Floor Statements

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

Someone watching this debate and they hear the nice words between the two of us, they are, for sure, very genuine. We had many hand-holding scenes and meetings over the last number of months.

I am a cosponsor of H.R. 3919, and I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for allowing our thoughtful and constructive input into this process because clearly I think we ended up with a good piece of legislation. And I commend the gentleman's patience on our side as we were able to work out a consensus that, in fact, has brought us to the floor this afternoon.

I also want to thank Chairman Dingell and Mr. Barton for working with all of us to ensure that the bill was able to move forward in a bipartisan way. And Mr. Whitfield, who I remember at our first hearing on this as he talked about Connect Kentucky and the positive impact that it had there. He obviously added some good things as well to legislation. And I would urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation as it moves through this process.

I view the thrust of this legislation as an effort to get a better idea of the U.S. broadband penetration, not as a window to increased regulation of the already competitive broadband marketplace.

We were quite fortunate to learn from the successful statewide broadband mapping plan in Kentucky called Connect Kentucky. And it isn't often that we have the advantage of looking at a successful model such as this one, which could implement in a bipartisan way again there on a national level what we're able to do on this legislation in H.R. 3919.

Connect Kentucky demonstrated perfectly how a public/private partnership can work with industry in a nonregulatory manner that benefits not only consumers, but also provides a catalyst to greater broadband investments.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further Members wishing to be allocated time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I want to again thank Chairman Dingell and Mr. Barton, the ranking member of the committee. I remember 2 weeks ago when we moved this through our committee, it was a very important piece of legislation. Ms. Bean is the author of this. I know Mary Bono on our side helped immensely in getting it through the subcommittee. We all rise in support of H.R. 3461, Safeguarding America's Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act of 2007.

This bill directs the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, to carry out a nationwide public awareness campaign about Internet safety, provides a 1-year authorization of $5 million to carry out that campaign, and directs the FTC to report annually to the Congress on its activities to promote Internet safety. I look forward to those reports as the ranking member of the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee.

The FTC has been very active in the area, and its current computer security education campaign is built around an innovative multimedia Web site, www.OnguardOnline.gov, with special tips and features for children, teens and their parents. H.R. 3461 expands these underway. Moreover, the Internet defines Internet safety to include threats to juveniles, including cyber predators and material that is inappropriate for minors, criminal activity beyond the FTC's authority and scope. And to fulfill that directive, the FTC would then partner with the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service and with prominent nongovernmental organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Mr. Speaker, I visit a school almost every week, actually more than once a week, and often when I speak to an elementary school, I will ask those third or fourth graders, ``How many of you have seen something inappropriate on the Internet?'' It didn't used to be. It used to be that my question was, ``How many of you have a computer at home?'' Now practically everyone has a computer at home. But now when I ask that question, ``Have you seen something inappropriate?'' every hand goes up, including mine.

Mr. Speaker, I hosted an event in our district two Mondays ago on Internet safety in our intermediate school district in Berrien County, was attended by hundreds of people. We had votes that night so I couldn't be there. But it is a concern. Parents have to know what is going on. And that is why this new Web site, OnGuardOnline.gov is very important so that the word can get out, because the Internet is a double-edged sword. Yes, it helps our lives in so many different ways, but we have to look out for the nightmare that could come into that home from someone who we would not want in as a decent parent.

So this is good legislation. It is going to have a positive impact. There is a reason that it passed by unanimous vote among Republicans and Democrats. I hope that the Senate can move along quickly. We will be willing to give them a kick if they don't do that.

I don't have any other speakers requesting time, and I yield back my time.

I thank the gentleman for allowing me to have a little bit of time this morning to talk about a very important issue.

Madam Speaker, I am one of those Members of Congress who actually reads and signs all of his legislative mail from their district. I can remember not too long ago there was a write-in campaign to every congressional office complaining about a bill that Congressman Snell had introduced that was going to tax the Internet, every single piece of transaction that one might have on the Internet. Of course, as we know as we look at this board, and I have served in this Congress, I like to say not long enough, but I have never served with a Congressman Snell in the 21 years that Mr. Smith and I have served here together.

