Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this border crisis is one of the President's making.

We are here on a Friday night in August because the President has not done his job. His failure to enforce the law and failure to secure the border have encouraged tens of thousands of children to make a dangerous journey to the United States. On the way, they are exposed to traffickers, health risks, and other dangers. That is not fair to these children. This is just the latest example of the President's lack of regard for the rule of law and how it has very real consequences.

This legislation before the House addresses the crisis with solutions that prioritize resources to expedite the processing of cases, provide temporary housing and humanitarian assistance, return children to their countries of origin, and deploy the National Guard.

Importantly, it will prevent future humanitarian crises by amending current law to allow children to be promptly returned to their native home.

This legislation is not a blank check for the President. It is a carefully crafted response to the chaos that the President has allowed to develop on the border and in these children's lives.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia for organizing this very informative Special Order tonight.

You are right: I came here to make a difference. I came here to be part of a team that wants to relight America, relight the job market, relight opportunity, relight the American Dream, because people are hungry for it. They see this town that is out of control, they look at this town, and if they visit this town, they marvel at the growth that is happening in Washington, D.C.

I challenge everybody who visits Washington to count the construction cranes they see and the explosive growth and the high-end shops that open here and the concentration of wealth and power in this town. It is a scandal to the rest of the country. I see these construction cranes here on Pennsylvania Avenue. I would like to see those construction cranes back in Pennsylvania, Mr. Speaker.

But this is a very important discussion we are having about the actions that this House is taking to relight the American economy and how it gets snuffed out in the Senate.

As we have reviewed this evening, Mr. Speaker, the House has continued to pass legislation that would move our country ahead, grow our economy, add more jobs, and increase wages and prosperity. Then there is the brick wall across the other side of the Capitol.

Nowhere is the Senate's inaction more evident than in the budgeting and appropriations process we have here in Washington, D.C. The Senate and House have together managed to pass all 12 appropriations bills and complete the appropriations process on time by September 30 only four times since 1977. It is shocking.

This House, Mr. Speaker, has been working to correct this problem. I want to recognize the hard work of the House Appropriations Committee and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle.

This year, the Appropriations Committee has already passed 11 out of the 12 appropriations bills out of committee. Seven of those bills have already passed the House here, most of them with strong bipartisan majorities.

How many bills, how many appropriations bills has the Senate passed? Zero. They have yet to pass a single one.

The Senate's failure to do its work is disappointing, but it is not surprising. That is why I introduced the Congressional Pay for Performance Act earlier this year.

The bill is simple. The House and Senate must each pass a budget and all annual appropriations bills by August 1 or have their pay withheld until the job is done. It applies that fundamental lesson that we learn in our first job: if you don't do your work, you don't get paid until you do. That is the lesson that millions of young Americans learned working their first job this summer. It is the lesson I learned on my first paper route. I didn't get paid if I didn't deliver the newspaper. It is past time for Members of Congress to live by that lesson.

Beyond the Senate's failure to execute their constitutionally prescribed job of appropriations, the House has passed, as you noted, more than 350 bills, including many jobs bills, that Senator Reid allows to collect dust in the Senate. Over 98 percent of these bills have passed with bipartisan support, both Republicans and Democrats.

As of this morning, Mr. Speaker, 195 of these bills passed without opposition. House Democrats introduced 60 of these bills that now gather dust in the Senate. Again and again, the Senate refuses to act.

I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Sixty of those bills, Mr. Speaker--you look at the stack of paper that the gentleman from Georgia has with him here today--Mr. Speaker, 60 of those bills were introduced by Democrats, and yet they gather dust in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Mr. Speaker, we passed dozens of energy-related bills designed to increase production, reduce prices, add family sustaining jobs, and promote American energy independence. Bills like the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act, the Energy Consumers Relief Act, the Northern Route Approval Act, which is going to get the Keystone XL pipeline going, passed in May of 2013, 241-175. It has been sitting over in the Senate for 434 days.

We have passed dozens of regulatory reform bills to promote job growth and keep an out-of-touch and out-of-control Washington, D.C., bureaucracy in check. Those like the REINS Act that the gentleman from Florida mentioned. A very simple bill. If a regulatory agency puts out a regulation on the economy that is going to cost more than $50 million to implement, suppressing job growth, bring it back here for an up-or- down vote. Let's restore the constitutional responsibility for both the Senate and the House, who have that responsibility for making the law. Let us take accountability for that. If there is a regulation that merits approval, we are going to vote for it. It is called being accountable. But you can't fire these bureaucrats who come up with these regulations that have a negative impact on our economy.

