Floor Statements

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak. I appreciate Mr. Edwards' leadership, that of Chairman Walsh, and my good friend, Sam Farr, for taking the attention to the problem of the toxic and explosive legacy of 225 years of military operations in the United States. We are not talking about problems overseas, we are talking about communities in every single State in the Union.

Mr. Farr's experience with Fort Ord over, I don't know, over 15 years now, has demonstrated the scope and scale of the promise, if we do it right, there are tremendous opportunities. Many of these bases are jewels that can be returned to productive use.

His experience has also shown how complicated they can be; that if we don't have the right plan, we don't invest the resources, it can drag on and on and on. Sadly, we have over 3,000 sites around the country that still are a part of this toxic legacy.

I do appreciate what the subcommittee has done. You have a difficult job. I wouldn't want to have to balance those equities. But I am here today arguing for more attention and more resources to deal with accelerating the problem in the past and the promises of the past.

I am going to offer an amendment in a few minutes that would transfer from the 2005 BRAC account money that will be used to deal with the first four rounds and those communities that are waiting.

Now, there are going to be some who will say, well, you are offsetting a much bigger number than the mere $77 million. And that is because the 5.3 billion, an increase of $3.6 billion that is technically set aside for 2005 is not going to be spent. The payout rate is something like 5 percent for this next year. You are not going to use it. It is a phony number. You can safely transfer resources to help people who have already suffered closure and who have not been dealt with fairly by this Congress. You can look at Mather Air Force Base in California, closed in the first round, and their cleanup isn't slated to be completed until 2072. That is unconscionable.

I would respectfully request that Congress no longer be missing in action when it comes to cleaning up the bombs, the munitions, the fuel depot, the multiple problems that have been left by communities, for communities to deal with, and impede the recycling. On base closures under BRAC, the unexploded bombs and chemical contamination prevents 140,000 acres on closed and realigned bases from being transferred right now to local communities for redevelopment.

The last point I would make is that it goes far beyond this subcommittee. Again, I appreciate their attention and the work they have done, but we have to have the appropriations committee and the authorizing committees to get serious about this. We have an up and down cycle where we put some money in and then the money goes away. We transfer it in areas when all of a sudden there is a huge problem that gets the attention, like Spring Valley in Washington, DC. on the campus of the American University. That is where we tested and developed chemical weapons during World War I.

We have had three cleanups to try and solve that problem. The more that we focus on this, the more that we invest on an ongoing basis, the more that we develop the techniques, the technology, it is not just going to save people around the country from this problem, but that same technology that will help us figure out whether it is a hub cap or a 105 millimeter shell will be able to be used to protect our soldiers in Iraq. That is how I lost my first constituent, was a land mine.

Now, I would suggest that, if we get serious about this, we will not only accelerate the technology and the research that will make our communities safer and healthier here at home, but it will protect lives of our service people

overseas and will also deal with the vast amounts of munitions and land mines that are scattered all around the world that kill innocent victims every day.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I had the Clerk go ahead to read the numbers, because I think that we want to get one point clear from the outset. It looks like there is a big cut of $440 million in order to be able to spend $77,500,000. The point is, it is the same number.

There is a vast increase in the amount of money that has been set aside, a $3.6 billion increase, for the

2005 base closure account. But we are not going to spend that money. The payout rate is only 5 percent. That is why you have to reduce it, under our arcane budget rules, by over $400 million to get $77 million back. The point is the tax dollars are exactly the same; and, additionally, the point, is where are we going to spend it?

I appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment with my colleague Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite from Florida because we are trying to focus on the serious problem of the toxic legacy of military operations in this country. I have a map behind me where we have identified 3,398 sites around the country already. There are more that we are discovering.

The particular area we want to focus on today is that we are not spending adequate resources to deal with the bases that have already been closed. We have 140,000 acres that cannot be transferred because they haven't been adequately cleaned up from the previous BRAC closings. And this isn't just a case of, well, don't worry about it, put up some barbed wire and it will go away. These are problems that continue over time.

