Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. Ron Gettelfinger who is retiring from his role as president of the United Auto Workers after years of outstanding service.

Mr. Gettelfinger has spent his entire career in the auto industry. His union involvement began in 1964 with his first job at Ford's truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky as a line repairman. There he was elected committee member, bargaining chair and president for the plant. After excelling in these roles he soon moved on to be elected president of his local union in 1984. With diligence, hard work and constant concern for his fellow worker, Mr. Gettelfinger quickly rose through the union ranks, serving 6 years as director of UAW region 3 until his election as the UAW Vice President in 1998. Mr. Gettelfinger's career as UAW president began with his election in 2002, and was reconfirmed in 2006.

At 65, Mr. Gettelfinger is retiring, following a longstanding union precedent that asks union presidents not run for reelection beyond this age. He will long be remembered for his dedication to his fellow workers, whom he warmly refers to as his ``brothers'' and ``sisters.'' We can only hope that future presidents will share his inspiring work ethic and thoughtful concern for those whom he was charged to represent.

Mr. Speaker, I want to again offer congratulations to Mr. Ron Gettelfinger for his tenure as UAW president and to wish him the best of luck as he moves onward from his post.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure and honor to welcome Reverend Byron Brought to Congress this morning. Reverend Brought is retiring this month after serving the Maryland community for more than 40 years as a spiritual leader and mentor.

Since 1992, Reverend Brought has served as Senior Pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to his appointment at Calvary, he presided over several United Methodist ministries in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. His many accomplishments include serving on various community councils, including terms as President of the Baltimore-Washington Conference Board of Pensions and the Council on Finance and Administration.

Reverend Brought is the proud husband of Mary Kay, father to two children, and grandfather to soon to be four grandchildren. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join with me in congratulating Reverend Brought on a career of dedication and service.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, literacy is a fundamental building block for individuals to thrive in our society and in a constantly changing world. Literacy can have an impact on an individual's ability to be self-sufficient, and it is essential in overcoming social and economic barriers. Low literacy skills, on the other hand, are associated with poor health, lower income levels, and social exclusion.

Braille is an internationally recognized method of reading and writing for the blind community and is the key to literacy. It provides the blind community with the tools they need to succeed and to improve their lives. Yet braille literacy has declined to 10 percent in the United States compared to 50 percent in the 1960s.

House Resolution 1034, which I was proud to introduce and which has cosponsorship among both Republicans and Democrats, recognizes the importance of braille for success and adult independence. Studies show that braille literacy leads to higher educational levels, better employment, and increased financial independence. While 70 percent of blind adults face unemployment, 85 percent of those who are employed are able to read and write braille fluently.

I am pleased to have worked with the National Federation of the Blind in developing this resolution that calls attention to the need for a renewed commitment to braille literacy. The National Federation of the Blind, which is the Nation's largest blind membership organization and is headquartered in my congressional district, helps blind persons achieve self-confidence and self-respect, and it acts as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind community. The NFB has been a champion of braille literacy over the years, and I would like to congratulate them on their efforts.

Mr. Speaker, literacy provides individuals with basic life skills that can lead to access to higher educational opportunities and economic success. By promoting literacy within all communities, we can help our Nation and its citizens reach their full potential. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this resolution.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I just wanted to commend my colleague, Congressman Altmire, for introducing this resolution to designate the week beginning May 2 as National Physical Education and Sport Week.

Today, the President is going to be launching at Bell Multicultural High School in Columbia Heights, here in

the District of Columbia, the President's Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition, which expands on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which has been in place since the Kennedy administration, the Eisenhower administration. It brings the kind of focus to physical fitness and sports and nutrition that Congressman Altmire has signaled with this resolution.

