Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I want today to talk about an illness that affects every American family. It is an illness that is devastating. It is Alzheimer's and related dementia. It is the most expensive illness in America today, and it will become even more expensive in the future.

Today, $1 out of $5 spent by Medicare is spent treating Alzheimer's, most expensive of all our illnesses. As we look to the future, we are going to find that this disease, Alzheimer's, is going to grow over $1.5 trillion of costs by 2050, partly due to the baby boomers and their growth in the demography of this Nation, but also because of the extraordinary expense that this illness brings to us.

This is the power curve that we are looking at. If you are concerned about the deficit, you need to be concerned about Alzheimer's. If you are concerned about the American family, you need to be concerned about Alzheimer's.

Here is what we are looking at for what is the second biggest cost in the Federal budget, that is, Medicare and Medicaid. Here is the growth that we are looking over the period of the next 35 years, from some $122 billion to over $880 billion.

As you look at the Federal budget in the years ahead, as you look at Medicare, as you begin to think about the deficit that confronts this Nation, this is where you need to look because this is where the big expenditure is going to be made. It is going to be in Alzheimer's and related illnesses to it. This is it.

What can we do about this? We could sit and fuss and fume, we can take care of our seniors, or we can recognize the reality of what it means when we spend money on research, when we spend money on getting ahead of the illnesses. These are the major illnesses that confront America today.

You can take a look here. Breast cancer, there has been a decrease in mortality; prostate cancer, a decrease; heart disease, a 16 percent decrease; stroke, a 23 percent decrease; and of course, HIV/AIDS, an extraordinary 42 percent decrease in the deaths from these major illnesses.

Over here on the purple one on the right, Alzheimer's. Decrease? No. Increase? Sixty-eight percent increase from 2000 to 2010.

This is the reality of the most prevalent and most expensive and the most devastating disease that confronts Americans and really the rest of the world.

What can we do about it?

Let's take a look at this chart. Alzheimer's spending treatment versus research. Let's see. We are spending $150 billion on the treatment. This is Medicare and Medicaid, and research, oh, way down here, $566 million on research.

So if you want to drive the deficit to even greater depths, treat but don't do research. However, if you want to solve this problem, we know how to do it. In fact, we have done it many, many times.

If you take a look at cancer, we are spending $5.418 billion on cancer research. Cancer deaths are down. HIV, we are spending $2.978 billion on HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS deaths are down by 42 percent. Cardiovascular, $2 billion. Cardiovascular deaths, strokes and heart disease down. Alzheimer's, $566 million.

We know the answer. The question is whether we are willing to put our money where we can solve the most devastating, the most prevalent, and the most expensive of all illnesses.

Change this little purple, bring it back up perhaps to $2 billion a year, as we do with HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular, and cancer. Spend the research money. We are close in many, many ways across this Nation with programs that are under way.

Here is the specific ask that I make to this Congress: not $2 billion, but $200 million additional money in the appropriations that we are doing today--$200 million.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Captain Darrin M. Moody who is leaving the Fairfield Police Department. After serving two years with the Modesto Police Department, Captain Moody was hired as a Police Officer with the Fairfield Police Department on September 5, 1989. As an officer, he worked in various capacities that include Patrol, Youth Services, Investigations, Field Training, and Special Activity Felony Enforcement. He was promoted to Police Corporal in 1999 and became a K-9 handler in 2001.

On December 24, 2004, Captain Moody was promoted to Police Sergeant and served in Patrol and Investigations before being promoted to Police Lieutenant on December 7, 2007. He was a strong and decisive leader which led to him receiving the Manager of the Year award in 2007. As a Police Lieutenant, he served as Commander for Patrol, Quality of life, and Major Crimes Bureaus, and for the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

As the Police Department experienced changes in leadership and command staff, Captain Moody constantly stepped in and assisted City management in filling the gaps. Before being officially promoted to Police Captain on May 6, 2011, he willingly assumed the Captain's position twice and managed Patrol Operations in 2008 and 2010.

Captain Moody has been a valued employee and leader and his commitment to the City and community was evidenced on a daily basis. He is commended for his selfless contribution to Fairfield and its constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to rare and serious autoimmune neuropathies such as Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN), and related conditions. These diseases cause the body's immune system to attack healthy organs and tissues. In the case of conditions like GBS, CIDP, and MMN, the immune system attacks the body's peripheral nervous system.

As we find with so many ailments, awareness, recognition, and an early and accurate diagnosis are key to mitigating the serious health consequences of peripheral autoimmune neuropathies. The earlier treatment begins, the better the prognosis for the affected individual. These conditions can be progressive, and any delays in medical intervention can result in the patient being completely immobilized and using a ventilator to breathe, with the potential for residual damage and disability. Essentially, the more damage that is done to the nervous system, the longer it takes to heal.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), symptoms are related to the type of affected nerve and may be seen over a period of days, weeks, or years. Muscle weakness is the most common symptom of motor nerve damage. Other symptoms may include painful cramps and uncontrolled muscle twitching visible under the skin, muscle loss, bone degeneration, and changes in the skin, hair, and nails. NIH plays a crucial role in the effort to combat these conditions, as treatment options are limited and diagnosis can be difficult. While there are many known triggers for the conditions, the underlying causes have yet to be defined. Investment in medical research and scientific innovation is needed to identify the root cause of these conditions and to improve the lives of affected individuals.

This October, the GBS/CIDP Foundation International is coordinating the 13th International Symposium on GBS, CIDP, MMN, and related conditions. This event will bring leading scientific minds, patients, and other stakeholders together with the goal of advancing our understanding of these conditions and improving care for affected individuals. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this community's ongoing effort to raise awareness and advance medical research. We extend our sincerest gratitude and strong support as these dedicated individuals come together to collectively reach toward knowledge, cures, and the promise of healthier lives for all.

Mr. Speaker, Whereas, Sutter Davis Hospital (SDH) was one of three organizations in the country to receive the 2013 Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest Presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement, and visionary leadership; and

Whereas, Sutter Davis Hospital was selected from a field of 22 applicants that were rigorously evaluated by an independent board of examiners in seven areas defined by the Baldrige Criteria: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; and results. An organization may compete for the award in one of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education and nonprofit; and

Whereas, Since 1988, only 102 Baldrige awards have been presented to 96 organizations. To date, more than 1,500 U.S. organizations have applied for the Baldrige Award, and internationally, the program has served as a model for nearly 100 excellence programs; and

Whereas, Thousands of organizations worldwide use the Baldrige Criteria to guide their operations, improve performance and achieve sustainable results. This improvement and innovation framework offers organizations an integrated approach to key management areas. The criteria are regularly updated to reflect the leading edge of validated management practice; and

Whereas, Sutter Davis Hospital has been on a long quality journey to excellence and over the years has made significant improvements. This journey has placed SDH among the best hospitals in the nation, and has now distinguished SDH as a Baldrige winner as a result of the work accomplished by all employees, physicians and volunteers working together; and

Whereas, Sutter Davis Hospital is dedicated to a patient care mission, which aims to enhance the health and well-being of people in the communities it serves, through a not-for-profit commitment to compassion and excellence in health care services; and

Whereas, The community of Davis, and Yolo County as a whole, is proud of Sutter Davis Hospital for serving as a national role model for small hospitals and leading the transformation of health care to achieve the highest levels of quality, accessibility, and affordability; and

Now, therefore, be it resolved that Congressman John Garamendi expresses his sincere appreciation and gratitude for the vision, leadership and organization shown by Janet Wagner, CEO, and her team of employees, physicians and volunteers at Sutter Davis Hospital, for bringing a national presidential honor to Yolo County, providing quality care to all patients and serving as a steadfast community partner.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following:

Michelle Scully (Educator, agriculture and economic

development advocate; Lake County): Michelle has a 20-year

history of service to Lake County, particularly in the areas

of education, agriculture, and economic development. When

Michelle and her husband relocated to Lake County as he went

to work in the family's pear packing and farming businesses,

she quickly immersed herself in community activities. She was

appointed to an advisory board tasked with researching the

divisive issue of genetically modified crops. She also served

on the steering committee that developed Lake County

AgVenture, a program to educate community leaders on the

importance of agriculture to Lake County. To address the

issue of hunger, Michelle organized a very successful

Bountiful Gift Box fundraiser for the county's Hunger Task

Force. She brings creativity and solid business ideas to the

table of the Regional Economic Development Committee with a

style that keeps community members excited and engaged in

realizing opportunities. She was a member of the Advisory

Council appointed to be a driving force behind the opening of

Marymount California University's Lakeside Campus and now

serves as the campus's inaugural executive director.

