Floor Statements

Madam Chair, my amendment would add five million dollars for support services for members of the National Guard and Reserve to the Defense-Wide Operations and Maintenance account in Title IX of the bill.

To prevent an increase in spending, the funding for suicide prevention is offset by reducing the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund by thirty-eight million dollars. This amendment is not only fiscally responsible, but urgent and timely.

The cover of Time Magazine from exactly one year ago today described the tragedy of military suicide with the simple headline: ``One a Day.'' It drew attention to the grim reality that military suicide rates were at record levels. By year's end, a record three-hundred-and- fifty active duty troops committed suicide in 2012, amounting to almost one suicide per day. We lost more troops to suicide than we did to combat.

One year later, these rates have barely budged. The Department of Defense reported one-hundred-and-sixty-one potential suicides among active-duty service members, reservists and National Guard members through April. This is a pace of one suicide every eighteen hours.

We owe far better to those who wear the uniform and serve this nation.

I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for their leadership on this issue. Your tireless, bipartisan commitment to suicide prevention is reflected in the additional twenty-million dollars for the Suicide Prevention Office provided in this bill.

My amendment seeks only to bolster your efforts by strengthening outreach and awareness programs to combat stigma and improve access to resources. As the chairman has often reminded us, we should focus our efforts on prevention. This amendment gives our outreach and prevention programs greater support to assist service members in need. It is our job to serve our troops as well as they serve us. We cannot--we must not--wait; it's up to us to act.

I urge Members to support this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleagues Mr. Walberg (R-MI); Mr. Cohen (D-TN); Mr. Rigell (R-VA) for crafting this smart, commonsense amendment which would simply reduce the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund by $79 million and redirect those funds to the Spending Reduction Account, saving taxpayer dollars.

This is a targeted and smart cut, at a time when we are asking all to do more with less.

And in fact, with this amendment, we would simply be funding this account at the level which this body passed last year.

Now more than ever, we need to make smart investments in our own infrastructure to create jobs and improve efficiency for our businesses.

A business owner in my district recently told me how his drivers lose two hours a day sitting in traffic . . .

. . . And many citizens in Connecticut are pleading to widen 1-84 around Waterbury and to modernize our interchanges.

Additionally, Newtown has recommended rebuilding Sandy Hook Elementary School, and there is an appropriate role for the Federal Government.

We must prioritize our investments and find ways to reduce our deficit.

I urge Members to support this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, it will simply and immediately be amended.

The farm bill traditionally has been a risk-management tool for our country. It has reduced risk from price and weather disruptions or disasters for producers like dairy farmers in my district.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It has reduced risk for all consumers through ensuring the plentiful, wholesome, safe, and affordable food supply, with the backstop for SNAP benefits for the most needy--for those who cannot afford to hire lobbyists.

Like some of our colleagues have inquired earlier, I too thought that SNAP's exclusion was so incredibly glaring that it had to be a drafting error. After all, how can we ignore the 16 million American children-- including 34,000 in my district--lacking basic food security?

Unfortunately, today, we are breaking that risk-management tool into pieces and, as a result, the risk for far too many will rise. The increased risk will fall most heavily on consumers.

For many children, disabled, and elderly--who comprise almost 60 percent of SNAP beneficiaries--and for working families receiving SNAP benefits, their risk of food insecurity will rise.

Additionally, as more people look for more sources and varieties of food, we are importing record amounts of food from around the world.

Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more food safety outbreaks that are linked to an enormous variety of foods from sources worldwide. One needs to look no further than the current and ongoing Hepatitis A outbreak that has been linked to imported pomegranate seeds. Over 140 people have been sickened by this outbreak in eight States, including Wisconsin, Nevada, and California. And we are seeing recently the largest U.S.-owned meat company being bought by a Chinese company.

With industry ownership moving into the hands of foreign companies, how can we ensure food safety in the United States? As a mom, I know how critically important food safety is for our children's long-term health. Mothers in every one of our districts are watching our actions and hoping that we will help keep their children safe, whether at school or at home.

Congress must do all it can to ensure that the food being imported is as safe as the food produced in our country by hardworking Americans. The Federal Government has a vital role in ensuring that our food supply is safe. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service recently announced that it has reduced the number of on-site audits that it conducts in foreign countries to ensure that their food safety systems meet our standards. These used to be conducted annually, and now they've been reduced to only once every 3 years.

