Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise today in opposition to this rule which allows for debate on the fiscal year 2012 Homeland Security appropriations bill.

This bill makes dangerous cuts to the Urban Areas Security Initiative, or UASI, a program critical to the security of our country's urban areas that have been deemed at high risk of terrorist attacks. One of those urban areas is Providence, Rhode Island, in my congressional district, along with many other communities.

Just last year, the greater Providence area was one of 64 cities that was identified either because of their capital or their critical assets or their geography as being areas at most risk of being targeted by terrorists.

As a result of those designations, Providence has been receiving critical funding from the Federal Government under the UASI program to support efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies. And Providence, under the leadership of Colonel Pete Gaynor, became the first city in America to have an accredited Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. However, the funding cuts to UASI that are contained in this bill will cripple the ability of key urban areas like Providence to effectively ensure public safety should a terrorist attack occur.

How?

The loss of funds will limit the ability of Providence and other communities to address cyber-terrorism and to communicate with first responders in an emergency, among many other critical emergency functions.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation's defense must come first. We cannot in good conscience spend billions of dollars protecting people all over the world at the expense of our own national security. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of restoring funding for the Urban Areas Security Initiative and against this rule.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

This amendment is offered by me, along with my colleagues Mr. Langevin of Rhode Island, Ms. Matsui of California, Ms. Berkley of Nevada, and Mr. Ellison of Minnesota.

I rise to offer this amendment that restores funding for State and local grants, which includes funding for the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which is referred to as UASI.

This bill makes dangerous cuts to the Urban Areas Security Initiative, the UASI program, which is a program critical to the security of cities that have been deemed at high risk of terrorist attack. One of those cities is Providence, Rhode Island, in my congressional district, along with more than 50 other urban areas in our country.

Just last year, the Providence area was one of 64 cities with either critical assets or geography that was identified by Homeland Security experts as being most at risk of being targeted by terrorists. As a result, the city of Providence and other communities across this country have received critical Federal funding under UASI to support efforts to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies. Providence also became the first city in America to have an accredited Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

However, the cuts that are proposed in this legislation will cripple the ability of cities to effectively ensure proper safety should an attack occur. The elimination of the UASI program means that staff will not be able to attend critical training, maintain certifications or purchase the equipment necessary to be prepared. Thousands of devices, like security cameras and radios and projects such as port sirens and watercraft, will not be able to be maintained. Emergency Operations Centers will not be able to be constructed or maintained.

These are urgent, urgent priorities for America's cities. Mr. Chairman, we cannot in good conscience spend billions of dollars protecting people all over the world at the expense of our own national security.

I urge Members to adopt this amendment.

I yield to my colleague from Rhode Island.

I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.

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

Offered By: Mr. Cicilline

Amendment No. 37: Page 2, line 10, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $1,000,000)''.

Page 12, line 6, after the dollar amount insert ``(reduced

by $336,000,000)''.

Page 45, line 18, after the dollar amount insert

``(increased by $337,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Cicilline

Amendment No. 37: Page 2, line 10, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $1,000,000)''.

Page 12, line 6, after the dollar amount insert ``(reduced

by $336,000,000)''.

Page 45, line 18, after the dollar amount insert

``(increased by $337,000,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin our remarks today which will focus on our Make It in America agenda, the agenda that we put together to put the American people back to work to really support manufacturing, and we are going to have a good discussion about that.

I would like to yield first to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell) who has some important remarks to share.

I thank the gentlewoman, and I know we all stand in strong support of the work that is under way in your district and all across this country and our hearts and prayers continue to go to the families who have suffered such tragic losses during those terrible, terrible incidents. We compliment the first responders and the mayors and all those you have recognized tonight.

I would like now, Mr. Speaker, to turn to the agenda that we announced several weeks ago that involves really comprehensive pieces of legislation to really support American manufacturing.

Our country has a proud tradition of making things. We built the world's strongest middle class because, in large part, so much of what the world needed, we made here in America. And for millions of Americans, our tradition of making things here has been a source of opportunity and great pride. Today, with millions of Americans still out of work and with an economy which is still struggling, it's time to draw from that tradition to build a positive, job-creating agenda.

The American Dream used to mean something, that if you put in a hard day's work you could expect good American wages, benefits, and a better life for your family. It meant that when products said ``Made in America,'' people knew that they were getting the highest quality manufactured goods money could buy. It's time working Americans used our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. Working people deserve a voice at the table; and if we lose that voice, we will lose what our grandparents fought so hard to leave us.

We should start with manufacturing. The number of Americans involved in producing goods is still near its lowest point since World War II. Manufacturing is central to our economy. The National Association of Manufacturers tells us that manufacturing stimulates more economic activity than any other sector. It's time we started expanding opportunity and stopped shrinking the middle class.

