Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to recognize the 25th anniversary of a grant program that has benefitted thousands of individuals and families across the country--the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) system's Affordable Housing Program (AHP). The AHP is a flexible source of grants designed to help community-based lenders and their partners develop affordable housing solutions for very low- to moderate-income individuals and families.

The AHP receives its funding through annual contributions of 10 percent of the FHLBanks' net income. The Federal Home Loan Banks have awarded over $5.1 billion in AHP funds since Congress created the program in 1990. These funds represent the largest single source of private grant dollars available for housing and community development in the country.

By developing affordable housing--and creating stable communities in the process--AHP funds have a long-term, positive economic impact. Many projects are designed for seniors, the disabled, homeless families, first-time homeowners and others with limited resources. More than 845,157 housing units have been built using AHP funds. And I'm happy to say that the Federal Home Loan Bank system is the largest single funding provider to Habitat for Humanity, an organization that I have strongly supported during my 16 years in Congress.

Created by an act of Congress in 1932, the Federal Home Loan Banks are 12 regional cooperative banks that community-based financial institutions utilize to make home loans, small business loans and agriculture loans in every corner of America. Nearly 8,000 lenders are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank cooperative, representing approximately 80 percent of America's insured lending institutions. The FHLBanks and their members have been the largest and most reliable source of funding for community lending for over 80 years.

The FHLBanks have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to serve their members and to meet the affordable housing and community development needs of individuals, families and local communities through the Affordable Housing Program. As Congress contemplates the future of housing finance, I encourage members of Congress and the Administration to look to the Federal Home Loan Banks as an example of a system that works well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Captain Mark Edward Dreiling, who is retiring from the United States Air Force. He is a third generation Airman who comes from a family with a long history of military service to this nation.

Capt. Dreiling entered the United States Air Force through ROTC Detachment 465 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He then began his career as a Missile Warning Crew Commander where his crews provided warning and battle space awareness to deployed personnel engaged in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. With over 2500 error free hours of operations and five Highly Qualified Evaluation ratings, his crew earned the Air Force Space Command Crew Member Excellence Award. During this time, he was selected to serve as both the Chief of Crew Force Management and the Chief of Operations Training.

Under his leadership in Crew Force Management, his team secured the first-ever error free Space Command Inspector General assessment for the office, earning the Professional Team Award during the 2008 operational readiness inspection. During his tenure in Operations Training, Capt. Dreiling's leadership helped his team garner the 2010 Air Force Space Command Operational Readiness Inspection operations group ``excellent'' rating. By leading the instruction and war fighting proficiency efforts for over two hundred missile warning crew members, he ensured the technical accuracy and effectiveness of training materials and operational procedures for the entire crew force.

Capt. Dreiling's next assignment was to the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, where he was the first DoD representative to complete certification on one of the government's newest overhead sensors. During this time, he completed over five hundred error free hours providing unprecedented indications and warning for nine high interest events.

Most recently, Capt. Dreiling served as the Test Director for the family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-sight Terminals at the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachment 4. During his final assignment, his work on a $3.9 billion military satellite communication terminal program directly informed a Secretary of Defense Milestone decision critical to the maturation of the future Presidential and Air Force Strategic Nuclear Command and Control System.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in wishing Capt. Dreiling and his family a heartfelt thanks on behalf of a grateful nation for their dedication and service to our country.

Mr. Speaker, Doc Hastings, I really appreciate your leadership on energy issues and natural resources issues. It has just been incredibly important to our Congress.

I want to thank my colleagues for allowing me to bring this package here today because this is a commonsense energy approach that grows our economy, creates jobs, and ensures our energy is affordable and reliable.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, most of these, or all of them, have already been voted on at some point in time over the last couple years. It is important that we continue to push the Senate into taking up these energy bills so we can expand our economy and grow the jobs.

Too many of the rules and regulations coming out of this administration are making energy more costly

and less reliable to the consumers. This is the point of this bill. The House continues to do our job with legislation, but the Senate continues to block it. I am not going to stand idly by and keep allowing that to happen.

This approach puts together bills that allow us to build up our infrastructure of abundance, streamlines permitting processes, Mr. Speaker, and provides commonsense guidance to the EPA rulemakers, all of which provides reliability and affordability for our consumers, which is an inherent cornerstone to economic success.

So what does this bill do?

