Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, Senator Lugar, the former chairman and current ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went to the Senate floor and said that the President's troop escalation is not working. Then yesterday Republican Senator Voinovich said the U.S. should begin pulling troops out of Iraq so that people know we are indeed disengaging. But the President and his spokesman said, no, we need more troops and more time.

It has been clear for at least a year that a serious course correction is needed in Iraq. But, unfortunately, Republicans in this House of Representatives continue to rubber stamp the Bush administration's war policies. Democrats are changing the course of this misguided war, but with a stubborn President unwilling to face reality, congressional Republicans must break ranks with the President to do what is best for our Nation and for Iraq.

It is my hope that the congressional Republicans will seriously listen to their colleagues' comments and conclude, as Democrats already have, that we need to dramatically change our policy in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, the new Democratic-led House has been listening to the American people and working to take our Nation in a new direction. We've passed a wide range of measures to strengthen our military, grow our economy and support working families, many with bipartisan support.

For example, so far this year, we've passed legislation implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, approved a budget that achieves a balance in 5 years, passed sweeping congressional ethics reform, repealed big oil subsidies, invested funds in renewable energy and increased the minimum wage.

But the President continues his stubborn opposition to this new direction that we are providing on Iraq and on key domestic measures. He does not support or has threatened to veto about two-thirds of the important work we've already provided.

Mr. Speaker, our priorities are America's priorities. It's time the President stops obstructing our agenda and begins working with us to improve the lives of all Americans.

Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. Visclosky for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, this bill really, I think Mr. Wamp said it is best, is one about efficiency and it is about how we spend our money when it comes to energy independence. There is no question that the people of this country understand it very well, that this bill is good for national security, it is good for the climate and it is good for jobs, because it promotes energy efficiency, it promotes renewable energy and alternative sources of energy, and it adds sufficient funding to the Department of Energy so that it can really boost its Office of Science and its Office of Energy Efficiency.

I am fortunate to have in the Seventh Congressional District of Colorado the National Renewable Energy Lab, which is the finest laboratory of its kind in the world, to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. This bill will help the Department of Energy continue to support the National Renewable Energy Lab as it works with the private sector to come up with new ways to power America and the rest of the globe.

This is a fine bill. I thank the committee for developing this. I support it, and I ask wholehearted support from the Congress, because this, as I said, is good for national security, it is good for the climate, and it is good for jobs.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to support the Homeland Security appropriation, and I would just have to say the word ``irony'' has been used by both sides of the aisle quite a bit. I think the irony here is that the Republican side of the aisle is trying to do what they did last year, which is not to pass a budget, not to pass appropriations and try to bring this country to a halt by delaying, delaying, delaying.

Well, that's fine and dandy for them to play those kinds of games, but this country expects a change. It voted for a change in direction. It voted for strong national security, which this bill reflects and represents.

This bill reflects and represents protection on our borders, protection on our ports. We have additions to FEMA so that we have protection and response to natural disasters. Instead, our friends would like to stall and hold this Chamber hostage because they can't get the pork they want. They want their pork, and they want to eat it too.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is wrong. This stalling tactic has got to stop. This Nation deserves much better than what we are seeing from the Republican side of the aisle.

They would like us to ignore the fact that billions of dollars are missing in Iraq under their administration and under their leadership. They would like us to forget the fact that there were sweetheart deals to Halliburton and to many others where there was no bid and no contracts.

They would like the country to forget history, which has brought this

country into the biggest debt that we have ever seen. They would rather talk about earmarks, which they really mean to be pork, because they aren't going to get their pork. They aren't going to get their bridge to nowhere because we are not going to let them have that. We will fight for the American people every day, as long as it takes.

We are here because of guys like Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Mark Foley. Those are the individuals that helped create a Democratic majority because people were tired of it, and they wanted a change in direction.

We're going to change the focus of this Congress and this Nation from what the Republicans did, which was the wealthiest 1 percent to the hardworking people in the middle. We passed a minimum wage law. We passed bills out of here to reduce the cost of prescription drugs under Medicare part D. We are focused, ladies and gentlemen, under this bill on the national security of the United States of America.

Instead, our friends on the other side are focused on pork and their bridges to nowhere.