So this effort is to really understand that we have to start making things again, that manufacturing matters. My friend, Mr. Garamendi, certainly our leader in this Make It in America agenda, is someone who has spoken so passionately and so forcefully about our ability again to lead the world in making goods so that we can start shipping goods that are made in this country all over the world. Instead of exporting jobs, let's export American-made goods.

I tell my constituents--I hear from them all the time--go into a store and try to find something made in America. It's almost impossible, and it doesn't have to be that way. We still have the best workers in the world, we still make the best products in the world, and what we need are good public policies that support American manufacturing, that support job growth in American manufacturing to give fair trade and tax policies that give American manufacturers a fighting chance to compete in a global economy and efforts to be sure that our trading partners like the Chinese stop cheating and play by the rules and are held accountable when they do.

So we put together an ambitious agenda to really make things again in this country. Because when we make things in America, families can make it in America.

We have a series of bills we want to talk about tonight, but think of those days when you would go into a store and you would pick up an item and it said ``Made in the USA'' and the kind of pride we felt because we knew that was a product that was made well, built well, that would stand the test of time, and we could sell it all over the world. We can do that again.

We are doing it. We have some great manufacturing in this country. We are seeing a real growth, particularly in new manufacturing, high-tech manufacturing, which requires innovation and entrepreneurship and the kinds of investments in technology that will help us lead the world in this new knowledge-based economy. So this effort is to really understand this is part of our history, it's part of the present day, and it is part of our future as a great economic power.

I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) who has been such an important voice on the importance of rebuilding and strengthening manufacturing in this country.

I thank the gentleman.

I think one of the important investments that we need to make in supporting manufacturing that you just referenced is infrastructure. And one of the parts of the Make It in America agenda is the making of a national infrastructure bank which will create a public-private partnership to finance the construction of roads, bridges, transit, and the ability to move information, goods, and services in the 21st century.

If we're going to successfully compete in the manufacturing sector, we need to have an infrastructure that has the ability to move goods, services, and information to be competitive and succeed in the 21st century economy.

When you look at what other nations who are investing in manufacturing, are investing in their infrastructure to support manufacturing, in roads, in bridges, in transit, in information technology, and the ability to move goods and services competitively, they are racing by us, literally and figuratively. And what we need is an infrastructure that will support this growth in manufacturing, an infrastructure that will really allow American manufacturers to compete successfully in the 21st century.

Yes, I know she, I'm certain, is going to join the conversation.

I think the point you made, Mr. Garamendi, is an important one. These are not always pieces of legislation that require additional investments of resources. It's also about ensuring that the resources that we're expending are used in ways that support the growth of American jobs and American manufacturing, and your bill is an excellent example of that.

I think we also have, as part of this package, kind of as a beginning point, the development of a national manufacturing strategy, a legislation that would direct the President to convene the stakeholders in industry, in labor, and manufacturers to really develop a national manufacturing strategy with benchmarks and with ways to hold ourselves accountable to meeting those benchmarks; because, again, all of our competitors who are serious about growing manufacturing are doing it pursuant to a well-conceived and developed manufacturing strategy.

We need to put the same kind of thoughtful consideration in the development of that strategy and then really hold ourselves accountable with good benchmarks. And I think that's a great other piece. Of course, my favorite in the package is my very own Make It in America block grants.

I thank the gentleman for that excellent question. But this legislation really grew out of my visits to manufacturers in Rhode Island, some who have been very successful, some that are growing, some that have not been growing. And I said, What are the impediments? What would allow you to grow? What do you need as an American, as a Rhode Island manufacturer? And developed this idea

of the Make It in America block grant that would provide resources in a competitive process as you described, for manufacturers to retrofit their factories to make energy improvements in their plants, to train workers on new equipment, to buy new equipment, to engage in activities which will allow them to increase their exports, but really a shot in the arm to help manufacturers to compete successfully in the 21st century by identifying what they need.

And, look, we invest lots of resources in other areas of our economy. We don't do enough for American manufacturing. This would respond to many of the urgent issues that Rhode Island manufacturers, American manufacturers are facing, do it in a competitive way with real measurement of outcomes, but really invest again in making things in this country.

I know the gentlelady from Hawaii has now joined us, who has also been an important part of the Make It in America agenda.

I would like to yield to Congresswoman Hanabusa.

I thank the gentlelady.

I think the other very important part of that conversation has to be a continued investment in science and research and innovation. A lot of the things you are talking about, kind of new manufacturing, we are going to continue to rely on the knowledge economy and the brilliant new innovators and the great new scientists and the great new technologies and research. We need to be sure that even in these difficult budget times, we are making investments in science and research that will help protect those jobs of the 21st century so we can not only develop the ideas, but then manufacture the products. I think that is an additional important point.

I thank the gentleman from California.

I think that point cannot be stated often enough, that part of our ability to make it in America, not only manufacture but invent and create and make the new discoveries, is understanding that we need to maintain our investment in science and research to compete in this global economy. I thank you for raising it.

I am delighted that we are joined by our colleague from the great State of Texas, someone who has been a very forceful and strong advocate for manufacturing and making it in America.

