Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of this resolution and commend my friend and colleague and classmate from Oregon. He and I share something. We both have children about similar ages, elementary school, now middle school ages. I can't think of anything more horrific than your children dying when the buildings collapse upon them and the frustration of a parent who just wants answers.

When I think about those buildings collapsing on those children, I can't help but think about the incompetency of a large centralized government that's in charge of every facet of their economy. Here we are faced this weekend with a debate of whether or not we're going to move our government in that same direction, of building a huge bureaucracy, one that is separated from the people, one that will be a thousand miles away, that won't really have the passion or interest, other than just passing paper around desks, and realizing that their lack of interest allows for this waste and the fraud and the abuse that's inherent in the buildings that collapsed in Sichuan.

I fear that as we grow our massive government and bureaucracy to manage the government's portion of the health care taking over 18 percent of our economy, we're going to have to live with that level of incompetency, fraud, waste and abuse. Think of those schools collapsing and that equaling how our health care is going to be run in this country.

Another thing that the gentleman from Virginia said--and I want to associate myself with his remarks--this is a $1.2 trillion bill. Yeah, they raise a lot of taxes to be able to pay for it. Some of it's $500 billion out of Medicare. My worry is that that $500 billion out of Medicare really isn't going to be cut. It's just going to go to our national debt. Therefore, we're going to have to rely on China to buy that debt from us. Again, relying on it. Notice that this resolution condemns the action of the Chinese Government for their humanitarian violations, but there are no penalties here.

See, when they're our creditors and they own us like they do and will continue to own more of us when we have

to sell our debt to them, it limits our abilities to sit down and negotiate with them. Did you notice that the last couple of administration officials that have gone, or even congressional officials that have gone, to China haven't brought up human rights violations with China?

Well, that's because they know they've got us by the economics. We can't do that or they could do such things as flood the world's economy with our debt, ruining our dollars and further jeopardizing our economy and more jobs. But then again, maybe the bright side of this health care bill, perhaps costing as many as 5.5 million jobs, is that they can go to China and help rebuild Sichuan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution.

I want to talk about the cold war that has been created in the House of Representatives over this health care bill. This is my 11th year here, and I have never seen this House so divided and vitriolic. It is intense around here, and it doesn't have to be this way. We have heard speech after speech from my friends on the other side of the aisle saying that we, because we oppose government involvement in our health care and a $1.2 trillion price tag, that somehow we want people to die, we don't want there to be or somehow we support the preexisting exclusion in contracts or caps or insurance dumping.

Frankly, when you get past that level of vitriolic leadership- supported rhetoric, what you find out is that we actually agree on a lot between the two sides. We just haven't been able to actually discuss a real bill between us because the Republicans have been shut out. We are angry about that. I think that is the root or part of the problem with this health care bill, is that we have not been involved in its shaping at all.

For example, the bill that I supported or drafted and is up in Rules Committee and may be heard at 1, 2 or 3 in the morning, I guess, specifically forbids the use of a preexisting clause in a contract, that eliminates the caps that have been put on, either yearly or lifetime, that prevents the dumping. These are the type of things that we tend to all agree on, but we can't work together to get those done that have been identified as part of the problem.

Another part of the problem that I think we all agree on is the high price of the policies in health care in general prevents many people from being able to access or purchase health insurance. Therefore, not being able to access as well as many others the health care system. But there are ways to deal with that as well.

The GOP alternative, and the one I put in, allows people to be packaged together in large groups. We attack the underlying costs of health care, and we make it more affordable and policies available to a lot more people by doing that. Mine is a replication, an exact identical twin of what we have as Federal employees and Members of Congress. And that is 9 million people.

I agree with the insurance exchange idea where you can put maybe 15 million people that are uninsured, don't have access to one large group and let the private sector compete for them. This has been found by most economists to really dramatically reduce the costs by buying in bulk in the competition, and those two principles are embraced in the alternatives.

But I want to break down a little bit where we start separating, because really the real problems between the philosophical basis for our bill boils down to the public option. Theirs has a public option where it involves the government in health care. It sets up, and if you read the bill and understand how it works, you see where we will have a single-payer, totally-run-by-the-government health care system within 10 years. I oppose that. I ran on individual liberties, not growing government. That is where we are going to hopefully have the debate tomorrow, instead of the rhetoric that we have heard to date.