Michelle has weathered storms, professional and personal,

with infinite grace and a smile on her face. When she fell

and broke her back riding her horse on their ranch, Michelle

dragged herself, using only her arms, a quarter mile home

where she laid on the floor until her husband arrived and

insisted on taking her to the emergency room. Once home from

surgery she missed just three lectures of teaching her

biology class at Mendocino College, where she is still an

instructor. Michelle personifies grit--she is able to work

hard, overcome adversity, and bring long-term passions and

community goals to fruition.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following:

Nicole Montna Van Vleck (Rice grower and industry leader;

Sutter and Sacramento Counties): Nicole Montna Van Vleck is

the managing partner of family owned and operated Montna

Farms in Yuba City, a major grower of Japanese short grain

specialty rice. Nicole is actively involved in all aspects of

the operations from growing to drying and milling and her

involvement with California agriculture is long-standing. She

is a third generation Sutter County rice farmer who has been

a leader in numerous associations as an advocate for the

state's farmers.

For more than a decade she has served on the California

Rice Commission where she currently sits on the Board of

Directors and on numerous committees. She is a member of the

California Rice Industry Association Board and in 2011 joined

the Board of Directors for American Commodity Company. From

February of 2011 to July 2013, Nicole served as co-chair for

the USA Rice Federation Rice Quality Task Force and remains

active. She also is active in the USA Rice Producers Group.

In the area of water, Nicole has leadership roles in the

Northern California Water Association. She is Vice President

of the Sutter Bypass Butte Slough Water Users Association,

having been president for more than a decade. She is

Treasurer of Garden Highway Mutual Water District. Outside of

agriculture, Nicole is a member of the Board of Directors for

River Valley Community Bank. Nicole is a graduate of the

California Agricultural Leadership Program, and of the USA

Rice Leadership Program. Early in her career she worked as a

legislative analyst for the law firm of Morrison & Foerster

before returning to the family farm in 1994. As Vice Chair of

the California State Fair Agricultural Advisory Board, Nicole

advocates for agricultural education programs for youth. She

raised money for State Fair Scholarships and school tours of

the State Fair Farm. Nicole is a respected leader and

champion for women in agriculture statewide and for economic

development in Sutter County.

Mr. Speaker, the success of our districts and the livelihood and future of our communities relies heavily on the devotion and service of those who go above the call of duty, willing to devote their time and energy to improving society and the lives of people around them. This fall, through my 2014 Women of the Year awards, I have made an effort to recognize, honor, and celebrate the vital contributions of outstanding women in my district.

Each of these women exemplifies sacrifice and devotion. These civic leaders have helped improve their communities in various ways, and are compelling advocates for critical issues including education, flood protection, environmental stewardship, and the arts. They promote healthy communities, organize events to promote world peace, and raise community awareness to end bullying. They are all women in California's Third Congressional District who have succeeded in bettering their communities and the lives of those around them--living proof that when women succeed, America succeeds.

Throughout our history, America's foremothers have made great strides in securing their equal rights and equal treatment under the law. And while we have come so far, there is still work to be done. We stand on the shoulders of giants, but that does not mean we should cease to reach further. Thanks to these women and others like them, I see our communities reaching further every day.

Pat Ash (City Councilwoman and preservationist; Williams--

Colusa County): Pat Ash, the current mayor of Williams, has

served as a Williams City Council Member for many years. She

is the founding and most active member of Citizens for a

Better Williams, known locally as CBW.

Through her membership on the city council and in CBW, Pat

has played a crucial role in beautifying vacant areas,

including a parcel that was annexed into the town square

park. An outstanding example of Pat's leadership and generous

spirit is her preservation of the aging Masonic Hall in town.

Pat recently purchased it herself, thus maintaining its

historic value to the city and county.

Under Pat's sustaining leadership CBW recently arranged for

a mural to be painted on the Masonic Hall, adding local

interest and a festive atmosphere to this popular park. On

June 7th, the mayor hosted a mural dedication ceremony that

featured Governor Jerry Brown and relatives of W.H. Williams,

founder of the town. Through her creativity and tenacity, Pat

has been instrumental in organizing Williams' Summer Concerts

in the Park series featuring local musicians. The venue

offers the community a place to mingle and for nonprofit

groups to hold fundraisers. In further testimony to Pat's

enduring appreciation for her city, she has written a book

illustrating the influence of Western Europeans settling in

Williams. Pat's fellow citizens appreciate her efforts to

preserve and showcase the city's history.

Marci Coglianese (Municipal law attorney, former city

official, land use advocate; Rio Vista--Solano County): Marci

Coglianese, past mayor and council member for the City of Rio

Vista, has practiced municipal and environmental law for more

than 25 years. Her achievements in furthering good land use

planning, and environmental and risk management practices for

the Delta are extraordinary. Marci represented the League of

California Cities on the State Floodplain Management Task

Force and on the public advisory committee to update the

California Water Plan. She has been instrumental in

protecting Solano County farmland and served as co-chair of

the Delta Levees and Habitat Subcommittee of the Bay Delta

Public Advisory Committee. She is an active member of the Rio

Vista Army Base Steering Committee.

Marci has always been a vocal and staunch advocate for

fairness and for racial and gender equality in local

government. After assuming office she was notable for her

openness in listening and responding to the needs of her

constituents of every political stripe and economic status. A

person of the highest integrity and forthrightness, Marci

sets an exemplary standard for all in political office, from

the smallest village to the national capitol. Despite serious

illness and family trauma, she has maintained a manner of

openness, grace, and humor toward even her most bitter

opponents. Marci Coglianese is greatly loved and admired by

all who know her.

Deborah Eernisse (Fitness instructor, mentor, and

volunteer; Davis--Yolo County): Deborah's outstanding trait

is her ability to build community with diverse groups of all

ages, particularly around fitness and health. In Davis she

has built a supportive community of older adults who remain

active and engaged in their own health and happiness. Her

``Fit for Life'' program at the Davis Senior Center has

reduced injuries, falls, and the

need for hospitalization or skilled nursing care.

Deborah graduated from UC Davis with a minor in Adult

Development and Aging. She had planned to be an at-home mom,

but faced with serious medical problems in her immediate

family she had the foresight and strength to persevere and

graduate from the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program at

Sacramento City College. Since then she has earned a number

of other certifications.

Participants in Deborah's fitness classes have been able to

improve their muscle tone, balance, coordination and strength

in such a way that many age-related declines are slowed or

prevented. Class members who have had strokes, joint

replacement, fractures and similar problems are able to

follow through with their long-term rehabilitation. Those

with chronic conditions such as diabetes or neuropathy are

able to optimize their independence and quality of life.

Beyond strength, friendships are created and social support

flourishes. Her classes fill up quickly and have a waiting

list. Deborah also conducts a popular free yoga class for the

Davis High School football team, and she has served on the

board of the Davis Food Co-op. Recently she completed 30

hours of training to become part of the Davis Community

Emergency Response Team (CERT). Deborah is now part of a pool

of volunteers ready to assist in large-scale emergencies.

Gloria Estrada (Veteran advocate and peace activist;

Williams--Colusa County): Gloria Estrada works tirelessly for

the interests of Colusa County families, donating much of her

time to organizations that benefit the community's veterans

and the families of fallen soldiers. On August 11, 2011, not

long after recovering from a head-on crash Gloria's son, Pfc.

