Floor Statements

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

I want to take a moment just to respond to some of the comments that my friend on the other side made.

First of all, there are three ongoing investigations that are incomplete. There is the congressional investigation being conducted by multiple committees, incomplete; there is the inspector general investigation, still incomplete and ongoing; and there is a third, a criminal investigation.

I ask, first off, the question: Why start regulating now when we don't have all the information? Let's let all this go to conclusion and then institute the proper reforms.

I want to point out that in its report on targeting, the inspector general recommended the Treasury and the IRS provide guidance on how to measure political activity--not what constitutes political activity, how to measure it.

The proposed rule has been in development since 2011. Internal IRS emails between Treasury and IRS show that they were developing the rule off plan--off plan. That means beyond the sunshine of disclosure and out in the open--off plan. What do they have to hide? Why are they doing this? And this is actually before all the allegations came out.

Then, when asked at the markup of H.R. 3865--this legislation-- whether the proposed rule answers the inspector general's recommendation for the IRS and Treasury to provide guidance on measuring political activity, Tom Barthold, the chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, nonpartisan, said: The proposed rule does not address the measurement issue.

All we are seeking to do is to delay the implementation of this rule until we complete the investigation and we have all the facts, and then we can talk about what necessary reforms should be implemented.

But I think it is a bit premature to start putting forth regulations that will infringe on First Amendment rights. It is a very blunt instrument and a very dangerous path to embark upon at this point in time.

With that, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), my friend, a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

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

I welcome the opportunity to debate tax reform, but it is obvious to me that the gentleman hasn't read the bill yet, and I think you should read the bill before you debate tax reform. That will come on another day.

But I want to get back to why we are here today. I want to point out that this is a bipartisan IRS investigation by Congress. I want to also point out, in that regard, that the Ways and Means Committee document requests are bipartisan joint requests from Chairman Camp and Ranking Member Levin. Ranking Member Levin also admits that the investigation is incomplete.

So we have to get down to the bottom of this and let this investigation be done. The American people deserve to know what the truth is before we start issuing new law or having new regulations issued by the executive branch which will have the chilling effect of infringing on First Amendment rights.

One of the previous speakers on the other side mentioned the IRS spending money and manpower on this investigation. Yes, the IRS also spent $40 million on conferences over the period of the targeting.

One conference alone cost $4.1 million--waste. In 2012, the IRS spent $21.6 million on union activity--taxpayer dollars on union activity. Explain that to the taxpayer. The IRS also spends about $5 million annually on its full-service production studio in New Carrollton, Maryland.

The fact of the matter is that the American people are tired of the waste. They are tired, and they are also very concerned about the infringement on their First Amendment rights.

With that, I am very pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Renacci).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor), the majority leader of the House.

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

There is no denying that we may need reforms in this. There has been a lot of debate about this. The gentleman from California and I have had those kinds of conversations. But I would point out that the investigations are not complete, and they need to be complete.

The ranking member mentioned earlier in his comments money and donors as reasons for this rule, but neither the word ``donor,'' ``money,'' or ``contributions'' appears in the regulation.

It has been cited by the former Commissioner of the IRS that there was confusion. A confusion narrative emerged, but it was on the basis of no internal investigation at the IRS. There has been no interview of the employees, no facts established. We are still doing this investigation, from our standpoint, as is the inspector general.

We know from our investigation so far, having interviews with the Cincinnati employees, that they were not confused by the rules. They were processing the applications until interference came down from Washington, from higher up in the Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS. Employees then flagged Tea Party applications and others because of what they said were ``media interest,'' not confusion. Within 24 hours of the flagging for media interest, these Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS requested Tea Party applications.

Unlike the IRS, the Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating this matter, and we have not completed this investigation. But committee investigators have interviewed nearly three dozen IRS officials, from frontline screeners to the former commissioner. We have reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents. It is nearing completion, but this investigation is being held up.

A central figure in this investigation is Lois Lerner. We have not gotten the information that we have requested from Lois Lerner. We have put the newly confirmed Commissioner on notice that if he wants to move forward with reforms and do all the things he wants to do during his tenure at IRS, we have got to get this investigation done. We have to get the facts on the table, and this IRS has to come clean before the American people.