This is not only on the principles of big government versus limited government, individuals and patient rights versus big government and centralized leadership over health care, but it is also going to be a debate about $1.2 trillion or more. And even some of this, there is additional costs that are even hidden. Let me just give you one before I yield back my time.

In order to help insure the lower-income people right above the poverty mark, this bill tomorrow moves Medicaid from 100 percent of poverty as the eligibility cutoff to 150 percent. Why is that? Why do I say that is a trick? Well, it is good that they get uninsured, but ours would allow them access and probably a little bit of support to be able to help them. What this does then is shifts those costs to the State. Because Medicaid, most of the dollars for Medicaid people are borne by the State. So the price tag for this bill is actually higher.

One of the things that we are going to hear is, yes, they soak the rich, which involves a lot of small businesses, but the middle-income people are the ones that are going to get hit when they put these burdens on the States. When the States, like Nebraska, have to come up with tens of millions of more dollars at a time when we are in a special session trying to figure out how to balance that budget, the reality is they are going to have to raise taxes, and that is sales taxes and property taxes. So this bill trickles down to the local levels by forcing the States to have to expand their Medicaid coverage, hiding the costs, the true costs of this bill, but also is going to increase the local taxes. I think that is unfair and I think the American public needs to know about some of these little nuances or even tricks, as I would call them.

So I stand up in opposition to the health care bill; and when hopefully this bill is defeated or can't get the votes, then we can come together in a bipartisan way and fix the problems that we all agree on and we can actually help the American public, as opposed to creating this large new bureaucracy.

It is about the spending. People back home are asking me, How much is enough for you? Another $1.2 trillion bill in this national takeover of our health care. I think this is the third $1 trillion bill of this year at a time when we have almost a $2 trillion deficit this year.

Now, we can't raise enough tax dollars, we can't cut Medicare enough from our seniors to cover this cost. Everyone but the best Kool-Aid drinkers around know this bill is going to add to our national debt. Soon--and maybe by next year at the rate that this Congress is spending--our national debt will equal the size of our GDP, which is what the economists say is the tipping point that is going to drag our economy down. What does this mean? It means that my children and your children are going to pay this off with fewer opportunities than we have today.

We are going in the wrong direction for the dream for our children in America.

I am introducing the Simple Universal Health Care Act, a plan which will let the uninsured opt into a system which is an identical twin to the health care that we have in Congress. This plan removes restrictions on preexisting conditions. It allows employers to opt in and maintain the current tax benefits for providing coverage. The administrative costs will be around $15 million, not billion, not $1.2 trillion, and would be paid for by the insurance companies, leaving the taxpayers with no cost.

This plan offers a variety of options, and companies compete for customers, thus holding down the cost and maximizing benefits without a government takeover of health care, without using taxpayer dollars, without taking money from Medicare or raising taxes on small business.

The SUH Act is a simple, affordable private-sector approach to making sure all people have access to health insurance, and I encourage Members of both sides of the aisle to support this simple solution.

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

I rise today in support of House Resolution 692, recognizing September as Tay-Sachs Awareness Month. Tay-Sachs disease affects the lives of almost 1.5 million Americans who are carriers of the disease.

Infants are the most vulnerable to this disease. They appear to develop normally for the first few months of life, but then, as nerve cells become distended with fatty material, a relentless deterioration of mental and physical abilities occurs. These helpless children then become blind, deaf, and unable to swallow. Muscles begin to atrophy. Paralysis sets in. Even with the best of care, children with Tay-Sachs disease usually die by the age of 4 from recurring infections.

A much rarer form of the disorder occurs in patients in their twenties and early thirties and is characterized by an unsteady gait and progressive neurological deterioration.

Unfortunately, the incidence of Tay-Sachs is particularly high among people of Eastern European and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Patients and carriers of Tay-Sachs disease can be identified by a simple blood test. Parents of high-risk populations are encouraged to have their children screened for this gene.