I yield to the gentlelady from Texas.

I thank the gentlelady for her passion, and I am really hopeful that this is an issue on which we can really build some bipartisan support.

We put forth from the Democratic Caucus a very ambitious and detailed agenda on how we can make things again in this country and on how we can rebuild manufacturing and can really lead the world in the manufacturing sector again. I hope it's not a Republican or a Democratic issue. I hope people understand this is good for our country, is good for America, is good for American workers, is good for our economy; and I hope we will be able to find some support on the other side of the aisle for making it a reality.

I know a big piece of this is also supporting small businesses, which are an important part of the manufacturing sector. I would like to welcome the gentlelady from Alabama again and thank her for being part of this discussion.

I thank the gentlelady.

I think this is one of those issues where the American people are well ahead of the elected officials because I think most Americans recognize the importance of our making things again in this country. This agenda, this Make It in America agenda, is really about two things: one, rebuilding our manufacturing sector so that we can make products here in America and can sell them from here all over the world; and, second, creating good jobs so that more families are able to make it in America.

Americans inherently know that manufacturing is critical to our Nation. It is not just that manufacturing creates good-paying middle class jobs and fosters innovation but that we've also been incredibly proud as a country about the fact that we make things and that we make the best products in the world.

We need and want more success stories like General Motors' recent announcement that they will be adding and preserving over 4,000 jobs across the United States, or Ford's decision to move 2,000 jobs back to the United States from Japan, Mexico, and India. In fact, Ford is planning to add another 7,000 jobs here in the United States. We need more stories like that that recognize that we make the best products and we have the best workers in the world.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

One of the most frustrating parts of that is when you look at the technology that forms the basis of those products, they were developed in large part--sometimes exclusively--by the great scientists and researchers at our great universities, and then they are manufactured outside the United States, and we're using public money to make those purchases. So you're absolutely right, having that requirement that it be manufactured in the United States is a critical part of it.

I thank you for raising that point.

This is a very, very important question that we have to decide in this Congress: What are our priorities? What investments are we going to make both to rebuild our economy and get people back to work, but also to keep our commitment of promising aid to our seniors. This proposal that was made by the Republicans in this very Chamber to end Medicare to people 55 and under, end Medicare, and at the same time to reestablish the doughnut hole today so it would make prescription drugs more expensive for seniors, make nursing home care unavailable to many seniors, slash funding for Medicare, and really shift control to the private insurance companies to make health care decisions for our seniors--a terrible idea. And at the same time, as you pointed out, preserving tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to the Big Oil companies that have record profits, that don't need a check from the taxpayers that adds to our debt, and at the same time not making investments in the kinds of things we need to rebuild manufacturing and to make it in America.

It's the wrong priorities. We've got to protect our seniors, keep the promise we made to them, make the right investments here, and get rid of tax subsidies for Big Oil, get rid of the waste and fraud. Make cuts the right way, but make the right investments at the same time.

I thank the gentleman.

I yield to the gentlelady from Texas.

I thank the gentlelady, and I thank you for your passion on this issue and again for restating the urgency of job creation and getting the American people back to work as our number one priority.

The Make It in America agenda will help do that by restoring making things again and understanding it has to have a central place in rebuilding our economy, by building an environment in which American manufacturers can grow and create jobs and making sure our businesses are competitive all across the world.

Many of our Make It in America bills have won bipartisan support, and now we can win bipartisan support in the new Congress when we work for stronger job training partnerships, fight for a fair playing field for American exporters, and hold China and our other trading partners accountable for currency manipulation and unfair trade practices.

Make It in America also means recommitting ourselves to the future of America's middle class by ensuring that we are out-educating, out- innovating and out-building our competitors. We, of course, have to cut wasteful spending and restore fiscal responsibility by making priority investments that are necessary to keep our Nation competitive.

As the gentleman from California has just put forth, that board which really does describe the issues that are part of the Make It In America agenda: focusing on fair trade policies; tax policies which support job creation in American manufacturing, that give American manufacturing the tools they need to succeed; energy policies that will increase investments in renewable energy, clean energy to make American manufacturers more competitive; labor policies; educational investments, educational investments; protection of intellectual property; and investments in infrastructure. Those are really the outlines of what we know we have to do to really support making it in America, to support manufacturing, and to support rebuilding and strengthening the middle class of this country.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

I thank the gentleman from California for your leadership on this and your participation tonight. I thank the gentleladies from Alabama and from Hawaii and from Texas for joining us as well.

I'll just end by saying you're right. Rhode Island was really the birthplace of the industrial revolution. And when you look at the role manufacturing played in the early days of our country's economy of the industrial age, Rhode Island played a really important role; and from Woonsocket to Providence to Newport to Pawtucket, we have examples of great manufacturing facilities. And what we need to do is put in place the tools and the policies that can rebuild that strength--and not only in Rhode Island but all across this country--that takes advantage of the great American ingenuity, of the great American innovation and the great American entrepreneurship to make the best products to solve the new challenges of the 21st century, to build products and to sell them all over the world, to create jobs as we sell American-made products all across the world.

