Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to an article I read yesterday in The Miami Herald. The headline is ``Pentagon to offer swine flu vaccine to terror suspects.''

While much of America waits in line to receive their H1N1 vaccination, the Pentagon is giving priority status to accused terrorists. This does not bode well with me or my constituents. If taxpayers need to wait their turn to be vaccinated, then so should the accused terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Next week my subcommittee, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, along with the Health Subcommittee, will hold a hearing into where we are with the manufacturing and distribution of the H1N1 flu vaccine. We will hear from officials from the Department of Health and Human Services as well as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the manufacturers of the vaccine.

I look forward to our hearing next week, and I urge Pentagon officials to reconsider their decision to vaccinate terrorist detainees ahead of Americans who are waiting for their H1N1 vaccines.

[From The Miami Herald, Oct. 28, 2009]

Pentagon To Offer Swine Flu Vaccine to Terror Suspects

(By Carol Rosenberg)

Even as some Americans await the arrival of their swine flu

vaccines, the Pentagon has decided to vaccinate both soldiers

and terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There was no word Wednesday on when the first vaccines

would reach the remote base in southeast Cuba.

But U.S. military there were notified late last week that

service members would get their H1N1 virus vaccinations

first. Private contractors and sailors' wives and children

could get theirs afterward ``as the supply permits.''

And that means the 221 war on terror captives would also be

vaccinated first, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, a

Guantanamo spokesman.

``They get all the same quality medical care and treatment

options that are provided to service members,'' he said by

telephone. ``But they don't have to wait for appointments.''

Each detainee would be given the vaccine on a voluntary

basis, just like ``with our seasonal flu vaccination

program,'' said Army Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a prison camps

public affairs officer.

Guantanamo senior staff also had no plans to address the

overarching question of whether a vaccine named colloquially

for a pig would present particular challenges.

Instead, Haynie said, a detainee could raise any concerns

when he is offered it in person.

Haynie added that the detention center's Muslim American

``cultural affairs advisor'' said ``there is no religious

reason for detainees not to receive the H1N1 vaccine.''

But a former U.S. Army Muslim chaplain predicted there

might be some objections among a captive population long

characterized by the Pentagon as devotees of a radical fringe

of Islam.

``There was huge resistance back in 2003 when just the

regular flu shots were administered,'' said James ``Yusef''

Yee, who left the Army as a captain after being cleared of

wrongdoing during his Guantanamo duty.

``Many prisoners feared they were being experimented on

with some sort of truth serum or other drugs,'' and refused,

he said.

Instead, they were tackled and shackled so prison camp

staff could ``forcefully'' administer the shots--something

DeWalt said could not happen today.

``Immunizations and all that kind of stuff are always

voluntary for them,'' added DeWalt. ``I'm sure there'll be a

percentage who will be accepted, and I'm sure there'll be

another percentage that declines.''

Similar plans are underway to give the vaccine to federal

inmates at the Bureau of Prisons, where some Guantanamo

detainees may be headed as part of President Barack Obama's

Guantanamo closure order.

A spokeswoman said Wednesday that the BOP had ordered

enough H1N1 vaccines for all of its prisoners but ``we just

don't know when we're going to receive it.''

U.S. military at Guantanamo have long engaged in an uneasy

balancing act between the captives' rights to practice

mainstream Islam and security concerns.

During the 2003 showdown over run-of-the-mill flu shots,

Yee recalled, the detention center command staff waited until

after dark to administer ``the shots during Ramadan--as some

prisoners believed the injections would break their fasts.''

Either way, Yee predicted: ``I would anticipate prisoners

objecting to the vaccinations'' among a captive population

that includes 17 men whom federal courts have ordered set

free.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the Lions Club of Marquette, Michigan as it celebrates its 90th anniversary in the

community. Throughout its history the Lions Club has worked with city, county and state government to improve the lives of residents in Marquette and its surrounding areas. During its 90 years, the Club has made the needs of children and the health of residents across the Upper Peninsula top priorities, and has worked with the community on a wide range of projects.

In 1919, the Marquette Lions Club was the first Lions Club in Michigan to receive its charter. The club wasted no time in getting to work. In its first year the Club passed a resolution to establish a tourist camping ground, requested the city install street cobblestones to prevent the injury of horses and worked with members of the Marquette Rotary Club to support the Boy Scout movement.

Over the years the Marquette Lions Club has made the health and well being of children in Marquette and across the world a primary concern. Whether purchasing eye glasses for needy children in 1937, supporting Camp Sunnyside for mentally challenged youth in 1980 or holding fundraisers to allow a local family to be with their young child under going cardiac surgery in 2008, the Marquette Lions Club has given children throughout Northern Michigan a chance at a better life.

When Helen Keller proposed that Lions become Knights of the Blind at the National Convention of Lions in 1925, the Marquette Club began to recycle and purchase glasses for those in need. To date the club has recycled more than 150,000 eye glasses. The Club has continued this tradition championing causes such as Campaign SightFirst II to battle preventable blindness across the world. In 2007, the Club became the only model club in Single District 10 donating more than $14,000 to this campaign. The Club has also participated in joint state projects including Leader Dogs for the Blind and the Michigan Eye Bank.

Over the years the Club has worked with Operation Lollypop to inoculate children in the area with the polio vaccine and with the March of Dimes to fight polio and work with victims of the disease. The Club has also worked with the Upper Peninsula Diabetes Outreach Network to eradicate complications, including blindness, from diabetes as well as provided equipment and funding to support those with diabetes.

The Marquette Lions Club has supported the Salvation Army for over 50 years by ringing red kettle bells and donating to the food bank, has made financial donations to agencies providing services to the disabled and financially challenged, and has supported district projects including Northwoods Airlifeline, Teaching Family Homes and Bay Cliff Health Camp.

Madam Speaker, the Marquette Lions Club has been a leader in community and humanitarian service since receiving its charter in 1919. It has worked tirelessly to provide support and resources to those in need by embodying the Lions motto: We Serve! I ask Madam Speaker, that you and the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in thanking the members of the Marquette Lions Club for their generous service and recognizing the Club on its 90th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule in support of H.R. 3619, the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act. I'd like to thank my colleague from Minnesota, Chairman Oberstar, and his staff for their hard work on this bill.

Michigan's First Congressional District borders three of the five Great Lakes and contains 1,613 miles of shoreline, more than any other congressional district in the continental United States. The Coast Guard is not only the largest military resource in the area and a key defender of the Great Lakes, but is also of utmost importance to securing commerce routes and assisting the navigation.

