Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 2965, a bill that would repeal the military's policy of mandatory discrimination against openly gay and lesbian individuals in our Nation's military.

The ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy has been broken for years. We have lost thousands of qualified soldiers, translators, and officers because of a fundamentally bigoted policy. It is shameful that men and women who continue to serve must continue to hide who they are.

Repeal of ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' has the support of the Commander in Chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A Pentagon study released last month found that the military is ready for repeal and the vast majority of enlisted men and women believe repeal will be positive or make no difference. Despite the overwhelming evidence against them, opponents of this bill cling to their intolerant views to support a shameful policy that has made our country less safe.

Today's vote is an important step toward the day when LGBT Americans enjoy true equality, including the right to marry. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I hope that the Senate will pass this legislation and end this policy now.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 4994) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce taxpayer burdens and enhance taxpayer protections, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4994, the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act, a bill that was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate yesterday because of the critical importance to our senior citizens and military families.

The legislation does the bare minimum of what is needed to ensure that Medicare runs smoothly for the next year. Because the military's TRICARE system operates by many of Medicare's rules, it also protects the health care of our military families.

Importantly, the bill prevents a nearly 25 percent pay cut to Medicare and TRICARE physicians that would otherwise go into effect on January 1, 2011. Giving physicians a year of certainty in their pay is important to protect Medicare beneficiaries' access to their physicians. The bill extends a host of other key policies to protect the health of seniors and people with disabilities.

In the long run, we all know we need to do much better by Medicare than continued 1-year patches on the physician payment formula. The House passed a permanent solution in November of 2009, but the Senate was unable to move it. We need to work together across party lines to reach a permanent solution. In the meantime, H.R. 4994 is the appropriate short-term measure.

I urge my colleagues to join us in protecting the Medicare beneficiaries by voting ``yes.''

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this matter.

I would like to remind my distinguished friend that health reform was 100 percent paid for, and the party that wants to spend $700 billion on the richest Americans for their tax cuts certainly shouldn't lecture anyone on the deficit.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the reauthorization of the Child-Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. This bill strengthens our ability to identify, treat, and prevent the abuse and neglect of children and will open more good homes to foster children. This legislation also includes the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, which recognizes the common co-occurrence of child abuse and domestic violence and provides resources to states to address both.

The Adoption Opportunities Act included in this bill focuses on the needs of older youth and minority youth in our child welfare system. More than 400,000 youth are in foster care in America. About 115,000 are awaiting adoption. More than one-quarter of those waiting for a family are over the age of twelve. However, the vast majority of those adopted are children under the age of nine. Older youth wait in the child welfare system for a long time, with the chance of being adopted decreasing every day. Many of these youth--over 25,000 each year--age out of the system without a permanent family to support their transition to young adulthood. Too often, these youth end up homeless, unemployed, or incarcerated.

I applaud the focus on these older youth. This bill authorizes national recruitment efforts to reach prospective adoptive parents, establishes an Internet-based national adoption information exchange system to bring together children up for adoption and qualified adoptive parents, and connects agencies and families to resources that will reduce barriers to adoption.

We must do all we can to increase adoption. Earlier this year, I introduced a bill, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 3827), which would further reduce barriers to adoption by preventing discrimination against prospective adoptive parents or foster parents solely on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identification, or martial status. I look forward to continuing to work on reforming our child welfare system in the next Congress and I urge my colleagues to support S. 3817 and to stand with me to protect children.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, DREAM, Act of 2010.

Today we can open the door of opportunity to thousands of young people already living in America, who want to pursue the American dream.

Let us be clear about what this bill actually does. It will provide children and young people with the ability to serve their country or pursue higher education. It is not amnesty and it will not promote illegal immigration. This is a bipartisan bill that will provide a narrow group of undocumented young people who were brought to this country as children the chance to earn conditional permanent residency.

This bill sets up a rigorous ten-year process for achieving legal permanent resident status. It will not apply to any future immigrants, only those who are already in our country and meet several other conditions. A person can only qualify if he or she was brought to the United States by age 15, is under 29 years of age, has lived in the country for at least five years at the date of the bill's enactment, has good moral character, is without a criminal record, and has earned a high-school diploma, and its equivalent is eligible for conditional legal status. To maintain their status, these individuals have to complete two years of higher education or military service. After ten years, they can apply to become legal permanent residents. Beneficiaries are not eligible for any federal benefits, including food stamps, welfare, or health care.

