Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately Congresswoman Biggert is unable to be here today, but I would like to take this opportunity to recognize her work on this legislation.

As an original cosponsor, I know she has worked hard to ensure that the section 811 program continues to be an effective solution to the housing needs of very low-income persons with disabilities.

There are nearly 4 million non-elderly, disabled adults in the United States that are in need of housing assistance. The section 811 program is the only Federal program that allows persons with disabilities to live independently in the community by increasing the supply of affordable rental housing with the availability of supportive services.

H.R. 1675 restructures the section 811 program in a way that provides for a continued creation of permanent supportive housing and provides rental assistance that would make housing affordable for very low- income individuals with disabilities.

This bill will improve the section 811 disabled housing program by streamlining and simplifying the development of HUD section 811 properties and makes changes to the program to encourage integration and mixed-use developments, such as low-income housing tax credits and HOME program funds. This legislation is identical to H.R. 5772, which passed the House during the 110th Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Representative Grayson and the nearly 300 cosponsors of H.R. 2245, the New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal Act. As we know, this legislation authorizes the President, on behalf of Congress, to issue gold medals to Neil Armstrong, Edwin ``Buzz'' Aldrin, Michael Collins and John Glenn in recognition of their accomplishments, and pave the way for future missions.

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, we recognize President Kennedy's vision to support the great explorers of our lifetime, like the Christopher Columbuses, the Magellans and the Marco Polos before them. President Kennedy proved to the world that the free enterprise system of the United States of America would outperform the socialist Soviet Union in the international challenge of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.

One of the highlights of my life was the opportunity to work on the Apollo program as a young man when McDonnell Douglas was the contractor for the third stage. What a privilege it was to work alongside the thousands of men and women who helped make that historic achievement possible.

And you know, from a personal perspective I will always cherish this little medallion that they gave each member of the launch team, the metal part of which was carried to the Moon and back by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

You know, it's one of those points in time where everyone old enough to be aware of their surroundings knows where they were when man took that historic first step. It was before, as Congressman Grayson said, the largest viewing audience in history. I was holding up my 3-month- old daughter in front of the TV so that she might some day be the last person living to have witnessed that historic thing. Just what a marvelous event it was for all.

Let us remember also that their legacy continues in today's exemplary space shuttle workforce, those who safely and efficiently worked to ensure the completion of the shuttle's remaining flight manifest. As we hear many times, America's space program is the only thing for which the United States is undeniably, unequivocally, and universally respected for around this globe.

We sometimes take for granted the thousands of technological spinoffs we enjoy from space exploration, but let us take a moment to recognize the explorers of our lifetime and appreciate how all of us have been inspired by their pursuits and benefited from America's advances in space.

Hopefully we will continue to maintain the leading edge in space under the leadership of President Obama.

I yield back my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, and I want to thank our good friend, the Congressman from Arizona, for filing this well-intentioned but badly misguided amendment. It's not often that Members of Congress get the opportunity to specifically vote to make government more accountable. By defeating this amendment, you will have done that. You will have cast a vote, a stand-alone vote to make government more accountable.

The amendment strikes funding for a government accountability program known as the Activity-Based Total Accountability Institute. Government accountability is not a partisan issue. Thank goodness it's a bipartisan issue. The Florida legislature established this Activity- Based Total Accountability Institute on a strong bipartisan vote. In fact, it was a unanimous vote of the State legislature. And I am proud to point out that eight Members of the current Congress, Republicans and Democrats, supported this legislation when it was first passed by the Florida legislature. Those Members include the likes of outstanding congresspeople, Representative Wasserman Schultz, Representative Kendrick Meek, Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Representative Ron Klein, Representative Suzanne Kosmas, Representative Connie Mack, Representative Adam Putnam and Representative Gus Bilirakis. We joined together in a bipartisan fashion because we know we need a greater accountability in government and in how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and this was a way to accomplish that.

I think we can accomplish much when we come together and reach across party lines for greater accountability and for the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars. That's why we did this; and that's what we did when we passed it; and hopefully that's what we will continue to do here today.