I went through it to find out when did Congressman Snell serve? There must have been a Congressman Snell. Well, there was. He served in the 64th Congress. Now, that was a long, long time ago, and I daresay it was before the Internet. It was before Al Gore invented the Internet, and it was before the Senate and the House discovered it as well.

But can you imagine taxing every different thing that one might do on the Internet?

I look at our own household here and back in Michigan. Often we come home, my wife and I, the first thing we do is we get on the Internet. We check what our daughters might be saying at college. Two nights ago I was doing some Internet surfing, and I got IMs from my daughter, probably about 20, 25. It was a wonderful experience that she and I had communicating. But can you imagine if there was a tax on every single IM message that came back and forth?

A lot of us do our banking on the Internet, check our different accounts. Can you imagine every single time you are going to get a tax on the Internet? For me, I am a sports nut, my Wolverines. I was at MGoBlue last night a couple of different times. When is the Michigan- Michigan State game going to be on this weekend? Can you imagine if you got taxed every time? I wanted to check if Michael Hart was going to play this Saturday. I checked a bunch of different Web sites. Can you

imagine if you got a tax every single time? That's just nuts.

Thank goodness we are extending the current moratorium that otherwise expires this week. Now, I am one that wanted to make it a permanent extension. I join with Mr. Goodlatte and Mr. Smith and others as a cosponsor of legislation so that we don't have to do this every single year. We passed in the House a couple of weeks ago a bill that was unanimous, in fact, as I recall, that extended it for 4 years.

The Senate finally did something right; they actually extended it beyond 4 years. We are going to see an extension for 7 years. Even though it's not permanent, 7 years is better than nothing, and that's what we are doing today.

But as I think about all the different uses that we use on the Internet today, to think that we would tax every e-mail, every search of the Web, all those different things. As the former chairman of the Telecommunications Subcommittee, I know that this will stifle the growth of the Internet in a major, major way.

I would ask all of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to support this extension. Let's get it to the President. I am sure that he will sign it, hopefully, before the week is out, so that we can no longer have the audacity to think that a Congressman Snell will come back and, in fact, perhaps introduce a piece of legislation that will, in fact, tax every Internet transaction. It would be disastrous.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Kalamazoo Public Library on the 100th anniversary of its designation as a federal depository.

Since 1907, the Kalamazoo Public Library has safeguarded the public's right to know by accepting, organizing, and maintaining all publications released by the U.S. Federal Government. Furthermore, the Kalamazoo Depository has provided the public of Southwest Michigan with free access to these government documents in an impartial environment along with professional research assistance.

From census records and court rulings to financial aid forms and the federal tax code, the Kalamazoo Depository has become an easily accessible resource for those seeking information relating to the federal government.

As a republic founded upon the ideals of governmental accountability and democratic participation, public access to such information is invaluable. The public's ability to know, question, and participate is the lifeblood of a free and open society such as ours, and not something to be taken for granted.

Once again, I would like to personally recognize and thank the Kalamazoo Public Library and its staff for providing such an invaluable service to the citizens of this community. Southwest Michigan is truly a better place because of their contributions.

Madam Speaker, I also want to compliment our fine Reading Clerk for getting the pronunciation of dextromethorphan correct. I know she has been practicing for days, as many of us have.

But I too rise in strong support of this bill, H.R. 970, the Dextromethorphan Distribution Act, I am going to call it DXM, of 2007, legislation that I introduced with my friend and colleague Mr. Rick Larsen of Washington. He has been absolutely a champion as we have worked this issue on both sides of the aisle to restrict the distribution of this product to entities registered with the FDA.

I want to thank the House leadership for scheduling this bill; I want to thank my friend and chairman, Mr. Dingell of our committee, as well as Mr. Barton, the ranking member, as well as the chairman and ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee for allowing this bill in fact to come to the floor, not only in this session but in the last session of Congress as well. When we did pass it on the House floor, I think it was actually one of the last bills that was passed in the 109th Congress in the House, but the Senate failed us at the end. We are hoping that by passing it at this point the Senate, in fact, will move together.