Presently, there is no treatment for Tay-Sachs disease, but I would like to recognize the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes for their efforts to reduce the burden of this neurological disease. NINDS is part of the National Institutes of Health and conducts research on Tay-Sachs disease in laboratories at the NIH and also supports additional research through grants to major medical institutions across the country.

I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution, Mr. Speaker, and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and so I'm prepared to yield back the balance of our time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in saluting Hillerich & Bradsby Co. on the 125th anniversary of the Louisville Slugger. It has been 125 years since Bud Hillerich crafted the very first Louisville Slugger for Pete Browning of the Louisville Eclipse. Since that time, the Louisville Slugger has sold more than 100 million bats, making it without question the most popular bat brand in baseball history.

The Louisville Slugger continues to dominate the game in both wood and aluminum bat categories, with 60 percent of all Major League players currently using the Louisville Slugger. Because the average Major League Baseball player goes through more than 100 bats in a season, each year more than 1 million bats are made at its factory in Louisville. At the factory's peak production, they are able to produce 1,500 bats to a specific player's request per day.

The factory in downtown Louisville is much more than just your average factory and carries with it an air of tradition and nostalgia from Hall of Fame players like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and even today's pros like Kevin Youkilis and Derek Jeter.

In 1996, the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was opened to the public, and it's hard to miss the museum's 120-foot-tall Louisville Slugger that leans onto the brick building. Once inside of the museum, tourists are able to witness the entire process of creating a wooden bat from northern white ash or maple, test different model bats in a batting cage, and read about the history of players from the past.

In recent years, Louisville Slugger has gone far beyond bats, providing performance technology in the form of fielding and batting gloves, helmets, catchers' gear, equipment bags, training aids and accessories. In addition to its on-field performance products, Louisville Slugger offers personalized, miniature, commemorative and collectible bats. Perhaps we'll see one here soon. I would like to commend the Hillerich & Bradsby Company on their 125th anniversary of the Louisville Slugger and applaud the great success they've had with on-field performance products.

I would also like to recognize Congressman Yarmuth of Kentucky for his work on this resolution and hope that many more vacationers will enjoy the museum and factory tour experience. I stand in support of this legislation and hope that my colleagues will join me.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I think for the TV viewers, it's important to note that Mr. Yarmuth isn't that short. It's that the bat is that big.

Mr. Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 3663, a bill to delay the date for accreditation of durable medical equipment suppliers for 90 days. I want to thank my colleague from Ohio (Mr. Space) for bringing this legislation to the floor today and to correct a provision in the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. That law, which was approved by the House last year, required suppliers of durable medical equipment, DME, to get accreditation before applying to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to meet the quality standards before being awarded a contract under the Medicare DMEPOS competitive bidding program. The law carved out an exemption for certain physicians and other treating practitioners and also gave the Secretary of HHS the authority to exempt others.

By regulation, CMS determined that pharmacists would fall under this exemption and not be required to obtain accreditation in order to sell durable medical equipment to consumers. Brick and mortar pharmacies, however, would be subject to CMS accreditation under the CMS rules.

The bill would fix this problem and extend the period of time for CMS to complete the accreditation process for those pharmacies that have filed their paperwork. The bill also includes language clarifying that the 90-day extension would not apply to those suppliers wishing to participate in competitive bidding for certain durable medical equipment.

The issue that is facing us here today is that only about 43 percent of the pharmacies have actually had their inspection and review, leaving 50 percent of them out there dangling because of

the backlog from the inspections. So hopefully within the next 90 days from this extension, we'll be able to get caught up, and all of them will be able to continue to sell durable medical goods to the patients who require such goods.

Therefore, I encourage all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' for this. Again, I want to thank Mr. Space, Chairman Waxman, Ranking Member Barton, and Mr. Pallone for acting so quickly on this when Mr. Space and I brought it up last week for attention.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his kind comments. I appreciate it very much, and I enjoyed working with him.

