Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. I know he hasn't enjoyed an easy task, but he has done a tremendous job in bringing us to this point today. So thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I also want to express my appreciation to Ranking Member Serrano and Laura Hogshead, on his staff. They have been terrific to work with. And

even when we might not have agreed on something, we still had dialogue, and they were terrific. Our own staff on the subcommittee, very ably led by John Martens, Winnie Chang, Kelly Shea, Ariana Sarar, and Karen Thomas, have done a tremendous job.

There are a lot of reasons to be happy about this bill and to vote for it, from the perspective of the Financial Services Committee. The bill reduces this portion of the President's budget request by $4.2 billion. Compared to 2010, discretionary funding in this bill is reduced by 11 percent. We are heeding the American people's call for a limited, more transparent, more responsive Federal Government.

The bill prohibits funds for certain White House czars, rescinds $25 million from a mandatory slush fund at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and dedicates much-needed resources for the counterterrorism activities at the Department of Treasury. The bill also provides funding for the Small Business Administration's business loans program. Our small businesses are critical to our economy, and this program extends accessible and affordable credit to help them grow.

As fortunate as I feel to have reached agreement with my colleagues in so many areas, I'm still startled and a bit dismayed by the White House's refusal to submit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency whose mission is to promote accountability and transparency in the financial industry, to the usual and customary transparency measures accorded to Congress and the American people.

Provisions in the House's bill would have limited the budget of the bureau to $200 million and subjected the CFPB to annual congressional review. I'm really hard-pressed to understand why a $200 million limitation is not enough for a bureau without a director, or why the centerpiece of the Dodd-Frank Act cannot withstand meaningful, regular review by the Congress, which established it in the first place.

The checks and balances envisioned by our Founders apply to every other consumer-oriented agency in the executive branch of government. The CFPB ought to be treated no different from the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and others in this important regard. I can promise that the CFPB will be revisited again and again by Congress.

Leaving that subject though for another day, I do urge my colleagues to support the bill and the savings it contains on behalf of the American people.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I'm so relieved that this measure today will provide desperately needed funds for emergencies and disasters which occurred all over the country this past year.

For most Americans, the thought of the suffering caused by tornadoes and floods fades with the newspaper headlines. Months later, though, so many in our country are still trying to recover from storms and events that took them from their homes, their livelihoods, their safety, or all of the above. This funding and a reminder of their plight are very important to call to mind as we vote upon this measure.

I'd like to recognize these folks in southern Missouri who have been through it all and have set such a remarkable example and have really come out fighting. We have:

Wendell Choate, who's over 80 years old, and his daughter Beth, who runs their sweet corn farm of several thousand acres. All of it was destroyed;

Brother Bennett, who lived in the floodway for over 80 years. He lost his home;

Milus and Wanda Wallace. They lost their home and so much of their land was damaged by scouring;

Lynell and Mary Robinson, along with the entire historic black community of Pinhook, including the Williams and the Strahorns;

Randy Sutton, Ellot Rafferty, the Story family, the Dugan family, Eddie Marshall, Lester Goodin, Carlin Bennett, our presiding commissioner, and Kevin Mainard, mayor of East Prairie and a farmer in the floodway.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 882, 883, 884, 885, 886, 887, and 888 I am not recorded because I was absent due to a family event. Had I been present the week of December 2nd, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall No. 888. I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 882, 883, 884, 885, 886, and 887.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution. It is a responsible measure. It makes good on the promises we must keep to members of our military, to our veterans, and to Americans who rely upon the essential functions of the Federal Government.

It cares for the needs of millions of Americans who have suffered from the effects of dramatic natural disasters, including the folks in my State of Missouri who live in Joplin, who live along the Mississippi in my specific district, who live along the Missouri River in the northern part of our State.

These folks can't wait another day for help because people are playing politics with this bill. The House and the Appropriations Committee are dedicated to a responsible process, and this bill reflects the amount of time needed to complete that work.

I think we've realized this year on both sides of the aisle that we have to bring the size and the spending of the Federal Government into line with reality. In the hearings and markups that we've conducted in the House and in the negotiations to make specific and significant spending cuts, not only this year but also in each of the next 10, and through the budget process, we have laid the groundwork for a new era of stewardship for our taxpayer dollars.