Activity-Based Total Accountability has been proposed as model legislation by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Nation's oldest and largest bipartisan and nonprofit association of State lawmakers. Also the National Conference of State Legislators recommended that it be model legislation in each and every State. In fact, ALEC called it ``the best legislation to come out of any State capital in over a decade.'' If you support better government accountability, you should vote against this amendment, obviously.

Activity-Based Total Accountability helps us better understand unit- based accounting--what it does, what it costs the government to accomplish a certain task, how does that compare on a State-by-State basis. That's what ABTA tells decision makers, and that's what it tells the public. It's the most useful kind of cost accounting which presents the cost for all government activities in a format anyone can understand. Taxpayers can see line by line what government actually accomplishes with its resources.

Florida put $750,000 into the establishment of the institute to gather budget data from every State. The comprehensive analysis of apples to apples will help every State spend its resources more efficiently and the Federal Government's as well. Defeating the amendment will allow the program to continue, and I would respectfully request that you join me in voting ``no'' on the amendment.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks as well as in accordance with Clause 9 of Rule XXI, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks for my Congressional District as a part of H.R. 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

Requesting Member: Congressman Bill Posey

Project Funding Amount $600,000

Bill Number: H.R. 2847

Account: COPS, Technology

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Palm Bay, Palm Bay, FL

Address of Requesting Entity: City of Palm Bay, 120 Malabar Road, Palm Bay, Florida 32907.

Description of Request: In order for our law enforcement officers to respond to critical incidents quickly and effectively, they need the proper resources. This funding would be used to help the City of Palm Bay outfit a vehicle with technology to provide on-site command, control, and coordination during critical incidents. Accordingly, the command center will be used as a headquarters for on-scene investigations and provide various agencies the necessary resources required to respond and complete missions.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks as well as in accordance with Clause 9 of Rule XXI, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks for my Congressional District as a part of H.R. 2997, the Agriculture Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

Requesting Member: Congressman Bill Posey (along with other Representatives)

Project Funding Amount $1,217,000

Bill Number: H.R. 2997

Account: National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: University of Florida

Address of Requesting Entity: University of Florida, Institute for Food and Agriculture Sciences, Post Office Box 110180, Gainesville, FL 32611-0180

Description of Request: For critical continuation and expansion of vital Citrus Greening and Citrus Canker research to improve technologies for treatment and detection, methods of movement and containment, and means to control and eliminate these devastating diseases.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks as well as in accordance with Clause 9 of Rule XXI, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2010.

Requesting Member: Congressman Bill Posey

Bill Number: H.R. 2647

Account: Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Defensewide

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Soneticom

Address of Requesting Entity: 1045 South John Rodes Boulevard, West Melbourne, Florida 32904

Description of Request: This technology is important to helping our military and would be used for enhancement of a currently installed system for continued operations. $3 million is provided for this program.

Madam Speaker, I rise to express my strong concerns about the bill before us--a bill which no one has read. This morning members of Congress were told about the addition of 309 pages that were added to this bill early this morning. No one has read it.

Why the rush? Why does Congress have to pass this bill today, before everyone can read it and understand what this new language is doing? When Congress did this with the stimulus bill earlier this year it was discovered after passage of that bill that it contained bonus payments for AIG employees. But this bill, affecting every segment of our economy, has much broader applications. We and the American people have a right to know what is in this bill, how it will affect the American people, and what impact it will have on our economy. Nobody knows that this morning. We do not even have a cost estimate on this latest version of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). No one knows what it will cost. My rule is that if you are not going to give Members of Congress the time to read the bill, a cost estimate of the bill, and an ability to understand its impact on the taxpayers and American businesses, I'm going to vote no.

Supporters of the bill claim that it will only cost the average American $175 per year. This is a fatally flawed estimate for three reasons: (1) this figure is derived from a selective reading of the CBO cost estimate, (2) 3 days after the CBO issued their cost estimate 300 additional pages were added to the bill, and (3) at 3 a.m. last night another 309 pages were added to the bill. This bill has grown by nearly 70% since CBO's cost estimate was prepared.

