Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the Democratic leadership in Congress continues to push a flawed, massive government takeover of health care that is going to cost more than $1 trillion. What's more, their health care overhaul will drive up health care costs for families and small business, and it will disrupt the doctor-patient relationship. States already straining under runaway budgets will be forced to cut services or to raise taxes when they're forced to raise Medicaid eligibility.

As a doctor, I saw the problems with our current health care system, and I saw the amazing innovation which makes the U.S. the envy of the world. Let's build on what works. We can achieve commonsense solutions in a bipartisan way, but the Pelosi health care bill focuses on where we disagree.

House Republicans put forward a commonsense plan to revitalize the American health care system--to lower costs for families and businesses and to improve quality. Our plan puts patients first, and it puts doctors and patients back in control of decisionmaking. Our plan makes health care more affordable and more accessible, with patients being able to see the doctors of their choice.

We can do better. Adopt the Republican plan.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support our Armed Forces and veterans and fully realize the debt of gratitude that our nation owes the men and women who defend our country. Mindful of this commitment, I thank the World War II veterans for their commitment and unselfish service to America. I would especially like to thank the Louisiana HonorAir organization for their hard work and dedication to these veterans and recognize October 24, 2009 as ``Louisiana HonorAir Day.''

In 2007, Louisiana HonorAir began flying WWII veterans three hours on a chartered flight from Louisiana to our nation's Capital free of charge. In Washington, D.C., the groups toured the WWII Memorial, Korean Memorial and Vietnam Memorial and attended wreath laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Then, as quickly as they came, the groups returned home to a hero's welcome in Louisiana where family and friends gathered to show their appreciation one more time. For many veterans, it was their first time to tour the WWII Memorial because of its recent construction, while for others it was their only chance to see these sights dedicated to the great service they provided to our nation.

Having met many of these groups in Washington, I continue to be awestruck by the reactions of these brave men and women who stood up to tyranny in Europe and Asia. Many rarely talk about their service, instead, looking to happier times. However, in the company of others who nobly served, they are able to frankly discuss their experiences, share tearful stories and remember comrades missing or killed in action. I am grateful to have worked with Louisiana HonorAir and I salute them, as well as the courageous men and women who stood to protect America.

Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering the brave men and women who defended America and in commending Louisiana HonorAir by recognizing October 24, 2009 as ``Louisiana HonorAir Day.''

I thank my friend from California for his kind comments. There are so many aspects to trade that we really need to discuss. First of all, if you look at our economy, the United States economy has been a consumer-driven economy. We have seen imports vastly exceed exports in this country.

All the economists are talking about getting back to some sort of global trade balance and current accounts balance. And the only way to do that is for us to increase our exports. That won't happen without trade agreements.

I can give you some examples from my home State. For instance, exports from Louisiana following the NAFTA agreement rose 271 percent since 1994. Since 2004, with the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement, exports from Louisiana rose 219 percent. With the Singapore-U.S. Trade Agreement we saw a 53 percent increase in exports since 2004. Morocco, 99 percent increase in exports since 2006. And with CAFTA we've seen a 43 percent increase since 2006.

Now the fact of the matter is 96 percent of the world's consumers live outside the United States.

Those are the facts I have.

I think it's important to recognize that jobs related to exports pay, on average, 13 to 18 percent more than non-exporting jobs. These are benefits for families in the United States. These are benefits that create jobs in the United States.

I know I walked in a little late into this discussion and you were discussing the foreign policy implications of this, and specifically with Colombia, but I would submit that it's even broader than that because as President Obama and his administrative team travel around to the world's capitals to deal with very difficult foreign policy problems, whether it's in Central Asia or in the Middle East and so forth, even in Africa, in these capitals those leaders are going to want to talk about trade and expanding trade opportunities because it all comes down to economic opportunity in the long run.

If we're not prepared with a trade agenda to move forward with the leaders in these respective areas, then our foreign policy is going to be a failure.