Unexploded ordnance has killed dozens of people. I have interesting little materials here. These are promotional materials that the Department of Defense gives to our soldiers to try and recognize it. This is a problem that threatens the health and well-being of our men and women in service right now on our bases.

One of my favorites is Larry the Lizard. This is being distributed in Southern California, coloring books, to tell children not to pick these things up. Now, if it is your son, your niece, your granddaughter, your little brother, maybe you feel better that there is a Larry the Lizard coloring book. But wouldn't you feel better if we stepped up and met our obligation and actually picked up those bombs, those unexploded munitions? I think you would. I know I would.

I think it is time that Congress no longer be missing in action on the issue of military cleanup. We don't know at this point whether there are 10 million acres or 40 million acres with unexploded ordnance.

Now, I appreciate, and I have expressed my admiration for this subcommittee's sinking their teeth into it and trying to do something, like my colleague, Mr. Farr, for his tireless championing of this cause. But this amendment today, this little amendment, shifting the same amount of money that will be spent from the most recent round of base closures with $5.3 billion to increase the small amount of money that has been allocated to deal with prior facilities is a step in the right direction.

It would be a tragedy if we are going to continue to stretch this out over time. Our first obligation ought to be to those people who have suffered this experience before. Mather Air Force Base in California isn't slated to be cleaned up until 2072 under the current rate of expenditure. They were closed in the first round. That is unconscionable.

At the rate we are going, it is a 200- to 300-year problem, and every delay means that we do not return the land to productive use. It means that people's lives are in jeopardy. We are coming up to fire season, and we are probably going to have to pull firefighters out of some of the forests where there had been training and there is a danger of the bombs exploding.

We are spending enough money on national defense that we can prioritize dealing with this toxic legacy that will make families safer at home and people around the world. Because, bear in mind, the sooner we develop this technology and refine the techniques, not only will it help us clean up here at home, that technology will be available to make our soldiers safe overseas as well.

Will the gentleman yield?

I want to understand this because I think it is very important. My understanding is the reason the offset of $440 million is required is because they are not going to spend more than $77 million this next year; is that correct?

Mr. Chairman, I want to just make one point, apropos the distinguished Chair of the subcommittee.

The $5.3 billion that he is talking about, which will not be spent rapidly, is for all of base realignment and closure activity. That is for reconstruction, that is for building, that is for a whole range of things. It is not just the critical cleanup of the explosives. It is not where there is the critical danger.

So there is a whole range of things in there that I think any objective person on this floor would say is much less of a priority to save lives than what the gentlewoman from Florida pointed out. Our amendment focuses on putting the money where it is going to do the most--the clean up that is essential, that has been delayed and delayed and delayed.

I understand the Chair's concern that we don't want to delay the 2005 BRAC. Bear in mind, the amendment that we are offering deals with the people long before that, who have been waiting and waiting and waiting. I would suggest there is no fiscal impact that is going to hurt over the long haul. The financial incentives that he references will be available if we have the economy of scale for the ones that are more dangerous and are more delayed.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By: Mr. Blumenauer

Amendment No. 1: Under the heading ``Department of Defense

Base Closure Account 1990'', insert after the dollar amount

(page 11, line 17) the following: ``(increased by

$27,500,000)''.

Under the heading ``Department of Defense Base Closure

Account 2005'', insert after the dollar amount (page 11, line

24) the following: ``(reduced by $440,000,000)''.

Under the heading ``Environmental Restoration, Formerly

Used Defense Sites'', insert after the dollar amount (page

18, line 14) the following: ``(increased by 50,000,000)''.

I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this bill, which should be one of the highlights of this congressional session, of any congressional session, as it touches on things that are near and dear to the hearts of the people we represent: clean air, vast open space, environmental protection, investment in the arts, and the public lands that are so meaningful to people.

