Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, after decades of decline, American manufacturing is now on the rebound. The United States created nearly half a million manufacturing jobs between 2010 and 2012. This recovery is critical for cities like my hometown of Detroit and for America's economy as a whole, but sustaining it will require coordinated comprehensive action.

Thankfully, the nation can count on inspired and visionary leadership from both the public and private sectors to sustain the development of advanced manufacturing industries that create high-quality exports and well-paying jobs.

I commend President Obama's commitment to creating a million new manufacturing jobs by 2016 through new investments in technological research and development as well as sensible policies like the elimination of tax deductions for companies that outsource manufacturing overseas. I also commend important private sector voices who are leading the way to America's manufacturing renaissance.

Andrew Liveris, the head of Dow Chemical and author of Make It in America: The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy has argued persuasively for a new national economic strategy that rests on a range of innovative ideas. In particular, he calls for a more coherent and comprehensive approach to national energy policy and greater reliance on alternative energy sources. This is essential because the cost and volatility of traditional energy sources like imported oil are a major drag on the nation's industrial productivity. Mr. Liveris additionally calls for new investments in workers' skills in order to boost the nation's productivity and guarantee world-class living standards. An intellectual leader and prominent figure in American business, Mr. Liveris and his proposals should command respect and attention across the political spectrum.

The Council on Competitiveness--a non-profit non-partisan coalition composed of CEOs, labor leaders, and university presidents--has likewise developed a vital and comprehensive proposal to spur American economic renewal. Their new report, ``A Clarion Call for Competitiveness,'' is a roadmap for Congress and the Administration to boost manufacturing and create well-paying jobs in the decades ahead. Among other recommendations, the Council urges federal leaders to double investments in technological research, increase efforts to commercialize America's scientific discoveries, strengthen apprenticeship programs for advanced manufacturing, speed-up the development of manufacturing ``clusters'' built around leading research centers around the nation, and ensure the quality of America's roads, bridges, and digital connections by authorizing the Export-Import Bank to fund domestic infrastructure projects.

These ideas--which come from both Democrats and Republicans and both private and public sectors--are unique in today's civic debate for a simple reason: they offer hope. I call on Congress to implement these innovative proposals in the 113th Congress for the sake of our workers, our businesses, and our nation's long-term economic future.

Mr. Speaker, today I honor the contributions of Jeannine Campau Palms.

Ms. Palms has dedicated her life to preserving a safe and clean environment for future generations and working towards justice for all people. Among her many accomplishments, the creation of the Buhr Park Children's Wet Meadow is particularly noteworthy. The Buhr Park Children's Wet Meadow is a group of wet meadow ecosystems in Buhr Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The meadows preserve habitat for local plants and wildlife, filter stormwater runoff, and serve as an educational site for both children and adults.

The Buhr Park Children's Wet Meadow is one example of Ms. Palms' life's work. A life committed to creating sustainable communities, promoting social justice, and preserving our nation's natural resources.

Mr. Speaker, of all the horror this country has had to endure, there's something else that is tragic, and that is too many times someone who is mentally ill can only get treatment once they're arrested and locked up. Treating the mentally ill only when they go to prison, it doesn't make sense. It costs too much money, and many times that treatment comes too late.

I'm asking this House and this Congress this week to protect all of the funding for mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment, protect all of the funds from across-the-board cuts that could occur as a result of the fiscal cliff. I also ask all of us as Americans to finally end the stigma of mental illness and substance abuse so that those who need treatment will no longer feel ashamed to seek it.

Many decades ago, my father came to this country, like many other immigrants, to seek the American Dream. He got a job

in the auto factory--a job that exposed him to toxins that ultimately killed him. My father died when I was 8 years old.

Today, the Michigan legislature approved right-to-work legislation, intending to roll back the clock on our labor laws. We can cannot allow this to happen. Right-to-work is wrong for workers, and it must be stopped.

Mr. Speaker, I agree that we must avoid this fiscal cliff, but let's come to an agreement to reduce the deficit in a way that will make this country more competitive: let's reform the Tax Code to boost manufacturing; let's close those loopholes that send jobs overseas; and let's replace them with tax credits, which will relocate jobs back to the U.S.

Let's reform our Code in order to bring American jobs back home, and let's create more jobs by promoting U.S. manufacturing.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I met a young entrepreneur who owns a remanufacturing business headquartered in Metro Detroit. In spite of his success, he faces one major challenge--he can't hire enough people with the skills necessary to rebuild the products that could be sold around the world. So that's why I ask this House, this Congress, to stay in session to do our work so that we can train our people, especially our young people, for the jobs that exist in this country that are going unfilled; train them with the skills that they need to sell and rebuild the best products that can be sold worldwide. This is how we can create more jobs in our economy and make the United States an even stronger contributor to our world.

