Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, with high gas prices soaring, moms and dads across East Tennessee and across America are struggling to put a budget together at the kitchen table. They are worried how they are going to pay for their health care, how they are going to buy enough gas to get their kids to school, how they are going to pay for their children's education.

Families and small businesses across America are hurting. Earl Humphreys, for example, in Bristol, Tennessee, owns Lawn Boyz Lawn Care Service. He has told me he may have to go out of business.

It is time for solutions, time for no more excuses. High gas prices are not only an economic security issue, they are a national security issue. We are too dependent on foreign countries, countries that hate us and hate our freedoms and, quite frankly, hate our religion.

We need an energy policy now. I call on the Democrat majority to offer legislation that will provide for lower gas prices, better economic security, better national security, and I ask them to do it now. We need to use American energy. We need solutions.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a true Tennessee Volunteer. Mary McKeehan Patton was born in England and immigrated to Pennsylvania in the late 1760s. Mary Patton was an apprentice in Pennsylvania where she learned the trade of making gunpowder.

After giving birth to two children in Pennsylvania, Patton moved to the Overmountain region of North Carolina, which is now East Tennessee and part of the First District.

With help from her husband, Andrew Taylor, a private in the Pennsylvania militia, they started their own gunpowder mill on what became known as Powder Branch.

Mary Patton embodied the entrepreneurial spirit that many immigrants who come to America possess. She used this mill to supply gunpowder to militias during the Revolutionary War.

Patton's true Tennessee Volunteer spirit showed when she gave over five hundred pounds of gunpowder to the 850 Overmountain Men for the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War. Some say that this victorious battle over the British was a very influential part of the Revolutionary War, and to the eventual founding of our country.

On December 15, 1836, Mary Patton passed away and was buried at Patton-Simmons Cemetery, which is located in my district. The cemetery is located in the historic town of Elizabethton, Tennessee.

This Saturday, June 7, 2008 the Watauga Chapter Tennessee Sons of the American Revolution and The James Sevier Society of the Tennessee Children of the American Revolution will be hosting a memorial service at the grave of Mary Patton and will be honoring her for her efforts and role in the Revolutionary War.

Madam Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me today in honoring a true Tennessee Volunteer who embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that has made America the great country that we are today.

I would like to thank the gentlelady from Colorado for doing this special hour. I don't think there's anything more important facing Americans right now and facing this Congress than to deal with the high cost of energy, and I thank you for your leadership.

With the national average cost of gasoline at the pump today at $3.98 a gallon, moms and dads across the country are struggling to balance the family budget. It breaks my heart, and I know of a young family back in northeast Tennessee just trying to make enough money to make it to work or take their child to school. It breaks my heart when we have senior adults that are on a fixed income that don't have the opportunity to have more money, to be able to afford the gasoline to go to the doctor or go to the hospital or go to the grocery store. It breaks my heart when you have a small business that's trying to create those jobs and make life better for their fellow man. It breaks my heart.

This Congress must pass meaningful legislation to reduce the price of gasoline and fuel at the pump, and we need to do it soon.

Just recently, Shell Oil Company Chairman John Hofmeister testified before the Senate on why gas prices are so high. He said, ``As repetitive and uninteresting as it may sound, the fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work.''

Over the past few weeks, I along with most of my colleagues on this side of the aisle have produced an energy policy, not just a piece of an energy policy, but a true energy policy that addresses our supply of American energy. This energy policy explores all facets of our energy needs, from drilling for American oil and natural gases to using alternative fuels like switchgrass and ethanol. The policy increases American supply, which will effectively lower prices.

This energy policy will help people like Earl Humphreys, who owns and manages Lawn Boyz Lawn Care in Bristol, Tennessee. Earl told me that he may not be able to continue his business much longer because of high fuel prices. He is not making enough money to support his family, purchase his fuel, pay his staff, and keep the doors open on his family-run business. How sad.

People like Earl are relying on Congress to do something. Colleagues on this side of the aisle and I have offered nothing but solutions. On the other side of the aisle, they've offered nothing but excuses.

Congress' Democratic leadership is out of touch with the American people like Earl. Instead of increasing American energy supply so that prices can go down and Earl can continue to support his family, the Democrat leadership wants to tax energy producers, stifle American production, and abandon cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks that we all rely on.

Recently, one Congressman proposed a 50-cent tax increase on gasoline. Now, that makes absolutely no sense to me. We can't tax and regulate our way out of an energy crisis, and we can't tax your pick-up truck from empty to full.

Leadership's energy policies have been to conduct seven investigations into price gouging, conduct four investigations on speculators, and create $20 billion in new taxes on oil producers. Unfortunately, the leadership of Congress' policies don't save Americans any money at the pump.

In fact, gasoline prices have increased from $2.33 a gallon to $3.98 per gallon since Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues took control of this Congress last year. That's not a solution.

When China and other growing industrialized nations are moving from bicycles to cars, Americans are being made to go from cars to bicycles. That's not a solution.

