Floor Statements

I rise today to celebrate the centennial of the birth of First Lady Patricia Nixon. The Nixon library in southern California will present a major exhibit about Mrs. Nixon's life opening March 16, and the National Archives here in Washington will host a forum on Mrs. Nixon's work in the international arena in April.

Thelma Catherine Ryan was born on the eve of St. Patrick's Day on March 16, 1912, in Ely, Nevada, a mining town. Her father, William Ryan, called her his St. Patrick's babe in the morn, so she was called Pat within hours of her birth. The Ryans moved to southern California for a better life and settled on a small truck farm in Artesia near Los Angeles. Orphaned early, her mother, Kate Halberstadt Bender Ryan, died in 1924, and her father in 1929, the year she was graduated from high school.

A young person of tremendous courage and determination, Mrs. Nixon had her heart set on higher education and worked continually to secure the necessary funds. She drove an elderly couple to the east coast and worked as an X-ray technician in New York. Returning west, she was graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1937.

While attending USC, she held part-time jobs on campus and was a department store sales clerk and a Hollywood extra, appearing in several motion pictures, including the 1935 film, ``Becky Sharp.''

Mrs. Nixon taught at Whittier High School in the late 1930s, where she met her husband, who had returned to his hometown to practice law after graduating from Duke Law School. Patricia Ryan and Richard Nixon were married in 1940 and, as was true of so many couples their age, she worked here at home while her husband served in the military in World War II as a naval officer in the Pacific.

Mrs. Nixon campaigned with her husband as he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and 1948 and to the United States Senate in 1950. There's a charming photograph of the Nixons with their infant daughter, Tricia, taken at the Tidal Basin with the cherry blossoms in bloom in the spring of 1947. Julie, their younger daughter, was born the following year.

With her husband's election as Vice President on Dwight Eisenhower's ticket in 1952, Mrs. Nixon became the Second Lady of the land. The Nixons traveled extensively, including for more than 2 months in Asia and the Pacific in 1953, and to South America in 1958, where the couple demonstrated tremendous courage in Caracas while being attacked by a Communist mob, and to the Soviet Union in 1959.

Mrs. Nixon campaigned gallantly in 1960, returning to private life in California and then New York and proudly held the Nixon family Bible when Richard Nixon was inaugurated the 37th President in 1969.

During the Presidential years, the First Lady was truly our Ambassador of Goodwill, visiting South Vietnam, an active combat zone, in 1969; an earthquake-ravaged Peru in 1970; and China, in the groundbreaking trip of 1972. Mrs. Nixon was responsible for the gift from the Chinese of the two giant pandas to the American people. She traveled to more than 80 countries and five continents during her life.

As First Lady, Mrs. Nixon encouraged volunteer service, the spirit of people helping people. She added 600 paintings and antiques to the White House collection, illuminated the White House at night, and opened the White House gardens to the public.

Mrs. Nixon's service to the Nation extended over many years. Only Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton, among our First Ladies, have served the country as long as Patricia Nixon.

Laid to rest in 1993 on the grounds of the Nixon library at Yorba Linda, California, Mrs. Nixon's grave marker reads: ``Even when people can't speak your language, they can tell if you have love in your heart.'' Patricia Ryan Nixon had love in her heart and now, at her 100th birthday, we remember her for her devotion to family, her grace and perseverance, and her patriotism to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, today, February 29, marks the fifth annual International Rare Disease Day, a day devoted to bringing attention to the needs of those with rare diseases.

There are nearly 7,000 rare diseases. Research opportunities remain difficult; and approved therapies are scarce, despite the fact that rare or orphan diseases afflict nearly one in 10 Americans. Bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of research incentives add to the challenges of those with rare or orphan diseases and the organizations that serve them.

As cochairman of the Rare Disease Caucus with my colleague, Congressman Joseph Crowley, I am committed to working in a bipartisan capacity with like-minded Members, policy advocates, and families across the Nation to increase awareness and education of rare diseases.

It is through greater awareness that we are able to bring hope to those who suffer from rare and orphan diseases.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Varsity Cheerleading Squad for winning the 2012 Universal Cheerleaders Association High School National Championship. After a week of competition in Orlando, Florida, this talented group of young women defeated the defending national champions to become the first team from Hunterdon Central Regional High School to bring home a national championship title.