This is a travesty; this is a delaying tactic. This is not in the interests of the United States of America. I support this bill and ask for an ``aye'' vote.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bill that holds promise for millions and millions of people across the country. We have heard from some of our friends who oppose this, and they have been very clinical in their descriptions.

I am a father of a daughter with a chronic illness of epilepsy, and this is the kind of research that will help my daughter not to have any more seizures. It is a potential. It is a possibility. And every father, every brother, every mother, every sister, every friend in this room wants to have hope for their friends and their family.

I want to compliment Ms. DeGette from Colorado, Mr. Castle from Delaware for giving my family hope, for providing this kind of promise. This legislature, this Congress can make a difference in millions of people's lives.

I ask that you all vote for this bill. This is a great bill, and I call on the President to show that he is a compassionate conservative and that he sign this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the late Philip M. Kaiser, an extraordinary public servant, diplomat, husband, father, grandfather, and a friend of mine.

Mr. Kaiser was born in Brooklyn on July 12th, 1913. He attended the University of Wisconsin and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University upon graduation.

Mr. Kaiser first served his country under President Truman as Assistant Secretary of Labor. He went on to represent the United States as Ambassador to Senegal, Austria, and Hungary under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. During this period, Mr. Kaiser became well-known for his diplomatic abilities, successfully fostering U.S. relations with Hungary and Senegal at a time when communism was on the rise across the globe.

More recently, Mr. Kaiser contributed to the new Democratic majority through his support of 4 successful Democratic congressional candidates, including myself, in 2006.

Phil Kaiser was the type of man who held strong convictions and followed through on his beliefs. He made the most of any position he accepted, and always stayed true to himself and his values. Mr. Kaiser's life is a model of patriotism and dedication.

Phil Kaiser was the patriarch of a beautiful family. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Hannah, his sons Charles, Robert, and David, and his 4 grandchildren.

I am honored to have known such an incredible, dedicated, passionate, and patriotic man. His contributions to his country, his love for his family, and his spirit will remain an inspiration.

Mr. Speaker, my position is similar to that of the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

I had the opportunity the last 2 days to be down in the gulf coast, to be in New Orleans today, and quite frankly, Mr. Jefferson is entitled to a presumption of innocence. That is the way of our judicial system and our code in this country.

Mr. Speaker, first, I rise in support of this resolution. An investigation needs to be conducted. We need to have the Ethics Committee take a look at this.

But I would also suggest to this House that when someone, anyone, is under indictment, it's a difficult position for him to do justice to himself or herself and to also do justice for their particular district, and those concerns were raised by people in New Orleans today, as well as in the newspaper.

So, as with Mr. Carney, I would suggest that the Ethics Committee take a good long look at this, that Mr. Jefferson obviously is going to take a good long look. I would suggest that he do justice to himself, prepare his defense, and that his district have someone else.

Mr. Speaker, President Bush says he supports our troops, but his actions last week refute those claims, and his actions speak louder than his words.

Last Thursday, this House voted overwhelmingly, by 397-27, to support a defense authorization bill that gives our troops a much-deserved 3.5 percent raise, a lot less than the contractors from Halliburton are getting, contractors that the President has farmed out much of the war in Iraq to, but still a 3.5 percent raise.

Incredibly, the President has threatened to veto the bill. Two of the reasons he gave for his opposition are the pay raise and benefits to survivors. By threatening to veto this bill, how exactly is our President supporting our troops? Well, he is not.

Over the last 5 years, the President has asked much of our military. Extended deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained our Active military and National Guard and their families. This Congress overwhelmingly said we should reward our troops. If the President really wants to support our troops, he will sign the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I thank my colleagues from Colorado, Mr. Salazar and Mr. Lamborn, for bringing this legislation to the floor.

As we approach Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen fighting for our country. And this is one way to recognize our service men's and women's sacrifices, by establishing a new VA cemetery in El Paso County. Although I don't represent that area, it is south of where I live, this is an area of our State that needs a cemetery of this kind.

Memorial Day is usually marked by parades, speeches, and the decoration of graves; but for the people of Southern Colorado, this means traveling up to Fort Logan which is in the Denver area. With the passage of this bill, the 150,000 veterans residing in Southern Colorado will have their own VA cemetery to honor and decorate.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

Thank you, Mr. Klein.