I'd like to address a few provisions in the bill. First, the bill recognizes the need for a Coast Guard presence on the Great Lakes by authorizing $153 million for a new Great Lakes icebreaker. During the winter months, 17 million tons of commerce moves through the Great Lakes, and icebreakers play an important role in keeping our channels open.

Ice-breaking capacity on the Great Lakes has dropped dramatically over the past few years. The Coast Guard Cutter Acacia, stationed in Charlevoix, Michigan, was decommissioned on June 7, 2006, after 60 years of service. The Canadian Government also recently decommissioned two of its icebreakers on the Great Lakes without replacing them. Without a sufficient cutter presence, the island communities, businesses, and individuals that rely on the Great Lakes shipping are put at risk. It's critical that Congress provide the funding for a new Coast Guard cutter and ensure the Coast Guard can meet its operational responsibility on the Great Lakes.

Secondly, I appreciate that section 1323 of the bill includes the authority to transfer the old Coast Guard facility and surrounding acres in Marquette, Michigan, to the city. In 2008, the city of Marquette sold 1.5 acres of Lake Superior waterfront property to the Coast Guard for $1 to construct a new facility. The city also committed $170,000 to reroute bike trails, make roadway improvements, and make infrastructure improvements in order to prepare the property for a new Coast Guard facility. In exchange, an agreement was reached between the city and the Coast Guard to transfer land that was then occupied by the Coast Guard to the city upon completion of the new facility. In August 2009, the Coast Guard

moved into a new facility. As such, remediation of the old parcel should be done by the Coast Guard without delay; however, remediation is not scheduled until fiscal year 2013. I hope the chairman and the Coast Guard will work with me and the city of Marquette to see that remediation is completed in a more timely manner. The city generously lived up to its end of the deal and we must ensure the Coast Guard does the same.

I also appreciate the inclusion of a provision that would facilitate a land transfer between the Coast Guard to the Cornerstone Christian Academy in Cheboygan, Michigan, of six acres of property the Coast Guard deems as excess property. This land is supported by the Coast Guard, the academy, and the Cheboygan community.

Finally, I appreciate Chairman Oberstar's past support for inclusion of a provision in the 2008 Coast Guard reauthorization bill to return a historic Fresnel lens to the Presque Isle Lighthouse station in Presque Isle, Michigan. I know the Coast Guard reauthorization bill passed by the Senate committee includes this language, and I hope the chairman will work with me on the issue as the bill goes forward. I hope an agreement can once again be reached on this matter.

Again, I thank the chairman for his work on crafting this bill. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I look forward to continuing to work with everyone on the Coast Guard issues.

Madam Speaker, thank you for allowing me time to speak on the floor on health care.

I couldn't help but listen to the last group, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, talking about health care and calling it all kinds of names, about everything but what it is.

The health care in America, the bill that we're marking up, H.R. 3200, is America's Healthy Choice Act. There is no such thing as ``ObamaCare.'' I guess we use that just to try to scare people, like much of the rhetoric I heard in the few minutes I was here.

I can't help but notice that the folks who were speaking on the floor were not in the committee of jurisdiction where H.R. 3200, the House health care bill, actually went through; those of us who spent months working on this legislation and over 2 weeks in committee considering amendments and making sure that this is a bill that actually helps America and all Americans.

As we Democrats look at health care, we take a little different perspective. My colleagues in the last hour said, Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, for the American people, health care is broken and it does need fixing. That is why we are bringing forth this legislation, H.R. 3200.

In fact, I have a picture here of a family from Colorado who actually came and testified--and I will talk more about them during this next 60 minutes--on their concerns. But these are the folks that we are trying to help: Average Americans who work hard, play by the rules, pay their bills, think they have good health insurance until someone gets sick, and then they are left financially ruined.

I sit as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. For the last 2 years, we've been taking a look at the private insurance industry. We have held hearings on the insurance industry's practices on nursing homes, long-term care insurance, Medicare Advantage that the group spoke of, and most recently, we've been looking at hearings on the private health insurance market.

The findings of these hearings really highlight the need to address the abusive practices, terms such as ``rescission.'' That's when the insurance company takes a look at your insurance policy when you get sick and finds any excuse to rescind your policy. Or ``purging.'' That's when the insurance companies for small businesses in particular, they jack up the price, because under Federal law, if you're a small business, they can't cancel you, so they jack up the price so bad that you can no longer afford it. It's called purging. Or the problem of uninsured, which millions of Americans are facing.

So in June, July, and August, we spent a lot of time looking at the most egregious practices found in the insurance industry: abuse of consumers, the practice of rescission in the individual insurance market, and, as I said, underinsurance.

Take a look at rescissions. Every night when Americans go to sleep-- more than 45 million Americans do not have any health insurance--they do so with the nightmare scenario that if they develop a catastrophic illness or are unable to pay for their treatment, what happens to them? This fear causes many hardworking Americans who are not covered by an employer or government-sponsored health care to purchase an individual insurance policy. But those Americans fortunate enough to be able to even afford an individual policy--an individual family policy now is about $13,000 a year. But if you're fortunate enough to be able to buy individual health care coverage, you're not immune from this nightmare scenario of health care, not having it there for you and facing financial ruin, and that's because of a little thing called rescission.

Let me tell you quickly about what happened to Otto Raddatz. Otto Raddatz was a 59-year-old gentleman from Illinois. He owned a restaurant. He had insurance all his life. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. That's a cancer of the immune system. He underwent intensive chemotherapy and

was told that he had to have a stem cell transplant in order to survive. He had insurance coverage. He said, no problem, my insurance will cover it. It should be provided by my individual policy.

He was scheduled to have the procedure performed, and the weekend before he was scheduled to have his transplant, the insurance company suddenly told him it was going to cancel his insurance. Otto could not pay for the surgery without his health insurance, and the surgery was therefore canceled because the hospital wasn't going to perform the stem cell transplant without payment.

The insurance company told him that it found out that when he applied--now, this is years later--he applied for his health insurance. Years later, once they found out he has to have this stem cell transplant, they go back and look at his application. On his application, the insurance company said it showed that he might have gallstones and he might have an aneurysm, which is a weakness of the blood vessel wall. In fact, testimony showed Otto's doctor never told him he had gallstones, never told him he had an aneurysm. Otto told the truth on the application, but the insurance company heard nothing of it. They said, You didn't tell the truth on your application; therefore, we're canceling you. The insurance company was going to rescind his policy, effectively tear up the contract as if it never occurred, and Otto would be left without a stem cell transplant.

