Floor Statements

I thank my colleague.

Madam Speaker, the last few months has certainly seen severe damage done to our economy and have left many Americans battered. As a parent, I wonder how many other people have had the experience that I have had of watching my daughter when she was in high school getting credit card offers from banks, or when she was in college, with me and my wife paying for her expenses, getting credit card offers from banks, and wondering how many college students or young adults are taking those offers and not realizing the interest rates that come with them?

Signs of economic turmoil are multiplying, and I don't think anyone doubts that we are either in or headed for a recession. Some academic economists may quibble over the technical terms, but the bottom line is that our economy is headed in the wrong direction, and for many Americans, tough times are either here or lie ahead.

Stock markets around the world have behaved as if they are a roller coaster, alternating huge increases and dramatic declines. Wall Street traders don't seem to know what to make of each contradictory economic indicator. As a musician and songwriter, and now a Member of Congress, I have had hedge fund traders and stock market advisers and financial experts come to me and say, what do you think is going to happen, and that is a sign I think of the confusion and the general uncertainty that we see in the market.

While the cost of everyday expenses like food and fuel continue to rise, most people have seen their wages stagnate. People in my district make little more than they did a decade ago, yet their costs continue to rise dramatically.

People I represent in the Hudson Valley have been particularly hard hit. Oil has long passed the $100 a barrel mark, making it more expensive than ever for people to heat their homes and drive their cars. In suburban communities in the Northeast, like the area I represent, home heating bills increased more than 30 percent just between last winter and this winter.

While personal debt has skyrocketed to a record level, investment for the future has become all but nonexistent. As a result, families struggle to pay their everyday costs, more people have made incalculable personal sacrifices, lost their homes, and went hungry. As necessities become outrageously expensive and more and more employers are moving overseas to take advantage of the cheap labor and complacent regulations in places like India and China, as always, it is the American families who pay the price.

Ultimately I believe these troubles are a direct result of President Bush's disastrous economic policies. After years of the President and his enablers in the previous Republican Congress mismanaging the economy, more Americans are looking for work than ever before, the housing crisis has caused millions of Americans to risk losing their homes, and the price of gas has hit an all-time high. Clearly it is up to this Congress to act soon and act decisively. If we do not, it may well take years for the country to recover from the last 7 years.

I am proud that this Congress has already begun to take steps to do what we need to do. First we enacted the 2008 Economic Stimulus Package, which provided tax rebates for most Americans to go out and spend, and raised the loan limits for mortgages backed by FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to make it easier to get a mortgage with better terms. Both of these measures have already begun to help.

But I hope none of us are naive enough to think that that alone will be enough. We still have a lot more work to be done, specifically targeting working and middle-class families, the true lifeblood of our Nation's success. Relief for these people will only come from a clear commitment to increasing assistance for unemployment insurance, food stamps, Federal Medical Assistance Percentage payments and Federal housing programs.

I am proud of the steps we have taken here in the House, but I know we have much farther to go. As you say, my friend, Congressman Hodes, we need to not only pass these progressive and family oriented middle- class steps in the House, we need to persuade our friends in the Senate to approve them as well and then persuade the President to sign them. I hope together we can do that.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 31 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, April 3, 2008, at 10 a.m.

Mr. Chairman, I reluctantly voted yesterday against the substitute budget offered by Ms. Lee of California. I express that reluctance because this substitute included a number of individual provisions that I am very proud to support.

I strongly applaud the fact that the substitute budget included full funding for vital education programs, including No Child Left Behind. I believe Congress must continue working toward the goal of eliminating unfunded mandates. For too long, President Bush and his Republicans supporters have forced local communities to bear the brunt of the cost of No Child Left Behind's mandates. This has caused undue stress on local government's budgets, and led to an unacceptable increase in local property taxes in the nineteenth district of New York and across the country.

I'm also proud to support the commitment this bill has for full, guaranteed funding for veterans' healthcare. The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a new generation of veterans with new healthcare needs. We must make sure that the VA healthcare system will accommodate this new influx of patients, while continuing to provide high quality care for veterans from previous generations. As a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I am committed to the fact that the VA must honor the pact we make with our soldiers; if they fight to defend our Nation, our Nation will always make sure they have the care they need.