At a time when food imports are increasing, FSIS is doing less to ensure that exporting countries are keeping food safe. We have a responsibility to correct this trend and this motion to recommit would do just that.

My final amendment addresses two food safety issues:

First, it directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct annual, on- site audits of the food safety systems of countries that export meat, poultry, and egg products to the United States.

Second, it authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to move funds from other programs within USDA to the Food Safety and Inspection Service in order to better respond to food safety emergencies.

I wish I could have circulated this final amendment to my colleagues to read and review ahead of time, but unfortunately we received the 600-page bill last night.

I urge my colleagues to support increased food safety and support this final amendment to the farm bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 317, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment Offered by Mr. Swalwell of California

Mr. Speaker, 6 months ago tomorrow, Newtown experienced unimaginable tragedy and unparalleled loss.

That loss, the painful loss of sons and daughters, spouses, siblings, and friends, is still very raw and will always run very deep for the people of Newtown. Yet, in the face of that unimaginable tragedy on that day and on the days since, this small community that has been through so much has inspired our Nation with tremendous courage and resilience.

Americans have been inspired by the sixth grade educators who gave their very lives to defend and protect their students.

Americans have been inspired by the brave first responders who arrived on the scene to save others and live with the trauma of what they saw that day.

Americans have been inspired by the Sandy Hook families who, despite living with the pain that one can only begin to imagine, have responded to loss not with anger or hate, but with unbelievable love, strength, and courage.

They've taken their call to action to Hartford, where a comprehensive set of commonsense gun laws passed with bipartisan support. They've taken the call to action to State capitols around this country. And they've taken that call to action here in Washington, but here they've faced inexplicable political cowardice.

Mr. Speaker, in the 6 months since that terrible day, since we lost 26 precious lives in Newtown, nearly 4,800 Americans have also lost their lives to gun violence. But during that same time, this House has not held a single vote on commonsense gun reform to reduce and prevent gun violence, not even enhanced criminal background checks.

Forty-six Senators blocked an up-or-down vote on enhanced background

checks. This is a reform that the members of the Newtown community have asked our elected leaders to support. It is a reform supported by over 90 percent of the American people, and it is shameful that we have not yet had a chance to vote.

Yet, in spite of that obstruction and misinformation, these families and this community have refused to give up. On Tuesday, I was honored to again meet with several of the Newtown families as they traveled here to continue to lead the push for commonsense gun laws, and I'm honored that several members of that community of the Newtown Alliance are with us here in the gallery today.

In meeting with the families, I was given pictures of their loved ones that they've been handing out to elected officials from across the country.

This photo of school psychologist Mary Sherlach reads:

One of six educators who, on December 14, became first

responders equipped with just their lives. Can you show the

same courage with your vote?

On this card, we have a picture of Dylan Hockley, with these words:

Honor his life. Stand with us for change. Now is the time.

Here's the picture of precious Dylan Hockley.

With this card, we have the photo of 6-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, who asks:

What is worth doing?

Mr. Speaker, these words, these faces, these lives mark the call to action for Newtown. They mark the call to action in Hartford and Aurora, Chicago, Santa Monica, and every community torn apart by gun violence.

The sad truth is that this Congress has not met this call to action. This Congress has not shown the courage to pass commonsense gun reforms. But the good news is that it is not too late for this Congress to do better, and now is the time.

We must do better for Mary. We must do better for Dylan. We must do better for Benjamin and for Charlotte, for Daniel and Olivia, for Josephine, for Ana and for Madeleine, for Catherine, for Chase and for Jesse, for James, for Grace and for Emilie, for Jack, for Noah and for Caroline, for Jessica, for Avielle and for Allison, for Rachel, Dawn, and Anne Marie, for Lauren and Victoria.

We can and we must do better.

These families cannot forget and will not give up. Neither can we.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc amendment, which includes my amendment to add the Proper Replacement of Medals and Performance Tracking, the PROMPT Act, to the underlying legislation.