I also want to thank my staff, particularly Jane Williams, who has sat in countless meetings as we have worked and finessed this legislation, not only the industry folks here, but obviously with House and Senate leaders on both sides of the Capitol.

This drug normally is a safe and effective nonnarcotic cough suppressant that is used in many over-the-counter cough and cold medicines. While medicines containing DXM are used safely and effectively by millions of Americans every year, taken in extremely large quantities this drug produces a high that can cause brain damage, seizure, and obviously death.

Studies have shown that teenagers are obtaining unfinished DXM on the Internet to get high by consuming

large amounts or mixing it with alcohol. And already there have been too many deaths linked to the abuse of pure DXM. According to the DEA, abuse among adolescents is increasing. Abuse of DXM has been found in several forms, but has been increasingly found in an encapsulated powder form which is now being sold over the Internet. Currently, there are no restrictions, none, on the restriction of raw bulk dextromethorphan, and this bill would help to ensure that DXM is used only for legitimate purposes and stays out of the hands of drug dealers and adolescents. FDA would have the authority to seize bulk dextromethorphan if found in the possession of anyone not authorized to have it, and those measures would cut off the supply chain of unfinished DXM to those purchasing it on the Internet to get high or to sell it as a street drug.

This bill has been endorsed by the American Pharmacists Association, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Food Marketing Institute, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

As the parent of two teenagers, I am certainly alarmed by the number of teens who are abusing cough syrup and pure DXM to get a high. They are under the false impression that getting high off this drug is harmless because it is an ingredient in cough syrup. Nothing can be further from the truth. Our kids are playing a game of Russian roulette every time they get high off this drug, and sooner or later someone will die, as they have already. Enough is enough.

This commonsense bipartisan piece of legislation will certainly put an end to the bulk sale of DXM on the Internet and will keep our kids safe from the dangers of this type of drug abuse. I hope that all of our colleagues can support this even on a voice vote, and I hope and pray that the Senate will take action as soon as they can so that we can get this bill to the President's desk where I expect him to sign it.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the proud maritime heritage of the twin cities of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, MI. This month several special events will be held commemorating the l00th anniversary of our historic landmark, the St. Joseph Lighthouse.

St. Joseph and Benton Harbor's very beginnings were tied to Lake Michigan and the St. Joseph River. The intersection of these waterways provided for the founding of Fort Miami in 1679--the first European settlement in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. At one time, the trade and waterfront activity rivaled that of Chicago.

St. Joseph's lighthouse legacy has included five historic structures, including most recently, the North Pier lighthouses, which were completed as a range light system in 1907. When lined up together, they direct mariners to the mouth of the river. These architectural icons, along with their original Fresnel lenses and restored catwalk, survive as one of only two range light systems still active in the Great Lakes today. This year we celebrate 100 proud years of the lighthouses guiding fleets of freighters, passenger liners, fish tugs, and recreational watercraft safely to our harbor.

Few shoreline communities in the Great Lakes region can offer such a rich blend of past traditions, surviving historical structures, and living maritime history as St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. The lighthouse and the commercial shipping industry it was built to serve remain vital to our understanding of the past, present, and future. The St. Joseph lighthouse's working waterfront and maritime tradition have defined the cultural life and economy of our community, and I look forward to another century of the lighthouse serving as a loyal beacon for our magnificent shores.

Offered By Mr. Upton

Amendment No. 24: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the

following:

Offered By: Mr. Upton

Amendment No. 21: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Offered By: Mr. Upton

Amendment No. 21: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, we don't intend to take very much of our time. We have debated this amendment on each of the appropriation bills thus far. We have been very fortunate to have the support of Mr. Obey and Mr. Lewis and all the subcommittee chairmen and ranking members.