Mr. Chairman, there are important provisions in this bill that I do support. I appreciate the subcommittee funding for land acquisition in the Columbia River Gorge which will help us honor Federal commitments to communities in Oregon and Washington along a priceless national treasure. But, sadly, overall what should be a positive expression of our values, our hopes, and opportunities instead is a pattern of broken promises to our communities. It does represent a lost opportunity and is a symbol of the inability of those of us in Congress this year and the administration to match priorities with those of our constituents and, most importantly, for the future.

I appreciate the fact that there is dramatic underfunding through the budget allocation in the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, putting them in the hole from the beginning. I appreciate that the funding for land acquisition has been increased over the President's budget. But there is no reason that the billions of dollars set aside in the trust fund for the land and water conservation fund for that express purpose should not be used for those purposes.

Without the funding, communities will lose opportunities to purchase ecologically rich lands and waters, preserving and protecting recreation and conservation and historic values.

Remember the commitment that was made on this floor in the year 2000. I appreciate the leadership that Mr. Dicks exhibited with the committee working with Mr. Young and Mr. Miller in the CARA legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the House, but a deal was brokered to establish funding levels. It is a point of great embarrassment that that commitment that was made to realize the overwhelming sense of what needs to happen in this body with CARA is being violated with this legislation today.

I hope that we will be able to, before we finish deliberations and move it through this session, go back and revisit it, because that commitment was made in good faith. I appreciate the work of the gentleman from Washington together with Mr. Young and Mr. Miller, Mr. Obey I see here. We should not be violating that commitment.

Mr. Speaker, I do hope that we can focus more attention and have a healthy discussion on that in the course of these deliberations.

Mr. Speaker, as we have seen this week in the news, it is not just the Gulf Coast that is at risk for flooding and other natural disasters. Indeed, it is the whole Nation.

The Governors of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have all declared states of emergency due to flooding from torrential rains. Four thousand residents in Merrimack County, Massachusetts are just now starting to return to homes filled not just with water but with sewage.

Florida has declared an emergency as well due to wildfires. Residents of Edgewater, Florida were evacuated when a wildfire broke out south of Daytona Beach. Eight thousand acres and several homes were burned.

Hurricane season officially starts the first of next month, with researchers at Colorado State predicting as many as five intense hurricanes this year, with the chance of one striking the gulf coast at least 50 percent.

When less than half the States require even comprehensive plans to deal with natural disasters, one asks, is it going to take another whole summer of fires, hurricanes, and other such disasters for the Federal Government and States to take simple, commonsense steps to protect communities? We can start today in our Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I will not support a budget plan that makes the overall budget deficit worse while providing further tax cuts for people who need them the least. The Republicans not only borrow the cost of their war, they refuse to honestly account for these costs by handling appropriations through emergency spending bills instead of the regular budget process. Playing politics with the budget short changes our future while creating an unsustainable mountain of debt. Refusing to provide permanent relief to tens of thousands of Oregonians threatened by the Alternative Minimum Tax, only providing a one year ``fix'' to the AMT, gambles with middle-class families' futures.

It is time for Congress to face up to the fiscal problems that they have created and deal honestly with American taxpayers about the budgeting sleight of hand and deficits. This budget doesn't begin to do this.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow I will be offering an amendment, cosponsored by Congressman Jeff Flake, to the Agriculture Appropriations bill. The amendment will prevent any funds in the appropriations bill to go towards salaries or expenses of personnel who make loans in excess of 17 cents per pound for raw sugar cane or 21.6 per pound for refined beet sugar. This is, in effect, a 6 percent cut to the Sugar Loan Program.

Offered By: Mr. Blumenauer

Amendment No. 6: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), add the following new section:

Sec. 7_. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made

available by this Act may be used to pay the salaries and

expenses of personnel who make loans available under section

156 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of

1996 (7 U.S.C. 7272) to processors of domestically grown

sugarcane at a rate in excess of 17 cents per pound for raw

cane sugar or to processors of domestically grown sugar beets

at a rate in excess of 21.6 cents per pound for refined beet

sugar.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate my colleague permitting me to speak on this. As she indicated, this is a bipartisan amendment sponsored by the entire Oregon House delegation.

