Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the 50 years that Terrell W. Benton, Jr., has served as a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

Terrell Benton earned both undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Georgia and, as one colleague put it, is ``the very model of what a lawyer should be.''

Terrell Benton believes that all deserve effective representation in our courts. That may be common today, but in 1964, my daddy's first year on the bench, not everybody felt that way. In that year, Terrell defended a black man the State was trying to put to death for killing a white man. He was convicted of the crime he committed, but he was spared the death penalty thanks to Terrell. That would have been no small feat for the most accomplished lawyer in that time and place, but considering that Terrell was just 1 year out of law school made it all the more remarkable.

Today, Terrell is general counsel to three school districts and serves on a host of civic boards.

I know I speak for lawyers everywhere when I thank Terrell Benton for his commitment to equal justice for all and for his 50 years of service to our profession.

Mr. Speaker, the holidays are a time to reflect on the things for which we are grateful. As we enjoy the company of family and friends, we should also take time to thank the brave men and women serving in our Armed Forces.

Every one of us knows the tremendous debt we owe our military families. This year, as a token of my thanks, I'm donating over 79,000 frequent flyer miles that I received for congressional travel to the Fisher House's Hero Miles program, which provides free airline tickets to American soldiers and their families.

Flying to Washington is part of our job, and there's no better way to use the miles we accumulate from those trips than to help our troops and their families see each other. I encourage all of my colleagues to donate their miles to the Fisher House or a similar charity that helps make a difference this holiday season.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Geneva B. Stallings, an outstanding Augustan who has devoted over 50 years of service to the Richmond County school system. For six decades, Mrs. Stallings has been a leader in the educational community in Augusta. She understands that equal educational opportunity is equal economic opportunity, and she's worked to see to it that all children, regardless of economic circumstance, received a quality education.

Mrs. Stallings has served as a classroom teacher, as a reading coordinator, and as the longest serving director of the Title I pre-K department. In fact, the Board of Education recognized her service by naming the Title I Parent Information Resource Center the Geneva B. Stallings Title I Parent Resource Center.

I know I speak for all who know Geneva Stallings in thanking her for her commitment to the education of our children. Mrs. Stallings, you have the appreciation of many grateful Augustans and of this proud Congressman. Thank you for a job well done.

I thank the gentlelady for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to reach across the aisle in support of the Cutting FUEL Act, a commonsense bill to cut wasteful government spending by reducing the number of nonessential vehicles purchased by the Federal Government.

Any family or business knows that you can't spend beyond your means. The government should work the same way. Buying brand new cars the Federal Government doesn't need is a waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and this bill puts an end to that.

The government spends $4 billion a year to maintain and operate over 650,000 vehicles. Since 2006, the Federal Government has added over 20,000 vehicles to this fleet, and the cost of operating these vehicles has gone up 5.4 percent.

I recently introduced H.R. 6144, which also cuts the Federal vehicle fleet by 20 percent. Like the Cutting FUEL Act, it makes an exception for vehicles that are essential to national security while reducing the size of the nonessential Federal Government fleet by 20 percent. This is just one of the many recommendations of the bipartisan Simpson- Bowles commission, and over the next 10 years it will save literally hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money.

I'm pleased to join my colleague, Representative Hanna, in support of his version of this legislation, because acting in a bipartisan fashion isn't just the right way to do things around here, it's the only way to actually get things done around here. However much we tend to forget that in this body, it's the only way to deal with the other body, and it's the only way to truly represent the Nation as a whole.

The folks we represent deserve a government that is responsible with their hard-earned dollars. I thank Congressman Hanna for introducing the Cutting FUEL Act, and I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bipartisan bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of H.R. 5910, the Global Investment in American Jobs Act of 2012.

Our success as a country depends more and more on being competitive in a global economy. The United States has historically been a very attractive investment for foreign businesses. In fact, foreign-owned businesses add over 5 million good-paying jobs to the U.S. labor force, produce nearly 18 percent of all U.S. exports, pay nearly 17 percent of all U.S. corporate income taxes, and purchase nearly $2 trillion in goods and services from other domestic small businesses.

This bill simply requires the Department of Commerce to work with the heads of other relevant Federal departments to conduct a review of U.S. laws and policies that affect foreign investment in the U.S. and then make recommendations on how we can be more competitive in attracting foreign investment.

As our global competitors continue to develop, we have to evolve as well just to keep up. This bill will give us a fuller picture of our challenges and opportunities so we can develop a coordinated strategy for economic success. It's the key to our economic well-being in the decades to come.