Last year the team took second place, but the squad returned motivated this year to take home the championship. Supporters, friends and family refer to the winning performance as ``The Perfect Routine.'' I congratulate Superintendent Christina Steffner, Principal Tim O'Brien, Head Coach Heather Buterbaugh and Assistant Coach Julie Strober for their hard work and dedication to the team. This marks another proud accomplishment for the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Athletics Department.

These talented young women should be proud of their hard work and I congratulate them on the outstanding achievement of bringing their ``Perfect Routine'' to the national stage.

Madam Speaker, I rise to call attention to one of the world's oldest and most preventable health tragedies and to recognize efforts under way to address it. I am speaking of the needless and preventable death of women in pregnancy and childbirth.

Motherhood is, of course, at the heart of much of what we value and cherish in our civilization. Yet even today, in this age of scientific achievement, becoming a mother still carries great risk. During the next 10 years, an estimated 3 million women may die attempting to bring new life into the world. This is approximately 1,000 mothers per day. Yet when a mother dies, we lose so much. Her baby is at greater risk and so are her other children. Families are torn apart, and some are thrust into poverty, or deeper into poverty.

Maternal mortality is a problem in the developing world. It is also a problem, Madam Speaker, in the United States of America. As I understand the figures, mothers dying around the time of childbirth doubled here in this country between 1990 and 2008. Unfortunately, women in the United States have a higher risk of dying from pregnancy- related complications than women in 38 other countries.

Yet in acknowledging this tragedy, I rise to recognize and applaud efforts that bring real hope. In my district in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, the health care company Merck has just announced a new program: Merck for Mothers. Merck has pledged a half billion dollars over the next decade to help alleviate this situation, complications of pregnancy and childbirth. The people of Merck will dedicate their expertise to help make proven solutions more widely available, to develop new technologies, and to improve public awareness to save lives.

Making progress against this complex challenge will not be easy. It is not purely a medical problem, and there are no magic bullets.

I applaud Merck and other organizations and individuals who are dedicating their time, their resources, and their expertise to creating an environment where no woman has to die in order to bring a child into the world.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of repealing the CLASS Act.

In hearings before the Energy and Commerce Committee, my colleagues and I learned that the CLASS program was a ticking time bomb fiscally, a new entitlement program that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said is ``totally unsustainable'' financially. Richard Foster, chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in 2009: ``Thirty-six years of actuarial experience lead me to believe that this program would collapse in short order and require significant Federal subsidies to continue.'' And Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad has called the CLASS program ``a Ponzi scheme of the first order.'' To her credit, Secretary Sebelius in October called for an end of the CLASS program, adding that there was not ``a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time.''

Madam Chair, we have a serious long-term care problem that is driving patients into bankruptcy and weighing down an overburdened Medicaid program. But before we can develop bipartisan solutions to address this important issue, we must first repeal the misguided CLASS program. Only then can we begin anew and properly address the long-term health care problem.

Mr. Speaker, last week, President Obama asked Congress for $1.2 trillion in additional borrowing authority, and today Congress has the opportunity to respond to the President's request. Since the President took office, the national debt has increased $4.6 trillion. The current Federal debt now exceeds the U.S. gross domestic product, and our Federal Government is borrowing more than 30 cents of every dollar it spends. In recent years, that has been as high as 40 cents of every dollar it spends.

The President's most recent request for a $1.2 trillion increase will bring the debt limit to $16.394 trillion. Yet despite this fiscal outlook, Admiral Mullen, the recently retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has rightly called the national debt ``the single- biggest threat to our national security.'' President Obama and some in Congress still refuse to make the difficult, long-term spending choices necessary to begin restoring fiscal discipline to the Federal budget.

The President publicly opposed a balanced budget amendment, an idea about which Thomas Jefferson said, ``I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government.''

The House of Representatives, in a majority fashion, passed a balanced budget amendment late last year. Unfortunately, it did not receive a two-thirds vote here, as the Constitution requires; and I hope we can revisit that issue.

President Obama has failed to put forth a credible budget plan that reins in runaway Federal entitlement spending. It is the single-biggest contributor toward our long-term fiscal problems.

When the President releases his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 in a few weeks, he has another opportunity to propose real spending caps and entitlement program reforms. I hope he will seize the opportunity to do so.

I commend to the President's attention and to the administration's attention, for example, Chairman Ryan's budget proposals, and we would like to work in good faith with the administration and with the President to make sure that we move forward in a fiscally responsible way.

