Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an outstanding young student, researcher, and scientist, Julia Ransohoff. A senior at Menlo-Atherton High School in my Congressional District, Julia was recently named an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist. She is one of only 40 finalists given this prestigious award out of over 1,600 students who entered the competition.

Julia was recently recognized by the Society for Science and the Public for her groundbreaking research entitled ``The Gender Divide: Does Donor Gender Matter for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation?'' She completed this project as a student investigator at the Robbins Laboratory of Cardiothoracic Transplantation at the Stanford School of Medicine.

While working at the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research (SIMR) Program, Julia received the Jessica Lynn Saal Fellowship, which is awarded for exemplary performance and achievement in the summer program.

Not only is this young woman an accomplished scientist and researcher, she is a philanthropist and community activist. Julia is a leader in promoting peer health education. Along with her sister, Katie Ransohoff, Julia created an online peer education program for teens to prevent bullying and promote healthy relationships. She also works to encourage teen literacy through the global reading and writing initiative, Teenlit. Julia is a founder of the ``Running for a Reason Club'' at her high school, which raises money for end of life care for children.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring an extraordinary young American who represents the spirit of innovation and ingenuity that has guided our country for so many generations.

I thank the distinguished chairman.

Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago a Presidential candidate, John Kennedy, said the following: The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ``crisis.'' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other stands for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognize the opportunity.

That is what we are doing today. We recognize the full danger that faces America, the greatest danger since the great depression. But we also recognize the opportunity for the people of our great Nation that we love so much, and what we are doing is building for the future: Health care for the unemployed, extension of unemployment benefits for those that find themselves unemployed. The building blocks not only for today, but the opportunities for tomorrow by making investments in technology, broadband, the sciences.

I urge all of my colleagues to consider this opportunity for America.

Mr. Speaker, America has been shaken to its core by an economic disruption unlike anything we've seen since the Great Depression. For too many Americans it seems that nothing is certain or secure--not our jobs, not our homes, not the very businesses our economy stands upon.

Today the American people and people around the world can take heart that our Nation is acting to reverse course and begin the difficult work of rebuilding our economy, our infrastructure, and our confidence in our country's future.

This legislation responds to the pressing needs of today, creating and saving 3.5 million jobs by rebuilding America through new investments in roads, bridges, mass transit, energy efficient buildings, flood control, clean water projects, school construction, and other infrastructure projects. 95 percent of American workers will receive an immediate tax cut to ease the impact of the harsh economic conditions and jumpstart consumer spending on goods and services.

Just as importantly, this final bill makes critical investments in science, technology and innovation which will ensure that our recovery is strong and that the United States continues its leadership in the competitive global economy.

To secure America's technology leadership in the 21st Century we are renewing America's investments in basic science and research, providing $15 billion for scientific research, including $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, $1.6 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health.

To achieve energy independence, we have invested $30 billion in energy programs such as a new, smart power grid, advanced battery technology, and energy efficiency measures, plus another $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

To provide all Americans an `on-ramp' to the Information Superhighway, we are investing $7 billion for extending broadband services to underserved communities across the country.

Fifty years ago John Kennedy said ``the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word `crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.''

This economic recovery package is a bill filled with hope and belief--hope that the danger of the current crisis will be averted, new jobs will be created, and old jobs will be restored so that people will once again enjoy the dignity of a day's work, and a belief that we recognize this opportunity to reinvigorate the great innovative spirit of our country that we love so much.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Richard Sklar . . . Ambassador, engineer, business leader, innovator, dispute mediator, professor, negotiator's negotiator, civic leader and public servant, winemaker, NFL fan, loyal friend to so many and most importantly, exceedingly proud husband, father and grandfather.

Dick Sklar passed away of pancreatic cancer at the age of 74 on January 20, 2009, at his home in San Francisco after watching with great satisfaction President Obama's Inauguration with his beloved wife Barbara by his side. Touchingly, his hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle noted, ``his death came the day after he received the highest noncitizen medal of honor from the Republic of Montenegro, for his role in helping the new country achieve independence.''