Otto made a desperate plea to the Illinois State attorney general, and also his sister was an attorney. They went after that insurance company to reverse the decision. Here's what Otto said when he wrote to the insurance company:

``I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma . . . It is a matter of extreme urgency that I receive my transplant in 3 weeks . . . This is an urgent matter! Please help me so I can have my transplant as scheduled. Any delay could threaten my life.''

What did the insurance company say after that plea? Too bad. You falsified your application, even though Otto never knew he had gallstones or an aneurysm.

The Illinois attorney general launched an investigation, confirmed that Otto's doctor never told him about the test findings, and the attorney general sent two letters to the insurance company saying reinstate his policy. The company relented, Otto received his stem cell transplant, and he was able to live 3 more years before he died earlier this year. Otto was one of the lucky ones. The attorney general went to bat for him, and his sister, who was an attorney.

In our Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, we have looked into this investigation into the practice of health insurance rescission and the results are alarming. Over the last 5 years, almost 20,000 individual insurance policyholders have had their policies rescinded by the three biggest insurance companies who testified at our hearing. These 20,000 individuals lost their insurance because of some honest mistake, or they did what the agent told them to put on their application only to have the parent company rescind them when they got sick. They saved the insurance industry $300 million. That's not counting all the follow-up tests. That's just what they saved by canceling these 20,000 people.

So these big insurance companies, like Assurant, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint, when we looked at it, here's what we found out:

These three companies, they conducted investigations with an eye toward rescinding in every case in which a policyholder submits a claim relating to leukemia, breast cancer, or a list of 1,400 serious or costly medical conditions;

they rescind policies based on an alleged failure to disclose a health condition entirely unrelated to the policyholder's current medical problem;

they rescind policies based on the policyholder's failure to disclose a medical condition that their doctors never even told them they had;

and they rescind policies based on innocent mistakes by policyholders in their applications. And they not only rescind for the applicant, but they will rescind the policy for the whole family, leaving all the family members without health insurance.

Our investigation also found that at least one insurance company, WellPoint, actually evaluated their employees' performance based in part, and put reward systems in, on the more you rescind, the more money you save the company, the bigger bonus you receive. In fact, the starting point was you had to save $10 million for WellPoint and you got a pretty good bonus. You're rated on a scale of one to five.

These practices reveal that when an insurance company receives a claim for an expensive lifesaving treatment, some of them will look for any way, any excuse to avoid having to pay for it. This is eerily similar to what we found last year in our investigation on long-term health care insurance where sales agents for the insurance companies would sell policies to seniors and then change the policies once the enrollee was locked into a plan and making payments.

These insurance companies who engage in this rescission practice argue that it's entirely legal, and, in part, they are, but that goes against the whole point of insurance. When times are good, insurance companies are happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums, but when times are bad, or if you happen to get diagnosed with one of these 1,400 different little characteristics they have in their computer program and you're afflicted with a cancer or some other life-threatening illness, that's the time when the insurance company is supposed to honor their commitments to you based on the premiums paid, and in your time of need they should be there to help you. Instead, some of the insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise at a time when patients are too weak to fight back.

I asked the three CEOs of these big insurance companies, I said, Look, we've had this hearing today. We've had extreme conditions where you've rescinded people who made honest mistakes on their application. Will you commit today that your company will never rescind another policy unless there was broad misrepresentation in the application? Every one of the insurance companies' CEOs said, No, we will continue the practice.

So that's one of the reasons why we need to pass comprehensive health care reform. Congress can and must curb this abusive practice, put an end to this unconscionable practice of rescinding people. We should not have caps on how much insurance has to pay or caps on how much you're covered. Coverage in your health care shouldn't depend on your ability to pay; it should depend on the illness you're suffering from, that you get proper treatment.

In H.R. 3200, our health care bill, there are no preexisting conditions. If you have a preexisting condition, you can't be denied insurance.

Last week, our subcommittee revisited the private health industry practices on underinsured. Let me just show you what underinsured is. Underinsured are people who have health insurance. Unfortunately, when they get sick, and because of high deductibles or copays or a limitation on policy, lifetime cap, or a limit on number of services or specialists you can see, when they get sick, their insurance is almost worthless. It doesn't cover anything.

More than one-quarter of adults under the age of 65 with medical bill burdens and debt were unable to pay for basic necessities. So, if you're one of the underinsured--and according to testimony, 116 million adults in this country, 42 percent, 116 million of them have problems paying their health care bills. Sixteen percent are unable to pay for basic necessities--food, heat, rent--because of medical bills. Another 39 percent used up all their savings trying to pay their medical bills. Another 10 percent took another mortgage out on their house to try to pay for medical bills.

Thirty percent put it on credit cards. With the interest on credit cards, I don't know how you could afford to pay off your credit cards, let alone the interest on the credit cards. Sixty-one percent were insured at the time care was provided.

These people are uninsured because they can only afford to purchase a limited policy. Policyholders believe they

have adequate coverage only to find out that there are limits buried within the fine print of that policy, such as caps. So, regardless of how you define this fragile financial group, the sad consequences of being underinsured can be devastating, leading to financial ruin, to bankruptcy, and to making medical decisions based on cost rather than care.

If you take a look at it, as the health insurance skyrockets, more Americans are finding they can only afford bare-bones policies. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2007, they said 62 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States were related to medical costs. This was 62 percent of all bankruptcies. Of those bankruptcies in 2007, 78 percent of them had insurance. So, of all of the bankruptcies, 62 percent were related to medical costs, and 78 percent of those people actually had insurance. They were the underinsured. Many of them were well-educated, and they owned their own homes. They were the middle class. Unfortunately, they were underinsured, and their health insurance did not cover their medical costs.

The Commonwealth Fund reported and testified at our committee that more families are experiencing medical bill problems or cost-related delays in getting medical care. In 2007, two-thirds of all adults, 116 million people, who struggled to pay medical bills and who went without needed medical care because of cost, were uninsured for a time or were underinsured.

Let me show you this picture. This is Catherine Howard. She testified at our hearing. At 29 years old, Catherine had breast cancer and survived to tell her story. Being young and healthy, with a limited income and just starting out in her professional career, she chose a low-premium, high-co-pay health insurance that left her in financial shambles after her breast cancer.