It allows the United States to take advantage of the fact that we are incredibly close to being self-sufficient, no longer reliant on those outside of North America. This bill approves the Keystone pipeline, which was filed, originally, 6 years ago tomorrow. But yet 22,000 pages of studies have been completed that show that this pipeline does not pose an environmental risk to land or aquifer and will actually reduce CO2 emissions compared to not allowing the pipeline.

Recently, Larry Summers, President Obama's former senior economic adviser, was quoted as saying: ``I am very much aware of the toll that the Keystone pipeline issue has taken on the relations with a crucial U.S. ally, Canada.''

So it is even straining our relationship with our good friend Canada.

This bill also removes Federal barriers to offshore energy production, enhances onshore production by removing red tape and making sure that any regulations are reasonable.

This bill will expedite LNG exportation to our allies, allowing us to maintain a strong, strategic position in the world.

This bill will modernize the permit process for natural gas pipelines. This is important as we use more natural gas for manufacturing, electrical production, and as a transportation fuel.

There is an abundant supply of natural gas here in North America and it has been proven to be cheaper and cleaner, but I believe it is greatly underutilized. We need to make natural gas a priority, which this bill does.

Our country is blessed to have these abundant natural resources. We must do everything in our power to make sure that our policies support resource development and minimize the red tape that strangles our job creators.

I am proud to lead this effort in support of lower cost energy and more American jobs. With these policies, we can make real progress towards reducing prices at the pump and protecting families.

Mr. Speaker, today the House passed a commonsense approach to make our energy more reliable and more affordable. Our vote today would create jobs and secures our energy future by making us dependent on North American resources, not OPEC, Venezuela, or others.

I am proud to lead this effort in support of lower energy costs and more American jobs. With commonsense policies like these, we can make real progress toward reducing prices at the pump and protecting families from higher monthly electric bills. Lower energy costs also mean lower prices for groceries and other consumer goods; and by producing more American energy, we can create more American jobs. These are the issues that families struggle with at the kitchen table every night and keep you awake at night.

But House Republicans have put forward a positive bipartisan solution to strengthen our energy policy that will allow us to begin fostering the development and use of our own energy resources. Today the House acted. We passed commonsense energy legislation that takes advantage of our abundant North American energy and puts our country on a path to better infrastructure.

This approach is simple. It is a package of 13 bills the House has already passed on a bipartisan basis, including three of which were even voice-voted. They are not controversial.

For instance, this bill includes the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act that would expedite and modernize the Federal review process for natural gas pipeline permits to help facilitate the construction of new pipeline infrastructure. This bill passed with 26 Democratic votes.

It also includes H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act, sponsored by my good friend Cory Gardner from Colorado. This would

speed up the approval of liquid natural gas exports. We have an abundant supply of natural gas here in the United States, an abundance of which will allow other countries to become dependent upon us for their energy needs.

Now, our Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, several of us on the Republican side went to North Dakota last year to visit the oilfields. We flew in at night. When you fly over western North Dakota at night, it looks like you are flying over a birthday cake with lots of candles. Those candles are flaring off natural gas because the price is so low and it is so plentiful that it just makes better economic sense to burn it off. So we need to find additional resources and uses for the natural gas. They are already there: exporting, transportation. We just need to focus more on those.

Just today we heard in a joint meeting of Congress from the President of Ukraine. He talked about the security in his own country and the strong partnership with the United States. Can you imagine how much weaker Russia would be if Ukraine was more dependent or would use North American U.S. natural gas resources?

Former Obama National Security Adviser General Jim Jones testified before the Senate that Vladimir Putin uses energy as a weapon. I believe that we would be using our energy resources as our weapon. And by expediting the permitting processes for liquified natural gas terminals, it would allow us to export natural gas to countries like Ukraine and our European partners and Japan.

These policies to develop natural gas would further cement U.S. leadership in the world and grow our economy and create jobs here at home.

Secondly, this package includes the Electricity Security and Affordability Act. That would protect an affordable and diverse electricity portfolio by providing reasonable alternatives to the EPA's greenhouse gas emissions rule. It would require the EPA to develop practical solutions for new coal-fired powerplants, including just saying that you can't implement a rule until the technology exists.

Doesn't that make sense to have a rule that the technology can actually comply with instead of making a rule where there is no technology allowing you to comply with it? I wonder if there is another agenda behind that.

Lastly, this bill includes H.R. 3, the Northern Route Approval Act, which would approve the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Tomorrow marks the sixth birthday or anniversary of the filing of that permit--6 years. We have liberated continents and put a man on the Moon in less time than it has taken to review this permit and approve it. It not only has strong bipartisan support in the House, it is one of the few issues that enjoys broad bipartisan coalition in the Senate as well.