The DREAM Act will boost our economy by creating economic opportunity for young people. The individuals that benefit from this bill will start businesses, buy homes, and pay taxes. Do we really want to be the country that deports the next Bill Gates or shuts out the next Steve Jobs from our school system because of their parents' immigration status?

Most importantly, this legislation recognizes that children must not be punished for the actions of their parents. Our immigration system must be fundamentally reformed, but denying an education and a place in our workforce to the children of undocumented parents will not help fix a broken system.

Every child deserves an education and a chance to succeed, no matter where they come from or what situation they are born into. Our country's top educators, military men and women, and business leaders all support this bill, and we should listen to them. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the DREAM Act.

Madam Speaker, I join with my colleague and friend Dave Camp (R-MI) to recognize Mr. Mark Covall, president and CEO of the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, NAPHS, who marks 25 years of service with the association this year.

NAPHS advocates for behavioral health and represents provider systems that own or manage more than 600 psychiatric hospitals, general hospital psychiatric and addiction treatment units and behavioral healthcare divisions, residential treatment facilities, youth services organizations, and extensive outpatient networks.

Over the course of the past quarter century, Mr. Covall has worked with diligence and integrity to bring the expertise of the association's member organizations to bear on policy development in support of the needs of Americans of all ages who experience serious mental and addictive conditions. The longevity--of both the association (founded in 1933) and the tenure of Mr. Covall--are rare in a field that has seen dramatic changes over the past decades.

Mr. Covall has overseen and influenced these changes. He has initiated and helped lead effective model coalitions bringing together the public and private sectors with consumers and families in support of landmark legislation, including the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. His collaborative leadership has also moved forward the development and implementation of the first publicly reported core measures for inpatient psychiatric services, now embedded in hospital accreditation.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Covall for his leadership, dedication, and advocacy through the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems on behalf of the individuals and families throughout our Nation who are dealing with serious mental and addictive disorders.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to John H. Weed upon his retirement from the Ohlone College Board of Trustees in Fremont, California. Mr. Weed attended his final board meeting on November 10, 2010. First elected in 1977, he served on the Board of Trustees for 33 years.

Mr. Weed holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and Juris Doctor of Law degree from the University of Santa Clara. He received a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Eastern New Mexico University. He was a Graduate Research Associate in Agricultural Economics and a graduate student with the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona.

He has been an elected director of the Alameda County Water District since November 1995. Since 1990, Mr. Weed has served as a Director of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency and Regional Financial Authority, representing customers of the Hetch Hetchy Water System.

Mr. Weed is a member of Rotary International, and he has been or is currently involved in myriad civic activities, which include

the Alameda County Bicentennial Commission, the city of Fremont Historical Architectural Review Board, State of California Heritage Task Force, Association of Water Agencies, Washington Township Historical Society, the Alameda County Library System, and the City of Fremont's Regulatory Review Commission.

I wish John Weed all the best upon his retirement from the Ohlone College Board of Trustees. Mr. Weed describes the heart of Ohlone College as ``the wonderful service it provides the community.'' I join the community in thanking him for his three decades of service, and appreciating him for a job well done.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. This bill addresses the linked problems of child hunger and child obesity by improving child nutrition programs and ensuring that children have increased access to healthy meals in school and at home.

One in four children in this country is at risk of hunger and one in three is overweight or obese. This is an epidemic and we can start to address it by improving our nutrition programs. For the first time in 30 years, this bill will increase the reimbursement for school meals, allowing schools to serve healthier meals. It will also implement national nutrition standards for school food, allow more low-income children to have access to school meals, make foster children automatically eligible for school meal benefits, and promote breastfeeding.

Passing this bill is the right thing to do and we must pass it now or lose this important opportunity to invest in children. I do regret that part of this legislation is paid for with future cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. The benefit cut authorized by this bill will cause a family of four to lose up to $59 a month out of their limited food budget in 2013. Congress and the President must remain committed to reversing these cuts before they go into effect. I urge the Obama administration to address the gaps in SNAP benefits through all available measures. For example, access to SNAP can be greatly improved by eliminating unnecessary, ineffective procedures, such as the finger imaging used in California, which discourage eligible Americans from applying for benefits.

It is unacceptable that one quarter of America's children are hungry, and that one third are at risk of the health problems associated with obesity. I urge my colleagues to support S. 3307 and stand with me for the health of our children.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Before I start, I just want to comment that my distinguished colleague from northern California, on the other side of the aisle, can be so mean and so tough but, Madam Speaker, in a very gentle, pleasant way. I do so look forward to working with him in the next Congress to see how he is going to slap me around as we proceed to try and keep physicians paid and to keep Medicare the great program that it is.