Currently, China is drilling for oil and natural gas almost in sight off the coast of Key West, Florida. The irony here is that while China is out there drilling, America can't, under the leadership of this Congress.

What is it going to take to make this Congress realize that we need to increase American energy supply and decrease our dependence on foreign energy, our dependence on people that hate us and hate our freedoms?

The majority of the American people understand, East Tennesseans understand and I understand, Earl understands and people from Bristol, Tennessee, understand, we must take immediate action to allow for drilling in an environmentally safe way on American soil and off our coasts. In the Outer Continental Shelf alone, it's estimated that we have over 17 billion barrels of oil, oil that someone else is drilling for. On the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve alone, we have the potential to provide consumers with over 1 million barrels of oil per day. We need solutions.

We must take immediate action to allow for the construction of new refineries, and we can do that on old military bases.

We must take immediate action on production of natural gas where our supply is abundant. Eastman Chemical Company, which is located in my district in northeast Tennessee, has been using clean coal gasification to meet their ever increasing energy needs on a daily basis.

We must take immediate action to allow for the construction of safe nuclear power plants. For instance, France currently powers 80 percent of their energy needs from safe nuclear power plants.

We must take immediate action using alternative fuel sources, like switchgrass and ethanol from nonfood sources. New technologies like switchgrass and ethanol are exciting and will be part of our solution to lower high energy costs.

We must take immediate action by using clean coal technology, something that the Germans used in World War II. This is not futuristic. They were doing it in World War II. Coal is not some smutty leftover from the Industrial Revolution. We have approximately 250 years worth of coal right here in the United States, and you can take a lump of coal and actually turn it into gasoline and drive your car and fly jet planes. They did it in World War II.

We need solutions. Republican energy policies like the ones I've just listed will save every American at least $1.82 per gallon of gasoline. That's $36.40 for each 20-gallon tank full of gasoline. Tennesseans like Earl sure can use a $1.82 discount at the gas pump.

We need solutions. Americans like Earl are looking for solutions, not excuses. The time for solutions is now. That's why I've cosponsored the No More Excuses Energy Act. It combines all these different types of energy to bring down the price at the pump and make sure we have energy to heat our homes in the winter. We need solutions, not excuses.

Madam Speaker, I'm here tonight to speak a little bit about energy process.

Unfortunately, some folks here in the Congress seem to think that we can tax our pick-up trucks and our cars from empty to full. Just recently, a congressman proposed a 50-cent tax increase on gasoline. You heard me correct, an extra 50 cents added to each gallon. Someone actually proposed that here in the House of Representatives.

I would say that 99 percent of my constituents don't want another 50 cents in taxes added to their gasoline prices. That 50-cent tax increase would put gas at around $4.12 cents per gallon.

If you would like to effectively cripple the families and small businesses across the United States and back in my First District of Tennessee, a 50-cent tax increase would do just that. Madam Speaker, that just doesn't make any sense to me.

What we need is some east Tennessee commonsense, along with another lesson from the 8th grade civics class and economic classes. When demand is high, supply is low, then energy prices will be outrageous. That's exactly what we see today. How do you bring down energy prices?

Eighth grade economics: create a bigger supply. How do you create a bigger supply of energy? No more excuses. First, we need to stop making excuses. We need an energy policy that allows us to use American energy. We need to drill for oil in ANWR and off the Outer Continental Shelf. We need to use fuel sources in Colorado and North Dakota, just to name a few. We need to use our abundant coal supply through the use of clean coal technology. We need to create safe nuclear power plants and we need to build new refineries. No more excuses. And we need to expand our green energy initiatives like switchgrass, wind power, solar power and hydroelectric power.

We don't need an energy piece; we need an energy policy. You can't take one part of an energy policy and call it a policy. I'm all for green energy, but green energy will only get you to about 6 percent of our energy needs in America. That only leaves 94 percent. We need an energy policy.

Right now, there is a limited supply of oil being imported into the United States by countries who hate us and hate our freedoms. We're at the mercy of these countries. My family, your family, small businesses across America and the families in the First District of Tennessee are all at the mercy of countries who hate us and hate our freedoms.

A sound energy policy that explores new green initiatives, while investing in American energy sources, is what we need and we need it now. Not another tax increase, not another regulation, not another restriction that some people believe would help fill up our pick-up trucks and our automobiles. We need a common-sense energy policy. No more excuses.

I would like to thank the gentleman for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I'm glad we're talking about the budget, but I will tell you the budget I want to talk about right now is the budget of the American family and small businesses and the middle class across America.

I was just in Elizabethton, Tennessee, over the weekend back at Whitson's Barber Shop, and I can tell you the issue that is on people's minds right now is not more taxes and more spending; it's the need for a true energy policy in America. An energy policy that actually uses American energy. We need a policy that will stop taxing and spending. We need an energy policy that will break our dependence on foreign oil.