I was also pleased that the substitute budget included additional steps to provide more immediate help to those people struggling to deal with our troubled economy. I was proud to support the bipartisan economic stimulus package when it passed the House earlier this year, and while it was a good start, I believe we need more relief specifically targeted to working and middle class families who are feeling the worst right now. Relief for these people will only come from our commitment to increasing assistance for unemployment insurance, food stamps, Federal Medical Assistance Percentage payments to states, and housing assistance as is contained in the substitute budget.

Although I've highlighted these specific provisions, there are a number of other highly commendable parts of this amendment I would have been proud to support. The proposal includes much-needed provisions to crack down on corporate welfare and a commitment to expand health coverage to all Americans, which I wholeheartedly support. It also includes the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, which have helped to put us on the path to fiscal ruin while providing no relief for working families.

I strongly support these provisions, and would embrace the opportunity to vote for them. Unfortunately, after years of Republican rule, our Nation finds itself in the midst of a fiscal nightmare, and I believe the only way to restore some semblance of financial discipline is through the admirable budget that chairman Spratt has put together. It is a difficult decision, but one I do not make lightly. I am also concerned that the substitute amendment failed to include much needed reform of the AMT. The AMT unnecessarily burdens over 30,000 families in my district and threatens to dip further into the middle class. Any budget that fails to deal with the AMT fails to deal with one of our most pressing national concerns.

The underlying budget resolution, which I did vote for, contains significant funding increases for many of the programs I have discussed. The resolution also balances the budget and provides vital AMT relief for taxpayers. In light of our difficult fiscal situation, I believe that the underlying budget represents a strong step forward, and I believe it was deserving of my support.

Madam Speaker, just moments ago, this body voted to pay an appropriate tribute to a dedicated public servant in New York's 19th Congressional District.

On April 10, 2007, the Hudson Valley lost one of its most involved leaders when E. Arthur Gray, a former five-term mayor of Port Jervis and New York State Senator, passed away at the age of 82 years old. He left behind a legacy of friendship, involvement and service that earned him a permanent place in the heart of Port Jervis and serves as an example of what it means to work for the betterment of your community.

By voting to pass legislation that would redesignate the post office in Port Jervis, New York, as the E. Arthur Gray Post Office Building, the House has acknowledged the contributions of an individual who loved his hometown and who, as a businessman, government official and family man, dedicated a significant portion of his time and energy to its civic life.

Simply put, Arthur Gray was a Port Jervis resident to the core: born February 28, 1925, in Port Jervis, a graduate of Port Jervis High School before leaving briefly for college, only to return as president and co-owner of the Gray-Parker Funeral Home in his native Port Jervis.

Art Gray's participation in public life extended to government service. He was mayor of Port Jervis from 1978 to 1988. A lifetime resident of Port Jervis, Gray gave his undivided attention to issues, both large and small, and was widely known for his open-door policy.

Art Gray remains the longest-serving mayor in the history of Port Jervis. During his tenure he was able to reinvigorate the downtown area and greatly improve the city's economic development plan. Citizens of the local area remember Art as a man who was generous in nature and willing to help those in need. After finishing his service as mayor, Art Gray maintained his commitment to public service by successfully running for a seat in the New York State senate in 1988.

He represented the 39th Senatorial District in that capacity until 1990. But E. Arthur Gray's contributions to his city and his country were not limited to business and politics. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. He was also deeply involved in community life, and the list of organizations that count him as a member is astounding.

At one time or another, Art Gray was a member of the Port Jervis Community Development Agency, the Orange County Economic Development Agency, the National League of Small Cities Advisory Council, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Bon Secours Community Hospital Advisory Board, Knights of Columbus Council No. 471, Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, Elks Lodge No. 645, BPOE, Port Jervis Lions Club, Tri- States Chamber of Commerce, Port Jervis Country Club, Metaque Falls Hunting Club, Tri-States Rod and Gun Club, the Port Jervis Board of Education, and Port Jervis Planning Board.

When you look at that list, you gain a true appreciation for how much time, energy, and dedication Art Gray devoted to betterment of his hometown. However, he devoted just as much, if not more, to his family and friends. He was extremely devoted to his wife, Helen; son, Gerald; daughter, Brigid; and numerous other family members and close friends. He is remembered by those closest to him as enthusiastic, optimistic, supporting, loving, and inspirational.

Through it all, E. Arthur Gray's life was deeply interwoven with the fabric of Port Jervis, his home, and it is fitting that the adoption of this bill will help memorialize his service.