I rise in support of H.R. 5712. The legislation as we know, Madam Speaker, provides for a 1-month extension. By extending current law in this manner, we put SGR reform on the same timetable as other Medicare provisions we need to renew before the end of the calendar year. Without this bill, as we have heard from doctors and other health providers, they will see their Medicare payments cut by 21 to 23 percent, and that is not acceptable.

It's a bad outcome for physicians, for patients, for the government. The only other solution would be for the Medicare agency to hold payments until longer-term SGR reform legislation is enacted in December, and that really plays hard with their practices. It is difficult for them to plan, to pay their employees, pay their rent, and know that payments will be postponed for 1 month.

So I join with my distinguished colleague across the aisle in supporting H.R. 5712 and asking my colleagues to support it this morning.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support the extension of emergency Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits for the millions of American workers who are unable to find work. If the incoming majority is committed to extending tax cuts to increase the wealth of millionaires, I certainly hope they are equally committed to helping Americans who have lost their jobs to stay in their homes and put food on their tables over the holidays.

UI benefits are a lifeline for millions of Americans. Allowing these benefits to expire at the end of the month would mean that two million people will lose their income, including over 450,000 in my State of California. These are people who want to work, but when there are five applicants for every new job, the odds are against them. For these individuals, the recession has most definitely not ended.

People call my office every day worried about what will happen to them when they lose their unemployment benefits. As we approach the holiday season, we should not tell these individuals that their country will no longer support them in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression. We have never cut off support when the unemployment rate was this high. We must not begin now. Unemployment benefits kept 3.3 million Americans out of poverty in 2009, including almost 1 million children. UI benefits created two dollars of economic activity for every dollar spent in 2009. Extending benefits protects families and stimulates the growth of our economy.

Congress has a responsibility to protect families struggling to find work. H.R. 6419 is a chance for us to fulfill that responsibility. I urge all of my colleagues to side with American workers and support this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Dr. Reed L. Buffington. Chabot College in Hayward, California, will dedicate the Reed L. Buffington Visual and Performing Arts Center Building on November 3, 2010. It is a fitting tribute to Dr. Buffington's contributions.

Dr. Buffington held the position of President/Superintendent of Chabot College from its founding in September of 1961 until his retirement in 1981. When asked by a newspaper reporter to name his chief objective for the new college, Dr. Buffington replied, ``Quality! . . . quality in everything we do.''

The Hayward community continues to benefit from his legacy and from his eponymous awards for alumni, students, and faculty. Upon his retirement, Dr. Buffington created an endowment for the prestigious Buffington Award, annually awarded for excellence in a teaching career. Dr. Buffington began his own career in education as a political science instructor. He earned A.B. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Chicago and a Doctorate in Education from Stanford University.

During his tenure at Chabot College, Dr. Buffington made innumerable contributions to higher education in California and to local civic organizations. A passage from the book Chabot College: The First Twenty Years aptly reflects Dr. Buffington's enduring legacy of excellence and service to Chabot College, and the community: ``From the very beginning, this has been Reed Buffington's college, dedicated in its every thought, deed, and act to the fulfillment of the educational and cultural needs, hopes, and desires of the people of South County.''

I join the community in welcoming the Reed L. Buffington Visual and Performing Arts Center. I also join Dr. Buffington's colleagues in expressing appreciation for his extraordinary leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2378 the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act.

American manufacturing has a long and proud history, but for years has lost hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs. Our workers are losing jobs to China, a country that

blatantly violates international trade laws. The Chinese government's prolonged and intentional intervention in its currency markets keeps the price of Chinese goods in the United States artificially low and the price of U.S. goods sold in China artificially high. With this pricing advantage, manufacturing jobs move to China instead of staying here in the U.S. Economists estimate that the Chinese currency is undervalued by between 25 and 40 percent. How can our manufacturing sector workers compete against a country that has the ability to effectively subsidize its exports by 25 to 40 percent?

It is our responsibility to stand up and defend our workers against these illegal practices. The Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act is just the first step to level the playing field between U.S. and Chinese manufacturers. The legislation expands our trade laws so that we can better combat illegal practices by countries that seek unfair advantages. The bill targets countries that persistently and significantly undervalue their currency. When these illegal subsidies harm a U.S. industry, our government will be able to impose countervailing duties to negate their impact.