We have also passed the Achieving Less Excess in Regulation and Requiring Transparency Act, known as the ALERRT Act. It is an effort to improve thoughtful consideration of the consequences of regulation.

I offered an amendment to the ALERRT Act. The amendment requires the capital bureaucrats to acknowledge whether their regulations will have a negative impact on jobs or wages in a particular industry.

Any such regulation will be subject to additional review to ensure that the benefits justify the costs to families and communities. The principle is simple: if Washington bureaucrats are going to implement rules that take wages or jobs away from hardworking Americans, they should take responsibility for and justify their decisions. It is important that regulators think through the impacts, costs, and burdens that red tape imposes on families and communities, and it is time for the Senate to come to the support of those individuals and those communities and take up the ALERRT Act.

We have passed several tax-related bills to help individuals keep more of their hard-earned money and to help small businesses add jobs and increase wages, like the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act and the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act.

We have also heard stories of people whose hours have been cut because of the 30-hour work week in the President's health care law. But the House has acted. That is why we passed the Save American Workers Act to restore the traditional 40-hour work week and help those who want the opportunity to work more hours and see their wages go up.

The Senate has to act. Time and again, Mr. Speaker, the House has acted but the Senate has not.

I really thank the gentleman from Georgia for shining a light on what is going on at this Capitol, the production that is coming out of this side of the Capitol and then hits the wall on the other side. It is time for the Senate to act, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. The gentleman from Georgia notes that western Pennsylvania has a growing energy industry. We are seeing a tremendous number of jobs coming in, family sustaining jobs.

Bear in mind, Mr. Speaker, when somebody gets a job in that field and they start to get that paycheck--and every American who gets a paycheck sees this--there is some stuff that is taken out. There is a FICA charge, a Medicare tax charge, and Federal taxes.

Mr. Speaker, that is how we are paying for Social Security, that is how we are paying for Medicare. When people pay their income taxes, it is how we pay for the defense of our country. This is a dangerous world, Mr. Speaker.

We need to have an economy that is generating the kind of jobs where people can get back to work and get those salaries and wages so that when they pay taxes, they are paying for Social Security, Medicare, and veterans benefits. We have got a boom like you have never seen before, Mr. Speaker.

The gentleman from Georgia has all these bills there that show the work that this House is doing, all to help this economy get growing again.

If you want to be paying for Social Security, if you want to be paying for Medicare, if you want to be paying for veterans benefits, we have got to grow this economy at 4 percent, at 5 percent, yes, at 6 percent. So many people, Mr. Speaker, have said, that is not going to happen, we can't get there. It happened. It happened in the 1980s, it happened in the 1990s. We can do this. We are a blessed land, Mr. Speaker, and in western Pennsylvania we see that.

We are having a big debate right now with respect to the President's greenhouse gas emissions, and there is testimony being taken across the country, including in Pittsburgh. We have to use our resources.

Under his plan, in 2008, when the President was running for his seat, he promises, ``Electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket.''

No single person should have the authority to impose a policy on a country that would cause electricity rates to necessarily skyrocket. That is why the REINS Act is so important. That is why Senator Reid has to move the REINS Act to the floor of the Senate, to have this Congress have a voice. Our Constitution has an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The legislative branch is where those policy decisions should be made.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia is asking questions about what is happening on the Senate side. They are simply not acting.

It was 241-175. I think the last time I counted, there are some 234 Republicans in this House. It was 241, so there are Democrats voting for this bill.

There is almost universal support for Keystone XL. The President could allow it to go forward. Thousands of jobs are in the waiting-- thousands of jobs where people would be paying Social Security tax and Medicare tax and increasing the supply of North American energy being able to be refined in this country, which means American jobs refining that.

So what is happening over there in the Senate? It is not coming up. We get phone calls all the time from our constituents, and it is important that constituents call their Members of Congress, who are their employees. We are the employees of the American people. The Senators are the employees of the American people because they pay our paychecks.

Their hard-earned tax dollars are what fund the paychecks for Senators and the paychecks for the Members of this House. We are the employees of the American people.