I want to add as we look at this difficult economy and the significant unemployment we're seeing here in the United States, it's important to keep in mind that 97 percent of U.S. exports are from small and medium-size businesses.

Here we are. If we want to grow small business jobs, the best way to do it is to expand our exports and that will help us also expand our manufacturing capacity. Actually, the world is moving forward and we're sitting still here.

If you look at the TransPacific Partnership, everybody's waiting on the United States to move forward with this agreement. It's a critically important agreement to work out with Chile, Peru, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Brunei.

We're also looking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. This is where we need to be engaged with China and these Eastern countries, because we have huge, huge trade opportunities and job growth opportunities by expanding these agreements.

So I think it's clear that this administration needs to come forward with a comprehensive trade policy to Congress and let's get to work on creating this liberalized trade order because that is the element of soft power that you were emphasizing earlier. And it is probably our most important instrument of power as we move on the global stage.

With that, I will yield back.

Very briefly, I would say my friend from Texas is absolutely right. This is about growing U.S. jobs and creating job opportunities for our small businesses.

As these export markets open up and that greater connectivity is created between our country and our trading partners, the standard of living goes up in those countries and those markets expand. It creates more opportunities for our small businesses to create jobs here and to continue to export.

So, at a time where we are having these discussions, when this country is seeing high unemployment, we are coming out of a recession, we should be vigorously pursuing these types of agreements.

And what are we hearing now from this White House? Silence. Silence. It makes no sense.

Well, I thank my friend. I am amazed at all the reading you have done already with this bill and the scholarship that you have put in today. It says a lot about your character as a judge and a lawyer, having dug into the details of this.

Here we are, talking about the Pelosi health care plan just released today, all just under 2,000 pages of it. I commend my colleague for shedding some light on just a couple of the provisions in this. There are so many unintended consequences, most likely, in this bill, and I have not had the kind of time to go through it that even my colleague has had so far, but we will be reading this bill and going through it very carefully.

Let me just say, before coming to Congress, I practiced medicine for about 20 years. I did open heart surgery, lung surgery, oftentimes doing three and four operations a day, caring for anybody who needed surgical care in my practice, whether they could pay or not. We're dealing with health care, one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy, something that affects every man, woman and child in this country. This is a kitchen table issue, if there ever was one, a very important issue. What gives me great distress is that we're on the wrong path. We're not going to lower the cost of health care for families and for small business owners. In fact, there is nothing in this bill that is going to actually drive down the cost of health inflation. Those increases in premiums, double-digit increases in premiums year after year that families and small business owners are seeing, there is nothing in there that will do this.

The sad thing is, I think Republicans and Democrats could agree on a number of areas where we could work together that would actually make a difference and bring those costs down, yet the decision was made by the leadership to ignore these things. The whole idea was to create a new government plan, sort of modeled after Medicare, based on the same faulty financial footing that Medicare is currently struggling with today, and now we're going to double the liability to the Federal taxpayer based on all this.

This is a huge problem. What we see in this bill are increased taxes for families. The Pelosi health care bill, it's an increase in taxes on families and small businesses. It's an increase in taxes on health plans. It's an increase in taxes on all the research and innovation that have made American health care as great as it is today. Let's face it, we know health care is expensive. It's too expensive. We know there is waste in the system, and those things can be corrected. But we also know that we have the finest doctors, the finest nurses and the best hospitals, teaching hospitals and training facilities in the entire world. Patients come from all over the world to be treated in the United States, if they're lucky enough to be able to get here. Doctors from all over the world come here to train, to learn the latest techniques. All of that innovation and technology is at risk because of the tax provisions and the punitive approaches taken in these health care proposals. This is going to be a major step backwards.