Our interest is making sure that the men and women in our armed services have access to the best possible equipment. Currently, the efforts that have been under way overseas and at home have put a great deal of stress and strain. We have had people in the Northwest explain to us opportunities that they think are available to both save money and to improve opportunities to make sure that the equipment is recycled, brought up to par as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I think having a report from the Secretary of the Army in this fashion will help spotlight this opportunity.

We are confident that we will see real opportunities to save money while we improve the equipment that our men and women are dealing with. I appreciate the cooperation both from the Oregon delegation and from the staff on the minority and the majority in helping move forward so we have got some good information. I express my appreciation to the Chair and to the ranking member.

Mr. Chairman, if the gentlewoman will yield further, to the extent any time is available, I appreciate the chairman's words and for emphasizing that we want to be able to take advantage of the resources where they are. Whether they are the folks we have right now in the armed services or the private sector, the goal is to do the best job possible with the resources. We appreciate your cooperation and your words of support.

Mr. Speaker, the future of this country is rooted in not just respect for, but understanding the U.S. Constitution. This past weekend more than 1,200 students from across the United States will visit Washington, DC to compete in the national finals of the ``We the People . . . The Citizen and the Constitution'' competition. This outstanding program is the most extensive educational program in the country developed specifically to educate young people about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I am proud to announce that 36 students from Grant High School in my congressional district represented the State of Oregon in this national event. These young scholars have worked diligently to reach the national finals and, through their experience, have gained a deep knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles and values of our constitutional democracy. My neighborhood school has won the State Championship four times in the last six years. Last year they placed second in the nation.

The three-day national competition is modeled after hearings in the United States Congress. The hearings consist of oral presentations by high school students before a panel of adult judges on constitutional topics. The students' testimony is followed by a period of questioning by the judges who probe the depth of their understanding and ability to apply their constitutional knowledge.

Congratulations to Luis Alvarez, Austin Arias, Amelia Bell, Sukey Bernard, Thomas Brant, Becca Carlson, Max Chester, David Cooper, Hopi Costello, Hallie Craddock, Emma Dobbins, Yata Doe, Thomas Dudrey, Theo Erde-Wollheim, Arjav Ezekiel, Elena Fairley, Lauren Faulkner, Hannah Fisher, Laule'a Gorden-Kuehn, Ethan Gross, Phylicia Haggerty, Jennifer Hatton, Thomas Johnson, Austin Knutson, Joe Piucci, Jesse Poquette, Evan Pulvers, Max Schober, Lydia Sheehey, Emily Short, Kyle Sias, Katie Singleton, Natalie Stoll, David Streckert, Laura Yount, Ben Zarov and teacher Matt Campeau on placing number four in the country. They represent the future leaders of our nation and Oregon is proud of them.

Mr. Speaker, nothing spells out the political cynicism and misplaced Republican priorities better than the tax bill we are about to vote upon. More assistance to the people in the top one-tenth of a percent whose burden has actually fallen 25 percent since Bush took office, the over-million-dollar crowd will get an additional $40,000 a year for the next 10 years.

But the Republican leadership and the Bush administration is playing Russian roulette with the alternative minimum tax and the 15.3 million families whose only sin is to pay taxes, pay their mortgage and raise their families. Every year more of them fall into a trap, and each year the Republican leadership fails to make a long-term fix a priority. They would rather play politics with the favored few.

This misguided priority is shameful, as Medicare and Medicaid deficits widen and the national debt increases. The alternative minimum tax, the AMT, has become an ATM to finance more tax cuts for people who need it least and put at risk 33 million American families who will fall into the AMT tax trap by 2010 when the house of cards comes crashing down.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to thank Chairman Hunter and Ranking Member Skelton for the real progress that this legislation represents for our men and women in uniform.