At the time of her illness, she was earning just $20,000, but at the time of her illness and when she got done, her outstanding medical bills were $40,000. Catherine was unable to work through the surgery, through the chemotherapy and through the radiation for 2 years. So, when you put it all together, she was in a very tough financial situation. To her credit, she did not declare bankruptcy. She survived her breast cancer, but she is paying $1,800 a month on her medical bills.

Let me go back to the original picture. This is the Null family from Colorado. The young lady right there is Tatum Null. She was diagnosed with liver failure at the age of 7. David had bought health insurance, an individual family policy, to cover them in emergency situations.

He told the agent, I don't want one for the common cold. I need a policy that will take care of my girls and my family if something serious happens.

They sold him a policy. Then, while away on vacation, suddenly Tatum's kidney started shutting down, and they had to rush her to the hospital. They put her on life support. They told David Null, Tatum's dad, that she needed a $560,000 kidney transplant. They looked at his insurance policy. The insurance policy would cover $25,000 to $30,000 in hospital costs.

They said to David Null, Before we can save Tatum's life with a transplant, you have to put down $200,000.

His daughter is on life support. He is at the hospital. They find out their insurance policy is no good. They say you have to come up with $200,000 or your daughter is going to die. What are you going to do?

Well, without really much of a hope or a prayer, David and the hospital officials got together, and they decided that if they could put David and the Null family on Medicaid, the government-run, government-sponsored Medicaid health care, the entire hospital bill would probably be paid retroactively. The catch is, once you go on Medicaid, you have to have low income. The Nulls could only earn $1,614 a month; or they would lose their Medicaid coverage, which paid for Tatum's medication to prevent organ rejection and which can cost thousands of dollars each month.

Let me show you another person. This is Thomas Wilkes. His dad, Nathan, had an employer who provided health insurance with a $1 million limit for each family member. $1 million. Unfortunately, $1 million doesn't go very far when you're 6 years old and when you're diagnosed with severe hemophilia.

Even though the Wilkeses paid another $25,000 each year out of pocket, in just over a year young David here would go through the $1 million cap on their medical expenses. The Wilkes family is now on their third insurance policy. They're bumping up against the cap, and he doesn't know what he's going to do for his son, who needs expensive medical treatment because he's a hemophiliac. He does not know how he is going to be able to afford his son's life-saving medical treatments, once again, when they hit the $1 million cap.

Each of these individuals, the Wilkes family and the Null family, did what they thought was right for their families. They purchased health insurance. They worked hard. They paid their premiums, but they're still left in financial ruin.

Each of us knows a family member, a relative, a friend who did not go to the doctor when sick or who skipped a dose of medication, who failed to fill a prescription, who intentionally missed a medical test or a follow-up appointment or who didn't see a specialist because he couldn't afford the service, the medication or the test he needed.

I would hope every American, as we debate health care, would take time to look at their own insurance policies and would really understand what medical conditions those policies cover or don't cover. What's your co-pay? What are your potential out-of-pocket expenses? Do you have a lifetime cap or are services limited underneath that policy?

In a couple of weeks, we hope the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, because H.R. 3200 does not allow the insurance companies to rescind your policies when you get sick. It does not have a lifetime cap on benefits. It puts a limit on what you have to pay out-of-pocket. It covers all Americans, and you can't be discriminated against because of preexisting injuries or illnesses.

Only with the passage of meaningful health care reform, then and only then will Americans not have to worry about how to obtain medical care for their families while remaining financially secure.

Yesterday, our subcommittee, again, did another investigation of the private insurance market. We focused on the challenges faced by small businesses. I said earlier that, in small businesses, you can't cancel. Once you have a small business, underneath the HIPAA provisions, you can't cancel. You're guaranteed a renewal every year; but insurance companies, because they feel they're not making enough money, can jack up their rates. There is no limitation on how much you have to pay.

Small businesses are really the cornerstones of the American economy. As one of them testified, when the businesses testified the other day, they really are the American Dream. Small businesses employ 59 million Americans, and they have created a quarter of our Nation's jobs from 1992 to 2005.

Our subcommittee sent documents to the six leading health insurance companies that all sell policies to small businesses across the country. We wanted to know how they set their premium rates and what some of the largest premium rate increases have been in recent years. Here is what we learned:

The insurance companies take advantage of lax State laws and regulations, and they purge out small businesses because they're unprofitable if someone gets sick. Because Federal law guarantees small businesses can't be denied insurance once they have it, they impose unpredictable, increasingly unaffordable premium increases. These unsustainable premiums force the small businesses to drop their health insurance because it's no longer affordable. Thus, a small business is really purged. Their premium increases are based on factors that are beyond the control of the small business, such as: every covered employee and their families, what are their health statuses? What's the size of the small business? What's the age? What are the genders of these employees? As a result of these discriminatory practices, small group premiums are subject to unpredictable and enormous increases. Here is what we learned:

In January 2008, one insurance company offered a 232 percent premium

rate increase to an engineering services company in Kentucky. The number of employees in the plan had dropped down from eight to one, so its policy went up 232 percent.

This year, another insurance company offered a small technology firm in Georgia to renew its current HMO insurance policy with a 214 percent increase in their premiums. The basis for the rate hike was that the average worker in the firm had become older because they had laid off so many younger workers, and most of the workers were going to be female. The size of the company decreased, and the workforce was older.

By the way, if you're in a small business, you pay more for female workers than you do for male workers.

These large annual premium increases can devastate these small firms. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat in this economic downturn. Health insurance costs consume even a greater portion of a company's profits, and they make it harder every year to cover their employees.

Yet, even before the most recent economic downturn, the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance was the primary concern of small businesses. The average family premium for a small business, if you're going to cover your family, is nearly $13,000. That has gone up 123 percent since 1999. Meanwhile, the median family income only grew 29 percent. Because of these high costs, nearly a quarter of all small businesses are making difficult decisions on whether or not to provide health care. Small businesses are shouldering a greater burden of the cost.

Over the last 10 years, workers' contributions for health care premiums have doubled while their deductibles have greatly increased. Less than 50 percent of the smallest firms, those with fewer than 10 employees, offer coverage. As a result of reductions in small group coverage, more than half of all small businesses in 2007 were uninsured or underinsured. It's clear that the high cost of health insurance is crippling our businesses.