In addition to our covenant with members of the military, with veterans, with the families depending on a helping hand up, and for Americans who are really suffering from true emergencies that have devastated their homes, like Mr. Marino said--their jobs and their lives--we do have a responsibility to the American taxpayer and to future generations who cringe

at the sight of our debt and our deficits.

Mr. Speaker, this bill allows us to work in good faith, to make good on both our promises and our responsibilities. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to, once again, put politics aside and support it here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Sergeant Kevin Glaser of Sikeston, Missouri, for his 28 years of dedicated law enforcement with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The people of my congressional district and the state of Missouri are grateful for Kevin's commitment to ridding our communities of illegal drug activity.

For 22 years Kevin has been on the front lines of drug enforcement in Missouri as the leader of the Southeast Missouri, SEMO, Drug Task Force. The SEMO Drug Task Force's main objective is to crack down drug creation, distribution and use through the southern Missouri. Kevin commanded the task force for over 16 years.

Kevin displayed courageous leadership in the face of great challenges in the name of safer Missouri communities. As methamphetamine use spread across rural America, Kevin and his squad made record arrests and seizures. In fact, over 75 percent of their efforts in drug enforcement were fighting the scourge of meth use in southern Missouri.

In a 1997 L.A. Times article, Kevin was quoted as saying: ``It's hard to imagine a drug controlling you the way it does . . . They see their family falling apart, their bodies falling apart, but the only thing that matters to them is the dope.'' This drug was Kevin's enemy and the SEMO Drug Task Force's enemy, and they fought the enemy tirelessly.

I am thankful for Kevin's dedicated service with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. I am excited for his retirement, although I hear he is still playing an advisory role with the officers' training. Kevin, I wish you the very best on this new venture.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Jake Fisher of Portageville, Missouri for his years of service to the University of Missouri Delta Center. The people of my congressional district, the state of Missouri, and Missouri's flagship University are forever grateful for Jake's contributions and commitment to making the Delta Center what it is today, a world-renowned research facility we can all be extremely proud of.

The Delta Center has grown to be the jewel of the University of Missouri land grant system under Jake's leadership. This is a testament to Jake and the dedicated staff and faculty he works with on a daily basis. Every time I visit the Delta Center, I am encouraged by the work I see and what it means for the future of agriculture and our state.

Jake's leadership has been critical in providing the faculty and staff with the vision and necessary resources to discover new solutions, address needs for our state and help the welfare of our citizens through scientific advancement in agriculture. His forward thinking has been instrumental in the Delta Center making great advancements which will lead the future and keep our agricultural producers on the frontline in meeting the challenge of feeding a growing world population.

Not only is the Delta Center a world renowned research facility, it also remains an integral part of the community in Southeast Missouri. Jake has worked to forge a strong partnership between local communities, area producers, the entire Southeast Missouri region and the Delta Center. These partnerships make the Delta Center a special place for the people of Southeast Missouri and have contributed to its successes over the years.

Everybody back in Missouri knows Jake outside of his role at the Delta Center as a selfless member of the community. Whenever there has been a disaster or other challenge facing the community, Jake always lends a helping hand to neighbors in need. When a historic ice storm struck our area in 2009, cutting off power and heating to our residents during the coldest part of the year, Jake was one of the first to step up and help the community by opening up part of the Delta Center as a warming center where many of the utility crews were fed as they worked to restore power.

As Jake steps back from his leadership role at the Delta Center, I am certain the center will be in good hands. However, it will be a difficult transition for many, including me, as he has personified leadership for the Delta Center over the years. It is hard to think of the Delta Center without Jake Fisher.

More than anything, I appreciate having Jake's friendship; and I look forward to keeping it for years to come.

Congratulations, Jake, on a job well done and best wishes for you and Shelly as you enter a new and exciting part of your lives.

I move to strike the last word.

Madam Chairwoman, first let me say that I deeply respect the words that all of my colleagues have talked about with regard to high-speed rail. And I understand very much the concerns that the funding for emergency flood restoration and rebuilding would come at a cost to future years of high-speed rail development, keeping in mind that this money has not been specifically obligated.