This agency occupies a central part of every single American's life. It affects every one of us. This agency has the power to destroy each and every one of us. And that is why the trust and the integrity needs to be restored.

All this rule does is shuts down speech. It does nothing that these gentlemen, our friends on the other side of the aisle, have mentioned in terms of reforms and cleaning up the election system and all that. No, it does none of that. It just simply stifles speech. I don't think that is appropriate.

We owe it to the American people and we owe it to the integrity of this institution to complete this investigation, put the facts on the table, and follow these facts wherever they may lead. This is not political. This is simply looking at the facts.

Rather than a recently drafted cure for confusion, this proposed rule, like I said, simply focuses to silence some of these small groups, silence conservatives.

As early as 2011, long before the inspector general audit, IRS officials in Washington, D.C., began talking about the proposed rule. We have email from Treasury to IRS, off plan--off plan. Now we are trying to get more of those emails because we want to know what they mean by ``off plan.'' What was really discussed and why was all this talked about before the allegations even came forward from these various groups?

This is not right. We need to get to the bottom of it. And rather than curing confusion, the proposed rule would simply silence these social welfare organizations and have a disproportionate effect on some of these right-

leaning conservative groups that were subject, in the first place, to the targeting.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

In the Nation Magazine, Nan Aron of the liberal judicial lobby, the Alliance for Justice, writes:

501(c)(4)'s are made up of over 86,000 mostly small

organizations nationwide that are active participants in

civic life.

They were not invented in the last election cycle. They have been around for generations. Their purpose isn't to hide donors. It is to advance policies.

Ms. Aron also adds:

These groups were involved in elections because it is often

impossible to advance a policy cause without being involved

in the political process.

This is from the liberal side of the political spectrum.

I am now pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana, Todd Young, a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam), our friend on the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, how much time remains?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).

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

I would, first off, mention that the regulation does not mention donors.

Secondly, I would like to point out that the ACLU itself said these requirements ``will pose insurmountable compliance issues that go beyond practicality and raise First Amendment concerns of the highest order.''

The gentleman mentioned the Treasury inspector general report, but he didn't quite precisely characterize what the inspector general said. The inspector general said in his report that the IRS, one of the recommendations is the IRS provide guidance on how to measure political activity, not what constitutes political activity.

So with those clarifications, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Speaker, let me simply close this debate by saying that, throughout all of this vigorous discussion, we want to make clear that this bill just simply asks for a 1-year delay in the implementation of this rule to allow ample time for Congress to complete its investigation and for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to complete its investigation, so that we have the facts on the table.

We shouldn't be jumping ahead of the gun and possibly, and likely, infringe on the First Amendment rights of so many people unless we have the facts.

The ranking member of the committee, Mr. Levin, has admitted that the investigation is incomplete. Let's just give this time. We owe it to the American people to do that. We owe it to the integrity of this institution to do our work prior to having these premature judgments come forward, especially when the rule does not address all the issues that have been discussed today.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I ask that we all vote in favor of this bill, support it, and move it forward. Let's hit that pause button. Let's complete the investigation and do our due diligence.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Acadiana High School Wreckin' Rams football team for recently being crowned Class 5A state champions by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association on December 14, 2013, in New Orleans. This team put on a show for the ages as it amassed a state finals rushing record of 634 yards night en route to its 77-41 win over the Parkway High Panthers in the state championship game. The 77 points by the Rams was a Class 5A record, including 42 points in the first half.

The game was a shootout with teams trading possessions frequently. Acadiana High School attributed its success to the veer offense which combined a strong offensive line with a formidable ground game. Evidenced by the fact four of the team's running backs gained over 140 yards under the bright lights of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the offensive scheme was a success.

This was Acadiana High School's third state championship. I'd like to congratulate Coach Ted Davidson, finals' Most Outstanding Player Edward Cormier, and the entire Wreckin' Rams team on their victory. This team made its community proud by the way it simply dominated its competition en route to becoming state champions.