Rueben ``Boy'' Lopez, was killed in action by a roadside bomb

in Afghanistan. Since then Gloria has dedicated herself to

helping families in need and advocating for peace. She

celebrates her son's service and sacrifice by paying it

forward.

One way she has done this is by arranging for the placement

of Peace Poles in each community in Colusa County. The Peace

Pole serves as a symbol to remind community members that they

are the peace builders. On August 11, 2014, Gloria and her

family organized a ceremony on the grounds of the state

capitol in Sacramento. Veterans of Colusa County traveled to

the state capitol for the ceremony in which 193 full-size

flags of the world were carried. A Peace Pole featuring the

message ``May Peace Prevail on Earth'' in 12 different

languages was presented to the People of California.

Each year on the anniversary of her son's death, Gloria

chooses an agency, school, or group where she hosts a

celebration urging those present to celebrate life and to

please pay good works forward. Gloria is a tireless community

volunteer and an exceptionally loving and giving woman.

Whenever someone is in need, Gloria is quick to search on

their behalf. If someone needs company, Gloria is at their

side with reassuring words. Those who know her well agree

that each of us is a better person because we have Gloria

in our life.

Lee Ann Grigsby-Puente (Flood protection advocate; Hamilton

City--Glenn County): As president of Reclamation District

2140 Lee Ann played a leading role in working with

Congressman Garamendi and other federal, state and local

representatives to secure federal funding in an Energy &

Water Development appropriation to begin construction of the

Hamilton City Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem

Restoration Project.

The current J Levee, now mostly in disrepair, was built in

the early 1900s. The levee failed twice in the 1970s and

required emergency reinforcement six times in the past 30

years. If the river floods, the homes of 2,000 Hamilton City

residents are at risk, as are the farms and Highway 32.

The project is multipurpose. Plans include 6.8 miles of

setback levee to protect the town and farmland. The existing

J levee will be ``degraded'' and 1,400 acres of land will be

restored to native habitat along the Sacramento River

floodplain. Thanks to Lee Ann's perseverance and effective

work with elected representatives, Glenn County Sheriff Larry

Jones, who serves as head of Glenn County's Office of

Emergency Services, was able to say: ``I am very pleased. The

project is vital to our public safety. . . . Now I can start

to look forward to the time when the J Levee is no longer one

of my biggest concerns.''

Lee Ann serves on the Hamilton City Task Force developing a

5-10-20 year strategic plan for the city. She is president of

the Hamilton City Women's Club that leads the way in adding

new civic amenities in the downtown.

Mary Grimmer (School and community volunteer

extraordinaire; Arbuckle--Colusa County): Mary Grimmer is an

amazing woman, full of energy and passion, and extremely

giving of her time and resources. For the past five years,

Mary has volunteered at least 12 hours per week in the school

library, helping students locate books, cataloging new books,

and reminding students to return overdue ones. Each year she

donates a generous number of titles to the library

collection.

Meanwhile, the school office can count on Mary to help with

school pictures in the fall and spring of each year. Through

the Parent Club, she takes the lead on ordering all of the

school tee-shirts and sweatshirts that students purchase. You

also will see Mary Grimmer at all kinds of events, camera

around her neck, taking thousands of pictures that she shares

with the students. Mary is an active 4-H leader and a member

of the Arbuckle Little League where she is responsible for

many aspects of the organization, including scheduling of

games. She is a part-time employee of the Arbuckle Parks &

Recreations Department, giving more time than she could ever

be compensated for. And, when someone in the community is ill

or has just had a baby, Mary graciously delivers a home-

cooked meal as a show of support for them.

Programs for children just don't happen. They take the

dedicated people who care about kids to devote their time,

energy and often their own financial resources. Mary provides

initiative and the physical labor to fill the gaps. She is a

beacon calling others to volunteer their time to change the

lives of children.

Samina Masood (Working to end poverty, homelessness, and

abuse of women; Fairfield--Solano County): Since 2012 Samina

Masood has partnered with the City of Fairfield to seize the

twin horns of homelessness and domestic abuse in order to

demonstrate that renewal is possible for homeless, abused,

and neglected women and their children. Were it not for her

direct intervention and program services, hundreds of women

and children would go without hope, a place to live, or

resurrected lives. Each year her organization, Heather House,

takes in hundreds of needy and vulnerable women, then

shelters and supports them. Samina resides on campus with

them to run the seven-day-a week program. Empowered by their

experience in a 90-day work program, they are able to leave

the shelter with a job, housing, and the skills to achieve

economic independence. Samina's passion and dedication are

quite infectious, engaging many city leaders to join hands

and work together on behalf of these at-risk local women and

their children. She has served as a commissioner on the

Mayor's Commission on Crime to help prevent and reduce crime

in the city.

Masood herself is a role model. She came to the United

States as an immigrant from the third world country of

Pakistan. She is a writer and published columnist with her

columns appearing in the Tracy Press nationally and in the

U.S. State Department Gazette. Samina has two master

degrees--an MA in Communications and an MS in Clinical

Psychology. In the 80s and 90s she worked for the World

Health Organization, the U.S. Department of State, and U.S.-

AID as an advocate for women and children. An abuse survivor

herself, Samina talks openly about her childhood growing up

in a county where women and children are deprived of rights.

She often speaks of how she saved her own soul by fighting

for other women who had no voice. She is writing a memoir.

Dr. Frances Nelson (Librarian, educator, literacy advocate;

Fairfield--Solano County): Frances Nelson has brought

outstanding gifts to the educational community of Solano

County. She is a preeminent librarian whose commitment to

diversity and whose advocacy for the teaching of U.S. history

and government have enriched the lives of many students and

adults. Frances has a myriad of community and educational

experiences over more than 15 years in Vacaville's secondary

classrooms and, after her retirement, as adjunct librarian

with 20 years of service at Solano Community College. She is

the only African-American librarian that Solano Community

College has had in its seventy-year history.

Dr. Nelson has pioneered information access techniques with

individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Through the

California School Library Association Dr. Nelson participated

on a committee that developed ``Standards for Information

Literacy: Grades k-12.'' This endeavor prompted her to

develop a library skill workbook and a video tape

presentation on school site curriculum for a Vallejo school

library. Frances travels regularly to Oakland to select as

many as 75 books that she then donates to the Solano Juvenile

facility. She also donates hair care products to African-

American girls there when these are requested. Dr. Nelson is

a newly appointed Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention

Commissioner for Solano County, is active in the Delta Kappa

Gamma Society Beta Psi Chapter, and has served in leadership

roles at her church. Dr. Frances Gholson Nelson has elevated

the whole community--not just with the time she has spent in

community service but in the quality of her service that

counts for so much more.

Gloria Partida (Advocate for restorative justice and anti-

bullying activist; Davis--Yolo County): When her son was

savagely attacked near downtown Davis the night of March 10,

2013 in what was deemed to be an anti-gay hate crime, Gloria

Partida responded with composure and grace. She not only

cared for her son Mikey's needs, physical and emotional, she

led the community in a candlelight vigil coordinated by

concerned community members. Mikey spent months in

rehabilitation and many more in at-home care by family

members relearning the tasks of daily life and receiving

counseling for PTSD. Gloria faced the tragedy and its

aftermath courageously and with compassion. In an October 6,

2013 editorial, ``Innocence Lost: Now where are my virtues?''

she set a powerful example, showing our community how to push

back against hate crimes and bullying behaviors of all kinds:

``Having survived this magnitude of violence, my son and

family became magnets for people who had suffered similar

experiences and wanted to share their stories. Sadly, there

were many. This produced for

me, ever the optimist, an internal civil war. How could

people who started out sweet and promising turn into vessels

of evil? . . . What became evident to me . . . was that I

needed to be responsible for more than my own children. And

not just the smart, easy-to-get along with ones . . . the

marginalized ones.''