But today's debate, Mr. Speaker, is about leadership and making tough choices. The Governor of the State of New Jersey, my friend Chris Christie, said last year, ``Leadership, today in America, has to be about doing the big things.'' When given the opportunity to lead on issues concerning levels of spending, debt, and deficits, I urge President Obama to join with us in doing the big things to make sure that we can get our fiscal house in order, a glide path back toward fiscal responsibility for balancing our budget over time.

We need to restore that fiscal discipline in Washington instead of choosing the fiscally perilous path of more spending, larger annual deficits, and mounting debt. The next generation will have to pay back this debt. It is a tremendous burden on young people, and it will sap our strength in the continuing competition of the United States with the nations around the world, including, for example, China and India.

Mr. Speaker, I will oppose the President's request for an additional $1.2 trillion in spending. I hope that we can work together with the administration on this fundamental issue, the issue that confronts the Nation's fiscal responsibility. And may the United States be restored to fiscal responsibility so that future generations might succeed, as generations have succeeded generation in and generation out, the great promise of the American Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the United States Supreme Court's recent decision to hear arguments on the fate of President Obama's Affordable Care Act sets the stage for an important ruling next summer that I believe will bring much-needed regulatory certainty to our economy.

However an obscure tax provision enacted into law by Congress in 1867 could delay a final ruling on the constitutionality of health care reform until 2015.

The court agreed to consider four key questions concerning the constitutionality of the health care law including whether Congress had the authority to require individuals to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty.

Legal scholars differ over whether the health care law adds a ``tax'' for those who lack insurance or instead imposes a ``penalty'' that must be paid to the Internal Revenue Service.

Yet under a law known as the Anti-Injunction Act of 1867, judges are barred from deciding on tax cases until the tax has been paid. Therefore if the justices find themselves closely divided on the issue the court could invoke the Anti-Injunction Act and put off a decision until 2015, when the first taxpayer pays a penalty for not having insurance.

Waiting for a decision on the constitutionality of the health care law until 2015 could be disastrous for U.S. businesses and our economy by continuing to deny regulatory certainty in this area.

That is why today I am introducing the Americans Need a Healthcare Ruling Act. This legislation would waive the Anti-Injunction Act as it applies to the Affordable Care Act. Passage of this bill will help ensure a decision on the issue next year.

Mr. Speaker, as of November 14, 2011, the United States national debt is $14.973 trillion, according to the Department of the Treasury. With pending security auctions this month, it is inevitable that the national debt will reach the unprecedented level of $15 trillion in the coming weeks. When the national debt reaches $15 trillion, it means the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will reach 99.7 percent, and our debt will equal $47,900 for every living American.

Since President Obama took office in 2009, the debt has gone up by $4.3 trillion. In the last 50 years, the Federal Government has only managed to balance its budget five times, most recently with President Clinton, a Democrat, and Republican control of the United States House of Representatives and Senate.

Washington now borrows approximately 40 percent of every dollar it spends. Foreign investors hold half of our Nation's public debt and one-third of overall debt, not only from China, but from Japan, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and other places as well.

Admiral Mullen, the recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has rightly called the national debt ``the single biggest threat to our national security.''

While we have made significant strides in reducing the cost of government over the last few months, much more needs to be done. The primary focus of this Congress and our new leadership has been to restore fiscal sanity and fiscal restraint to the Federal Government. We must remember that the money in the Treasury is not our money but it is the people's money, and we are charged with being good stewards of that money.

There is only one way to ensure that future Congresses and Presidents, regardless of party, are unable to return to the reckless, out-of-control spending of the past, and that is to pass a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. This week, Congress will vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution for the first time in 16 years.

In 1995, following passage by the House of Representatives, the United States Senate came within one vote of sending a version of the balanced budget amendment to the States for ratification. Since then, our total national debt has almost tripled. Today's proposal is nearly identical with the one that passed the House of Representatives with 72 Democratic votes in 1995.

Amending our Constitution should not be taken lightly. I will support the balanced budget amendment because I believe it is the right thing to do to help get our Nation's fiscal house in order. I would have preferred that the balanced budget amendment include a spending cap, but we need Democratic Members to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment to be sent to the States for ratification. That is why the amendment we will be considering almost mirrors the 1995 text.

Before coming to Congress, I served in the New Jersey State Legislature, where I successfully sought reforms to ensure that our State government was responsible with the people's money. In 2008, the people of New Jersey passed by State constitutional amendment to require voter approval for all issuance of State borrowing. I am proud to be able to do my part here in Washington as well. Most States, including New Jersey, are required to balance their State budgets. If the Federal Government continues to spend what it does not have, the balanced budget amendment would provide a much needed safeguard to restrict future spending.