Right now we're buying our energy from people that hate us, hate our freedoms, and, quite frankly, hate our religion. We need to go back to the drawing board and have an energy plan that uses American energy. I'm talking about clean coal technology. I'm talking about drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf. I'm talking about drilling in ANWR. I'm talking about wind technology. I'm talking about building safe nuclear plants. Those are the things that will bring down the cost at the pumps.

We have moms and dads right now that are worried about how they're going to get their children to school in the mornings. They're worried about how they're going to put food on their kitchen table. That's the budget that the American people are concerned about. The American people are looking for solutions. They are not looking for big government, inside the beltway in Washington. The American people are looking for solutions to make sure that we keep government as small as possible, and they're looking to make sure that we pass an energy policy that actually uses American energy. It's time for no more excuses. It's time for us to pass an energy bill that will give some relief to the American family.

It's basic economics. I talk to schools all across my district when I go home, and it's basic economics. You can talk to any high school student. They will understand supply and demand. If you have a lot of a supply and a little bit of demand, the cost will go down; and, conversely, if you have a lot of demand for a limited supply, cost will go up. Right now we have a demand for a lot of energy, a lot of oil. And right now we're dependent on the Middle East, on Venezuela, on Russia, other countries; and we're actually begging the Middle East to increase their energy production. And we have policies here in Washington that won't allow us to use our own American natural resources in energy.

The American people want solutions. They want solutions now. And they don't want it in taxing and spending. It's time for no more excuses. We need an energy plan that uses American energy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Lasley for his 45 years of service at Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church. Tennessee has been called the ``Volunteer'' state by the great efforts of our citizens during The War of 1812. Since The War of 1812 people like Dr. Lasley continue to show pride, dedication and service through volunteer efforts.

Dr. Lasley's wife Ellen, daughter Laurie, and sons Torrey and Calvin all embody the same giving and service oriented characteristics their father has bestowed upon them.

Since Dr. Lasley began his tenure in 1963, he grew the church from an average of 135 people per Sunday to over 766 per Sunday today. This is a true accomplishment and highlights his devotion to Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church and the parishioners who call that church home. What's even more is that Dr. Lasley helped spur a new donations program that has grown to receive about 1.7 million in total offerings in the year of 2007.

Dr. Lasley and Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church have continually shown their dedication to the community by leading its followers in five building construction programs. He has also emphasized missions and has even built a mission program that supports over 100 missionaries and mission agencies throughout the world.

Dr. Lasley's strong commitment to God is evident in the numerous hours devoted to studying His Word, preaching it, and encouraging others to become involved. Dr. Lasley has been a strong advocate for faith and has encouraged his church to live the same way leading by example.

Since Dr. Lasley took over Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church in 1963, he has been a true friend, asset, and noble man to Tennessee's First District. I ask that my colleagues join me today honoring Dr. Lasley for his great devotion, dedication, and service to Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church and Tennessee's First District.

Thank you, Mr. Shimkus, for your leadership tonight, and thank you for your interest in this issue.

It's interesting, looking at your charts tonight, I notice some of your charts actually have numbers that have to change. If you look at those, that's almost like I see when I go back home to east Tennessee every weekend, I see on the pumps at the gas stations, they have to change, also. And it's changing because we see the gas prices continuing day after day----

And you're exactly right. I think when Speaker Pelosi took over, oil, I think, was $58 a barrel according to your chart. Now it's $115 a barrel. And I can bet by tomorrow if we use that same chart, that $115 will be gone and you'll have to change that chart again.

I do thank you for your leadership in this issue. You know, we've been busy in this Congress. So far in the 110th Congress we've named 78 post offices, Federal buildings or roads. We've also passed legislation honoring LSU for their NCAA Football Championship, and the Red Sox for their World Series sweep over Colorado, and even commemorated the Detroit Tigers for winning the American League pennant.

Granted, post offices need names and championship teams need to be honored, but when I go back to the First District of Tennessee, people don't ask if I'm working on these types of things. They ask, David, how am I going to fill up my pick-up truck if the gas prices don't come down?

What we haven't done is pass a sensible energy policy that will break our dependence on foreign oil. And I don't know about you, and I think you will agree with me, it scares me that we're dependent on foreign nations for our energy needs, dependent on people that hate us and hate our freedoms and, quite frankly, hate our religion. It is a dangerous precedent that we set when we become more and more and more dependent every day. It's time to get our priorities straight and help the citizens, families and small businesses in each of our districts across America. There is no excuse for this when families in my district are struggling to fill up their vehicles just to go to work.

I can remember a time 10 or 12 years ago, before I came to Washington, when there was a lot of talk about one party would steal milk from babies, or have senior adults eating dog food. Well, I can tell you, this worries me when I have families in east Tennessee that are to the point that they have to decide, do they buy food that's going up, or do they buy energy to go to work? This worries me.

There is no excuse for small businesses in my district to be forced into bankruptcy because they can't operate under high energy prices that they're facing. There is no excuse when families in my district have to choose between driving to work each day or putting food on their table or sending their kids off to college. There is no excuse.

Energy is the foundation and lifeblood of the American economy, creating the conditions that help us support good-paying jobs in the United States and allowing our industrial base to compete with the rest of the world.