I want to thank Congressman Dold, Congressman Roskam, and Congressman Peters for their collaborative and bipartisan work on this bill. Working together isn't just the right way to do things around here; it's the only way to actually get anything done around here. However much we may tend to forget that in this body, it's the only way to truly represent the Nation as a whole.

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

Mr. Speaker, there being no further speakers on our side, I would inquire of the gentlelady from California if she has any further speakers on hers.

With that, Mr. Speaker, it falls to me only to thank, once again, Congressman Dold, Congressman Roskam, and Congressman Peters for their work on this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Peyton Bell, who's moved on from my staff after 2 years of service to the citizens of Georgia's 12th District.

A native Augustan, Peyton came highly recommended after graduating from Rhodes College and interning with the U.S. Senate. He began as a legislative correspondent but was quickly promoted, becoming my point man on veterans' affairs issues. His hard work was rewarded with more work, and he assumed the dual roles of legislative assistant and press secretary, no small feat.

Peyton has recently taken on two new roles, having married the former Kate Parker this July, and enrolling in the University of Georgia School of Law this fall. I know he will handle these responsibilities the way he handles life--with humor, enthusiasm, and dedication.

Peyton, you have the appreciation of many grateful constituents and of this proud Congressman. Thank you for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay my respects to a tireless crusader in the quest to protect America's children from violence and exploitation.

Ernie Allen recently retired as the president and chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, where his mission was to protect our Nation's children.

Under Ernie's leadership, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children played a crucial role in recovering some 74,000 children. With Ernie at the helm, they saw their recovery rate for missing children climb from 62 percent in 1990 to 94 percent today.

While there's no official record book of what Ernie has accomplished over the years, his record lives on in the lives he has saved and the families he has reunited.

I know I speak for my colleagues in the Congressional Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children's Caucus and for thousands of grateful families all across the Nation in thanking Ernie Allen for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize George Kitchens, Jr., from Augusta, Georgia, who will be representing our State and our Nation at the London Olympic Games beginning tomorrow. George will be making his very first Olympic appearance in the men's long jump. A former Clemson Tiger All-American athlete, George will be the first member of the Tigers long jump team to advance to the Olympic Games.

The American Olympic team is made up of 530 men and women. For the first time in history, this Olympic team will feature more female athletes than male athletes. Of the 302 medal events at the Olympic Games, the United States will be represented at 246.

We look forward to watching George win the gold when the men's long jump team takes the spotlight on Friday, August 3. I know I speak for all of my colleagues in wishing our American Olympic team the best of luck in London.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my thanks to Kristie Johnson Gregory, who is moving on from my staff after 7 years of service to accept the position of special populations coordinator at Augusta Technical College. Kristie started as an intern in my office back in 2005, and she quickly rose up the ranks to serve as a senior constituent services representative.

Every Congressman knows just how important it is to have good staff, and Kristie is the kind of staffer that you need. Kristie and our district staff recovered some $3.7 million in benefits wrongfully withheld from families back home in just the last year alone, and there's no telling how many homes she helped rescue from the brink of foreclosure. When you add it all up, her record is reflected in the thank you letters of grateful constituents and the appreciation of this Congressman for a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mourn the passing of an institution in my district--Snooky's Restaurant in Statesboro, Georgia. Forty-one years ago, Bruce Yawn opened a family-style restaurant, along with his father, Snooky Yawn.

For 41 years, Snooky's wasn't just a place to get some great Southern cooking, it was a favorite gathering place for the folks who call Statesboro home, and it was home away from home for tens of thousands of young people who came from all over the State of Georgia to attend Georgia Southern University.

In fact, the Georgia Southern University football program was practically founded at Snooky's, where the legendary founding coach, Erk Russell, was a regular. Coach Russell and his many friends and admirers would sit around and talk about football, fishing,

and farming--among other things--for hours.

Mr. Speaker, our country needs all the places like Snooky's that we can get, and we need to keep all of those that we can. So it's appropriate to thank Bruce Yawn, and all the other Bruce Yawns of the land, for the contribution they make to our sense of community.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer one final amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

Three days ago on Memorial Day, I held town hall meetings at the American Legion posts in Augusta and Statesboro, Georgia. During these town hall meetings, veterans repeatedly expressed two of their most pressing concerns for our country.

First, they're concerned that our increasing debt puts America on a path toward a fiscal crisis that threatens our national defense and the promises we've made to veterans and seniors.

Second, they're concerned that the men and women returning home today, after fighting for our freedoms, are not receiving the proper medical care for the injuries they face, like traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and loss of limb.

After my town hall meeting in Augusta, a Vietnam veteran came up to me and described how he had suffered from an undiagnosed case of PTSD until just a few years ago, and that his life had been a struggle for a long time as a result.

