Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to draw attention to a September 8 Washington Post editorial written by the dean of the House, the Honorable John Dingell, entitled ``Congress Needs a Fresh, Bipartisan Approach.''

Congressman Dingell reminds us of a time not too long ago when Members from both sides of the aisle worked together for long hours for months on end to solve the problems of the day. These were times when Members were motivated less by the reward of a good media hit and more by the reward of overcoming the challenges that confronted the Nation.

Today, we face the critical challenge of getting Americans back to work. This isn't a Republican or a Democratic problem, and the fix that will get folks back to work doesn't prefer one side or the other. Americans can no longer afford the political games that consume us now.

I encourage my colleagues to heed the advice of our distinguished colleague. Let's roll up our sleeves and work together to get our economy back on track.

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

In its current form.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We Americans owe no greater debt than we owe the men and women of our armed services who risk their lives to protect our freedoms. We currently have around 350,000 troops deployed overseas. About a third of that number come from our National Guard and Reserve.

While most Americans don't know it, many National Guard members don't get the same support we give career servicemembers. When many National Guardsmen and -women get on the plane to go overseas, their families don't even know about the services that are available to them, and when many of those troops get back home, they don't have the help they need to get back into their daily lives.

To address this disparity, in 2008, Congress established the yellow ribbon reintegration program to provide a support program tailored to meet the needs of National Guard and Reserve combat veterans and their families. The yellow ribbon program helps servicemembers and their families throughout deployment, with programs such as career counseling, suicide prevention, access to health care, veterans benefits, and education benefits. This final amendment would increase funding for that program by $200 million.

There is an excellent program in my district called the Augusta Wounded Warrior Project. They have several projects in Georgia to help wounded veterans. I've had the honor of working with them on some of these priorities and to meet with some of the returning veterans they have helped. What I hear over and over is that veterans can't take advantage of the many different support services available to them if they don't know about them or don't know how to navigate the bureaucracy that runs them. The yellow ribbon program helps our National Guard and Reserve combat veterans make that connection and get the services that they've earned.

According to the 2010 annual report to Congress, the yellow ribbon program held over 2,000 events and had over 300,000 contacts with individual servicemembers and their family members. That's a 50 percent increase in participation over 2009. And as the total number of returning National Guard and Reserve combat veterans goes up, the need goes up. This amendment will help make sure that the yellow ribbon program can help meet that need.

My amendment makes these funds available through a transfer from the account for the Afghanistan security forces fund. That account is funded in this bill at $12.8 billion. While I think those funds are an important part of our strategy for long-term success in Afghanistan, I think the highest and best use of a very small part of that money is to help our National Guard and Reserve combat veterans get back on their feet again.

My amendment would use about 1.5 percent of that money for this purpose, which I think is reasonable. In exchange for about 1.5 percent of what we're about to provide to help the Afghans take care of themselves, we can provide a 125 percent increase in support for those American soldiers and their families who make it all possible. I think that's a pretty good deal.

Finally, my amendment will not in any way delay final passage of this important legislation. If adopted, we move straight to a final vote on passage of this legislation.

I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their service and for their work on this bill. I think my amendment will have virtually no adverse impact on what we're trying to do for Afghanistan, but it will have a huge positive impact in meeting the needs of our combat veterans and their families. I hope that's something we can all support.

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

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment to eliminate storage and handling payments for cotton and peanuts.

I represent a lot of producers of these commodities, and I guess it makes me a little bit more sensitive to why storage and handling is an important part of our agricultural policy and why this amendment could have potentially devastating impacts if allowed to become law.

I believe it's in the best interest of our country to support domestic agriculture. If you think our reliance on foreign oil is a nightmare, imagine what it would be like if we had to rely that much on foreign sources of food and fiber. For that reason, it has been the policy of the Congress for decades to provide a safety net to help protect domestic farmers where prices are low and world markets are unfavorable.