The CBO estimate has serious deficiencies. In fact if you read the entire CBO estimate you would find that they highlight the deficiencies, deficiencies that are being conveniently ignored. The most critical flaw is that CBO picked a year as the basis for their estimate that is before the most costly parts of the bill take effect. This excludes hundreds of billions of dollars from the cost estimate. The footnote on page 4 of the estimate says that they exclude from the costs estimate the ``decrease in gross domestic product (GDP)'' resulting from the bill. Most estimates conclude that it will result in $1-$2 trillion in lost economic activity in the U.S. translating into a loss of over 2.5 million jobs. The CBO fails to incorporate tens of billions of increased costs to the states which will be passed on through higher state taxes. CBO lists a number of other cost estimate omissions.

When you factor in the deficiencies of the CBO estimate most analyses put the cost estimate at between $750 and $3100 per year. Washington has a habit of underestimating the cost of legislation. They are doing so again today. That's why this bill was significantly changed last night and rushed to the floor before Members of Congress have had a chance to read the bill and understand what the changes do.

This 1200-plus page bill started out as legislation aimed at improving the environment but it has become a means of raising money to pay for larger, more intrusive government while having little impact on the global environment.

The idea behind ``Cap and Trade'' is to purposely increase the cost of energy that is produced using fossil fuels like natural gas, coal or petroleum. Nearly 85% of electricity across the U.S. is generated using these sources of fuel. The price of everything you buy will go up, from gas to food, because there will be a hidden national energy tax built into the price of everything.

Senator Cardin (D-MD) told the Washington Post that, ``This is the greatest revenue generating [read tax] proposal of our time.'' This bill moves money from the family budget to Washington.

Estimates are that this bill will have a negligible effect on the global environment. It is estimated that if enacted, this bill will lower the global temperature two-tenths of one percent. This is equivalent to the annual fluctuation in global temperatures. Also, this fails to acknowledge the fact that China, India and the rest of the developing world are exempt from such regulations and their emissions will far exceed any reductions that result from this bill.

This costly national energy tax will put American products at a competitive disadvantage and further erode the ability of the American worker to compete with China, India and the rest the developing world. The result will be the loss of millions of jobs as more businesses move to countries that will not impose these caps on their citizens. Businesses that otherwise might have built facilities in the U.S. will instead open up factories in countries that are exempt from these regulations. It's no wonder China has called for the U.S. to pass this energy tax bill. With a national unemployment rate nearing 10%, it's estimated that this tax will cost Americans another 2.5 million jobs.

I oppose this plan and will vote against it because it is not good for the American worker, small businesses, seniors on fixed incomes, or families struggling to pay their bills and mortgages. Washington doesn't need more of your money, it needs to control spending. Europe adopted a similar plan several years ago and it forced jobs to leave Europe, caused electricity prices to skyrocket, and they have little to show for the costs. It's all pain and no gain. Check out the non- partisan Tax Foundation's online energy tax calculator (www.taxfoundation.org/capandtrade) to figure out how much it may cost you.

Finally, it is a sad day for the Congress and the American people that the Speaker chose to rush this bill through the Congress without an open debate and amendment process. Members of Congress asked that 224 amendments be allowed to be considered to this bill. Unfortunately, the Speaker allowed only one amendment to be offered. Among the amendments denied were one to: (1) suspend the bill if gas exceeds $5 per gallon; (2) suspend the bill if electricity prices increase more than 10%; and (3) suspend the bill if unemployment exceeds 15%. These and many more amendments were reasonable and worthy of consideration. They should have been allowed, as they are in the best interest of the American people.

Again, I rise in strong opposition to this bill and urge my colleagues to vote down this bill. It will further harm our economy and slow our economic recovery.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 426, I was unavoidably detained while questioning a witness in committee. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my serious concerns about the bill before us today and about the lack of sufficient funding for NASA's next-generation human space flight.

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us has a $6.7 billion increase in spending over last year. That's a 12 percent increase over last year's spending.

And while the overall NASA budget gets a slight increase from last year, the budget for our Nation's next generation-human space flight vehicle constellation is cut by $566 million.

While lawmakers can talk about supporting space exploration, the bottom line is that the United States will soon yield its preeminence in space to Russia after the last shuttle flight, currently scheduled for 2010. This legislation does nothing to avert America's human space flight gap.

