Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the superintendent of the North Providence, Rhode Island School Department, Donna Ottaviano, who was honored as the Rhode Island Superintendent of the Year by the Rhode Island School Superintendents' Association.

Dr. Ottaviano, who also attended North Providence public schools as a student, has led the North Providence public schools with distinction since 2004.

Dr. Ottaviano has spent nearly 30 years in the educational field as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and public health educator in my home State of Rhode Island. In addition to the tremendous contributions she has made to Rhode Island's education system, she has also devoted her time to breast cancer awareness as well as lending her support to the Rhode Island Special Olympics.

Dr. Ottaviano will be recognized nationally at the annual American Association of School Administrators' National Conference on Education. In addition, a $1,000 scholarship in Dr. Ottaviano's name will be awarded to a

senior from North Providence High School.

I congratulate and commend Dr. Ottaviano for her dedication and commitment to educating the future of Rhode Island.

I thank the gentlelady for convening this conversation and thank my friend from Delaware for his thoughtful remarks.

I think that what the American people want from us, and I think as freshmen, we were sent here to do our best to solve the problems, to meet the big challenges of our time. While that has been our responsibility, I think what the American people have seen, unfortunately, is really a lack of action by the Congress of the United States on the most urgent issue of our time, and that is jobs and getting this economy back on track.

We have some proposals before the Congress that are sound and that will really make important progress in our effort to get this economy back on track and create jobs. What I found when I was home in Rhode Island in listening to my constituents, I'm just reminded of how devastating this recession has been for American families and American businesses and how difficult it is right now for people who are out of work trying to find work, or people who are trying to hold onto a home and are facing foreclosure because of their inability to make ends meet, or people that are running a small business and are just trying to stay afloat and keep their business going.

I think our challenge is to first of all never lose sight of how devastating this recession has been for American families, American businesses; and then focus on what we can do, what are the practical solutions that we can find to meet this challenge. I think what people want is they want to see Congress, Republicans and Democrats, working together to find common ground, to find real solutions to these challenges.

I spent time in my district at a couple of things that I thought were particularly exciting examples of what small businesses can do. I welcomed the SBA regional administrator, Jeanne Hulit, to Rhode Island and we visited a company called Wide World of Indoor Sports. Stephen Sangermano and Dan Fawcett are two Rhode Island entrepreneurs that brought this small business together and created jobs. They used the Small Business Administration loan program to do it, to start their business; and it allowed them to hire 80 full- and part-time employees, and they're looking at the opportunity to create another facility, another business in another part of the State which is likely to have the same number of employees.

It's really about how do we provide the needed capital to small businesses, to start-up companies so they can grow their businesses. At another event in my district, we announced along with our Governor and our entire congressional delegation--Senator Whitehouse, Senator Reed, Congressman Langevin, and I--the launch of a new $13 million loan fund, which is Federal funds again, to be administered by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation to assist an organization called Betaspring and the Slater Fund. Both of these organizations are really designed to help start-up entrepreneurs access the capital they need to start a new business and to grow jobs.

I think one of the things I've heard repeatedly is that small businesses need access to capital, they need an environment in which they can start and grow their business, but the other thing that small businesses need that I hear about all the time is they need customers to buy the goods and services they produce. I think one of the things that is really important about the President's American Jobs Act is it really focuses on tax cuts for small businesses, tax credits for small businesses, particular attention to our returning veterans, our heroes, those who have been unemployed for a very long time, and our young people; but at the same time it puts money in the pockets of middle class families so that they can increase their demand for goods and services that ultimately will help small businesses grow and create jobs.

I think this is one of the important lessons that we should have learned over the last decade, that it's not enough, that it's unwise fiscal policy to simply ensure that people at the very top, the millionaires and billionaires, get to hold onto more of their money at the expense of the middle class; because in order to have a thriving, prosperous economy, you not only need entrepreneurs and innovators, you need hardworking middle class families who have the ability to buy the goods and services that businesses produce. I think that's what we need to do. We need to be looking at policies that will do both things, that provide access to capital, that will create an environment for small businesses to grow and at the same time give hardworking

middle class families the ability to buy more goods and services.

What's exciting about the American Jobs Act is it does all of those things: it provides tax cuts to help American small businesses hire and grow. It puts workers back on the job by rebuilding and modernizing America's infrastructure. It creates pathways back to work for Americans looking for jobs to be sure that they have the skills necessary for the jobs of the 21st century. It puts more money in the pockets of every working American family, every worker, that again will help to stimulate growth of our small businesses.