This legislation is not the cure all for our $266 billion trade deficit with China, but it should help our manufacturers. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman estimates that if China's currency manipulation ended, we would gain 6,000 jobs per billion dollar shift in the trade deficit and could therefore save or create 1.4 or 1.5 million jobs. Fred Bergsten, the director of the Peterson Institute of International Economics also offers an optimistic statistic, that an appreciation of China's currency could generate 700,000 to 1 million U.S. jobs. We cannot turn our back on this kind of job creation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to begin bringing good jobs back to America.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``Foster Children Self Support Act.'' This bill will correct a long-standing injustice that has deprived thousands of foster youth of Social Security benefits and will provide some of our most vulnerable children with a chance to succeed. I am proud to introduce this bill in partnership with Congressman Langevin, who is a tireless advocate for children and individuals with disabilities.

In nearly every state in the country, foster children eligible for Social Security benefits because of a disability or the loss of a parent are having those benefits taken by the very state agencies charged with their care. The ``Foster Children Self Support Act'' would end that practice. Instead, it would require states to use a child's Social Security benefits to meet the immediate needs of that child or set aside those benefits to assist the child with transitioning to adulthood when that child emancipates from care.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimates that approximately 30,000 foster children (out of 500,000 nationwide) receive either Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) benefits each month. Unfortunately, hardly any of these children will benefit from these funds. Nor will the children have the option to conserve the funds to use when they leave care. This is because state child welfare agencies routinely make themselves the representative payee so that they have control over the child's benefits. Often, neither the child nor the child's advocate knows that Social Security benefits are being sent to the agency. Once the welfare agency controls the benefits there are few limits on what they can do with the funds.

State welfare agencies take an estimated $156 million per year from foster children, according to a CRS analysis. The practice has devastating consequences for youth who age out of the system without supports. Former foster children face tremendous challenges. Foster children often enter care having suffered from serious emotional, mental, and/or physical abuse. For example, they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at a rate twice as high as Iraq War veterans. When youth emancipate from care, 37 percent experience at least one episode of homelessness and 16 percent of men are incarcerated by the age of 24. Only 48 percent of former foster youth are employed at age 24 and only 6 percent had a college degree. The ``Foster Children Self Support Act'' is especially important since it is safe to assume that those foster youth who have lost their parents or are eligible for SSI due to severe mental or physical disabilities are among the most vulnerable.

The ``Foster Children Self Support Act'' provides a way to help these young people. It does so by mandating that states develop a plan for foster children who receive Social Security benefits. The plan would describe how to use a child's Social Security benefits as a resource to best meet the current and future needs of that child. The plan must be specific to each child receiving Social Security benefits and made in partnership with the child and the child's advocate. If this bill were law, states would no longer be allowed to simply use children's Social Security money as they see fit. Instead, this money would have to be used as any parent would use it: to provide for the child's particular needs and help plan for the child's future.

The bill will:

Require that states screen all foster children for Social Security eligibility and assist them in application;

Require states to identify other appropriate representative payees for eligible children, such as family members, before becoming the payee themselves;

Require states to develop a plan, with a child and that child's advocate(s), on how to best use the Social Security benefits to provide for the current and future needs of the child;

Provide for the conservation of Social Security funds in dedicated accounts that a child can access when they leave care to pay for things like housing, education, transportation, and other life expenses;

Exclude the conserved funds from the $2,000 SSI resource limit to ensure that youth can accumulate a substantial amount of assets without losing their eligibility for future benefits;

Ensure that youth are provided assistance to maintain eligibility for benefits after they transition out of care;

Require the GAO to report back to Congress on states' progress in screening all foster children for Social Security eligibility.

As Members of Congress, we are the grandparents and guardians of all foster youth. We have a moral obligation to provide foster children with the resources they need to become independent adults, just as we would our own children. The ``Foster Children Self Support Act'' is a small part of fulfilling this obligation and a large step toward helping one of the most vulnerable groups of foster children.

I urge my colleagues to join Congressman Langevin and me in support of this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the San Lorenzo, California Branch of the Alameda County Library as the Branch celebrates its 100th Anniversary. The Library was the first branch of the Alameda County Library system and opened on November 25, 1910.

The San Lorenzo Branch Library continues to be an integral part of the San Lorenzo community. It opens doors to books, music, movies, Internet access, afterschool programs, and job searches. The library also runs programs to provide free legal assistance, story-time for children, and computer instruction classes to help job seekers with basic computer skills.

Other Library programs include Homework Central, which supports excellence in school achievement in collaboration with the San Lorenzo Unified School District. Programs for seniors such as Older Driver Safety and Seniors Making Daily Activities Easier provide essential safety, health and financial information.