Mr. Speaker, recently, I introduced a resolution in this House calling the illiteracy of our African American and Hispanic men in this country to be a national crisis. By teaching our young men how to read, we can help build their character, we can save their lives. We can also reduce violent crime, because many of our young men will no longer be on the streets. They will be in schools, and they will also have the skills that they need to get good-paying jobs.

Today, I wish to offer that resolution in recognition of the memory of a great man of honor, Marcel Deon Jackson. We need more men like Mr. Jackson.

Marcel Jackson recently gave his life in defense of another. He was a courageous member of Detroit 300, which is a community organization committed to deter crime in the streets of Detroit.

If we help give our young men hope--hope through education, hope by building their character, by reading inspiring books, hope that they can have a better life, raise a family--that will save lives and make Metro Detroit and our country a better place to live.

Marcel Jackson lived and died so that we who live in Detroit could have a better life there. Mr. Speaker, I ask this House to recognize the memory of the life of Marcel Deon Jackson, a great man of honor.

Mr. Speaker, the Social Innovation Fund, operated out of the Corporation for National and Community Service, provides competitive grants to highly-successful non-profit organizations. In my district, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan was selected as a Social Innovation Fund grantee and is using its funding to develop promising, evidence-based solutions focused on replicating early childhood learning communities. The Social Innovation Fund uses a unique federal funding model that requires all grantees and sub-grantees to match federal resources 1:1, thereby increasing the return on taxpayer dollars and strengthening local support. In addition, it relies on outstanding existing grant-making intermediaries to select high-impact community organizations rather than building new government infrastructures. It also emphasizes rigorous evaluations of program results.

The Social Innovation Fund is proof that by focusing our limited resources on those organizations and programs that are proven to be successful can reap tremendous results for our country. In my own state, the Social Innovation Fund has provided the United Way for Southeastern Michigan with $4 million over two years, or over $12 million with the required match, to build on the expertise of its partnering organizations and facilitate the development of a portfolio of replicable early childhood learning communities in 10 underserved communities in metro Detroit and surrounding areas. They have a track record of using evidence to select grantees, validate programs, and support the replication and expansion of programs. The United Way for Southeastern Michigan is replicating and expanding its program from five sites, impacting 280 children, to twenty-nine sites, impacting 12,000 children. In addition, they are using the funding for a four- year longitudinal evaluation of its current early childhood grantees to measure the extent to which the program intervention improves school readiness.

I want to highlight this emphasis on evaluation and the use of evidence in picking the grantees for the Social Innovation Fund. Last month, the Office of Management of Budget released a memorandum that encourages the use of both evaluation and evidence in the government's decisions around the FY 14 budget process, which I am introducing into the Congressional Record. This similar commitment to evidence-based models and evaluation not only benefits the United Way for Southeastern Michigan by making them eligible for unique funding streams, but also puts them on the leading edge of change in the Federal Government's commitment to `fund what works.'

Executive Office of the President,

Office of Management and Budget,

Washington, DC, May 18, 2012.

memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies

From: Jeffrey D. Zients, Acting Director.

Subject: Use of Evidence and Evaluation in the 2014 Budget.

Since taking office, the President has emphasized the need

to use evidence and rigorous evaluation in budget,

management, and policy decisions to make government work

effectively. This need has only grown in the current fiscal

environment. Where evidence is strong, we should act on it.

Where evidence is suggestive, we should consider it. Where

evidence is weak, we should build the knowledge to support

better decisions in the future.

Agencies should demonstrate the use of evidence throughout

their Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget submissions. Budget

submissions also should include a separate section on

agencies' most innovative uses of evidence and evaluation,

addressing some or all of the issues below. Many potential

strategies have little immediate cost, and the Budget is more

likely to fund requests that demonstrate a commitment to

developing and using evidence. The Budget also will allocate

limited resources for initiatives to expand the use of

evidence, including but not limited to approaches outlined

below. Agencies may include these initiatives in their

submission at the guidance level or with proposed addbacks.

1. Proposing new evaluations. As in 2011 and 2012, OMB

invites agencies to propose new evaluations. Areas of

potential focus may include the following:

Low-cost evaluations using administrative data or new

technology: As explained in the Coalition for Evidence-Based

Policy's recent brief, agencies can often use administrative

data (such as data on wages, employment, emergency room

visits or school attendance) to conduct rigorous evaluations,

including evaluations that rely on random assignment, at low

cost. Similarly, the private sector has used new software and

online tools to dramatically reduce the time and cost of

experimentation. Agencies should consider whether they can

use such data or technology to support rigorous evaluations

of their existing programs or new initiatives.