I think the President has really identified a very serious plan to put Americans back to work; and I really hope, as I know the gentlelady from Hawaii hopes, that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be part of this conversation. If they have different ideas, better ideas as to ways we can create jobs and get the American people back to work, they ought to be part of the discussion.

But I know one thing for sure: we cannot simply do nothing for the next 14 months. The American people expect us to take action, to not only talk about jobs but to do things that are going to create jobs and create conditions for job growth, private sector job growth, and to be able to demonstrate that what we're doing, the policies we're enacting, are helping to get our economy back on track and to stimulate jobs.

The other point I want to mention, I know the gentlelady from Hawaii has been a big supporter of this, and that is the whole Make It in America agenda. I have the privilege of visiting manufacturers in my district. Rhode Island has a very rich history of manufacturing. I think everyone recognizes that if we're going to continue to be a leading economic power in the world, we have got to make things again in this country. While we've lost some manufacturing, the low-end manufacturing that may be difficult to get back, there's a lot of new manufacturing, more highly skilled manufacturing that's growing in our country. What we need to do is to have policies put in place that will support American manufacturers, American workers here so that we can compete in this global economy.

We have a very ambitious, comprehensive agenda, making it in America, that begins with the development of a national manufacturing strategy so we can have benchmarks and compete successfully with other countries that are engaged in manufacturing; creating tax policies that support investments in manufacturing and job growth. One of the pieces of legislation will create what's equivalent to an IRA for manufacturers to reinvest in capital equipment so they can grow jobs; my Make It in America block grant that will help retrofit factories, retrain workers, increase exports, things that are necessary to ensure that American manufacturing can be rebuilt in this country. This is an area where I think the public is way ahead of the policymakers in believing that we have to make things again in America.

I again thank the gentlelady for leading this conversation. I think we all know, particularly as members of the freshman class, that the single most urgent challenge, the single greatest crisis we face right now is job creation, is getting the American people back to work. When you think about all the other challenges that our country faces, if suddenly 14 million Americans were put back to work, it would go a long way to solving many of the other challenges we face. When people have a job and they have the ability to support themselves and their family and, of course, they're also contributing as productive taxpayers, that's a benefit to our whole society and certainly to our country.

I hope that what the President has outlined in the American Jobs Act, what we've outlined as part of the Make It in America agenda, the investments that are included in the American Jobs Act to rebuild the infrastructure of our country, to invest in roads and bridges and ports so that we can move the goods and services and information necessary to compete successfully in the 21st century, are those kinds of investments that ensure that we will do things today that will create jobs in the short term and in the long term deal in a responsible way with managing our debt and our deficit.

But we've got to do both things: we have to have a long-term strategy for fiscal responsibility that addresses the serious challenges that we face in terms of our debt, and at the same time we have to make the right investments that put people back to work and that ensure that we're investing in the things that are necessary to compete successfully and win in the 21st century: innovation, infrastructure, education, the things that are necessary to ensure that we rebuild the economy and that we not only put people back to work, that we position ourselves to continue to succeed and lead the world as an economic power.

I think that we can do it, the American people expect us to do it, and I know when I am home in my own district and I hear directly from my constituents, they are expecting Congress to take action that is going to get this economy back on track, that's going to create jobs, and that's going to allow every American to have a legitimate shot at realizing the American Dream.

I thank the gentlelady for the time.

I agree.

One of the important responsibilities that we have--and I think the work of the supercommittee is, obviously, first and foremost to all of us--is the opportunity to deal with the urgent responsibilities of our economic condition and our debt and our deficit and being sure that we are responsible in the way we cut spending. At the same time, if we do this right, we have an opportunity to restore the public's confidence in the operations of its national government.

I think people are going to look to this, and it will not only matter for the next fiscal year; it will matter for many generations. We will be able to demonstrate to the American people that we came together, Republicans and Democrats, and solved this hard set of questions and made the tough decisions to fix our economy in order to be sure that America continues to lead the world.

As freshmen on both sides of the aisle, we come here new to this experience and maybe without a lot of the history that so many other Members of Congress might have and some of the scar tissue that has maybe been built up over the years. I'm hoping, with the energy and the optimism of our freshman class and with our freshman colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it can help propel us into a new way of

working together, in a bipartisan way, to solve the real challenges that face our country.