And we can do it. We have the best workers. We make the best products. What we need are policies at the national level that recognize this is a key part to rebuilding our economy, a key part to the American--the rebuilding of the American economy, and understanding that we can make things again in this country. And by doing so, we can make sure that American families make it again in America.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 15th anniversary of the Korean War Veterans Association in Rhode Island.

As we look toward Memorial Day, we remember all of our Nation's heroes who put their lives on the line because our country asked them to.

More than 54,000 deaths resulted from the Korean War, which occurred between 1950 and 1953, and more than 103,000 were wounded. In Rhode Island, more than 12 percent of our veterans served in the Korean War. Because of these servicemembers, we are able to enjoy the freedoms that we have here at home today.

We owe our veterans and their families our utmost gratitude and respect for the great sacrifices they have made on our behalf. In honor of their sacrifices, we must fulfill our promise to our veterans and their families by providing access to the highest quality health care, education, mental health services, housing, and employment.

I commend the Korean War Veterans Association of Rhode Island on its achievements and its hard work to support veterans and organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Ladies Auxiliary, Veterans.

I wish all veterans and their families a happy Memorial Day.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

For more than 9 years now our American troops have been executing the mission in Afghanistan with extraordinary dedication and competence. They have done all we have asked of them. But what started out as a quick war on October 7, 2001, to wipe out al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and other terrorists has turned into a campaign that seemingly has no end in sight, ripping our Nation's most precious treasures, our brave men and women, from their families and their communities, and costing us more than $8 billion a month.

The cost of this war, again, $8 billion a month, approximately $2 billion a week, is totally unsustainable, especially at a time when we are being asked to make extreme cuts here at home; money, by the way, that we are putting on the American credit card.

Mr. Speaker, my Rhode Island constituents understand that it's time to transfer responsibility for Afghanistan to the Afghan people and bring our brave men and women home. We should no longer send billions of American taxpayer dollars to the Afghan people for their schools and hospitals, roads, bridges, and police, at the expense of making those same investments in our own country, especially when the Karzai government has shown itself incapable of governing effectively or honestly.

For example, a yearlong investigation by a Senate panel has found evidence that the mostly Afghan force of private security guards that our military depends on to protect supply convoys and bases in Afghanistan are rife with criminals, drug users, and insurgents. More alarming, the report alleges that some local warlords, who have emerged as key labor brokers for private security firms, are also Taliban agents.

It's time to rethink our strategy in Afghanistan so that we can focus on rebuilding our economy and making sure Americans can compete in the 21st century. We need to invest in job creation and reducing our debt, instead of sending billions of dollars to a corrupt government abroad. That's why I am proud to support and to be a cosponsor of the McGovern amendment, which requires the President to provide Congress with an exit plan from Afghanistan with a timeframe and a completion date.

A clear exit plan will stabilize Afghanistan by ending an unpopular presence there and improve our country's flexibility to respond to more immediate and pressing national security challenges, improving our fiscal and economic situation at home. This is about setting the right priorities for the American people.

I urge my colleagues to strongly support the McGovern amendment.

I move to strike the last word.

I rise in opposition to the amendment and in defense of our Nation's seniors, who are really under attack.

Why is that? Because the current Republican budget proposal passed by this House and up for Senate consideration pulls the rug out from underneath our seniors. It ends Medicare by making huge cuts in benefits and by putting insurance companies in charge of our seniors' health care, letting insurers decide what treatment and what tests our seniors will receive.

Under the Republican plan, Medicare will end. It will not only impact our seniors; it will impact the family members of our seniors, who will now have those responsibilities. It will reopen the doughnut hole, making it more expensive for our seniors to get their prescriptions, the prescriptions they need to keep them healthy; and under their plan, they will slash support for seniors in nursing homes while continuing to give subsidies in the billions of dollars to big oil companies.

And what else? More than 170,000 Rhode Islanders, which is my home State, rely on Medicare; and they will literally be paying to give additional tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans in our country. To make matters worse, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined that this budget actually adds $8 trillion to the national debt over the next decade because its cuts in spending are outpaced by the gigantic tax cuts for the richest Americans.

Our seniors cannot afford this Republican budget. It would deny them health care, long-term care, and the benefits that they have earned. The Republicans' choice to end Medicare by cutting benefits and by turning power over to the insurance companies for the important health care decisions of our seniors will result in reduced coverage and an exposure to greater financial risk for Medicare recipients, costing seniors an estimated $6,000 more each year for their care.

The Congressional Budget Office determined that, under this Republican budget, seniors' out-of-pocket expenses for health care would more than double and could almost triple. They concluded: ``Most elderly people would pay more for their health care under the Republican plan than they would pay under the current Medicare system.''