Again, I commend him for bringing that attention to this issue, and I urge support of this resolution.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This amendment, amendment number 47, I believe, in the queue, would bring standards of good government and good government practice to procurement across the Federal agencies. What it does, in fact, is it takes a set of standards that has been put in place already with respect to the Department of Defense as a result of the DOD authorization bill of 2008, as well as standards that were built into appropriations bills applying to other agencies over the last couple of years, and it makes it clear that those are going to be authorized standards going forward to apply to non-DOD agencies as well now as to DOD agencies.

As many people know, over the last few years, the impulse to contract services out on the part of the Federal Government went too far. And in fact, studies have demonstrated that, for example, the Department of Defense's service contractor workforce grew from 732,000 in 2000 to 1.3 million in 2006, a huge increase. And this kind of phenomenon was not limited to the Department of Defense. We saw it in other agencies--the Department of Homeland Security and other places across the Federal workforce.

Secretary Gates, recognizing that things have gone too far in this direction, is looking for a better balance and has already declared that DOD will examine this reliance on contractors and begin to bring more of a balance back into the equation. So what this amendment would do is take that same approach, those same standards and apply them across the board to non-DOD agencies.

It includes a number of provisions. Very briefly, I will go over those.

The first is it would close a loophole that allowed certain work performed by Federal employees to be contracted out without determining whether in fact that would result in any savings. Well, that's the kind of analysis that needs to be done. And so we would close that loophole.

It would create a contractor inventory. Right now we don't really have a sense of which contracts are out there, what kind of outsourcing has been done. We need to get a handle on that, have an inventory, so we can make better decisions and informed judgements going forward.

It would also seek to bring some analysis as to when it's appropriate to bring back in-house some of these functions and operations that have been outsourced according to very reasonable and rational standards.

And the last thing it would do is improve oversight and transparency. It would prevent any agency from establishing arbitrary quotas or targets or numerical goals with respect to what should be outsourced or not. In other words, what this seeks to do is bring a rational analysis back to whether something should be outsourced or not outsourced. It doesn't try to tilt the presumption in one direction or another. It just says let's look at this on a careful basis and determine when it makes sense, when it can generate savings, when it's a good thing for the Federal Government to do, and when it may not be such a good thing to do.

So I urge support of this amendment because I do believe it will bring commonsense good government provisions back into the mix and will make those permanent for all government agencies across the board.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time is remaining?

I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch).

I yield the balance of my time to my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Lynch for yielding his time. I want to thank him for his support of this very important bill. Also, Congressman Gerry Connolly is going to speak, I believe, and he has been very supportive. We have bipartisan support on this bill. I think it is a commonsense approach, and I am delighted that we have it on the floor today.

We have been working for some time to try to strengthen the telecommuting/telework policy across our Federal agencies, and this legislation will make sure that we have a good, strong policy in place. For starters, it's going to instruct the Office of Personnel Management to develop a uniform, governmentwide telework policy for Federal employees. We haven't had this in place before. We've had agencies that have pursued telework, some with great success, but we haven't had a uniform approach and emphasis on telework in all of our Federal agencies, and OPM will make sure that that happens.

I want to say, as an aside, that John Berry, who is the new head of the Office of Personnel Management, is totally on board with this. He's really on the leading edge, and he's as excited as we are that this legislation is on the floor today.

This is really about good government. There is information--in fact, the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service has released a study that indicates that within the next 5 years, approximately 550,000 Federal employees--which is almost 30 percent of the Federal workforce--is going to retire or leave government and we need the best and the brightest folks to come in and take their place. That's a responsibility that we have. We need to be competing in the workplace and in the market for the most talented people. One way that you do that is to show that you have flexible policies and that telework is part and parcel of the Federal workplace.

Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Defense Information Systems Agency, and some other agencies have really led the way. They have made this state of the art within their workplace, telework, and they're showing what can be done at the highest levels. We believe other agencies can come to the table and demonstrate the same thing.

It is going to improve productivity. In those agencies where this has been implemented well and across the board, you are seeing productivity go up, not just among the people that are teleworking, but across the entire workforce, because it is a cultural shift in terms of how performance is measured.