Gasoline prices have increased more than $1.23 per gallon since the majority party took control of this House last year, increasing from a nationwide average of $2.33 per gallon on the very first day of the 110th Congress to now $3.55 per gallon. And again, that will probably change by tomorrow, and it's changing every day.

What we need is no more excuses. We need an energy policy that allows us to use American energy. We need to drill for oil in ANWR and off the Intercontinental Shelf. We need to use our abundant coal supplies through the use of clean coal technology.

One of the first things I did when I was elected to Congress is went to the Pentagon and spoke with the Secretary of the Air Force. And one of their top priorities is to use American coal, American energy, and take that coal and turn it into a fuel that we can actually fly our jets with. That's not too much to ask. And we think, boy that sounds a little out there, a little futuristic. Well, let me tell you how futuristic it is. The Germans ran their war machines in World War II by changing lumps of coal into gas. In World War II. This is not futuristic, some pie-in-the-sky issue, this is something that was done in World War II, it can be done now.

And we need to create safe nuclear power plants and we need to build refineries. And we need to expand our green energy initiatives like switchgrass. The University of Tennessee has a wonderful program looking at that possibility. Wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power. I think we have to look at green energy, but I think we've got our heads in the sand if we feel like we can run the American economy off green energy.

I think we have to have an energy plan. And an energy plan, an energy policy, combines all of these things together. It's a supply-and-demand issue. It's that simple. If you have a lot of something and a few people want it, the price will come down. This is basic economics that you learn in high school. If you have a small amount of a product and a lot of people want it, the price will go up. We have a limited supply. And it's not just Americans now that want the supply. China wants the supply. India wants the supply. We live in a global marketplace.

There are people in this Congress that believe you can tax and regulate yourself into prosperity. It never has happened. It won't happen today, and it will not happen in the future. If there's anybody that serves in this House that believes that you can put a tax on a business and that tax won't be passed on to the consumer, they haven't taken economics. They will pass that cost directly on to the pump.

Now we see that gas prices have gone from $2.33 a gallon, when the majority party took over, to $3.65, according to your chart today. Can you imagine if we put more taxes on top of that, what that's going to do? That's going to put a higher burden on the American consumer, on the American family.

There are families back in East Tennessee that sit around their kitchen table trying to decide how they're going to put a budget together, and it's putting a real dampening spirit on them when they have to try to spend $50 or $60 to fill up their vehicle.

Mr. Speaker, some people here in Washington believe the best way to reduce our gasoline price is just to tax the oil companies that are providing our energy supply. You can't tax and regulate yourself out of an energy crisis. You can't tax Joe's or John's or Chris's pickup truck full of gasoline. It just doesn't make any sense.

The American middle class deserves better. They deserve an energy policy that is dependent on American energy, not foreign energy. That's why 2 weeks ago, I signed onto a piece of legislation that's carried from my good friend from Texas, Mac Thornberry, called the ``No More Excuses Energy Act.'' ``No More Excuses.''

We've talked about energy for years, before I ever came here. As I was running for office in the last election, I heard the majority party say if you'll just let us take power, we're going to lower your energy costs. Well, I certainly don't see it in your charts today, Mr. Shimkus. I can tell you we need no more excuses. We need to use American energy. It's the only way to lower the cost at the pump and to give some relief to the American taxpaying citizen.

Thank you for your leadership.

Just to follow that same logic, think of the local volunteer fire department or the local ambulance service taking money from health care or the local police department taking money from corrections. You can see this through all branches of the economy. It really is affecting people in a very negative way.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Greene County and Greeneville, Tennessee. Both celebrated their 225th anniversary on April 26.

Greene County was originally formed by the North Carolina Legislature on April 26, 1783 and just two years later, it because part of the state of Tennessee during the split of the State of Franklin. Today it still shares the pristine mountains, abundant history, and rich culture that it did 225 years ago.

Greene County has become a thriving tourist destination with its abundant history and the many restorations throughout the county.

Located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Greene County is one of the largest counties in Tennessee and hosts Greeneville; Tennessee's second oldest town.

Our 17th President, Andrew Johnson, who took the presidency after Abraham Lincoln, also calls Greene County home and is where he was finally laid to rest in 1875.

Celebrated hero, American folklore legend, and former Member of the United States House of Representatives, Davy Crockett was born in Greene County.

Tusculum College, which calls Greene County home, was founded in 1794 and is Tennessee's oldest college. Tusculum also is the oldest educational institution to be affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Greene County's Civil War ties are abundant and the county played a pivotal role in the Civil War. The county was mostly made up of Unionist sympathizers and the Greeneville Convention of 1861 was Tennessee's largest and most important pro-Union meeting in the weeks prior to the Civil War. Furthermore, after the Confederate loss at the battle of Knoxville in 1863, General James Longstreet intended to stay the winter in Greeneville.

Greene County's historic production of burley tobacco led to prosperity in the late nineteenth century. After years of being one of the region's most important tobacco markets, the University of Tennessee Extension Service has invested in an experimental farm just outside of Greeneville which provides students with unique learning opportunities.