I look forward to next year's football season and wish the Wreckin' Rams team good luck in defending its crown.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Vermilion Catholic High School Screamin' Eagles of Abbeville for recently winning Louisiana's Class 1A state championship over the Saint Frederick Catholic High School Warriors on December 14, 2013, in the Mercedes- Benz Superdome in New Orleans. With a convincing 63-18 win, there was no doubt which team deserved to be crowned state champions.

The Vermilion Screamin' Eagles team capped off its perfect 10-0 season with an offensive display that kept fans on the edge of their seats. After trailing 3-0 early in the game, the Screamin' Eagles answered by scoring 42 of the next 49 points. It was too much for Saint Frederick to overcome as Vermilion continued its scoring barrage on offense and special teams while its defense refused to give the Warriors an opening. Vermilion used a balanced attack as it passed for 269 yards while rushing for another 216 yards. Recording 16 first downs was key to establishing a new Class 1A championship record for most points in a game.

Congratulations to Coach Russell Kuhns and his team as this state championship comes on the ten year anniversary of the Class 1A crown Vermilion won in 2003.

I look forward to next year's football season and wish the Screamin' Eagles team good luck in defending its crown.

I thank the chairman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3521. I want to applaud Chairman Jeff Miller and the chairman of the Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, and their respective staffs on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Budget Committee for advancing this important bill and improving veterans' access to medical care.

I also appreciate the work that the two Senators from my home State, Senators Landrieu and Vitter, have been doing. They have pledged their support in the Senate, and we hope to get this done before the end of the year.

This last year, more than 66 Members of Congress signed our bipartisan, bicameral letter calling for progress on the 27 major medical facility leases proposed by the Department of Veterans Affairs during the past 2 years.

Among these leases are two clinics promised by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to Lake Charles and Lafayette in my congressional district. Without congressional authorization of these clinics, more than 3,000 south Louisiana veterans must travel in excess of 3 hours to receive medical care. A recent CBS Evening News story featured one of these wounded warriors in south Louisiana who goes without care because his family must miss work to drive him 3 hours. It is unacceptable.

The American people expect Congress to demonstrate that it can govern effectively in a bipartisan manner, and this is one way we can do it, by keeping our promise to our veterans.

The passage of this bill will improve medical access for more than 340,000 veterans in 22 States, and that's why I urge our House and Senate colleagues to send this bill to the President before the end of year.

Again, I thank the committee and Chairman Miller for his fine work on this and for giving me the opportunity to speak.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Louisiana, the Honorable Vance M. McAllister, be permitted to take the oath of office today.

His certificate of election has not arrived, but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard to his election.

Mr. Speaker, as dean of the Louisiana delegation, I would like to welcome Louisiana's newest Congressman, Vance McAllister, of the Fifth Congressional District.

Vance is a resident of Swartz, Louisiana, and has been married for 15 years to Kelly. They are the proud parents of five beautiful children.

Vance is a veteran of the United States Army and Louisiana National Guard. He is a self-made businessman and a well-regarded entrepreneur.

I look forward to serving with you, Vance, on behalf of the people of Louisiana.

Welcome to the United States House of Representatives.

Now I would like to yield to my good friend, Cedric Richmond.

I yield to the statesman from Louisiana, Mr. Vance M. McAllister.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to express my frustration. For many of us, the 2007 WRDA bill included the authorization for critical projects in our districts. Since the passage of that bill, the Army Corps of Engineers have begun interpreting the language and technical errors came to light.

Last night, through the Rules process, I attempted to right 2 exact wrongs by making technical corrections to the specific language in the 2007 WRDA bill with 2 precise amendments at no additional cost to the American taxpayer.

One of my amendments would have made a necessary technical change to the language of the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Feasibility Study to include the entire city of Delcambre, LA. As the study perimeters are currently written, they include only areas within 3 particular Parishes. However, there is one community, the city of Delcambre, LA that is divided by the Vermilion Parish line with half of the city and its structures in Vermilion, thus covered by the study, and the other half in Iberia Parish, not covered in the study. As the Corps began to move forward with study implementation, they made the decision to essentially cut the community, and structures, in half. This is not a sensible approach to ensuring a community's protection from hurricane destruction.

The second amendment would make a technical change to the Acadiana Gulf of Mexico Access Channel (AGMAC) an existing project, in order to reduce costs and improve the beneficial use of dredge material.