We can't get this done because the President lacks the leadership to make a decision. He would rather make a decision based on politics, continuing to delay the decision until after the next election. It is just now the third election.

Consider these few things about the Keystone pipeline that come directly from this administration's environmental impact statement on the Keystone pipeline.

It would create over 42,000 jobs directly related to the construction of the pipeline project and downstream jobs.

During the construction of the pipeline, it would contribute $2 billion in wages to the economy in the United States--$2 billion.

The administration acknowledged that by not building the Keystone pipeline, we had actually increased carbon emissions by 28 to 41 percent.

Many people come up to me and say, I don't get how it would reduce. The reality is, the alternative is, the pipeline that Canada is building to the east and to the west will then be exported. So that oil then is put on a ship, tanker, at least for the west it will be shipped directly to China. Maybe even the east coast pipeline will go down into the Panama Canal and over to the east.

So when you use the energy taken to ship it to China and then refined in China with less pollution controls and emission controls in their refineries than we have in the United States, you will actually be increasing the CO2 carbon emissions.

Now, like every other piece of legislation in this package, this is stuck in the Senate and being held hostage by the majority leader. Time is of the essence before the clock runs out on this Congress. So this package of energy bills to grow our economy actually does Harry Reid a favor.

Instead of having to schedule 13 different bills, Mr. Speaker, he only has to bring up one. We have nearly 400 bills that this House Chamber has sent to him that have not been acted upon. Let's make it easier, package them together, and if he passes ten of the bills like this then maybe we are making some real progress.

The Senate floor wants the comprehensive package and to hold one vote to meet our national energy needs and grow our economy.

Mr. Speaker, I ran to make our country energy independent, to have the level of security, national security, when you can be in control of your own economy and destiny. In my view, the cornerstone of a dynamic economy is your own energy and your own resources. You compare the countries that have the resources that they can control themselves and not be dependent on others and you see the strongest economies in the United States. This is the cornerstone. It creates jobs, it creates security. And I just don't understand why our majority leader--the majority leader in the Senate--won't bring these great bills to the Senate floor. In fact, I think he is scared they are going to pass, and they will. They have a great deal of support.

So let's say ``yes'' to American energy, ``yes'' to more affordable energy in the United States.

I would like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana to say a little bit more on how we secure America's energy.

Thank you, Mr. Bucshon.

You mentioned manufacturing and how important it is to your State. The reality is also that manufacturing is reliant on affordable and reliable energy.

I am the chairman of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee under Energy and Commerce. We did a series of hearings, Mr. Speaker, on manufacturing in the United States. We had industries of all sorts testify in front of our committee. I left that series of hearings very optimistic about manufacturing in the United States, because what we are seeing is many manufacturers returning to the United States.

There was one common theme to every one of the manufacturers that were moving to the United States or returning to the United States, and it was affordable and reliable energy. Many of them use natural gas, whether it is the steel industry that is having a resurgence right now--by the way, a beginning job in the steel industry--and, yes, they are looking for workers right now--$77,000.

That is the middle class that is being hammered right now. We need to create those jobs, expand those jobs, but you need affordable and reliable energy.

So what is this administration doing? They pass a rule on existing electrical generation plants, existing plants, not ones yet to be built, and they say you have to lower your emission rates to the level of using natural gas. So when we talk about Mr. Bucshon and Mrs. Brooks, who is going to come up here and talk about the impact on coal and jobs, that is the war on coal. They aren't using ``don't use coal''; they just put the number of emission particulates below what you can get if you use coal.

But, now, here is what happens in a State like Nebraska. The State of Nebraska has older coal-fired plants, most of them are smaller, in our rural areas of Nebraska. They won't be able to afford to pay for all of the changes that have to occur to meet that. And, by the way, this rule is not even finalized yet, but when it becomes finalized these plants have until June 30, 2016. We are in September of 2014. That is less than 2 years that they have to prepare.

That is why some of these rules are just so ridiculous and so obvious in how they are attacking our energy sector and making affordability and reliability a question mark.

Now I would like to yield to the gentleman from South Carolina, Jeff Duncan.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I now yield to Mrs. Brooks from Indiana.

Thank you, Representative Brooks. You had mentioned something that we really haven't injected into this particular conversation, and that is the renewables.