Gloria attended a church meeting on the topic ``Standing Up

to Hate,'' and in that meeting the Davis Phoenix Coalition

was born. Gloria worked ceaselessly on the group's projects,

including a March 2014 anti-bullying workshop; a screening

and discussion of ``The Laramie Project'' and other

awareness-raising events; find-raising and attending the

``Not in Our Town'' national gathering in Montana; designing

a tee shirt and bumper sticker; writing an anti-bullying

brochure . . . always turning a devastating personal event

into an opportunity for community growth.

Linda Plummer (Healthcare advocate, arts supporter,

community volunteer; Marysville--Yuba County): Linda Plummer

is known as a distinguished advocate for health care and for

the arts, twin passions that merged when she created Rideout

Healthy Kids. RHK is a musical theater program teaching

healthy eating and exercise habits. Still in its first year,

the program created seven jobs--four actors, a director and

two sound technicians--and reached more than 4,000 school

children in its first season.

As part of her job as marketing manager for Rideout Health,

Linda helps to get the word out about the newly expanded

Rideout Regional Medical Center, the largest construction

project in recent memory in Marysville and its neighboring

communities. Linda is a dedicated steward of the project. As

30 ironworkers, eight carpenters, six deck builders, two

rebar workers and 15 other laborers and inspectors worked on

the structure last year, Linda observed the sudden

transformation following years of planning. ``It's like

Christmas,'' she said.

The Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce has recognized Linda

for her deep community involvement. She founded the Way, Way,

Way Off Broadway event to give performance opportunities to

high school actors. She is a board member of the Sutter

Performing Arts Association and Yuba-Sutter Arts. A past

president of the Rotary Club of Yuba City, she has been

involved with Friends of Yuba City Parks and Recreation; the

Casa de Esperanza shelter for victims of domestic violence;

Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts; and the Galena

Street East performance group to encourage young artists. She

was a judge for the Sacramento Regional Theater Alliance.

When asked how she manages her busy schedule, she admitted:

``What schedule?'' For Linda, ``Volunteering is addictive.

Whatever form it may take, volunteerism has an incurable

impact on people--you see it change lives.''

Lonetta Riley (Educator and school district trustee; Yuba--

Sutter County): Lonetta Riley has served on the Yuba City

Unified School District board for 16 years as District 3's

representative and for the past two years as board president.

Says a friend, ``you can count on Lonetta's support for the

students and she stands up for teachers and the job that they

try to do in these times of diminished funding.'' Lonetta

Riley is the only African-American woman to ever have been

elected to office in Sutter County. When asked what it was

like to be the first, she always responds that ``it doesn't

really matter unless I work to make sure there is a second,

third and fourth.''

Lonetta began her advocacy for education in 1970 while a

graduate student at the University of Nebraska where she led

demonstrations to address the poor graduation rates of black

athletes. As a member of the Douglas County (Nebraska)

Citizens Committee, she was instrumental in bringing

attention to local civil rights violations. More recently as

a Juvenile Justice Commissioner for Sutter County, she has

worked to raise awareness and organize efforts to address the

difficult issues facing delinquent youth. She is passionate

in believing that mentoring during probation is an

opportunity to help individuals get their lives back on

track.

A criminal justice professor in the Los Rios Community

College District, Lonetta is the Training Coordinator for the

Regional Public Safety Training Center of American River

College and guides the training of law enforcement personnel.

She is a member of the Bethel AME Church, the National Urban

League, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Bridges 2 Housing and

other community organizations. Lonetta believes that ``if you

don't use your voice for change, your silence says the status

quo is okay.'' She exemplifies the adage to be the change you

would like to see in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following:

Denise Rushing (County Supervisor and economic strategist;

Upper Lake--Lake County): Denise Rushing is best known for

her work as a business growth strategist. With a background

in energy technology and digital marketing, Denise helps

change-makers innovate, create and enter new markets

consistent with their values. She has generated grassroots

momentum to find renewable and regenerative solutions to

environmental problems. In 2006, after living in Lake County

for just 18 months, Denise was elected to the Board of

Supervisors in one of the most transformative elections in

Lake County history as her platform of justice and

environmental stewardship resonated with voters.

Lake County's economic evolution over 7\1/2\ years is a

testament to Denise's leadership and evidenced by

California's Green Summit Environmental Leadership Award two

years in a row. One project is the largest public solar

installation in the western United States; the other,

``appropriate tech'' park structures constructed with

volunteer labor and all local and natural materials. Denise

was instrumental in transforming a blighted trailer park into

an eco-park, and a leading advocate in bringing the county's

first four-year educational institution to Lucerne. She has

been passionate about finding healthy solutions for improving

water quality in Clear Lake and has worked collaboratively on

local boards and committees, including one that brought

traditional agriculture and the organic community together in

a ``Food Roundtable.'' Denise was elected in a resounding

fashion and, true to her promises, has effected lasting,

sustainable change in Lake County and the people who live

here.

Mr. Speaker, the success of our districts and the livelihood and future of our communities relies heavily on the devotion and service of those who go above the call of duty. The helpers willing to devote their time and energy to improving the lives of those around them deserve to be recognized.

This fall, through my 2014 Women of the Year awards, I have made an effort to recognize, honor, and celebrate the vital contributions of outstanding women in my district. Through their work or volunteerism, these women have all vastly improved the quality of life in their communities.

My office will recognize the achievements of Pat Ash, Marci Coglianese, Deborah Eernisse, Gloria Estrada, Lee Ann Grigsby-Puente, Mary Grimmer, Samina Masood, Dr. Frances Nelson, Gloria Partida, Linda Plummer, Lonetta Riley, Denise Rushing, Michelle Scully, and Nicole Van Vleck.

These are exemplary examples of sacrifice and devotion. These civic leaders have helped improve their communities in various ways. They are advocates for education, agriculture, flood protection, environmental stewardship, the arts, promoting healthy communities, organizing events to promote world peace, and raising community awareness to end bullying.

Throughout our history, America's foremothers have made great strides in securing their equal rights and equal treatment under the law. And while we have come very far, there is still work to be done. We stand on the shoulders of those giants, but that does not mean we should cease to reach further.

The success these women have had in their lives translates directly to the success of their communities. The correlation is undeniable. When women succeed, our communities succeed, and our States succeed. ``When women succeed, America succeeds.''

I will continue to work to shape a Nation that fosters possibilities, opportunities, and equity for women. A large component of that mission is the Economic Agenda for Women and Families, which highlights three areas of importance.

The first is pay. Women in this country make only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men doing exactly the same work. For African American and Latino women, the pay gap widens to 64 cents and 55 cents to the man's dollar. The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation, and when adjusted is more than 30 percent lower than it was in 1968. This is an unacceptable impediment to our success, and particularly the success of women.

Women cannot succeed if wages are inequitable or insufficient. Paycheck fairness and increase in the minimum wage that includes tipped workers are just two solutions that will begin to mend the chasm created by the wage gap.

The second area is work and family balance. The lack of policy ensuring earned paid sick days and paid maternity leave is, quite frankly, appalling. Our inaction on ensuring work and family balance not only affects the lives of parents, but the lives and the development of their children.

The third area is child care. The passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 in the House of Representatives is a good first step towards ensuring access to child care, but there is still much more to be done.

Ensuring the success of women, and thereby the success of America, is imperative. I am proud and extremely thankful to have these women working and serving in the communities I represent. The devotion, care, and service shown by them, and by those like them, are what make my district and America succeed.

Mr. Speaker, I listened with considerable interest to the exposition just given by our colleague. I find myself in agreement with much of what was said, particularly the concerns, the unknowns, and the fact that this amendment is going to wind up in

a CR, and we are going to be voting on the CR and the amendment, whether we like the amendment or not, or we shut down government. That causes me great concern.

My real concern is beyond just this amendment, limited as it is. And I thank the chairman for making this as limited--it ends sometime in December, I think December 11; that is good. The fact that the reporting is there; that is good. The fact that we are knowingly going to find ourselves right smack in the middle of a civil war that has gone on for 3 years and the previous 3 we couldn't figure out which side we wanted to be on and who we wanted to work with, apparently we now know who we want to work with, or at least we will find out who we want to work with. A lot of unknowns here, a lot of concerns.