Dick is survived by his wife Barbara, his daughters Pamela Ball of San Francisco, Karen Wong King of Santa Rosa, sons Mark Sklar of Phoenix and Eric Sklar of St. Helena, eight beautiful grandchildren, son-in-law John Ball and daughters-in-law Erica and Marilyn Sklar. Dick was born on November 18, 1943 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father was an engineer and his family moved often while he was a young man. He was a graduate of Cornell University earning both a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Engineering.

After serving in the United States Army, Dick founded and sold his first business, Allied Steel and Tractor Corporation, a Cleveland Ohio based manufacturing company. Cleveland is where he met the love of his life Barbara who is recognized in her own right as a brilliant artist and a civic leader.

Dick Sklar was a friend and a mentor to many in public service, from Mayors to Governors to Members of Congress to Presidents. In 1976, Mayor Moscone recruited him to San Francisco to oversee the $1.5 billion sewer and wastewater treatment plant program and the Yerba Buena Center known as the Moscone Center. At the time Dick began his service to the City, it was under a building ban for non-performance. Senator Feinstein (then Mayor of San Francisco) appointed him to head the Public Utilities Commission. He was exceptionally successful in these projects and became known world wide as a leader who was pragmatic and fair, and who set aside bureaucratic nonsense, challenging those around him to think practically and strive for excellence and innovation in everything they did. Dick's projects consistently came in under budget and ahead of schedule.

From 1983 to 1996, Dick served as President of O'Brien Kreitzberg and Associates (OKA). He developed the first integrated program management system now used industry-wide to track spending, measure progress and improve accountability on public construction projects. During his tenure with OKA, the company built ten airports, light rail lines in major cities in the U.S. and facilities for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

In 1996, President Clinton wisely turned to Dick Sklar for help and appointed him first as Special Representative to the President in Bosnia after the Dayton Peace Accords. He then appointed him an Ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 1999 and lastly as Special Representative of the President for the Southeast Europe Initiative from 1999 to 2001. Dick led the postwar economic recovery effort in the Balkans in coordination with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the European Union, focusing on industries critical to establishing a market economy to encourage investment.

After five years in Europe, Dick and Barbara came home to the Bay Area in 2001 and this time it was the Governor of California, Gray Davis, who needed his expertise to help with California's energy crisis. Dick expedited construction of new power-generating facilities and helped keep the lights on for California. In recent years he consulted with transportation, engineering and construction firms in California and served as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Montenegro.

Dick Sklar was also known for his love of fine foods. He knew the menus of great restaurants around the world and could turn out great culinary delights out of his own kitchen. Scores of friends dined at his table in San Francisco, at his beloved home in the vineyard in Rutherford and at tables of restaurants around the world.

Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in honoring the extraordinary life and accomplishments of Richard Sklar and extend our sympathy to the family he loved so much. His decades of contributions to his community and his country stand as lasting legacies of a life lived well. How privileged I am to have known this magnificent man and to have had him as one of my dearest friends. He made our world better by contributing to it in unique ways with an unmatched passion for justice, integrity and decency. Those of us who knew him and loved him will miss him deeply all the days of our lives, and his life instructs each of us on what it means to be a true patriot.

Madam Speaker, I think today is really a great day in America because the legislation that is before us is one of the most important bills that we will pass in the 111th Congress, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, or SCHIP.

As we know, the same legislation was vetoed not once, but twice by President Bush, forcing the Congress to pass short-term extensions and no improvements to the program. But, today, a promise is being kept to America's children. They will be insured with health insurance. And the total will be 11 million. We are adding 4 million children to be covered. I think that that is a victory.

The legislation invests more than $32 billion over 5 years, and it is fully paid for. So it is good fiscal policy, it is good health policy, and is good social policy.