At this time I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), one of the co-chairs of the House Pharmacy Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), member of the Ways and Means Committee, and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for conducting this debate on H. Con. Res. 59. This important concurrent resolution supports the goals and ideals of senior caregiving. I would like to thank the distinguished Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Education and Labor Committee as well as the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities for their role in bringing this concurrent resolution to the House Floor. Furthermore, I would like to particularly thank the 42 cosponsors of this important resolution.

Seniors are one of our most precious resources. In order to take care of our seniors, we need a nation of caregivers.

On March 30, 2009, I introduced H. Con. Res. 59 in order to help promote the goals and ideals of senior caregiving. The idea for this concurrent resolution was brought to me by the world's large senior care provider, Home Instead Senior Care, which is located in my congressional district in Omaha, Nebraska. Home Instead understands first hand the importance of senior caregiving. Its over 800 franchises worldwide provide care to over 60,000 seniors. Home Instead is just one of hundreds of companies who provide care to seniors. In addition to these paid caregivers, you have millions of individuals who provide care to their elderly parents, siblings, friends etc.

To illustrate the need for senior caregivers, today in the United States, there are more than 38 million people who are 65 years of age or older and this number is expected to more than double by 2050. For this reason, it is critical that we as a nation are prepared to meet and manage the needs of our aging population. We must work to educate people in the United States on the impact of aging and the importance of knowing the options available to seniors when they need assistance to meet their personal needs.

In 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a total of 767,000 paid personal and home care aides providing more than 835 million hours of care to a senior population of 38 million. These statistics speak to the point that seniors prefer to remain in their homes if their needs are met with affordable and safe homecare. I firmly believe the longer a senior is able to provide for his or her own care, the less burden is placed on public payment systems in state and federal governments.

This important concurrent resolution pledges to study the needs of an aging population and seeks alternatives which can make caregiving more affordable. Moreover, this resolution importantly recognizes the caregivers who provide these homecare services. This resolution will draw attention to our everyday heroes who enhance the lives of our senior population. This resolution also focuses on those caregivers who are excited to have an employment opportunity to work with our seniors.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the three national associations who are supportive of this legislation: National Family Caregivers Association; the National Association for Home Care and Hospice; and the National Private Duty Association. These three groups illustrate the widespread support for this resolution amongst the caregiver community.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, H. Con. Res. 59 is an important step in recognizing the important work of caregivers. I encourage my colleagues to support this important concurrent resolution.

National Private Duty Association,

Indianapolis, IN, July 1, 2008.

The National Private Duty Association formally endorses the

Concurrent Resolution which Home Instead Senior Care has

circulated. This Resolution does an excellent job of

promoting the goals and ideals of senior caregiving and

affordability.

The National Private Duty Association is supportive of the

intent of this Resolution which is to increase the visibility

of senior caregivers in a positive manner. Moreover, the

National Private Duty Association believes the six

recommendations listed in the Resolution are important steps

forward in our effort to educate the public on senior

caregiving.

We encourage other associations to support this Resolution

effort and we look forward to becoming a part of the

coalition in support of this. I would be happy to discuss the

merits of this Resolution at any time.

Sincerely,

Sheila McMackin,

President,

National Private Duty Association.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding an earmark I received as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, H.R.3326.

My Congressional District received $1,700,000 for research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's College of Information Science and Technology's work with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. These systems control critical national and defense infrastructure such as gas pipelines, utilities, and railroads.

The Department of Defense, power companies, manufacturing plants and transportation networks rely on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The Department of Homeland Security has grown increasingly concerned over the lack of security of SCADA networks. This concern is due to the fact that SCADA control systems are primarily owned by private companies and have been assembled together in a patchwork fashion over time to improve efficiency. Even though many military bases, including those operated by the U.S. Air Force, have separate SCADA systems in place to provide local power, they remain vulnerable because they use commercially produced, potentially flawed SCADA system hardware and software. Likewise, the U.S. electric power industry uses SCADA systems and is a potential target for terrorist attacks. Nearly 1,700 of the 3,200 power utilities have some type of SCADA system in place, and roughly one quarter of these utilities have no separation between the corporate network and the system control network. Clearly, U.S. infrastructure is operating in a very dangerous mode. External entities that may be able to gain access to control centers could turn off power, reroute trains, or shut down factories. Thus, a national security concern exists on two fronts: the capabilities of the military and public infrastructure safety.