I can talk about many, many instances where a new technology came out or a new pharmaceutical came out that made a huge difference in quality of life. Initially it was expensive, but with time, the costs went down. There are many, many examples of this. I will give an example. When I was in medical school, preparing to undertake a surgical career, I remember one of the operations we used to do the most was this big operation for ulcers. If you had an ulcer, a lot of times you had complications from that ulcer, either bleeding or you got obstructed in your intestinal tract or you had severe pain or even an ulcer perforated and caused you to get very, very sick, requiring emergency surgery. These were very devastating conditions. We had nothing to treat that, other than to do a massive operation, a major surgery under general anesthesia where you had to take out almost half the stomach and reconstruct all of it. Patients had all kinds of problems afterwards. I will never forget early on in my surgical training when a new drug came out, and everybody thought, Oh, my gosh. This is going to be great. This drug was called Tagamet. The generic name was Cimetidine. Now you can buy it over the counter, but back then it was expensive. Almost immediately upon the release of this drug, we quit doing most of those big stomach operations. We didn't have to do them anymore, except under extraordinary circumstances. So countless numbers of patients avoided surgery and had a much higher quality of life.

Now we've seen several other generations of these drugs come about that have made a tremendous difference for individuals, and it's cut the cost of health care. But the Congressional Budget Office doesn't recognize that because it works in an artificial 5-year window. It doesn't work based on the real world, which deals with the lengthy process of doing research and development to get these new technologies and these new pharmaceuticals out.

Think of coronary stents. Back when I started off, oftentimes when someone had a heart attack, they died. We had very little in the way of pharmaceutical treatments for heart disease. If you had blockage, there was nothing we could do about it. Then open heart surgery developed with coronary artery bypasses, and it was a big operation. Then it became more routine and less expensive over time, and patients have done very well following those operations. Then the advent of stents, where you go in, you have a stent put in a blocked coronary, you go home the same day, and you are feeling much better. We can actually stop a heart attack in progress by inserting a stent in a timely manner. Those advancements here in the United States are now being adopted abroad. They've made a huge difference. That innovation is at risk. This bill taxes businesses, taxes families, taxes innovation, taxes insurance plans. What happens when you tax insurance plans? Premiums go up. The CBO and other actuaries have said that on average, premiums for Americans are going to double and in some cases, triple. What's going to happen? That's going to put more of these insurance companies in a bind because their products would become untenable, and we're going to move to a single-payer health care system, run by the Federal Government with all the bureaucracy and the lack of innovation. And that's the goal here.

I can tell you, it is very distressing, as a physician who practiced for 20 years and saw the great things that we could do in health care, but I have also seen the problems. I can tell you, I, myself, have had health problems. I would still be doing open heart surgery and not standing here giving a speech tonight to the United States Congress if I didn't have a health problem. I developed a form of arthritis that basically ended my surgical career early. When I closed my practice down, we had a health plan. I tried to shift from the plan that we had with the same insurance company. We tried to shift from an employer- based plan to a family plan within the same insurance company. They knew everything about my history and records and everything else. Guess what: They denied my entire family and myself coverage, but because I knew how to negotiate within the health care system, I called the insurance company. They said, You have a preexisting condition. I said, I understand that. You have already been helping to treat that, and this is a continuous process. So why not just exclude my condition and at least insure my family? And after a lot of vigorous going back and forth with the insurance company, I convinced them to do that.

Americans should not be denied coverage based on preexisting conditions. Republicans have ideas where we can get the cost of that kind of insurance down for all Americans by creating competition and choice in the insurance marketplace, which this bill does not do. It will limit competition and choice. We can keep those costs down. We can make insurance much more accessible, and at the same time, take what I think our colleague from Texas mentioned earlier, take this kind of an incremental step-by-step approach so

that we don't create unintended consequences--we know what we're getting into--and build a system that's comprehensive that Americans can be proud of.