Forty years ago today, I gave birth to my daughter, Karen. Today, more children are being born, and the little ones can look forward to what the Congress is providing. Bravo, bravo, bravo.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Madam Speaker, I served on the Energy and Commerce Committee for 14 years, and much of that time in the Telecommunications Subcommittee was spent dedicated to digital transition. So I have been around this issue for a while.

After all of the oversight, after all of the work, after all of the hearings, it's become unfortunately clear that we're unprepared to transition on February 17. Many consumers never received their coupons because the coupons were lost in the mail and they were prevented from reapplying.

Other consumers' coupons expired because they could not find converter boxes before they expired, and we know that problems in the education program for the DTV transition probably left many families uncertain about what to do with their coupons.

And coupons were mailed third class. Now, I don't know what genius came up with that in the department, but it was really, totally mishandled and bungled.

Seven and a half million households are prepared for the transition, and there are over 2.7 million coupons representing more than 1.5 million households on a waiting list right now today.

Every Member should have received a letter detailing how many of their constituents are on the list. I have 2,346 of them without coverage. The Department of Commerce now estimates that the demand for converter boxes may exceed the supply of boxes by over 2 million units. And it's estimated that it will take 6 to 8 weeks after new boxes are ordered before they will appear on store shelves.

So we are not ready for this transition. We can fix these problems. We can minimize the catastrophe if we pass today's legislation. There are dollars in the recovery legislation that will cover what needs to be done, and pay for that. So the resources are there. They will not only do better consumer education, including call centers, and fix many of the problems.

If you vote for this, it's a vote not to go dark for your constituents. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, the legislation before us today is the first step in an effort to pull our country out of an historic economic crisis. Credit markets are frozen, consumer purchasing power is in decline, and in the last four months we've lost nearly 2 million jobs, with another 3 to 5 million likely disappearing in the coming months.

At a 1959 campaign rally in Indianapolis John Kennedy said ``the Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word `crisis'. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognize the opportunity.''

The opportunity we have today is to make a down payment on research and innovation in our nation. We recognized this need in the Speaker's Innovation Agenda and President Obama's inaugural address noted the inventiveness of the American people and issued a call to ``dust ourselves off and begin the work to remake our country.'' A successful economic recovery plan must tap into the spirit of innovation that has driven our country since its founding.

This legislation does more than create jobs and stimulate the economy. It invests $6 billion in broadband grants to elevate us from 16th in the world in broadband quality, behind countries like Slovenia, Latvia, and Denmark. The country that invented the Internet should be #1. While I'm pleased that broadband funding is included in this package, we must do more and it must be more forward thinking.

The Recovery and Reinvestment bill invests $20 billion in Health Information Technology (HIT) to enhance patient safety, reduce medical errors, improve the quality of care, and importantly, reduce healthcare costs.

We live in the Information Age but healthcare, one of the most information-intensive segments of our economy, remains mired in a pen- and-paper past. We can buy airline tickets from a home computer, we can pay our income taxes online, and we can even buy a car with a few mouse clicks, but our healthcare system remains dangerously disconnected. Patient medical histories are largely disaggregated among various treating physicians and they are often inaccessible to a new doctor or even to the patients themselves.

These inefficiencies in the healthcare information system create unnecessary risks and costs. It's time to use technology to move toward a model of integrated care, focusing on overall health and not simply disease. Health IT promises to revolutionize the health care delivery system and have a powerful effect on enhancing patient safety, reducing medical errors, improving the quality of care, and reducing healthcare costs.

The recovery package also includes important building blocks for our path toward energy independence. I'm pleased the bill makes critical and sensible investments in our country by increasing funding and implementation of Smart Grid projects, promoting renewable energy research, and expanding the number of eligible participants in the Weatherization Assistance Program.