Evaluations linked to waivers and performance partnerships:

One of the best ways to learn about a program is to test

variations and subject them to evaluation, using some element

of random assignment or a scientifically controlled design.

OMB invites agencies to explain how they will use existing

waiver authorities to evaluate different approaches to

improving outcomes. Agencies should also consider seeking

authority from Congress, through the FY 2014 budget process,

to allow new waivers linked to evaluation or to establish

cross-agency ``performance partnerships'' that enable

blending of multiple funding streams to test better ways to

align services and improve outcomes. Several agencies are

seeking such authority in 2013 for initiatives supporting

distressed communities and disconnected youth.

Expansion of evaluation efforts within existing programs:

In addition to specifying evaluations to be performed with

dedicated funding, agencies can also add a general policy and

requirements favoring evaluation into existing grants,

contracts, or waivers. These measures may require new

legislation. For example, Congress recently approved the

Department of Labor's request for a small cross-agency set-

aside for evaluation activities.

Systemic measurement of costs and cost per outcome:

Agencies are encouraged to include measurement of costs and

costs per outcome as part of the routine reporting of funded

programs to allow for useful comparison of cost-effectiveness

across programs.

Agencies should release evaluations promptly through either

their agency websites or alternative means. OMB particularly

welcomes agency proposals to improve public access to, and

understanding of, evidence about what works and what does

not.

2. Using comparative cost-effectiveness data to allocate

resources. Through the Pew Charitable Trust's Results First

initiative, a dozen States are currently adopting a model

developed by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy

(WSIPP) that ranks programs based on the evidence of their

return on investment. Once evidence-based programs have been

identified, such an analysis can improve agency resource

allocation and inform public understanding. For example, the

Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of

Agriculture are working together to incorporate evidence

about the cost-effectiveness of different pollution control

strategies in the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort.

OMB invites agencies to identify areas where research

provides strong evidence regarding the comparative cost-

effectiveness of agency investments. The research may pertain

to the allocation of funding across agency programs (e.g.,

research showing that some funding streams have higher

returns on investments) or within programs (e.g., research

showing that some types of grantees or programmatic

approaches have higher returns). Agencies should describe the

body of research and then apply its results to support a

proposed resource reallocation. OMB is more likely to support

an existing resource allocation or a request for new

resources supported in this way, and may feature the agency's

reasoning in the 2014 Budget.

3. Infusing evidence into grant-making. Grant-making

agencies should demonstrate that, between FY 2013 and FY

2014, they are increasing the use of evidence in formula and

competitive programs. Agencies should consider the following

approaches, among others:

Encouraging use of evidence in formula grants: OMB invites

agencies to propose ways to increase the use of evidence-

based practices within formula grant programs. For example,

formula funds can be conditioned on the adoption of evidence-

based practices, and high-quality technical assistance can be

used to share and support implementation of evidence-based

practices. Competitive programs can assign points to

applicants based on their integration of such practices into

formula streams.

Evidence-based grants: Several agencies--ranging from the

Department of Education to the U.S. Agency for International

Development--have implemented evidence-based grant programs

that apply a tiered framework to assess the evidence

supporting a proposed project and to determine appropriate

funding levels. Under this approach, programs supported by

stronger evidence, as established in a rigorous agency

process, are eligible for more funding. All programs are

expected to evaluate their results. Examples of tiered-

evidence programs include the Department of Education's

Investing in Innovation program and the Department of Health

and Human Services' Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Home

Visiting programs.

Even without creating tiers, agencies can provide points or

significant competitive preference to programs that the

agency determines are backed by strong evidence, and can

build the evidence base by embedding evaluation into

programs. Because running evidence-based programs requires

more resources, agencies may wish to combine multiple smaller

programs into larger, evidence-based efforts.

Pay for Success: Taking the principle of acting on evidence

one step further, the Departments of Justice and Labor will

be inviting grant applicants to use a ``pay for success''

approach, under which philanthropic or private entities (the

``investors'') pay providers upfront and are only repaid by

the government if certain outcomes are met. Payment amounts

are based, in part, on the amount that the Federal, State, or

local government saves. A pay-for-success approach is

appropriate where: (i) improved prevention or other up-front

services can produce better outcomes that lead to cost

savings at the Federal, State, or local level; and (ii)

foundations or others are willing to invest.

