Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, due to unforeseen circumstances, I unfortunately missed recorded votes on the House floor on Monday, June 9, 2008.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 388 (Motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1225), ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 389 (Motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1243), and ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 390 (Motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 127).

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition of the budget conference report.

By allowing tax relief to expire, the House-passed Democrat budget resolution calls for a $683 billion tax hike. And in my home State of South Carolina, the Democrat budget is about a $2,500 tax increase for the average South Carolinian's home. This would be, Mr. Speaker, the largest tax increase in history.

The government spends too much money, Mr. Speaker, and I can't imagine giving the government an additional $683 billion. We have serious challenges facing the Nation, and money is not the answer.

The conference report fails in many areas, but the most notable is in spending. It increases discretionary spending by $21 billion above the President's request and pushes discretionary spending past the $1 trillion mark in FY 2009.

It fails to maintain emergency funds that were included in the Republican 2007 budget resolution. It has 37 reserve funds, which include the promise of billions of additional spending, which I can only assume will be paid in additional taxes.

And finally, the House Budget Committee listened to testimony from budget experts indicating that our Nation was facing a financial crisis when it comes to entitlement spending, yet the conference report does nothing to truly address this issue. We cannot continue just to raise taxes and hope that entitlements will be solved by themselves, Mr. Speaker.

And lastly, Mr. Speaker, in a time when we have economic hardships with our folks trying to put their entire paycheck in their gas tanks, to bring tax increases, additional spending, more government regulation I think is unconscionable.

So I would urge my colleagues to vote against this budget resolution and bring some fiscal sanity back into this process.

Madam Speaker, I learned yesterday from reports that the State of South Carolina has the lowest gas in the Nation. It was reported that the average gas price in South Carolina is $3.79, and most other States have an average of about 20 cents higher or right at $4.

A lot of people would think that's good news. In fact, some would give me the opportunity to congratulate South Carolina. But I'm not going to use this platform to deliver good news because it's not good news.

It's not good news to the South Carolina citizens or citizens anywhere in this country. What would be good news is to see that the ``commonsense'' energy plan that was promised by the majority party is brought to the floor.

I am tired of my families putting their hard-earned paychecks into their tanks every week, Madam Speaker. The American citizens need good news, and we need to bring energy legislation

to the floor now to help our hard-working families.

Madam Speaker, On May 10, 2008, we commemorated the 85th Jubilee of the late President Heydar Aliyev. When Azerbaijan reclaimed independence in 1991, most Americans had never heard of the country. Soon after, the country found itself involved in a war with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, which resulted in one million refugees and 20 percent of Azerbaijani soil occupied by Armenian forces.

Out of chaos, economic turmoil, and questions about the viability of the country's independence, President Heydar Aliyev emerged as the President of the Republic. He was re-elected in 1998, and served until he passed away in December 2003. In May it is the 85th anniversary of his birthday, and it is fit to note the milestones that were reached under his leadership. The first state visit by a President of an independent Azerbaijan to the United States was realized July 27-August 7, 1997. Prior to this visit, little knowledge, understanding or relations between the two countries existed. On August 1, 1997, a meeting at the White House between President Aliyev and President Clinton took place. It was a historic occasion where the two leaders signed a joint declaration that read:

Presidents Clinton and Aliyev agreed on the importance of

expanding the partnership between the United States and the

Republic of Azerbaijan through strengthening bilateral

cooperation in the political, security, economic and

commercial spheres.

The U.S. also reaffirmed support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. Under President Aliyev's leadership, Azerbaijan emerged as a critical player in the East-West Energy Transport corridor. The early oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi- Supsa oil pipeline was completed in 1997. Azerbaijan signed over 19 production sharing agreements with international energy companies.

The decision to build the Maine Export Pipeline, MEP, was not an easy one.

Despite great obstacles, Azerbaijan, under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev, and with the support of the United States and Turkey, realized the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which now runs from the Caspian through Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. This pipeline helps to guarantee Azerbaijan's independence and support of pro-Western foreign policy, provides energy resources to U.S. allies like Georgia and Turkey.

The late President Heydar Aliyev was a strong friend of the United States. Azerbaijan was one of the first countries to offer unconditional assistance to the United States after 9/11, and sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. President Aliyev's significant contributions to the country of Azerbaijan provided a fertile ground for the seeds of democracy to flourish after Soviet rule, and have paved the road for Azerbaijan's regional and international success.

Madam Speaker, I submit the following:

Requesting Member: Congressman J. Gresham Barrett.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658.

Authorized Amount: $4,000,000.

Project Name: Combat Casualty Equipment Upgrade Program.

MN: Navy.

Funding Source: Procurement, Marine Corps.

PE Number: 0.

Line Number: 050.

Legal Name and Address Receiving Earmark: North American Rescue Products, 481 Garlington Road, Suite A, Greenville, SC 29615-4619.