I am proud that our local power district has 30 percent of their energy produced by wind, a renewable source. I personally think that solar is going to be, over time, a significant part of a portfolio, but maybe not in the way that many people think because many people think of filling the desert with these solar panels.

The reality is that technology today is to be integrated into buildings. Think of your office building's windows generating power. That is exciting technology that is in the research labs right now, so we need to include that.

I am glad you brought it up because people listening may think that we only want fossil--but it is just that fossil fuels are under attack--and you need a diverse portfolio; otherwise, you really jeopardize your economy. If you are just only on oil and you only get it from overseas, you can see where you are in jeopardy.

I just wanted to thank you for bringing that up.

Thank you.

I want to yield to the gentleman from Georgia. I don't know if you are a Bulldog or not, but you are in Congress.

I now yield to Rob Woodall, the gentleman from Georgia.

It is true.

May I interrupt you on that point because it is interesting.

When I am back home--and maybe you get this--we get input from our constituents. And one of the most frequent ones is: Why don't you do the bills that you do agree on?

In essence, that is what this bill does because we have had 30, 40, 50 Democrats involved in the bills and voting for them; and so this is an amalgamation of bipartisan bills, but yet we had less Democratic support for today's bill than we did as individual bills, and I think maybe there is a little bit of politics being played.

And I am grateful you stayed long enough to speak tonight. You did a great job, and I really appreciate all of the work and effort you do to secure America's future.

In conclusion, Madam Speaker, energy, again, is the cornerstone of our economy. Sometimes we speak rather scientifically. We don't speak in the terms of how does it really affect me, not as a Member of Congress, but, you know, we represent 600,000 or 700,000 people in our districts. What we are trying to do is secure America's future. If we focus on energy, we secure it in so many different ways.

I hear from my constituents that they are frustrated at the increase of food prices in the grocery store, the continuous up-and-down swings of gasoline at the pump. The costs per family for just transportation fuel has gone from 6 percent of their income to now 11.6 percent, just in the last 6 years. Those are the type of things that really make it more difficult for our families in our districts. So a solid, encompassing energy policy helps alleviate those cost frustrations of every family.

Many people will say, You talk about affordability and reliability. What are you talking about? How does it actually make things more affordable? What is reliability?

Well, if your electric bill is going to go up, if you have an existing powerplant that can't meet the new rule where the plans have to be submitted in June of 2016, so what they will have to do is either close that plant or invest, some are talking anywhere from 100 to $500 million or more to comply to this rule. What do you think happens when that power district spends $500 million? They pass that on to the consumers. Your electric bills will go up.

We met with our electric generators over the break, and they told me that some of these, they are just going to have to shut down these smaller powerplants.

What happens to those communities? They can't invest $100 million or more into those, so they just close them down, go onto the market and bid for the energy that is out there.

But when you have--and a new GAO report just came out recently, or some report, that they expect even more powerplants to close because of these rules. So when you have more communities and districts bidding against each other, the price is going to go up for that electricity as well.

So you have kind of got it both ways. If you comply to the rule, you are going to raise costs. If you just close the powerplant, the rates are going to go up.

What we are trying to do here is just figure out a pathway where we don't have to have this level of disruption and price increases by these rules. And what we are saying here is, come forward with a better rule that gives us more time and a bright pathway so that we don't make a financial impact to our families.

So the bottom line here, Madam Speaker, is, if we secure our own energy future, our country will continue to be the greatest country in the world.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Coffman for bringing this bill. I think it is extremely important, and it directly affects the Omaha VA in-patient facility, as well as veterans all around the Midwest area.

The cost overruns of the Denver, or the Aurora hospital, as well as Orlando and others, have been noted in the GAO report showing that these hospitals on average are 35 months delayed and somewhere between 300 and $400 million over budget. It shows a serious inability of the VA's construction and management subagency to manage and run these projects.

I am pleased that this legislation would require the VA to employ at least one special project manager from the Corps of Engineers. It has been noted by every speaker here today that the Corps of Engineers has a specialty, a somewhat amazing ability to get projects done on time and on budget, so having their level of expertise injected into this, even if it is just an advisory or a consulting role, I think is an important first step.

I would prefer that we just turned it all over, the VA hospital construction, to something like the Corps of Engineers, but this is a legitimate good first step in this process.

Now, our Omaha facility remains number 23. It has been in that area now for 6 years, and it looks like unless we improve this process and get their spending under control that it could be more than a decade before our new VA in-patient replaces an over 60-year-old building where they had no water for one 24-hour period because of the poor infrastructure. So that is how we are harming our veterans by not getting these projects done on time and within budget.

Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado for taking charge of this issue and all of the conversations you and I have had about this over the last couple of years.

Thank you. I appreciate the support.

I also thank the gentlewoman from California for her support all the way from the beginning of this bill to today's passage. It means a lot to me and to the people of Omaha and Boys Town.

This bill will honor the significant contributions, Mr. Speaker, of Boys Town and how, in my district, it has impacted our community and our country with a fitting tribute to the legacy of Father Flanagan, who founded Boys Town.

A priest and an immigrant from Ireland, Father Flanagan was of modest means, but in 1917--about 5 years after becoming a priest--he borrowed $90 from B'nai B'rith member Henry Monsky to open a boarding house because they both shared a love for the homeless boys, who had been abandoned or orphaned, living on the streets of our city. They created this boarding house, went out and recruited boys from the streets to come in, where he not only housed them and fed them but where he educated them and taught them a trade. He really felt that the education and the trade were necessary parts of making them into men who would be part of the community and be successful. Father Flanagan did not differentiate between race or religion, and by the spring of the next year, 100 boys found refuge in Father Flanagan's home. It is great seeing the pictures from that era of boys of all races who were eating together and playing together.

In 1921, Father Flanagan opened his doors further. He was able to purchase the Overlook Farm way on the outskirts. Now I have to drive about 50 blocks east to get to it, as it is surrounded by Omaha. That is the property that is now known, iconically, as ``Boys Town.''

It became an official village with its own post office in 1936.

Today, Boys Town serves more than 2 million children and families across our country each year. It provides parental counseling. The Boys Town national hotline provides counseling to more than 150,000 children and families each year.

The Boys Town National Research Hospital is a national leader in the field of hearing care and research of Usher syndrome, and all of this is thanks to the vision of Father Flanagan when he borrowed $90 to start a boys' home.

Now, also I should mention that it was probably around the seventies--I can't remember the date--when women--young girls were allowed in there. In fact, a couple of times, I have had the pleasure of being invited to dinner at one of the houses there where they have a host family, and there were eight girls in this house who were then ordered by the court or placed there by a family to help them with a variety of issues, mostly disciplinary, some health care.

In fact, Boys Town is now becoming the leader in research for pharmaceuticals for young children, for children, teenagers. Most of them have come to Boys Town with about four or five different prescriptions, and Boys Town, because of their way of counseling and dealing with it, can get most of them off of the prescription drugs.

This is what Boys Town stands for. As Father Flanagan once said, ``I know, when the idea of a boys' home grew in my mind, I never thought of anything remarkable about taking in all of the races and all of the creeds. To me, they are all God's children. They are my brothers. They are children of God. I must protect them to the best of my ability.''

Mr. Speaker, 97 years later, inspired by Father Flanagan, here we are, and that vision stands as true today as it did in 1917.

It is the inscription of the iconic statue of the two boys, one on the shoulder of the other, that stood as the centerpiece of the village for more than 70 years now. ``He ain't heavy. He's my brother.'' That is the Boys Town way, to be full of compassion and to help our fellow man.

I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I speak today in support of Mr. Cassidy's bill--the Employee Health Care Protection Act H.R. 3522,

This bill is very important to ensure employers and their employees can keep their plan--a broken promise from President Obama.

Just last week I was contacted by the Cornerstone Staffing Inc. based in Omaha who is currently facing hard decisions in order to be in compliance with this disastrous law.

Cornerstone Staffing is a woman-owned nine-year-old local business that will now suffer due to a law that no one read.

Cornerstone Staffing Inc. has 15 full time employees with a range of 150 to 450 temporary employees at any given time.

Previously they didn't offer insurance to all temporary workers but had the flexibility to secure coverage for those workers who needed it.

Now, Cornerstone Staffing Inc. is forced to provide coverage to all of their employees--whether they need it or not--which means they can't afford to place as many individuals in needed jobs.

Not only will H.R. 3522 bring some relief to companies and their employees but it will also increase government revenue by $400 million. This is common sense.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and give some relief to families across the nation. I am submitting a letter Cornerstone Staffing Inc. sent to me regarding their problems with the President's health care law.

Hello Congressman Terry, We have met briefly in the past,

actually my company was previously located on the second

floor of your office building on Burt Street. I work for

Cornerstone Staffing Inc, we are a nine year old, local,

woman-owned staffing firm servicing the Omaha metro area.