If you represent farm country or if you've ever worked on a farm bill, you have some idea of what a delicate balance it can be to use the different tools at our disposal to craft a law that meets the needs of farmers and consumers. Different commodities have different economies. Prices sometimes swing wildly. Sometimes, even biological differences need to be accounted for.

For example, if peanuts are not stored correctly, they can develop toxicity that renders them not only useless, but dangerous, to the consumer. Storage and handling assistance has been developed as an efficient policy for peanuts because it not only gives the farmer some latitude about how long he can store his crops, but it also improves food safety for the public.

Mr. Chairman, I was on the Ag Committee back in 2008 when we crafted the last farm bill. It's been the law of the land since then and will continue to be until next year. It's the basis on which every farmer has planned during that time. This amendment creates uncertainty for those farmers. It threatens their jobs, and it threatens the domestic production the rest of us depend on.

I believe this amendment is bad policy, and I urge my colleagues to reject it.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I recently returned from a trip to our southern border at the invitation of our colleague, Gabrielle Giffords. While I think it's fair to say that advances have been made since my most recent trip to the border in 2007, I feel it's also necessary to report that significant challenges remain.

Successful border security requires a multi-pronged strategy. We need the physical presence of boots on the ground. We need to enforce the laws on the books to deny benefits to those who are here illegally, and we need to identify illegal immigrants who may pose a serious risk to public safety or national security and deport them.

One of our main tools in identifying those public safety risks is the Law Enforcement Support Center, or the LESC. The LESC serves as a clearinghouse for local law enforcement officials, providing real-time information and help on immigration status of illegal immigrants suspected, arrested, or convicted of criminal activity.

In fiscal year 2010, the LESC fielded over 1 million requests for information from local law enforcement, and recent changes to State law will surely increase those requests. My amendment expresses the intent of Congress to prioritize LESC funding, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

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

Offered By: Mr. Barrow

Amendment No. 28: Page 2, line 10, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $5,000,000)''.

Page 16, line 24, after the dollar amount insert

``(increased by $5,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Barrow

Amendment No. 68: Page 16, line 24, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $5,000,000) (increased by $5,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Barrow

Amendment No. 28: Page 2, line 10, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $5,000,000)''.

Page 16, line 24, after the dollar amount insert

``(increased by $5,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Barrow

Amendment No. 68: Page 16, line 24, after the dollar amount

insert ``(reduced by $5,000,000) (increased by $5,000,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my continued support for our strongest ally in the Middle East, the State of Israel.

I recently traveled to Israel with a bipartisan group of colleagues to see

firsthand the very real threats Israel faces every day. The relationship between the United States and Israel is based on a shared commitment to democratic values.

Like the United States, but to a much greater extent and for a lot longer, Israel has stood against those who use terror against civilians as a means of bringing about political change.

Recent reports suggest that the Palestinian Authority may form a union with Hamas, a terrorist organization that intentionally targets Israeli civilians for political gain. Unless and until Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist, any such union with Hamas would mean that the Palestinian Authority chooses violence and extremism over peaceful coexistence among the family of nations.

I urge all of my colleagues to stand up for Israel and to oppose any such alliance between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I want to begin by thanking Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ruppersberger for their hard work on this important legislation.

We face a diverse and growing array of threats around the globe, and we need an intelligence community as diverse as the threats we face. My amendment directs the national intelligence director to create a pilot program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to help develop critical language curricula and study abroad programs. Our defenses have to be as advanced as the means used by our enemies. That means that our human assets have to be as diverse as our enemies. Cultural, language, and educational barriers affect the quality of intelligence we can gather; and it's critical that we have the human assets to overcome these barriers.

The area of Georgia I represent is home to several HBCUs with specific expertise in critical languages. Engaging centers of academic excellence such as these will help the intelligence community meet our strategic security goals and will produce more sophisticated intelligence officers. This, in turn, will make our country more secure. I, therefore, urge my colleagues to support this amendment and support passage of the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep sadness over the passing of four Gulfstream Aerospace employees who perished in a test flight crash in Roswell, New Mexico, this past Saturday.