All of my colleagues have already mentioned the continuity of operations dimension of this, which was illustrated in ways that could hardly have been more compelling by the snowstorms that we experienced in February. Because there was telework within some of the Federal agencies, they were able to save a tremendous amount of money in terms of lost productivity. So we're very excited about this opportunity.

Just some other details of the legislation I would like to mention before I yield back:

The appointment of a telework managing officer within each agency to be the point person, to be the resource to make sure that the policy is in front of the employees at that agency so they understand what kind of opportunities are available to them;

Training and education for both supervisors and employees;

Governmentwide evaluation on a periodic basis. The Government Accountability Office will be part of that to make sure that we are moving towards these telework compliance goals that are being set forth.

So we're excited about this opportunity, we look forward to our Federal agencies embracing this new policy and taking telework to the next level.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Instructional Leadership Act of 2010, which will strengthen schools by helping principals to become instructional leaders.

With the passage of No Child Left Behind, NCLB, school principals often find themselves with greater responsibilities. They are accountable for student achievement and the broader goals of NCLB but they lack the appropriate training and resources needed to accomplish these goals. It is time to bring equal attention to developing programs that train principals on the best practices to guide teaching and learning in schools.

The Instructional Leadership Act of 2010 provides grants to State and local educational agencies to drive gains in academic achievement for all children by: (1) Creating innovative programs and sites to train principals in instructional leadership skills including developing a school vision, staff development, and effective instructional practices; (2) Developing pilot programs to evaluate the incorporation of standards of instructional leadership into State principal certifications; and (3) Establishing state-of-the-art principal induction programs that provide mentoring and on-the-job training for new principals.

This legislation is strongly supported by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, NASSP. It represents a necessary first step towards developing the next generation of school leaders who are committed to, and effective in, increasing student achievement. I urge support for this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for official U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide. Notable scholars and historians who recognize the Armenian genocide include the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity whose findings are supported by 53 Nobel Laureates. Yet, in the face of all the evidence, Turkey presses on, exporting a legacy of genocide denial, a legacy it continues to enforce within its own borders.

Many of my colleagues express sympathy for the genocide victims but are hesitant to vote for recognition. Turkey's relentless lobbying campaign, which threatens retaliation should the U.S. recognize this historical reality, has had its intended effect. Some Members of Congress worry that recognition will cause irreparable harm to U.S.- Turkish relations and therefore undermine the United States' strategic interests. ``It's just not a good time'' is a common refrain. That excuse is always available, but it is a wholly inadequate excuse.

For the sake of its core values and in true furtherance of its strategic interests, the United States must take a deep breath, look its ally, Turkey, in the eye and recognize this tragic episode of the modern era to be an unambiguous fact of history.

I thank my colleague for yielding, and I appreciate him for convening this discussion this evening on jobs in general. And I would like to focus, as you mentioned, on green jobs in particular.

You mentioned the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which, when you look at it, was really the first major down payment and investment that we've had in this country really ever in this kind of green technology, which is going to jump, I believe, over time will jump the economy forward in a significant way.

One of the things all of the economists agree on is we're in a transitional phase. There are industries and jobs that once existed in plenty that are now going to be transitioned to a new place, and we have to create new economic frontiers and new space to create these new jobs. There is no better place to do that than with a green economy.

One of the things that excites me the most, I must tell you, is that I believe if we can get a new energy framework in place--and we certainly made our efforts here in the House to do that with the American Clean Energy and Security Act and other efforts that have been undertaken--if we create a new energy framework, new rules of the road for what investments in clean technology can mean, then what you're going to see is businesses all across this country, investors, are going to start putting their investments into clean technology.

Right now they are kind of hanging back a little bit because they don't know what the rules of the road are yet. They don't know how to measure that investment in a new technology in a renewable energy source, for example, against traditional investments. If we can get a framework in place for them, I think they will come and they will fill that space. So you will see entrepreneurs and businesspeople jumping into that space and creating these new clean technologies.