You know, when we take a look at small businesses and at the group that testified before us this week, one was a Mick Landauer. He is from Iowa. He owns a muffler and brake shop, and he has owned it for 30 years. He has shops in Iowa and Illinois. At his shops, he employs 11 workers. This year, he was quoted an increase in his premium of 42 percent. It went up 42 percent from last year. Mr. Landauer believes that the increase is due to his own congenital heart condition which has required three surgeries in the past and will require possibly more in the future. This year, instead of accepting the 42 percent increase, he negotiated with his insurance company that the deductible will go up.

So, if you're under a plan and if you're a single person, besides paying your monthly premium, your out-of-pocket cost is $8,000 before you can access it. If you're a family, your out-of-pocket cost is $16,000 before you can access the health care plan. Plus, you've got to pay your monthly premiums.

Now, next year, he's telling us his company can't afford this anymore. He wants to provide his employees with health insurance. He is probably going to drop himself off his business plan since he is the one with the congenital heart condition. He believes the right thing to do is to provide his employees with health care. He's trying to do the right things.

Mr. Bruce Hetrick is from Indianapolis. He testified the other day. He had 15 employees. His company has received double-digit increases every year from his health carrier, Anthem. His insurance plan also covered his late wife, who developed breast cancer. In her last year of life, she ran up bills of $300,000. Unfortunately, she died. In that year, when his wife was so sick, they increased his health insurance by 28 percent.

After his wife passed away, since they were still in that policy year, he asked Anthem, What will it cost now that my wife is no longer on?

They said, Instead of a 28 percent increase, we're only going to increase it 10 percent.

Then there was Fred Walker from St. Petersburg Glass and Mirror in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is a company he started 15 years ago, and he has always offered health insurance because he wanted to have good employees. His carrier, United Health, has increased his premium rates every year, including a 14.6 percent increase this year.

To keep his business afloat during this downturn, he was thinking about dropping his health care coverage because he could no longer afford it. It was a 15 percent increase from last year, and he just couldn't afford it. He was talking to his employees about it. One of his employees, the secretary, went to have a breast examination, and she found out she had breast cancer.

To his credit, Mr. Walker decided to do the right things, and he maintains the health care coverage for his workers and especially for his secretary so she can get treatment. To afford the coverage, they had to take out a plan which has a $6,000 deductible. So, before you make any claim, you've got to pay $6,000 out-of-pocket plus your monthly premiums. Because the group coverage was renewed, the secretary has been able to maintain some treatment for her cancer.

Again, we're going to vote on America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009, H.R. 3200. It contains critical insurance reforms that will end these abusive insurance company practices that we see. Under the bill, insurance companies can no longer rescind policies after people get sick based on minor mistakes or on technicalities. The bill prohibits an annual lifetime cap on coverage. You will no longer be denied insurance because of preexisting injuries, and insurers will no longer discriminate against small businesses based on how small they are or the health statuses of their workers.

We must reform health insurance so small business can compete and American businesses and families can be secure.

In the Energy and Commerce Committee we had the main jurisdiction on the health care bill and spent months looking at it. These are just some of the examples we found and why we need health care. When my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk, well, it ain't broke, don't fix it. For the American family, health insurance is broken. We do need to fix it.

My friends were saying on the other side of the aisle, we need more competition, we need more choice, you need more choice. Our investigation again shows, there really is no choice.

The market share for large insurance companies by largest health plans in the State, the darkest States, there's only two health plans to choose from, not a lot of competition there. In these lighter blue, it's 70 to 79 percent are covered, like my home State of Michigan, by just two of the large health insurance plans.

Where is the choice? Where the competition? How do you drive down these costs when there is no competition. Actually, there are really only about six main insurance companies, there are about 1,300 of them on the books, but they are owned by about six of the major companies that we talked about here tonight, the lack of competition.

But these are the faces that we are fighting for every day when we try to look at health care. These are the people that we are trying to help out. Like Thomas here, through no fault of his own, a hemophiliac, in just over a year his dad plows through their policy, $1 million, that is the cap on it and they go through it within about 14 or 16 months. They go through it. Who is sticking up for these people?

Take a look at some of the things, here is one I like looking at, what we have found. Look at this. This is a joke in one of the magazines, one of the newspapers here. It's not really much of a joke for the American people though. Here is the guy who is sick. He has got his oxygen mask on. He has got his denied paper here.

It must be rescinding his individual policy. It says, ``Denied.'' Why? ``Look, it costs us nearly $120 million in deceptive ads to fight health care reform, so there is not enough money left to pay for your stupid little claim.''

It's a joke, but it's really not for people who have their insurance policy rescinded. It's really not for the small businesses who are seeing 30, 40 percent increase each year. It's really not for the underinsured who pay their premiums and then they don't have enough money to cover their medical costs.

It's really talk about $120 million in deceptive ads to fight health care. They are spending over $1 million a day on ads to defeat H.R. 3200.

I hope that the Members of the House of Representatives will remember people like Thomas here or like Tatum or these families who play by the rules, work hard, pay their premiums, and, when they get sick, are abandoned by the health insurance industry. That's why we need health insurance reform in this country. That's just one of the many reasons.

It's one of the reasons why we hope to have a bill on the floor later this month or early in November so we can vote on this.

We have to bring back some sanity to this health insurance industry. We have got to end their abusive practices, and we must make sure that all Americans and their businesses are secure, not only in their health security but also financially secure as they try to do the right thing, play by the rules, work hard, pay their insurance. Let's make sure there is coverage for them when they get sick.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on my special order.

Madam Speaker, I rise to regretfully inform my colleagues of the passing of former Congressman Bob Davis, who represented most of northern Michigan in Congress from 1979-1993. Bob died last Friday.

I ask the House to observe a moment of silence in his honor.

Madam Speaker, earlier today the House observed moments of silence for two former Members of this Chamber.

Last Friday, former Congressman Bob Davis, a Republican from St. Ignace, Michigan, and my predecessor in Congress, passed away in Arlington, Virginia. Bob Davis dedicated his life to public service. He served members of his community as owner and operator of a funeral home in St. Ignace before serving in the Michigan State House and State Senate, where he was the Republican leader.

In 1978, Bob was elected to Congress where he served for 14 years. Over the course of those 14 years, Bob Davis was known to the people of what was then Michigan's 11th Congressional District for his constituent services. Bob's last, and perhaps greatest, legislative achievement was the establishment of the Keweenaw National Historic Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which showcases the region's rich mining heritage.