Gulfstream is headquartered in my congressional district, and I know firsthand the hard work, discipline, and dedication that Gulfstream employees put into their work. Last week, four of those employees lost their lives in the line of duty.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and colleagues of Kent Crenshaw, Vivan Ragusa, David McCollum, and Reece Ollenburg. Today I want to honor their lives and their legacies. They will be missed by their families, colleagues, and communities, and they have our deepest respect and appreciation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to encourage the President and leaders of the House and Senate to work together to craft a long- term spending plan to prevent a government shutdown and get our Nation's finances back on track.

No business can thrive without a stable, long-term financial plan. The Federal Government can't either. The uncertainty we're operating under is costly to taxpayers, and it threatens the health of both the public and the private sectors.

As I travel around my district, I hear time and again from constituents who are tired of the heated political rhetoric. We can cater to political extremes or we can work together to resolve pressing issues.

Let's move beyond the weekly battles on discretionary spending and

start an adult conversation about the real structural issues that plague our Nation's fiscal health.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 46th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and to recognize the courage of my colleague, Congressman John Lewis, and the many other heroes of the civil rights movement.

A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to retrace the footsteps of history with John Lewis and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. There, nearly 50 years ago, some 600 demonstrators marched to take a stand for African American voting rights. On the bridge, they were savagely attacked by State and local lawmen to prohibit their crossing. Journalists captured those brutal attacks, sparking outrage that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Congressman Lewis recently returned to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Again he was met by a large group of police--this time as an honor guard.

We have come a long way in the last 50 years, and we still have a long way to go to ensure equality and justice for all. But we never could have come as far as we have without the courage and the devotion of countless men and women just like John Lewis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of America's ports, especially the one in Savannah, Georgia.

After spending last week touring the rural areas of my district, it's hard to overstate the Savannah port's importance, even for areas outside of Savannah.

The Port of Savannah--the fastest growing port in the Nation and the second largest on the east coast--supports more than 295,000 jobs and contributes over $15 billion in income to Georgia's economy. It's also a major economic hub for a 26-State region that stretches deep into the Midwestern part of the country.

Farmers, manufacturers, and miners ship product in and out of the port. And for thousands of small businesses around the country, the Savannah port is their sole access to the rest of the world.

Let's make sure our goods can reach international markets and get America back to work. I urge my colleagues to invest in our ports so that we can compete in today's economy and the economy of the future.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 841) to direct the Secretary of Transportation to study and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides for a means of alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, as hybrid and electric vehicles take hold in the market, they bring lots of benefits to consumers trying to shield themselves from rising gas prices and help reduce our Nation's dependence on foreign oil, but the near-silent operation of their combustion-free engines has presented unintended challenges for blind and sighted pedestrians.

NHTSA research, including a study published in April this year, confirms that the absence of sounds indicating vehicle movement can create serious safety risks for blind and sighted pedestrians, unable to detect vehicles as they back up, turn, or approach an intersection.

Earlier, NHTSA research found that hybrid and electric vehicles are two times more likely to be involved in a pedestrian collision at a low speed than conventional vehicles. Blind pedestrians are among the most vulnerable; but cyclists, seniors, and children are also among those greatly affected as the number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the road increases.

The bill before us offers a straightforward solution directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to create a standard for hybrid and electric vehicles to emit appropriate conforming sounds when traveling at low speeds. In addition, the bill gives the agency 3 years to develop the standard, gives manufacturers a 3-year phase-in period, calls on NHTSA to consider the overall community noise impact, and protects against the unauthorized disabling, modification, or replacement of the sounds.

I am pleased that the bill has received strong support from the National Federation of the Blind and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. I commend manufacturers of hybrid and electric vehicles that have already stepped forward to work with NHTSA to address this serious safety issue.

I also want to thank my chairman, Chairman Rush, and my colleagues, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), for their leadership on this issue, which has a strong record of bipartisan awareness and support. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns).

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.