I'm very late in the game sending this message but we

recently met with representatives from Silverstone Group

regarding ACA and how it will affect our company in 2015.1

have to be honest, I don't fully understand the requirements

or implications but we currently have 15 full-time, internal

employees. We also employ temporary/contract employees and

depending on the season we could have 150 to 450 contractors

working for us at a time. Some might work one week, some

might work twelve months and some might work for us 3 times

in a year at a variety of our clients with months off between

assignments.

It is my understanding that ``PEO'' (employee leasing

services) are exempt from Obamacare. We W-2 all of our

contractors (versus 1099) as many are required to be by

Nebraska state law. Therefore we have the same obligations to

offer a temporary/contract employee healthcare as if they are

hired to work in a long-term permanent position.

We are not against offering benefits to our contract

employees, especially if they work more than 90 days on a

project. Our concern is that much of our temp/contract

workforce is paid $10-$13/hour. If the individuals out of

pocket healthcare costs can not exceed 9.5% of their income,

we will be forced to pay the majority of their healthcare

monthly. In our business, we may only make $2-$3/hour on each

of these employees so they might have to work weeks before we

make a profit especially after we pay taxes, background

checks and payroll expenses. This has the potential to be a

huge blow to our company profits and

it could have an adverse effect if we are forced to decide if

it is even ``worth'' employing someone who is willing to work

because the risk is too great on our end.

ACA is going to put a major strain on our industry. Omaha

is home to many staffing firms including several large

nationally focused firms. Is there anything more we can be

doing to amend or exempt recruiting/staffing agencies from

the standard requirements of ACA?

Thank you for your consideration and any suggestions,

Brad Jones,

Vice President of Operations,

Cornerstone Staffing Inc.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in favor of this bill and against the EPA's ditch rule.

If this rule were to go forward, two things would assuredly occur: less clarity of what waters are jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act for our farmers and ranchers, and more overreach of jurisdiction by the EPA.

This rule joins a long list of initiatives undertaken by the Agency which would increase the regulatory burden on Nebraska's farmers, ranchers, businesses, and everyday citizens.

In my State, multiple organizations banded together to fight this rule. The group calls itself Common Sense Nebraska Coalition. It includes folks that you would expect, such as farmers and ranchers, but what is interesting is that so many others have heard about this and joined in the fight, including the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska Bankers Association, county officials, resource districts, the Water Resources Association, homebuilders, general contractors, and the Rural Electric Association. They have all joined in this cause because of its uncertainty and massive jurisdiction under the EPA.

My State supports this bill, and I stand proudly with them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ms. Katie Glessman. She is one of two top Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (J.R.O.T.C.) cadets from Nebraska to receive the organizations highest commendation, the Legion of Valor Award.

A selection board reviews thousands of applications each year and total of twenty-nine awards were given out by the national J.R.O.T.C. program to receive this prestigious award. As a senior at Benson High School, Ms. Glessman rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel to command a battalion within J.R.O.T.C. program. This amazing accomplishment recognizes the progress of leadership skills and scholarly knowledge within military and academic achievements within our nation's college preparation programs.

Not only has she reached tremendous heights in the military preparation program, but she is also involved with National Honor Society, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and student government. This remarkable young lady has aspirations to attend West Point and continue to participate in officer preparation courses at a high level of education.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in congratulating Katie Glessman and the J.R.O.T.C. Mentors within Omaha Benson High School J.R.O.T.C. on this accomplishment. I know that they have set the standards high and have become a symbol for Nebraskans for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Joe Maze, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and war veteran. He was a devoted American and an exceptional servant to the Second Congressional District of Nebraska. While I never had the chance to meet Joe, the stories of his legacy should inspire us all.

He's remembered as a great warrior and dedicated serviceman who pledged his devotion to tirelessly fight for moralistic causes until the very end. After the completion of two tours in Vietnam and retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1971, Joe decided that his calling was to continue serving by becoming a part of the law enforcement community. He was a Papillion City Police Officer who diligently worked to protect and serve our community until 1995. His success was apparent as he advanced from Deputy to Captain of the Sarpy County Police Department during his law enforcement career. Not only did he strive to protect our community, but he helped safeguard it as well by volunteering with the Papillion Fire Department in his off time.

