 10 jobs across the Commonwealth. A major part of Kentucky tourism stems from one of America's favorite pastimes--fishing.

In my district, the Kentucky River is enjoyed by many, many, as it stretches from the Daniel Boone National Forest and meanders through horse farms in the central Bluegrass, specifically in Woodford and Franklin Counties.

Fishermen especially enjoy fishing in the Kentucky River's tailwaters surrounding locks and dams, areas notorious for having an abundance of fish. Unfortunately, the Army Corps of Engineers has decided to prohibit tailwater fishing in a sister river just south of my district, the Cumberland River, where many of my constituents travel to engage in their favorite pastime.

This is yet another example of government overreach, where this time the government is telling us how to fish in water systems that have been safely utilized for generations. We must not allow the Corps to set a precedent for regulating how Kentuckians and Americans alike spend their time outdoors.

As our fragile economy continues to recover, my constituents tell me that they plan on sticking closer to home to recreate this spring and summer. Overregulation of fishing is a deterrent to family time and harms our local businesses that depend on the revenue from seasonal recreation and tourism.

I ask my colleagues to join me in support of the Freedom to Fish Act, which places a 2-year moratorium on the Corps' plan to restrict access to tailwaters in the Cumberland River.

This will allow us time to implement a permanent plan to halt Army Corps from setting a precedent of restricting access to any tailwaters going forward.

I'm an original cosponsor of this legislation--and I applaud the leadership of Mr. Whitfield, my colleague from Kentucky--and that does exactly this: protect fishermen in rural economies and Americans' right to choose how they recreate.

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to address a mounting health crisis and on behalf of nearly 26 million Americans and 532,000 Kentuckians who suffer from diabetes.

This disease kills more Americans each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined and costs our Nation more than $200 billion in health care expenses each year. Tragically, every 17 seconds, someone is diagnosed with diabetes, and current estimates project that, by 2050, as many as one in three Americans will suffer from diabetes.

We cannot sit idly by and accept the likelihood of this bleak future. Diabetes can be devastating, but it can be managed. Like most chronic diseases, diabetes can be attributed to poor behaviors, such as lack of physical activity, poor nutritional choices and other risky behaviors. By not only changing our behaviors but by improving access to education, proper diabetes care and continued funding for research to find a cure, we can truly make a positive, sustained change in the quality of life for millions of Americans.