But first, let me talk about the flooding that's started in North Dakota, going all the way down to Louisiana, down the entire Missouri River system and the entire Mississippi River system. We're talking about more than one-third of the entire watershed of the United States of America. We're talking about farmers. We're talking about the people who work for the farmers. We're talking about the hardware stores and the implement dealers and all of the communities that have been devastated by flooding. And these folks have no recourse.

We're talking about billions of dollars in lost economic activity, and we're talking about the safety and the protection of people, their families, their children, and the folks who worship with them at church. If we don't have the emergency ability to make it possible for these people to regain their lives and their livelihoods, then we're talking about billions of dollars of lost economic activity for this country. And for people who say, Well, you know, it's farmland, and it's not important. We're talking about farmland. Well, guess what, people, we have the most abundant, safest food supply in the world. We pay less money than any person in any country of the world for our food policy. We pay 9 cents on the dollar. And if we don't restore the livelihoods of these people, if we don't restore our levees and our bridges and our roads and the economic activity of these communities, then we're going to be paying a whole lot more for food, and people are going to be screaming about that. But at the end of the day, isn't the government's role to protect the lives of people?

I just want to say that it wasn't an easy decision for the subcommittee to make, to be able to protect people's lives. But when we're talking about money that is unobligated, that has been returned to the Treasury, and it's that pot of money that can help people be safe, safe from water, safe from flooding so that they could be rebuilding their homes and producing a lot of economic activity--and, yes, a lot of jobs, because there is not a lot of difference between farming and hiring of people and producing and the ripple effect on the economies, and a factory. It's the same thing. It's just a little different.

So I have great respect, as I said earlier, for the arguments that my colleagues are making. But at the end of the day, I think that it's critical that people's lives and people's livelihoods be protected. We must rebuild and we must restore these levees before the next big flood comes again so we can protect our wonderful food source in the United States.

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

On behalf of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and myself, we are very proud to announce that the Women's Bipartisan Congressional Softball Team beat the Washington Female Press Corps in our recent softball game by a score of 5-4. In the spirit of our U.S. Women's Soccer team which won today and are on their way to the final in the World Cup--we probably aren't quite in that category. But for us this was the World Cup, and we are very proud and we want to thank everybody for the great support that you gave to us.

I would be remiss if I didn't explain how we won. In the bottom of the seventh inning, because we only play seven innings, with the score tied 4-4, Laura Richardson and Linda Sanchez were both walked because the other team was afraid of them hitting, and then Debbie gets up and she hits a single. And were it not for the fact that Linda Sanchez ran around the bases, collided with the catcher, and slid in on her stomach at home, we would not have won. But we did. Thank you, Linda Sanchez.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mrs. Capito

Mr. Chairman, I deeply respect my colleagues coming here and raising the subject of increased funds in this bill for the Corps of Engineers. I also want to thank Mr. Frelinghuysen and Mr. Visclosky for understanding this very important need. That money, in construction accounts and the Mississippi River and Tributaries account, will go to address an immediate need to repair and rebuild flood protection so that the victims of the historic flooding all up and down the Mississippi River and the Missouri River can recover from the terrible losses they have suffered.

It's not just the people in the southern Missouri district I represent who need help; it's also people in Louisiana, in Iowa, in North Dakota, in Kentucky, in Mississippi, Illinois and a host of other States.

Throughout the country, people who rely on flood protection to shelter their homes, their schools, their churches, and their workplaces have seen their lives and their livelihoods totally disrupted. In one Missouri county alone, the economic losses from flooding are estimated at over $300 million. In the entire MR&T, the total exceeds 4 billion.

Without the certainty of future repairs to the levee systems that protect them, these Americans will remain at risk. They will be unable to rebuild. They'll find it difficult to get insurance. They'll watch their family businesses slip away with the receding floodwaters. Long after the disaster, there will be many, many personal disasters--even if it never rains another drop.

I know that some of our colleagues have raised concerns that this funding will come at a cost to future years of high-speed rail development. I greatly appreciate the desire to retain the promise of funding for those projects, but I must ask them to weigh the immediate need for flood protection against the future need for high-speed rail.