While millions of Americans are losing their jobs, and subsequently their health insurance, we are also helping people maintain coverage for themselves and their families. Subsidies for COBRA payments and increased Medicaid assistance to states will help keep people insured during this tumultuous time.

I'm proud to support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, today I am proud to introduce the Security Clearance Oversight and Accountability Act. This Act is the result of the work the Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I'm pleased, Mr. Issa, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee during the 110th Congress, has again joined me as a co-sponsor of this legislation. I hope we will move this legislation quickly, given the strong bipartisan support that it enjoys. It will improve our insight into the security clearance process, and by doing so, improve the process itself.

Security clearances are the gateway to serving our Nation in national security, homeland security, and many foreign policy positions. Over time, the number of Federal employees and contractors holding clearances has stretched into the hundreds of thousands, clogging the clearance system and creating tremendous backlogs. Following the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, our country faced an urgent need to expand its national security workforce, but hiring was hampered, and continues to be hampered, by our clearance system. It is imperative, especially as we transition to a new Administration, that security clearances not be a hindrance to our national security.

In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, IRTPA, which contained many provisions to improve the security clearance process. During the last Congress, our Subcommittee undertook a thorough review of the process and the progress toward meeting the goals of the Act. We had round-table meetings with representatives of industry and representatives of the Intelligence Community agencies. We carefully reviewed all reports submitted in response to the Intelligence Reform Act as well as GAO reports on security clearance reform in the Department of Defense. We held a series of open hearings with Administration witnesses and GAO to discuss accomplishments and areas where progress was lacking and we intend to continue that oversight in the 111th Congress. This bill will assist us in that task while improving the quality of our security clearances.

In addition to our own oversight, we requested that the GAO review the security clearance processes inside the Intelligence Community and report its findings. GAO brings decades of experience and deep expertise to this task. For more than 20 years its experts have examined the personnel security practices in the Department of Defense. This is the first time that Intelligence Community security practices will be subjected to such scrutiny. We look forward to Intelligence Community's cooperation with the GAO and to reviewing the results of GAO's work.

This bill is designed to remedy the shortcomings we identified last Congress. It takes a new approach to reform by requiring agencies to report to Congress annually on certain metrics related to the security clearance process. The metrics in this bill would enable Congress and HPSCI to perform effective oversight, would allow both branches to track improvements from year to year, and would allow agencies to judge the effectiveness of each other's security clearance process, improving confidence in the system. In a few areas where adequate metrics have not been developed, the Administration is required to propose metrics to Congress.

Just a few weeks ago, the Administration's Joint Security and Security Reform Team issued its proposal for security clearance process transformation. Their vision of a transformed process includes consolidated databases, interactive electronic applications, investigative techniques tailored to individual cases, automated investigation tools, automated clearance adjudication, and a more aggressive reinvestigation schedule for individual holding security clearances. Many of these reforms were required by the IRTPA and I am pleased to see their long-delayed implementation.

The security clearance process is a key to our national security establishment and we must make sure that it works as efficiently as possible. An effective security clearance system keeps out those who pose a security risk, while quickly identifying those who are trustworthy to work in the system. For too long it has been a troubled system. This legislation will allow us to confirm the necessary progress we must make in this critical area.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of our subcommittee, Mr. Pallone, also Mr. Dingell, Mr. Waxman, and everyone that's been involved in shaping this legislation.

Senator Hubert Humphrey was very fond of saying that a society is measured on how it treats those in the autumn of their lives and how it treats those in the spring of their lives.

Today we rise to honor the young in our country with legislation that will provide for them what is one of the great necessities of life, and that is health care. We will not have healthy adults in our country unless we have healthy children.

Today we put down a magnificent down payment to ensure health care for 11 million children in our country. This is a smartly drafted bill. Why? Because it is responsible, because it is paid for.

Over 90 percent of the providers are private sector. So I think today is not only a profound moment in the Congress, but a sacred one. I look forward

to its passage and what it will do to strengthen our country and strengthening our country's children.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Frank.

