Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the Chabad of Hunterdon County, New Jersey in honoring the Resnick family.

This year, Carl, Ted and Martin Resnick of Flemington, New Jersey will receive the Chabad of Hunterdon County's prestigious Community Leadership Award during a community celebration that will be held on Thursday, June 2 at the Grand Colonial in Hampton, New Jersey.

Each year the Chabad of Hunterdon County presents its Community Leadership Award to recognize individuals, families and businesses who take leadership roles in the community, by giving back to the community and being involved to improve the overall community.

As a lifelong resident of Hunterdon County, I have known Carl, Ted and Martin Resnick and their family for most of my life. In addition to owning the Flemington Department Store--which is a successful family- owned business--the Resnick family have been active members of our community for more than 50 years.

Over the years, the Resnicks have been involved with local sports teams, clubs, service organizations, wildlife refuge efforts, the arts and area first responders. In 2009 the Resnicks deservingly received the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Central New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts of America for their community involvement.

I am proud to join the Chabad of Hunterdon County in praising Carl, Martin and Ted Resnick for their hard work and devotion to the Hunterdon County community. I am also pleased to praise their accomplishments and share their story with my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the American people.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1213. We currently have a debt in this country of $14 trillion and it is rising rapidly. The annual deficit this year will be $1.65 trillion, the largest as a percentage of gross domestic product since 1945.

Current levels of Federal spending are simply unsustainable. We cannot continue on this fiscal path that we have been traveling.

To this end, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has spent nearly

the entire portion of its spring session identifying excess and unaccounted spending within programs, particularly the President's health care bill, in an effort to decrease Federal expenditures, in an effort to put our Nation on a path of fiscal responsibility.

This is one of the legislative fruits of the committee's efforts. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, passage of this bill to repeal the Federal health care insurance exchange funding requirements would save American taxpayers $14 billion over the next 10 years.

I urge my colleagues here in the House to pass this fiscally responsible piece of legislation that takes an important step in defunding the health care law and reduces Federal spending and the deficit, and I hope that at an early date the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the health care law.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1217. As members of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, my colleagues and I have participated in a number of hearings that have explored the fiscal impact of the new health care law.

These hearings have revealed the existence of several programs and mandatory spending provisions contained in the law. Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius said during testimony that she had the sole discretion over billions of dollars in direct, unlimited mandatory spending under the law. This means without any congressional hearings, without any language in appropriations bills, and without any oversight, the executive branch has been granted unprecedented spending authority.

Today's legislation, H.R. 1217, will repeal one of those little-known programs called the Prevention and Public Health Fund and subject it to the annual appropriations process. The aim may be worthy, Mr. Chairman, but this should be subjected to the annual appropriations process. This action, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will save American taxpayers $16 billion over the next 10 years.

Mr. Chairman, as we all know, the Federal Government is $14 trillion in debt. Our deficit for this year will be at least $1.5 trillion. We must get Federal spending under control. We can start by repealing programs that run afoul of congressional oversight. I urge Members to support H.R. 1217.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in a very sad moment for the people of the State of New Jersey. I want to thank Congressman Pallone for joining with me this evening, as well as other Members of the House, as we pay tribute to our colleague, John Adler, who served in this House in the last Congress, an extremely close personal friend of mine, he and I having served 17 years together in the New Jersey legislature.

Mr. Speaker, before I deliver my remarks, we are honored this evening to be joined by the minority whip, the former majority leader, who certainly knew Congressman Adler well.

I yield to the distinguished minority whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Thank you very much, Mr. Hoyer.

Mr. Speaker, I have known John Adler for 20 years.

He entered the New Jersey State Senate in January 1992, having been the only Democratic candidate to win an open seat that year, defeating an incumbent in what was not a strong year for the Democratic Party, his party. It was a strong year for my party, the Republican Party. And so he came to Trenton as a phenomenon.

He was a very young man. He was born in 1959, so he would have been 32 years old when he became a member of the State Senate. I had been elected to an unexpired term in the General Assembly the year before, and I served in the 1990s in the General Assembly, the lower house of our legislature, and he served continually in our upper house, in our State Senate, having first been elected in 1991 and then reelected in 1993, 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2007.