The other thing you will see--and all of this will result in job creation. The other thing you will see is ordinary citizens stepping into that space. One of the things I perceive, there is a

growing trend among our citizenry to become stakeholders in this green revolution, to take personal ownership of cleaning up the environment and thinking of things that they can do right at the household level, right there in their own homes, right there in their own neighborhoods.

One particular effort that I am very interested in, and I have introduced legislation to this effect, has to do with these programs called PACE programs. PACE is an acronym for Property Assessed Clean Energy program. What these are is a local municipality will decide to borrow funds and make those available to local homeowners so that those homeowners can borrow that money and then invest it in retrofitting their homes to make them more energy efficient. And there is actually legislation moving through the Congress right now that would create two new categories--Silver Star and Gold Star, under a Home Star umbrella-- of energy efficiency to try to encourage people to achieve these high standards of green technology and energy efficiency in their own homes.

What the PACE programs do is make these loans available to a homeowner who can then take that, invest it in upgrading and retrofitting, you know, their HVAC system or whatever it may be, and then the repayment on that becomes part of the property tax payment over time, so it runs with the house. Then the next homeowner that comes in takes that obligation and continues to pay on the property tax.

The bill that I have introduced attempts, as many other initiatives do, to try to facilitate this more by making the bonds that can be issued by municipalities tax free. That makes them more attractive to investors, who will then begin to provide the capital for this kind of retrofitting, and they can turn around and make it available to homeowners. So it's a win/win.

Well, we are gathering up cosponsorship for the bill. And I appreciate your comments, because this is designed to kind of jump this movement forward.

There are communities in the municipalities across the country that have begun to put these PACE programs in place. Annapolis, Maryland, which I represent, is another one. And what we are trying to do is create a more inviting environment for these sorts of programs. This is just one example of how we can partner with good legislation and good initiatives and good leverage coming from the legislation here. We can partner with the citizenry out there in our communities to do the right thing and to get back to the jobs priority.

If we begin to get homeowners making these kinds of changes, that is going to have a tremendous positive impact on all of those businesses, a lot of them small businesses who are in a position to do this kind of retrofit.

Let me give you another example, and I appreciate again your comments, because I think they are right on the mark. Let me give you another example of where the ordinary citizen can take ownership of the problem, can really become part of the solution to these issues and these challenges that we have.

I represent a lot of the area that, you know, thinks every day when we get up about the Chesapeake Bay, which is a national treasure. In fact, I think there are 41 or 42 Members of Congress who have districts that include tributaries that flow into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. So there are a lot of folks who have a stake in the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

One of the things we are wrestling with is storm water runoff. You know, every time you see it rain, on the one hand you know it's making the flowers grow, and on the other hand you know that it's sweeping up a lot of oils and other toxins and putting those into the Chesapeake Bay, because we can do better in terms of the way we collect and disburse that rainwater so that it doesn't have such a negative impact on the bay.

I just did want to mention, one of our colleagues, Donna Edwards, Congresswoman Donna Edwards from Maryland, has introduced something called the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act. What this recognizes is that we need to really explore and develop technologies that can address this storm water runoff, and the term she is using for that is ``green infrastructure.''

This bill would create five centers of excellence across the country to begin to develop these technologies and help communities respond to this important challenge. Again, if you can help communities do this, ordinary citizens take ownership at that level of what's happening to the environment, in my case and Donna's, what's happening to the Chesapeake Bay, they become a critical part of the solution and they generate an interest in new technologies, which, in turn, generates jobs. It is all a part of this kind of leading edge, using the environment as the leading edge of a new economy that can produce new jobs for future generations, and that's what's so exciting about this.

We are in a terrific place now where we have the opportunity not just to do the right thing for the environment but, at the same time, to create a tremendous number of jobs and economic opportunities for the workforce out there. It's a wonderful alignment, and it's one that we need to take advantage of with smart legislation.