When Congress originally drafted the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, I worked with the chairman to ensure that local governments would be covered under the Troubled Assets Relief Program. And the reason that we needed to do this was that there were so many that had invested in very conservative instruments in Lehman Brothers.

In my congressional district alone, in San Mateo County, they lost, or have lost $150 million in Lehman Brothers securities, and they're not alone. At least 19 California cities and counties, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as hundreds of other local governments across the country have incurred losses like this.

The losses have resulted in teachers being laid off, the termination of ongoing construction projects, and the reduction of so many of the critical services that our constituents rely on every day.

My intention today is to confirm authority granted to the Treasury Secretary in the Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008 and the urgency for the future Secretary of the Treasury to use it effectively.

So to the chairman, does the Treasury Secretary have the authority,

under TARP, to purchase troubled assets by local governments?

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 11, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I salute the extraordinary work of Chairman Miller and Congresswoman DeLauro to bring these important bills to the floor today.

Lilly Ledbetter worked for nearly 20 years at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber facility in Alabama. After 20 years, she received an anonymous note alerting her to pay discrimination against her. She learned that she was the lowest-paid supervisor at the plant, despite having more experience than many of her male counterparts. For 20 years she worked hard and played by the rules only to be paid less and treated unfairly. She then sued Goodyear for pay discrimination. A jury of her peers found that her employer had unlawfully discriminated against her on the basis of sex and awarded her back pay. Her case was appealed and

reached the Supreme Court which held that Ledbetter had waited too long to sue for pay discrimination, despite the fact that she filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as soon as she received the anonymous note. The Supreme Court said that under Federal fair pay laws a person must file a discrimination claim within 180 days of the first violation.

Today our opponents will say that this bill is a trial lawyer's dream and that it will bring unnecessary litigation. This is simply not true. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restores the law as it was prior to the Supreme Court's decision. Prior law was fair and worked. Before the Court's ruling, the law was clear--every discriminatory paycheck was a new violation of the law that restarted the clock for filing a claim. Under the Supreme Court's ruling, the Ledbetter decision allows employers to escape responsibility by keeping their discrimination hidden and running out the clock.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act clarifies that each new paycheck resulting from a discriminatory pay decision constitutes a new violation of employment nondiscrimination law. As long as a worker files a charge within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, the charge would be considered timely.

This is what the law was and what it should be going forward. I'm very proud to support this bill and I urge a ``yes'' vote on the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 12, the Paycheck Fairness Act. I salute the extraordinary work of Chairman Miller and Congresswoman DeLauro to bring these important bills to the floor today.

Today we are considering the Paycheck Fairness Act to protect people like Lilly Ledbetter from pay discrimination.

Under current law, if an employer can name any factor that has determined an employee's pay other than gender, they can justify unequal pay and discriminate against female employees. The employer's reason does not have to be related to the job in question. Under H.R. 12 employers will have to give a satisfactory explanation for paying a man more than a woman for the same job and they will have to demonstrate that the disparity is not sex-based, but job-related.

Employers will also now be barred from punishing employees who discuss or disclose salary information to their co-workers.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will also put gender-based discrimination on the same level as other forms of wage discrimination by giving women the opportunity to sue for compensatory and punitive damages. Under current law women who have been discriminated against may only recover back pay, or in some cases double back pay.

The wage gap between men and women has narrowed since the passage of the landmark Equal Pay Act in 1963, but according to the U.S. Census Bureau, women still only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. It's time to close the gap and pass this law.

H.R. 12 is a necessary tool to ensure that civil rights for all Americans are honored in the workplace. For our country and our economy to recover we will rely on every hardworking American and we cannot tolerate discrimination against anyone.

I'm very proud to support this bill and I urge a ``yes'' vote on the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a bridge loan for the American automotive industry.