He rose to a position of prominence in the New Jersey Senate. He eventually chaired the State Senate Judiciary Committee, which is an extremely important responsibility in the structure of our government in New Jersey. And he was always interested in public policy. The year before he was elected to the State Senate, he had run as an underdog in a congressional race. And although he did not win that race, I think that many took note of his candidacy, and I think that propelled him into our State Senate.

I moved from the lower house of the New Jersey legislature to the State Senate in the election of 2001 when we became direct colleagues, and we worked together on many different issues. And he always worked in a collegial and extremely competent fashion.

Indeed, we sat next to each other for a period of time of our service in the State Senate, divided only by the center aisle. To those who know our State Capitol in Trenton, the State Senate chamber is a very small room. It was designed originally for 21 members, one State Senator from each of our 21 counties, and when the State Senate was increased in population in the 1960s, based upon the principle of one person one vote, to 40 members, it became a place where it's really quite overcrowded. And so we really sat extremely close to each other in this small chamber of the State Senate.

John Adler's career in the legislature was one of distinction--for example, prohibiting smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. He also sponsored an act promoting lower vehicle emissions and an antipredatory lending act to protect consumers from unfair credit practices. And based on that and many other accomplishments when he came here, he was appointed to the Financial Services Committee, the committee to which I was appointed, as well, and so we became colleagues not only here in this Chamber, the House of Representatives, the people's House across the United States, but we became colleagues on the Financial Services Committee.

John was not raised in circumstances of affluence. He lost his father when he was a young man, and for him and his mother, it was a struggle. And yet despite that, he went to Harvard. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1981, and from Harvard Law School in 1984. He was an excellent student. And at Harvard, he met the person who became his wife, Shelley, someone whom I know and who is known by my wife, Heidi, and we consider ourselves to be friends with the entire Adler family.

And together, John and Shelley brought into this world four wonderful sons, Jeff, Alex, Andrew and Oliver, all of whom I know. Jeff is at Harvard at the moment, Alex is at Cornell, and they have two younger brothers. And tonight on this sad day, the day when John's funeral took place at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, we remember prayerfully his wife, Shelley, and their beautiful sons, Jeff, Alex, Andrew and Oliver.

In 2008, there were two open seats in the House of Representatives in New Jersey due to retirements: Jim Saxton in District 3 and Mike Ferguson in District 7. And John succeeded Jim Saxton, as I had the honor of succeeding Mike Ferguson. So we were the only freshmen in the class of 2008 from New Jersey. And I think that we shared that bond as, of course, every member of a freshman class shares a particular and special bond.

Certainly, it is exciting for someone to move from a State legislative chamber here to the House of Representatives, and I think we shared that excitement, for example, when we went together to the Harvard seminar that took place for new members, and of course the orientation that takes place here and when we would bump into each other in the Hall here during orientation sometimes we thought, what were we doing here? It was an exciting time for both of us.

John Adler was a person of enormous wit, a very dry, subtle, and sophisticated wit. And it really pierced the veil of much of what occurs in public life and in political life where in so many instances we take ourselves too seriously. That was not Congressman Adler.

He had been involved over the course of his life in many different charitable activities. He served on the Cherry Hill Township Council before he went to the State legislature, the boards of the Camden County Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Food Bank of South Jersey, the Virtua West Jersey Health and Hospital Foundation, and the Camden County Advisory Board on Children. And certainly his respect for the political process is something that we should all recall, especially those of us who had the honor of serving with him in Trenton and in Washington.

I believe that those who serve in public life do so out of a sense of responsibility. John Adler could have made a great fortune in the practice of law given his native intelligence, given his academic training and given his ability as a speaker. He chose to be involved in public life in Cherry Hill, a great suburban community in Camden County in southern New Jersey, in the State legislature, where he was very much involved in making sure that the judges who were appointed to office in New Jersey were men and women of ability. We have a system in New Jersey, Mr. Speaker, where our judges are appointed, not elected; appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. And as chairman of the State Senate Judiciary Committee, John was intimately involved in that.