AGMAC was designed to allow for more efficient marine access from the Port of Iberia and other Acadiana Ports to the Gulf of Mexico by enlarging the existing channel to a project depth of twenty feet. Congress authorized the AGMAC project in the 2007 WRDA bill.

My amendment would propose removing the entire phrase related to Incidental Storm Surge Protection from the 2007 WRDA description of the project. The original authorization amount of the project in 2007 was $131 million, the current cost of the project is $310 million. The main reason for the radical difference in cost estimates, is the Incidental Storm Surge Protection language that was inserted at the request of one specific group. My amendment would remove this specific provision, with the understanding from the Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, that this change would allow the Corps to maintain the authorized spending level for this project, and most importantly, permit this suspended project to move forward.

Unfortunately due to an improper overreach back in 2007, a critical project has been on hold. This amendment would stimulate job creation, and the Acadiana economy by more than $50 million a year, has been delayed and now is the time to get it back on track.

Millions of federal and state dollars have already been invested in performing feasibility studies to ensure that the AGMAC project was worthy of authorization. With the change proposed in my amendment, we can ensure that these dollars are not wasted, but instead that this critical project is completed.

It is important to note that CBO found both of these amendments to be budget neutral. The amendment maintains the authorized spending level for both projects found in the WRDA 2007. There is NO additional cost to the American taxpayers. Instead these changes would a.) ensure that an entire town, not just half, is better prepared when the next hurricane hits the Gulf Coast, and b.) restore consistency when determining the use of dredge material from a navigation project.

Mr. Chair, I understand why we have a rules process. I understand why we no longer have earmarks. However it is inefficient and irresponsible to stop an amendment that makes a NECESSARY, technical, budget neutral language change. I look forward to working with the Chairman to devise a simple and time efficient strategy forward to fix these problems.

The Corps will continue to interpret legislative language the way it sees fit. If it is to the detriment of our constituents, is it expected that I will shrug that off and not fight that mistake? That's not what the people of South Louisiana elected me to do here in Washington.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment and the underlying bill.

I want to thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall and all of the committee for the tremendous work that was done to substantially improve the outlook on the use of the harbor maintenance tax because these moneys were not being used for dredging, as they were intended to be. And this has severely hurt American competitiveness.

If we are going to grow this economy, we have to expand international trade, and we have to have the maritime and port infrastructure to do so. It is essential that these funds are used for the intended purpose.

I also want to point out a couple of concerns I have. There are two issues in the 2007 WRDA bill, authorizations that require technical amendments that pertain to Louisiana authorizations, and I am hopeful that as we go forward on this, the chairman and the subcommittee chairman will work with me to achieve some resolution of this, because it is holding up Army Corps of Engineers projects, and it is something that would be very easy to fix, it is no cost, and adds nothing to the budget. They are purely technical adjustments that need to be made.

So I am hopeful we can work through this as we go forward.

Madam Speaker, ObamaCare is massively flawed and that's why it needs to be repealed or replaced with sensible reforms. Now after 3 years, some very smart administration lawyers have come to the conclusion that the employer mandate is too complex and it won't work. It is pretty clear to me and others across America that it is going to cause hourly workers across America to see a drop in the number of hours they work and will force even more businesses to hold off on hiring.

Frankly, the employer mandate needs to be repealed, not delayed. It should be fully repealed. That's why I introduced H.R. 903, to fully repeal it. Until we can do that, I will surely and gladly vote for this delay.

At a time when our economy is showing sluggish growth, horribly sluggish growth, with high unemployment, record unemployment, businesses across this country face uncertainty. Frankly, I will say this is about fairness. Getting rid of this employer mandate, if we delay it or even repeal it, it's about fairness to hardworking small business owners who are struggling every day, it's about hardworking workers who hope to keep their jobs or hope not to be reduced in their hours.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Ernest J. Gaines for receiving the National Medal of Arts from the President of the United States for his achievements as an author and teacher in the state of Louisiana.

When presenting this award, President Barack Obama praised Dr. Gaines for rising above early childhood adversities in the segregated rural south to make unique contributions to American literature. The President also thanked Gaines for spending ``more than 20 years teaching college students to find their own voices and reclaiming some of the stories of their own families and their own lives.''