Those who follow our Nation's space budget realize what's at risk. Soaring rhetoric and good intentions of playing financial catch-up later with space funding can easily surrender to other competing initiatives. Delays and studies are the road to the graveyard for many legislative proposals.

The bill's $566 million cut for our next generation human spaceflight vehicle sends the wrong message to the hardworking men and women who are developing Constellation now. It sends the wrong message to college students who are seeking advanced engineering and science degrees. It tells them that human spaceflight is not really a priority in this country. This message will not go unnoticed in Beijing or in Moscow.

This Congress passed the stimulus bill in February, including an additional $400 million for the Constellation program. Yet, today, the bill before us essentially takes all of that funding back and then some--poof--like a shell game. If the inadequate funding level for NASA that is contained in this bill is allowed to stand as it is, then our Nation's human spaceflight program will be dealt a very, very serious blow.

For a comparison, let's look at several of the spending items in the bill. The bill would increase funds for the COPS program by $252 million over 2009, and this is on top of over $1 billion in the stimulus bill. The bill spends $7.4 billion on the census, an increase of $4.2 billion over last year. The bill increases funding for the National Science Foundation by $446 million over 2009 to promote scientific research by students. Yet it cuts funding for human spaceflight, a fountainhead of patents and scientific discovery.

I would say to the chairman of the subcommittee, I appreciate the work that you do and the challenges before you. Without a robust manned space program, the United States cannot maintain our leadership in space nor can we carry crews beyond low Earth orbit. It is for this reason that we must work to restore the funding that was cut from this program.

I look forward to working with you and with my colleagues over the next several months to restore the funding so that we can get our Nation's next human spaceflight vehicle back on track. A cut of this magnitude at this critical stage cannot and absolutely must not be allowed to stand.

Thank you, Congressman Wolf, for that kind introduction.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to take a brief moment and thank Chairman Mollohan and Ranking Member Wolf for their bipartisan commitment to fully fund America's manned space program.

Of course, I want to thank Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Lewis for bringing this bill to the floor and for allowing this process to work like it is supposed to.

The security of our great Nation and of the world will be enhanced because of their efforts to provide our country and the world with vehicles for our future Christopher Columbuses, Magellans and Marco Polos.

Offered By: Mr. Posey

Amendment No. 47: In the item relating to ``National

Aeronautics and Space Administration--exploration'', after

the first dollar amount insert ``(increased by

$566,000,000)''.

In the item relating to ``National Aeronautics and Space

Administration--space operations'', after the first dollar

amount insert ``(increased $250,000,000)'', and after the

third dollar amount insert ``(increased by $250,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Posey

Amendment No. 64: Amendment to the end of the bill:

Additional General Provision

The amounts otherwise provided by this Act are revised by

the following:

In the item relating to ``NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE

ADMINISTRATION--EXPLORATION'', after the first dollar amount

insert ``(increased by $566,000,000)''.

In the item relating to ``NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE

ADMINISTRATION--SPACE OPERATIONS'', after the first dollar

amount insert ``(increased by $250,000,000)'', and after the

third dollar amount insert ``(increased by $250,000,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in condemning yesterday's shooting at the National Holocaust Museum which claimed the life of museum security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Johns' family and friends during this difficult time.

Mr. Johns' bravery and self-sacrifice saved lives--many innocent lives. His actions prevented this unthinkable attack from further harming the many families, including many young children, who were visiting the museum yesterday.

Mr. Johns' successfully defended our Nation's most prominent monument built to religious and ethnic tolerance from the worst kind of hate and delusion. Anti-Semitism and harming innocent civilians have no place in a civilized society. He will be remembered always as an American hero and his family should be proud of his sacrifice for others.

Mr. Chair, as every Member of the House knows, our country is confronted with an enormous deficit of almost $2 trillion this year alone, which is in addition to the existing mountain of national debt and a projected debt of $1.3 trillion for next year. At some point, this Congress needs to face the reality that you cannot continue to spend as though the bill will never come due.