So we welcome phone calls from our bosses, our employers out there. They need to be calling their employees in the Senate and saying: Why aren't you approving the Keystone XL pipeline? We need those jobs. Why aren't you approving the REINS Act?

We don't think one person should make the decision that would turn off the lights in this country, turn off the lights at power plants, turn off the lights in coal mines, turn off the lights in factories because the prices are going too high.

When the President said that electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket, if you are opening up a plant and you are looking at that, that is a cost. If the income doesn't exceed the cost, that factory isn't going to get built.

So there are folks across the country--entrepreneurs--who want to get things going. They want to hire people, but then they look at the cost, and they say: no, we are going to put our money elsewhere.

We need people investing in this country because that is what is going to cause this country to boom again, and look at some of the tax bills we passed out of this House, which wait in the Senate--where is the Keystone XL pipeline? Where is the Northern Route Approval Act right now?

I can't answer the question that the gentleman from Georgia asks, but I think maybe the Senators could answer that question if their bosses-- the people who pay their salaries--would call them.

You raise a good point because the way the process is supposed to work, one side of our Capitol--the House--will pass the bill or maybe the Senate will pass a bill, and then there might be a slightly different bill passed out of the other Chamber, and then the two sides would come together in a conference, and there would be some negotiating. There is some compromise going on.

Prior to coming to Congress, I had a job of negotiating contracts. Your client would tell you when you go into that negotiating room: whatever you do, make sure you get A and B into that contract.

So you know what your marching orders are, but you understand the other side has come in, and they have been told by their client: make sure you get C and D in that contract, whatever you do.

The art is that the two of you get together and you negotiate. You go back and forth. Are you going to get 100 percent? You never do. That is negotiating. That is life, but here, we passed these bills. We are waiting to negotiate. They are not even acting.

I go back to the appropriations process, which is fundamentally broken. Since 1977, you have only four times that the House and the Senate got this job done by September 30. That is a scandal.

Everybody in this country knows that April 15 is an important date. You have got to pay your taxes that day. You can't call the IRS and say: Hey, can I get a continuing resolution on that? Can I have 3 weeks?

The gentleman from Georgia pointed out that I have two of my young children with me. We know that the Tuesday before Labor Day, school starts. Am I supposed to able to call the principal and say: hey, we're not ready? Can I have a continuing resolution on that summer, so we can have 3 more weeks to get ready?

It shouldn't happen. The spending bills will be passed, whether it is through a continuing resolution that will extend it until December or January or February or March. Why can't it get done by September 30? It is an act of the will.

If the other side of the Congress--the Senate--hasn't passed any, where can you even begin to have that negotiation between the two different ideas and what is in those bills? We would love to negotiate with Senator Reid.

We would love to negotiate. In fact, it has worked. I think you pointed out the SKILLS Act which, again, the House passed some 16 months ago. It took a while for the Senate to get going. It finally did. We passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act last summer. We finally got it to the Senate and got together. It got done.

We passed a temporary patch for the highway trust fund that we sent over to the Senate. The Senate had some other ideas, so they are making some changes, but this is the process that is supposed to work. One House moves; the other House moves. They are not even moving, Mr. Speaker.

It isn't my way or the highway, but if you have one part of this Congress--the Senate--not even acting, what is the communication there? It is no way.

We invite the Senate to act. We invite the Senate to come and start to talk about the Keystone XL pipeline and the thousands of jobs that are waiting, talk about the REINS Act, talk about the ALERRT Act to require the bureaucrats in this wealthy and powerful Capitol to take a look at the regulations that they are putting out and making an assessment whether those regulations are going to hurt wages or jobs.

I talk to people who are capped at 29\1/2\ hours. They can't get above 30 hours, Mr. Speaker, so we passed legislation that, again, sits in the Senate. We need to boom this economy again. That is how you pay for the critical programs that we have.

We have to use the God-given resources we have in this country--yes, prudently, smartly, and in a responsible way. There are ways to do that.

We have made tremendous progress in this country over the last 50 years. I am from Pittsburgh, and they talk about, back in the day, that you had to bring two shirts to work because, by noon, your shirt would be dirty.