This gentleman's candor reminds us of what we already know. In too many cases, we fell short in providing Vietnam veterans the care and dignity they deserved after giving the best years of their lives to our service. We cannot make the same mistakes today we made then.

My amendment will do two things to try to be responsive to the veterans I represent. It takes $56 million of preexisting surplus money from the BRAC closure account and applies half, just $28 million, to veterans' medical and prosthetic research, and the other half to deficit reduction.

This figure doesn't come out of thin air. That's the unanimous recommendation of the VFW, the Paralyzed Veterans of American, the Disabled Veterans of America, and AMVETS--in their annual independent budget recommendations--as the additional amount necessary to provide for appropriate program growth and to cover anticipated inflation. This money will go directly to research and treatments unique to the 21st century combat our soldiers face overseas today.

Again, this is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. For all these reasons, I encourage my colleagues to support this motion, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Deputy James ``J.D.'' Paugh of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in Augusta, Georgia.

Deputy Paugh was killed in the line of duty when he stopped to help what appeared to be a stranded motorist on the Bobby Jones Expressway. As Deputy Paugh stopped his vehicle, Christopher Michael Hodges opened fire, striking Deputy Paugh nine times before turning his gun on himself.

I had the opportunity to visit with members of Deputy Paugh's family on Tuesday at the 31st Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service, where family and friends of peace officers who died in the line of duty came together from all over the Nation to remember their loved ones.

As National Police Week comes to a close this week, we honor J.D. Paugh, all peace officers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, and the families of fallen officers throughout the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of a motion to instruct the conferees on the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012 to insist on title II of that act, which contains revisions of the North American Energy Access Act, essentially calling for the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, in these times of increasing security threats and economic uncertainty, the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline represents a win-win for America's national security and economic interests. Not only will this project create thousands of much-needed jobs, but it will secure America's energy future by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

By working with our neighbors to the north on an effort that ramps up our domestic energy production, we'll better protect families here at home from the effects of energy market insecurity caused by political and economic troubles in other parts of the world. Estimates vary, but the most conservative estimates predict that this jobs project will create 13,000 new construction jobs and an additional 7,000 manufacturing jobs.

But that's not all, Mr. Speaker. The Keystone XL pipeline, when operating at capacity, will be able to move 840,000 barrels of oil per day into our domestic refining capacity on the domestic production market. To put that in perspective, America imports about 8.4 million barrels per day. The carrying capacity of this pipeline alone is 10 percent of America's net national daily imports. America consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. The carrying capacity of this pipeline represents 5 percent of current U.S. daily consumption of oil products.

The U.S. produces about 8.8 million barrels a day. This pipeline will have the capacity to bring in 10 percent more than what we're already producing on a daily basis here in this country. It also represents approximately a one-third increase in the total daily imports from Canada. And if that wasn't enough, the 840,000 barrels a day this pipeline carries comes real close to the 900,000 barrels that we import every day from Venezuela.

I don't know about anybody else, but any policy in this country that private enterprise is going to lead the way on and pay for that can cause us to tell the folks in Venezuela, Good-bye, we'll see you later, that's good economic policy and good energy policy for this country.

Mr. Speaker, we've held hearings on this matter. We've engaged the public and energy experts. We've checked and rechecked for environmental soundness

and debated for hours on the floor of this House. After all that, what we're left with is a very well-vetted and, I think, worthwhile project that is ready to start construction. For the jobs and for the energy security, the folks I represent want us to get moving on this. We have an opportunity to make that happen in the highway bill conference that's currently under way.

I encourage my colleagues to support my motion to instruct so we can send that message loud and clear to the conferees.

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

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield to 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Kissell).

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, some have said that because we are inextricably part of a world market, because we consume more than we produce of this vital commodity that, therefore, we cannot legislate ourselves an island in this process; and since we both produce and consume and produce and export, therefore it follows from that that virtually anything we can get, any new source of conventional energy that we get is going to be a mere conduit, a pass-through to somebody else and a loss to us.

I'd like to point out that we produce in this country some 12 million barrels a day. We export some 2.9 million to 3

million barrels a day. So there's both oil being produced in this country and exported, for a net annual production on a daily basis of 8.8. It does not follow from that that any new sources of energy that we get are going to flow right through this country someplace else. In fact, a study commissioned by the Department of Energy addressed the dynamic effect of limiting our access to unconventional sources of this energy in Canada and allowing that energy to go someplace else.

And a study compiled for the Department of Energy pointed out what the perverse effect of this would be. If we deny ourselves access to this new source of Canadian oil, what will happen is it will go to other countries. And who will fill the gap? Middle Eastern and African OPEC countries will actually increase their shipments to this country. We'll become more dependent upon imports from folks that we don't want to rely upon if we deny ourselves access to those folks we do want to rely upon.