To put that into context, the CBO found that, in 2030, seniors would pay 68 percent of premiums and out-of-pocket costs under the Republican plan compared to only 25 percent under current law; and it found that the Republican plan means seniors will pay more for their prescription drugs because it reopens the doughnut hole, costing each of the 4 million seniors who fall into that coverage gap up to $9,300 by 2020.

The conservative Wall Street Journal concluded that this plan ``would essentially end Medicare, which now pays for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills.''

Under the guise of deficit reduction, this Republican plan is recklessly attacking vital support systems for our seniors. We all agree that we have to address the deficit. The issue isn't whether we should reduce it but, rather, how we do it. Let's repeal subsidies to Big Oil. Let's eliminate fraud and waste. Let's end the wars that are costing us more than $2 billion a week. We should not be balancing the budget on the backs of our Nation's seniors.

The Federal budget is about more than just dollars and cents. It is a statement of our values and our priorities as a country. The Republican budget reflects the wrong priorities. It would rather cut benefits to our seniors than cut subsidies to Big Oil or corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

By ending Medicare, this Republican budget breaks the promise we made to our seniors to protect them in their golden years. We must do better for our seniors. Medicare has met the health care needs of seniors while providing them with financial stability for more than 40 years. Ending Medicare would pull the rug out from underneath the feet of our seniors during their golden years.

So I ask my colleagues, if we can't protect our Greatest Generation, what's next?

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Rhode Island's Small Business Person of the Year, Kathleen Devlin, who owns and operates All About Home Care in Middletown, Rhode Island.

The company provides seniors with the opportunity to live at home in their golden years and offers additional assistance for people who have moved to an assisted living residence or a nursing home.

All About Home Care deserves the national recognition, because not only are they putting people back to work and growing their operations, but they are helping our seniors in Middletown, Newport, and Bristol live independently at the same time.

I also congratulate Rhode Island business owner James Silvestri, the recipient of the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2011 Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery.

Mr. Silvestri was recognized for his efforts to rebuild his business while helping his economy recover as a volunteer firefighter following the April 2010 floods in Rhode Island.

I commend these small business owners for their great contributions to Rhode Island's economy and am pleased to join the U.S. Small Business Administration in honoring their work.

I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership on Making It in America, and I certainly thank our leader, Mr. Hoyer, for making this a priority.

I think we all realize the single biggest responsibility that we have is to get the American people back to work. I know in my home State, families are hurting. With one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, our single greatest responsibility is to do everything we can to get people back to work. And I've been disappointed that we've been here for 5 months and there hasn't really been, from our friends on the other side of the aisle, a jobs agenda, jobs legislation. And I'm really pleased that we on the Democratic side have put forth a very ambitious but very important agenda of Making It in America.

When you think about it, we've had an economy that was built on bubbles and credit swaps and all kinds of things, and they all failed and they hurt families in this country very, very badly.

I think what we need to do is return to this idea of making things again in this country that we can sell all over the world, and having policies developed at the national level, at the State level, at the local level that support

manufacturing, that give American manufacturers the ability to compete in the global marketplace, give them an ability to grow jobs, and to create opportunities to make things that we can sell to the rest of the world so we can export American-made goods, not export American jobs.

We have the best workers, the best minds, we have the best innovators in the world, and what we need is to have policies at the national level that recognize we have to make things again. We need to stop the Chinese from cheating in manufacturing and having an unfair advantage, and we need to recognize that this is an important part of rebuilding the economy of this country.

We've put forth, as you know, Mr. Garamendi, with your leadership, a whole agenda, a whole set of bills that will help jump-start and support what's already happening in American manufacturing.

Try to go into a store and find something with those three words: Made in America. It's almost impossible. We can change that. We have to change it. And the agenda that we've put forth will help to do that.

The bill that I am lead sponsor on is the Make It in America Block Grant. It's a simple idea: take resources and invest them in American manufacturing. Help manufacturers retrofit their buildings for more energy efficiency, retrain workers for the new equipment of the 21st century. Buy new equipment, increase their exports. The kinds of tools that we know, that I hear from manufacturers when I travel throughout my district and talk to them and listen to them, what they need to give them a chance to compete in this global marketplace.

We have responsibilities to do that. It's the best way we can grow jobs. You're absolutely right. It's unimaginable that tens of billions of dollars in subsidies are being given to big oil companies, corporate welfare at a time when our constituents are facing some of the highest gas prices ever.

The short-term strategy is we have to pass anti-gouging legislation, we have to release some of the strategic reserves that will lower the price at the pump now, and we have to invest in a long-term strategy of clean energy, renewable energy, the kinds of investments in the manufacturing area particularly that will lead to a good energy future for our country.

I thank you, Mr. Garamendi, for your leadership. This is an important agenda. It's not just about job creation. It's about regaining that position as the leaders of the world of manufacturing.