We are making tremendous progress with the environment. I have another bill that I am trying to get this House to move, so we can send it over to the Senate to help that progress continue, called the SENSE Act, H.R. 3138. Again, I hope to get this House to move it, but we have to get the Senate to act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember Demi Brae Cuccia. Demi was a student and cheerleader at Gateway High School in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, with an outgoing personality and big aspirations for a successful future. Next month, on August 15, we will mark the seventh anniversary of Demi's tragic death. She was murdered just one day after her 16th birthday.

Teen dating violence, like stalking and other kinds of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, are reprehensible. No child should be subjected to abuse and violence. As a father of six, my heart goes out to Demi's family and friends, especially her parents, Dr. Gary and Jodi Cuccia.

The Cuccia family is working to educate western Pennsylvania students and families about how to recognize and prevent teen dating violence through the Demi Brae Cuccia Awareness Organization. It is my hope that their efforts can help spare other families from the tragedy of teen dating violence.

Please join me in remembering Demi and in thanking the Cuccias for their commitment to ending dating violence.

I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for yielding and for organizing this important discussion about energy.

Mr. Speaker, I talk a lot in my district, District 12 back in western Pennsylvania. Western PA is where you had the start of the oil industry back in the 19th century and, of course, the development of coal, and we are seeing this explosion in the development of the gas industry out there that is creating lots of jobs.

I talk a lot about energy in western PA because I contend that we can relight America from western Pennsylvania. We need to relight America. We need to boom again. A lot of people have given up on the idea that America can boom again, but for us to get this economy growing, energy is a huge part of it.

Again, we are seeing thousands of jobs throughout Pennsylvania because of the gas industry, and we are seeing people who are able to stay on their farms. Imagine that. They are fracturing the shale in Pennsylvania to release the energy. They are not fracturing families, because the families can stay on those farms and get the revenues from that gas to help them keep their farms in business. Growing our energy economy means more family-sustaining jobs and lower energy prices for families in western Pennsylvania and around the Nation. Developing our Nation's plentiful natural resources and being good stewards of the environment need not be mutually exclusive.

I want to bring attention, Mr. Speaker, to a little known area of energy that uses something known as refuse coal. Refuse coal was coal that was mined decades ago, often for the steel industry, and it was determined not to be of sufficient quality for use in the industry, so it was left. It was left on hillsides throughout Pennsylvania, throughout Appalachia, but technological advancements have allowed certain power plans to turn piles of this low-quality coal that has been left throughout Pennsylvania's countryside into cheap domestic energy. This has allowed for cleaning up the environment and restoring landscapes and rivers.

Just take a look at the remarkable difference here in these before and after pictures of the Barnes-Watkins coal refuse pile in Cambria County, in my district.

Plants across Pennsylvania and States including Illinois, Montana, Utah, and West Virginia are doing tremendous work to clean up the environment and generate affordable electricity.

Unfortunately, the unelected Federal elites at the EPA with their one-size-fits-all rules are threatening to shut down the plants that use this waste coal and stop the progress on cleaning up places like what you see right here.

This will cost middle class jobs. It will raise energy prices for many Americans and put an end to the positive work that these plants do to clean up our environment.

To address this very problem, I introduced H.R. 3138, the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment; it is the SENSE Act, S-E-N-S- E, because it makes sense.

This commonsense legislation recognizes the important energy and environmental benefits that power plants like the ones in Cambria County provide. The SENSE Act offers a reasonable balance that keeps these plants open, saves local middle class jobs, preserves important domestic electricity generating capacity, and helps to continue cleaning up the environment.

I would urge my colleagues to take a look at this legislation and help us get it through.

But, again, we need to boom. We need to boom again because when America is booming again, that is when the jobs come in. And when we get people back to work, every person we get back to work, that person is paying Social Security tax, that person is paying Medicare tax, that person is paying income tax that allows us to pay for the critical social service programs that we need like Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits.

A booming economy is going to do that, and a key to the booming economy is the booming energy sector.

I, again, thank my colleague from South Carolina for highlighting the important role that the energy economy is going to play in relighting America.

Mr. Speaker, Washington, D.C., is increasingly detached from the needs and concerns of western Pennsylvanians.

The Spina Bifida Association of Western Pennsylvania works to improve the quality of life for people with spina bifida and their families by providing much-needed service, education, advocacy, and housing.