Those who knew Joe describe a completely selfless member of our community who was passionate about helping others in need. Those who knew him best say he was devoted to service, and gave his time and energy to those less fortunate. He was active in Masonic organizations in both Nebraska and Oregon. He traveled to Minnesota to visit children in the Shriners Hospital where he dressed up as Snuffy the Clown and would spend the day visiting with sick children making them laugh. It's said his gentle demeanor would raise anyone's spirits. This one act of kindness demonstrates that Joe left a very positive impact on this world. May we all find comfort in remembering the joy he brought to others.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in offering my deepest condolences to the Maze family for their loss. Let us honor him by reflecting on his lifetime of selfless service to others and may his legacy live on.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. Jared Polack. He is one of two top Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (J.R.O.T.C.) cadets from Nebraska to receive the organization's highest commendation, the Legion of Valor Award.

A selection board reviews thousands of applications each year and total of twenty-nine awards were given out by the national

J.R.O.T.C. program to receive this prestigious award. As a senior at Burke High school, Mr. Polack rose to the rank of Major within J.R.O.T.C. program. This amazing accomplishment recognizes the progress of leadership skills and scholarly knowledge within military and academic achievements within our nation's college preparation programs.

Not only has he reached tremendous heights in the military preparation program, but he is also involved with actively volunteering at the Friedel Jewish Academy, National Honor Society, and a member of student council. This remarkable young man has set goals to attend West Point, the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and continue to participate in officer preparation courses at a higher level of education.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in congratulating Jared Polack and the J.R.O.T.C. Mentors within Omaha Burke High School--J.R.O.T.C. on this achievement. They have set the standards high and have become a symbol for Nebraskans within the Junior Reserve Training Corps for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a necessary repair for our vets' damage that was caused by VA workers who were willing to allow veterans to die by denying them care, ostensibly to receive a bonus.

Leave no doubt that this is a patch and that the VA requires a complete overhaul. For example, 7 years ago, the VA hospital in Omaha was deemed to be in such poor condition it needed to be replaced ASAP. It was put on the official list, and in those 7 years since, the project has actually fallen down the list, as few projects have been completed.

The VA is just not able to manage major projects. The entire Nebraska delegation wrote then-Secretary Shinseki over a year ago to meet and discuss the lack of progress and possible alternatives, but he refused to meet with our delegation, even after repeated requests.

This is evidence of total dysfunction of this VA in Washington, D.C. My hope is that the new VA Secretary will be more accommodating to listen to the Nebraska delegation whose sole goal is simply to help our veterans receive the appropriate care in a building that meets at least today's standards.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4450) to extend the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on this bill, and I would like to include an exchange of letters between the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Today, I rise in support of H.R. 4450, the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act, which was reported out of the subcommittee I chair, Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, on July 9, 22-0. H.R. 4450 then sailed through the full Committee on Energy and Commerce on July 15 by voice vote.

I thank Congressman Bilirakis for his hard work, not only in crafting a very smart bill with the appropriate reforms, but also gaining strong bipartisan support along the way. And I also thank his cosponsor, Mr. Welch of Vermont, for being the lead Democratic sponsor.

The Travel Promotion Act matches $100 million in fees from foreign travelers with $100 million in voluntary contributions from the industry to invest in advertising abroad. In 2013 alone, Brand USA generated 1.1 million visitors to the United States, who spent $3.4 billion and supported 53,181 U.S. jobs.

Now, we always think of Orlando, California, Miami, Disneyland, Hollywood, and Disney World as the tourist spots that are known worldwide, but thanks to the TPA and Brand USA, travel agents from abroad can educate their clients on popular attractions in America's heartland, not just New York City or Los Angeles. Nebraska alone has seen $4.4 billion spent and 44,275 jobs supported throughout the life of Brand USA.

With H.R. 4450, we increase accountability, as well as transparency requirements and performance metrics to ensure Brand USA is run efficiently. I am also pleased that the legislation makes contributions to Brand USA voluntary, rather than compulsory.

Conservative publications, such as RedState and Human Events have picked up on these changes and recognize these reforms as critical to the success of the Travel Promotion Act.

I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) and the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) for their hard work in drafting H.R. 4450 and for gathering enough supporters that we can pass this legislation under suspension of the rules.

I was fortunate to be able to report the bill out of my subcommittee, so that our committee can continue to benefit from Brand USA, and I encourage a ``yea'' vote from all of the Members on both sides of the aisle.

I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Homeland Security,

Washington, DC, July 16, 2014.