As my colleague said earlier, we have over 40 bills that move us in that direction. And how many hearings have we had on the Republican bills in the House Ways and Means Committee where I serve? None. None. These ideas have not been discussed, they have not been vetted, and furthermore, a lot of the ideas in this bill have not been thoroughly vetted. That's a problem. That's legislative malpractice in my mind. It's wrong, and the American public deserves better. This health care problem has been going on for too long, and there is a lot that we can do to solve it if we put our heads together.

I know there are some well-meaning friends across the aisle who want to work together on it, and I think that's what the American people want us to do, instead of an ideologically driven approach to a single- payer health care system, run by the Federal Government, which we know is going to run up massive deficits for this country, which we already are seeing now. It's going to stifle job growth, and it's going to hurt the American economy.

With that, I will yield back to my friend.

I thank my friend for yielding.

I'm really glad that you brought up Health Savings Accounts. First of all, Health Savings Accounts were created by a Republican Congress, so that was one of the things that Republicans did when we were in control of the Congress, among a few other things in health care; but one of the problems we've had with Health Savings Accounts, that I've heard, is that a lot of families can't put enough money into them to really make them meaningful.

You know, I introduced a bill that actually, really, raises the amount of money that you can put into one so that you actually, really, do save money year in and year out and do build savings.

Secondly, when you get to be a senior and when you go on Medicare, you can keep that Health Savings Account and can continue to fund it and can use it for things that Medicare currently doesn't cover. So many seniors have to buy supplemental insurance. You could use your Health Savings Account to fund that. So now you're using pretax dollars rather than really hard-earned, after-tax dollars for that health need. There are a number of other things that families could use these for.

Finally, upon death, you can pass your Health Savings Account on to your family without a tax consequence, and now you're really building savings across generations to take care of our health problems, putting families back in control of their health care destinies rather than, again, a big government, one-size-fits-all-kind of a program, such as what we see with the Pelosi health plan.

I yield back.

Mr. Speaker, as a heart surgeon, I saw patients firsthand in our current government-run programs, like Medicare, who lacked real access to a doctor, leaving them out of the system. Many of our Medicare patients and seniors out there know exactly what I am talking about.

So I ask the Democratic leadership, how can you cut $500 billion, a half-trillion dollars, from Medicare, and not hurt access and quality for our seniors? I also ask our Democratic leadership, how can you create a government-run health care takeover that fails to control costs or improve quality?

We can do better. I know we can do better. We can achieve commonsense solutions in a bipartisan way. But the current Democratic-led bills do not do that. They do not constitute meaningful reform.

We need to work together to strengthen Medicare, to put it on a better and sounder financial footing, to ensure that it will be there for our seniors when they need health care. We need to lower costs for all seniors, and for all Americans, for that matter, by increasing competition in the health insurance marketplace, promoting wellness programs and limiting frivolous lawsuits.

Let's put the doctor and patient back in control of health care.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Director of the Congressional Budget Office stated that seniors with current private Medicare plans could see their benefits cut or costs increase under one of the health care overhaul proposals currently being debated. Many seniors, including more than 140,000 in my home State of Louisiana, depend on these Medicare benefits for their health care.

Far too often, patients in our current government-run programs lack real access to a doctor. Now, under congressional Democrats' plans, they would see their benefits cut or higher costs, according to CBO, the official scorekeeper for Congress.

We can do better. We can achieve commonsense solutions in a bipartisan way. But the current bills in Congress focus on where we disagree. House Republicans have put forward a commonsense plan to revitalize the American health care system to lower costs for families and businesses and to improve quality.

Our plan puts patients first and their doctors back in control of health care decisions. Our plan makes health care affordable and more accessible with patients able to see their doctor of choice.

Let's work together to put the patient and doctor back in control of their health care destiny.

Madam Speaker, last week the President and the congressional Democrats began yet another drive to enact their sweeping overhaul of American health care, H.R. 3200.

Following the President's address to Congress, I urged the President to work with Republicans to lower the cost of health care for American families and small business. Commonsense

solutions and common ground do exist. Let me be clear. We can lower the cost of health care. But a new government-run bureaucracy is not the answer.

