Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, health care is one of the most important issues that Congress will address this year. We need to make sure we take the time to get it right.

However, congressional leaders have other plans. Rather than taking the time to get it right, they want to spend another $1.6 trillion on a government health care plan that includes $500 billion in cuts in Medicare for seniors. And regardless of any arm twisting, no one can change the fact that this plan will slide our Nation deeper into debt. In fact, just 2 days ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office ascertained and confirmed that the proposed health care plan would cause a massive spike in the Federal budget deficit, adding as much as $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, more runaway deficits are something that Americans cannot afford. Let's reform our health care system the right way without raising taxes on small business and without adding new debt on our children and our grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to recognize one of the many great communities in my congressional district. The City of Edina, Minnesota, was recently named one of the top 10 best towns for families by Family Circle magazine. Edina was chosen from an initial list of 1,700 towns and cities nationwide with populations between 15,000 people and 150,000 people.

The annual rankings are based on a number of criteria, including the quality of schools, access to health care, affordable homes, green space, crime rates, and financial stability. In fact, Edina was the only city on the list to receive a Great Schools rating of a 10--the best score possible--which is determined by looking at standardized test scores of students in the public school district.

Mr. Speaker, I offer my congratulations to the City of Edina and the parents and the students and the friends

and neighbors who make that community great.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican standards on member requests, I am submitting the following information regarding congressionally directed appropriations projects I sponsored as part of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Appropriations Bill, H.R. 3288.

Name of Project: Trunk Highway 610

Amount: $400,000

Account: FHWA

Requesting entity: North Metro Crossing Coalition

Address: PO Box 1180, 12800 Arbor Lakes Pkwy, Maple Grove, MN 55311

Description of Project Request: Extension, and completion, of TH 610 from County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 81 to Interstate 94 in Maple Grove, MN.

Name of Project: 169/1-494 Interchange Construction.

Amount: $400,000

Account: TCSP or Surface Transportation Priorities

Requesting entity: Serge Phillips

Address: 395 John Ireland Blvd.

Description of Project Request: Reconstruction of the existing interchange including grading, surfacing, drainage, utilities, noise barriers, retaining walls, traffic management systems, and bridges on TH 169 and I-494 including the TH 169/Valley View Road interchange.

Name of Project: Interstate 94/Brockton Lane Interchange.

Amount: $700,000

Account: FHWA--Interstate Maintenance

Requesting entity: Doug Anderson, Mayor, City of Dayton

Address: 11260 Diamond Lake Road, Dayton, MN 55327

Description of Project Request: Funding to move through all elements of the scoping study, preliminary design, environmental review process, right-of-way acquisition and final design of an expanded I-94 corridor complete with a full interchange at Brockton Lane.

I certify that none of these projects has a direct and foreseeable effect on the pecuniary interests of me or my spouse.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican standards on member requests, I am submitting the following information regarding congressionally directed appropriations projects I sponsored as part of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill,

Mr. Speaker, last week my home State of Minnesota saw the unemployment rate rise once again, while seeing its exports drop by almost 20 percent from just 1 year ago.

The number one priority of this Congress and this administration should be job creation. But it's clear that the economic stimulus policies being pursued in Washington are failing. Congress has missed important opportunities to pursue real policies that will put Minnesotans and Americans back to work.

Instead, we've seen reckless spending and reckless borrowing at unprecedented rates, so much so that the fact now is that every man, woman and child in our country owes over $37,000 as their share of the national debt.

Mr. Speaker, we should be reforming health care without throwing even more new taxes on the backs of families and small businesses, and we should be giving priority to helping small businesses, our number one job creators, to put Minnesotans and Americans back to work.

Madam Speaker, next week Congress will likely vote on a health care bill that costs over $1 trillion and has serious repercussions for every American. I simply request that every Member be given the appropriate time to review the final bill.

Just a few weeks ago, a 300-page amendment was made to the cap-and- trade bill at 3 a.m. and voted on just hours later without allowing Members and staff ample time to peruse it. The over 1,000-page stimulus bill was similarly hustled through Congress without time for Members to even read it. This is not an acceptable way to run Congress.

To that end, I am cosponsoring a bill that will require legislation be available on the Internet for 72 hours so that the public and Members of Congress will have a chance to see it. As we debate health reform or any other issue, the American people want us to get it right. To do that, we must avoid arbitrary deadlines and passing measures in the dark of night without full debate or proper transparency.