Just like they did 17 years ago with the establishment of the Keweenaw National Historic Park, the people of the Keweenaw Peninsula rang the local church bells in tribute to Congressman Davis last Friday as citizens paid tribute and silently prayed for Bob and his family.

I join my constituents and Members of this Chamber in paying tribute to Bob and offering our sympathy and prayers to his wife, Brook, and their children Rob, Lisa, George, Alexandra, and Hannah.

Just days after Bob's passing, we lost another public servant with roots in northern Michigan.

On Saturday, former Congressman Jay Johnson, a Democrat from Green Bay, Wisconsin, passed away. Jay was a native of Bessemer in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and a graduate of Gogebic Community College and Northern Michigan University. He was a man of the people, and he was always proud to be known by his Upper Peninsula roots.

Jay worked as a journalist for 32 years in Wisconsin, Florida, and Michigan before making a run for Congress. He represented Wisconsin's Eighth Congressional District from 1996 to 1998 and was appointed director of the U.S. Mint by President Clinton in 2000 where he served for 2 years.

I am pleased to have served with Jay in Congress, and my heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, JoLee, and his entire family.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Dr. Kathleen Weston, a remarkable woman who has spent her life at the forefront of medical research in the field of prescription drug toxicology. Dr. Weston's work has included large-scale production development of the first Salk polio vaccine for worldwide distribution and providing legal advice on toxicology issues for a range of government agencies. At 102 years of age, Dr. Weston continues to be an active contributor to her family and community.

Dr. Weston was born in 1907 in the village of Kenton in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Born Kathleen Shingler, she was one of four children; her father worked as a general store keeper and her mother was a school teacher. After graduating from high school, one of two in her class to do so, Dr. Weston enrolled in Northern State Normal School (now Northern Michigan University) where she graduated with a degree in biology in 1929. After beginning her career teaching biology at Munising High School, Dr. Weston joined her husband, Jean K. Weston, in enrolling in graduate school at the University of Michigan earning a master's degree in anatomy and genetics in 1934.

After taking a position teaching anatomy and physiology to nursing students, Dr. Weston enrolled in medical school at Temple University. Weston credits the nurses she taught with her acceptance to the program after the dean struck a deal that he would admit her, provided she could get the nurses to pass anatomy and physiology. All of the nurses passed and Dr. Weston graduated from medical school in 1951, one of five women in a class of 125.

Upon graduation Dr. Weston moved to Detroit with her husband who worked to develop a modern toxicology laboratory for Parke-Davis and Company. As one of five pharmaceutical companies to produce the Salk polio vaccine for worldwide distribution, the head of

Parke-Davis research recruited Dr. Weston to work on the Salk project because of her experience with microscopes and the nervous system. During the interview process Dr. Weston broke down several barriers for women--Parke-Davis agreed to pay her what it was paying other MD's working for them, far more than the salary they usually paid women at the time, and following the interview she was the first woman to ever lunch in the company's executive dining room.

As Parke-Davis began to produce the Salk polio vaccine on a large scale, Dr. Kathleen Weston directed infectious control tests of the vaccine to certify no live virus was present. She went on to become head of the Parke-Davis toxicology laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Weston considers her three years working on the Salk polio vaccine as her top scientific achievement.

Following Parke-Davis, Dr. Weston continued her work in toxicology at Burroughs-Welcome in New York and as a consultant for government agencies including the National Institute of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, D.C. she also taught at George Washington University Medical School.

Dr. Weston continued to work as a consulting toxicologist until 1997. Today she is still an active reader and is currently assisting the Kenton Historical Society with their research.

Madam Speaker, Dr. Kathleen Weston has spent her life as a leader in toxicology research and as a trailblazer for women entering the medical profession. Her work with the Salk polio vaccine helped save countless lives around the world. I ask Madam Speaker, that you and the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in honoring Dr. Kathleen Weston on the important work she has accomplished in the field of prescription drug toxicology and in her work to help record the history of her hometown of Kenton.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady for yielding me time.

I introduced H.R. 905, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve Boundary Modification Act, to expand the boundaries of the preserve. I want to thank the bill's cosponsors, my Michigan colleagues, Congressmen Kildee, McCotter and Ehlers. Their support has been instrumental in moving this legislation.

In 1975, Michigan State University, in response to local interest, collected an inventory of shipwrecks located within Lake Huron's Thunder Bay. What they found was that Thunder Bay potentially contained the largest number of historical shipwrecks in the country.

This discovery warranted the establishment of an underwater ``reserve,'' and in 1981, the State of Michigan declared Thunder Bay Michigan's first Great Lakes bottomland preserve.

Following this State recognition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 2000, making it the first sanctuary in the Great Lakes.

The sanctuary is a Federal-State partnership with a unique focus on preserving the large collection of underwater cultural resources. These resources consist of 100 shipwrecks spanning more than 200 years of Great Lakes shipping history. In order to study and preserve the cultural resources present at Thunder Bay, in 2005 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State of Michigan established the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Michigan in Alpena, Michigan.

The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center allows visitors to learn about Great Lakes maritime history, explore shipwrecks via live video feeds, and see how archaeologists continue to preserve these historic sites. To continue this positive outcome, the Thunder Bay Sanctuary Advisory Council, a 15-member group representing local interests such as fishermen, the business community, educational institutions and local government, have passed a resolution recommending the sanctuary be expanded.

This legislation is supported by the State of Michigan, the local units of government, and the local chambers of commerce of each county that is affected.

H.R. 905 would extend the sanctuary's boundaries to include the waters off Alcona, Alpena and Presque Isle counties in Michigan and extend the sanctuary east to the international boundary with Canada.

Currently, the sanctuary covers 448 square miles of water and 115 miles of shoreline, protecting 116 shipwrecks. H.R. 905 would increase this area to 3,722 square miles of water and 226 miles of shoreline, adding an additional 180 shipwrecks to the sanctuary. In addition, the legislation would direct NOAA to produce updated charts of the newly designated areas and apply the protection and preservation provisions in the existing management plan to the newly added areas.

By authorizing an expansion of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the affected local communities would receive the benefits of having additional historical resources highlighted and preserved, as well as increased tourism, which is an important driver for economic growth of this part of northeastern lower Michigan.

I urge my colleagues to support my legislation. I thank the chairperson and the ranking member for their help and support on this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to speak about the merits of this bill, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act, which is an important step forward for revitalizing the auto industry in my district, in Michigan, and across our Nation.