The President last week suggested reducing the growing number of frivolous lawsuits against doctors as one way to lower costs. Thus far, the congressional Democrats' plan still fails to mention medical liability reform. Right now, H.R. 3200 fails to meet the President's requirements, and it fails to meet the American people's requirements too.

If the President and congressional Democrats are serious about working together, we need to start over. We need to start over and scrap H.R. 3200. Working together, we can achieve real results to lower the cost of health care and increase access to a doctor for millions of Americans.

Mr. Speaker, this week congressional Democrats will continue to try to rush through a sweeping overhaul of American health care. And this follows the President's expensive stimulus plan currently mired in bureaucracy that has not prevented a national recession despite his pledge to save or create 3.5 million jobs. So, Mr. Speaker, I ask President Obama, where are those jobs?

Now their plan for health care overhaul includes a government-run bureaucracy that would put red tape between patients and their doctors. Far too often patients in our current government-run programs lack real access to a doctor, leaving them no recourse other than to seek emergency room care. Now Democratic proposals suggest lumping millions more Americans into these government-run systems to somehow improve the quality of care. This defies common sense. Instead, health care will be delayed and rationed, leaving millions of Americans without access to a doctor or quality health care.

Republicans have a plan to reduce health care costs for families and businesses and taxpayers and also maintain quality, and that's the best way for Americans to be more competitive and to spur job creation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 616, congratulating the Louisiana State University baseball team for winning the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I baseball national championship.

I want to thank my friend, Congressman Bill Cassidy, for sponsoring this resolution and for yielding time to me as well. I also want to thank the Education and Labor Committee for bringing it to the floor.

On June 24, the LSU Tigers defeated the top-seeded University of Texas Longhorns 11-4 in the third and final game of the College World Series to achieve their sixth national championship in baseball.

In only his third year as head coach, Paul Mainieri led the Tigers back into the national spotlight. The series was sealed by an amazing performance from Jared Mitchell, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the series and who was a first-round pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. Mitchell and fan favorite, pitcher Chad Jones, became the first two athletes to win both a College World Series and a BCS football national championship.

Mr. Speaker, I am especially proud of two players from my district. First of all, there is my cousin Mikie Mahtook. Mikie lost his dad when he was about 6 years old. His dad was also a very well-known college athlete at LSU, and Mikie has turned out to be a great young man. He was SEC All-Freshman outfielder. He is from Lafayette, my hometown.

I also want to congratulate Spencer Matthews from Lake Charles, also in my district.

This season, Mikie Mahtook gave an excellent performance in the outfield in addition to batting .450 with 13 home runs, 45 RBIs, 25 stolen bases, and multiple clutch hits, most notably in game 1 of the championship series.

Spencer recently represented the Thomasville Hi-Toms in the Coastal Plain League All-Star game, a wooden bat summer league for college players in Wilmington, North Carolina. He pitched a scoreless fifth inning in the game, allowing no hits and striking out two batters. Both student athletes are tremendous assets to the team and to southwest Louisiana.

Mr. Speaker, we must not forget that, foremost, these student athletes perform just as hard in the classroom as they do on the baseball field. I am proud to announce that 11 members of this national championship team were placed on the 2009 Southeastern Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll. Each student athlete must have at least a 3.0 grade point average to be recognized.

This championship is very special to the Louisiana State University system and to my great State of Louisiana. It is my honor to recognize Coach Paul Mainieri and the 2009 LSU Tigers baseball team for all of its accomplishments this season and for bringing home the College World Series title.

I also want to commend the families of these players, coaches and support staff and the very loyal, very vocal LSU baseball fans who have come to recognize Omaha as a home away from home.

I now ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

Geaux (go) Tigers.