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

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer an amendment that would provide an additional $15 million for the Financial

Crimes Enforcement Network, which is also known as FinCEN. The Department of the Treasury established FinCEN in 1990 to provide a government-wide multi-source financial intelligence and analysis network. The agency's functions have expanded over the years and now include some regulatory responsibilities as well as providing important information on new incidents and patterns of fraud to the SEC, Department of Justice, the FBI and other intelligence organizations.

Now part of the Department of Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, FinCEN is also the lead office in fighting the financial war on terror, combating financial crime and enforcing economic sanctions against rogue nations. The recent economic crisis has demonstrated how important FinCEN's efforts are to our national financial security because it was FinCEN that was providing some of the earliest information regarding the financial crisis. FinCEN was one of the first to highlight the ever-growing problem of mortgage fraud, and it continues to track this problem today. Earlier this month, for instance, FinCEN helped the FBI release a new report, estimating a 36 percent increase in mortgage fraud between fiscal years '07 and '08. We must make greater efforts at reversing this trend.

The information provided to government organizations by FinCEN is essential to catch criminals and defeat terrorists. The ability to follow the money trail really and truly provides our intelligence and law enforcement community with information that leads to a broader understanding of terrorist organizations and drug dealers.

My amendment will provide FinCEN with additional resources and is an investment in the financial and economic security of the country. FinCEN is currently going through a process of modernizing and upgrading their technologies so they are better equipped to monitor, detect and battle crimes in the 21st century. We need these efforts to support continued success. Investing in FinCEN's IT modernization will provide a greater capability of identifying those who have misrepresented the health and size of their investments to their clients. It will provide the necessary tools for analyzing financial information and detecting criminal wrongdoing. And finally, this measure will provide needed support in coordination with Federal, State and local law enforcement. Especially in this time of economic crisis, our government agencies need the best information possible to confront these important issues of financial and economic security, and FinCEN can be that helper.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican standards on member requests, I am submitting the following information regarding congressionally directed appropriations projects I sponsored as part of H.R. 3183, FY 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.

Account: Corps of Engineers Construction

Requesting entity: The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD)

Address: 18202 Minnetonka Blvd. Deephaven, MN 55391

Description of Project Request: Funding will be used for the Painter Creek project, which aims to restore the hydrology and ecological function to a major drainage way discharging into Lake Minnetonka. Painter Creek was straightened and many of the adjacent wetlands were drained for agricultural uses in the early 1900s. The project focuses on restoring those wetlands, increasing the habitat value, and positively affecting water quality, flood damage reduction, and erosion. I certify that this project does not have a direct and foreseeable effect on the pecuniary interests of me or my spouse.

Mr. Speaker, in the midst of intense policy debates, we must not forget that we are here for one reason, to serve. Thankfully I have constant reminders of that spirit of service throughout my district. During the past week, I visited two amazing service organizations where I had the great honor of joining their efforts.

Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners helps people who are facing a crisis, whether it be sudden job loss or dealing with serious health care issues. Along with operating a local food shelf, they offer emergency financial assistance to those in need.

Feed My Starving Children provides hand-packed meals formulated specifically for children suffering from malnourishment and starvation. They ship those meals to over 60 countries, partnering with like-minded organizations worldwide. They have helped children regain their health.

The spirit of service embodied by these employees and volunteers at these organizations is something we should all be proud of and something we should strive for each day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule. As Congress moves forward in the debate on health care, we should ensure that any national health care reform plan preserves the unique needs of our veterans and servicemembers as well as protects the unique identity and role of the successful programs and insurance that they depend on. If we subject these benefits to new taxation or if we foolishly fold them into a large government-run program, the quality and the availability of care for our Nation's veterans will suffer, and an erosion of the quality of these benefits could undermine recruiting, retention and, ultimately, national security.

I had hoped today to offer an amendment to make sure that any new health care program would not undercut the services currently available for our men and women in uniform. Unfortunately I was not allowed to do so today because of the closed rule. It is frustrating when good ideas cannot move forward.

Mr. Speaker, the servicemembers and veterans in our country who have served our Nation have unique health care needs that we fulfill through specific mechanisms, such as the VA, TRICARE and others. These entities are essential to ensuring that we meet our Nation's obligations to those who serve in uniform and that we do so in a

most personal and effective way. Military health benefits provide specific needed coverage that recognizes the extraordinary sacrifices that are inherent to those who serve in our military. Similarly, there are unique and specialized VA programs that recognize the government responsibilities to those who incur injuries and illness as a result of their service. Moreover, specific services and programs for families of those who have served help ensure that our grateful Nation gives back to those who have sacrificed so much for all of us. It's too bad that we are unable to move forward on my amendment because it would have recognized and protected the government's special responsibilities to our servicemembers and veterans in any health care package moving through Congress.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment would add medical technology to the list of commercialization and research topics that deserve special consideration for SBIR funding.