I think this is truly landmark legislation in this regard. I also deeply appreciate the work of the committee

leadership in working with me to include section 311 to improve the management of our unexploded ordnance and munition response programs. This is going to pay dividends for our troops here at home.

In the long run it is going to save money for the taxpayers, and the more progress we make here we are going to develop technology and techniques that are going to make people safer around the world.

I do want to share a troubling story that came forth in my community this weekend of military recruitment abuse, a problem that frankly I thought was behind us.

An 18-year-old autistic high school student who, despite a clear disability, was recruited into the Army, in the calvary as a scout, despite the strong objection of his parents and in apparent violation of military rules.

After news media attention and our office intervened, the Army has recently back-pedaled. But this is an outrageous situation. I have heard from numerous sources that this young man was not even aware that we were fighting in Iraq when he was being recruited in and signed a contract to serve in the Army.

The evidence strongly suggests that the recruiters purposefully withheld information about his disability in order to circumvent the rules. This does not appear to be an isolated incident. Pentagon statistics show accusations of recruitment abuses are at record levels.

I have called upon the Secretary of Defense for an investigation at least in this situation, because we need to get to the bottom of it, and it is likely not just one isolated case around the country. To be the finest fighting force in the world, we must continue to demand the most rigorous standards of conduct at all ranks of the military, including recruiting.

Mr. Chairman, I hope that the Armed Services Committee will work with me as this bill moves forward to make sure that safeguards are in place to make sure what happened to this young student never happens again and, most important, to make sure the integrity of the people he would serve with are protected as well.

Thank you for your courtesy.

Madam Speaker, beyond the day's headlines of crimes, scandal and foreign affairs, there are still stories of flooding, fire, hurricanes, tornadoes and mudslides still in the news. They are much on the minds of the American public. After years in local government and in Congress, I share their concerns about these threats that we face from natural disasters, how we make these threats worse by what we do, and how we learn little from our experience. Mostly I wonder what it will take to provoke a coordinated, thoughtful response from the Federal Government to the challenges posed by natural disasters.

For years before Katrina, I had been discussing on this floor what was likely to happen in New Orleans when the ``big one'' hit. My concerns became more urgent as I witnessed firsthand the devastation in Asia from the tsunami.

It is not like we don't know what to do to protect our constituents. After the floods in the upper Mississippi River, FEMA in the Clinton Adminisration, under the leadership of James Lee Witt, took a coordinated approach with the natural environment, forming partnerships with private companies, landowners and local governments to dramatically reduce the damage in subsequent floods. We took similar actions in Portland, Oregon. We know what works.

After years of struggle, Congress is finally reforming the flood insurance program to stop encouraging people to live in harm's way, to reduce the damage by building smarter, or moving families to safer, higher ground. For years we have been sponsoring round table discussions with experts on coordinated policy response in all of these elements, from fire and earthquake to flooding. People are ready to support legislation introduced before Katrina, to provide resources for communities to plan to avoid disaster.

There are national and local visionaries ready to develop a comprehensive response to Katrina throughout the gulf region so that we are ready for the next inevitable round of hurricanes. But what will it take for people to act on the discussion, the plans, the legislation, to get real action?

What about the Federal Government? Will it take the next disaster season to

force Congress and the administration to respond thoughtfully with simple changes? After 25 years, will we update the hopelessly outdated operating principles and guidelines of the Corps of Engineers? Can we eliminate the perverse budget rules that make it actually cheaper for Congress to spend billions of dollars on emergency flood relief than a few million on prevention? Can we see past the next sensational headlines so that the Federal Government can exercise its responsibility on its own land in order to prevent development from sprawling into forested areas near cities, putting more people at risk and sending the costs of firefighting spiraling upward exponentially? Can we avoid another example like Los Alamos, where the Federal Government incredibly put sensitive, dangerous and expensive nuclear facilities in the middle of an area that has burned repeatedly from wildfires every few years for centuries?

