Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6131) to permit certain expenditures from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6131, a bill that would permit certain expenditures from the Leaking Underground Storage Trust Fund. I want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee for their leadership in assisting to move this bill forward, and I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation.

Moneys appropriated from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund, which is often referred to as the LUST trust fund, are used for detection, prevention and clean-up of leaking underground storage tanks in order to reduce water pollution. This bill would codify within the Internal Revenue Code an updated list of permitted expenditures from the fund as sought by the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Environmental Protection Agency within the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

This bill should not be controversial, as it is in everyone's interest to keep our Nation's drinking water from being contaminated. In addition, the bill has no spending or revenue effect.

H.R. 6131 will allow the LUST trust fund to be used for expanding corrective action in response to releases from underground storage tanks, including those containing MTBEs, and will provide additional measures to protect groundwater.

It will expand Federal and State enforcement efforts, improve prevention measures and compliance, and expand inspections of underground storage tanks. Mr. Speaker, we have the opportunity today to join together and continue our efforts to keep our Nation's water supply clean. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I think the bottom line is that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized an additional $400 million annually for inspection, prevention and cleanup of our water supply; and without passage of this legislation, none of that money can be spent, regardless if you agree with the level of appropriations or not.

So I think it is important that we pass this piece of legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

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

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I think one of the greatest luxuries in life would be to own your own airplane. In fact, I think maybe one of the greater luxuries would be to have somebody else own the airplane and let you fly on it whenever you want and they pay the bill.

Well, Mr. Chairman, that is pretty much the arrangement that the senior management at the National Aeronautics Space Administration, better known as NASA, has. A recent GAO reports that, over a 2-year period, NASA employees took 1,188 flights on private jets at a cost of $25 million or five times the cost of commercial tickets.

I understand that at times NASA has appropriate uses for private jets, like when they do aeronautical research, but I do not think it is appropriate for routine visits, meetings, conferences and speeches. The GAO found that 86 percent of the trips taken on these private jets specifically are prohibited by Federal policy regarding aircraft ownership.

Mr. Chairman, that is 1,022 trips on private jets by NASA employees that are specifically prohibited and paid for by the American taxpayers.

Because NASA has been largely unresponsive to previous GAO recommendations to remedy this situation, the GAO has actually asked for congressional consideration of legislation to restrict NASA's ownership of passenger aircraft and funding for passenger aircraft services to those needed solely to meet valid mission requirements.

Mr. Chairman, this position is clearly indefensible. It is time to put an end to unresponsive management violating established policies, flying on private jets at the taxpayers' expense simply for personal convenience.

So I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment to achieve that result, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Wolf for his support and for his hard work on this appropriations bill, and in an effort to not talk myself out of a sale, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, not a day goes by that I am not amazed by the waste of tax dollars by Federal agencies. Sometimes the waste is a result of bad management. Sometimes it is the result of willful violation of established policies, but it is always inexcusable.

A recent GAO report reveals just how bad it can get. In March of 2006, the GAO found that the State Department is wasting nearly $100 million a year on unauthorized premium travel. In 2004, the State Department spent $140 million on premium travel; that is usually business class travel, and 67 percent of that travel was either not justified, not properly authorized or both. And that resulted in $94 million of taxpayer money wasted.

Not only is the fact that the money was wasted troubling, but the management practice of disregarding what it cost when it is not your own money is a cause for great concern. As an example, most of the authorizations for the premium travel came from subordinates of those that were traveling who told the GAO that they were afraid to challenge senior executives of the State Department for violating established travel policies.

It is not just an excusable practice of putting subordinates in intimidating positions at work here; it is also a lack of basic management practices. As an example, GAO also found that although government tickets that are purchased and not used are fully refundable, the practice of the State Department is not to bother to try to reconcile tickets that are purchased and not used, which resulted in a flat-out waste of $6 million of taxpayer money.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment simply requires the State Department personnel to follow established travel policies, and it is an understatement to say that it is unfortunate that I even have to come to the floor and offer this amendment.

I guess we have to send a clear message to senior State Department officials that when they are traveling on

their own dime, they can sit wherever they want on a plane, but when you are traveling on the taxpayers' dime, you should follow established policies and sit in the back of the plane.

Although I understand that flying coach can be cruel and unusual punishment, I think that those that willfully waste the taxpayer dollars for personal comfort are getting off easy if we pass this amendment.