Mr. Speaker, I recently visited with the men and women who work there, as well as the residents and program participants of the facilities and programs they operate. The workers are dedicated and caring people, and they do tremendous work.

As of July 1, 2014, Mr. Speaker, the Spina Bifida Association was forced to

discontinue coverage for its 25 full-time employees because President Obama's health care law made it so unaffordable for them to continue-- another broken promise of President Obama's oversold health care law.

It is past time for President Obama and his unelected Federal elites to change course and begin pursuing policies that help people and not his out-of-touch and out-of-control Washington, D.C.

Mr. Speaker, the crisis on our southern border is one of the President's making.

His policies and failure to secure the border have encouraged tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien children to attempt to enter the United States. On the way, they are exposed to exploitation, violence, sex trafficking, health risks, and other dangers.

The situation on the border is a humanitarian crisis, and it requires our Chief Executive's immediate and decisive action. Rather than leading from behind, President Obama should convene a meeting with the leaders of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and demand their cooperation in finding a solution. He should work with our border State Governors and deploy the National Guard to provide security and humanitarian relief.

President Obama should work with Congress to actually solve the problem. That would include changing the law to allow for the prompt repatriation of those coming from Central America and providing the administrative and social service resources needed to reunite the children with their relatives in their native countries.

The President bears responsibility for the chaos on the border and in these children's lives. It is time for him to lead.

I thank the gentleman for his offer to engage in a colloquy.

Mr. Chairman, as you know, money market funds are an important tool used by a variety of different organizations, such as businesses, State and local governments, school districts, pension funds, nonprofits, and more. In fact, it is estimated that between 1985 and 2008, people and organizations that invested in money market funds have earned $450 billion more than they otherwise would have earned.

Since the financial crisis, there has been significant discussion about regulating the industry further. In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, put in place new rules to prevent future runs by imposing additional disclosure and liquidity standards.

Even after these changes, the Federal Reserve, through the Financial Stability Oversight Council, has attempted to usurp the jurisdiction and expertise of the SEC and proposed additional regulations on money markets. While the FSOC has since backed off their proposal, the SEC is poised to vote soon on a rule to impose a floating net asset value on certain funds.

I share many of the concerns that commenters on the SEC's rule raised about how a floating net asset value would adversely impact money market funds and the people and organizations that rely on them. In fact, it is worth noting that, of the 1,428 comments on the rule, 98 percent were against the floating net asset value.

Before regulators impose any additional changes on money markets, they must be certain that the costs and benefits have been thoroughly weighed. This includes ensuring that the likely tax changes that will need to be considered with a floating NAV are reviewed by the public in an open and transparent manner before moving forward. We should not eliminate money markets as an option for businesses, communities, workers, and retirees to grow and thrive.

In closing, I would like to thank the committee for its positive report language with respect to money market funds and thank the chairman for his time and consideration of this important matter.

I thank the gentleman and look forward to working with him on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, we rise to honor the memory of Mr. Charles Henry ``Chuck'' Noll of Sewickley, Pennsylvania. Mr. Noll passed away on June, 13, 2014 at the age of 82. Chuck Noll was born in Cleveland on January 5, 1932, but he will be remembered best in Pittsburgh: the city that he transformed through his legendary coaching of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A Pro Football Hall of Famer, Mr. Noll led the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl championships in twenty-three seasons. He holds the record of being the only coach to win four Super Bowl trophies, a feat the team accomplished between 1975 and 1980.

This achievement did not come without perseverance. Mr. Noll began his football career as a linebacker and guard for the Cleveland Browns, where he played until he retired at twenty-seven. He then dedicated his life to coaching, eventually becoming the then youngest head coach in NFL history when the Steelers hired him on January 27, 1969. Steelers President Art Rooney II said, ``He set a

new standard for the Steelers that still is the foundation of what we do and who we are. From the players to the coaches to the front office down to the ball boys, he taught us all what it took to be a winner.''

At just thirty-seven years old, Mr. Noll turned the struggling franchise into an unbeatable powerhouse, leading the team to their first playoff appearance in thirty-nine years in 1972. Two years later, Mr. Noll took the team even further, winning the team's first Super Bowl in a classic against the Minnesota Vikings.

The ``City of Champions'' would not be what it is today without Mr. Noll. Former Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann said, ``He built a foundation . . . This entire organization will be a part of his legacy.''