Mr. Speaker, this week the House passed legislation to reauthorize the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education program. While a celebration should be in order, I am disappointed the bill was considered on suspension, preventing amendments to improve the program.

The bill passed by this Chamber fails to correct a glaring mental health parity issue, which prevents the inclusion of children's psychiatric teaching hospitals in this program. Because these hospitals are classified by Medicare as psychiatric hospitals rather than as children's hospitals, they are ineligible for entry into the program.

In order to fix this oversight and to address the acute need for additional health care providers trained in child psychiatry, I introduced legislation, H.R. 2558, the Children's Hospitals Education Equity Act, which would include certain children's psychiatric hospitals in the definition to determine eligibility.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to correct this inequity and to advance our Nation another step closer to achieving full mental health parity.

Gregory K. Fritz: Parity for Kids' Mental Health

[From the Providence Journal, Aug. 30, 2011]

(By Gregory K. Fritz)

Despite the passage of the federal mental-health parity

bill, stigma and prejudice are still alive and well when it

comes to legislation affecting children's psychiatric

hospitals. The latest example of how our government continues

to maintain discriminatory funding policies specifically

directed against children with mental-health issues involves

federal support for graduate medical education (GME).

Although this issue is far overshadowed by the federal debt

issue, those who care about the mental health of children

need to be aware that achieving true parity still entails

overcoming significant obstacles. Getting children's

psychiatric hospitals recognized as legitimate sites of

medical education is one such obstacle on the road to real

parity that has both symbolic and pragmatic importance.

The history of federal support for training physicians

during their hospital residencies goes back to the

establishment of Medicare, in 1965. Recognizing that America

needs a steady supply of physicians in all the areas of

medicine, and that their training carries substantial

additional expense for teaching hospitals, Medicare

authorization includes a per-resident reimbursement that is

provided to hospitals through a complicated formula. One

element for determining GME payments is the percentage of a

hospital's reimbursement that comes from Medicare. That

children's hospitals would thus be excluded from the program

(because Medicare pays virtually zero for children's medical

care) was unintentional, but it took 34 years for this

oversight to be corrected.

The Children's Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Payment

Program (CHGME), in 1999, established a pool to provide

residency education support to children's hospitals in a

system modeled after the Medicare GME system. The

unintentional disincentive to train pediatric generalists and

specialists was removed and pediatric training accelerated

dramatically. This year, a total of $317.5 million offsets

the training expenses of 5,500 residents at 46 children's

hospitals, and the CHGME program is widely considered a

success.

Parallel to the initial oversight in the Medicare bill, in

the arcane definition of a children's hospital detailed in

the CHGME regulations is language making it impossible for

children's psychiatric hospitals to qualify. Only the most

cynical observer would conclude that this was a deliberate

attempt to exclude children's psychiatric hospitals and the

child psychiatric and pediatric residents they train,

especially since no medical specialty represents a greater

shortage area than child and adolescent psychiatry. Yet,

steady efforts since 2002 to correct this oversight have thus

far been unsuccessful.

The CHGME reauthorization needed for the program to

continue would seem to offer the ideal opportunity to end

this de facto discrimination against children with mental-

health problems. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Representatives

David Cicilline and James Langevin, all Rhode Island

Democrats, have offered similar versions of a brief amendment

to the reauthorization that would correct the language to

reflect the original bill's intent.

If passed, it would admit four or five children's

psychiatric hospitals that meet strict criteria into the pool

of hospitals eligible for CHGME reimbursement. A larger

taxpayer outlay is not requested; rather, the existing money

would be spread slightly more thinly (an estimated 30

additional residents would be added to the current 5,500).

One would think it a small price to pay to correct an

injustice, but passage is far from guaranteed.

As a child psychiatrist working at Bradley Hospital, one of

the psychiatric hospitals that would finally be included, I'm

far from dispassionate about this issue. I see every day the

agony experienced by families with autism, childhood suicide,

adolescent substance abuse or pediatric bipolar disorder;

it's different, but no less severe, than the pain associated

with juvenile diabetes or leukemia. As are all mental-health

professionals, I'm troubled by the months-long waiting lists

that prevent children's access to child psychiatric services.

The distinction between psychological and physiological

disorders is artificial and antiquated, reflecting outdated

fears and prejudices. In short, I see no valid reason to

perpetuate the exclusion of children's psychiatric hospitals

from the mechanism designed to support physicians' training.