I encourage my colleagues to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Once again, Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Wolf for his hard work and his support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to honor the memory of an exceptional young woman. Less than 2 months ago, the community of Michigan City, Indiana, celebrated when they heard the good news. Megan Jesse, one of their own, was selected as the Second District's first place winner in the Congressional Art Competition. Today, unfortunately, the same northern Indiana community mourns her sudden and tragic passing.

Megan had just completed her junior year at Michigan City High School where she was a member of the Wolves ladies' soccer team. She was on her way to soccer camp with fellow teammate Katherine Stoll on Friday when they were involved in an automobile accident. Katherine was seriously injured, and Megan tragically lost her life.

Just hours before, Megan and her parents were busy planning their visit to Washington, D.C. They were coming to Capitol Hill today to attend the Congressional Art Competition's dedication ceremonies. Photography was one of Megan's favorite hobbies, and it was her artistic photo project, ``Highlights,'' that was chosen from Indiana's Second District to hang here in the Capitol building.

When I attended the awards ceremony at Indiana University South Bend, Megan talked about her love of art and her inspiration for her winning piece. At first she was going to portray a towering lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan. But when she got to the beach, something else caught her eye, a simple picturesque lifeguard tower looking out over the water. Megan photographed this scene instead, and she was able to capture it with striking effect.

She said she chose the scene because of her love of the beach, and she wanted to express her feelings and emotions in a way that could be shared with others. I think it is truly fitting that her artwork will now hang in the United States Capitol where it can be enjoyed by thousands of visitors and passersby.

Sadly, Megan and her family will not be here for the Congressional Art Competition's ribbon-cutting ceremony this week, but we will still celebrate the accomplishments of a gifted young woman whose life was cut short by tragedy. To thousands of visitors to our Nation's Capitol and to my colleagues in Congress, the next time you walk through the tunnel in the Capitol, stop to consider the picture from the Second District of Indiana, Megan Jesse's picture, and remember this part of her life that she so graciously shared with us.

Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for all of my colleagues when I say that we honor her life and her work and that our thoughts and prayers are with Megan's family at this very difficult time.

Offered By: Mr. Chocola

Amendment No. 2: Page 110, after line 8, insert the

following new title:

Offered By: Mr. Chocola

Amendment No. 3: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his hard work on this.

Mr. Speaker, I just rise today to ask the question, Whose money is it anyway?

I think it is important to recognize that the Federal Government has no assets that didn't derive from the hard work of the American taxpayer. And that is what we are talking about today.

And it is not just the families that pay the tax that are impacted on this. I have worked in several family businesses, and every business that I have worked with is a family. Everyone that works there is a family. And when you put a business at risk by requiring it to be sold simply to pay taxes, you put every job in that company at risk. If you have 25, if you have 50 employees, you are putting every single one of those jobs at risk by selling the company to someone you don't know. They may live somewhere else and they may move the business or reduce it or do whatever when you lose control. If you really care about working families, you would not ever allow a business to be sold simply to pay the taxes.

And like many of my colleagues, I support full and permanent repeal. This is a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, in 1998, the Department of Defense had a very good idea. They had the idea that they should consolidate the literally millions of trips DOD personnel made every year on an electronic-based travel management system that would result in quicker, easier, and more efficient travel and thus saving taxpayers money.

Despite the good idea, Mr. Chairman, 8 years and almost $500 million later, what we have is a no-bid contract to develop a system that is essentially inoperable, has pitifully low utilization rates, and cannot even guarantee it can book the lowest applicable airfare. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, my amendment would simply limit the money available to fund this failed effort, which is known as the Defense Travel System, or the DTS.

Now, I know that some will oppose this amendment and they will say that we cannot afford to stop the investment now because we have invested so much and we are so close to success. The unfortunate reality is that we must stop now because we have wasted so much and success is nowhere in sight. I think that argument has been made in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and now 2006; and I think it is time to cut our losses.

After 8 years of development and almost $500 million spent, less than 15 percent of all DOD travel is actually booked on the system. Logically, that means over 85 percent of the travel in DOD is booked on traditional travel services. Every trip that is booked on the system is also manually reviewed by a travel agent to confirm that the transaction is complete and that it has attained the lowest applicable airfare because the system cannot guarantee that it can attain the lowest applicable airfare.