As someone who tries to be a student of American history, I know that a balanced budget amendment is not a new idea. Thomas Jefferson was a strong proponent of the idea. He said: ``I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to the Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government.'' He was referring to a balanced budget amendment. Those were wise words when spoken, and they are wise words today.

Passing a balanced budget amendment would also help move us closer to much needed economic certainty that our Nation desperately needs to boost the economy and help create jobs.

When I was a boy and a young man, the fundamental issue confronting the Nation was the threat of the Soviet Union and international communism, the focus of evil in the modern world, as President Reagan said.

The fundamental issue confronting the Nation in the 21st century is fiscal responsibility. Will our children live in a diminished America? Will the promise of America that each generation does better than the generation before it continue to exist? Will we continue to lead the world, or will leadership pass to China or India or to some other place?

This is the great issue confronting the people of the United States, and it is the great issue confronting us here in Congress. Let us get our fiscal house in order. Let's pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of Mayor Frank Salvato of Warren, New Jersey. Frank was a lifelong resident of Warren Township, in the heart of Somerset County, where he owned and operated a farm for over forty years.

Frank held the record as New Jersey's longest serving elected official. During his 60 years of public service Frank served five terms as Mayor of Warren and was a member of the Township Committee for eleven terms. Frank also served on the Board of Adjustment, the Board of Health, the Planning Board and the Recreation, Police, Roads, Finance, Environment and Senior Citizens Boards. He was a 50-year Charter member of the Warren Lions Club and served on the Watchung Hills Regional High School Board of Education for 27 years, including seven years as its president.

Today I rise to share Frank's tremendous accomplishments and dedicated public service with the House of Representatives. I extend my sincere condolences to his wife, Aldona, and his family and my deep gratitude to Frank for his lifetime of service and leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Cooperative Housing Corporation on its silver anniversary of providing affordable, high quality housing and services to senior citizens and special needs individuals throughout Central New Jersey.

The CHC has proudly helped improved the lives of many older adults and special needs young people throughout its 25 years of service. Since 1986 the CHC has provided shared housing facilities and special services designed to meet physical, social and psychological needs on a cooperative family basis. The CHC comforted countless individuals through a caring ``second family'' environment, and promoted health, security and happiness for senior citizens and others.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to commend the staff, board and founders of the Cooperative Housing Corporation for 25 years of dedicated community service in Central New Jersey and pleased and honored to share this important milestone with my colleagues in the United States Congress and with the American people.

My best personal wishes to everyone associated with the Cooperative Housing Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Union County Magnet High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey for being named one of the ``Best High Schools for Math and Science'' by U.S. News and World Report.

U.S. News and World Report acknowledges schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. Union County Magnet High School is proud example of academic excellence where students have high levels of performance, stellar student achievement, and where educators facilitate a strong learning environment.

I commend the faculty, the students, the parents, and the entire community on receiving this prestigious award. Union County Magnet High School is a proud example of academic excellence and is worthy of national distinction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Union County Academy for Information Technology in Scotch Plains, New Jersey for being named one of the ``Best High Schools for Math and Science'' by U.S. News and World Report.

U.S. News and World Report acknowledges schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. Union County Academy for Information Technology is a proud example of academic excellence where students have high levels of performance, stellar student achievement, and where educators facilitate a strong learning environment.

I commend the faculty, the students, the parents, and the entire community on receiving this prestigious award. Union County Academy for Information Technology is a proud example of academic excellence and is worthy of national distinction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Holy Trinity Interparochial School of Westfield, New Jersey for being named a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.

The Department of Education acknowledges schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. Holy Trinity Interparochial School is a proud example of academic excellence where students have high levels of performance, stellar student achievement, and where educators facilitate a strong learning environment.

I commend Sister Maureen Fichner, the faculty, the students, the parents, and the entire community on receiving this prestigious award. Holy Trinity Interparochial School is a proud example of academic excellence and worthy of this national distinction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize St. John the Apostle School of Clark, New Jersey for being named a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.

The Department of Education acknowledges schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals. St. John the Apostle School is a proud example of academic excellence where students have high levels of performance, stellar student achievement, and where educators facilitate a strong learning environment.

I commend Sister Donna Marie O'Brien, the faculty, the students, the parents, and the entire community on receiving this prestigious award. St. John the Apostle School is a proud example of academic excellence and worthy of this national distinction.