This legislation will authorize $550 million in essential research funding, with the emphasis on medium and heavy duty commercial trucks and trailers that have previously been overlooked. Through federally directed research and development, the auto industry can move toward better, more fuel-efficient vehicles through applied research and development of materials and technologies. This will directly benefit a number of existing companies in their transition toward new parts and technologies for the domestic auto industry, and encourages entrepreneurs with an innovative idea to enter the market. This includes a number of existing and potential auto part suppliers and manufacturers in my district and throughout Michigan.

I would like to thank Chairman Gordon for yielding me the time, and I would also like to thank Congressman Peters and Congresswoman Biggert for introducing this important legislation. I would encourage all my colleagues to support this bill and support the chairman on the amendments.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 317 designates the region from Manhattan, Kansas, to Columbia, Missouri, as the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor. Manhattan, Kansas, is slated to become the new home of the foot-and-mouth research in the United States as part of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, NBAF as it's called. This is where my problem is with this resolution.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious animal disease, infecting nearly 100 percent of the animals exposed to the virus. There have been two outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom this decade. The first resulted in the slaughter of more than 6 million animals, and it cost that country more than $16 billion. The second outbreak is suspected to have come from an accidental release from a government lab. It is estimated that a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United States could cost as much as $40 billion, and it would devastate the U.S. livestock market.

For more than 50 years, research on foot-and-mouth disease in the United States has been done off Plum Island, which is off the coast of New York's Long Island. The natural water barrier protects our animal population from an accidental or intentional release of the disease from the island research facility.

House Resolution 317 states: ``More than 45 percent of the fed cattle--40 percent of the hogs and 20 percent of beef cows and calves produced in the United States--are located within 350 miles of Kansas City.''

I am baffled as to why we would want to move the foot-and-mouth disease research into the heart of Kansas given these staggering statistics. An accidental or an intentional release of foot-and-mouth disease in this enormous beef and pork population would bring our livestock industry to its knees.

As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, I held a hearing in the last Congress on the Bush administration's ill-conceived plan to move foot-and-mouth research off of Plum Island and onto the mainland of the United States.

In response to my subcommittee's hearing, Congress required the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a study to determine if foot-and-mouth disease can be done safely on the mainland. DHS's study was then to be evaluated by the Government Accountability Office, GAO. DHS rushed

through a study; and in July, GAO released their analysis of the DHS study. The GAO report found numerous flaws in the study, including that DHS did not use foot-and-mouth disease virus-specific modeling to study the impact of a release into a community. Instead, they used a modeling system for radiation.

DHS's study was based on unrepresentative accident scenarios, outdated dispersion modeling techniques and inadequate meteorological data. The economic analysis did not incorporate market response to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which would have been related to the number of livestock in the site's vicinity. DHS did not effectively characterize the differences in risk between mainland and island sites. DHS did not effectively integrate the components of its risk assessment.

As you can see, the Government Accountability Office has significant concerns about this flawed DHS study. The GAO concluded that DHS did not meet the standards set forth by Congress to prove that foot-and- mouth disease research can be done safely on the mainland. As a result, we've called for an independent third-party study to be conducted. This study would correct the problems outlined in the GAO study.

Mr. Speaker, I have no problem with the gentleman from Kansas and with my friend from Pennsylvania in recognizing the area set forth in House Resolution 317 as the animal health corridor, but I really do have problems with moving foot-and-mouth disease research into the center of livestock production in the United States without any proof that it can be done safely. If the Department of Homeland Security is going to pursue this dangerous tempting of fate, I think the American people should have an accurate assessment of what economic devastation could befall us should there be a release of foot-and-mouth disease from this new facility in Manhattan, Kansas.

Again, I understand where the gentleman is going, and I understand what he is trying to do to promote his State and to promote his area, but let's not rush to judgment here, especially when there are so many unanswered questions about whether this research can be done safely.

If they want to recognize H. Res. 317 as the animal health corridor, I have no problem; but I'd ask that they strike the NBAF language, and then I would be able to support the legislation. As it stands right now, the way the legislation is written, I reluctantly would oppose it.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as it celebrates its 90th anniversary in the community. Over the years, the Rotary

Club of Sault Ste. Marie has worked diligently to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace in Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding areas.

One of the oldest Rotary Clubs in Michigan, the Sault Ste. Marie club was chartered on January 1, 1919. Since its inception the club has taken an active role in supporting and enriching individuals and projects that make Sault Ste. Marie a positive place to live and do business.

Service projects have been a continuing priority for the club. Each year members honor past president Charlie Graver with the Rotary Graver Auction, which has raised nearly $150,000 to fund youth projects around the community. In the 1960s the Rotary Club built Rotary Park, where visitors can enjoy the view of the lake carriers in the St. Marys River. Today, Rotarians are rebuilding the park starting with the ``Poppink Path'' walkway. The club has also helped finance Project Playground and agreed to maintain it with yearly repairs and cleanups.

Recognizing the importance of education, the Rotary Club has established the William Poppink Distinguished Teacher Award given annually to one local elementary and secondary teacher recognized for their outstanding contribution to education. The club also presents students in the area with scholarships through the Sault Rotary Strahl Scholarship Fund. The club has raised thousands of dollars to support the community-based Soo Theatre Project, now teaching more than 400 students the arts and providing shows for the community at the historic Soo Theatre.

The Sault Ste. Marie Rotary Club has also done much for those in the community with intellectual disabilities. Members work closely with Special Olympics to staff events and hold an annual Special Olympics carnival. The club also hosts a Valentine's Day lunch each year for special education students in the area.

The club also reaches out beyond Sault Ste. Marie by giving area students the opportunity to go abroad and learn about new cultures in countries across the world. At the same time the club hosts young people from across the globe that come to Sault Ste. Marie to learn about life in the United States.

Madam Speaker, since the formation of the Sault Ste. Marie Rotary Club, members have continuously upheld their mission of, ``Service Above Self.'' The Sault Ste. Marie area has benefited greatly from members' long tradition of community pride and dedication to fostering the ideal of service through action. Madam Speaker, I ask that you and the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in congratulating the Sault Ste. Marie Rotary Club on its 90th anniversary as well as thanking members for their active involvement in the Sault Ste. Marie community.

Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Monsignor John ``Jed'' Patrick, or ``Father Jed'' as his parishioners know him, on his retirement from St. Michael's Parish in Marquette, Michigan. During his 41 years of ministry in the Diocese of Marquette, Father Jed served both his parish and his community with dedication, sharing his life and his church with open arms.