Mr. Speaker, American families and small business owners are struggling with high health care costs. They're also struggling with access to a doctor; getting to see a doctor and establishing a relationship with that doctor so that you can really lead a healthier life-style, building the kind of trust that's necessary so that the doctor knows the patient and knows what it's going to take to lead them along a healthier pathway and having the patient trust the doctor so that the advice that they're being given is something that they will adhere to. American families are struggling, small business owners are struggling, and we have to do something about this.

Republicans believe we should reform health care, but we need to do it responsibly and in a very, very thoughtful way so as to not disrupt the system that we currently have. If you have health insurance that you like that leads to a relationship with a doctor, you can keep it. But we don't want to see a system completely devastated or disrupted. We want to build off of what works.

I am a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and we worked on the bill in the House which outlines the President's plan; and that bill doesn't do near enough to provide good, accessible health care. Furthermore, it's a very expensive bill. The Congressional Budget Office has just started looking at this and it's seeing a very expensive bill that's going to add significantly to the deficit.

As a physician who has practiced medicine for over 20 years, I look at this and I say, whoa, wait a minute, let's get this right. It's more important to get it right than to rush into something and do it very hastily and cause disruption in the health care system where we have some things that are working. One of the speakers earlier mentioned the fact that we've got in fact in effect the finest health care in the world. We've got the most highly trained doctors and nurses. We have people from all over the world coming here to train. We have those who live in other countries who come here to get their health care. But we have a cost problem, we have an insurance problem, and we need to fix that, and we need to make sure that insurance

coverage is meaningful and really leads to access to a doctor for every American.

Republicans have ideas on how to do this. It incorporates three basic principles: Information for you to make decisions for your family or for your small business, to make cost comparisons, to create transparency, information among physicians so that we don't duplicate tests and run up the costs. These are all important things. Information is very important throughout the system and we believe that we can incorporate this in a very cost-effective way.

Secondly, choice. Americans want choices. They like to shop. Let's give Americans a wide range of choices to meet their family needs or their small business needs in health care. If we do that, that will create competition and that will start to drive the costs down of health insurance premiums which we're all struggling with. It will make it more affordable and we'll get more people on it. We can address the uninsured by targeting our response as one of the previous speakers said.

Finally, we need to put families back in control of their health care destiny. There should be nothing between the doctor and the patient in this. That's the essence of good, high quality health care, and that's the only way we're going to control the cost ultimately, by fostering and strengthening that doctor-patient relationship and making it something that every American has. That's how we'll fix health care. Republicans have those ideas and many more and we'll be glad to share them as this debate goes further with the American public.

I thank my friend and colleague from Utah and my friend from Massachusetts for this courtesy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 2972, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 115 West Edward Street in Erath, Louisiana, as the Conrad DeRouen, Jr. Post Office. I'd like to thank the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for bringing this bill to the floor.

Today, it's really a distinct honor for me to celebrate the life of United States Marine Corps Reserve Second Lieutenant Conrad C. DeRouen, Jr., an extraordinary hero in World War II.

A native of Erath, Louisiana, a small coastal town in my district, DeRouen graduated from Erath High School, then went on to Southwestern Louisiana Institute, and subsequently received a master's degree from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee.

He married Marguerite Domingues of Abbeville, Louisiana, and at the age of 21 he volunteered to serve in the United States Marine Corps.

While fighting against the Japanese forces in Saipan, Mariana Islands, on July 3, 1944, Lieutenant DeRouen endured continuous exposure to enemy fire in order to guide tanks into areas of combat; and when the communications systems failed, DeRouen seated himself behind the turret in order to continue the resistance.

In another assault on Japanese forces later on July 8, 1944, Lieutenant DeRouen, despite being wounded in the neck by shrapnel from an enemy grenade, refused to leave his post with the 1st Battalion to seek medical assistance and, instead, continued to fight at his station. DeRouen eventually collapsed due to pain and loss of blood and was carried off the field of battle by his comrades. He finally succumbed to his wounds on his ship and was buried at sea.