Mr. Speaker, in the last few months, the economy has been battered. Wages have stagnated, and expenses continue to rise. Personal debt is skyrocketing, and investment for the future has become nonexistent. American families are once again paying the price for this difficulty. More and more employers are moving overseas to take advantage of cheap labor and complacent regulations in places like India.

Last month, this pernicious trend made its mark on my district when Watson Pharmaceuticals, the second largest employer in Putnam County, New York, announced that they were closing their facility and moving all their jobs to India.

The company has praised its workers. The CEO said there was nothing the workers could have done differently or better to save their jobs. But that does them no good. The pull of profits from outsourcing was just too much to ignore for another American manufacturer.

There is something very wrong when U.S. companies are only too happy to pick up and move overseas, abandoning their employees and the county and the country that has supported them for years. I hope this Congress acts swiftly to remove incentives for this kind of behavior and that CEOs of these corporations will show some patriotism and loyalty to our communities.

Thank you, my colleagues. This is an important step we took today. Simply put, our success in ending our addiction to foreign oil and fossil fuels is going to determine whether or not America will continue to grow and prosper in the 21st century. There is perhaps no other issue that could have as much of a profound effect on our economy as our ability to meet this goal of producing our own energy and new breakthroughs in ways of developing that energy.

We have seen the terrible toll that the economic downturn has taken on working families over the past few months. Skyrocketing energy costs have made the burden harder to bear, and, at the same time, wages have stagnated, growth is far from certain, oil is over $100 a barrel, translating into homes in my district that are literally burning up their savings every time they burn oil to heat their home.

I would remind those of you who don't know that you can call up your local distributor of heating oil if you, as my wife and I do, burn heating oil to heat your homes, and ask for biodiesel. Ask for a biodiesel blend. You will be surprised at how many distributors have it. We are currently burning in New York State, in my home in Dover Plains, a 20 percent soy-biodiesel blend, and that is that many barrels of oil less that have to come into the country from unstable parts of the world.

Failure to take swift aggressive action would simply result in more of the same. I think that the House has taken leadership, which I am proud of, and all of the government can join us in this leadership, toward clean energy technology.

The Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act which we passed today will provide the kind of market incentives and financial support needed to usher in a new era of clean energy technology and innovation that will create jobs here, enhance our security, retrieve our balance of payments deficit, protect our environment and create thousands of green jobs.

I just want to point out too that some people might see this, might read this, especially with the connotations that have been attached to the word ``tax ,'' and think that this is something that it is not.

Actually what this bill did was to take back a tax giveaway that was given by a previous Congress to the oil companies who are reporting, even week-to-week now we seem to hear about new record profits being set by companies which are breaking their own record from only a couple of years ago. And it is hard to juxtapose that and to balance that in my mind with the increased poverty rate, with the increased amount of personal indebtedness and national indebtedness and the balance of trade deficit that is being fed and exaggerated by our addiction to oil.

I would prefer that we go in the direction of the bill we passed today, which will support new technologies to power our homes, business economies and vehicles, and the vital tax incentives to spur renewable energy generation, the production of biofuels of all kinds, innovative technologies like plug-in hybrid cars.

I am driving an American made, union-made, Detroit hybrid four-by- four, which I hope soon I will be able to convert into a plug-in hybrid. In fact, there is a company in Massachusetts that is already making a plug-in conversion kit to double the gas mileage of a car like mine, or a Prius or any hybrid. So we can help push these things forward.

In my district, the 19th District of New York, we have had meetings all around the five counties I represent about renewable energy. We have a solar forum and wind forum and a geothermal forum. And one of the most popular things, the thing that got adults on their feet, was the students' presentation from Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, New York, of the solar racing team.

They had a beta vehicle that ran on solar energy. It was a little bit larger than this oval table sitting here. It looked sort of like a flying saucer. It had a seat that a student could crouch in and just barely get behind the steering wheel. It is covered entirely with solar panels and has batteries to store the energy in it. And it won, or tied for first place, in a race from Houston, Texas, to Newburgh, New York, 2,000 miles on the highway in a car powered by solar power and electricity generated therefrom, and built by the BOCES vocational track high school students who know how to put together machinery and weld and so on, and working with the advanced placement math and science kids, who know how to calculate how many square inches of solar panels you need to produce the sufficient amount of electricity. It was the kids who got the adults excited.

I ran into constituents of mine who were leaving there saying, why don't the big auto companies do this with the resources they have? Why can't government incentivize this sort of thing with the resources that government has? I am happy to say that we are taking a big step in that direction today, and I encourage our colleagues in the Senate to follow suit and to join us.

Just this weekend on the front page of the New York Times, a major story about a wind boom in Texas, which is now the leading State for installed wind technology. None other than T. Boone Pickens, the oil tycoon, was quoted, if I could paraphrase him saying he is as excited now about wind power as he ever was about any oil field he ever discovered.

That warms my heart to hear a guy like Mr. Pickens recognizing the financial value, which also translates into the jobs value and the boost to our economy that can come from wind and solar and geothermal and low-head hydroelectric power and all the other biofuels and all the other things that we are trying to incentivize and give tax credits for in this legislation.

I am just thrilled to be here to talk with my colleagues about it and to be here today to vote on it, because I see it as moving from the lose-lose-lose energy policy of the past or, unfortunately, still the present, where we send billions of dollars a day to the oil potentates in the Middle East which, either by weaponry, some of that money goes to fund radical schools which result in young, mostly men but some women in those parts of the world being taught, among other things, to attack U.S. interests or Israeli interests or to be seen as, you know, as fighting against America.

Then for the privilege of doing that, and also funding, as Tom Friedman likes to write in his columns, we pay for our troops to try to go and defend our interest, and at the same time we get to borrow the money from the Chinese for the whole endeavor, because we don't have it. So for all of this trouble and all of this expense of this lose- lose-lose policy, we also have asthma and emphysema epidemics in our inner cities, acid rain, oil spills, et cetera.

The win-win-win policy would put us back in control of our own foreign policy, put us back in control of our own economic policy, would make us, once again, leaders in the technologies that we should have been leading in all along, like hybrid technology or wind and thin film flexible solar technology and so on.

I am glad to see us moving toward the win-win-win.

I am always ready to talk, my friend. I was thinking, as you were speaking, about how institutions starting with the United States Government and State and county and local governments can all do their part, and we have done our part by voting today for this legislation, by voting, actually, earlier in this session, last year, in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, we voted out legislation to put solar panels on the south-facing wall on the Department of Energy building, which would be a symbolic step forward, as well as a practical one, because the south-facing wall was designed in the 1970s when the Department of Energy was first created to be at the proper angle for photovoltaic cells to generate the best and most power from the sun.

It is that kind of investment that government can make. It is that kind of investment that States can make.

I met today for probably the third time with representatives of New York State's Energy Research and Development Authority about ideas like putting infrastructure on the New York State thruway service stations, the whole route that goes from Buffalo across to Albany and down to New York City of interstate highways, which would include biofuels and which would include at least a blend of biodiesel, and hopefully some E85. We have hundreds of thousands of vehicles, at least, of vehicles that have been sold as flex-fuel vehicles to American citizens by TV commercials saying you are doing something green when you buy them.

But in New York State, the 19th Congressional District of New York State that I represent, we got a call in our district office from a lady saying, ``I just bought a flex-fuel vehicle. Where can I get some fuel?'' And our staffer had to say there is one pump in Albany and another one in Westchester somewhere.

Congressman Markey told me that in Massachusetts, he said there is one pump for the whole State for E85 and 140,000 flex-fuel vehicles on the roads. So we have to start pulling the string through the tube, the string of demand through the tube, and make sure there is more supply created by creating the demand.

I would hope that the Arlington High School Action Club which I just met with last week, which is in the middle of a project right now of putting solar panels on the roof of their school, a new wing of their school, and I suggested to them that their next project, after they do their solar panels, they should switch their school bus fleet for that school district to biodiesel or to a biodiesel blend. It is made to order for school bus fleets, for post office trucks, for town and county highway trucks, any entity of government or private enterprise like FedEx or UPS, or trucking companies that use a lot of diesel fuel, can just as well burn. If I can burn 20 percent biodiesel at home, they can burn it in their diesel trucks.

Some of my musician friends, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt, have been driving for years tour buses and trucks all over this country on biodiesel. It definitely can be done, and I think each of us as Americans should look at this as an opportunity to lead and to do our part to push this revolution forward and to push this new policy into being.

Government can't do everything. It certainly can't do everything all at the same time. But together, businesses, government, and individuals can make the decisions on a day-to-day basis to vote with our dollars for those new forms of energy, where available, whether it is by flipping our electric bill over and voting for wind. In New York State, we are allowed to do that. We are allowed to choose whether it is wind or hydro or whatever form of electrical generation we choose, whether it is by asking for biofuels whenever we can get them, by driving the most fuel-efficient car, in the most fuel-efficient way, I might add.

At any rate, there is nowhere to go but up. And in the process, we will regain our sovereignty and somewhere down the road we will not have to worry about speaking honestly to Saudis or other nondemocratic governments about human rights, just as we won't have to worry about speaking honestly to the Chinese about lead-tainted toys because we are afraid we won't get the oil from one or get the debt floated by the other.

So it is getting ourselves back on our feet economically and diplomatically and energywise.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be able to stand here today and thank the Reverend Dr. Adolphus C. Lacey for leading the House of Representatives in prayer today. I am hopeful that his presence and prayer here today will help us in the House to display the same leadership and sense of community that he exhibits every day in the Hudson Valley.

Rev. Lacey came to Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Peekskill, New York, in 2005 to serve as its 14th pastor and has been a leader in the community ever since. He is also president of the Peekskill/Cortlandt area Pastors Association and has been a strong voice in the public sphere for the values that are guided by his faith.

In addition to serving as a religious and community leader, Rev. Lacey is also a family man. He is the husband of Cheryl Mathews Lacey and the father of Cameryn Alexandra and Adolphus Matthew.

I have had the honor of addressing his congregation and been able to see his leadership where his counsel is often sought. I thank him again for leading us in prayer today.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 65, I was chairing the VA Disabilities Subcommittee hearing. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Thank you, Congressman. It's my pleasure to join you tonight.

I wish I had as much pleasure looking at the budget the President submitted as I do discussing it with you, and all of us, of course, earlier this week received a copy of the President's budget. Like all of us, I was disappointed by the questionable accounting and fiscal irresponsibilities contained within this budget. I wish I could say I was surprised, but unfortunately it represents the same missed opportunities and misplaced priorities that have highlighted this administration.

First of all, I would have to say for a President and an administration that claimed to be fiscally responsible and who constantly accuse Democrats of being fiscally irresponsible, it's really shocking and deserving of mention that this President, George W. Bush, has been responsible, his administration, responsible for the five biggest deficits in American history. Here they are. We all remember, of course, at the end of the 1990s when President Bush took over from President Clinton that we had a surplus, and we were, in fact, paying down some of the national debt for a change.

But due to his tax policies and his overspending and his penchant for borrowing, our President and his administration have run up, in 2003, a deficit of $378 billion; in 2004, a deficit of $413 billion; in 2005, $318 billion; 2008 actually is the next figure here, $410 billion; and for 2009 is a projected $407 billion budget.

We can't keep this up. Any family knows that they can't keep spending. In fact, too many families are finding this out, that the chickens eventually come home to roost. I, as a former school board president and school board trustee who had to balance the budget every year know that you can't go on spending more money than you take in without some kind of disaster befalling you.

Unfortunately, what's happening in terms of the value of the dollar, in terms of our exporting jobs, in terms of foreign interests buying up pieces of the United States or corporations or infrastructure in the United States, in terms of our weakened markets, and volatile and declining markets, all these things have to do with the basic foundation, the underpinning of our country being massive debt.

The other thing about the President's budget that I was surprised to see and disappointed to see, it does nothing to fix the alternative minimum tax, or the AMT, a tax which was originally designed, when it first took effect in 1970, to affect only 155 households, the most wealthy, the most affluent households in America who were using tax loopholes to avoid paying any tax at all. Congress wrote, in the late 1960s, this bill which the AMT took effect in 1970, to hit the very top of the most wealthy people in the country.

Now because it was never indexed to inflation, it was never given a cost-of-living increase, it was never allowed to float as the cost of living and the average salaries and income in the country changed, that AMT has dipped every year deeper and deeper and deeper into the American tax-paying public and dramatically increasing the tax rate paid by millions of middle-class families who were never intended to be hit by the AMT, over 20 million of whom will be forced to pay it next year.

Without a permanent fix, half of all taxpayers in this country will pay this AMT that was originally designed to hit 155 of the wealthiest households in the country.

But the President does nothing to stop this. Instead, he calls for more than $1 trillion in tax cuts for the top 1 percent of all Americans.

Once again, we have 5 years in a row of record increases in the poverty rate, we have record increases in personal debt, we have record increases in national debt, we have record increases in our balance of trade deficit. Strangely enough, at the same time, I read in the paper that ExxonMobil has declared 40 point some billion dollars in profit, the largest single yearly corporate profit in the history of the world, breaking the previous record which was held by ExxonMobil themselves.

Some people in this economy and in this current fiscal and business financial scheme are doing very, very, very well and will continue to do very well. There are others, mainly the middle class and lower income Americans, who are being squeezed from all sides. Believe me, they are not being squeezed up, they are being squeezed down.

The middle class is having their options and their opportunities cut, whether it's the cost of sending their children to college, whether it's being the cost of purchasing health care for their families, the cost of property or property tax, the cost of fuel for their cars or for their homes. I mean, even the fact that the President in this budget slashed the low-income heating assistance program, LIHEAP, is scandalous.

At a time when we have families and seniors who are struggling to heat their homes in the northern parts of this country, I wouldn't have expected the President, a so-called compassionate conservative, to be so discompassionate as to cut heating assistance for low-income people in this current climate of economic uncertainty and astronomical fuel costs.

I would just say that I am happy to be here to discuss this, and, more importantly, to talk about how we are going to move to a real budget, not a fake budget that's based on some platitudes and some kind of ideological belief, some faith-based budgeting that has nothing to do with reality and nothing to do with the well-being of the American people.

Thank you, Mr. Yarmuth. I appreciate your leading this discussion. I also want to acknowledge my colleague from New York (Mr. Arcuri). Thank you for serving as Speaker pro tem during this period of time.

I'd just like to respond to Mr. Walz's comment about what kind of sense does it make for this cut in the water program in your district. Well, I can say it makes about as much sense as the President's completely eliminating the Byrne Grant program and the COPS program, both of which are vital to my district to provide cops, additional policemen on the streets in the 19th District of New York. It makes about as much sense as cutting the important programs that provide local and State law enforcement agencies with funds to fight terrorism and crime, including almost $140 million that were cut from bioterrorism preparedness. They make as much sense as the President cutting Medicare and Medicaid at a time when health insurance costs are skyrocketing, when more and more Americans are forced to live without health insurance. This budget cuts $200 billion out of health insurance from Medicare and Medicaid. At a time when we're facing one of the most damaging housing crises in our history with foreclosures and evictions due to the subprime mortgage crisis, it makes as much sense as this President cutting the Nation's largest rental assistance program. It makes as much sense, as I mentioned before, as cutting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by almost 25 percent, preventing people in the lower income segment of our economy from being able to heat their homes during the winter.

We were talking about your district. I'll talk about something specific to mine. We have, many of us think due to climate change, suffered from three 50-year floods in the last 3 years in the 19th District, the Delaware River, the Wallkill River, the Ten Mile River, all flooding farms, homes, businesses, golf courses, which might not sound too important, except they do employ people and they're a source of economic input into the local economy. And, but as importantly, lives were lost. In Congressman Hinchey's district in Sullivan County, there was a drastic, catastrophic flood shortly after the April 29 nor'easter, which was the third in 2007, the third in a row of our 50- year floods that came within 3 years.

So last year, when I was new, I was a freshman, wet behind the ears, just been sworn in for my first turn, we got into the appropriations process. And you know what it's like. People come into your office from different departments of the government asking to

have funding restored to these different important programs that have been cut by the administration. One of those who came to my office was the general who is the Army Corps of Engineers director of the Philadelphia district, which includes the Delaware watershed. Now, the Delaware Corps of Engineers offices go by watersheds, not by State lines or any kind of political jurisdictions. Her district, the general's, ran from Philadelphia up to Delaware and into New York from Pennsylvania and all the way up to the reservoirs that feed New York City's drinking water system. This is one of the rivers that has had, at that point in time, three 50-year floods in a short span. She came in to ask if I could help restore funding. And I said, well, what was it cut to? And she showed me in the President's budget it was cut to zero. It was a goose egg.

Now, flood control, in the days after Hurricane Katrina, we all know is a serious matter. This obviously is not a serious document any more than last year's budget was a serious document. This document is a fictitious document that is aimed at pretending to balance the budget in 2012. And we all know that can't be done. And, in fact, the general and others who have come from different departments to my office and others have said, off the record, that it's done with the knowledge that the Democratic majority will restore some of these funds at least to be able to keep the programs going and to protect people, and then we'll get blamed for being big spenders.

Well, in terms of being big spenders, I just want to bring out this chart which I happen to have here which shows the surplus that was the United States budget surplus when, in 2001, the Bush administration began its term. There was a $5.6 trillion surplus. In the time since then, there's red ink of $8.8 trillion, so that at this point in time we're at a $3.2 trillion deficit, including omitted items.

Now, we all know there are items that are not included in this. For instance, the war is off budget. We fought wars in the past, World War II or the Korean War or the Vietnam War, World War I, during which time people were asked to sacrifice. People were asked to pay for the war as they went.

This is a war that we're borrowing money to pay for, and Congressman Klein's chart that he showed before, of the increasing foreign ownership of our debt, I think, is really important and really interesting for several reasons. Obviously it's not healthy for us to have this much debt and to accumulate an ever-growing interest payment that eclipses anything we can do for education or for housing or for veterans or for homeland security and that we're going to pass on to our children and our grandchildren.

That's really unconscionable.

But the other thing that that does to have that kind of huge debt to the Chinese or to the Saudis or to the Mexican or Japanese Governments or investors from other countries is it loses our sovereignty when we can't talk to China about Darfur or when we can't talk to China honestly about human rights violations in their country or about the obliteration of the history of Tibet or about whether they're being as tough with North Korea about their nuclear problem as we want them to be or about lead in toys that are being imported for our children to play with or about contaminated food or animal feed or contaminated medicine. When we can't talk to the Saudis honestly about human rights violations in their country or about their funding of the madrasas, we have suffered what I call a loss of sovereignty. When you no longer can make honest, diplomatic, economic, military, international decisions or really state what is in your best interest because you are afraid that your hands are tied for want of getting a commodity from one place or the money to pay the debt off from another place, then you have lost some of your sovereignty.

And I'm telling you, in this country, the American people are not aware of the extent of it yet, but they better get aware of it because this is already a major factor in our foreign policy, but it will be more and more of a problem and restrict our options more and more in the future if we do not get back to a surplus in terms of our budget, if we don't get back to a surplus in the balance of trade, if we don't start producing things here. I, personally, am especially fond of the options of renewable energy technologies and high tech and computer and medical advances and so on that we have traditionally led the world in.

But we need to invest in education, we need to invest in these innovation approaches to technologies and especially to invest in new forms of energy to get us away from the billions of dollars a day that go to import oil.

But all of these things are our freedom, and they equate our future sovereignty. And I hope we make the right decisions, as opposed to the wrong decisions, that are embodied in this budget that the President just released so that our children and grandchildren will enjoy being a truly sovereign country and a leader in the world in these things rather than being subservient to whatever foreign interests happen to own our debt.

I would like to close by saying as college costs rise, this President eliminates programs to help pay low-income students for higher education. As health care costs rise, this budget proposes a significant cut in both Medicare and Medicaid. It actually cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, which would endanger the health and welfare of all Americans.

So to quote from this President Bush's father, the first President, Herbert Walker Bush, when he was responding to the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein, This will not stand. I will say, as far as this budget being brought to this Congress, this will not stand. It will be changed, and I hope the next time around on the floor of the House we will be talking about the positive changes that we've made to reflect the priorities of the American people which we were elected to espouse.

Mr. Speaker, times are rough right now. Signs of economic turmoil are multiplying, and we seem to be headed for, or already are in, a recession. Last week stock markets around the world dropped precipitously, and only an emergency rate change by the Federal Reserve prevented them from falling even farther.

The people I represent in the Hudson Valley have been particularly hard hit. Oil has passed the $100-a-barrel mark, making it more expensive than ever for people to heat their homes and drive their cars. In suburban communities in the Northeast, like the area I represent, home heating bills are up by more than 30 percent over last year.

Expenses are rising; wages are stagnating. As a result, families struggle to pay their everyday costs. Our debts increase and investment in our future plummets.

Congress must act quickly. I am proud that this Congress will pass legislation today to stimulate the economy to help people and businesses, but especially the working families who need it most.

Madam Speaker, regarding H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, I am disappointed that changes have been made from the bill passed in December which will weaken the ability of Americans tortured by Saddam Hussein to collect an award determined in federal court for the abuses of his regime. I am hopeful that this unfortunate circumstance will be remedied and that Congress and the President will find a way to ensure that these brave troops are able to pursue justice.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 2007 Celina Bobcat football team.

On December 22nd, 2007, the Celina Bobcats defeated the China Spring Cougars by a score of 21 to 14 to win the Class 3 AAA Division II State Championship at Texas Stadium. Under the leadership of Coach Butch Ford, the Bobcats finished the 2007 season with a perfect 16-0 record to claim a new state record 8th State Championship. This is a remarkable accomplishment that merits recognition.

With a record eight state titles and wins in two out of the last three championship games, the Bobcats have a heritage of excellence in football. This tradition of winning is proven by their historical rankings with more wins in the last 10, 20 and 40 years than any other team in Texas.

By halftime the Bobcats found themselves in their first halftime tie of the season with a close 7-7 game, and by the end of the third quarter it was still tied at 14-14. However, by the end of the fourth there was no doubt which team was champion. In a close game where every play counted, the Bobcats pulled ahead at the end to win by 7 points. This State Championship win marks another tremendous milestone in the continued excellence of Bobcat football, and I am proud of their accomplishment.

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate the Bobcat players as well as their coaches, trainer, cheerleaders, the Las Gatitas dance squad, band members, teachers, school administration, and other community supporters for their success in both championship and regular season play. I ask each of my colleagues to join me in honoring Celina High School in their record-breaking 8th State Championship.

Madam Speaker, first let me wish a happy and safe holiday to all our men and women in uniform who are serving here and abroad.

After watching the Department of Veterans Affairs face a $1 billion shortfall during a time of war, I came into this Congress convinced that if we had the money to fight a war, we must have the money to treat the warrior.

One of the first votes that this Congress took was to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. And one of our last votes of the year will be to provide $6.7 billion in new funding to the Department to ensure that our Nation's veterans get the care they have earned.

The way the government spends its money is a true indication of its priorities. With this appropriations bill, our new Congress has shown that America's veterans are a top priority.

Madam Speaker, the nineteenth district of New York is one of the districts in this country most affected by the AMT. Last year over 30,000 families in my district paid AMT. I wish we had the support in both the majority, and the minority, that we need to advance the major tax reform necessary to prevent the AMT from unfairly penalizing thousands of families in the Hudson Valley. The ``patch'' legislation that we considered today is the best legislation that we can pass at this time to prevent more families from being impacted by the AMT, and will ensure that an additional 70,000 families in my district alone will not be hit next year by the AMT.

I am proud that the Democratic Majority in the House of Representatives has twice passed a responsible AMT patch; offsetting the $50 billion in lost revenue from the AMT by eliminating tax loopholes for some of the richest people in the country, who choose to use offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. However, neither the President nor his allies in Congress are fiscally responsible. They will not accept any legislation that acts responsibly by ensuring that the cost of protecting working families from the AMT will not be borne by their grandchildren. I believe I was elected to Congress last year to help restore fiscal integrity to the Federal Government, and I stand by the numerous votes I have cast in support of a responsible Pay-Go system.

Although I am deeply disappointed that we will not be able to pass a version of AMT reform with a revenue offset this year. I am unwilling to let working families in my district suffer as a result of the President and the minority in Congress. That is why, despite its obvious inadequacies, I feel that I must support this bill. I am disappointed that we were forced to pass this bill by borrowing the resources to do so. As Congress continues its work in the future, I am committed to working to make sure our government operates within its means and respects the principle of fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, today this body did something that it failed to do last year under the previous majority by passing legislation to direct the spending of our Federal Government.

I am disappointed that the choice of the President and the minority to engage in confrontation and obstruction instead of cooperation and progress prevented us from more fully meeting America's needs in this bill. Despite their intransigence, we were able to pass a bill that began to reinvest in critical national priorities that had been neglected for too long. Priorities like life saving medical research, law enforcement, border and homeland security, K-12 education, college aid, needed infrastructure improvements, renewable energy, and energy efficiency. In addition to those steps, this bill lived up to the commitment of this Congress to keep our promises to America's veterans by providing $3.7 billion over the President's request for veterans' medical care, claims processing, and facility improvements.

I indicated when the House considered this legislation earlier this week that I believed this is not a perfect bill. However, I believe that the spending bill we approved on December 17, 2007, does a tremendous amount of good by funding key programs that will make America more secure and more prosperous. It makes necessary investments in America's future, and that is why I voted for it.

Unfortunately, the Senate has added funding for the war in Iraq without placing a time line for withdrawal. For that reason, I could not support the Senate version of the bill and voted against it.