According to a recent census study, 71 percent of medical device companies have less than 10 employees, small businesses. Despite the small size of these companies, they have a tremendous impact on our economy. Each medical technology job has been shown to create an additional two jobs by creating the need for secondary positions such as technicians and repairmen and by purchasing other inputs of production.

Each medical technology payroll dollar generates an additional $1.12 in payroll to account for the increased number of positions and skills required to fill these jobs, and each dollar of medical technology sales generates an additional 90 cents in sales in that State by providing more citizens with disposable income.

While startup costs are high for many of these new technologies, they do pay dividends down the road once the products get to market. We should help these companies by getting the funds they need into their hands so they can bring new lifesaving technologies to market.

The current challenge right now is that these are high-risk/high- reward investments. This amendment will go a long way to providing these firms with needed capital to continue innovating. In the last 10 years alone, there has been an 80 percent increase in patents for breakthrough medical technologies, and we must help these products get to market.

One such company recently testified before the Small Business Committee on the SBIR program; it was MicroTransponder. In their testimony at the committee, they outlined how they have used the SBIR funds to develop treatments for chronic pain and other neurological disorders, including traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, motor disorders, autism, and others. Taken together, these conditions affect over 50 million people in the U.S. and represent a cost of over $100 billion annually.

Mr. Chairman, as Congress moves towards health reform legislation, we should also consider ideas that are cost efficient and cost effective. Not only

does medical technology create jobs and increase life expectancy, it also shows to reduce costs in countless cases.

So as the medical technology industry continues to grow and expand, we need to make sure that patients will see these benefits on an increasingly efficient basis that is more affordable and that are lifesaving technologies. That is why this amendment makes sense to target these resources.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the leadership, on a bipartisan basis, for their support of this amendment.

I would like to yield 2 minutes to an avid guitar player and staunch supporter of maintaining the United States' status as a world leader in medical technology, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).

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

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican standards on Member requests, I am submitting the following information regarding congressionally directed appropriations projects I sponsored as part of H.R. 2847, FY 2010 Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

Account: STAG Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Amount: $500,000

Requesting entity: City of Maple Plain

Address: 1620 Maple Avenue; Maple Plain, MN 55359

Description of Project Request: Funding would allow the City of Maple Plain to comply with Federal water standard mandates by helping finance a new water treatment facility. The facility is necessary to meet Environmental Protection Agency requirements for the city's water radium levels.

I certify that this project does not have a direct and foreseeable effect on the pecuniary interests of me or my spouse.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call attention to a dangerous precedent that was set recently and another record that will be set this week.

Two weeks ago the Treasury Department auctioned off a record $104 billion worth of U.S. debt in just one week. This week it is going to set the record for the number of auctions held in a given week.

More debt means a weaker dollar and rising interest rates, which will further stifle the housing market, hinder an economic recovery, and shackle future generations with debt. In fact, our debt has reached a level so high that the Federal Reserve has resorted to printing money to buy U.S. Treasurys, a practice that is both dangerous and counterproductive in the long term.

It's time for Congress to rein in reckless spending that's been the status quo here in Washington. Without drastic changes, our debt will continue to rise, and our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

Madam Speaker, it must be a priority to work aggressively and prudently as a nation to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, I believe we can do this without the current ``cap and trade'' plan we are voting on today.

Reducing emissions and strengthening our environment are important priorities--priorities I support. However, the ``cap and trade'' bill before us today is just a fancy way of masking ``tax and spend''--and it is the wrong approach to addressing this issue.

America needs a comprehensive energy solution to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and jump-start our economy, but it should not be at the expense of every American taxpayer.

Analysis shows cap and trade will raise gas prices, raise electricity prices and eliminate American jobs. Studies have shown up to 2.5 million jobs will be lost, making America less globally competitive.

In the worst recession in over 70 years, this legislation would exacerbate our situation by increasing energy costs for every sector of our economy. If the priority is jobs, it is stunning to me that we're bringing this bill to the floor that will create a national energy tax on every working family and every small business in America.

There are several common sense, bipartisan solutions that invest in new, clean and reliable sources of energy. I'm supporting a plan that aggressively reduces emissions, promotes conservation, creates jobs and strengthens our environment by promoting nuclear energy--a zero emissions, renewable source. It also boosts domestic supplies of both natural gas and oil.

I hope today that we do what is right for America, by voting down this cap and trade proposal and moving forward with a plan that will work for--not against--all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 419, 420, 421 and 422, my flight was delayed. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all four bills.