Hon. Fred Upton,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rayburn House

Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Upton: I write to you regarding H.R. 4450,

the Travel Promotion, Enhancement, and Modernization Act of

2014, which was ordered reported by the Committee on Energy

and Commerce on July 15, 2014. I wanted to notify you that

the Committee on Homeland Security will forgo action on the

bill so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House floor

for consideration.

This is being done with the understanding that the

Committee on Homeland Security is not waiving any of its

jurisdiction, and the Committee will not be prejudiced with

respect to the appointment of conferees or its jurisdictional

prerogatives on this or similar legislation.

I would appreciate your response to this letter, confirming

this understanding, and ask that a copy of our exchange of

letters on this matter be included in the report accompanying

H.R. 4450 and in the Congressional Record during

consideration of H.R. 4450 on the House floor.

Sincerely,

Michael T. McCaul,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the full committee chair.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the author and chief negotiator of this bill, who worked in a very bipartisan way and allowed the bill to come out of our committee unanimously.

At this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from southern Florida (Mr. Jolly).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Gardner).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

I want to thank Jan Schakowsky, the ranking member, for her great work on this bill. She and I understand and have worked together in a very bipartisan way to try and encourage more foreign investment in the United States.

That builds our economy and helps to create jobs when you bring money from outside the United States in. We had a bill that passed earlier, overwhelmingly in this House, that is sitting over in the Senate, to do a study to figure out what the barriers are to direct foreign investment in the United States.

This is the easy lift here. This is providing visas to people from all around the world that want to come spend some time in the United States because they want to go to the Windy City on the big Ferris wheel on the pier or to one of our great amusement parks or to Colorado skiing. We attract people from all over the world. We have to encourage them.

There is a worldwide competition for the tourism dollar, and we need to make sure that the United States is competitive, and Brand USA is that program that promotes the United States, so that the tourists come here, whether it is from Brazil to go shopping in the Miami area--which is very popular--or whatever they want to do as their destination.

When they decide to make that trip, they get a visitor's visa, and they pay a fee for that visa. The interesting part is when some of that money is then invested in Brand USA through this act, over that period of the year, there is actually more dollars that go towards budget or deficit reduction than are used for the processing and for Brand USA, so it actually reduces our deficit. Who wouldn't want that?

It is also the point that it creates jobs, and I think of this bill more as a jobs bill. 53,000 jobs per year are supported because of Brand USA and foreign visitors to the United States--1.1

million visitors directly from Brand USA.

I would like to see us do 2 million next year, but we are only going to do that if there is a way to get the word out around the world that we want visitors to the United States, so this is a great bill.

Gus Bilirakis, the gentleman from Florida that worked this bill, resolved all of the major issues. He negotiated, and this is now a voluntary program on the business side, not compulsory.

I don't think there are any real issues here, any barriers or bumps here, so I think we should have a unanimous vote on this. Therefore, I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yea'' on this great pro-U.S.A. bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I speak today regarding section 131 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2015.

This section is a very important provision that requires the Treasury to report to Congress each month on the number of individuals who have failed to pay their Obamacare insurance premiums.

Earlier this year the House passed my bill, H.R. 3362, the Exchange Information Disclosure Act--which also sought basic information on the exchanges.

This should be easy.

What we're talking about today is basic transparency and accountability.

We are asking for information that any entity overseeing a health insurance operation should have at the tip of their fingers at all times.

If my friends on the other side of the aisle are so confident about health care reform, this will prove it's working as intended.

Madam Chair, I am particularly pleased to see section 401 in this bill, which requires the Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission--currently Allison Macfarlane--to notify the other members of the Commission and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, within 1 day after the Chairwoman or Chairman begins using emergency powers.

This provision was included in the last Congress, and I am hopeful that the underlying policy can be put into permanent statute. In fact, over the last 2 years, Madam Chairman--two Congresses--I have had a bill to make these permanent changes. The bill is H.R. 3132.

For example, currently, no definition of an ``emergency'' exists, and no requirement of notice by the Chair to fellow Commissioners or to Congress exists.

That is why this language is so important in this bill, yet the current Chair, Ms. Macfarlane, opposes this language as ``too burdensome.'' This follows on the heels of a former Chair--her immediate past Chair--who declared an emergency without telling anybody and used it for a political purpose.

There is obviously a need for this type of language, and we should make it permanent, instead of having to do this every year on the Energy and Water Appropriations bill.

I am glad to see that the current Commission is more collegial now, but it is incumbent upon us in the House and Senate to make sure that these changes are made permanent, so this abuse of power doesn't occur anymore.