Neither do the thousands of members of 39 national

organizations who have signed on to a letter urging support

of the Whitehouse amendment. Mental-health parity is the law

in principle; the CHGME reauthorization should make it be the

case in practice.

Gregory K. Fritz, M.D., is academic director at Bradley

Hospital and the editor of the Brown University Child and

Adolescent Behavior Letter.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the end of a shameful and discriminatory policy, the policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and to honor our brave military men and women who have served under it for almost two decades.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration of Independence, ``Our country was conceived on the promise that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''

Through nearly two-and-a-half centuries, these words have guided our Nation and made our society even more free. Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell is one more step towards full equality, but there is still so much work to be done.

Regrettably, because of the Defense of Marriage Act, servicemembers will continue to face disparities for family programs and benefits even though they've made the same sacrifices as their fellow members of the armed services. This is not right. Let us be guided by the words of Thomas Jefferson and provide these men and women with the benefits they've earned in service to our country.

I commend President Obama for bringing an end to this divisive policy and the senior members of our Nation's military who have begun to implement the change, and congratulate my colleagues here in Congress.

I'm proud to honor the service of all of our men and women in uniform who serve in harm's way and to mark the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Cumberland American Little League team from my home State of Rhode Island. Cumberland American reached its first Little League World Series after winning the New England Regional Championship. It was one of 16 teams out of 6,800 Little League All-Star teams that made it to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Congratulations to Cumberland American for working so hard and for showing such great sportsmanship in the World Series. In my record book, Cumberland American is a champion, not because it drove in the most runs or caught the most fly balls, but because of the dedication and respect and sportsmanship they showed while playing this great game.

Little League baseball is more than a game. It's an enrichment activity that fosters community spirit and helps young people develop critical skills. The coaches, sponsors, Little League officials, and parents who cheered from the stands all played valuable roles in making Cumberland American a success and providing a safe and nurturing environment for these young people to grow.

Thank you to all who made this possible. Again, my congratulations to each of our Cumberland American Little League Baseball players.

Cumberland, Rhode Island American Little League Team Roster

Players: Jacob Glod; Austin Cabral; Stephen Dugas; Max

Hanuschak; Cam Rosa; Connor Lavallee; Chris Wright; Connor

Mastin; James Belisle; Thomas Faltus; Matt Murphy; Colin

Cannata; Ryan McCormick.

Coaches: Dave Belisle; Chris Gold; Matt Wright.

Mr. Speaker, President Obama has offered the American Jobs Act, a clear path forward to putting our country back to work, helping small businesses succeed and hire and providing tax relief for our workers and rebuilding America. The emphasis of the plan is immediate action that will preserve and create jobs now. It will put money into the pockets of working Americans now, and it will give businesses job-creating tax breaks now. It will provide a boost to the economy that we need now.

Mr. Speaker, it's time for Democrats and Republicans to work together and with our President to put the country back to work. The American people literally can't afford to wait a single day more. It's time to pass the American Jobs Act now.

Madam Speaker, having spent the last several weeks in Rhode Island with families, small business owners, manufacturers and builders, people in my district are hurting, facing real struggles every single day. The jobs crisis is causing real anxiety and real havoc in their daily lives.

Last night, the President laid out a serious plan to get Rhode Islanders and Americans back to work. The President put forth a jobs plan that reflects many of the priorities I have been working on and have heard during my community suppers, small business tours, and visits with manufacturers. We heard strategies to rebuild American manufacturing and to make it in America again, creating jobs by enacting small business tax cuts, supporting workers by expanding middle class tax cuts, and rebuilding our Nation's roads, bridges, and schools. And providing greater support and job opportunities for returning veterans, the long-term unemployed, and our young people.

The time for taking action to create jobs is now. Americans have endured the crushing consequences of this economic recession for far too long, and there is no time to waste.

A lot of commentators have been talking about the debt ceiling, the market, the jobs numbers. What we should be talking about is people, families facing tough decisions looking for help from a Congress that doesn't seem interested.

Americans are tired of watching Wall Street speculators, CEOs, and big corporations call all the shots. Working people need a Congress that understands today's tough economic reality and focuses on making their lives better. Unfortunately, because of politics in Washington and extreme ideology, that's not happening.

My Republican colleagues have been very public about their intention to take apart Medicare and Medicaid to pay for yet another tax cut for the millionaires and billionaires and to preserve subsidies for Big Oil companies. They've decided our current economy is the fault of the American people, and now they're going to empty middle class pockets to pay for it.