Rhode Island led the Industrial Revolution. We have a long history of innovation, of manufacturing. This country can lead again in this area, but we need to have policies that support the great minds that are doing this work, the great manufacturing. We need to have job training that gives people the skills necessary to take these jobs, and we need to make it a national priority so that we can start making things here again, and so that American families can make it in America by relying on manufacturing.

I thank the gentleman for his kind words and for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this discussion tonight and for your leadership on your importance of preserving Medicare for seniors in this country. I hear from constituents in my district about the importance of strengthening and protecting Medicare.

To give you an idea of how important this issue is in Rhode Island, more than 170,000 Rhode Islanders rely upon Medicare for a reliable, quality, and low-cost hospital and medical insurance as well as prescription drug coverage. More than 65,000 seniors and people with disabilities in Rhode Island rely upon Medicaid coverage for their long-term care.

When I participated in the debate, and actually when I listened during the debate on this very floor about the Republican budget proposal and about what it did to Medicare, my friends on the other side of the aisle said this will strengthen Medicare. And I thought, how could they make that claim? Because I knew what their proposal did was ending Medicare as we know it, as a guarantee for people 55 and under; and it ended this important safety net and turned it into a voucher system for our seniors.

Now, I unfortunately no longer have my grandparents; they have all passed. But the idea that my grandmother or grandfather in their later years would have to go into the private insurance market and buy insurance because they would have lost the protection of Medicare is something which I think nobody should be prepared to accept.

What is even more disturbing is that what the Republicans passed in that budget when they ended Medicare as we know it also resulted in increased costs for our seniors. See, the difference is nothing in their proposal will reduce costs of health care. That's really what we need to do. We don't need to shift the cost to our seniors and visit that problem upon them, because then they have the burden of enduring additional health care costs. We need to obviously eliminate fraud and waste and abuse, invest in wellness and prevention, invest in information technology, all the things that will drive down health care costs. But shifting the burden to our seniors should not be the answer.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office--this isn't Republicans and Democrats. This is nonpartisan--they said that this Republican budget, which was passed by the Republicans, would actually increase health care costs for our seniors, provide less costs and be more expensive, and it would restore the doughnut hole and make prescription drugs more expensive for our

seniors. And in addition to that, when you take their budget proposal in the aggregate, it would add $8 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. So it doesn't even reduce the deficit.

We all recognize we have got to reduce the deficit; we have to cut spending. We have to be serious about it, but we can't do it at the expense of our seniors, of protecting Medicare, strengthening Medicare so that our seniors have access to quality health care, and that's a responsibility that we have.

There are lots of ways that we have to look at every part of this budget, eliminate fraud and waste, get rid of programs that don't work, be serious about looking at our military spending and what is happening in Afghanistan; we are spending $2 billion a week or more than that now. Look at the billions of dollars that we are giving in subsidies to big oil companies. They proposed in their budget another tax cut for the richest Americans, the millionaires and billionaires. At the same time, we are ending Medicare as we know it. It is the wrong priorities. We can do better than this. Our seniors deserve better than this.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from New York for giving me an opportunity to share my observation that Rhode Island seniors are depending on me and this Congress to protect and strengthen Medicare. They expect us to deal with this deficit in a responsible way, be serious about budget cutting, but maintain our commitment to our seniors.

If the gentleman will yield, I think what is just shocking is that that claim was made today, and really what is un- American is to end Medicare. The reality is Medicare reflects our values as a country. We decided as a Nation that we wanted to ensure that our seniors in their final years, that they have lived a life and played by the rules, done what is right, that they can live with security and dignity and without the fear, the anxiety of worrying how they would have access to basic health care, because we decided as a country that we wanted to ensure, to guarantee that our seniors could live with dignity and with proper health care.

The idea of ending that and requiring them to go buy it with a voucher, that is un-American.

I thank the gentleman. In addition to that, the other part of the Republican budget that passed in this Chamber was also to restore the doughnut hole; to make prescription drugs more expensive for our seniors and to eliminate the free preventative care. I know, from talking to seniors in my own district, there are too many seniors faced with a choice of, do I buy my groceries, or do I buy the prescription drugs that are necessary to keep me healthy. No senior in America should be faced with that choice. And this bill, this budget that the Republicans passed, will raise prescription costs for our seniors.

Mr. Speaker, for nearly 20 weeks this Chamber has been discussing ways to reduce our Nation's deficit, debating the merits of cutting one program or another, most times including important initiatives like job training funds, education, and health-related services.

The fact of the matter is that we have to cut spending. The issue is not whether to reduce the deficit, but how we do it.

If we really want to get serious about the deficit, we would stop handing out billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies which price gouge at the pumps.

Oil company profits are at a record high, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are using high gas prices as an excuse to keep giving them billions in taxpayer handouts. Taxpayer-funded giveaways for big oil add to the deficit. My constituents gain nothing at the pumps, nor do Americans all across this country. Instead, we should be focusing on measures that would actually bring down the price of gas at the pump.