Mr. Noll's passion and love of coaching and contributions will always be remembered by the Steelers, by Western Pennsylvanians, and by all members of ``Steelers Nation.''

Chuck Noll was so much more than a coach. He was a licensed pilot and sailor, played musical instruments, spoke French, and was well versed in cooking, gardening, and home repairs. Team members would often try to find topics that Mr. Noll did not know about, almost always to no avail. Mr. Noll once said that he would have been a history teacher if not a football coach, but by making the football field his classroom, he in a sense fulfilled both these careers.

Perhaps what Mr. Noll was best at was bringing people together and being a source of encouragement. He focused on building a sense of family among the team; he taught players the importance of sacrifice, humility, and winning both on and off the field. He never ceased to remind players that their actions today would affect tomorrow, a mentality that made him a role model for everyone.

Bishop David Zubik said, ``Let's learn this lesson from coach. That we should all recognize what we can be, recognize what we are capable of doing and encourage other people to be their best. That's greatness. And that's why today we thank God for the coach.''

We are pleased to honor the memory of one of our nation's greatest football coaches, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and then submit extraneous materials for the Record on the topic of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, next week, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate our Nation's birthday. The Declaration of Independence, signed 238 years ago, laid the groundwork for the greatest Nation in history. The Founders, in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, created a novel system of government, one of the people, by the people, and for the people, that recognizes God-given unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although the Declaration was written over two centuries ago, our Founders' sage words are just as relevant and just as important today, especially those who work in public service.

As a Pennsylvanian, I am proud that the Declaration was signed in Philadelphia. It is truly humbling to read these important words on the floor of the House of Representatives, and I thank my colleagues for joining me this afternoon:

In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the

13 United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary

for one people to dissolve the political bands which have

connected them with another, and to assume among the powers

of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the

Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent

respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should

declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with

certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these

rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their

just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever

any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it

is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to

institute new Government, laying its foundation on such

principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them

shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long

established should not be changed for light and transient

causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that

mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are

sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms

to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses

and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces

a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their

right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to

provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been

the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the

necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems

of Government. The history of the present King of Great

Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,

all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute

Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be

submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and

necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate

and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation

till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he

has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of

large districts of people, unless those people would

relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a

right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places

unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of

their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them

into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for

opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of

the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to

cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers,

incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at

large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean

time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and

convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these

States, for that purpose obstructing the Laws for

Naturalization of Foreigners, refusing to pass others to

encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions

of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by

refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary

powers.

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable

Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our

Governments.

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring

themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all

cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of

his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our

towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign

Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and

tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and

perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and

totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the

high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the

executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall

themselves by their Hands.

I am privileged to be joined here with a colleague from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Congressman Andy Barr, from Kentucky's Sixth District, who will continue with the recitation of the Declaration.

Joining me is my colleague from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who will continue with the recitation of the Declaration, Congressman Scott Perry.

Thank you, Congressman Perry.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their help in reviewing and reading the words of the Declaration of Independence, the words that birthed our Nation.

As families gather next week to celebrate our Nation's birthday, let us not forget these words, and let us not forget those who gave all for freedom, those in our military, especially those who are deployed today in harm's way.

May God bless and protect them, and may God bless and protect the United States of America.

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

Mr. Speaker, the situation unfolding in Iraq is a tragedy.

Almost 4,500 fellow Americans made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq defending our freedom and fighting oppression and tyranny. More than 32,000 men and women who served our country in Iraq bear the wounds of war, and all who served had extraordinary pressures put on their families.

Unless you have lived it, one cannot begin to know the pain experienced by the families of the fallen and the wounded. Our men and women in uniform fought for an ideal. That ideal is freedom: the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom to assemble and vote and make one's voice heard, freedoms like those we have right here in this Chamber. That ideal will never die.

During these difficult days, Mr. Speaker, let us make sure we are mindful of the sacrifice of so many and let us always rally to the families of the fallen and stand in solidarity with all of our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) fiftieth anniversary.

Since ASCO's founding in 1964, it has made tremendous gains to improve the lives of Americans diagnosed with cancer. When the Society was formed, cancer was often fatal with few effective treatments. Today, new and innovative treatments have developed that are changing what it means to receive a cancer diagnosis.