Last month the heads of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler came to Congress seeking a $25 billion emergency bridge loan. They each flew to Washington on corporate jets without a credible restructuring plan for long-term viability and profitability. The message they got from Congress was, ``no plan, no money.''

Last week the CEOs returned to Washington with detailed plans to create new, lean, profitable, and competitive companies. Their plans include manufacturing more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers, concessions from the United Auto Workers, more streamlined companies with less brands and retail outlets, reductions in manufacturing and structural costs, as well as many other necessary elements to make the companies viable again.

Through bipartisan negotiations with the White House, the Congressional leadership has produced legislation that offers the ailing automakers a $15 billion bridge loan if they agree to strict oversight of their finances and business practices.

Many people have suggested that bankruptcy is a better option for the automakers. A recent study by an automotive research firm found that 80 percent of car buyers would switch brands if the vehicle they want comes from an automaker that has filed for bankruptcy. If the companies are forced into bankruptcy it would ultimately lead to liquidation which would lead to even more turmoil in our economy. Manufacturing facilities would close immediately. Hourly and salaried employees would lose their jobs and the small businesses that provide parts and services to the automotive industry would lose billions of dollars if the ``Detroit 3'' went into liquidation. These devastating losses would be felt nationwide and our economy can't afford it.

The ``Detroit 3'' automakers have made numerous bad decisions in the past and no one has been more critical of them than I have, but allowing them to fail would cause a chain of events felt well beyond Detroit. Job losses would occur in every sector, from the engineers needed to design the cars, to the car dealership employees that make their living selling them. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. could lose up to 3.3 million jobs if one or more of the automakers fail. The same study found that California alone could lose up to 305,900 jobs. A shutdown of the auto industry would have a catastrophic effect on an economy that is already in historic distress. That's why prudent steps must be taken to prevent this from happening.

H.R. 7321, the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act will give the participating automakers a $15 billion, 7-year bridge loan at a 5 percent interest rate for the first 5 years and a 9 percent interest rate thereafter. The funding for these loans will come from $25 billion that Congress already approved in Section 136 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The bill incorporates strong protections and numerous oversight provisions to protect the American taxpayer. It includes the creation of a ``Car Czar,'' a person to be appointed by the President in order to oversee the loan program. This oversight official would also have the power to negotiate with creditors, unions and other stakeholders in the restructuring process.

The car companies are barred from paying bonuses to their executives and barred from paying dividends to shareholders while the loans are outstanding. The bill also gives the government an equity stake in the companies so that taxpayers will benefit when the companies return to profit. It also mandates that the automakers submit to an audit by the Government Accountability Office and the Inspector General for the Treasury's financial bailout program.

I voted ``yes'' today because I believe that the stakes are too high for the economy to not do anything. Without the bridge loan to the American automakers we will put the jobs of millions of Americans at risk and impose further strife on our economy. Their failure would reverberate far beyond the manufacturing sector and a bridge loan to keep these companies viable while they restructure is necessary to protect the economy in this financial crisis.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment, Torture and Cruelty which is supported by a number of organizations and individuals, including the Council of Churches of Santa Clara County, California, in my Congressional District. I believe these principles will protect our country and the U.S. servicemen abroad by banning the use of cruel and inhumane interrogation methods.

I fully support the core goals of this Declaration of Principles which include implementing a national standard for all U.S. personnel and agencies for the interrogation and treatment of prisoners and banning the use of any methods of interrogation that we would not find acceptable if used against Americans. Many of these issues were addressed in a bill I introduced this year to ban waterboarding as an interrogation technique.

Waterboarding is torture and is recognized as such by the Geneva Convention. Its continued use by representatives of our nation contradicts what so many of our soldiers are fighting for overseas. The United States of America has long accepted that water torture is beneath the standards of a civil nation. In 1947, the United States prosecuted a Japanese military officer for carrying out a form of water torture on a U.S. civilian during the Second World War, securing a conviction and a sentence of 15 years of hard labor. The military has frequently prosecuted American military personnel for subjecting prisoners to water torture, including sentencing a U.S. Army major to 10 years of hard labor for subjecting an insurgent to water torture in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.