The big concern is this, and that is that the administration presently does not intend to have the Congress of the United States carry out its constitutional responsibility to declare a war or not. They have figured out a way to avoid having the Congress deal with the most fundamental of issues.

They claim that the 2001-2002 authorization to use force in Afghanistan and in Iraq is sufficient to carry on what may be an unending war in Iraq and, quite possibly, in Syria. The War Powers Act has been pushed aside. We don't need to worry about that, says the administration. We don't have to vote because they have these other two authorizations to use force still in effect.

This is not right. This is a new war, a continuation of the problem that has existed in this area for more than 1400 years. So now it is in for a dime; we are going to be in for many, many dollars and many, many people.

My plea to the Congress, my plea to all my colleagues is this is not the step. This is but one small, little movement towards a much larger. And will we have the courage to carry out our constitutional responsibility and take up the larger issue of what to do with airstrikes and beyond?

For me, we ought to be voting on that larger issue. I believe the administration is dead wrong in saying they don't need to come back to Congress for a larger issue of an authorization to use force.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my colleague from California (Mr. McNerney).

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Nolan).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to my friend from California (Mr. Sherman).

I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin).

(Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my colleague from New York (Mr. Owens).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I think we just heard a 1-hour audition for FOX News, but we did not hear a solution to what is a very real problem. We didn't hear a call for a vote, which we are going to have to take if we are to carry out our constitutional obligations, and that is going to be before us.

I don't want to carry on the discussion about the very serious problem of ISIL or ISIS. We have heard a lot of that already. We will have to come to grips with that by October 6 or 7, when the 60-day clock on the War Powers Act runs out and our constitutional obligation takes place.

There are many, many problems facing this Nation, and certainly, the international scene is one of them, but there is also a problem in our communities. I represent a large portion of California, the national forests on the Sierra side and the national forests on the coastal side of the Sacramento Valley. A lot of that is in the U.S. Forest Service, as well as in the Bureau of Land Management.

Over the last several years, those two agencies have been struggling to put out the fires that have raged in the Western United States and, indeed, in the Southeast of the United States. The way in which we have set up the budgeting and the appropriation for fighting fires has created an ongoing cycle of increasing the likelihood of new fires.

We need to change that. We need to get ahead of the century of fire repression and put in place policies and programs that will reduce the risks of fires. We need to manage our forests in such a way that the fire risk is reduced, the forests are thinned, trees appropriately harvested, the undergrowth reduced and eliminated, firebreaks put in place, and protect our communities by the proper management of the forest, reducing the fuel, reducing the load of fuel that these forests have.

We have been unable to do that, principally because we have seen an enormous increase in the number of fires, and the Federal budget to fight these fires is a 10-year rolling average that has not been able to keep up with the increase each year in the megafires, California most recently facing the rim fire in the Yosemite area.

That fire gobbled up not only the forest, but gobbled up the money that was set aside to prevent fires to manage the forest. Instead of having that fund available to do that kind of work, the money was transferred from those programs into the firefighting.

Now, this is an ongoing problem. My colleague from California, Scott Peters, has addressed this problem with a motion to bring to the floor legislation that would set up a new mechanism for appropriating funds for fighting fires. I will let him discuss that and why he has this before us.

Mr. Peters, if you would join us.

Thank you, Mr. Peters, for your leadership in bringing to the attention of the entire Nation, and certainly to the 435 Members of this House, that there is a way to manage our forests and to deal with the fires that have plagued us so extensively over these many years.

I think all of us have seen this before. It is Smokey the Bear. ``Only you can prevent forest fires.'' We need to add to it, ``But Congress can help.'' And Smokey turns to us and says: How can you help? Well, we can help by changing the way in which we budget for the fighting of fires. Instead of a rolling 10-year average and putting that money up every year and in 9 of the last 12 years blowing through that budget and then reaching back and taking the forest management funds that would allow us to reduce the risk of fires in our forests and in your public lands, instead of doing that, we would have a different system, as Mr. Peters just described. It is H.R. 3992.

H.R. 3992 is a bipartisan bill, Democrats and Republicans. Democrat Mr. Schrader from Oregon and Republican Mr. Simpson from Idaho, the authors of the bill, say there is a better way of doing it. Set aside a special reserve, just like we do for tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods; a special reserve that could be tapped when we exceed the average and blow through that 10-year average with a megafire or a series of fires.

We expect more than 38,000 fires this year in the United States. We are going to blow through that budget. Just this last month in August, the chief forester of the U.S. Forest Service sent a letter out to every part of the U.S. Forest Service saying: Hold on. No more contracts. Save the money. We are going to need to transfer some of your maintenance money. Your fire prevention money, the money that you are using to thin the forests to reduce the fuel load, the money that you are using to carry out logging practices, hold that. We are going to need to hold that

because we anticipate once again blowing through that fire budget and having to reach back for the prevention budget.

So Smokey is right. We can prevent forest fires if Congress acts on H.R. 3992. A discharge petition that Mr. Peters has brought to the floor is before us. It has 196 Members of Congress that have signed on. When we get to 218, that bill will automatically be brought to the floor for a vote.

Democrats and Republicans already support it, so bring it to the floor for a vote. Let us put in place a sensible, commonsense way of appropriating money to fight fires and to manage our forests. Let's get ahead of next year's fire. Let's get to prevention not just by not throwing out cigarettes and leaving campfires unattended, but by making sure that our forests are healthy so that they are able to sustain small fires that burn slowly along the floor of the forest, which is the natural ecological way in which forests have for a millennium been able to deal with fire. We are in a different situation now. We have allowed the forests to grow and to be in a position where a fire becomes huge. It is no longer along the floor but gets up into the crown of the trees and destroys the forests.

So we can get back to where we were by properly managing the forests, but we can't do it without money. The Forest Service needs to have that money. The Bureau of Land Management and the National Parks all need to have a different way of appropriating and budgeting. And that is what this bill does.

By the way, it doesn't cost any more. It simply rearranges how that money is going to be spent. That reserve fund would only be available when you have the megafires and you blow through the 10-year rolling average of how much we spend on fighting fires.

It is sensible. It makes a lot of sense. The administration wants it, and, therefore, I suppose my Republican colleagues are opposed to it simply because the administration has proposed a better way of dealing with this budgeting for fires.

So our plea tonight is simple. Just for a few moments, like 12\1/2\ minutes thus far, it is to allow us to take up H.R. 3992 and help Smokey prevent forest fires. We only need a few more Members of this House to sign on. More than 50 members of the Republican Party are already coauthors, but none have yet signed the discharge petition. So let's do it. Let's get on with it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 o'clock and 52 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, September 10, 2014, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, it brings me sadness and honor to pay final tribute to Ross

Erwin Hanna. Ross passed peacefully on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 after 91 years of life well lived.

Ross was born in San Francisco, CA, on October 20, 1922 as the youngest of six children to Tom and Wanda Hanna. Ross grew up in the Alhambra Valley with his four brothers and sister. Ross spent his childhood roaming the hills around his home and enjoyed spending summers in the Sierras. Ross's love of the outdoors was a legacy from his grandfather, naturalist John Muir.

Soon after graduating from Alhambra High School in Martinez, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Ross enlisted in the California Coast Guard where he served in numerous landings in the South Pacific. WWII sent him to the Pacific for four years, but built friendships that continued to grow for seven decades.

After the war, he went to Stockton, CA to attend the College of the Pacific (now University of the Pacific) where he graduated with a degree in business, and was a fraternity man at Alpha Kappa Phi Fraternity. Music was a major part of Ross's life and he led the Ross Hanna Orchestra during college. There Ross met a young Gladys Ann Stoeven who would later become his bride. Ross and Gladys married in San Mateo, CA in June of 1948.