I would like to honor all who have had a hand in shaping the historic past of Greene County and those who will continue to shape Greene County for many years to come. Madame Speaker, as you can see, history, heritage, and culture are major characteristics of the First District, Greene County, and Greeneville. I ask my colleagues to honor and share Greene County and Greeneville's 225th anniversary celebration here today.

I would like to thank my friend from Texas for recognizing me.

I would like to thank my colleague down on the floor, who is just taking the chart down now. His chart actually makes a very good point, the price of oil has doubled in the last year. I hope they use that chart often.

The issue that's facing the American people right now is our dependence on foreign oil and our gas prices. Energy is the foundation and the lifeblood of the American economy, creating the conditions that help us support good-paying jobs here in the United States and allowing our industrial base to compete with the rest of the world.

We all know that middle class families, such as those that I represent in northeast Tennessee, are feeling significant pain at the pump. But the American family isn't the only place where the strains of spiking fuel prices can be felt. According to the recent news reports, local schools, law enforcement agencies and other community services are paying the price of these record-high oil prices.

Unfortunately, Democrats in the House have been consistent in offering so-called energy legislation that weakens our ability to compete with emerging titans such as China, India and Russia. In the United States today, we're 63 percent dependent on foreign sources of oil, and that percentage is growing ever year. Gasoline prices have increased more than $1 per gallon since the majority took control of the House last year, as the last chart indicated, increasing from a nationwide average of $2.33 per gallon on the first day of the 110th Congress to now well over $3.50 per gallon.

Not only has the majority party failed to end our reliance on Middle Eastern oil for essential energy, they have actually helped grow our independence to historic and dangerous new levels all because of their refusal to allow for responsible energy production here at home. We need to use American energy.

What we need is no more excuses. We need an energy policy that allows for the use of American energy now. We need to drill for oil in ANWR and off the Outer Continental Shelf. We need to use our abundant coal supplies through clean coal technology. We

need to create safe nuclear power plants. We need to build new refineries. And we need to expand green energy, yes, green energy initiatives, like switch grass, wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power.

We cannot tax and regulate ourselves into prosperity, and that's exactly the energy policies that have come out of this Congress. You cannot tax and regulate yourself into prosperity. We have to have an energy policy that actually has energy.

The American middle class deserves better. They deserve an energy policy that is dependent on American energy, not foreign energy. Therefore, I recommend a ``no'' vote on the rule on the floor today so we can continue to talk about what is important to the American people, lowering the cost of energy.

Thank you, Mr. McKeon. Thank you for your leadership in the committee.

No Child Left Behind was signed into law before I was elected to Congress. It was signed into law in 2002 with the intent of increasing the overall achievement of students in elementary and secondary schools.

As written, the law requires the following: Annual assessments in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school; reports on overall achievement and progress made by different groups of students; school accountability; high quality teachers in every classroom; increased parent information and choice; and State achievement standards and testing.

This law has far-reaching implications. I wanted to hear from the people both directly and indirectly involved with No Child Left Behind, also known as NCLB, so last year I held a roundtable discussion on NCLB in my district. Participants included parents, teachers, school superintendents, school board members, members of the business community and Chamber of Commerce, and representatives from the House Education and Labor Committee and the State and Federal departments of education. Most people agreed that No Child Left Behind is working, but reforms are necessary.

As I came to Washington, I found Washington is the only place where when something is supposed to expire, it doesn't expire. It just continues to move on. No Child Left Behind should have been reauthorized last year. It has not come up for reauthorization yet, and I think that should happen.

Many important issues were raised during my town hall meetings. A few of the main concerns were schools and school districts making adequate yearly progress, or AYP; meeting the teacher qualifications as set forth by No Child Left Behind; and the impact that special education students and Limited English Proficient students are having on local schools and school districts.

There are a lot of people with a lot of common sense back in the mountains of East Tennessee. Most teachers in my district believe they should be held accountable. That is just common sense. But it is like a three-legged stool. You can't only hold a teacher accountable and expect to get good results. It is like a three-legged stool. Teachers need to be held accountable, but also you need moms and dads to be involved in the education of their students, and also you need the students to become involved and work hard to make a difference. It really doesn't matter how good the teacher is. If you don't have moms and dads and the student involved, you will still get poor results. Teachers need to teach, not parent.

Ideally you will have a good teacher, you will have parents that are involved, and a student who is willing to work hard. While this isn't always the case, we must do everything we can in our power to see that it is there for most children. We need to continue to move every child forward, and bring those in the lower end of the percentile forward, but without holding those at the higher end back.

Students must be challenged and encouraged to learn. Students should not be counted in several subgroups. For instance, one child may be in both the English as a second language and children with special needs categories. Every student should be moving forward, but not every child can get to the same point. Most students can get from point A to point Z, but there are some students, special needs students come to mind, that may only go from A to B to C. They all should be moving forward, but you have to use some common sense when you pass legislation.