Our nation was able to win two world wars and defeat a rising tide of communism with this prohibition in place. I'm confident we can defeat our current enemies without undermining our moral dignity.

As we move forward with a new Congress and a new Administration, we have the opportunity to change course and restore the rule of law. The Bush Administration has relied heavily on illegal and inhumane interrogation techniques, and by doing so has damaged our country's reputation in the process. We can restore the moral standards that guided us successfully for so many generations and the Declaration of Principles provides a framework for the United States to do just that. Congress and the Obama Administration must work to ensure that torture has no place in the battle against terrorism.

Madam Speaker, today I'm proud to introduce the Security Clearance Oversight and Accountability Act and I'm pleased that the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Mr. Issa, has joined me as a co-sponsor of this legislation. We have spent this Congress conducting oversight of the security clearance process.

Security clearances are determinations that a person is trusted to have access to our nation's secrets. They are the gateway to serving our nation in national security, homeland security, and many foreign policy positions. In recent decades, the number of federal government employees and contractors requiring clearances expanded. This was especially true after the tragic attacks on September 11, 2001. We also realized the importance of sharing information and promoting collaboration across government agencies.

Sadly, our security clearance system was still cumbersome and outdated. We were using a cold-war system in the Internet age, where the process was primarily paper-based, and relied on investigators going door-to-door to talk to neighbors. It did not take advantage of the vast stores of data collected on people on line to verify their trustworthiness and it did not use electronic tools to speed the process.

In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which

contained many provisions to improve the security clearance process. The law called for uniform policies and unity of responsibility for security clearances across the Federal Government. It required that security clearances issued by one agency be accepted by all agencies. To make that possible, it called for an integrated data base and for the evaluation of available information technologies. Finally, it set forth specific targets for the length of time that security clearance processes should take, and required annual progress reports.

During this Congress, our subcommittee has undertaken a thorough review of the process. We had round-table meetings with representatives of industry and with representatives of the Intelligence Community agencies. We carefully reviewed all reports submitted in response to the Intelligence Reform Act as well as GAO reports on security clearance reform in the Department of Defense. We held a series of open hearings with Administration witnesses and GAO to discuss accomplishments and areas where progress was lacking.

We found that though the Act has resulted in significant improvements in the clearance timelines, significant work remains to be done. The law requires full reciprocity of clearance investigations and adjudications, but provides no tools for measuring the implementation and success of such measures. The clearance data as it is reported to Congress does not provide adequate insight into the improvements that have been made. Aggregated data covers up poor performance by averaging it with excellent performance.

We provided the results of our oversight in an ICM Subcommittee Report which will be filed with the House. I'm pleased that all members of the Subcommittee were supportive of the Report, and it was reported out of committee on a unanimous voice vote.

This provision is designed to remedy the shortcomings we discovered in our report. It takes a new approach to reform, by requiring agencies to report to Congress annually on certain key metrics related to the security clearance process. These metrics would enable Congress and HPSCI to perform effective oversight over the security clearance process, would allow both branches to track improvements from year to year, and would allow agencies to judge the effectiveness of each other's security clearance process, improving. confidence in the system. In a few areas where adequate metrics have not been developed, the Administration is required to propose metrics to Congress.

I hope that we will move this legislation as soon as possible, given the strong bipartisan support that it enjoys. It will improve our insight into the security clearance process, and by doing so, improve the process itself.