The district he served was an interesting district. The only Camden County community in the district is his hometown of Cherry Hill, and he served vast portions of neighboring counties, Burlington County and Ocean County. And to those who are not familiar with the geography of the State of New Jersey, places in Ocean County are among the most beautiful beaches anywhere, not only in this country but in the entire world. And I know that he had a commitment to protecting our environment.

John Adler's life was ended by a bacterial infection in his heart at age 51. His father had died in his late 40s also based upon a heart condition. So perhaps John Adler had a weakened heart. But he had a very strong heart in his views on public policy, in his views on helping the people whom he represented, first in a municipal governing body for many distinguished years in our State senate, and in the 111th Congress, where he was my colleague and my friend. And where we, too, alone, were the freshmen from the State of New Jersey.

I'm pleased to yield to Congressman Holt.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 59 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, April 7, 2011, at 10 a.m.

I am shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of John Adler at age 51. John was a friend of mine for 20 years. We served together in the New Jersey State Senate for 7 years sitting next to each other, divided only by the center aisle.

When we arrived in Washington in 2009, John and I were the only freshmen Members of Congress from New Jersey. We worked together on many issues here and served together on the Financial Services Committee. I believe John Adler worked for the best interests of New Jersey and, more recently, for the entire Nation.

My wife, Heidi, and I are friends with the Adler family, including John's beloved wife, Shelley, and their four sons--Jeffrey, now at Harvard, Alexander at Cornell, Andrew, and Oliver.

Heidi and I extend our deepest sympathy to the Adler family. Today our hearts are broken and we are devastated.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 10th annual celebration of Tartan Day on Ellis Island.

The tartan is the definitive symbol of Scotland. No other fabric or pattern is so steeped in tradition, and for the past 10 years, Tartan Day on Ellis Island has promoted Scottish history, heritage, and culture under the leadership and guidance of the Clan Currie Society, one of the largest Scottish heritage organizations in the United States. This year, the Clan Currie Society will be unveiling a new American tartan, the Ellis Island tartan, in honor of National Tartan Day on April 6.

The American tartan's fabric is steeped in colors that represent the experiences of all of those who have traveled to the United States over the last century in search of the American Dream. The tartan's blue illustrates the great Atlantic Ocean, the copper-green in honor of the Statue of Liberty, red signifying the bricks of the historic buildings on Ellis Island, and the gold representing America's golden door, walked through by millions as they looked to this new land as the land of opportunity.

I ask all of my colleagues to join me in honoring and congratulating Mr. Bob Currie and the entire Clan Currie Society in the unveiling of this American tartan, the Ellis Island tartan, and for their years of hard work honoring and recognizing the contributions that Scots and Scottish Americans have made to our great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate William Vince of Bernardsville, New Jersey. This year Mr. Vince is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his dealership, VIP Honda, which is located in North Plainfield, New Jersey.

VIP Honda was founded by Mr. Vince and he continues to own and operate it to this day in the heart of the Seventh Congressional District. VIP Honda has been praised by customers for ``making car buying stress-free,'' and it has consistently met the standards of excellence Honda and consumers expect. One customer said, ``I would recommend VIP Honda to any of my family and friends.'' VIP Honda was among the first Honda automobile dealerships in the Nation, and its success paralleled that of Honda automobiles across the country.

From the beginning, Mr. Vince shared his success by giving back to the community. Mr. Vince is constantly ready to lend a helping hand to the community and has consistently proven his willingness to help throughout the years. His support for local police and fire departments shows his dedication to our public servants, and his involvement in community-wide events has been well documented throughout the years. Mr. Vince is also involved in a variety of charitable, nonprofit and other worthwhile organizations, for which I commend him.

Mr. Vince will be 87 on March 17. I am pleased to congratulate him and his dealership on their achievements throughout the years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2, an important first step toward implementing sustainable health care reform that our Nation can afford.

The health care law passed last year includes sleights of hand to mask the true cost of the measure. For example, 6 years of entitlements and subsidies are paid by 10 years of taxes, and premiums are collected for the first 10 years for a long-term care program with no benefits during that period.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin said it best when he wrote in today's Wall Street Journal that the health care law is ``all about budget gimmicks, deceptive accounting, and implausible assumptions used to create the false impression of fiscal discipline.''