This project will develop methods which will be used within SCADA systems to increase the authenticity and integrity of data that provide control information. To achieve this goal, researchers will work with the U.S. Air Force and local industries to assess the most commonly used SCADA legacy equipment. This research will be guided by a project- specific advisory board to ensure it is consistent and well-integrated into other national efforts and valuable to private sector infrastructure operators. This board could include members from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Air Force Office Scientific Research, USSTRATCOM, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha Public Power District, Northern Natural Gas, and Union Pacific Railroad.

Education and Analysis Labs (mentioned above) will be used to conduct this work. The team is also well recognized in the cybersecurity community, as evidenced by the DoD-sponsored International Cyber Defense Workshop hosted at UNO in October 2008 with over 100 participations from 16 countries. UNO is also uniquely positioned to perform advanced cybersecurity research specifically in SCADA system security because its researchers have connections with personnel in the military, industrial, and public infrastructure sectors using SCADA systems. These strong partnerships will guide and direct the research and its application. Researchers will also collaborate with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which has a SCADA system test bed and currently employs UNO graduates working on SCADA system problems.

I was pleased to see this funding included in the Defense Appropriations Bill.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding an earmark I received as part of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, H.R. 3288.

My Congressional District received $1.25 million for the construction of a child and family services facility at Boys Town, Nebraska. The entity to receive this funding is Boys Town, located at 14100 Crawford St., Boys Town, NE 68010.

This funding will help fund the construction of a new totally comprehensive child and family services facility with increased capacity to serve more then double the population of children and families currently served of approximately 1,000. Boys Town will be providing at least $7.25 million in matching funds towards the requested Federal share of $1.25 million. This multi-dimensional service facility will include the broad range of medical and juvenile justice delinquency services so that at-risk girls and boys (and their families) can have all child related disorders and care provided. Some of the services included, but not limited to, in this facility will include juvenile justice evaluations, services to prevent delinquency and school failure, and parenting skill building services to help parents become more effective at dealing with a variety of child disorders and issues. It is expected that through these services, youth recidivism of criminal behavior will be greatly reduced as will the need for further out-of home-placement, including that of a correctional or prison facility. Youth will be prepared to be productive members of society.

Nationally and locally, Boys Town's continuum of programs now provide direct care to more than 51,000 children and their families and assists nearly 1.4 million children each year through its youth care and health care programs. Boys Town operates programs in a dozen states and the District of Columbia. These programs include: Treatment Family Programs (i.e. Family Home, Assessment and Short-Term Residential Services, Treatment Foster Family Services, Family Based Services, Common Sense Parenting and National Hotline. Treatment modalities range from prevention to aftercare and include in- and out-of-home programs. The Boys Town model, the foundation for all Boys Town programs, has been recognized by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) as a ``Promising Model.'' Boys Town's leadership in treatment and child care technology provide youth with a safe, caring, loving environment where they gain confidence to get better and learn skills to become productive citizens. With at least an 81% success rate, Boys Town alumni have gone on to become successful in all facets of life. This commitment to our nation's youth placed Boys Town on the list of the 100 Best Communities for Young People as named by America's Promise Alliance in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding an earmark I received as part of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, H.R. 3293.

My Congressional District received $500,000 to purchase core research equipment at Creighton University. Creighton University is located at 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178. This funding will support several core research facilities for shared use among research faculty, including basic scientists and clinical researchers. These facilities provide university biomedical researchers opportunities for inter- disciplinary collaboration and interaction. The development of team research projects utilizing state-of-the-art technology and equipment offered in these core facilities has enabled Creighton to continue to increase their NIH research funding despite the downturn in the NIH budget.

Creighton's research community has designed the facilities to allow the free flow of information and collaborative work environments, thus expanding the possibilities of research and wisely using limited resources. Grouping resources through core facilities has the distinct advantage of using the economy of scale by consolidating expensive equipment and technologies, providing access to state-of-the-art research tools and expanding the base of sponsored program opportunities through enhanced research infrastructure. Core facility resources are not duplicated and are made available to the entire university research community.