If these repairs aren't completed by next spring, a flood protection system that barely holds against the record flood of 2011 will be in extreme danger in 2012. The Corps would not have the same tools at its disposal to avert flooding in many parts of the country, including major urban areas along the river, like Memphis, Tennessee, just for example.

The funds in this bill respond to an unanticipated disaster of enormous magnitude. Failure to fund the effort to reset the levee system nationwide is an unnecessary risk with widespread economic and public safety implications.

I urge my colleagues to recognize the certainty this funding provides to distressed families all over the country, and I ask them to support a responsible arrangement to fund the Corps of Engineers during a very difficult budgetary climate for the Congress and the Nation.

In closing, I'm very, very grateful for the support of Chairman Frelinghuysen for this funding increase.

Mr. Chairman, I am happy to have an announcement that's not quite as exciting as that which we've just been watching. However, this is the Congressional Women's Softball Team, and Joe Baca is an honorary member of the team. He is one of our coaches.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz and I, who are the cocaptains, wanted to, number one, tell you all that we will be playing the Washington news media tonight at 7 o'clock at Watkins Recreation Park up at 12th and D Streets Southeast.

We invite everybody to come and cheer us on. We are going to win this year. We're good.

Probably more than anything else, this has been a wonderful opportunity for us to really bond as friends and as colleagues, not in any partisan way. And we're just very excited and happy that we're playing tonight. We need all of your support.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I have been sitting back listening to all of the discussion here on a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and it has been near and dear to our family since the very first time my late husband came back from Ethiopia having sobbed, as he told me, a story about a child from Ethiopia who died in his arms.

Now, I will say that there's been an awful lot of rhetoric on this, and I think that the chairman, in spite of the fact that I don't like the number, I don't like the numbers that we've been given, the chairman, who also has traveled to Africa and has seen up close and personal how these programs really do make a difference for those of us who live here in the United States, how important these programs are for our national security, as Mr. McGovern said and Mr. Dicks, and also how important it is that America, which is still the richest country in the world in spite of our financial difficulties, has respect and wants to help others because we ourselves have been so well blessed.

So I rise in opposition to this amendment, and I want to thank my colleagues from the other side and thank Mr. Kingston as well and hope that as we proceed through the process that we might be able to find some common ground, perhaps get a little bit more assistance for these vital programs, but let's try to keep our emotions down a little bit because everybody feels very strongly, but yet our common goal is to lift this country up, and by helping others, we do that.

I yield back the balance of time.

I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chairman.

I'm not going to take the entire 5 minutes. I do want to say a couple of things.

Number one, I totally associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from Massachusetts, and it is quite true that taking away the program funding would, in fact, literally take food out of the mouths of 5 million hungry, hungry children.

I also want to add, because I know that people probably don't understand this if you haven't been working with this program, is that countries actually graduate from this program. This is not an ongoing effort in every single country, whether Colombia might have graduated, Nicaragua, and other countries.

But, you know, with so many threats against our Nation, I just think it's important to share America's bounty with hungry children in other places and in critical places around the world so that we can help America feed their hungry bodies out of goodness.

And it really is something that the entire Defense Department--you ask any Army officer or any member of the armed services, when they are in areas where these children's lives are being changed by a bowl of mush, as Mr. McGovern said, it makes a huge difference. It makes them able to go to school. It makes little girls have the only opportunity they will ever get for any kind of education, and it is absolutely ridiculous that people don't understand how important this is for the security of our country.

I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

And if I could reclaim my time, the countries actually take this program over. This is a jump-start and one that, you know, for no other reason, little girls would never go to school. And to me, it's just shocking. We take these things for granted in this country. But it sets a very, very good example and gives these children and their families an opportunity to do more for themselves with just a wee bit of help from us.