Description of how money will be spent and why use of federal taxpayer funding is justified: Provide Congressionally directed spending of $4,000,000 to greatly improve field medical equipment that meets the stringent requirements of today's counter-insurgency combat operations and littoral warfare. Program objectives and value to the DoD are to reduce preventable combat deaths at the point of wounding, more quickly stabilize and evacuate casualties during the critical ``golden hour'' after the initial trauma, and improve survival and recovery times. Funding will be used to maintain existing equipment and improve new immediate-medical-care equipment.

Mr. Speaker, I am tired of the majority party talking about introducing a commonsense plan for our growing energy crisis. Common sense or not, I'd be happy to look at their plan if they had one. But they don't. They have demonstrated to families who are wasting their money on the price of gasoline that they have failed to come up with a plan.

I don't want to let those families down, Mr. Speaker, and I don't want them to think that Members of Congress are sitting on their hands doing nothing that's affecting their cost of living. So last week I helped Congressman Buyer announce the Main Street USA Energy Independence Security Act of 2008.

This plan will help solve our national security problem and guide us away from being reliant on international energy sources. It will also open up domestic exploration on our own soil to find energy sources here at home.

The best thing about the Main Street Energy Act is that it is a plan. And let's put the plan to work now.

Mr. Speaker, in the past few months, there's been a lot of talk about high gasoline prices and talk about commonsense plans to lower these skyrocketing costs.

Individuals and businesses across the Nation are suffering, Mr. Speaker, and there's too much talk. Congress must take steps now to address our Nation's energy needs. So today I'm proud to announce I'm an original cosponsor of H.R. 6001, the Main Street U.S.A. Energy Security Act of 2008.

This legislation is an action plan and our first step to energy independence. It will boost our national security by increasing domestic exploration, encouraging research in the area of alternative energy sources, and promoting clean nuclear energy.

Mr. Speaker, for decades the United States has not had a comprehensive energy policy. Now with gasoline prices eating up Americans' paychecks, we need to find solutions to our growing energy needs. We have the resources and technology available to make energy independence a reality.

So no more talk, Mr. Speaker. It's time to act and act today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this bill, which I think is unhelpful for the housing market and unfair to the American taxpayer.

Like many of my colleagues, I'm concerned that this program will only distort housing prices, causing problems in the future by forcing the taxpayer to foot the bill.

I have no doubt that some of the lending practices in the beginning of the decade, Mr. Speaker, were irresponsible, and that the government should take certain steps to help the market right itself and to prevent these problems from recurring in the future. At the same time, I'm a firm believer in the power of the free market, and I believe that the housing market fundamentally reflects the laws of supply and demand.

I'm always wary of government intervention in the markets and concerned about unintended consequences. I fear that in our rush to help, we are overlooking the basic realities about today's housing market and about the cost of government spending.

I think we can all agree that government programs cost money, and this program has the potential to cost a tremendous amount of money. And that money comes from the taxpayer, Mr. Speaker. Because, in reality, like the laws of supply and demand, decisions have consequences, and money has to come from somewhere. It's not fair to ask my constituents from South Carolina, who work hard and spend wisely and pay, in my opinion, too much tax money, to carry the burden for others' financial mistakes.

While I believe that people in need deserve our understanding and our help, I trust in the ability of the free market to correct itself. And I think Americans know how best to spend their money and should be trusted to make their own financial decisions. I also think that lenders have a responsibility to live with the consequences of investments that did not quite turn out as planned.

Mr. Speaker, I offered an amendment in the Financial Services Committee that is representative of my concerns. The amendment was not adopted, and it was very simple. It was to strike the section of the bill that prohibits FHA from denying borrowers entry into the new FHA program solely on the basis of the mortgagor's current FICO or other credit scores, or any delinquency or default by the mortgagor. In South Carolina talk, Mr. Speaker, this amendment would have given the FHA the opportunity to use individual pieces of information on their own that reveal the risk of borrowers defaulting. In offering the amendment, I wanted to allow the FHA to protect the American taxpayer by giving them every tool available.

I understand the motivations of this section of the bill to try to include as many people as possible in the program meant to help them. And I understand it would be nice if we could help all of these borrowers, but some may have very bad credit scores that reflect irresponsible borrowing behavior. It's not fair to the American taxpayer to insure the loans of the riskiest borrowers who may not be able to pay their mortgages no matter what the terms of the loan.

Without a doubt, it's never easy to hear the stories of hardworking individuals and families losing their homes, but I do not believe that more government intervention is the solution to our problems. And we should not allow the American taxpayers to become the insurance policy for the financial decisions that did not turn out as planned or for temporary market downturns. We should not punish those hardworking and responsible American taxpayers for the mistakes of a few. For these reasons, and others, I oppose this legislation and ask my colleagues to do the same.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This past week for the first time, some Americans paid $4 a gallon for gas. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline now is $3.61 a gallon. Americans have never paid such a tremendous amount of their hard-earned dollars on gasoline, Mr. Speaker, and the high gasoline prices are taking a toll on their pocketbooks.