Lieutenant DeRouen's actions were an inspiration to the marines he fought beside and were a contributing factor in the success of the campaign in the Mariana Islands. Because of his heroic death at the age of only 23 years of age, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his bravery in a combat zone, the second highest decorated Medal of Honor. Today I join the town of Erath in honoring this fallen hero with the dedication of their post office to the name of Second Lieutenant Conrad C. DeRouen, Jr. for being the highest decorated veteran in its history, a real hero and someone we should all honor.

As we honor Lieutenant DeRouen today, we also must recognize our present-day heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan, those who have fallen and those who continue to fight, and we thank them as well as their families and the families of all of our troops who put on a uniform.

I now ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 3183, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. These earmarks are contained in H.R. 3183:

Calcasieu River, Mile 5.0-14.0, Cameron Parish

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, CAP 204

Purpose: An earmark prioritizing the Calcasieu River, Mile 5.0-14.0, Cameron Parish project within the Corps CAP 204 program. Funds will be used to complete the design and implementation phase for the beneficial use of dredged materials project along the Calcasieu River. The project provides for the placement of shoal material from the Calcasieu River, Mile 5 to Mile 14, into the Cameron Creole Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. Additional beneficiaries include the Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District and the users of the Calcasieu River Ship Channel.

Calcasieu Lock, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Investigations

Purpose: An earmark of $1,000,000 to advance the authorized feasibility study for the Calcasieu Lock, LA project and to address economic and environmental studies. Traffic projections will provide the economic baseline expectations for future without project conditions. The benefit model will identify the inflection point for decision to shift shipping methods. The agricultural study will determine the benefits to agricultural areas from the improved drainage of the system. Once completed, these studies will form the basis for the justification of the project. The completion of feasibility will be necessary upon completion of the economic study. The Calcasieu Lock is a bottleneck on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system in Louisiana, causing delays in transportation and interstate commerce.

LCA--Ecosystems Restoration, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, General Investigations

Purpose: An earmark of $20,000,000 to advance the studies for the authorized Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Ecosystems Restoration, LA project. Funds will be used to begin BBBSR PED; conclude 1 feasibility study; and continue 10 studies. The Mississippi River Hydrology Study/ Delta Mgt feature will continue to be a priority and will include the hydrodynamics of the watershed of the Atchafalaya River. In accordance with the Water Resources Development Act, decision documents will be submitted to the ASA. Additional beneficiaries include residents of Louisiana.

Bayou Teche & Vermilion River, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Purpose: An earmark of $15,000 for the authorized Bayou Teche & Vermilion River, LA project. Funding will be used for surveys.

Bayou Teche, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Purpose: An earmark of $200,000 for the authorized Bayou Teche, LA project. Funding will be used for hydrographic surveys, real estate activities, P&S and environmental clearances.

Calcasieu River and Pass, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Purpose: An earmark of $17,968,000 for the authorized Calcasieu River and Pass, LA project. Funds are needed to keep international commerce moving without delays and light loadings. Funds will be used to operate, repair and maintain the Calcasieu River channel, dredge the bar channel, dredge mile 5 to 17 and Devil's Elbow, master plans, and maintenance of dredged material disposal facilities. Additional funds would be used to dredge the bar channel and Mile 17 to 29, foreshore rock dikes, construction and major rehabilitation of new disposal area per Dredged Material Management Program.

Freshwater Bayou, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Purpose: An earmark of $2,235,000 for the authorized Freshwater Bayou, LA project. The lock is crucial to support offshore oil industry to provide the necessary fuel, supplies and food to offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and also to support commercial fishing. The funds will be used for operations and maintenance and to dredge two critical reaches to support the energy infrastructure along the Freshwater Bayou, LA.

Mermentau River, LA

Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Purpose: An earmark of $1,913,000 for the authorized Mermentau River, LA project. Funding will be used to dredge and continue ongoing repairs along the Mermentau River, including operations of Catfish Point and Schooner Bayou Control Structures, maintenance of the control structures, including water control data systems, real estate, and dredge Mermentau Bar Channel, and boathouse replacement at the Catfish Point Control Structure.