Research grants, funded by the Health Future Foundation, the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Grant (LB692), and the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSC0R), have supplied Creighton University with the resources for the creation and expansion of Core Facilities in confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, genomics, morphology, and proteomics. Further, Creighton is developing a core facility for clinical genomics that will support a wide range of Creighton researchers. All Core Facilities are housed in the C.C. and Mabel Criss Health Sciences Complex on the university's main campus.

My Congressional District also received $1 million for the purchase of equipment and construction of facilities at Creighton University. Creighton University is located at 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178. This funding will support the three major health science programs housed in the dental sciences building, dentistry, occupational therapy and physical therapy. These programs provide educational opportunities for Nebraskans and manpower to meet the state's needs in those disciplines. Each of the programs also provides Nebraskans with a vital link to health care.

Following an in-depth analysis, Creighton University is undertaking a major capital campaign to provide the School of Dentistry with a new facility. The Dental Sciences Building will provide the School of Dentistry with a facility that helps them increase their capacity to serve as a national resource in dental education and a Nebraska resource for dental care.

The new facility will meet the needs of the student body, the needs of the Omaha community as well as the surrounding rural communities and states that Creighton graduates serve. In fact, through contractual agreements Creighton University is THE state dental school for Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. This will allow Creighton to remain competitive among peer institutions and recruit and retain the best students and faculty while providing services to under-served communities who rely on university dental clinics for basic dental health services.

I am confident this funding serves an appropriate federal purpose and works to better the lives of the people of Nebraska and the nation.

The House health care bill is a government takeover of your health care and destructive to the economy. It provides perverse incentives to employers to dump their health care plan, forcing their employees into the government health exchange where they will choose the government-subsidized government plan. Oops, there goes the promise that you can keep your own plan.

This costs you $1 trillion placed on the back of small businesses. Oops, there goes those jobs.

After 10 years, the cost of this plan explodes, needing multi- trillions of dollars to continue to fund. More taxes,

more debt. Oops, there goes our economy--to China and India.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to express my dissatisfaction with this rule. This is my 11th year here, my 11th appropriations season, and it is the first time where substantive, real discussions have been prevented. I am extremely disturbed at this rule, as all previous rules this year on appropriations.

In years past, if we had a substantive, meritorious amendment, we were allowed to bring it to the floor without having to go through a totalitarian regime where a small group of people get to place their beliefs at the forefront and prevent discussion. So in the charade of saying that they are just protecting us from dilatory amendments, they are using this power to silence us on substantive amendments.

Let me give you my example about why I stand here today expressing my frustration at the heavy-handedness of the majority. I believe that our country is in jeopardy of not having enough energy to power our economy in the future. If we look at the electricity that needs to be generated in the future, we have to build well over 230 gigabytes of new energy over the next 30 years.

Let me put that in perspective. Most power plants are 500 megabits. So this is 450 to 460 new power plants. If we want clean, reliable and affordable energy for this country to power our economy, we have to open ourselves to nuclear power. We can't access Yucca Mountain. That has been shut down. But the rest of the world recycles their nuclear waste and power rods. We do not in this country.

I had an amendment that I felt very strongly about that increased for our national laboratories funding specifically to research recycling technologies that can be used at our nuclear power plants to continue to recycle their materials, as they are being recycled. Not only is this energy efficient, but wise and efficient use of these nuclear rods, which also means that we have solved our waste issue, not totally making Yucca Mountain irrelevant, but certainly making it----

Thank you. But certainly putting us on a path where we can use nuclear power as clean, affordable energy without the necessity of Yucca Mountain being opened today.

For some reason, in our Energy and Commerce Committee, every one of our nuclear amendments was shut down and voted against. And now we have a Rules Committee that is preventing nuclear power amendments.

I don't understand. I am at a complete loss why the majority wants to shut down nuclear power when it is the cleanest power we can have, the most reliable and the most affordable. That is where our future lies. We can replace old coal-fired plants with clean, new nuclear and produce twice the energy. But for some reason, the majority wants to shut this down.