To date, the Administration has focused its Pay for Success

planning on programs financed with discretionary

appropriations. OMB invites agencies to apply a pay-for-

success model for programs funded by either discretionary or

mandatory appropriations. Agencies should also consider using

the new authority under the America COMPETES legislation to

support incentive prizes of up to $50 million. Like Pay for

Success, well-designed prizes and challenges can yield a very

high return on the taxpayer dollar.

4. Using evidence to inform enforcement. Rigorous

evaluation of strategies for enforcing criminal,

environmental, and workplace safety laws often reveals that

some approaches are significantly better than others at

securing legal compliance. OMB encourages agencies to

indicate how their allocation or reallocation of resources

among enforcement strategies is informed by such evidence.

5. Strengthening agency evaluation capacity. Agencies

should have a high-level official who is responsible for

program evaluation and can:

Develop and manage the agency's research agenda;

Conduct or oversee rigorous and objective studies;

Provide independent input to agency policymakers on

resource allocation and to program leaders on program

management;

Attract and retain talented staff and researchers,

including through flexible hiring authorities such as the

Intergovernmental Personnel Act; and

Refine program performance measures, in collaboration with

program managers and the Performance Improvement Officer.

These goals can be accomplished by different kinds of

leaders, ranging from a chief evaluation officer who reports

to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary to the head of an

independent institute in the agency. An existing official

could play the role, or a forceful new position could replace

several less empowered ones. OMB invites agencies to propose

in their budget submissions ways to strengthen the agency's

evaluation capacity, within tight resource constraints.

support for evidence-based initiatives

OMB invites your agency to participate in a number of

forums to improve use of evidence:

OMB and the Council of Economic Advisers will organize a

series of topical discussions with senior policy officials

and research experts in the agencies. The meeting agendas

will focus on administrative and policy levers for driving an

increasing share of Federal investments into evidence-based

practices. We will plan summer meetings in order to help

inform agencies' evaluation plans and budget submissions, and

will also have follow-up meetings in the fall.

OMB will reinvigorate the interagency evaluation working

group established in 2010 with a series of meetings focused

on issues commonly affecting evaluators, such as procurement

rules, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the integration of

evidence in agencies' decision-making process.

The Performance Improvement Council will convene research,

performance management, and program officials to develop ways

to improve performance measures, validate their correlation

with outcome data from program impact evaluations, and use

data analytics to support more cost-effective decision-

making.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy has created a

``community of practice'' for agency personnel involved in

designing and managing incentive prizes and has organized a

Science of Science Policy working group that is developing

tools aimed at establishing a more scientific, empirical

evidence basis for science and technology policymaking.

To discuss which ideas in this memo make most sense at your

agency, please contact your agency's OMB contact. For more

general support on evidence-based policy and evaluation, you

also may contact Dan Rosenbaum (Dan T.

[email protected]).

Mr. Speaker, I am here, along with my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), to address a national crisis that's facing us today.

Too many of our young African American and Hispanic men cannot read. They're dropping out of school and they're ending up in prison. Without the skills to be able to get a job, many of these young men may lose hope and they resort to crime.

I personally understand, to a certain degree, what these young men are going through. I lost hope myself in my early twenties.

Raised as a single child, my parents were deceased by the time I was 19. I dropped out of school, ended up being unemployed, and resorted to food stamps. My food stamps were ultimately cut off. At that time, I felt I would never make it in life, and I gave up.

Now, several factors intervened to help save me. One was my godmother, Octavia Lyons. She wasn't a college graduate and she wasn't a professional woman. She was a domestic cleaning lady like my mother, and she was raised and educated in segregated Mobile, Alabama. She understood the value of working and the value of education, and she demanded that I do something with my life.

The other factor that motivated me directly to go to school, again, was the fact that I was able to go to the Detroit Public Library. I caught the bus. And I started reading books on visual artists, and it inspired me to go back to school to study fine arts again. But the point is, I had the ability to read--and reading helped save my life.

I want to now yield to my good friend, Representative Scott, the gentleman from South Carolina.

Thank you, Representative Scott.

To the American people, we want to show that even though this Congress many times is divided based on ideology and party, he and I-- I'm one of the most liberal Members of this House and my friend, the gentleman from South Carolina, is one of the most conservative--both agree we've got to address this national crisis. We've got to save the lives of our young black and Hispanic men. And by doing so, we're going to help strengthen our economy and help create jobs. This is a national call to action for all of us in government, schools, libraries, business, and our charities and our families, to all work together to help educate our young men on the value of reading and to teach them to read.

I yield to my friend from South Carolina.

I agree, my brother. I'm going to work with you on this.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Grosse Pointe South girls' track and field and tennis teams for being Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Division 1 champions! I am proud of the Grosse Pointe South athletes' discipline, motivation, and perseverance.