The unincorporated areas of Cherryland and Ashland also benefit from the San Lorenzo Branch Library. 239,176 items are checked out of the library annually. Over the last fiscal year, 180,420 individuals visited the San Leandro Branch Library.

Over 1.5 million people in Alameda County have library cards and the residents of San Lorenzo, Ashland and Cherryland have 68,459 library cards. The San Lorenzo Branch Library is a valued treasure.

I join the community in applauding the Library for its 100 years of exemplary service. The Library and its personnel have enriched many of the library's visitors and patrons through the years. I send best wishes for the continued success of this unique and wonderful institution.

I am pleased to recognize this milestone anniversary of the San Leandro Branch Library.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume and rise in support of H.R. 6130, which strengthens the Medicare Anti-Fraud Measures Act, as you have heard described here.

This bipartisan fraud and abuse-fighting legislation was co-authored by our ranking member, Mr. Herger, and was cosponsored on our side of the aisle by Mr. Lewis, who chairs the Oversight Subcommittee on Ways and Means.

It was developed in a way that I think Congress should do more legislation. It was a problem that was called to the attention of Mr. Herger and myself, and we worked together with the Office of the Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and expanded the authority to ban executives from companies who have been convicted of fraud from the program.

As you have heard, many of those executives can come back and repeatedly take money from the Medicare or Medicaid program to which they're not entitled, and this would put an end to that. It expands the permissive authority to exclude affiliates, and it sees that the funds thereby go to the services that beneficiaries need. The bill has been endorsed by AARP, which states that the bill would expand the authority of the United States Health and Human Services to accomplish just that.

I want to thank my ranking member, Mr. Herger, and Mr. Lewis, for cooperating on this. I think we have unanimous agreement that it's a bill that's necessary, a bill that will reduce fraud and abuse, and a bill that will aid the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), the distinguished chair of our Oversight Subcommittee on Ways and Means, who, like Mr. Herger, recognizes the seriousness of this problem and was helpful in our hearings in calling attention to many of the problems.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to thank my distinguished ranking member for his support and work in bringing this bill to the floor, and thank the staff who have worked on this bill; John Barket, who was a fellow in our subcommittee, got it started. He has now moved to Health and Human Services, but I wanted to recognize his leadership. I would like to thank Erik Rasmussen and Dan Elling on Mr. Herger's staff for their work and help in this area. And as always, Debbie Curtis and Hannah Neprash on my subcommittee as well for their good work. And again to thank Mr. Herger for joining with us to see that we bring an end to these bad practices.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise as Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee with my colleague and Ranking Member Wally Herger (R-CA) to introduce the Strengthening Medicare Anti-Fraud Measures Act.

This bipartisan legislation is a direct byproduct of a joint hearing held by the Ways and Means Health and Oversight Subcommittees earlier this year. The hearing was on efforts to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare.

We heard testimony at this hearing from two panels of witnesses. The first panel consisted of Members of Congress pursuing legislative initiatives to reduce Medicare fraud, waste and abuse. The second panel was made up of government witnesses: Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG), The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Government Accountability Office.

Numerous witnesses raised concerns about limitations to the authority of the Office of the Inspector General to minimize Medicare fraud. From this discussion it became clear to Ranking Member Herger and myself that we should change the law to provide the Inspector General with the additional tools requested to better protect Medicare.

This is a simple bill with only two provisions. It expands the OIG's permissive authority to ban executives whose companies have been convicted of Medicare fraud from the program. Second, it expands the OIG's permissive authority to exclude affiliates of corporations convicted of fraud, including parent companies hiding behind convicted corporate shells.

The first change is important because it will enable the OIG to protect Medicare from executives who circumvent exclusion by moving to another company. Under current law, executives whose companies are convicted of fraud can be excluded from Medicare. However, if the executive has left the company by the time of conviction, he or she cannot be barred from Federal health care programs. These executives are able to move from one company to another and continue to defraud Medicare, seniors, and taxpayers.

The second change provides the OIG with stronger tools to address corporations that have engaged in fraud. Companies that engage in fraud often set up shell companies to insulate themselves from liability. Criminal settlement negotiations can result in the conviction of these shell organizations with no real operational impact on the parent company. Without discretionary authority to exclude parent companies from the program, the OIG is missing a tool in its arsenal that could allow the government to exclude or obtain stronger prospective remedies in settlements.

We held a hearing, we learned of a need, and we are joining across party lines to introduce this legislation. Reducing fraud, waste and abuse in government programs is a bipartisan priority. We urge our colleagues to cosponsor this bill and quickly enact these new anti- fraud tools to protect Medicare beneficiaries and all of America's taxpayers.