Will the next round of disasters prompt the Federal Government to finally show leadership on global warming, which will make all of these problems more intense? With global warming, it is not just the damage to New Orleans from hurricanes but risks to coastal communities from New York's Long Island to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Rising temperatures have already defrosted and eroded ever larger portions of Alaska. Will scientists at NASA and NOAA at last be able to speak freely about global warming?

These questions are not beyond our capacity. Simple, cost-effective solutions are at hand that can be understood by the public who will end up paying the bill. I think progress is possible because this is not a Red State or a Blue State issue, not liberal or conservative, not big government versus small government. Exercising common sense, bipartisan cooperation and a tiny bit of leadership will save lives and money.

I had hoped that the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina would have already spurred us toward some meaningful, comprehensive action. Instead, our response to Katrina has stalled and people are trickling back into harm's way without a real plan or a vision, and the protections against the next hurricane are not in place.

I do think there is hope. With the evidence so clear and the Katrina memories so vivid, we begin another predicted serious hurricane season. Maybe this will be the time that we learn from what has happened and finally act to make our communities safer, healthier, and more economically secure.

Mr. Speaker, this weekend the Portland Oregonian reported a troubling story of an 18-year-old high school student with autism in my district who, despite his disability, was recruited into the Army as a cavalry scout, over the strong objection of his parents, and in violation of military rules.

To place somebody with his disability in a combat role would create an entirely unnecessary risk of harm, not just to him, but other members of his unit who would have to rely on him.

I have written to the Secretary of Defense calling for an investigation in this case, which does not appear to be an isolated incident. Accusations of recruitment abuse are at record levels as recruiters face extreme pressure to meet enlistment targets and quotas.

I am concerned that the military has created a situation where recruiters are pressured to act in unethical and possible illegal ways in order to successfully fulfill their orders.

I believe we need a real investigation into the breadth of such requirement practices, and that new safeguards must be put in place to ensure that what happened to my young constituent doesn't happen to any other young man or woman.

Our Nation cannot produce the finest fighting force in the world without also demanding the most rigorous standards of conduct in all ranks of the military.

We have just heard an example of the Republican line of why there is an energy problem: We haven't built new refineries because of burdensome environmental regulations. Hogwash.

We have had the industry actually close refinery capacity. There is no evidence that there is an inability to build refineries. Sadly, we are continuing the spectacle of the Republican control in Congress to waste opportunities and try to change the subject, whether it is wasting subsidies on oil companies that don't need them or starving renewables and conservation.

The latest debacle is scheduled here on the floor in a few hours, where they will force communities to accept refineries on closed military bases, with no committee markups, no hearings and no meaningful records.

There will come a time when Congress will act like a Congress, will legislate on energy, on conservation, on innovation and prepare for the future, but, sadly, not with this Republican leadership.

Mr. Chairman, the legislation before us today is a missed opportunity to fix an area in great need of reform. The bill does little to reign in the activities of lobbyists and members and the restrictive rule prevented many viable alternatives from being considered.

There are a lot of things we can do through the Ethics Committee and the Rules Committee to improve our broken ethics system. But what we should and must do is have an independent process. My colleague from Oregon, Greg Walden, and I crafted an amendment that would deal comprehensively with accountability and oversight of Congress in a way that we cannot accomplish under the current system. Our amendment would have established an independent commission, composed of former Members of Congress, who would be able to govern Congress in a fair and transparent manner. The amendment also provided meaningful reporting and review requirements for both Members and lobbyists.

Our constituents will no longer stand for secretive legislative activity where the sponsor is not identified and the fingerprints are missing. Time must be allotted to digest proposals. There's no reason why there should not be a minimum of 3 days to examine something before it is voted on, unless there is a real emergency determined by a vote of the House.

I think we can, and must, do more if we are to restore voters' faith in both their representatives and the system in general. While it is true that some who broke the law were caught and are now being punished, it is clear that we must do better if we are to rekindle the trust of the American people in our work and our integrity.