I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

And we should be. Elizabeth Dole took over for Bob after he left the Senate. And this was a very important issue for her, but it has always been one that is bipartisan and one that helps lift other people up because we really do have so much here.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, and 298, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a natural disaster in Southern Missouri. Had I been present the week of May 2nd, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall Nos. 278, 279, 280, 285, 286, 290, 292, 293, 294, and 298. I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall Nos. 281, 282, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289, 291, 295, 296, and 297.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the celebration of Antique Tractor Preservation Day in West Plains, Missouri. West Plains, Missouri represents a growing community that is creating a new tradition for tractor enthusiasts across the country.

Antique tractors and farm machinery serve as a reminder of a key part of our nation's agricultural heritage. Antique Tractor Preservation Day provides an opportunity to display these tractors in a venue where enthusiasts can share their stories with one another. Enthusiasts who share this common interest can share their passions for buying and restoring Antique Tractors.

Antique Tractor Preservation Day also provides others, who might not be enthusiasts, an opportunity to learn more about agricultural history and to better understand and appreciate the significant advancements American agriculture has made over the last century. It is important to carry on this legacy by preserving our antique tractors for generations into the future.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Michael Hinton and the West Plains community for their work in creating an opportunity for enthusiasts to come together and to celebrate this proud heritage and rich history.

Madam Speaker, when I took hold of the gavel of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, I took to heart the responsibility to reduce Federal spending on behalf of future generations of Americans.

The Financial Services section of this act provides a total of $22 billion, a $2.4 billion or 10 percent reduction from fiscal year 2010 levels, and a reduction of $3.4 billion, or 14 percent, from the President's fiscal year 2011 request.

Deciding how and where to apply these reductions was challenging but necessary. Our propensity to spend now and repay later with interest has already saddled our children and grandchildren with $14 trillion of debt. As such, the funding in this act is directed at high priority programs such as court security, counterterrorism, drug control task forces, and small business assistance. Funding for new construction by the General Services Administration is dramatically reduced to gain control over the management and operation of the Federal building inventory. Other programs are selectively reduced, including programs within the Executive Office of the President and the Treasury Department because these two agencies should be the model of efficiency and economy for the rest of the executive branch.

The act measurably improves oversight and accountability of the executive branch by requiring a new annual GAO study of all financial services regulations, including the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau; a new GAO study on the usefulness and accuracy of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's flawed consumer complaint database; and the elimination of four executive branch czars who are not confirmed by the Senate and, therefore, not accountable to the people.

The act also includes $77.7 million for school improvement in the District of Columbia, including a $2.3 million increase for Opportunity Scholarships. This funding, along with the Speaker's language to reauthorize the program, will increase educational opportunities for low-income students in the Nation's capital.

This effort represents an important starting point for our committee and our Congress, and I look forward to

continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, and really want to express, I believe the opinion of all of us, that we do not want the Federal Government to shut down because doing so means abrogating our responsibility to serve the American people from both the legislative and executive branches.

We have all talked about how a shutdown also means our men and women in uniform will face the uncertainty of serving without pay. Your phones must be ringing like mine are, because we are hearing from so many military families whom we represent. They are facing uncertainty on top of uncertainty, posted overseas or with a family member away on active duty in harm's way. They are just trying to keep their households intact. And the President would veto such a piece of legislation?

So this measure achieves two important goals. It ensures our military operations and the pay of our military

members are uninterrupted, and it provides us another week to continue negotiations. No one in this Congress should mistake this for easy work, because it isn't. We are attempting to reduce discretionary spending from historic heights, control the growth in the scope of government, and give our children a future where the necessary functions we enjoy today exist for them tomorrow. We are also attempting to endow them with a future in which they can enjoy low taxes, keep more of what they earn, and invest in new ideas and opportunities, those things that have made our Nation great.

The negotiators and staff members on both sides of this effort are working late hours, weekends; and I am convinced we all want to get this right. But it would be more helpful if we could agree to work and find consensus instead of ripping apart a 1-week bill that funds our troops. I am not the only one to notice that we began the budget process for 2012 this week at the very moment when we are trying to resolve our responsibilities for 2011.

I hope we can achieve that first goal this week so we can move onto the next order of business, y'all, serving the people we represent through the budget process, and making the difficult decisions to curtail spending we can't afford. We shouldn't borrow, and we sure don't want our children and our grandchildren to pay the bill when it comes due.