I want to first thank Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership and cooperation. And I'd also like to thank my colleague, Dr. Joe Heck, for making the PROMPT Act a bipartisan effort aimed at improving our service to veterans, servicemembers, and their families.

I drafted this legislation after working with several veterans in my district to replace medals and decorations that they've been waiting months, and sometimes years, to receive.

One constituent, a Korean War veteran, has grandchildren that want to see his medals and document his service as part of the family history. He should not have to wait indefinitely for the medals he earned in service to this country.

Nor should Paul Sypek, the Vietnam veteran in my district seeking to replace his Army Commendation Medal. He first had to correct a clerical error that omitted the decoration from his separation papers. More than 2 years later, he's still waiting for the replacement medal he requested.

The PROMPT Act creates performance standards to ensure that requests are fulfilled in a timely and organized fashion. We can and we must do better for those who served our country with distinction. Adding the PROMPT Act to H.R. 1960 ensures that we will. I urge support for the en bloc amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes.

My amendment would strike the words ``operation and maintenance'' from section 7 of the bill.

This section requires the Army Corps of Engineers to approve all permits under section 404 of the Clean Water Act and section 10 of the River and Harbors Act, within 90 days of receipt of a permit application.

The mandate to approve all permits would apply regardless of whether the project meets the needs of the law or not and would cover not only the initial construction of the project, but takes the unprecedented step of applying to all future operation and maintenance, in perpetuity.

Not only is this unprecedented; it is unwarranted and reckless.

Each time the House has debated the Keystone XL pipeline, the focus has always been on expediting the construction. This amendment does not affect or delay construction. I repeat: this amendment does not affect or delay construction of the pipeline.

Whether you support the pipeline or not, section 7 goes far beyond that. It would require the Corps to grant any permit request for operation and maintenance of the pipeline for all eternity.

We do not provide this special treatment to any other pipeline operator in the U.S. Domestic companies are required to go through the proper process for obtaining permits for construction, operation, and maintenance activities.

Why would we treat a foreign company differently and give it a free pass through a multidecade lifespan of the pipeline?

My amendment would eliminate this reckless loophole and a few others to ensure that all operations and maintenance activities on this pipeline, should it be built, are subject to the same review and mitigation requirements that the other 2.6 million miles of pipeline in the United States must meet.

I urge Members to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I now yield 1 minute to my colleague, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

When a version of this amendment was offered in committee, the majority opposed it, claiming that the Corps permits are intended to cover both the construction and the ongoing operations and maintenance of a project. This is simply not accurate.

Following the markup, I consulted with the Army Corps, which stated very clearly that ongoing operations and maintenance activities beyond the initial 5 years are not authorized under the initial permit for the construction of the project. In fact, according to the Corps, operations and maintenance activities that occur in the future beyond the initial 5 years need to be authorized under a separate permit at the time the activity takes place. In addition, any permit that is issued today by the Corps for construction or maintenance would expire in 5 years and would need to be renewed.

I would like to submit for the Record a copy of the Army Corps' explanatory decision document nationwide permit 12, which describes the permitting procedures.

So the language in the underlying bill would give construction and all future operations and maintenance under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act a free pass from review by requiring the Corps to approve them regardless of whether they minimize or mitigate the impacts.

In addition, this amendment would eliminate another loophole to ensure that operations and maintenance activities comply with the Endangered Species Act, just like all other pipelines.

Further, the amendment will strike ``maintenance'' from section 4, on judicial review, to prevent a small family farmer or a property owner from being forced to travel to a D.C. court to seek redress from future harm to their land or to their children's rights for the duration of the lifespan of this pipeline.

Regardless of your views on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on my commonsense amendment to prevent new loopholes and, quite possibly, to prevent the creation of a regulatory earmark for one foreign corporation.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Following is the link to the full document referred to earlier: http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/2/docs/civilworks/nwp/2012/ NWP_12_2012.pdf

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

I thank the gentlelady.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the Patients' Rights Repeal Act and the rule.

Now, there's nothing wrong with working to improve the Affordable Care Act. We should work to make quality health care more affordable and more available to all Americans. But repeal is not a solution and has real and serious consequences for folks in Connecticut. Even worse, this vote is a tremendous waste of time when we

have serious work to do for our constituents.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is the 37th time--the 37th time--Congress is voting to repeal health care reform.