Every other Saturday I have a ``government at the grocery.'' I visit different grocery stores throughout my district. This past week I was at a grocery store in Edgewater, Colorado, and the number one topic was the price of gas. Usually it has been Iraq, and we certainly are going to talk about Iraq tonight, but the number one conversation was about the price of gas. And people were saying, look, we understand that on a per-barrel basis, it's down, the cost is down, the price is down. Why is the cost at the pump up?

And, you know, we have excuses. The excuses this time, Mr. Klein, have been, well, we just needed to clean the refineries. They clean the refineries right at the beginning of the summer travel season because by restricting the supply, you drive up the price, and we can't have that anymore. We can't have our people being gouged in this country by manipulation of the market in that fashion.

What we are seeing is too few companies controlling too critical an item, a commodity, like gasoline, and that is what that price gouging bill was all about today. So I can assure you in Colorado, it is a major topic of conversation, and people want to see a change, and we are bringing that change to them by the bill we passed today and the direction we are taking this Congress.

With that, Mr. Kline, I would like to turn it over to my friend from Vermont, who always has something to say on any topic, but particularly I know he has something to say today on this gasoline price gouging.

If the gentleman would yield, I think we have to get back to basics here. We have to have a diversified energy portfolio.

One of the things that you were talking about and Mr. Braley was talking about was renewable energy. The American people are way ahead of Congress, and it is our job to change the direction of the Federal Government on this subject because it is good for national security, and it is good for the climate, and it is good for jobs.

Quite frankly, if we have a diversified portfolio where we have biofuels, and where we use solar and wind where appropriate, and have hybrid types of cars, we will not be so beholden to a particular company or companies in the gasoline business.

Also we are going to stop funding both sides of the war on terror.

We need to talk about the war in Iraq. We will be voting tomorrow on supplemental funding to the President that will keep him on a short leash through September to see exactly where we are going with this war.

We have asked for a timeline. The President has rejected. He vetoed it. We have set benchmarks. He doesn't like those; but apparently, based on conversations we have seen in the paper, he may accept benchmarks. We need to see what is happening.

We had a briefing today from General Pace and from Secretary Gates and Ambassador Negroponte. The best they could say about what was going on in Iraq, mixed results. With the surge in one part of Baghdad, there was some reduction in casualties in Baghdad, but an explosion of casualties in the suburbs. You push in one place, and it pops out another place. They call it the balloon effect or toothpaste effect, the squeeze effect.

We have to make some changes here, and that is what this Congress is about. We will be keeping this President on a short leash. We will be imposing some benchmarks to see if there really is any progress in Iraq.

I know we all want to see progress and stability, but that is not what we are seeing on the television or reading in the newspaper. And the American public knows that. They are not being fooled any longer. We are going to change the direction of this war. We cannot continue by paying this kind of money at the gas pump funding both sides of the war on terror.

One of the things I am going to talk about tomorrow is the fact that by being in Iraq, we have stretched our military forces to the breaking point, both Active military and our National Guard. The National Guard, 88 percent of the equipment of the National Guard has been deployed to Iraq and hasn't come back. We are coming into a hurricane season. We have forest fires that are plaguing the West and Florida. Is our National Guard prepared to deal with that?

Their mission, they have three missions. The first mission is homeland defense, protecting our country against attacks that might happen here, whether it is a 9/11 or some other type of attack. The second is civilian support, helping in the event of another Hurricane Katrina. The third is to be deployed overseas.

Now, we know that our National Guard, I don't know if, in fact, in either of your States, but the Colorado Air National Guard is going to be deployed for the third time within the last 3 or 4 years to Iraq, which is stretching their ability to deal with things in Colorado or to assist other State National Guards in the event of a natural or man- made disaster.

We as a Congress have an obligation to look after this country and not to continue to pursue things where we are

refereeing a sectarian civil war. Things have to change.

I heard our friends on the other side of the aisle in the hour that proceeded us saying we have an obligation to protect and defend the Constitution, and they are absolutely right. And we have an obligation to protect and defend this country. We cannot continue the way we are going in Iraq. So the President wants to stay in Iraq. He vetoed a timeline that establishes a thoughtful redeployment of our troops. But at this point we will let him have, I believe tomorrow's vote will allow him, mostly with Republican votes, to have funding through the end of September. At that point we will see where this surge is going, whether it is better than mixed results. If that is the best you can say about the surge, it is mixed results, that is not very good, and it is time for a change, and we intend to bring a change to this country.