Also the way graduation rates are calculated need to be reviewed. People who decide to make the effort to go back to school and get their GED should be included in the graduation rates.

Let me give you an example. I have a school in my district in Hawkins County, Tennessee, that only had eight graduating students, eight students in their 12th grade. Four of those students received college scholarships. Doesn't that sound amazing? You have 50 percent of your students receiving college scholarships. However, one student dropped out, so now you have seven students and four students out of seven receiving college scholarships. So fully half of that class received scholarships. But one student didn't graduate, and because of that and the small number of students in Clinch School back in Hawkins County, Tennessee, that school is considered a failing school.

We need to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, and we need to fix some of these problems that I have mentioned tonight. Graduation rates, GED, English as a second language, those are some of the things that I hear that need to be fixed as we move forward into reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. These problems are fixable, and

we need to fix them soon. We need to address these problems and reauthorize No Child Left Behind quickly.

Thank you for yielding your time, and I yield back.

Thank you, Mr. Walberg. Thank you for your friendship, thank you for leadership. You're doing a great job. Thank you for your foresight and understanding that you can't tax and regulate yourself into prosperity. Never could, can't now, and never will. It's that simple.

I do come from the Volunteer State of Tennessee, and thankfully our Tax Freedom Day is not tomorrow. It was actually about 3 weeks ago. The reason it was 3 weeks ago in the Volunteer State is because we keep our taxes low, and people in Tennessee are actually spending their money on their families now and not sending it to the government. I am happy for that. I'd like to see that move even back up in the year a little more.

There are mothers and fathers all across east Tennessee. I have the opportunity to represent the beautiful mountains of northeast Tennessee and there are mothers and fathers sitting back home in east Tennessee and all across America. They sit around their kitchen table and they have to work out a budget. It's that simple.

I can remember my wife and I when we first started our family, having to do that, knowing how much money came in and how much money went out. We had to make some decisions. You can't spend more than you bring in. If you do, you get in a credit crunch. It's amazing that we have a Congress that sometimes don't sit around that kitchen table. That is exactly what we need to be doing.

Those families back in east Tennessee, they are having to choose between buying gasoline, and it costs over $50 to fill up their pickup truck, and buying their food. They're seeing the price of milk and bread go up. They are having to worry about paying their house payments or making sure they provide health care for their children. Those are the things that moms and dads across America are having to deal with and we have got people right here in Washington that think if we can just tax them a little bit more and spend a little bit more, we can take care of them.

Now where I grew up, I never came to the conclusion if government could just take care of us, things will be okay. Actually, the way we believe back in the mountains in east Tennessee, if government will just get out of our way and keep taxes and regulations low, we have actually been able to take care of ourselves pretty well. We have done it well in America for over 200 years, and why we think we need to change now, I just don't understand it.

Especially when you look at gas prices. My goodness, we passed an energy bill, so-called energy bill back in December on this House floor. It had new taxes, new regulations. You know what it didn't have? New energy. Now how you can call a bill an energy bill with no energy, I don't get it. Sometimes we just need some common sense. The American people get it. They understand that common sense.

And then you look at the budget. The two things that are facing Americans today are their family budget, their small business budget, and then that cost of energy. Those are the two things that are on peoples' minds across America. And you look at the Democrats' budget resolution, it fails the test of fiscal responsibility miserably. Instead of exercising fiscal restraint in lowering our taxes, the Democrat budget raises taxes by $683 billion over the course of the next 5 years. You heard me correctly: $683 billion.

Now I go home to my district every weekend, talk to a lot of people about a lot of issues, and I can tell you not once do I hear somebody say, If you could just raise the budget by $683 billion and take a little bit more of my tax dollars, my family is going to be better off. I don't hear, If you can just pass an energy bill with no energy and just put a little more tax on top of the energy and regulate them just a little bit more, then my family is going to be better off. That is not what the American people are looking for.

If you look at $683 billion, that is the largest tax increase in American history. It blows away the previous largest tax increase in history, which was passed in 1993, and that was over $443 billion. These are real tax hikes on real people.

Here are some staggering statistics for families living in northeast Tennessee. According to the Heritage Foundation, because of the Democrat budget, the average taxpayer in my district will be forced to pay an increase in $1,596. This will result in almost 2,000 jobs lost and a loss of $188 million in the First District's economy.

When I go home every weekend, I don't hear people say, Please raise my taxes so we can lose 2,000 jobs. We are actually seeing jobs move to Tennessee because we keep taxes low and keep regulations low. We are a good work State. We have a good work ethic. We certainly don't need the Federal Government to come in and help us to move us in the wrong direction.

By reimposing the marriage penalty tax, roughly 23 million taxpayers will see their taxes increase by $466 a year simply because they are married. Now in east Tennessee I don't go home every weekend and hear people say, I want you to raise my taxes just because I did what is biblically correct and I did the right thing.

We have choices. We have choices between a bigger economy or a bigger government. Taxing spending is not the road we need to head down. Ronald Reagan once said we don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough, we have a trillion-dollar

debt because we spend too much. That is common sense. That is the type of logic I hear when I go home to east Tennessee every weekend.