Five months after the tragic attack in Newtown in my district, House Republican leaders continue to refuse to allow a single vote--a single vote--on commonsense gun legislation to reduce gun violence. Instead of voting on enhanced background checks, a reform supported by over 90 percent of the American people, Congress has now devoted 15 percent of its time to trying to repeal health care.

Mr. Speaker, it's time for Congress to stop wasting time on pointless political gamesmanship and to get to work for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert my statement into the Record opposing the GOP's scandalous Mother's Day gift--more work and less pay for working moms. Happy Mother's Day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to observe April 28 as Workers' Memorial Day. Every year on this date, remembrances are held around the world to honor men and women who have lost their lives or were injured in the workplace.

In Connecticut, the CT AFL-CIO will hold a ceremony at our State Capitol Building and then lay wreathes in Bushnell Park at the Workers Memorial.

Workplace fatalities and injuries have decreased over the years, but even one worker not going home at the end of their shift is one too many.

On average across our nation, 13 workers die on the job each day.

According to the Connecticut Department of Labor, about 40 workers in our state lose their lives each year due to workplace injuries.

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the tragic and avoidable accident in Bridgeport at L'Ambience Plaza.

We will always remember the 28 construction workers who did not return home to their families and loved ones that sad day.

And we will never forget December 14, 2012 when an unconscionable horror happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

This unimaginable tragedy took the lives of six educators who gave their lives to protect their students.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join together in recognizing Workers' Memorial Day.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment to H.R. 527, the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act. I would like to thank Representative Dent and Representative Higgins for working together on this bipartisan amendment.

Our amendment is rather straightforward. It is about fairness and honoring contracts. At a time in our Nation's history when we are examining public-private partnerships to rebuild our infrastructure and create jobs, what kind of signal would we be sending to the private sector? What kind of certainty are we providing to the private sector that even if you have a valid contract that expires in 2015, the Federal Government will throw it out and change the rules?

We can pass a bill to prevent a global helium shortage by allowing the remainder of the helium from the reserve to be sold, but we should not ignore the contracts that BLM has already signed. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bipartisan amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House as the Representative for Newtown. Over the last 4 months, I've had the honor of getting to know many families in Newtown. These parents live with grief so deep that any mother or father can only begin to imagine.

I was honored to join these families, Governor Malloy, and members of both parties as a bipartisan gun violence prevention law was signed into law in Connecticut.

Connecticut has shown that Democrats and Republicans can work together, that a special interest and their small minority cannot stand in the way of common sense and doing the right thing.

Yesterday was a shameful day. I'm outraged that 46 Senators prevented a compromise to reduce gun violence which 92 percent of the American people support. Forty-six Senators ignored the voices of the courageous Newtown families, who have paid the ultimate price of political inaction.

I join the message of the Sandy Hook Promise and Mark Barden, who lost his son, Daniel, in the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Our hearts are broken. Our spirits are not.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 756, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2013--legislation that I'm proud to cosponsor, which will both enhance our national security and help boost our economy.

Cybersecurity is increasingly essential to our national defense and to our economic security in the 21st century.

As the Internet and other communication networks have grown and become more sophisticated, so have the threats from individual hackers, criminal syndicates, and even other governments.

It's critical that we take steps today to encourage and better coordinate the research and development of cybersecurity technology on a national scale.

The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act will help ensure that our country is prepared to face the security threats of the 21st century, that our businesses have the IT protections they need to compete on a global scale. I am proud that we're making critical investments in science and IT education for our young people and our educational institutions.

By authorizing grants and prioritizing research areas with the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, this legislation will help boost workforce development. In Connecticut, home to high-tech manufacturing and top-quality universities and technical schools, these workforce investments are essential to our economic future.

Mr. Speaker, for the sake of our nation's security, for the sake of our businesses, for the sake of our economy, I urge a yes vote on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate America's great friend and ally, Israel, and the people of Israel, on the 65th anniversary of their independence.

Mr. Speaker, as a student, in the 1980's, I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Israel. I learned a lot from that journey. There are few places I have been to in my life as vibrant and dynamic as that nation. I was impressed, as I think most visitors are, by the great optimism and resilience of the Israeli people--optimism and resilience that they showed even during a time of extreme uncertainty.