In the words of the study commissioned for the Department of Energy, they would displace, the Canadian oil crudes would be lost to the U.S. market and go instead to Asia. They would displace the world's balancing crudes, Middle Eastern and African, predominantly OPEC grades, which would in turn move to the USA. The net effect would be substantially higher U.S. dependence on crude oils from those sources, the sources we want to wean ourselves off of.

Finally, along this line, it's been said that because we're describing conditions in ordinary terms when the markets are working as we hope they will and as they should, we need to remember, we need to bear in mind there's always the possibility the world market will fail us.

I'm old enough to remember a time in this country's history when we were embargoed. First, in 1973, because we came to the aid of our ally, Israel, in response to the Yom Kippur War, we were embargoed by the OPEC oil countries. Folks who supply a little more than a third of our imports today, at that time, cut us off completely. It happened before. It did happen again in 1979. We were embargoed a second time in the same decade.

We need to bear in mind that while we're concerned about market conditions and the ebb and flow of product and consumption in ordinary times, we also have to gird ourselves for the possibility that we can be embargoed by our current vendors. And against that backdrop, access to North American oil, in time of emergency, can have a far greater impact on our economic and national security at that time than the conditions we're talking about and arguing about now in the ordinary course of events.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remaining time.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage the conferees to include approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. It will get Americans back to work. And while we're developing the alternative energy sources of the future, it will reduce our current dependency on purchasing oil from countries that don't share our values.

I understand the reasons why some folks are opposed to any new and unconventional sources of traditional energy that we rely on. The argument essentially is: More of the same means we'll increase our dependence upon a dirty source of energy. It will increase our dependence upon oil as the basic feedstock for transportation energy in this country.

Mr. Speaker, you can't increase your dependence beyond 100 percent. We are 100 percent dependent upon oil and its byproducts for the transportation energy in this country. Unlike the energy we get out of the walls or off the grid or out of the light sockets, a whole bunch of different energy feedstocks go into that basic energy commodity--some of it's coal; some of it's natural gas; some of it's nuclear, like the plants we're building in my district at Plant Vogtle; some of it's wind and solar.

We've got a lot of different energy feedstocks that go into the wires and we utilize in every other way. But the transportation energy in this country that we use to push all of our trucks, all of our cars, and all of our tractors, it all comes from oil. We've got all of our transportation eggs in one energy basket.

You can't increase your dependence anymore than 100%. That's where we are. I understand that's what people's concerns are. But I think Secretary Clinton summed it up conclusively just a year and a half or so ago back in October of 2010 at a conference. Secretary of State Clinton was quoted as saying:

We're either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the Persian Gulf or dirty oil from Canada until we can get our act together as a country and figure out that clean, renewable energy is both in our economic interests and in the interests of our planet.

Until we do that, we're going to be getting our oil from one source or the other. As for me, as between the Persian Gulf on the one hand and Canada on the other, I choose Canada.

Meanwhile, I am optimistic about the future of alternative, clean sources of energy, and I want to wean us off the use of foreign oil as much as anyone in this building. But we aren't there yet, we're not there now, and we're not going to be there in the foreseeable future. For as long as oil is our primary source of transportation energy in this country, we can't take it for granted, and we can't pretend that making it more scarce, or what's the same thing, making it more expensive is going to hasten the day we're no longer relying upon it just because we don't like it.

Mr. Speaker, the folks that I represent expect us to vote for jobs and for energy security. We have an opportunity to do that with the transportation bill. I urge my colleagues to support the motion to instruct and to send that message loud and clear to our conferees.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, under rule XXII, clause 7 (c), I hereby announce my intention to offer a motion to instruct on H.R. 4348, the conference report to extend Federal highway programs.

The form of the motion is as follows:

Mr. Barrow moves that the managers on the part of the House

at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses

on the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4348 be instructed

to insist on title II of the House bill, regarding approval

of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

It's with sadness that I rise to honor the life of Otis Brock, III, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 41. Otis's time with us was too brief, but his life serves as a shining example of service to others.

A leader from the beginning, Otis was inspired by the example set by his parents, Otis J. Brock and Annette K. Brock, both prominent educators. After graduating from Sol C. Johnson High School and Savannah State University, Otis rose to become the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System's operations chief.

Otis served in many civic capacities, but the accomplishment he took most pride in was the role of father. Otis and

his wife, Nailah, are the proud parents of two young daughters, Zuri and Zoey, and are awaiting the birth of their third child.

Otis, we thank you for your life and legacy. You will be missed.