I want to thank my colleague for yielding and for introducing the Ocean, Coastal, and Watershed Education Act, H.R. 3644, and for working to maintain the Bay-Watershed Education and Training programs, watershed approach for environmental education.

In my own State of Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay B-WET was the first B-WET that was established for the country, and it serves as a national model of watershed-based environmental education.

Earlier this fall, I was pleased to join with Congressmen Kratovil and Wittman to introduce and then see passage in the full House of Representatives legislation that reauthorizes the Chesapeake Bay B-WET program.

The bill before us will codify other existing B-WET programs around the country and provide NOAA the authority to create new B-WETs in various watersheds throughout the country and the territories. So I want to again thank Congresswoman Capps for her leadership.

One of the things that this does, this education and training for the next generation, is that it encourages our kids to become comfortable with science; to look at the world through an empirical lens; to make decisions based on data and facts, not just opinion. And that's a skill that we really need to encourage in the next generation.

It occurs to me as we talk about this health care bill, I wish more people would be bringing a lens of empiricism and fact-based review to the health care bill, because if you look at the health care bill through that lens, if you look at the facts of this health care bill, then it is clear why it responds to all of the grievances that so many Americans have had with the current health care system for decades.

Fact: Not only does it pay for itself, it reduces the deficit. So this suggestion that somehow it's not being paid for is misplaced. Not only does it pay for itself, but over the next 10 years, the independent Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, has projected that there will be savings and a reduction to the deficit of about $132 billion. And then in the next 10 years they've projected that it will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion. So all those people out there that want to reduce the deficit, this is your bill. The health care bill is a major vehicle for accomplishing that. That's fact number one.

Fact number two: It's going to make Medicare stronger--not weaker-- because it's going to crack down on fraud and abuse. It's going to take those savings and--this is another piece of misinformation that's going on, that somehow the savings we're taking from Medicare are going to go off into the ether. We're taking the savings from Medicare, and we're actually putting them right back into the Medicare program by closing the doughnut hole, by making available to our seniors primary care opportunities and preventive care measures that currently they have to pay out of pocket for. But now, because it makes a lot of sense, those things will be covered. So we're taking the savings, we're putting it right back into the Medicare program.

Fact number three: Thirty-two million people who today do not have health insurance coverage, when this bill is passed, will be on their way to getting that coverage. Ninety-five percent of Americans will be covered ultimately when the provisions of this bill take full force. In fact, the last fact I'd just like to point out, which is this, is finally, after decades in which the health insurance industry has pretty much run the show--it's been a health insurance industry takeover of the health care system in America. That's who's taking over the health care system, the private health insurance industry. This bill finally fights back against the health insurance industry and says no longer will you discriminate against people based on preexisting conditions, no longer will you terminate their coverage right at the moment when they need it most.

Finally, instead of us living in your world, by your rules, you're going to start living in our world by our rules. That's what this health care bill accomplishes. And that's why we're ready to support it.

Again, I want to thank my colleague for her work on the B-WET, and I strongly support that bill as well.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 1255.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor the 189th anniversary of Greek Independence Day. We are also celebrating today Greece's entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which is a strong affirmation of the close ties between our two nations.

The American people and the people of Greece have been united by common values from the very beginning. Democracy, liberty, freedom, and the idea that the individual should have a say in the workings of society are the values we share and are the foundations upon which both of our great nations have been built and have prospered.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that Greece and the United States have stood by each other's side in every major struggle. After all, our two great nations are the historical pillars of democracy: Greece as creator and America as promoter.

By passing this resolution today, we commemorate the struggle of the Greek people to secure their freedom and to establish the modern Hellenic Republic.

Today, as we know, Greece is facing particularly difficult challenges. Yesterday, as part of his 4-day visit to the United States, the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou, delivered an address at the Brookings Institution in which he described those challenges and emphasized the important role the United States can play in ensuring that global speculators do not take further advantage of what remains a very fluid situation.