I think we as Members of Congress need to be more concerned about the budgets of mothers and fathers that they have to put together sitting around kitchen tables every month rather than growing the Federal budget and taking money from those very mothers and fathers that have to sit around the kitchen table every month.

That is the common sense that the American people are looking for.

I hear a lot about hope and change. Really, the hope that people are looking for is just the hope that they can fill up their gas tank, the hope they can buy a gallon of milk, the hope they can buy a loaf of bread, the hope they don't have to spend all their money to take care of government, the hope that the government will let them go out and have that life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that you were talking about earlier with our good friend, Mr. Sali from Idaho. That is the hope that the Americans are looking for, and the change they are looking for is just to get back to some common sense principles that worked over 200 years very well.

The Founding Fathers knew exactly what America needs. I look around this beautiful room and I look behind you and it actually says: In God We Trust. That is the type of change we need in America. We need to get back to some of those bedrock principles where we allow people to go out and pursue happiness.

You know, one of my favorite quotes is from Henry Ford. Henry Ford once said: If you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. The American people think they can. But they think they can't if they see government continue to get bigger and go bigger and bigger. We talk about taxing and spending. The reality is you spend, then you tax. So it should really say spending and taxing.

So we have got to keep the spending low, regulations low, taxes low, and the American people will go out and succeed. There's no better people anywhere in the world than right here in America. We have a great work ethic, we have great values, we have great morals, and we can take care of our families if we will just allow families to take care of families.

I would like to see if you have any comments.

I wanted to thank you for your leadership in introducing the Tax Increase Prevention Act. That is exactly the type of leadership we need. You are a great leader in your State. You are a great leader here on the floor of Congress and in America. Thank you for the opportunity to be a sponsor of this legislation. Together we will make some changes. God bless you.

Thank you, Mr. Walberg. Thank you for your leadership. I would like to thank Mrs. Bachmann for your interest in this, your hard work here in Congress.

I really appreciate your leadership in this and understanding that you can't tax and spend and regulate yourself into prosperity. The American people understand it. It is a simple principle. We need to start thinking outside the Beltway, not inside the Beltway. And if we do those things with lower taxes, lower spending, we will actually start to produce energy in America again, start to use American oil and American coal, safe nuclear, those things to bring down the energy costs. If we bring those taxes, those regulations down, then the American people will go out there and have those jobs. The best economic stimulus package in America is a good paycheck. And thank you for your leadership.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to tell you something about my district. I go home every single weekend because I take the word ``representative'' very seriously. I go home and speak with people living and working in my district because they are the ones who sent me to Washington to express their ideas and their concerns. Two common themes come up from the people in northeast Tennessee: hope and change. We hear a lot about those words today.

They hope that sometime in the future they won't have to spend over $50 to fill up their pick-up truck. They want change, a change that will take them from dependence on foreign oil to clean, safe, and available American energy. Energy is the foundation and lifeblood of the American economy creating the conditions to help us support good- paying jobs here in the United States and allow our industrial base to compete with the rest of the world.

We all know that the middle-class families are feeling significant pain at the pump. But the American family isn't the only place where the strain of spiking fuel prices can be felt. According to recent news reports, local schools, law enforcement agencies, and other community services are paying the price for a record high-fuel cost. Unfortunately, Democrats in the House, who are now in charge, have been consistent in offering so-called energy legislation that weakens our ability to compete with emerging titans such as China, India, and Russia.

In the United States today, we are 63 percent dependent on foreign sources of energy. 63 percent. And that percentage is growing every year. Gasoline

prices have increased more than $1 per gallon since the majority party, under Speaker Pelosi, took control of the House last year, increasing from a nationwide average of $2.33 per gallon on the first day of the 110th Congress to now $3.34 a gallon. When Speaker Pelosi took office and had a plan to fix the energy cost, oil was selling for $56 a barrel. Now, it's selling for $113 a barrel. People are looking for hope and change.

Figures from the Energy Information Administration indicate the U.S. reliance on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, commonly known as OPEC, grew from 50.9 percent of our total crude imports in 2006 to 57.6 percent in 2007. Not only has the majority party failed to end our reliance on Middle Eastern oil for our essential energy needs, they've actually helped grow our dependence to historic and dangerous levels.

We need to make sure that we're not dependent on our energy needs from people that hate us and hate our freedoms all because of their refusal to allow responsible energy production here at home. We cannot tax and regulate our way out of an energy crisis. The American people want an energy policy that's comprehensive and addresses our needs for wind, water, solar, safe nuclear, clean coal technology and, most importantly, the use of American oil.

The American middle class deserves better. They deserve an energy policy that is dependent on American energy, not foreign energy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Carol Kiener, a resident of the First District, who passed away on March 24th of this year.

Mrs. Kiener was a pillar of her community and cornerstone of her family. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family during this difficult time.