Describing his journey as a novelist, Gaines once said, it was ``only when I tried to write about Louisiana, that I really put everything I had--my soul--and everything I had into it.'' Gaines said he traveled swamps, bayous, restaurants and bars throughout South Louisiana to prepare to write his classic novel, A Lesson Before Dying. Following its publication, he received a Pulitzer Prize nomination and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Screen play adaptations of three of his novels have also broadcast on CBS and HBO.

As writer-in-residence emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Dr. Gaines holds numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal and recognition by the Academy of Achievement, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Order of Art and Letters in France.

Louisiana is blessed to have this world-famous author among us. As a national treasure, his books will continue to inspire future generations of Americans.

Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chair, this is a fiscally responsible bill. It cuts $2.9 billion below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level and it is $4.1 billion below the President's request. That is an impressive achievement working in this very difficult fiscal environment that we are in today.

What I really find impressive about the bill and the work that's been done by the subcommittee chairman and the chairman and the Appropriations Committee is the fact that this bill sets some very good priorities. In fact, there is $2 billion for navigation projects and studies to advance American competitiveness in our ability to export, which is critical for growth in the U.S. economy.

It includes $1 billion of appropriation from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. This is a record level. This is $200 million more than what we saw in fiscal year 2013, something that is absolutely critical, because we know that our Federal ports, our harbors, are essential if we are going to be able to ship goods overseas. Getting the dredging funds is absolutely necessary because we lose economic efficiency. In fact, on the Mississippi River, every time we lose a foot of draft it is about $1 million per ship, per day, in lost economic activity.

If we are going to get this economy growing, create value, create jobs, we have to export. To export, we have to have the waterways that allow us to do that. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, nearly 1,000 Federal ports and harbors have not been adequately maintained due to inadequate budgetary allocations over time.

This bill now takes a strong step forward to correct that. I want to thank Chairman Rogers for this encouraging step forward for bringing attention to the fact that America's infrastructure--its ports, its locks, its dams, its inland waterways--are old and have not received the appropriate investment and have often been ignored. It has cost us time, it has cost us money, it has cost us economic growth, and it has cost us jobs.

Clearly, if we are expanding these trade agreements, looking at the Pacific with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, looking at a transatlantic agreement, we have to have our ports, our harbors, our waterways working at maximum efficiency if we are going to grow this economy.

Also, I want to compliment the chairman of the subcommittee and full committee as well for including language from my colleague, Congressman Rodney Alexander. This is language included in the bill requiring the Department of Energy to report on its plans to address the backlog of natural gas export applications, liquefied natural gas export applications, and to encourage the timely completion of this approval process.

Given the fact that so many of these applicants have been waiting for well over a year to get a decision from the Department of Energy, it is just unacceptable to have this kind of a backlog at a time when this is going to help us expand trade, help improve our trade deficit, it will help create jobs, it will help us with--actually, interestingly, help stabilize the price of natural gas so we will see more drilling, and help our energy security in the long-run.

So expediting this process, getting the Department of Energy to be held to account on the backlog of these permits is critically important because these companies have invested millions of dollars in this permitting process. To be sitting in limbo is just simply unacceptable.

I am very, very happy that Congressman Alexander's language has been included in this base bill, and I want to thank the chairman for doing this.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate High Tech Components, Inc. as the Acadiana Region recipient of the 2013 Lantern Awards.

The Lantern Award provides an opportunity to salute manufacturers for their outstanding contributions to the Louisiana economy and to their communities. Recipients are selected on the basis of their contributions over a period of time to the betterment of their communities, growth in the number of employees, and expansion of their facilities.

Owned by Frank's International, High Tech Components, Inc. has manufactured, repaired, and stocked the widest selection of Gate Valve Components in the Gulf Coast region for 26 years. The scope of manufacturing is broad which allows the company to machine something as small as a thimble to as large as a car.

In an ever changing and competitive industry, High Tech utilizes the latest and most powerful technology to optimize its machining processes while producing the highest quality products. Committed to providing quality products in a timely manner that meets and exceeds its customers' expectations, High Tech Components, Inc., has seen tremendous growth since 2006. As a small company starting with 28 employees and 19 machines, High Tech Components, Inc., has expanded to encompass a 19,600 square foot facility with 210 employees using 86 machines.