We all know that one of the issues in Iraq is oil. We can't forget about that. We need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil so that we don't have to be in a place like Iraq unless it is there for real humanitarian reasons and not there for oil or other purposes.

If the gentleman would yield, following your lead on this carbon-neutral office, we actually next week are going to have a press conference on a carbon-neutral office. We are buying power from a wind energy farm in Lamar, Colorado. We have talked our landlord into putting solar on top of the office building. We use the stairs and not the elevators, and we are working with the National Renewable Energy Lab, which is the lab Mr. Klein was referring to, to assist us in coming up with a carbon-neutral, energy-efficient, sustainable type of office.

In Colorado, we don't have the moisture or quite the fertile ground as it is in Iowa, so there is a lot of dry-land farming. One of the other ways for farmers to derive an income is going to be through wind energy. We have a number of wind energy types of plants developing in Colorado as well as solar farms.

Very first thing as you said that we did was an ethics reform to the rules. So we took a huge step the first day we were in this Congress. Tomorrow, we are going to add to that from a bill that came over from the Senate as to certain other parts of lobbying reform. So we are continuing to make strides so that this place is open and transparent and people really know that we're working for the betterment of the entire country, you know, not a select few, and that's really the change that's going on here.

That's why people wanted to see a new direction in this Congress. They wanted to see a new direction in Iraq. They wanted to see a new direction in how we did business within this chamber, and they're getting those very things.

I'm proud to be part of the impetus, the catalyst to make those kinds of changes, to make the big change when it comes to energy. We can't wait any longer to change the way we deal with energy in this country, whether it's because we're just continuing to put more and more exhaust into our climate or we want to wean ourselves from foreign oil or we want jobs.

I mean as Mr. Braley was saying, we need turbines, we need solar panels. There's construction jobs by the thousands and thousands as we move to a new type of energy for this country, and we're making that change.

This Democratic Congress is making the change that was so desired by the people of this country. They wanted a new direction, and that's what we're giving to them.

And I do want to tell you that your great-grandfather was George Washington Braley. My grandfather was George Washington Bristow anyway, for just pure information.

If I could jump in here, I mean what was happening under the prior Congress and under this President, President Bush, is a classic borrow and spend, borrow and spend. There was no limitation on what you would buy or what you'd spend, but you'd cut taxes and you'd prosecute a war that's cost us, by the end of 2008, $750 billion. The budget of Colorado is about $15 billion for a year. We'll have spent $750 billion in Iraq by the end of 2008. Right now we're at about $550 billion.

It's a long time, and it means that we've given young men and women to this fight in Iraq, we've given our treasure to Iraq, and we did it without the sacrifice that ordinarily comes when you fight a war and that is through taxes. So we ran this gigantic deficit.

Now, the Republican Congress last year didn't even pass a budget, and this year the Congress sent a budget to the President that balances the budget within 5 years, as opposed to continuing to run deficit and deficit and grow the debt and grow the debt. We will balance this budget within 5 years. Quite a feat. There's some places where we've got to tighten the belt, but as you said, we rolled up our sleeve, made some tough decisions and took on a budget that was absolutely out of control under the prior Congress, and we're doing something to benefit the American public and not saddle them with debt.

One of the things that I think is also important is we have taken steps to be fiscally responsible. We dealt with a budget early on in February. We are dealing with a budget right now. We are dealing with the supplemental emergency request.

We are able, in those budgets, to put our fingerprints and our values, our budgets reflect our values, and one of the things, that we had a number of bills that came through here today, some things that are going to happen tomorrow, is back in February, we increased benefits to veterans like hasn't been done in the 77 years of the Veterans Administration, because we recognized the service and the sacrifice that these men and women made for our country.

We have increased their benefits; instead of scrimping along and they get the last little bits, we are increasing those benefits. We are working on the military hospitals, the hospitals. We changed the fingerprint. That's a value that we hold. We added money for renewable energy research. That's another value that we hold. We are increasing money for children's health insurance, another value that we hold dear.

We have done this within these budgets where Republicans in the prior Congress couldn't even pass a budget. We are showing the values of improving the lives of the people in the middle, not the wealthiest 1 percent, but the hard-working people in the middle and the veterans who so valiantly served our country over the many years.