Mrs. Kiener spent more than thirty years in the field of education. She loved life and shared that with the children she taught. As a passionate volunteer, Mrs. Kiener taught adult GED classes in her spare time.

Outside of teaching, Mrs. Kiener volunteered her time with the Washington County Historical Society, the Girl Scouts of America, and the March of Dimes. She also was an active member of the Washington County Republican Women and was a member of the B'nai Sholom Congregation in Bristol.

Mrs. Kiener was well respected by her students, colleagues, and parents as an admired educator. Madam Speaker, I ask you and my fellow members to join me in honoring the life of Mrs. Carol Kiener, a loving wife, servant in her community, and a compassionate educator, whose commitment and unwavering determination will be greatly missed throughout East Tennessee.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mrs. Juanita Perry, a longtime resident of the First District, who passed away on March 24th of this year.

Mrs. Perry was a leader in the First District where she has touched many lives through her countless hours of dedication to her community. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family as they mourn her loss.

Juanita loved to help anyone in need. She spent sixty-two years volunteering at Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Medical Center where she carried the name of ``Little Sweetheart of Mountain Home.''

Juanita was also a lifetime member at Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary Post 2108 and Military Order of the Purple Heart Post 224. Her time spent with the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women's Club was honorable and she received a Certificate of Award from the National Federation of Republican Women in 2007.

Madam Speaker, I ask you and my fellow members to join me in honoring the life of Juanita Perry, a loving family member whose commitment and unwavering support to East Tennessee will be greatly missed.

I'd like to thank my colleague from Tennessee. Thank you for your leadership, Ms. Blackburn. You're doing a wonderful job. I had the opportunity to serve with you in the State Legislature, and we fought off a State income tax together back in our home State. And it worked well in Tennessee and it would work well here to keep our taxes low.

As you well know, mothers and fathers all across Tennessee, I'm more concerned about East Tennessee, to be honest with you, but mothers and fathers all across East Tennessee and across America sit around their kitchen tables putting budgets together. They have to make decisions on how am I going to fill up my pickup truck or my car and it costs over $50 a tank? How am I going to put food on my table? How am I going to pay my housing payment? How am I going to pay for my health care? Those are some of the things that real Americans, real mothers and fathers have to make decisions about.

And if you look at the gasoline prices and you look at the energy bill that actually came out of this House back in December, I voted against the legislation. It had new taxes. It had new regulations. The only thing it didn't have was any new energy. And I think the American people are starting to feel that today, and because of that, they're starting to see increases in things such as their food bill going up.

I know my wife comes home every week and says, I can't believe how much our grocery bill's gone up this month. So people all across East Tennessee are struggling to make ends meet.

The Democrat budget resolution fails the test of fiscal responsibility miserably. Instead of exercising fiscal restraint and lowering taxes, the Democrat budget raises taxes, as you well know, by $683 billion over the next 5 years. You heard me correctly. $683 billion over the next 5 years.

And as it's been pointed out, that is the largest tax increase in America's history. Not only America's history. It's the largest tax increase in America's history, but it's also the largest tax increase of any country in the world. That's pretty amazing.

I don't go home every weekend and hear people say, if you could just raise my taxes, my family will do better. I hear just the opposite. Keep taxes low. Keep regulations low. Lower gasoline prices, and let me succeed.

This budget actually blows away the previous record tax increase back in 1993. That was $443 billion.

These are real tax hikes being imposed on real people. Here are some of the staggering statistics for families in Tennessee's First District. According to the Heritage Institute, because of the Democrat budget, the average taxpayer in my district will be forced to pay an increase of $1,596, and it will result in almost 2,000 jobs being lost, and a loss of $188 million in the First District's economy.

That's not what I hear when I go home every weekend to east Tennessee: If you could just raise my taxes, increase regulations, then it's going to be good for my family. That's not what I hear. I hear, Keep taxes low, keep regulations low, lower gas prices and get government out of my way and we will be able to do better.

And by reimposing the marriage tax, you know, I hear comments here in Washington that, well, if we could only tax the wealthy. Well, when I go home to east Tennessee every weekend, there's a lot of married folk that are not wealthy. That's just common sense. And by bringing back the marriage tax, roughly 23 million taxpayers will see their taxes increase by $466 by the year 2011 simply because they're married. I don't know if that's the policy that we need to be bringing forth in this Congress. That's not what I hear when I go home to east Tennessee every weekend.

We have a choice between bigger economy or bigger government. Taxing and spending is not a road we need to head down. Ronald Reagan once said, ``We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.''

I think we, as Members of Congress, need to be more concerned about the budgets of mothers and fathers who have to put a budget together around their kitchen tables back in East Tennessee and across America rather than growing a Federal budget that supports out-of-control spending that relies on taking money from the very mothers and fathers who are struggling to make ends meet back in northeast Tennessee and across America.

I would like to thank my colleague, Congresswoman Blackburn, for her leadership in putting on this budget school; and if we could just get back to using some common sense, we will go forward in America. It's worked well for over 200 years; we just need to get back to that common sense.

Thank you for your leadership.