Many issues are responsible for the higher gas prices, but in order to lessen America's dependency on foreign and unstable energy sources, we need to be looking right here at home. We're relying too much on foreign energy sources and our dependency on these sources is a risk for our national security. We have natural and technological resources to support domestic production and find oil sources here at home. We can increase our domestic energy exploration and production in the U.S. while also utilizing alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, wind and solar power.

Citizens can't afford the price of gas. For our people, for our country, the majority must bring an energy solution to the floor now so that American families are no longer paying an unprecedented $4 a gallon for gas.

Mr. Speaker, ``Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.''

That was Ms. Pelosi in a press release 1 year ago today. The price at the pump then, $2.91 a gallon, today almost $4 a gallon.

Also 2 years ago, Ms. Pelosi vowed that if her party took over Congress they would cut energy prices, especially gasoline. It's obvious there's a fast growing need for energy in our country, and this need must be met with a solution.

To provide a reduction in gas prices for Americans, we need to find resources here at home and support domestic energy production. Our country needs to research and fund alternative energy production to become less dependent on foreign sources for the security of our country, and to ease the burdening gas prices for our American families.

American families were promised a commonsense plan by the Democrat majority. If there's a commonsense plan, don't you think it's time that we see it?

Madam Speaker, yesterday millions of Americans responsibly filed their taxes with the IRS. At the same time, House Democrats pushed legislation for the largest tax increase in history.

While middle-income families are balancing tight budgets and bracing for an economic crunch, Congress is hastily increasing taxes to keep up with Federal spending.

Madam Speaker, we need to complete an overhaul of the tax-and-spend system in Washington. For taxpayers to keep more of their hard-earned money, the key is to tighten government spending overall now. Next, we need to implement a tax system to revive and stimulate the economy for the long term. This involves offering permanent tax relief for married couples, families with children, small businesses, and putting an end to the death tax.

Reforming the tax system through tax relief will boost the economy, increase revenues, and promote job growth.

American families are acting responsibly with their money. We need to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker updated members of the House Armed Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee regarding the conditions on the ground in Iraq. Noting successes on the military and political fronts, both indicated reasons to be optimistic about the progress being made.

Having recently visited Iraq, I am not surprised to hear about these successes. Violence is down and reconciliation is happening. But the progress is fragile, a sentiment echoed by both Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus.

During the hearing, many of my Democrat colleagues asked about the cost of the war. Is it expensive? Yes, the cost is expensive. My question to them is, what will be the cost of defeat, and are you willing to pay for it?

Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, our mortgage market is experiencing housing finance challenges and a credit crisis. Foreclosures are hitting an all time high. My own State of South Carolina is ranked 39th in the Nation for home foreclosures. Mortgage and financial challenges are placing heavy burdens on American families, and the situation has forced thousands of families to lose their prized possession, their home. One person losing their home, Mr. Speaker, is one too many.

As Members of Congress, can we lend money or give credit to people? No. But we can put these families and homeowners in touch with the right people, who can provide them with information on how to escape the mortgage rift.

During the break, I held homeowner education seminars and invited local mortgage lenders and nonprofits to give free one-on-one counseling sessions to constituents with mortgage questions. The event had wonderfully qualified people on hand who were able to give information away.

Let's try to protect the American Dream of owning a home. I encourage other Members to do the same.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Republican substitute. And there is a clear difference between the two proposals on the table.

The key to managing, and budgeting, is to set priorities. Everybody knows that that has had a family or run a business. You have to do this. You have to make tough choices, and you can't have everything you want when you want it.

But the Democrats have refused to set priorities, Mr. Chairman. They simply want to spend more on everything and everyone within the reach of the Federal Government. And to pay for all this new spending, well, they simply want to raise taxes, this time by $683 billion, the largest tax increase in American history.

If you want me to bring it home in South Carolina terms so all my folks in South Carolina can understand it, this is a $2,500 tax increase for the average South Carolina home, $2,500.

The Republican substitute achieves a balance by 2012 without raising taxes. Also, this substitute attempts to repeal another looming tax increase by completely repealing the AMT, the alternative minimum tax, by 2013.

Our country's on the verge of a financial crisis, Mr. Chairman. The total unfunded entitlement liability, Medicare and Social Security, this country faces is $53 trillion. Former Comptroller General David Walker said, ``You are not going to tax your way out of this problem. You are not going to grow your way out of this problem. You are not going to do it by constraining spending. You are going to have to do it by a combination of things, and the biggest thing you are going to have to do is entitlement reform, Social Security and Medicare being the greater challenge. And we need to start soon because time's working against us. That $53 trillion number is going up between 2 and $3 trillion a year by doing nothing.''

The Republican substitute reduces the $53 trillion unfunded liability by $11 trillion. It makes an attempt to secure the future existence and benefits of major entitlement programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid, which are currently on an unsustainable path to spending.

Mr. Chairman, therefore, I not only firmly support this Republican substitute but insist on it so we don't raise taxes any higher on the American citizens.