So if you divided the amount of taxpayer money we have invested in this system with the number of trips that have actually been successfully booked on this system, each transaction costs about $1,500 before the actual travel cost or the travel agent fee. And what makes this situation even worse is that there are other GSA-approved electronic-based travel systems that are fully operational today and do not cost the taxpayers one penny in maintenance or development cost and only charge on a per-transaction basis for every successful transaction when it is actually used.

Mr. Chairman, spending $.5 billion on a travel system that does not work and nobody uses might actually be worse than the days when the DOD spent $640 on toilet seats. At least people used the toilet seats.

Mr. Chairman, I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By Mr. Chocola

Amendment No. 3: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the 2006 Class 2A State Champion Lewis Cass Softball team.

Led by coach Brent Blinn and assistant coaches Scott Rouch, Greg Comoglio, and Mike Stow these 17 talented girls beat Frankton High School 3-0 to clinch the championship.

The Championship game, all five and a half hours of it, capped off an incredible 28-2 season where the Lady Kings faced and defeated the best competition Indiana has to offer. These talented young ladies are a great example of how teamwork, commitment, discipline, and confidence will lead to success.

The team includes: Krista Weber, Kayla Blinn, Misty Collins, Rachel Comoglio, Brittany LoCoco, Jennifer Berlet, Emily Watkinds, Taylor DeHaven, Alexandra Rouch, Ollmay Wilson, Molly Naphew, Anna Tweed, Samantha Roller, Morgan Baker, Danya Long, Ashley Snider and Haley Tolle.

I am truly fortunate to have the opportunity to recognize these incredible women. It is my wish that their story of triumph will encourage both men and women of all walks of life, whether they play sports or not, to follow their dreams, believe in their friends, and not give up until they can hoist the trophy of victory above their heads like the Lady Kings of Lewis Cass.

Mr. Speaker, today we debate an issue whose importance reaches farther than the citizens that live within the boundaries of our individual congressional districts--it touches citizens all over the world.

Frankly, it is easy for us in this legislative body to praise or criticize our efforts in Iraq. It is easy for us to come to this floor and talk about the violence in Iraq and the difficulties in forming a free, safe and secure government, then return to our offices and send out press releases.

It is easy because none of us have had to serve in a government that is breathing free air for the first time. None of us have had to form a government under intense international pressure to include members of all viewpoints to avoid sectarian violence. None of us have had to hold elections under the threat of terrorism and destruction. We have not lived under the oppression of a tyrant, nor have we had to fear that speaking our minds could lead to our execution or the execution of our family.

And now that the light of freedom is shining into the darkness that was Iraq, many criticize the Iraqi people for needing time for their eyes to adjust to the light. When did we become this arrogant? At what point did seeing over 70 percent of Iraqi citizens risk their lives to participate in electing a free and democratic government not be good enough for us?

It would be uninformed to characterize our nation's early history as a smooth transition. Sectarian division, violence, and human rights abuses were prevalent in the early United States. I would submit that our adversaries aren't ignorant of this. They understand that the work of forming a stable democracy cannot be accomplished in three and one half years. They are smart enough to recognize the monumental successes that have been achieved by the Iraqi people and our extraordinary men and women in uniform in the face of immense challenges. And they are determined to use the most horrific tactics to stop the spread of freedom.

Their opposition is a strategy of oppression and we must stand united to make sure it does not succeed. I would hope that every so often, the debate on this floor can be about more than temporary politics. I would hope that every once in a while, we can ask ourselves the hard questions and come together to find good answers to the problems not only in this country, but the problems facing the world.

We have risen to the challenge before. On June 9, 1944, shortly after the beginning of the D-Day invasion, the following appeared in the Washington Post: ``There is a noise of wrangling on Capitol Hill which has a discordant, ugly sound today. There is a jostling among us for preferences which is incongruous in comparison with the unity among those safeguarding us oversees. Like them, we need to remember now how much unites us, and again draw together.''

These words are just as relevant and commanding today as they were 62 years ago. The question we must answer is still the same as it was then: do all men and women deserve to be free? If our answer is yes, then what is our responsibility toward that goal? I was taught that to whom much is given, much is expected. In this nation we have been given a great gift of freedom. Will we now fail to remember what unites us and deny our hand of assistance to those that seek the same gift we are so fortunate to enjoy?