And I was also struck by how small, and how vulnerable, Israel is geographically. On a clear day, you can stand on top of the Golan Heights and see from one end of the country to another. Right before your eyes, you can see the fragility of the country's security--whose defense is a great credit to the Israeli people.

Right before your eyes, you see a strong, but geographically small country, a country not protected by oceans, a country with many hostile neighbors, a country that has been bravely defending itself from terrorist and military attacks repeatedly since its independence.

My visit to Israel dramatically increased my appreciation for Israel and helped define my own views about the importance of their security and our nation's special relationship with Israel. Our shared national interests and our shared values of democracy, peace, and liberty have defined that relationship for 65 years now and will continue to define that relationship into the future.

I'm proud to join my colleagues of both parties in expressing a renewed commitment to that special relationship and to Israel's security, in honoring Israel's history, in expressing our best wishes for Israel's continued accomplishments, and in offering our congratulations to the Israeli people on this significant anniversary.

Congratulations to our dear friends in Israel on the 65th anniversary of your nation's independence.

Thank you so much, Congressman Thompson, for organizing this Special Order and for your incredible leadership on these important issues that the country deserves to have a voice and deserves to have a vote.

And I wanted to thank Congressman Cummings and Congresswoman Maloney for your important leadership on this very important issue that is truly a remarkable hole in the law that I think most people had no idea.

These are the holes that we saw yesterday, because the holes in the law are allowing holes in the hearts of the families of America. Holes like this, shot with assault weapons, to brave firefighters who were responding to a fire on Christmas Eve, that's what this really means.

This is a 19-year-old young man following in his family's footsteps and his lifelong dream to be a firefighter and instead was met with this, and that ended his life--a man who never should have had those guns.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of welcoming to Washington Team 26, a group of 26 cyclists from the town of Newtown, Connecticut, in my district, who rode to Washington in support of commonsense legislation to reduce and prevent gun violence. The Sandy Hook ride to Washington was a successful event. It was also emblematic of what we're seeing across the country in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown.

Americans have been touched by the strength and love of the families and the people in Newtown in a way we have not seen in this country before. I can assure you, the Connecticut effect is not going away anytime soon because the American people are stepping up and making their voices heard for commonsense, reasonable regulations and laws to reduce and prevent gun violence. For far too long, for far too long, communities across this country, like West Webster, New York, and like Newtown, Connecticut, have paid for the price of inaction here in Congress. We cannot keep losing precious children and courageous police officers and brave first responders and many other innocent lives because we have allowed, and we are allowing, guns to be put into the hands of people who do not have permission and do not have the right to have them.

It is shocking and it is wrong that we do not have vigorous Federal laws making straw purchasing and trafficking in guns a Federal crime. We've learned today, and we learned yesterday in our hearing, that it is against the law to traffic in drugs, it is against the law to traffic in tainted food, but it is not against our Federal laws to traffic in illegal weapons in this country, and that is wrong and we need to fix it.

That's the reason that the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act has bipartisan support in the House. That is the same reason that this measure has the strong support and backing and urging and pleading of the hardworking law enforcement officers in my State who are dealing with the consequences of illegal drugs, including the leadership of Connecticut Attorney General and my friend George Jepsen.

There's a reason that law enforcement officials and groups around the country have been asking for us to pass this law. Few policies reflect commonsense, like keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals. If we are going to accomplish that goal, we must address this gaping hole with the lack of Federal laws punishing gun trafficking and straw purchasing.

Now is the time to act. We have a real opportunity to enact and to fix this hole in the law and to prevent holes in the hearts of the American people. I'm very proud to be a cosponsor of the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act and the Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement Act to do just that.

For the families of Newtown, for families across this great country who are affected by gun violence, for children and for police officers and first responders everywhere who put their lives on the line for us every day, and for all those whose lives are at risk today because of illegal guns, let's meet the call of the American people to strengthen the penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchasing.

I urge my colleagues to support this very laudable legislation, and I urge members of the public to urge their Representatives to stand up for safety for our first responders for our communities.

I thank my good friend, the gentleman from California, for yielding.