Floor Statements

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I ran down here to thank my colleagues in this Chamber for finally doing what the American people have been asking them to do and to start the process of stopping to kick the energy problem can in this country down the road. Finally, we're going to take the steps necessary to put people back to work and to start America down a path of affordable domestic energy.

Now, they say that we're robbing Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and

Grandpa hold stock in those energy companies. Down in Louisiana, Grandma and Grandpa's grandsons and grandchildren work in an industry that provides that energy. Right now, they don't have a job. They're being laid off, or they're being sent to Brazil or Africa or the Middle East to drill for oil out there, while we have spent over $1 trillion of taxpayer money funding the Department of Energy to wean us off foreign oil.

I just rise to say thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you to my colleagues who have come today in support of this amendment.

Here we go again. Delay, delay, delay. The poor people of my district will have to sit there, unemployed and wait again. We've gotten environmental study after environmental study after environmental study that will happen after these lease sales. This does not prevent the additional environmental studies that will take place anyhow. All it will do is force those companies to take up to three more years before we can get to our business of drilling so we can get to our business of providing for the American people affordable energy. Again, it's a delay tactic.

How do I know that? Because I can tell you that this administration pulls delay tactic after delay tactic after delay tactic in permitting wells in the Gulf of Mexico. They lift the moratorium, and then they don't issue permits.

So what do they do now, the other side of the aisle, my colleagues on the other side? They say, well, it looks like we have a piece of legislation in front of us that's going to finally start to open the gulf back up. So let's see how many roadblocks we can put in front of it.

I urge my colleagues, defeat this amendment. Let's get on with the business of providing this country with affordable energy and let's get this economy rolling and let's get back to creating jobs.

Madam Speaker, a large majority of Americans oppose taxpayer subsidies for abortion. Those who oppose this bill, including the President, claim that it denies access to health care for women. My message to them is simple: the majority of women are opposed to having their hard-earned tax dollars spent on abortion. In a recent survey, it was found that 70 percent of women oppose taxpayer funding for abortion.

We must permanently end this practice. It is our duty to act and to act now. I urge my colleagues to listen to the majority of Americans who strongly oppose publicly funding abortion services and pass this bill.

Madam Speaker, I am a Tea Partier. I was supported by the Tea Party. I have a Tea Party poster in my office. My constituents at home gave me a chain saw to use to cut the government spending. I am extremely pro-life. This CR will prohibit the use of Federal funds for abortions in D.C., and if I have to save the unborn one city at a time, I will. This CR will finally allow an up-or-down vote on the defunding of Planned Parenthood and ObamaCare in the Senate.

The fact that the last Congress did not pass a budget has left us in a mess, and sometimes we need to wring the mop out a few times to clean up the mess.

The bill we consider today cuts real money, money that would have surely been spent by the Democrats had we not taken control of this body. Do I think the cuts are big enough? No. But my mother used to warn me about being penny wise and pound foolish.

We have another problem: If we don't pass this CR, our brave men and women in uniform will not be paid. I am incensed that the President and Democrats in the Senate held the funding for our troops hostage until they cut this deal. I served in the National Guard for 11 years. As a veteran, I understand the sacrifices our brave men and women and their families make to preserve our freedom.

The Army Ranger Creed states, among other things, that they shall never fail their comrades, that they

will never leave a fallen comrade, and they will not embarrass their country. Well, I will not fail them, I will not leave them, and I will not embarrass them and their families who are caught as political pawns in this game. We must not let this happen again.

I urge my colleagues to support the concurrent resolution, get the ball rolling, hang in there, wring out the mop this time, and together we continue to make history and clean up all the mess.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 221 and 222, I stepped outside to discuss issues with a constituent group and completely lost track of the time. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

I thank the gentleman from Georgia.

Madam Speaker, when I was first elected, I declined my health care benefits because I don't believe we can fix a system we were not a part of. I declined my retirement benefits because our Social Security system is broken.

I support this bill because if the American people have to endure a government shutdown which is the result of a failure of the Senate Democrats, then none of us, including the President, should expect the American people to continue our pay until we fix this budget mess. The funding for the Federal Government is 182 days old. Democrats on the Senate have failed to pass a budget for 182 days--182 days. That's an entire school year. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: What would you think if your child's teacher did nothing for the entire school year?

Our Constitution authorizes Congress to be the power of the purse. It is our job to set a responsible and affordable budget for the Federal Government each year. If we can't do our job, we should not be paid.

Madam Speaker, it is time for the Democrats in the Senate to do their job.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to strongly oppose the gentleman from Massachusetts' amendment. I wish he would understand that we are not drilling right now. That is the problem.