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor a dedicated protector of our community, Chief Deputy Sheriff Delayne D. Ott.

Deputy Sheriff Ott joined the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department on January 15, 1967

and has served our community for 39 years. He holds the record for the longest serving member in the history of the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department.

He has served as a sergeant, captain and major and has held his current rank as Chief Deputy since January 1, 1999. He has been a certified Firearms instructor at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and has been the firearms instructor for LaPorte County for over 30 years, and has shot in pistol competitions nationwide for the past 25 years.

The LaPorte County Firearms Training Facility was dedicated in his name on Monday, May 15, 2006 for his unwavering dedication and commitment to firearms training and safety for LaPorte County officers.

He is also a devout family man, and he and his wife Phyllis have three children and four grandchildren.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Delayne D. Ott has shown his commitment to excellence and his undying loyalty to our community and its citizens. It is my honor to stand here today as his Congressman, and recognize him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, today I am excited to honor Penn High School for winning the Indiana Academic Super Bowl. Their first place showing at the Indiana Academic Super Bowl State Finals at Purdue University is their second in a row.

Vince Lombardi once said that ``Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.'' If this is true, then the Penn High School Academic Bowl Team is a great example of having a habit of winning.

The team members are: Jenny DeVito, Dmitri Gekhtman, Maggie Gerdes, Andrew Gresik, Josh Klopfenstein, Matt Klopfenstein, Kelsey McClure, Angela Shan, Josh Walker, and Michele Weldy.

I congratulate their Coach Peter Dekeever and all the members of the Penn High School Academic Super Bowl team on their great accomplishment.

Mr. Chairman, you know, we can talk about a lot of things in a budget debate; but there are only a couple of things we know for sure. One is that we are on an unsustainable fiscal path and we have $46 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And by 2040, we will spend more on Social Security, Medicare, and interest than we have in Federal revenue, which will leave no money for defense, no money for education, no money for ag, no money for Department of Labor, no money for anything unless we have crushing tax increases.

Some say that this budget requires hard choices. I would argue it doesn't require any hard choices at all. It simply requires tough management. It is easy to spend other people's money, especially when it is other people's money. It is hard to manage money and achieve results.

This budget does the responsible thing by engaging in tough management and putting us on a path of sustainable fiscal future and not passing a debt along to our children that they simply will cannot afford.

This budget achieves better government at a lower cost, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a solemn heart to honor a hero. On Friday, April 21, 2006 Cpl. Scott Severns of the South Bend Police Department was shot during an attempted robbery. He succumbed to his wounds and passed early Sunday morning.

I have heard it said that at times like these, we should not focus on how someone dies, but on how they lived, but how Cpl. Severns died was a testament to how he lived. When two would-be robbers approached Cpl. Severns and a female companion, brandished a gun, and threatened them, Cpl. Severns instinctively stepped in between the gunman and his friend. Character like this cannot be taught through a police academy course, and it is not issued to every officer after their swearing in. This type of valor can only come from an individual with the heart of a hero.

We oftentimes do not take enough time to appreciate the sacrifice that law enforcement officers make every single day so that we can live in safety. It is easy for us to go about our daily lives without a thought about those that stand in between us and those that would try to hurt us.

Cpl. Severns's sacrifices from the moment he first put on his uniform, until his tragic, premature end, exemplify the best of American law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, we would be remiss if we did not take this time to honor his service, remember his sacrifice, and mourn his passing.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Cheryl Nix who was recently honored as the South Bend School Corporation's Teacher of the Year.

Cheryl is a math teacher at LaSalle Intermediate Academy in South Bend, Indiana and has been a teacher in South Bend for 29 years. She began her teaching career in 1976 at Monroe Primary School in South Bend teaching deaf and hearing-impaired children. She has been married 26 years and, in addition to teaching her students, she also has a full-time teaching job as a mother of two children.

Her 29 years of dedication and excellence in one of our Nation's most important professions deserves our honor and our respect. We don't spend enough time highlighting the great things that are happening every day in our schools.

It has been said many times, and will always be true, that our children are our future. Their education is the key to making sure that they have the proper tools to succeed when it is their turn to steer the ship of this Nation. As long as teachers such as Cheryl Nix are entrusted with that responsibility, I have confidence that our future as a Nation will be bright.