Over the next 66 years the two of them had much to celebrate. A year to the day after they were married, they welcomed their first son, Hal. They moved to Dixon soon after his birth and two years later welcomed son Michael. Four years after their two boys, they welcomed a sweet daughter, Lynne. Ross and Gladys enjoyed raising their children in Dixon.

Ross imparted his love for nature to all of his children and grandchildren. Pack trips in the mountains, fishing in streams and lakes, hiking and enjoying nature are all a part of their memories. Ross left this life to join his parents Tom and Wanda Hanna, brothers Strent, John, Dick and Bob, his sister Jean and numerous family and friends who have gone before him. Ross is survived by his loving wife Gladys of 66 years; son Hal and wife Kathleen, son Michael Muir and daughter Lynne Hanna-Lincoln; grandchildren Tim Hanna and wife Jamie, Liz Fuller and husband James, Allison Theubet and husband Jerry and Mei-Lin Hanna. Ross lived to see eight great-grandchildren join his family; Kilian, Stephen, Natalie, Timmy, Gabby and Kolbe Theubet and Ross and Matthew Fuller. Ross will be missed by immeasurable friends and family members, but his love and music will play in their hearts forever.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern about the demise of the U.S. flag merchant marine and U.S. shipbuilding industry and to offer legislation to help revitalize these industries that are indispensable to the national security and economic interests of the United States.

Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, often recognized as the most important American strategist of the 19th Century, argued persuasively that our national greatness was inextricably associated with our control of the sea in order to secure both our commercial and security interests. That concept is as relevant today as it was in Mahan's time.

Our economic strength and national security today remain tethered to our ability to control the safety and security of the global supply chain. What has changed, however, is our vigilance in maintaining our commercial U.S. maritime industry.

That must change and fortunately I see a way forward. The U.S. shipbuilding industry and U.S. natural gas market are strategic industrial and natural resources essential to U.S. national security interests. In fact, the U.S. maritime industry has been interwoven into the fabric of our economy and national security since the founding of our Republic and the establishment of our Continental Navy in 1775.

Several factors explain why it is in the U.S. national interest to utilize the emerging coastwise and export trades for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to revitalize the U.S. flag.

First, this newly available and abundant energy source would provide reliable, long-term markets for U.S. commercial shipbuilding and new trades for U.S. flag vessel operators. Second, the imminent LNG export trade might also provide the impetus to attract new capital investment to expand the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base which has declined in capacity and international competitiveness over the past forty years. And third, the LNG export trade could be used productively to strengthen U.S. strategic interests and alliances with LNG trading partners, especially Japan, South Korea and India.

For these reasons, today I am introducing, along with my good friend, the Chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, Congressman Duncan Hunter, legislation to provide a clear signal to the administration, maritime industry, energy industry, and our foreign trading partners that we in Congress intend to get serious about revitalizing our shipbuilding and maritime industries.

The Growing American Shipping Act is straightforward legislation that would expand existing authority under section 306 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 and under the Deepwater Port Act (33 U.S.C. 1503(i)) to ensure that the trade in LNG--both the import and the export of LNG--benefits the U.S. maritime industry.

This legislation, if enacted, would enhance U.S. national security and port safety by encouraging the transport of LNG on U.S. flag vessels. It would help maintain the skilled labor pool and technological and industrial infrastructure of the U.S. shipbuilding industry necessary to build and repair both military and commercial vessels. Furthermore, this legislation would ensure that vessels carrying LNG to or from the U.S. are crewed by credentialed U.S. mariners to reduce safety and security risks.

This legislation has received robust support from a host of maritime stakeholders, including the Maritime Trades Department (AFL-CIO), Seafarers International Union (AFL-CIO), Transportation Institute, Shipbuilders Council, Navy League of the United States, American Maritime Officers, Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA), International Association of Masters, Mates and Pilots (MM&P), Maritime Institute for Research and Industrial Development (MIRAID), Marine Firemen's Union, Metal Trades Department (AFL-CIO), Sailors' Union of the Pacific, and American Maritime Congress.

Again, this legislation builds on existing authority under the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006 and the Deepwater Port Act which specifically authorized the Secretary of Transportation to develop a program to promote the use of U.S. flag vessels in the importation of LNG to the United States. This legislation simply would amend each statute to expand the scope of these authorities to apply also to the LNG export trade.

This legislation is a measured and reasonable step forward to revitalize our U.S. maritime industries, to support our economic and national security, and to begin the process of reclaiming our mantle as a great maritime nation. I urge members to join Chairman Hunter and myself in this effort.

Madam Speaker, when talking on the floor, presenting legislation, it is always good to have a compass, so you can have some sense of where you are going and what it is all about.

This is one I often bring to the floor when we talk about the issues of the day. This is from FDR--Franklin Delano Roosevelt--and he said the ``test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.''

It is a compass, and it is a way of judging progress or a lack of progress, and we seem to have more of the latter than the former. We have much to do if we are going to add to those who have little.

In America, the American middle class, the working men and women, the families who raise their children try to buy a home, a car, maybe take a vacation--they have been struggling for the last 20 years. It has been tough. They have not seen income growth.

The statistics are stark and clear. The middle class of America has stagnated, and, in fact, it has shrunk, as more and more Americans have fallen into the lower income class.

There is something we can do about it, and we, Democrats, intend to do just that. We want to jump-start the middle class. We want to put in place

policies that will grow the opportunities for the working families of America, for those men and women that get up in the morning, feed their children, get them off to school while they are getting off to a job.

There are things we can do. I want to talk about that tonight. Some of my colleagues will join us a little later.

Let me put up the agenda for jump-starting the middle class, the Make It In America agenda, rebuilding the American manufacturing sector, which was the heart and--in many ways--the soul of the working middle class of America, where they could get a decent wage, where they know that a husband or a wife, by themselves, could provide sufficient income for the family to have a home, a car, and enjoy the benefits of this great Nation.

So we will talk about the Make It In America agenda, and we will go at that in some length tonight because that is our basic subject matter.

The other one is very simple. It is a reflection on the demographics, and it is a reflection on the working people of America, and it is women. It is women. What we say is that when women succeed, America succeeds.

There is a set of policies that we need to put in place all across this country that will guarantee that the women of America that are out there working day in and day out have an equal opportunity. Right now, they don't.

They make about 70 cents on every dollar that a man makes. There is an inequality that exists in America's workplace, and our agenda is to end that inequality, to make sure that whether you are a man or a woman, you are going to be paid an equal amount for the same amount of work, the same experience, the same productivity. So when women succeed, America succeeds.

There are several other policies here that are family-friendly policies, and we will talk about that another day.

If the middle class is to succeed, if we are going to jump-start the opportunities for the middle class, a key element is education. So that is the third plank--the third leg upon which we rest our policies.

How can we jump-start the middle class? Education--there are very many things that we can do in education. One just passed the House of Representatives on a bipartisan vote after almost two decades of struggle.

We are revamping the job training programs in America, so that the preparation that people need to get a decent job are streamlined, effective, and efficient, and that is part of it, the job training programs, but it is more than that.

American students now have to--in almost every case--borrow an extraordinary amount of money in order to get a higher education, whether it is community college or the 4-year colleges and beyond.

That extraordinary debt burden is enhanced by extraordinarily high interest rates, so what we want to do is to bring down those interest rates, and there are three or four different pieces of legislation that our Democratic team has put forth, all of them to accomplish the same goal, bringing down the interest rates.

We would like to see it go down to the same interest rates that banks pay for the money that they borrow from the Federal Government and the Federal Reserve--wouldn't that be nice--because it is almost zero, but we don't think we can get that far.

We know it can bring that interest rate down from 6, 7, 8 percent down to the 3 percent, maybe the 4 percent range--literally cutting in half the cost of that money. So there are a series of policies on education.

Let me turn to the one that we want to focus on tonight, which is the Make It In America agenda. There are many pieces to this. One of them was put forward by our team, and there are about seven different elements to this program. This is our logo, Make It In America, so that Americans can make it.