Southwest Coastal Louisiana Hurricane Protection, LA Member requesting funds: Charles Boustany, Jr., MD (LA-07)

Entity receiving funds: US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, 7400 Leake Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118

Account: Army Corps of Engineers, Investigations

Purpose: An earmark of $1,000,000 to advance the authorized Southwest Coastal Louisiana Hurricane Protection, LA project. The Corps is directed to expedite the study under the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. The funds will be used to continue the feasibility phase. Activities include plan formulation, hydrology and hydraulic analyses, economic inventory, environmental analyses.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station in Acadia Parish, Louisiana, situated 2 miles east of Crowley, which celebrated its 100th year in operation on July 1.

Since 1909, the Rice Research Station continues to provide invaluable information, innovative techniques and new varieties of rice to

help Gulf Coast rice farmers feed the world. Originally a partnership between Acadia Parish, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, it was the first experimental rice research station in the country.

Now operating under the LSU AgCenter, scientists and farmers work in tandem to contribute to improvements in rice growing. A significant part of the center's funding comes from the Louisiana Rice Research Board, which receives a voluntary payment from area rice sales to ensure the station's work continues.

Rice farmers along the Gulf Coast face difficult conditions as weather and disease can devastate even the most promising crop. However, Louisiana's agricultural communities persevere and possess a richness of culture matched by none. The state's rice industry added $550 million to Louisiana's economy in 2008 alone. Rice farming will continue to be a way of life for thousands in Louisiana thanks to the work done at the Research Station.

Again, congratulations to the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station at Crowley, Louisiana, for helping rice farmers throughout the Gulf Coast for 100 years and counting.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Arthur Lee Henry, a true ``Citizen Hero'', as honored by the president of Victims and Citizens Against Crime.

Law enforcement officers in St. Landry Parish nominated Arthur for an incident that occurred in August of 2008, when he successfully disarmed a gunman on the campus of T.H. Harris Technical College in Opelousas, Louisiana. Upon seeing a man produce a gun and fire shots, Arthur quickly reacted and saved the lives of several innocent bystanders.

Arthur, a happily-married man with two children, proudly serves as a custodian at the technical college, where he has worked for twelve years. Coworkers describe him as ``a very professional individual'', ``a wonderful employee'', and ``an integral part of campus.'' Today, he will be attending a banquet to receive the award with the dean of the college, Allen Espree.

Again, congratulations to Arthur Lee Henry, one of Louisiana's ``Citizen Heroes'' for taking pride in the campus he proudly serves.

I thank our ranking member.

This bill is a unilateral blueprint for economic disarmament of the United States, let's be clear. Responsible energy production in the Gulf of Mexico is the backbone of American energy security and it creates good, high-paying jobs. This bill, their bill, dramatically increases taxes and will kill American jobs.

Now, I have repeatedly questioned Secretary Geithner about the job loss that's going to be caused by new taxes on American energy producers. I have asked the administration to prove its claim of saving jobs, and they can't do it.

And no one can define what a green job is and how these displaced workers will transition to one. Secretary Geithner says, ``The administration believes that oil and gas preferences distort markets by encouraging more investment in the oil and gas industry that would occur under a neutral system.''

Again, he goes on to say, ``To the extent the credit encourages overproduction of oil, it is detrimental to long-term energy security.'' Who in this country believes we have enough American-made energy?

If we want to move towards cleaner energy and renewable energy, as this bill purports to do, it's clear we need a transition strategy that involves natural gas. It must be part of that. This administration must stop its attack on American business and American independent oil and gas producers if we are going to make this a reality.

The American public deserves a comprehensive energy plan that creates jobs, spurs innovation, and unleashes American genius. That's how we will solve this problem.