The talk in Washington right now is driven by ideology that really has nothing to do with cost savings or preserving the American Dream. What it's really about is who suffers and wins when Congress decides that ideology is more important than job creation and that Social Security and Medicare aren't worth paying for any more.

It's time we reward people for what they contribute, not for what they can get away with taking.

It's time we expand opportunity and protect the middle class.

It's time to focus on the real crisis in America--the jobs crisis.

I rise to recognize Kids First of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, an exemplary community organization for environmental and conservation outreach.

Kids First is the recipient of the John H. Chafee Conservation Leadership Award for its Rhode Island Farm Produce to School Lunch Program, which brings healthy and sustainable nutrition and wellness programs to every school district in Rhode Island. Their strong partnerships with nutritionists, dietitians, chefs, and school administrators have brought important nutrition education programs into schools, and have benefited local produce growers since 1999.

Kids First is a win-win for farmers and students, providing local farmers with a reliable market and schoolchildren with 200,000 pounds of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for healthy meals.

I commend and congratulate Kids First for promoting community sustainability through environmental conservation and for growing Rhode Island's local economy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize International Youth Day and to honor youth leaders in Rhode Island as we celebrate the culmination of the International Youth Year.

Since 1999, when the U.N. designated August 12 as a day to recognize the integral role youth have played in sustainable progress, we have commemorated the importance of young people getting involved in our global, regional, and national development.

In celebrating the many milestones of the youth of today, we also honor the lives and work of those who led them, and Rhode Island has so many fantastic youth leaders. One such example is my friend, Franklin Rodriguez, the Minister of Youth Affairs in the Dominican Republic and the president of the Ibero-American Organization of Youth, who has joined us here today in the gallery.

Under Franklin's leadership, the Ministry of Youth has worked to engage and empower Dominican American youth in Rhode Island by collaborating with the Community College of Rhode Island to provide training opportunities and honoring outstanding young civic and educational leaders in the community with their Youth Excellence Award.

Many of Rhode Island's Dominican residents are young people who have contributed to the cultural, economic, and social development of our State in so many ways. For this reason, I'm honored to recognize International Youth Day, the leaders of the youth movement, and the culmination of International Youth Year.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

In Congress, we have to, of course, responsibly cut spending, but at the same time we also have to make the necessary investments that create jobs now, guarantee the future strength of our economy, and renew the vitality of our communities. And that's why we should absolutely reject this effort to further reduce the investment, our Nation's investment, in the National Endowment for the Arts.

Our targeted Federal investment in the arts through the NEA is very modest and is really crucial to spurring the contributions of corporate and foundation partners through their support through philanthropy, sponsorships, and volunteerism that help to sustain and leverage arts investments in communities all across this country.

This investment in the arts becomes all the more important during a time when States and cities all across this country face greater and greater fiscal constraints and at the same time are searching for opportunities to leverage Federal dollars and to spur economic development and job creation.

I represent a State that has realized an extraordinary return on investments generated by the arts. In Rhode Island, the presence of the arts is really sown into the fabric of our communities and of our economy. According to recent data from Americans for the Arts, in just the First Congressional District, in my district alone, more than 1,400 arts-related businesses employ nearly 6,000 people, and that represents more than 5 percent of the businesses in my district.

As the former mayor of Providence, I've seen firsthand the economic impact of the arts and the power of art to transform people and places.

I know the benefits of the arts in enriching our communities and uniting them as well. Arts nourish our soul.

The United States Conference of Mayors sent a letter to Members of Congress urging us to protect funding in the arts and to reject this amendment, recognizing that arts create jobs and produce tax revenues, that arts put people to work, and that arts attract tourism revenue. Arts in the creative industries are an enormous part of what fuels our local economies, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to our cities, generating activity in restaurants, hotels, transportation, and hospitality services.

This activity not only strengthens the vitality of our communities, it generates revenues for State and local governments. Across our country, the arts industry provides much more than aesthetic benefits. It creates meaningful economic benefits and opportunities.

During this period of budget austerity, we shouldn't neglect those investments with a proven positive rate of return. We shouldn't siphon off the fuel that helps power the American arts industry, a sector of our economy comprised of more than 750,000 businesses, employing nearly 3 million people nationwide, and generating more than $166 billion in economic activity.

Cutting the National Endowment for the Arts undermines our responsibility to create jobs and grow our economy, and diminishes us as a Nation.