This rule proves that they are shutting down nuclear power, or at least stepping up and making sure that we aren't going to have more nuclear power in the future. So I ask my colleagues who are pro-nuclear and pro-energy to vote ``no'' on this rule.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding an earmark I received as part of the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010.

My Congressional District received $1.2 million to fund alternative energy training and solar power research at Creighton University. Creighton University is located at 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178. This funding will support costs associated with expansion of its energy technology training program and the establishment of the Research Center for Solar Energy that are consistent with the mission of the Department of Energy--``to strengthen America's energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality in public-private partnerships that 1) enhance energy efficiency and productivity, 2) bring clean, reliable and affordable energy technologies to the marketplace, and 3) make a difference in the everyday lives of Americans by enhancing their energy choices and their quality of life.''

This new program will take advantage of Creighton's developing leadership in energy technology. The new energy technology program will create two faculty research labs that will be designed as settings for project-based and internship-based research settings. Federal funding will allow the university to offer specialized technical training programs in photovoltaics and wind energy to create highly skilled manpower to provide the expertise to develop and implement solar energy. These programs will serve the needs of both traditional and non-traditional students as well as addressing training and retraining needs for a growing energy sector of the economy.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding an earmark I received as part of H.R. 3170--Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2010. Nebraska's Micro-Enterprise Center at The University of Nebraska at Omaha, located at 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha NE 68182, will receive $250,000 from the Small Business Administration out of the ``salaries and expenses'' account in order to establish the technical, knowledge, and support infrastructure needed to foster growth of microenterprises through effective application of information technologies. The Program includes facilities in a central lab to develop and maintain a repository of technology-based solutions to business problems encountered by micro- enterprises. These base solutions, ranging from simple how-to tutorials to fully configured ``business in a box'' servers hosted on a cloud computing (internet based) infrastructure, that will be customized to meet the needs of individual microenterprises. Funds will also support additional curriculum development at UNO in Information Technology for Development, including distance learning options. These educational opportunities will develop a well trained workforce to further support the micro-enterprise owner's needs and sustain the communities of micro-enterprises needed for economic development in Nebraska.

The Program will also support mobile labs used by specially trained UNO students who will work on location with the micro-entrepreneurs to provide customized technology-based solutions to pressing business problems. This project trains micro-enterprise owners how to use information technology effectively by providing immediate and accessible, needs-based information systems training,

technical assistance and operations and development services to micro- enterprises. Micro-enterprise owners, gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to use information technology to grow their businesses, will learn to access new customers and markets, achieve administrative efficiencies, learn how to improve their businesses and increase productivity.

The PIs and this project have a well established track record of working with micro-enterprises that are most in need and enabling them to show measurable improvements. This includes working closely with multiple community partners. 37 microenterprises that were selected from a larger pool are presently being actively supported. This project is different from the other micro-enterprise assistance programs in that it addresses the needs of the majority of micro-entrepreneurs by providing them with the ability to use information technology to grow their businesses. Additionally, instruments are being developed and used to assess the effects of our training, technology and trust building interventions on the economic, human and social development of micro-entrepreneurs in the underserved communities of Omaha. After a well established IT, knowledge and community infrastructure is in place approval will be pursued for Center status within the University. Continued educational offerings of developed curricula will sustain development of a trained workforce and microenterprise communities. Efforts for program research, innovation, expansion and assessment purposes will be supplemented by external funding.

In January 2005, Governor Heineman reported to the Legislature on the Nebraska Micro-enterprise Development Act that 87 percent of Nebraska's businesses are micro-enterprises and they accounted for 22 percent of Nebraska's job growth. Many of Nebraska's most successful businesses (e.g., Cabela's, ConAgra) began as micro-enterprises. Since many rural and inner city communities lack the resources and infrastructure for industrial development, micro-enterprises are the only choice for economic development. Despite its effectiveness and track record, Nebraska's micro-enterprise development system is grossly underfunded, according to a recent report to the Unicameral by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission. As with businesses of any size, the performance of micro-enterprises can be enhanced through the effective and strategic use of information technology. This project will provide Nebraska micro-enterprises with an accelerated platform and support for increasing their technological competitiveness, innovation and spur job growth.