Trade policy, taxes, energy policy, labor, education--which we just talked about--research, and infrastructure, these are the elements of a solid program to have the middle class have an opportunity, to jump- start the working men and women so that they can, once again, make it in America--by rebuilding the manufacturing sector, by having decent trade policies, where we don't give it away and see the American corporations simply run off to China or Bangladesh or wherever to get the lowest possible wage, trade policies that are fair to America.

Our tax policy is critically important. If anybody was reading the newspapers, The Wall Street Journal or other business newspapers last week, the word now is ``inversion.''

Well, what is inversion? It is simply a runaway American corporation, running away to the lowest possible tax haven in the world and making themselves domiciled in that country, leaving America behind, where they got their start, where they built their enterprise and simply running away, leaving those who cannot run to pay the burden of operating this great country's security, our defense, and all of the other things we need to do. So tax policy fits into it.

Energy policy, labor--we will go through some of these tonight. We won't get to all of them.

I want to deal very quickly with this last one, which is the infrastructure. We passed a bill last week, and it was a stopgap. It was a kick the can down the road bill to keep our national highway system funded. It was really a pretty lousy bill.

It would extend for some 10 months an inadequate amount of funding for the transportation systems of this Nation, and it was funded by a cockamamie scheme of somehow smoothing pensions, which basically meant that American corporations didn't have to pay as much into their pension system, so that they could pay more in taxes. It is not going to happen.

If you wonder why Detroit, why San Jose, why other cities and companies across this Nation have troubles with their pension systems, it is because of this kind of foolish legislation.

What are you to do? Let the highway program stop? No. We passed the bill, and we will see where it winds up.

What we really need is what the President has proposed--a robust, comprehensive make it and build it in America program. It is called the GROW AMERICA Act, to grow America, to build the infrastructure, and there are several pieces to this piece of legislation--all of them deserve the immediate attention of the 435 of us in the House of Representatives and the 100 Senators--proposed by the President and, therefore, dead on arrival here.

If it had been proposed by--I don't know--any other leader in the world, it probably would have passed by now, but the Republicans will not allow President Obama's proposals to move forward.

Here it is, the highway system. Now, this is just in 2015. The highway system would get even more money than it has today, some $60 billion total, $7.6 billion to fix the current highway system, and this is in addition to the money that the States and locals are putting in-- public transit, an increase in public transit, the buses, the light rail trains, and the like, inner city rail, Amtrak, boosting that--I am going to come back to Amtrak in a few moments.

International trade--back to what I talked about a few moments ago in the Make It In America agenda--international trade, the ports, revamping the ports, a freight policy--really, for the very first time, we would have an opportunity to have, in the United States, a freight policy.

How do you get the containers off the ship in Long Beach, put them on a railcar, travel across the United States to some terminal, and then, once again, put them on a truck to go to wherever they are going? A policy, a comprehensive policy about how we move freight is critically important to the United States. International commerce and fair trade is important because it does allow for the boosting and the growth of the American economy. Now, free trade is something different, and that basically means give it away to some other country, which we should not do.

This GROW AMERICA Act is one of the principal elements in jump- starting the middle class. Why? Because these are middle class jobs. These are construction jobs on the highways, on the transit system, in the railroads, and certainly in the ports and the freight system-- middle class jobs. How do we grow the economy? Build the infrastructure, increase the jobs for the

working men and women and the families of America, and we grow the economy.

By the way, we also grow the tax revenues because people are working. They are not tax takers, they are taxpayers.

So this is a proposal that the President has put forward. There has not been one hearing in the House of Representatives on this proposal that is now over 4 months old. Why? Why? Why is it that we have not given the President of the United States at least the consideration and the courtesy of having a hearing on his proposal? We should do so because it happens to be a very, very good proposal.

Let's take a couple of these elements for a moment. This bridge collapsed. Now, this isn't a bridge from Donetsk in Ukraine that was bombed during that war there. This is a bridge in Washington, a bridge north of Seattle on Interstate 5, the highway system between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, right down the coast, the west coast of California. This bridge collapsed just a couple of years ago. And this is not unusual. We have had bridges collapsing all across the United States.

This is part of the GROW AMERICA agenda. It is part of the agenda that we have in mind for the middle class, jump-starting the middle class, because when this bridge is built of American-produced steel in the Buy America laws that are presently on the books--which, by the way, the President says we ought to make even more robust so that your tax dollars are spent on American-made steel, American-made concrete, and the other elements that go into building these infrastructure projects, in other words, spreading the opportunity that comes from the transportation system and the growing and the building of the transportation system into all the other elements in the economy. It can be done.

The GROW AMERICA Act is specifically designed to deal with the deficiency in America's roads, and particularly in the bridges. Oh, the economic loss as a result of this highway system being shut down? Unfathomable. Didn't have to happen. And if we pass the GROW AMERICA Act, it is not likely to happen.

I want to pick up that little piece about what happens when you spend your tax money on American-made systems. Now, we talk a lot about green energy, as we should. We talk about energy conservation, as we should. We talk about wind turbines, and we talk about alternate energy systems such as solar, as we should. But where are those manufacturers? Where are the wind turbines manufactured? Where are the solar systems manufactured? Oh, China. By the way, we have a trade suit against China for dumping solar panels in the United States and decimating the American manufacturing system.

This piece of legislation, 1524, I like it. I am the author of it. H.R. 1524, Make It In America, create clean energy manufacturing jobs-- simple. Your tax dollars must be spent on American-made solar, wind, and green energy systems. Now, if some developer out there wants to build a solar energy plant and use your tax dollars as a subsidy to pay for that plant, then if this becomes law, he must buy American-made solar panels. Now, if he wants to use his own money, he can buy whatever he wants. But I believe your tax dollars ought to be spent on American-made equipment, which is part of the Make It In America agenda.

There are many other pieces to this puzzle, and in the Democratic Caucus, we have introduced well over 50 pieces of legislation to advance the program of Make It In America so that the American middle class has a chance to grow and a chance to prosper. We can do that. Any number of those bills--or, in fact, all of them--would advance the middle class, literally jump-starting the middle class and giving American families an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of this incredible society and this incredible country we call America.

Joining me tonight is a woman from Ohio who has spent many years dealing with manufacturing and talking about the things we need to do to build and to grow the manufacturing sector of America.

I think you come from the heart of that. Marcy Kaptur, welcome. Please share with us your thoughts.

I thank you, Ms. Kaptur, for bringing to our attention ways in which we can actually do something. It may seem small, but we get thousands and thousands of people coming through the gift shop here at the Visitor Center, can they find something made in America. They ought to be able to.

I like your bill, and it will send a message, a message to us, because we will set the policy. If we set that policy right, we can grow the American middle class, jump-start the American middle class, and give the working men and women a real opportunity to enjoy the benefits of this society.

I noticed while you were chatting a colleague of mine who often shares this hour, Mr. Tonko from New York. Thank you for joining us once again. We were here last week, weren't we?

Would you excuse me?

Before you came to Congress, were you not responsible for the State of New York innovation, energy, and related issues?

Representative Tonko, thank you.

I was just thinking through that Export-Import, and the buzz inside the Beltway here in Washington that it only helps the big companies-- General Electric and Boeing. The fact of the matter is, yes, it certainly helps those companies export airplanes and jet engines and whatever else, but it is the small companies that really take advantage of it. It is the start-ups and the growing companies that need that support.

I asked my staff, actually an intern, to do some research on the kinds of financing mechanisms that China, Japan, and Korea use to export their ships that they make.

The great shipbuilding industry is no longer in the United States, it is in those countries. There are one or two European countries that are also involved, but each of those countries support those shipbuilding companies with programs that are exactly the same as the Export-Import Bank, which is a loan guarantee. And it works.

I actually think, if I might say so, it is a small group in the Republican Party that is really taking the lead in this issue. Somehow they believe that government ought not be involved in commercial enterprise, when in fact since the very beginning of our Nation government has been involved, and together with the private sector is responsible for the growth of this incredible economy. This is but one example. There are numerous other ones.

I was just thinking about some of the words that the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) spoke regarding energy policy.