It is time to bring to the House floor measures which would release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and legislation aimed at preventing big oil from engaging in price gouging schemes which drive up the price of oil. These measures could provide immediate relief to our constituents from the rising price of gasoline that truly threatens our economic recovery and the well-being of hardworking middle class families.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1367, the Advanced Vehicle and Technology Act and ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question.

This legislation rewards American workers and American innovation. It's a true investment in American ingenuity and will help us Make It in America. By reauthorizing the Department of Energy's vehicle technologies research program, the Freedom car and the 21st century truck partnerships, the next generation of advanced vehicles will be built in America.

The Advanced Vehicle Technology Act is one important part of the Democratic jobs plan, a jobs plan that focuses on making it in America because there is no way that we can maintain our position as a great economic power without making things in America.

Making things in America is a key part of rebuilding our Nation's economy. It's about reversing the manufacturing job loss trend, recommitting ourselves to the things that created America's middle class, good-paying jobs, world-class education, top-notch research and sound infrastructure.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1367, because when we invest in American ingenuity and innovation, when we Make It in America, our middle class will be strengthened and our Nation will be prosperous.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening about jobs and particularly about the Make It in America Agenda, but before I begin, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Michigan to begin this conversation.

One of the things I know that we all share as new Members of the Congress, as freshmen, is that we've been here for about 4 months, Madam Speaker; and we've had conversations and debates about cutting Pell Grants and cutting Head Start. We've endured attacks on women's health and NPR, attacks on the environment, and most recently, efforts to end Medicare as we know it. We really haven't had before this Congress a jobs agenda, at a time when Americans are suffering from some of the highest unemployment in a generation.

We all recognize that we need to cut spending, we need to be responsible in our management of the national debt. One of the key ways that we can do that is to grow our economy and get Americans back to work. And I believe, Madam Speaker, that one of the key ways that we can do that is to rebuild the manufacturing base in our country. There is no way we can maintain our position as a great economic power without making things in America. Making things in America is really a key part to rebuilding the economy of this country.

My home State of Rhode Island is one of the States that have been hardest hit in this economic downturn. Rhode Island was the first New England State to enter the recession, and it's currently facing the fifth-highest unemployment in America. But Rhode Island has a strong tradition of manufacturing. It's the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. This helped build the middle class and provided good-paying jobs for working families. In fact, Rhode Island used to produce one-third of the costume jewelry in the entire United States, yet our manufacturing sector has been really hard hit, especially in these particularly difficult economic times. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, there were 71,100 manufacturing jobs in Rhode Island in 2000; and by the year 2008, that number had dropped to 47,900. Rhode Island lost 15 percent of its manufacturing jobs during the period of 2008 to 2009 alone. And from 2001 to 2008, Rhode Island lost 10,500 jobs due to trade with China.

When was the last time, Madam Speaker, that you went into a store and found something made in America? Manufacturing jobs all across this country have seen a steep decline, from 20 million jobs in 1979 to about 12 million today, and the middle class has been left behind. And that's why this past week, when we launched the Make It in America agenda, I became so hopeful about this Congress' attention on manufacturing. This agenda is really about reversing manufacturing job

loss. It's about investing in good-paying jobs, world-class education, top-notch research, and sound infrastructure. We need to create an environment that encourages American manufacturers to innovate, grow, keep, and create good jobs here in the United States. When we Make It in America, our middle class will succeed. This agenda is based on the conviction that when more products are made in America, more families will be able to ``make it'' in America. The agenda is really intended to create the conditions to help American businesses produce goods here, to innovate, and create jobs.

It also includes being smart about the investments we make, to out- educate, to out-innovate, and out-build our international competitors. The President has already signed six Make It in America bills into law, many of them which enjoyed bipartisan support because business and labor leaders alike recognize that the Democratic agenda of making it in America is good for our country and is central to the future of our competitiveness, our jobs, and our leadership in the world.

This past week, we outlined a series of bills that represent really a cross-section of the legislative package, a dynamic agenda that will continue to evolve during the 112th Congress but is really focused on how we support the manufacturing sector again. Some of these bills have already been introduced. Others will be introduced in the coming weeks. The agenda includes the development of a national manufacturing strategy, directs the President to work with industry leaders, labor leaders, other stakeholders to develop a national manufacturing strategy for our country, to set appropriate benchmarks and measurements. Every other nation we're competing with that is serious about manufacturing has a national manufacturing strategy. The agenda also includes the Build America Bonds, expanding the Build America Bonds, the creation of a national infrastructure development bank.

If we're going to compete in the 21st century, we need to have an infrastructure which supports that competition. We need to have roads and bridges and transit systems and the ability to move information to compete in the 21st century. It includes making the research and development tax credit permanent and more generous to encourage job creation. It includes the creation of small business startup savings accounts, a reform of the Chinese currency system to give our American manufacturers a fighting chance to compete in the global marketplace. And it includes the Make It in America Block Grant, which I have drafted. This is a block grant which will help American manufacturers retrofit their factories, retrain their workers, buy new equipment, increase their exports, and make their facilities more energy efficient so that they can compete more successfully in the 21st century.