It is due to the efforts of companies and businesses like High Tech Components, Inc. that Louisiana continues to grow and prosper economically.

Madam Chair, I rise to support this bill, and I certainly appreciate the persistent hard work and leadership of Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson, and I want to thank both for bringing this very important legislation to the floor for a House vote.

In 2012, Louisiana farmers and ranchers produced nearly $11.4 billion in commodities. It's a vital and growing sector of our State's economy, and we need a new farm bill now to provide the kind of certainty going forward for our farmers. Throughout south Louisiana, the agricultural economy is the lifeblood of our rural communities. This is a bipartisan bill containing truly significant reforms, with savings of up to $40 billion.

Given the immense diversity of American agriculture, it's important to have price-loss coverage, which is an important option for our Southern farmers, like our rice farmers. This is critical for their future security.

Additionally, an extension of the U.S. sugar program ensures a level playing field with other nations, which continue to heavily subsidize their sugar industry with unfair trade practices. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Century Group Inc. as the Southwest Louisiana Region recipient of the 2013 Lantern Awards.

The Lantern Award provides an opportunity to salute manufacturers for their outstanding contributions to the Louisiana economy and to their communities. Recipients are selected on the basis of their contributions over a period of time to the betterment of their communities, growth in the number of employees, and expansion of their facilities.

The Century Group Inc. started out as one man, Alma Como, who built a wooden cast to create concrete steps in 1942. Today, Century Group is the leading manufacturer of precast concrete steps, concrete railroad grade crossings, railroad spill collection systems and other precise concrete products in North America.

During the first 30 years, Century Group Inc. set up seven manufacturing locations servicing home building material dealers in 27 states. In the mid 1960's the Century Group Inc. entered the railroad market providing services to industry along the Louisiana-Texas Gulf Coast. By the late 1970's, it had established a precast division which served state Department of Transportations, municipalities, military facilities, heavy industry, harbors, and general contractors.

With over 59 years of experience in the precast concrete manufacturing railroad and industrial construction industry, Century Group Inc. continues its legacy of innovation and superior service. It is due to the efforts of businesses and individuals like the Century Group Inc. that Louisiana continues to grow and prosper economically.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the service and career of Penny Angelle Frederick. For the last 25 years, she has served the people of South Louisiana for three Members of Congress as a dedicated Congressional staffer.

Penny began her career in public service working as a legislative assistant for Louisiana State Representative Harry L. Benoit. She then worked with U.S. Representatives James ``Jimmy'' Hayes and Chris John of South Louisiana. In January of 2005, Penny joined my staff as a constituent service representative. From Day One, Penny has been a great resource to the Third Congressional District of Louisiana. Her knowledge and guidance provided my office with a strong foundation to build on. Her personality and reputation have forged many bonds across South Louisiana. I will miss her ability to provide help and insight to constituents and most importantly, to me.

As Penny enters retirement, I would like to thank her for the work she's done as a public servant. However, I am positive her husband, Kendall, and daughters, Abbey and Lindsey, will be happy to have her around a little more. Penny, I wish you nothing but the best as you enter this next phase of your life and hope you know how grateful I am for all of your hard work over the course of these many years.

Madam Speaker, as a physician with 30 years' experience, clinical experience, I rise to vigorously oppose ObamaCare once again. We need to repeal this abomination. Why?

Just take a look at this chart. Where's the doctor, and where's the patient?

Well, look at the corner. Physician's way here in the corner. Patient's way over there.

And what's at the center of this?

The Department of Health and Human Services with the Secretary. And at the top, the IRS. And we all know what's going on with the IRS today. How can we trust an entity like that to enforce this abomination of a health law?

Doctors and patients deal with very personal information, very personal. That's why you have to preserve the sanctity of the doctor- patient relationship. And having all this between the doctor and the patient is basically a recipe for massive failure. That's why we must repeal it. That's why I stand with my colleagues to repeal it.

Let's do the right thing. Let's go step by step and get sensible, real reforms that will make Americans proud of their health care system.