The evening news is bleak with continuing housing foreclosures and the highest unemployment rate in decades. The Federal Reserve is exercising emergency lending powers. Foreign investors, including the government of China, are concerned about buying more U.S. government debt. But the majority in this body is living in a different world. The correct response would be for the government to live within its means, just as American families must do. For some reason, the leadership in Washington insists on going full-speed ahead in its binge spending, adding perks for public employees and billions of dollars in foreign aid spending while Americans continue to lose their jobs. Today's Foreign Relations Authorization Act is another case-in-point of Washington out of touch.

While American families are cutting back on their spending, this legislation would grant an arbitrary 35 percent increase in the State Department's basic salary and operations account, and at a time when more Americans are unemployed than at any time in the past 25 years this bill provides a 23 percent pay raise for Foreign Service Officers. In committee, Democrats voted down an amendment to cap the increases in the bill at the annualized rate of inflation. The bill also cuts the budget for the Office of the Inspector General--the one who is to keep a watchful eye on where Americans' tax dollars are spent.

The bill also increases funding for the United Nations (U.N.) by 30 percent over the current year's funding. In the past, any additional U.S. taxpayer funding has been tied to further reforms. This bill actually asks the U.N. for no reforms and provides it $100 million more for the peacekeeping activities than they asked for. I have cosponsored U.N. reform legislation and believe it is critical that we enact these reforms of an entity that has serious waste, fraud and abuse problems. As one of ninety cosponsors of H.R. 557, the United Nations Transparency, Accountability and Reform Act, I believe Congress should withhold funding to the U.N. unless some serious reforms are undertaken. Instead, today's bill rewards them with significant increases in funding. The bill also includes language affirming controversial international agreements for which the United States is not even a party, such as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. This bill funds the Human Rights Council which includes the following nations as members of the council: Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, China and Cuba. This is ludicrous.

H.R. 2410 contains worrying language that would create a new office with a vague directive of promoting ``women's empowerment internationally.'' While I support ensuring that women are treated equitably, it is important to understand what this provision will lead to. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the Foreign Affairs Committee stating that she would use the State Department to ``. . . protect the rights of women, including their right to reproductive health care . . . [which] includes access to abortion.'' Thus, money will be spent within this office to promote abortion overseas, a policy which tens of millions of Americans object to.

I urge my colleagues to vote against this legislation and work for the good of those whom we represent by reining in the spending. Congress should authorize and appropriate funding sufficient for conducting a strong foreign policy, rather than increasing government salaries, expanding the size of government foreign aid programs, and rewarding the U.N. with more money than they asked for.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the accomplishments of 26 distinguished high school students from Florida's Fifteenth District. I was proud to award the Congressional Medal of Merit to these students during a ceremony at the Brevard County Government Complex on June 1, 2009.

These graduating seniors were nominated by their schools for the Congressional Medal of Merit. To be nominated, each student demonstrated exemplary citizenship and academic excellence throughout their high school careers.

These young men and women have demonstrated an outstanding sense of service to their peers, schools and communities. Honoring their achievements with the Congressional Medal of Merit is a privilege and I congratulate each of them along with their parents, family, teachers and community. Together, this group of students represents the best and brightest America has to offer:

Brevard County: James Brandenburg, Cocoa High School; Lance Freeberg, Viera High School; Charlene Gracia, Florida Air Academy; Michelle Grubka, Melbourne High School; George Holstein Ill, Community Christian School; Ashley Lipscomb, Rockledge High School; Bryan Maxwell, Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy; Aaron Mayer, Merritt Island High School; Lindsay Miller, Palm Bay High School; Jared Mushell, Eau Gallie High School; Bao-Uyen Nguyen, Edgewood Jr./Sr. High School; Katherine Nickerson, West Shore Jr./Sr. High School; Erica Robes, Merritt Island Christian High School; Trever Steele, Brevard Christian School; Harry Tuazon, Bayside High School; Noel Turner, Satellite High School.

Indian River County: Margaret Cancelosi, Saint Edward's School; Kyrie Carlson, Indian River Charter High School; Tim Martinelli, Sebastian River High School; Sarah Sarnoski, Vero Beach High School.

Osceola County: Jarrett Lane, Osceola High School; Priscila Quito, Gateway High School; Antinia Taylor, New Dimensions High School; Roy Tyson, Harmony High School; Joseph Williams, St. Cloud High School.

Polk County: Nichole Periquito, Ridge Community High School.