It's an ambitious agenda, but it's really about recognizing that we have got to start making things again in this country; that manufacturing was an important part of the history of America, an important way we built up the middle class in this country and became a world economic power.

We can no longer act as if manufacturing is not important. We need to make things here again so people can go into stores and buy things made in America. We need to start exporting goods made in America all over the world because we make the best products, we have the best workers, and stop exporting jobs.

This is an agenda which I hope will earn bipartisan support, that will be a key to helping rebuild the economy of our country and rebuilding our strong manufacturing base.

Madam Speaker, I think the most urgent priority we face is getting Americans back to work. Americans have been very hard hit in this recession. Members hear it all the time from constituents back at home. What are you doing to get people back to work, to get this economy back on the right track?

This Make It in America agenda, I believe, provides a real opportunity to again rebuild the manufacturing base of this country so that we can make things here again, and so that American families can make it as well.

At the same time, in addition to investing in this agenda, we also need to invest, as the President said, in education so that we can out- educate, so that our kids can compete, not just with the kids in the neighboring town or the next State, but kids in China and India and Germany and all over the world. That's who they're competing with in the 21st century. And we need to make sure they have the tools and skills necessary to compete successfully in the global economy.

In addition, we have to invest in science and research and innovation so we can continue to make the new discoveries, make the new inventions, create the new products that will allow us to lead the world and to again maintain our position as a world economic power. And that's why we think about the balance that we have to strike in managing the serious responsibility of reducing spending, eliminating programs that don't work, cutting waste, and at the same time, investing in the things that are necessary to keep our country strong-- education, innovation and infrastructure.

And so, Madam Speaker, I hope that this Congress, the 112th Congress, will be known as the Congress that restarted and reinvested in making things again in America.

I know that my colleague the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Keating) has focused as well on creating jobs, bringing some balance to our Federal budget, and understands the urgency, particularly in coming from one of our great New England States, of rebuilding and manufacturing.

I'd like to yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

I thank the distinguished gentleman and my good friend from Massachusetts, and I think it is a really important point that he makes tonight.

We talk about the urgency of job creation and about the enormity of the challenges facing our country. But behind all of these numbers and the unemployment rate, these statistics, are real families and real people who we see every single day in our districts all across this country, who are anguished and worried.

People often describe the American people are angry. I don't see anger. What I see in the American people is anxiety. People are worried about the future. They're worried about whether or not this economy is ever going to get on the right track, whether or not we are going to really be successful in growing jobs and getting people back to work. And they look at the proceedings of this Congress and they say, Where's the conversation about creating jobs? Where's the emphasis on putting Americans back to work? And they grow more anxious.

I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for reminding all of us that we're here fighting for real people who are counting on us to do the right things to get them back to work, to get this economy back on track and to put our country's fiscal house in order. These are big challenges, but they're challenges we have to meet.

I will end by, again, reminding everyone that this agenda--and I want to really acknowledge the leadership of our minority whip, Steny Hoyer, who really has led the charge on Make It in America and the legislation that's contained in that agenda, specific bills which I hope will earn bipartisan support, that really get at this issue of how we grow the manufacturing base in this country, which provided such strong support to the middle class and a real opportunity to fulfill the American Dream and to ensure that America can compete internationally and sell our goods all over the world.

I hope we can come together in this Congress and work quickly to pass the legislation that is part of the Make It in America agenda so that we can be sure American families can make it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this rule because my constituents in the State of Rhode Island can no longer wait for action to reduce the price of gas at the pump, and this bill does nothing at all to address this issue today.

Just last week the price of gasoline shot up to more than $4 and, as we all know, this is an increasingly familiar story for States all across this Nation, hurting families and small businesses. And it really underscores what I heard from my own constituents, hundreds of men, women, and families all throughout Rhode Island in recent weeks. We have got to find immediate solutions to lower the price of gas.

But the legislation before us this morning calling for domestic drilling will not provide the short-term relief that's needed right now. At the same time, it will make drilling more dangerous for our environment, for our economy, and for our national security.

My friends on the other side of the aisle have refused to take up the recommendations of the independent commission convened after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and instead, continue to fight to protect Big Oil and continue to fight to protect subsidies while the American people are struggling with higher gasoline prices.

We've got to find solutions to lower the cost of fuel now. We've got to find solutions and ways to end the $4 billion in tax breaks that pad the profits of Big Oil.

And the way to do that, Mr. Speaker, is to bring legislation already drafted, already introduced to the House floor for a vote immediately that would address the issue of the rising cost of gas. Legislation to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and legislation aimed at preventing Big Oil from engaging in price-gouging schemes which drive up the price of oil at the pump would go much further than anything that's in this bill and would help to ease the pain at the pump that American families are experiencing.

We need to do those two things. End the subsidies, and begin to address this urgent problem now. And stop taking measures that continue to advance the interests of Big Oil rather than the American people.