America and Greece must stand together to ensure that the global economic system is restored, to support European democracy, and to foster peace and prosperity around the globe. We are strong allies and are up to the task. In that spirit, our country today congratulates Greece on the celebration of its independence, and we look forward to strengthening our mutual ties in the days to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the bipartisan National Discovery Trails Act of 2010. This legislation seeks to connect existing trails, greenways, and country roads to form the American Discovery Trail a unique coast-to-coast, non-motorized, multi- use trail accessible to urban and rural areas alike all across the country.

Americans have utilized our nation's trail system for more than 40 years for outdoor recreation, exercise, historic study, and general enjoyment of the natural beauty this country has to offer. The American Discovery Trail will connect people to small towns, historic sites and natural wonders along a coast-to-coast route. It will provide millions of people greater access to a trail system that can be utilized for two hours, two days, two weeks, two months or longer giving users the flexibility to explore the trail for as much or as little time as they want. Numerous studies have shown that the presence of trails and greenway corridors positively impact quality of life, but also real estate property values, small businesses, tourism, and even some corporate relocations.

The National Trails System currently has two categories of significant long-distance trails. The first category is the National Historic Trail, which are famous historic routes, such as the Santa Fe Trail, Pony Express Trail, and the Lewis & Clark Trail. The second category is the National Scenic Trail, which are classic wilderness- only routes meant for hiking far from civilization, such as the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail.

The National Discovery Trails Act of 2010 would add a third long- distance national trails category called National Discovery Trails. National Discovery Trails would tie together historic and scenic trails and connect them with population centers from small towns to big cities in a way that will increase access to and awareness of our national trail system.

The legislation would also designate the American Discovery Trail as the first National Discovery Trail. The American Discovery Trail route--the first non-motorized way to cross the entire country--would utilize already existing right-of-ways on public land. It would be a patchwork quilt of the country's east-west pathways, including National Park hiking trails, National Forest logging roads, sections of historic routes, historic canal towpaths, rails-to-trails conversions, state and county park trails, country roads, small town sidewalks, and big city greenways--all stitched together to form one trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The National Park Service supported creation of the National Discovery Trail designation in a comprehensive feasibility study in 1996.

Madam Speaker, it is time to expand the national trails system and establish American Discovery Trails, linking community to community and providing trail users the opportunity to journey into the heart of all that is uniquely American--its culture, heritage, landscape, and spirit. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, in the last few weeks, I have been going around my district visiting main streets and talking to small businesses, and they have been appreciative of the efforts we have made with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

But they recognize something else, and that is, even if the economy begins to come back, and we hope that that's happening, they understand that as small businesses, they're still grappling with the high cost of purchasing health insurance coverage. In fact, if you look at the 45 million Americans who currently lack insurance coverage in this country, about 28 million of them are employed by small businesses or are the proprietors of small businesses.

That's why I'm glad that the President's health care proposal building on the ideas in this Chamber addresses this important grievance that small businesses have and is designed to give them more access to an affordable health insurance market. That is absolutely critical for their long-term economic stability.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I strongly support the Kanjorski-Frank-Sarbanes-Cohen amendment to the bill. This would restore critical investor protections for those who invest in publicly traded companies. And what are those? Number one, that the management establish internal controls with respect to the financial operations of the company; and, number two, that they get an outside audit to validate the soundness of those controls.

Now, those who oppose this say that the smaller publicly traded companies can't handle the burden of compliance. The costs have come way down, particularly because the SEC has been careful to work with these smaller companies to make sure that that burden is not too heavy.

The fact of the matter is that if you are an investor, it doesn't matter to you whether you are investing in a smaller company or a larger company. What you want to know is that that company is not cooking the books.

If we don't pass this amendment, then almost half of the publicly traded companies in this country will be exempt from these basic transparency requirements. That's why I urge support of it.