I offer this with my friend and colleague, Ms. Harman, along with Mr. English and Mr. Lipinski. It is a bipartisan amendment simply requiring that the Federal Government, beginning on October 1, purchase only ENERGY STAR light bulbs.

This will be a savings of hundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers over the course of the year, and it is something that has enjoyed, again, wide bipartisan support. I don't need to debate it further.

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

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By: Mr. Upton

Amendment No. 41: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Madam Speaker, I commend the remarks by my colleagues from every State that adjoins Lake Michigan, whether they be from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and obviously in my State, the great State of Michigan.

My district does abut Lake Michigan, and I'm a member of the Great Lakes Caucus, with a long record of protecting our Great Lakes body. The Great Lakes are the world's largest body of fresh water, and our job here is to be good stewards. We know that, and we were stunned by the announcement that was made just a little bit more than a week ago with regard to the new refinery that's being built and expanded in Indiana.

Tremendous efforts have been made in this region to protect the Great Lakes, but we see it in other places around the country, the Chesapeake Bay, and it's a disgrace that the mighty Potomac is in the shape that it is. We don't want the Great Lakes to take a step back. It needs to be improved. The last thing that we need to see is that the Great Lakes take a step back in terms of the protection that we have.

I travel in my district in southwest Michigan to Chicago quite a bit, and I can remember as a young boy going through Gary, Indiana, and some of those places there, and it was awful in terms of the pollution. And to their credit, they've done a much better job.

But I've got to say it's my understanding that for the State of Indiana to issue an exemption to its own State law that prohibits mixing zones is wrong. This will result in a serious setback in the efforts to clean up the Great Lakes, especially at a time when this outdated mixing zone practice is slated to be eliminated altogether, and yet we're seeing an exemption to have it continue. It, in essence, rolls back the clock for sound environmental policy.

Last week I picked up the phone and I called Governor Daniels of Indiana. I told him that we had a hornet's nest in southern Lake Michigan, and that they ought to reexamine exactly what the State of Indiana was allowing. The State of Indiana needs to reexamine this.

We don't want industrial waste to be increased. We don't want raw sewage to be increased. We've had our beaches closed enough. I don't care what side of the lake you live on, no new dumping ought to be the mandate that we impose on every municipality, every State in the Great Lakes. We should not be adding pollution. Instead, we should be subtracting to make sure that this resource stays a treasure for every family, for every community, for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

I would just say that this is a bipartisan amendment. We have been asked to expedite our remarks tonight so we can finish votes later this evening.

The Federal Government is the largest purchaser of light bulbs. This will save $30 per bulb, hundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers every year. It is something that has been adopted on every bill, and I would like to think that we can adopt it by voice again this evening.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the United States Tennis Association Boys' 18 and 16 National Championships on the occurrence of its 65th Anniversary. Hosted at Kalamazoo College since 1943, the tournament has earned a reputation of prestige and excellence, offering the finest in men's junior tennis anywhere in the world.

Over the past six and a half decades, most of the great names in American tennis--Agassi, Ashe, Connors, Courier, McEnroe, Roddick, Sampras, and Young, among many others--have competed at Kalamazoo's Stowe Tennis Stadium for the coveted title of USTA junior champion. The Championships have not only been witness to many record achievements in junior athletics, but also many of the most exhilarating moments in sports history.

The continued success and popularity of this event can only be attributed to the hundreds of volunteers and sponsors throughout Southwest Michigan, who have generously given of themselves year after year. Special recognition is also accorded to Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University, whose hospitality in hosting and organizing the tournament has been essential. Not least, for their exceptional contributions, Kalamazoo's own Rolla L. Anderson, Timon Corwin, David R. Markin, and Allan B. Stowe are to be praised for providing the leadership and commitment necessary for the tournament to flourish.

Hosting the USTA Boys' 18 and 16 National Championships for so many years has been a tremendous honor for my district. On this momentous occasion, we look back to those whose legacies are manifest in the present, as well as those future generations of volunteers and athletes that will build upon this tradition.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

No problem.