As a survivor of cancer of the appendix, I can attest to this personally. In 2007 I received an innovative treatment called hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. This involves washing the abdomen with heated chemotherapy to eliminate cancerous cells. A little more than a year after receiving this treatment, I ran my first marathon. Three years later I began my first campaign for Congress, and seven years later I am still cancer-free.

Advancements in cancer treatments like this bring hope to the millions of Americans suffering from cancer, and the 1.6 million Americans who will receive a cancer diagnosis this year.

I thank the ASCO for its continued research and contributions to the science in the last fifty years, and I look forward to the development of even more innovations to fight and cure cancer.

Mr. Speaker, on June 4, we mark the 25th anniversary of the massacre of peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square in the People's Republic of China. These protesters were merely calling for democracy, an end to the dictatorship of the Communist Party, and an end to government corruption.

The Chinese Government has tried to remove Tiananmen Square from the consciousness of its people by censoring social media and preemptively arresting those who would raise questions, pick quarrels, and provoke trouble. We will always remember.

We will remember the art students who sculpted the ``Goddess of Democracy,'' a defining image of the Tiananmen Square protests, inspired by the Statue of Liberty. We will remember the Tank Man, who singlehandedly stopped Chinese tanks in their tracks. We will remember the hundreds, perhaps thousands--there has never been an official counting--of those who died that day.

The spirit of the protesters lives on in these stories of heroism. That spirit lives on in all those around the world who value freedom and human rights.

We will always remember the students of Tiananmen Square. And to the Chinese people who yearn for freedom, do not give up hope. One day, you too will breathe free.

Mr. Speaker, in having stepped forward to defend our country with their very lives, our veterans deserve a health care system and a claims process that are both of high quality and that are accountable. Unfortunately, the VA has failed veterans in Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and across the Nation.

William Nicklas, a World War II veteran from western Pennsylvania, survived Guam, Saipan, and Okinawa, but fell victim to Legionnaires' disease at the Pittsburgh VA. It has been 1\1/2\ years since Mr. Nicklas died, and the Nicklas family is still waiting for answers and accountability, so are the families of John Ciarolla, Clark Compston, John McChesney, Lloyd Wanstreet, and Frank ``Sonny'' Calcagno.

Unfortunately, the world now knows that these are not isolated incidents. Significant changes in accountability must be made at the VA to solve these problems. I urge all of my colleagues to support the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act. This bill is an important step in that direction.

Thank you to Chairman Miller for conducting the oversight necessary to bring these issues into the light.

I thank the chairman.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act, which will make the advertising of a trafficking victim for a commercial sex act a crime.

Human trafficking is despicable and unacceptable. It is horrific that millions of victims worldwide are trafficked each year, and it is happening in our local communities. Last month, I hosted a trafficking roundtable in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, with community organizations and law enforcement agencies to discuss ways to combat trafficking in western Pennsylvania. Sadly, this problem exists in cities and towns across America, and together we can do something to eliminate it.

As a father of six, I cannot imagine the horrible situations to which trafficking victims are exposed. We must put a stop to these crimes, and today's bill is an important way to do this.

I thank my friend, Congresswoman Wagner, for her efforts on the SAVE Act, as well as the sponsors of today's bills, as we work to raise awareness about and combat human trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Demi Brae Cuccia. Demi was a student and cheerleader at Gateway High School in Monroeville, PA with an outgoing personality and big aspirations for a successful future.

Tragically, Demi was a victim of teen-dating violence, murdered just one day after her sixteenth birthday on August 15, 2007.

Teen-dating violence such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse and stalking is unacceptable. No child deserves to be subjected to abuse and violence. As a father of six, my heart goes out to the family and friends of Demi, especially her parents, Dr. Gary and Jodi Cuccia.

More must be done in our communities to prevent future tragedies like the one that took Demi. The Cuccia family is working hard to educate Western Pennsylvania students and families about how to recognize and prevent teen-dating violence through the Demi Brae Cuccia Awareness Organization. Because of the Cuccias efforts, Demi's story has also been recognized by national news outlets and in the documentary Teen Dating Violence: The Murder of Demi Cuccia.

It is my hope that thanks to the Cuccias efforts more families can be spared from the tragedy of teen-dating violence.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in remembering Demi today and in thanking the Cuccias for their commitment to end teen-dating violence.