For the second year in a row, the Grosse Pointe South girls' track and field team won the Division 1 state championship and demonstrated the power of friendship and teamwork. Track and field team members Ersula Farrow, Haley Meier, Hannah Meier, and Kelsie Schwartz beat the state record in the 3200-meter relay by 17 seconds and set a National Federation high school track and field record with a time of 8 minutes and 48.29 seconds. Grosse Pointe South is the only Michigan team to break the 9-minute barrier in the 3200-meter relay.

The same day, the Grosse Pointe South girls' tennis team won the highly competitive Division 1 state championship title and finished with 26 points. Maggie Sweeney won the individual championship at No. 4 singles and Amelia Boccaccio and Carrie Lynch won at No. 2 doubles.

I am honored to recognize the Grosse Pointe South girls' track and field and tennis teams, their standout athletes, and their dedicated coaches for their commitment and hard work.

Mr. Speaker, today this House voted to extend the cap on student loan interest rates, or at least certain student loans, for an additional year. That's fine, but it's only a Band-Aid. Over 1 million Americans, and this is just one box of many that contains petition signatures, say that they want more relief. They want their student loan debt cut, reduced, and excessive debt forgiven.

So let's listen to more than 1 million Americans who want the student loan debt forgiven in this country so we can give people hope and create jobs.

I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me some time.

Mr. Speaker, I'm very honored today to commend the United Way on 125 years of serving our country. In particular, the United Way of Southeastern Michigan has done so much good for our region and for our people. It has helped provide shelter to the homeless, provide education to our young people and training to the unemployed.

So again, I want to thank the United Way of Southeastern Michigan for its service, and also congratulate the United Way on its 125th anniversary of outstanding work for our country.

I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time.

Madam Speaker, I will say to the American people, to the over 1 million online supporters of my legislation to forgive student loans, I want to thank you all for creating a national movement, a movement so strong that we are now demanding that this House and this Congress do something to cap student loan interest rates. But we can't give up. We can't stop there. We've got to cut this debt to bring people hope and to create jobs.

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

I offer this amendment on behalf of citizens who feel that they have no voice in this Congress; people who have given up hope altogether. These are citizens who earn money by scavenging through alleys to find empty bottles and cans and get their return deposits. They survive by rummaging through garbage dumpsters to find food to eat. These are citizens who have no place to live. They're on the street.

According to the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, every night in the city of Detroit there are nearly 20,000 people who are in need of shelter and who are homeless. Nearly a quarter of these people are children. And what is perhaps most tragic is that many of these citizens--and I have spoken to them as I have seen them in the alleys-- are men who have sacrificed themselves and proudly served this country in the military. Many of the homeless in the city of Detroit are veterans.

Some of the folks on the street I know personally. I grew up with them. They need help. They need substance abuse treatment. They need a place to stay. And in Detroit, because of the housing crisis, because foreclosures forced many people out of their homes, we also have many apartment buildings that are now vacant--vacant, but could be rehabilitated and renovated to provide a home to our veterans who are currently on the street.

This amendment that I offer will add $5 million to homeless assistance grants to provide our homeless veterans with a home, but also with the hope and dignity that all Americans deserve.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. Donald Pata, a physics teacher at Grosse Pointe North High School (Grosse Pointe North), for receiving the 2011 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

The PAEMST is awarded annually to outstanding K-12 science and mathematics teachers across America. After an initial state-level selection process, the PAEMST winners are chosen by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators. Mr. Pata, the only teacher to receive the PAEMST from Michigan this year, is a Grosse Pointe native. He graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and later returned to get a teaching certificate and Masters Degree in Physics Education.

Shortly after earning his undergraduate degree, Mr. Pata joined the Peace Corps and taught biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics in Ghana. Mr. Pata later returned to Grosse Pointe and began teaching a wide range of physics classes at Grosse Pointe North, including conceptual physics and AP Physics. He also serves as the Science Department Chairperson and is the faculty advisor for the school district's FIRST Robotics Team.

Mr. Pata appreciates the value of effective teaching. Mr. Pata creates a positive ``hands-on'' classroom atmosphere where students feel free to contribute to discussion and construct their own knowledge. He leads by example and empowers his students to achieve their highest potential. Mr. Pata seeks out opportunities to develop his knowledge of teaching methodology and physics, and travels across the United States attending advanced physics teaching workshops and classes.

As a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I know how important it is to have dedicated, innovative, and engaged science teachers working in our schools. Mr. Pata is teaching our children to think creatively, be open to new ideas, and embrace scientific and technological change.

I recognize Mr. Pata as a leader in science education in Metro Detroit and thank him for his commitment to his students and community.