A native of Ironwood, Michigan, Father Jed served parishes in Marquette, Escanaba, Trenary, Palmer, Gladstone, Big Bay, and my hometown of Menominee. He became pastor at St. Michael's in 1995, serving there 14 years before his retirement.

Father Jed attended St. Lawrence Minor Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin and St.

Francis Major Seminary in Milwaukee. He went on to study in Rome, until he was ordained a priest on December 21, 1967 by Bishop Francis Reh at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. His first assignment after ordination was to the very parish he retired from--St. Michael's Parish in Marquette.

At St. Michael's, Father Jed served as director of vocations and Vicar General. He also was responsible for the Catholic Campus Ministry at Northern Michigan University. In 1999, Pope John Paul II bestowed the title of Prelate of Honor to His Holiness on Father Jed, allowing him to be addressed as Monsignor.

Father Jed is a friend, and I have seen first-hand his deep commitment to his parishioners, his dioceses, and to the Upper Peninsula. The Marquette Diocese is rich in history, rich in faith and rich in the Lord's spirit and Father Jed upheld each of these traditions to the fullest extent throughout his 41 years of service.

Father Jed now plans to catch up on reading, work in his yard and around his home and travel to places both far and near to the Upper Peninsula. But even in retirement he continues to spread the Word of the Lord, taking on weekend assignments in churches throughout the area.

Madam Speaker, it was at St. Michael's in Marquette that Father Jed first stepped into the priesthood, and it was at St. Michael's that he stepped down after his decades of service to parishioners throughout the Upper Peninsula. His work and his ministry have touched the lives of many, including myself, and have become an important part of the history of the Diocese of Marquette. He has shown dedication to the Roman Catholic Church and devotion to the Lord. And so I ask, Madam Speaker, that you and the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in honoring Monsignor John ``Jed'' Patrick on his retirement from St. Michael's Parish in Marquette.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Stupak-Reichert resolution, House Resolution 623. This resolution commemorates the 26th Annual National Night Out event, which is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch.

I would like to thank my Law Enforcement Caucus cochair, Congressman Dave Reichert, for introducing this resolution with me.

National Night Out, an annual nationwide grassroots crime prevention event, took place on Tuesday, August 4, and will actually take place in Texas on October 6, 2009. I appreciate the work of the Judiciary Committee and Chairman Conyers and Chairman Scott in placing this resolution on the House calendar.

However, I must admit I am disappointed in the partisan, obstructionist tactics that precluded the recognition of National Night Out in a timely fashion in July. I am disappointed that this truly bipartisan resolution, that has been introduced year after year and passed by this House urging citizens to take back their streets from criminals, is hijacked by partisan politics. Now, a month later, we have to talk about this year's event in the past tense.

This year's event did bring together citizens, law enforcement agencies and civic groups throughout the United States. As Chairman Scott said, about 15,000 communities participated to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness and to strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships.

National Night Out is the largest, most cost-effective crime prevention campaign. Whether it is stopping illegal drug sales, making schools safer, locating missing children or remaining vigilant against terrorism, local law enforcement officials depend on the support of community networks to succeed.

This high profile, high impact National Night Out sends a message to criminals, letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. The active involvement of citizens and the presence of law enforcement in our communities is a winning combination that makes and keeps neighborhoods safe.

The Stupak-Reichert resolution expresses Congress' support for community crime prevention and asks that the President focus Federal attention on this issue. I urge all our Members to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the Most Reverend James H. Garland on the 25th anniversary of his Episcopal ordination and the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination. For 50 years Bishop Garland has served the Lord, the Catholic Church, and countless members in his parishes. For 13 years Bishop Garland served the Diocese of Marquette, which remains today a church that is intrinsically linked to the spirit of the Upper Peninsula.

Bishop Garland received his bachelor's degree in education from Ohio State University in 1953. During that year he began studies at the seminaries of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on August 15, 1959. Following ordination, Bishop Garland served in several parishes and directed offices of Catholic Charities in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio, as well as the Archdiocesan Office of Catholic Charities. Bishop Garland also went on to receive a master's degree in philosophy from Mount Saint Mary's Seminary of the West in 1960, and a master's degree in social work from Catholic University of America in 1965.

On June 2, 1984, Bishop Garland was appointed to the Episcopacy by Pope John Paul II and ordained Titular Bishop of Garriana and Auxiliary to the Archbishop of Cincinnati on July 25, 1984. He has also directed the Archdiocesan Departments of Community Services and Pastoral Services of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

On November 11, 1992, Bishop Garland was installed as the eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan--a diocese rich in history, rich in faith and rich in the Lord's spirit. During his tenure as Bishop of Marquette, Bishop Garland became known throughout the diocese for his service, his generosity, and the cookies he baked for volunteers. My hometown church, the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Menominee, Michigan, resides in the Diocese of Marquette and I am personally grateful for Bishop Garland's steady leadership and strong commitment to the members of the diocese.

Bishop Garland implemented the Legacy of Faith endowment program to develop faith formation and to keep Catholic schools throughout our diocese on solid financial ground. My wife, Laurie, and I are proud to serve as two of the bishop's ambassadors, helping to preserve Catholic faith throughout the Upper Peninsula.

Bishop Garland's committed work ethic extended beyond the Diocese of Marquette as well. He served on the Administrative Committee and Board of the United States Catholic Conference/National Conference of Catholic Bishops; he served as chairman of the United States Catholic Conference Committee for the Campaign for Human Development from 1992 to 1995; and he served as chairperson of the Bishops of Region VI of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1995 to 1997.

Bishop Garland retired as Bishop of Marquette on December 13, 2005, but he remains active in spreading the Word of the Lord, serving as executive director of the Bishop Baraga Association and writing articles for the diocesan Catholic newspaper. He also continues to care for those in the Marquette community as a hospice volunteer and enjoys reading, music, and gardening in his retirement.

Madam Speaker, the story of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is deeply intertwined with the history of the Diocese of Marquette. Bishop Garland's years of service are now an important part of this history. In honor of the countless lives he has touched, his dedication to the Roman Catholic Church, and his unwavering faith in the Lord I would ask, Madam Speaker, that you and the entire U.S. House of Representatives join me in recognizing the Most Reverend Bishop James H. Garland on the 25th anniversary of his Episcopal ordination and the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination.