Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in enthusiastic recognition of Sportsmen's Week in the House of Representatives.

Outdoor activities are important parts of the fabric of American life. As our Nation faces new environmental challenges, we can look to the historic commitment of sportsmen to conservation, wildlife management, and the preservation of open spaces to find guiding principles that will allow us to coexist with nature. The most famous embodiment of this tradition can be found in the tireless drive of President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman and hunter, to make conservation and harmonious existence with nature national priorities.

My home, New York's Hudson Valley, has been blessed by an abundance of natural beauty and wildlife. The tie between sportsmen and their natural surroundings there remains strong and makes a significant contribution to our quality of life.

Hunters and fisherman in the region, organized in groups like the Orange County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, are constantly engaged in a wide variety of activities to maintain and improve our environment and enhance local recreation. They include important educational programs that teach important hunting and fishing skills in addition to the safety courses needed to obtain licenses and hunt responsibly. Sportsmen also set an admirable example by establishing a respectful, mutually beneficial relationship with ecosystems and wildlife through seasonal restocking operations. They also work to ensure that the natural beauty of our Nation will be passed on to future generations by aggressively working to preserve open space and expand parkland.

All these activities have important social, economic, and environmental benefits, and it is only right that we acknowledge them here in the House of Representatives during Sportsmen's Week. I was proud to support Representative Gillibrand's resolution supporting the goals of National Hunting and Fishing Day, and am honored to recognize Sportsmen's Week in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, this week the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held two events that starkly presented the consequences of climate change and showed us the way forward to prevent them. Wildlife officials from Alaska showed pictures of polar bears and other species struggling to survive as the ice literally melts under their feet.

The committee heard the gripping testimony of Mayor Stanley Tocktoo, whose village of Shmirsha, Alaska, is literally being wiped away by climate change. He showed footage of severe storms that polar ice once used to defend his village from, hundreds of feet of shore line lost during a single storm, and homes collapsing into the sea.

We need to act to keep Shmirsha, Alaska, from being a harbinger for our communities around the continental United States. The next day, U.N. Special Envoys on Climate Change discussed how.

Secretary Ban gathered over 150 countries in the largest discussion ever of climate change, and they testified of the need to change energy policy and bring emissions under control.

We must act by passing the energy bill and taking real action on carbon control. The stakes are too high for soft, nonenforceable goals.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Act of 2007, which will simultaneously pay homage to the history of New York's Hudson Valley while helping to build a vibrant future for the region.

I would like to thank my colleague, Representative Hinchey, for his leadership in drafting and introducing this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the Hudson Valley has been a cradle of prosperity and a driver of growth and exploration in America since long before there was a United States of America. The character of the region, and the history of the nation, was strongly shaped by two separate voyages that occurred almost 400 years ago.

In July of 1609, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, having already founded the settlement of Quebec, arrived with a group of Native Americans at what would eventually be known as Lake Champlain. This expedition would lay the groundwork for the settlement of the Champlain valley by French colonists in the ``New World''.

The next month, Henry Hudson would begin the voyage aboard that Half Moon that would bring him into New York under the Dutch flag. His efforts to find a sea route to Asia on behalf of the Dutch East India Company travels would eventually take him up what is now the Hudson River almost to Albany. Hudson was to be the first European explorer to navigate and note the full length of the Hudson River, and along the way he noted the region's inherent beauty and engaged in trade with Native Americans.

By laying the groundwork for settlement and commerce in the region, these voyages would help establish a corridor for trade that helped to drive the prosperity of the ``New World'' and continues to be an economic engine of America.

Two centuries after those fateful journeys, the region was once again home to a breakthrough that would transform commerce and transportation throughout the continent. On August 17, 1807 Robert Fulton successfully sailed his steamboat from New York City to Albany in the first long- distance trip of such a vessel. This 32-hour long trip opened the gateway to a new means of trade and transportation.

The Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Act of 2007 will make sure that these events, and their contribution to the greatness of our nation, will be appropriately honored. By establishing the Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission the Hudson- Fulton 400th Commemoration Commission to plan and execute commemorative activities in the region, the bill honors the storied past of the Hudson Valley, will bring increased prosperity to the region, and perhaps open the door to the Corridor's next great adventure.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentlewoman from New York yield?

I thank the gentlelady and associate myself with my colleague's remarks and thank her for her leadership.

Indian Point's location in the most populated, most targeted area of the country, makes it absolutely critical that we take every step to secure the plant. I would reiterate my colleague's question, and ask the chairman if he would please work with us on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, the Bush administration's recent decision to reject New York's plan to provide health insurance for uninsured children is just another example of how out of touch the President is with the needs of the American people.

Last year, the number of uninsured children in the Nation increased to over 8.6 million, an increase of over 600,000 children. The State of New York has committed to decrease this number, starting with our lowest income families. However, the onerous conditions placed by this administration are threatening to thwart New York's efforts.

That any Americans have no health insurance is a travesty; that so many do is a tragedy of the highest proportion.

Providing our children with health care is protecting America's future. It is difficult to imagine why the President wants to stop New York from protecting the health of its children. But this decision suggests just that. We must not allow this to stand. I am committed to working with my colleagues to do what must be done to overturn this misguided decision.

Madam Speaker, General Petraeus is a good man and an excellent soldier, and the MoveOn advertisement's personal attack on the general was completely inappropriate. I respect the brave service, commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who wear the uniform and would never disparage them. It is disappointing that the general and the rest of our troops have been put in an impossible position by the failed policies of President Bush and I continue to believe the United States should wind down its involvement in Iraq, help bolster the Afghanistan government, and eliminate bin Laden and those who did attack us on September 11th.

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and my colleagues from New York for carrying this important legislation forward.

Mr. Speaker, Tuesday marks the sixth-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. September 11 is truly a dark day in America's history and a personal tragedy for those who lost family and friends in the attacks.

But out of that dark day, however, we saw the spirit of the American people. Immediately following the attack, people around the country lined up to donate blood and raised money for the victims' families. Every congressional district and every State saw people, first responders and just ordinary citizens, get on planes and get in cars to rush to Ground Zero to help work on the remains of the World Trade Center.

In New York, first responders, many of whom lived in my district, rushed into the burning World Trade Center towers to save whomever they could. Immediately after the attacks, we saw firefighters, police and volunteers line up and work 24-hour shifts sorting through the rubble looking for survivors.

And when it was clear that no one would come out of that rubble alive, those responders remained at the scene determined that no one would be left behind in the rubble.

Whenever a body was removed, the stirring sight of everyone coming to a stop and honoring and showing their respect to the flag-covered body as it was removed is an image that will stay with all of us as we move forward through our history.

Slowly we came to realize that those magnificent people who worked at Ground Zero were being exposed to harmful toxins, with significant risks to their health. Despite the heroic acts of our first responders, National Guard reservists and even volunteers, the Federal Government has failed 6 years later to provide comprehensive medical screening and medical care to those who were injured in service to our country at Ground Zero. We have failed to provide a comprehensive plan to monitor and treat those who lived and work in the immediate areas around Ground Zero even after we realized that the air they were breathing might be toxic.

Earlier this year I had graduates of Stuyvesant High School in New York City come and ask for my support in providing health care for themselves and their classmates because of the medical problems they had encountered after 9/11.

Despite assurances that their school was safe and the air was clean, when they returned less than a month after the attacks, multiple students from Stuyvesant have faced serious health care issues, including Amit Friedlander, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and has been battling the cancer.

The Federal Government made a serious mistake and exposed these children and young adults to dangerous toxins. It is well past time that we correct this mistake and provide the care these children and volunteers need.

That is why I am proud to say I will be an original cosponsor of the Maloney-Nadler-Fossella 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This bill will take a vital step towards providing the care those affected at 9/ 11 deserve. It is my hope and belief that the New York delegation will unite around this bill and the House of Representatives will unite to act on its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairwoman Velazquez for doing such a wonderful job ushering this bill through her committee and onto the House floor today. America's small business community could not ask for a better ally and friend

in this body than the chairwoman of the Small Business Committee.

I am pleased today that H.R. 2992, the SBA Trade Programs Act of 2007, is being considered on the House Floor. As in many parts of the country, the small businesses in New York's Hudson Valley are the engine that drives our economy, and their success is vital to the prosperity of our communities. In our increasingly shrinking world, being successful throughout the global economy has taken on a vitally important role. As a result, it is crucial that all businesses, including small businesses, have a level playing field in international trade.

Unfortunately, by their very nature small businesses do not have the same opportunities to take part in international trade that their larger competitors do. They are smaller and less able to take advantage of the economy of scale. Many simply do not have the capital or the logistical capability to devote to the cause. Most of the small businesses in my district are located only a few miles from New York City, the world's greatest international hub, and yet they often do not have the capacity to take advantage of that location. Today, with this bill, we hope to change that.

The SBA Trade Programs Act we have considered directs the Small Business Administration's Office of International Trade to take a number of steps specifically designed to help small businesses have a greater opportunity to take part in international trade. It instructs the OIT to capitalize on its relationship with the US Trade Representative and international organizations to develop and implement trade policies to support small businesses. This will enable small businesses to take advantage of the system we have created for bigger companies and has proven so helpful to American businesses.

It orders the OIT to establish an annual trade strategy for small businesses, which includes specific ideas on ways to increase competitiveness, better protect small businesses from unfair trade practices, increase small business' exports, and expand the representation of small businesses in creating and defining trade policy.

It provides small businesses with technical assistance in trade remedy investigations and dispute cases, two places where small businesses have long been at a disadvantage as they often do not have the financial capacity or manpower to deal with multiple jurisdictional issues.

The bill calls on the OIT to design comprehensive services to assist small businesses adjust to global climate conditions and increase loans and loan guarantees to small business exporters. By increasing loan availability small businesses will have greater access to the capital required for successful international business opportunities. And the assistive services will better enable small businesses to adapt to the differing tastes and desires of foreign markets.

This bill will provide assistance for businesses that require legal resources to help secure intellectual property protection. It will also expand eligibility requirements for international trade loans to include intellectual property violations as well as other trade practices with negative financial repercussions. These provisions are especially relevant because intellectual property remains one of our country's most important exports. Yet the extent and scope of their protection varies significantly from country to country. Any company looking to protect their intellectual property must be aware of the protections offered, and not offered; in each jurisdiction in which they have a presence. This bill will provide the appropriate resources so that America's small businesses can protect, and if need be, defend their intellectual property rights.

Mr. Speaker. This is an important bill. It is a bill that will provide a significant benefit to America's small businesses and open doors to them have been shut for far too long. I urge every member of the House to support it. Once again, I thank Chairwoman Velazquez and the rest of the small business committee for such great work in bringing this bill to the floor.

Madam Speaker, in the interest of national security, I reluctantly voted in favor of H.R. 3356, the Improving Foreign Intelligence Surveillance to Defend the Nation and the Constitution Act of 2007. Although I ultimately supported this bill, I am concerned that this bill provided expanded authority to the Attorney General, who I believe has previously violated U.S. law regarding the FISA courts and has breeched the trust of the American people. If this were a permanent change to law, I would have voted against it because I believe provisions of this bill could be abused and allow the Attorney General to authorize wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant. Since it expires in 120 days, I am willing to support it as a stop-gap measure. Should we hear any evidence that the Attorney General or any other administration official has blatantly abused provisions of H.R. 3356, I will call for and support aggressive investigations into their actions.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I stand in strong support of this amendment.

I stand here speaking for my constituents at the Mount Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange County, New York, whose right-of-way to their church, a pillar of their community, will be cut off by the 130- foot-high tower for a power line that will be stuck in their driveway.

I stand here speaking for the owner of the Otisville, New York, hardware store, another mainstay of the community, and for his customers and his employees whose store will be leveled to put a tower there for the transmission line because they are running it literally down Main Street in patriotic, hardworking, taxpaying, all-American town of Otisville, New York.

Only one of the many stories of the NYRI power line, one of these supposedly national interest electric transmission corridors. In the name of property rights and in the name of States' rights and in the name of due process and protecting ordinary Americans from having their rights run over by some distant Federal agency that they don't understand, I plead for support of this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, when Democrats took control of Congress in January, we vowed to make some changes around here. The American people were rightfully disgusted by several examples of unethical behavior that made this entire institution look bad. The Senate and House have now reconciled differences between two different lobbying reform bills passed earlier this year. Today, the House will give final approval to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.

The bill requires greater transparency of lobbyists so they are more accountable to the American people. Specifically, the bill requires lobbyists to file their lobbying activities in an electronic database that is accessible to the public. It also ends the K Street Project by prohibiting Members of Congress and their staff from attempting to influence employment decisions in exchange for political access.

Mr. Speaker, congressional Democrats said we were going to change the way business is done here, and today we will deliver on that promise by passing the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act.

Madam Speaker, National Purple Heart Recognition Day is August 7, 2007. This year, we celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Badge of Military Merit. This medal, the forerunner of the modern Purple Heart, was designed by GEN George Washington in his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, in the Hudson River Valley.

The badge, given for ``any singularly meritorious Action,'' was the ``figure of a Heart in Purple Cloth or Silk edged with narrow Lace or Binding to be worn on the uniform coat above the left breast.''

After falling into disuse after the Revolutionary War, GEN Douglas MacArthur had a new medal designed based on the Badge of Military Merit. This medal, the modern Purple Heart, was awarded for meritorious action or for receiving a wound in combat with the enemy.

Since that time, more than 1.5 million people have received the Purple Heart. These men and women sacrificed for our country. Many never came home. The Purple Heart recognizes their sacrifice and their service protecting the rights and liberties we enjoy at home.

National Purple Heart Recognition Day serves to remind the country of those who have suffered injury or death in the defense of our country. It is always right to remember and honor those who have sacrificed, and this resolution encourages Americans to learn more about the history of the Purple Heart and its recipients.

This year, on National Purple Heart Recognition Day, recipients and their families will come together at the Purple Heart Hall of Honor in the town of New Windsor at the New Windsor Cantonment site in the Hudson River Valley of New York, in New York's 19th Congressional District, which I am proud to represent, and Orange County, a county which the aforementioned Congressman Gilman represented so ably. There, they will recognize the anniversary of the Badge of Military Merit, the 75th anniversary of the Purple Heart, and, most importantly, the price that the recipients and their families have paid protecting our country.

I ask that the House pass this resolution to recognize those who will gather in New Windsor on August 7 to honor the sacrifices and suffering of Purple Heart recipients and their families and to remember those who paid the ultimate price and are no longer with us

Mr. Chairman, I thank the Chairman and rise to offer an amendment to help farmers in regions across the country simultaneously meet the goals of continued production and environmental protection.

My amendment would establish a Conservation on Muck Soils program that would provide conservation assistance tailored to the specific needs of farmers who grow crops on what is known as muck soil.

In politics I know we hear a lot about wallowing in the partisan muck or muckraking, but I'm sure that some of my colleagues are scratching their heads and asking, ``What exactly is muck soil?'' Well, muck is a special type of dirt that develops a thick organic layer of topsoil that is highly vulnerable to erosion when the lands are exposed to air. It's extremely fertile, loose soil in which farmers grow crops like onions, potatoes, lettuce, celery, and other specialty crops.

Mr. Chairman, I am very supportive of the conservation programs administered by the USDA. They make an important contribution by making it economically feasible for farmers to manage their land while being environmentally responsible. In States like my home of New York, they are critical to making sure that farmers aren't penalized for doing the right thing. I'm extremely pleased by the increases in conservation program levels under this bill, and I'm sure that they'll make these programs more accessible and effective.

However, they are broad programs built to accommodate a wide array of conditions. Because of muck's special characteristics, existing conservation programs don't necessarily provide support to growers on these lands in the most efficient, effective way possible. My amendment would attempt to acknowledge the nature of this soil with a tailored approach that improves on the current application of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

The CREP program is a good program. It attempts to further the important goals of preventing soil erosion and protecting water quality through a voluntary retirement program. In order to obtain conservation payments, the CREP program requires farmers to enter into 10-15 year agreements to remove qualifying land from agricultural production.

As I said, this is a good program but it does not always present an adequate conservation solution, particularly for farmers who want to prevent soil erosion or runoff pollution without foregoing production.

At times, this aspect of the program has created unintended consequences, including the retirement of specialized, productive soil from farming and a lack of land maintenance leading to weed and pest threats on neighboring lands.

My amendment would address these concerns and help muck soil farmers remain viable by providing support for conservation activities on working lands.

In addition to being actively involved in farming on muck soil, in order to qualify farmers would have to have a spring cover crop planted with the primary crop to prevent soil erosion, maintain a winter cover crop to prevent off season soil loss, have surrounding ditch banks seeded with grass on a year round basis to stave off runoff and erosion.

These are practices specifically designed to prevent erosion, runoff, and water pollution. By doing so, it would not force farmers to make the choice between conservation and cultivation.

Mr. Chairman, the COMS program would provide a unique opportunity to support active farmers and protect the environment. That's why it has been endorsed by the New York Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union. I urge support for the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote from James Madison, chief author of the Constitution, from remarks he wrote on April 20, 1795, which sound as though they could have been written today.

``Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it compromises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

``In war, too, the discretionary power of the executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people. This same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals engendered in both. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual war. War is, in fact, the true nurse of executive aggrandizement.''

Madam Speaker, when the Democrats won control of Congress in November, we committed to raising the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years and to provide tax relief to our small businesses.

Today's increase in the Federal minimum wage marks a concrete step that this new Congress is taking to provide greater opportunity and prosperity for all working Americans. The considerable small business tax relief that was passed along with the minimum wage increase reflects a broader American agenda to expand our economy and give small businesses more room to grow and succeed. This relief includes allowing small businesses larger tax reductions, making it easier to expand and provide better services, and specific relief from the AMT.

I am proud that the State of New York has already been a leader in providing workers with a living wage, and the raise that goes into effect today will put our businesses in New York on a level playing field with the rest of the country.