Many on the other side of the aisle have been thrilled with the administration's moratorium and praises the Department of the Interior and BOEMRE's work or, in true reality, the lack thereof in the deepwater drilling permit process since the BP oil spill.

This amendment is insane, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman from Massachusetts must be confiding with the likes of George Soros, who happily watched and encouraged the most advanced deepwater drilling rigs leave the Gulf of Mexico and travel to Brazil and Africa. If they are not picking up and leaving the Gulf of Mexico for good, they are filing for bankruptcy, like Seahawk Drilling in my district. This week, Seahawk Drilling blamed its demise on an unprecedented decline in the issuance of offshore drilling permits following the Macondo blowout.

The chief executive, Randy Stilley, said in a statement, ``The decision by regulators to arbitrarily construct unnecessary barriers to obtaining permits they had traditionally authorized has had an adverse impact not only on Seahawk, but on the sector as a whole.''

Seahawk's clients were waiting on 11 projects that were in various stages of the permitting process, none of which had been approved. This just proves this administration and Interior are not serious when they say they have lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium.

The minority is claiming this spending bill is a job-killing piece of legislation, but they are just fine with increasing taxes on an industry that is in limbo and employs hundreds of thousands in my district.

Louisianans are very hardworking, tough folks. They rarely ask for much. Mr. Chairman, they have been yelling loudly and beating down my door to tell me they are fed up and ready to go back to work.

I guarantee you, Americans across the Nation will begin to yell as well when they are paying more at the gas pump when prices should be falling.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the Pence amendment to prevent funds going to Planned Parenthood.

I've heard from many of my colleagues that this amendment defunds many necessary women's health services.

Let me be clear we must expand access to care for women in this country; however, abortion is not health care.

The Planned Parenthood website states, ``Our primary goal is prevention--reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, especially the alarmingly high number of teenage pregnancies, in the United States.'' Abortion is not a method of preventing unintended pregnancies; abortion takes lives that have already began.

We must not continue to support institutions that take unnecessary risks with the lives of young women and institutions that have been proven to be irresponsible with taxpayer dollars, have failed to report statutory rape, and have been caught aiding and abetting sex trafficking.

The thousands of taxpayers who do not condone the slaughter of innocent lives, many of my constituents on the coast of Louisiana, know that they deserve better than to support corrupt organizations.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment without hesitation.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today I was unavoidably detained during rollcall vote No. 39, the vote on H. Res. 92, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1) making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes, and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules. Had I been present for this vote, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, our government is working against us. Dana Dugas in St. Martinville wanted to continue to live the American Dream. He wanted to start his own small business.

Mr. Dugas had all the credentials needed to secure a loan: he had run a small successful business before, creating jobs and helping fuel coastal Louisiana's economy. He had the approval from two banks in St. Martinville,

$200,000 in cash, a prime location, $205,000 worth of renovations to bring the building up to code, $205,000 in equipment and fixtures that he needed.

Mr. Dugas had an 800-plus credit score and 20 percent-plus cash in the bank for the down payment. He had a sound business plan with projections showing a 14 percent profit. His business would employ 10 to 15 full-time employees, and 10 to 20 part-time employees. His appraisal came in at $605,000, $200,000 more than he needed.

Everything looked great. Right? So you'd think. Everything looked great until his community small bank told him they could not make that loan. Due to new regulations, they directed him to work with a larger bank and through SBA.

Then the Feds needed him to prove that he could pay back the loan without the income of his restaurant. That sounds like someone buying a house and having to prove that he can pay the note without a job.

Mr. Speaker, we need to get our government back on the side of Mr. Dugas and the American people, back on the side of free enterprise, back on the side of small businesses, and back on the side of the job creators.

Madam Speaker, it is with great enthusiasm that I rise to encourage my colleagues to stand with the American people--the hardworking families and the small business owners across our country-- and vote for repealing the job-killing health care law.

In March, Members of Congress passed a massive government-run health care law that will kill jobs, raise taxes, and increase the size of our Federal Government.

The bill called for tax increases on American families, wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, and new mandates on small businesses. This is wrong. Voters made it clear in November that ``business as usual'' must end.

I submitted the necessary paperwork to decline the health care plan offered to Members of Congress. I rejected this benefit because Washington must work just like the American people must work. We are not above them. I hope my actions will energize the efforts to repeal the government-run health care law.

I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill and to promote commonsense solutions of purchasing health insurance across State lines and pooling small businesses together to leverage purchasing power.