I am just proud to be part of a Congress, part of a class with all of you where we really are changing the direction of this Nation. This is a big ship

that we are steering here. It doesn't change very easily, but in the last 3 or 4 months, we made some major changes.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word, and I yield to Mr. Frank from Massachusetts.

I would like to say something to the gentlelady from Illinois. The Affordable Housing Fund has specific and definite parameters as to how it is derived and how it is built. So I am not sure what she is saying is there is no certainty attached to it.

And the other thing is this is a classic tail wagging the dog argument. My friends on the other side, here we have, as Mr. Bachus aptly pointed out, an entity. And it is a government entity, these GSEs with trillions of dollars of assets. And what we are talking about here is $500 million of affordable housing passing from one government entity to potentially another. It is less than one one-thousandth of the overall asset base of the particular GSEs, and less than 10 or 13 percent of the several billion dollars misstatement in accounting, which is what we are really trying to get to in this bill.

These entities could not account for their funds properly. They need more oversight. And I find my friends on the other side disregarding the purpose of this bill, which is the oversight to rail against the affordable housing for people in low and very low income situations from profits that are generated by a government entity.

They are saying that is wrong, that is socialism.

I yield to the gentleman from Alabama.

Reclaiming my time. Government-sponsored entity, government entity. In this instance, this is minute compared to the assets of this government-sponsored entity, and this is a classic tail wagging the dog. I would urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

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

I would like to yield to the chairman of the committee, Mr. Frank.

Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, the bottom line here and the reason that I believe my friend from Illinois' amendment is irrelevant and it isn't germane is we are dealing with a government- sponsored entity that deals with affordable housing, and the purpose here is to provide affordable housing from a piece of the profits of the GSE that we are regulating tonight and we are trying to deal with. Over 5 years, this goes to $3 billion, which is less than half of the misstatement in earnings from one year from one of the entities.

This amendment needs to be defeated. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Center for Work Education and Employment on the 25th anniversary of its founding.

This Denver-based Center has helped thousands of severely disadvantaged adults prepare for, maintain, and retain employment.

For 25 years, the Center's volunteers and employees have provided a full-time job readiness program, evening computer classes, and preparation for General Education Development tests for residents of the Denver area living below the poverty line. For those who need more than job training, the Center for Work Education and Employment provides instruction in life skills, builds relationships with potential employers, and helps participants deal with personal issues and obstacles.

Their continued 25-year commitment to the community is an inspiration. The Center helps thousands to turn their life around by breaking free of public assistance and becoming independent productive citizens. This work is vital to the Denver area and is a model for caring citizens giving back to their community.

I applaud, and am grateful for, the work and dedication of the Center for Work Education and Employment on the 25th anniversary of their founding. They have enriched the Denver community and changed the lives of thousands and I look forward to another 25 years.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Today is National Teacher's Day, a day which is very important to me and my family.

This year's theme for National Teacher's Day is ``Great Teachers Make Great Public Schools.'' And I know that's true.

I had wonderful teachers in the Jefferson County public schools, and those teachers had a tremendous impact on my life.

Our three daughters are products of Jefferson County public schools, and my sister is a public school teacher.

Few other professionals touch as many people as teachers do. Teachers are our role models, our confidants, our taskmasters and our moral compass.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to invest in our schools, reduce class sizes and ensure that our teachers have the tools and resources they need to give our children the high quality education necessary to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy.

Madam Speaker, today Congress will send President Bush an emergency war supplemental that finally begins moving this war in a new direction.

Four years ago today, the Bush administration sent out a message of ``Mission Accomplished'' in Iraq. But our mission was not accomplished. Instead, for 4 years, the President has stumbled, and past Republican Congresses refused to hold the administration accountable for its miscues and mistakes. Well, those days are over now.

Our legislation brings real accountability to the war. It provides accountability to our soldiers who were sent into battle without proper equipment or a clear mission. It provides accountability to our veterans who are not getting the best medical care when they come home, and to our military that is stretched to the limits by the current Bush war policy. And it finally holds the Iraqi government accountable to meet the benchmarks the President has created.

Madam Speaker, the American people want this war to move in a new direction. The President should sign the bill today.