We are now generating and extracting a large amount of natural gas, and so much so that now there is a desire

to export that natural gas in liquid form called liquefied natural gas, LNG. We have to be careful because that natural gas has given us the opportunity to pull down our energy costs, manufacturing costs, so we are now seeing companies returning to the United States. Dow Chemical is but one example. I used to represent their major plant out in Pittsburg, California. They are coming home because of energy policy, so we have to be careful about the export of LNG because it can drive up the price and harm the growth of our manufacturing sector.

However--and here is an opportunity--the LNG is a strategic national asset. It is bringing down our cost of energy. Shipbuilding is also a strategic national industry. Our United States Navy, the most powerful and most effective and awesome in the world, depends upon American shipyards. However, private shipbuilding in the United States has basically gone downhill, together with the mariners, the maritime crews that are on those American-built ships. We have an opportunity here. If we are going to export LNG, then we ought to export that LNG on American-built ships with American crews.

It is an issue of public policy. We can do this, and in so doing, we can revitalize an important sector of the American economy, the shipbuilding economy, which is found on all of the coasts of America, from Maine, Philadelphia, around in the gulf to San Diego, and all of the way up to Seattle. There are shipyards that are desperate for business, and the LNG export is an opportunity to capture and bring home the shipbuilding, and when it is coupled with the Export-Import Bank issue, we can really restart and rebuild a critical element in the economy of America.

If I might interrupt you, before you move to the research agenda, which is absolutely critical, today the President of the United States signed the revamping of the job training programs in America. This is a bipartisan effort. It passed the House on a bipartisan vote--I think almost universal votes for the Democrats; the Republicans, maybe two-thirds voted for it and a third against it--but it is a complete revamp of an important element of what you just described, which is the job training and the job preparation and the training that is needed for these advanced manufacturing technologies.

You are so correct.

Let me give you an example. Yesterday I called together my manufacturing advisory committee. We had about 50 manufacturers, some very, very large--Boeing was there--and some very small companies. The discussion centered around precisely what you talked about. We had representatives from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Sandia National Lab, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and the University of California Davis, researchers, the most advanced research going on in the world.

Their discussion was not about nuclear weapons, which you might expect from Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Labs, because that is their principal job, how to deal with the nuclear weapons issue, but they were talking about technologies that they have come into and have advanced through their research, like laser research.

One of the companies that was there was a spinoff from research that was done at Lawrence Livermore National Lab on laser technology, and it is called laser peening. Now you have heard of a ball-peen hammer that is used to strike metal, and in striking the metal, it actually strengthens it. Well, now they are using lasers to strike that metal, and the result of it is that you significantly strengthen the metal. And this is now used by General Electric and others in the manufacturing of some of the internal parts in the jet engines. It substantially strengthens them.

That is just one example of the way that research can flow into the manufacturing sector, enhancing the job opportunities for the middle class, and once again, it is made in America and is giving the middle class a jump start.

These things all come together, so this manufacturing group yesterday dealt on everything you talked about. They were talking about export. They talked about tax policy. They talked about research into the private sector.

Another example, the University of California, which I have the honor of representing, has a very large engineering school. It is one of the largest in the Nation, and they are producing--I

think they have 8,000 students in their engineering program.

A couple of the graduates, a few years back, developed a new way of programming machine tools--computer-assisted machine tools. They were so advanced that a Japanese machine tool company, one of the largest in the world, began to look at this and said: we need that technology.

They incorporated it into their program, and then they decided they needed to be near the researchers. So they have now located in Davis, California, a major manufacturing program to make these very advanced machine tools, using the research that comes from the university, a marvelous example of what we need to do in our public policies.

Can I give you another example? It was exciting--it was a really exciting day, Mr. Tonko.

One of the small businesses--of several of them, actually, after listening to the heads of these extraordinary laboratories said: yeah, but I am just a small company, I don't have any money to go and work with you guys on products that we want to develop.

The fellow from the SBA, the Small Business Administration, raised his hand--you know, I kind of see him wanting to jump into the conversation--so I called on him and he said: we can help.

I am going: You are from the government, and you can help? He said: we can help, we can help, we have a voucher program.

I didn't know this existed in the Small Business Administration, but they have a voucher program that a small business that wants to connect to one of the national laboratories or one of the universities can get a voucher that is worth a certain amount of money, take it down to the laboratory, and begin to work with the laboratory on transferring technology to that business.

Wow, I mean, do businesses know that such a thing exists? Are we promoting that? Are we supporting the Small Business Administration, so that they can help these small businesses in really what I think is a unique and wonderful way?

I interrupted you. My apologizes, Mr. Tonko.

There are so many pieces to this puzzle. At the top of our Make It In America is trade policy. Thank you for bringing that issue back onto the floor. It is something we constantly need to deal with.

We have not talked this last year--actually, since Republicans took control of Congress, we have not talked about the manipulation of currency by China. I know when the Democrats controlled the House, we were putting forth legislation multiple times to address the currency manipulation issue, but there are many, many pieces to this trade policy that are relevant to us.

As you were talking about the manufacturing, I put up one of my favorite photos, a Make It In America photo. You have seen my photo here, I am sure, of a locomotive. The American Recovery Act, a stimulus bill which really did work--trash it politically, but it actually worked--there was money for Amtrak to buy locomotives.

In that particular section of the Recovery Act, Congress wrote--and you voted for it--I wasn't here at the time, I wish I was because I would love to take credit for this--wrote a little paragraph that said this money must be spent on locomotives that are 100 percent made in America--100 percent made in America--a couple hundred million dollars to build these locomotives.

Companies looked at it. A German company said: that is a lot of money, we can build locomotives. Siemens, a large international industrial manufacturing company--located in Sacramento, building light rail cars--said: we can build American-made locomotives.

They started a new manufacturing plant. They have over 600 workers there today. They are producing 100 percent American-made locomotives because of public policy. Your tax dollars are spent on American-made locomotives.

That supply chain is all across this Nation--not made in Germany, made in America--the wheels, the trains, the tracks, the electronics, all of that, American-made. It is a matter of public policy. The Export-Import Bank, tax policy, how you are going to spend American taxpayer dollars--these are the things we wanted to do to jump-start the middle class--Make It In America.

Mr. Tonko, we have got about 7 or 8 minutes left, so let's roll on.

Mr. Tonko, it is always a great pleasure to be on the floor with you. You are so clear. Your vision and your purpose is so very, very clear.

The Make It In America agenda has many pieces: trade policy, tax policy, energy, labor, education, research, and infrastructure. All of it is designed for one purpose, and that is to give American working families an opportunity.

It has become part of our jump-start for the middle class. This is our policy. These are the things that we want to do as Democrats. We want to see the working families of America make it. We want it made in America, and we want American families to be making it, so the Make It In America is one part of this agenda.

When women succeed, America succeeds. This is the fact that a majority of the workforce in America is now women. The reality is they make 70 cents on the dollar for every man that makes a dollar, so we need to address that. We need to make sure that they have the opportunities.

Right now, there is an increasing concern about on-demand labor, which is mostly women. You can imagine the destruction to family life when a woman that is working at a retail store gets a phone call and has to immediately report to work for 3, 4, or 5 hours.

This is craziness, but there is a whole series of family-friendly policies for women that are involved in this issue, including the minimum wage.

Finally, the issue of education, which we have talked about. These are the jump-start the middle class policies that we are pushing forward.

Make It In America is the agenda that you and I have talked about so many times here on the floor--little progress is being made--but I am telling you, if we had the majority in this House, these pieces of legislation that we have talked about today would be sitting over in the Senate and they would be on the President's desk very, very quickly--critical policies for the future of this Nation, critical policies for the working men and women and the families of America.

We intend to do it. We intend to see this agenda, the agenda for the working men and women advance.

Mr. Tonko, do you want to have another 30 seconds before we are told to wrap?

Mr. Tonko and Ms. Kaptur, thank you so very much for joining us tonight.

America will make it when we Make It In America.

I yield back the balance of my time.