As one study demonstrates, when we consider the overall direct Federal cultural spending of $1.4 billion, we're achieving a return on investment that's nearly 9 to 1. If we're really serious about strengthening our economy, putting more Americans back to work, and reining in our deficit, then we have to be smart about our investments and about our reductions.

With estimates indicating that every dollar of Federal funds invested in the arts generates $9 in economic benefits, further reductions to the National Endowment of the Arts are counterproductive and, in fact, will move our Nation backwards. It moves us backwards not only in the effect that we lose the immediate economic return on the investments, but this cut also pushes our country further behind our competitors and the global economy.

It was one of the great giants of the United States Senate, the great and passionate leadership of Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, that led to the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965, the program that we're fighting to defend today. In 1963, Senator Pell opened hearings on preliminary legislation on this issue by stating, ``I believe that this cause and its implementation has a worldwide application, for as our cultural life is enhanced and strengthened, so does it project itself into the world beyond our shores.

``Let us apply renewed energies to the very concepts we seek to advance, a true renaissance, the reawakening, the quickening, and above all, the unstunted growth of our cultural vitality.''

In those words Senator Pell said clearly that this disinvestment that we're discussing today for the National Endowment for the Arts nearly 50 years later is a stark and appalling contrast to the renaissance and reawakening embodied in the National Endowment for the Arts.

For too long, the arts have been the first target for spending cuts in our public schools and here at the Federal level. It is at our own economic peril that we continue to deprive our youth and our communities of their connection to the arts.

I ask unanimous consent to be given 1 additional minute to conclude.

I thank the gentlewoman.

For too long the arts have been the first target for spending cuts in our public schools here at the Federal level. It is at our own economic peril that we continue to deprive our youth and our community of their connection to the arts. I have seen on so many occasions the power of music and dance and theater to ignite the imagination of a young person, that causes them to stay in school, to follow their passion, and ultimately to realize their dreams.

Today's global economy demands an even greater level of creativity, innovative thinking, and entrepreneurship, a 21st century skill set that is enhanced by exposure to the arts in learning and in daily life. I participated in an arts education roundtable with CEOs from all across the country who said that those skills of creative problem solving, of innovation, of entrepreneurship were skills they were looking for in the workers of the 21st century. And the arts nourishes and enhances those skills.

We cannot underestimate the importance of maintaining critical Federal funding for our arts to fuel our national economic recovery, to grow our local economies, to teach our children, and to expand our civic discourse during these trying economic times.

I strongly urge my colleagues to reject further reductions to the National Endowment for the Arts because now, more than ever, we need the National Endowment for the reawakening, quickening, and unstunted growth of not only our cultural vitality but of our economic prosperity as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize three employers in Rhode Island that are honoring and supporting the brave men and women serving our great country in the armed services.

These include Amica Mutual Insurance of Lincoln, Rhode Island; Banneker Industries of North Smithfield; and the Woonsocket Middle School. These Rhode Island employers have received national recognition as finalists and semifinalists for the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award and were selected for this honor from a pool of 4,000 nominations.

This award is the Department of Defense's highest recognition of employers for the extraordinary support they provide to our National Guard and Reserve members and their families. The Freedom Award is especially significant because nearly half of our Nation's military is currently comprised of Guard members and Reservists.

These men and women have put their lives on the line because our country asked them to. Because of their service, we're able to enjoy the freedoms that we have here at home. We owe those serving our country, our veterans, and their families our utmost gratitude and respect for their great sacrifices on our behalf.

I commend our Rhode Island businesses who recognize the sacrifices of our servicemen and -women and their families.

I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, the Interior and Environment appropriations bill before us today represents an all-out assault on clean air, clean water, and land conservation efforts in our country. To be clear, passage of this measure is an absolute abandonment of this body's responsibility to provide for the general welfare of the United States.

This bill seriously undermines the significant advances that we've made as a country as responsible stewards of our land and natural resources, our wildlife, our air, and our water. And perhaps most important, this legislation is a threat to the health and well-being of all Americans.

Some have argued that the riders attached to this bill are sensible and an attempt to rein in what they call the excesses of the Environmental Protection Agency and job-killing regulations. This is an absurd claim. This legislation is nothing more than a complete caving in to special interests and Big Oil and some of our Nation's worst polluters.

For the people I represent in the First Congressional District of Rhode Island, the stunning reductions to the EPA and the related policy riders that strike against the gains we've made to clean air and clean water are a threat to public health and the environment.