The security clearance process is key to our national security establishment and we must make sure that it works as efficiently as possible. An effective security clearance system keeps out those who pose a security risk, while quickly identifying those who are trustworthy to work in the system. For too long it has been a troubled system and I'm hopeful that it is getting back on track and this legislation would allow us to know for sure.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 1424 the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

Nearly two weeks ago the President presented legislation to Congress requesting a $700 billion recovery package, with the Treasury Secretary empowered to set the rules for all transactions. The bill included no safeguards, no transparency, no accountability, and no oversight. This plan was wrong for the American people and we rejected it.

The House, through bipartisan negotiations, completely reshaped the bill to include three crucial elements to rebuild our financial system. One, we reinvested in troubled financial markets to stabilize our economy and insulate Main Street from Wall Street. Two, we guaranteed that the taxpayer will be first in line to be reimbursed through ownership shares and asset recovery as the plan begins to work. Finally, the bill reformed how business is done on Wall Street including the prohibition of golden parachutes.

While I voted for the bill, it failed to gather the necessary votes for it to pass. Following the vote I returned home this week and saw, not only in my District, but all over the country, the negative effects of our continued inaction. Already, our commercial and consumer credit markets are drying up and if we continue to do nothing, the ability for my constituents to obtain home mortgages, car loans, student loans, loans for small businesses, or even credit cards will become highly difficult or impossible. Even more financial institutions and businesses could fail and millions could lose their pensions and retirement savings, thousands of jobs could be lost, and large parts of our economy could cease to function. The repercussions would be far greater than the cost of a financial rescue program.

Not only have small businesses and families felt the effect of the credit crunch, my home state of California is feeling it. According to our State Treasurer, Bill Lockyer, this current crisis threatens to deplete California's cash reserves. Without those reserves the state will be unable to pay teachers, first responders, or nursing care workers. Additionally, he thinks without action the state, ``. . . will be unable to sell voter-approved bonds for highway construction, schools, and housing or water projects.'' If we don't pass this bill the effects will almost immediately be felt throughout the country and the world.

H.R. 1424 includes strong independent oversight and transparency through an establishment of an independent bipartisan board to provide oversight, review and accountability of taxpayer funds. The Government Accountability Office will have a presence at Treasury to oversee the program and conduct audits to ensure strong internal controls, and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. There will be an independent Inspector General to monitor the Treasury Secretary's decisions in regard to this program and all transactions will be posted online for the public to review.

Rather than giving the Treasury all the funds at once, the legislation gives the Treasury $250 billion immediately, then requires the President to certify that additional funds are needed ($100 billion, then $350 billion, subject to Congressional disapproval) and there are limits on golden parachutes for executives whose companies participate in the program. We will help homeowners by allowing the government to change the terms of mortgages to help reduce the 2 million projected foreclosures in the next year. It will also assist school districts, cities and counties who held investments in failed institutions.

The bill temporarily raises the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000. It also includes three additional pieces of legislation that are critical to the health of our economy and our constituents. This legislation will extend tax credits and incentives that are important to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. It extends tax benefits to the renewable energy industry. Solar and wind energy, fuel cells, and biofuels are but a few of the technologies that will benefit from the legislation that we are considering today, and they will all play a role in our nation's energy future. While I remain committed to totally eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax, this bill includes a ``one- year fix'' that will prevent an additional 25 million American taxpayers from being subject to the AMT on their 2008 tax returns and it will reduce or eliminate the AMT obligation for 121,033 tax filers in my Congressional District. Finally, the legislation includes the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which will provide for equity in the coverage of mental health and substance use disorders when compared to medical and surgical disorders.

The vote I took earlier this week was as tough as any I've ever taken during my time in Congress and today's vote will not be any easier. I will vote ``yes'' because I believe it's the right thing do for our country.

I believe doing nothing is a higher risk to our country and would hurt millions of Americans across the nation. I didn't come to Congress to hurt people. My ``yes'' vote is to help restore confidence in our economy, help move the country move forward, protect taxpayers, help Main Street, protect pensions, protect 401Ks, and restore our credit markets and, with no rewards for those whose greed and foolishness have so jeopardized our economy.