Let me give you one example, Mr. Chairman: According to reports from Rhode Island Clean Water Action, Rhode Island has the third highest rate of childhood asthma in the Northeast and the fifth highest nationally. The State spends $316 million providing health care for problems attributed to particulate matter every year.

What's more, 27,000 Rhode Island children currently suffer from asthma. The average length of a hospitalization stay for children with asthma in Rhode Island is 2 days, with an average cost of $7,840.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle need to realize that the drastic reductions and the anti-environment riders in this bill threaten not only our air and water quality, but they will have real and economic consequences on real people, on real families, increasing health care costs, generating additional lost days of work and productivity, and inciting detrimental long-term health and developmental consequences for our children.

In addition, this bill slashes vital infrastructure funding that's not only essential to protecting our environment and public health, but also creates jobs and supports State and local economic development opportunities.

This bill sets the Clean Water State Revolving Fund at 55 percent, or $833 million below the FY 2011 level. The bill sets the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund 14 percent below the fiscal year 2011 level, and that's a cut of $134 million.

I'd like to read an excerpt from the 2010 annual report of the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency, the entity charged with administering Federal and State programs relating to municipal wastewater and drinking water financial assistance: ``A revolving fund allows the perpetual availability of funds to assist local governmental units in meeting water quality goals by providing loans and other forms of financial assistance. Our primary goals are to provide low-cost means to reduce pollution caused by wastewater, help provide safe drinking water, and to provide low interest loans to cities and towns to help citizens repair failed, failing or substandard septic systems.''

Undeniably, at this moment we're working to rein in our public debt, we have to be smart about the investments we make. Just consider the mission of this State agency whose efforts are supported through the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low- cost means to reduce pollution caused by wastewater and to provide safe drinking water. These are fundamental objectives to safeguard the health and well-being of Rhode Islanders and of men, women and children all across this country.

And what's the response by our friends on the other side of the aisle in this Congress? To cut these vitally important infrastructure programs by more than $1 billion. If this Congress wants to be serious about reining in spending, we can no longer try to fool ourselves with the misguided belief that critical infrastructure projects, especially those supported through State revolving funds that protect our health and environment, are going to miraculously become less expensive with time.

Reducing Federal funds that help support these kinds of projects to improve our water and wastewater systems will only incite deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance only makes future projects more expensive and, in many instances, will increase the likelihood of infrastructure failures that threaten public health and the environment and impede economic growth. These will undoubtedly cost us more in the long run.

Some have called this bill the worst assault on clean air and clean water in history. I strongly urge my colleagues to reject this assault on the health, welfare, and economic vitality of our States, our cities, and our towns. Let us not be known as the Congress who betrayed our solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the earth.

I urge my colleagues to reject this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor and recognize the rich history of Liberia as we mark Liberian Independence Day on July 26. We honor people of Liberia and those individuals of proud Liberian descent who are celebrating 164 years of independence.

Today we celebrate a great country, its people, their traditions, and the mark they have made on cities like Providence, Rhode Island, and others, making them great places to live, work, and raise families. Rhode Island's flourishing Liberian community has played an important role in making the State what it is today, and I would like to thank them for their great contributions. I am proud to honor your heritage and the difference you have made in our State and in this country.

Recently, along with my colleagues here in the Congress, I had the opportunity to welcome the President of the Republic of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to Washington and confirmed our support for Liberian peace efforts. May we continue to be inspired to support the people of Liberia through their democratic tradition as we celebrate Liberian Independence Day.

Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to honor a great citizen, a good friend, and a wonderful political leader, Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun, who passed away last evening.

My fellow Rhode Islanders and I have lost a great friend and a great leader in Bruce's passing. He will be long remembered for leading Rhode Island through some very difficult times. His commitment to public service and his honorable and courageous service to our country both at home and abroad set him apart as a great American.

Governor Sundlun distinguished himself as a patriotic war hero, a talented business leader, a spirited athlete, and a gifted political leader.

A great friend to me, his courage and passion set him apart as one remarkable man whose spirit will live on in

our memories. His legacy and visionary accomplishments, including leading Rhode Island out of the credit union crisis, establishing Rite Care, a national model for health care for low-income families and children, and his vision for our State's airport expansion at T.F. Green will continue to benefit Rhode Islanders for many years to come.

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the entire Sundlun family. Governor Bruce Sundlun will be sorely missed.