Failure to repeal the health care law will add an additional $700 billion to our national deficit in the next 10 years. However, we can work together in a bipartisan capacity to enact commonsense health care solutions that lower health care costs without raising taxes or adding to our national debt.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution.

We come together to extend our thoughts and prayers to those who were killed and to those who were wounded during the horrific attack in Tucson on Saturday.

As we gather in the people's House, we pray for the recovery of our colleague, Representative Giffords, and the others who were wounded, including those who serve the public in the Congresswoman's office. We mourn the loss of Judge Roll; Gabriel Zimmerman; the 9-year-old girl, Christina Taylor Green; and the others who were senselessly killed that terrible morning.

While the horrific events in Tucson provide a stark reminder of the fragility of human life, we are also reminded that we meet on the floor of the House of Representatives in what Franklin Roosevelt, and more recently George W. Bush, have called ``the warm courage of national unity.'' We have heard the inspiring stories of those whose selflessness protected the lives of others.

Violence has no place in the life of the American Nation. This tragedy will strengthen, not weaken, our resolve to serve the true principles of democracy.

May God bless those who are fighting for their lives as a result of this attack, and may the souls of those who were lost be received in His loving embrace.

``To borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; to establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States.''

Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the underlying bill that ensures that taxes will rise on no one in America on New Year's Day, 15 days from now. What a terrible New Year's present that would be to the American people.

This bill creates greater certainty in the business community so that businesses across America can create the jobs this country so desperately needs, especially given our current 9.8 unemployment rate. New jobs will lower our annual deficits. Almost 85 percent of this bill provides tax relief, including preventing the job-killing tax hikes; enacting the AMT patch--extremely important to the district I serve and to New Jersey as a whole; and reducing the Federal estate tax from the scheduled 55 percent rate on January 1 down to 35 percent--also extremely important to New Jersey where residential real estate is so expensive.

This bill has been endorsed by leading conservatives, including our new reform Governor in New Jersey, Chris Christie. It will give us time in the new Congress to enact fundamental reform, including deficit reduction, a permanent extension of existing tax rates, and the elimination of the Federal estate tax.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of New Jersey's great public servants, W. Cary Edwards, who passed away in October at the age of 66.

Over the course of four decades in public life, Cary Edwards served at the highest levels of New Jersey government, including as State assemblyman, chief counsel to Governor Thomas H. Kean, and State attorney general. At the time of his death, he was chairman of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation.

To me, he was a wonderful mentor and good friend. I had the honor of working under him and learning from him when he served as Governor Kean's chief counsel in the first half of the 1980s. Cary Edwards inspired a whole generation of young people in the field of law and public policy. He will be remembered as an inspiring leader in the State of New Jersey.

To his wonderful wife, Lynn, his daughters and sister and to the entire Edwards family, we extend our deepest sympathy. W. Cary Edwards of Oakland, Bergen County, New Jersey, will be greatly missed by the people of our State.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay special tribute to Mr. Thomas Drewes of Raritan Township, New Jersey.

At the end of 2010, Thomas Drewes will retire from the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service after 36 years of dedicated public service.

Throughout his long and distinguished career Mr. Drewes has been an enthusiastic advocate for the importance of soil health and has inspired many educational and outreach efforts in New Jersey. Thomas Drewes has made a real difference in his community and throughout New Jersey as a lead conservationist.

Over the years Mr. Drewes has received numerous awards for his contributions to conservation. In 2005 Mr. Drewes was nominated by his peers and selected to receive the New Jersey ``State Conservationist Award'' for his leadership in conservation in the Garden State. In 2010 the New Jersey Association of Conservation Districts presented Mr. Drewes with a ``Special Recognition Award'' for his commitment and dedication to conservation in New Jersey. That same year Mr. Drewes received the ``Employee Choice Award'' from the New Jersey Conservation District Employees Association.

It gives me great pleasure to share the remarkable efforts of Mr. Thomas Drewes of Raritan Township, New Jersey with my colleagues in the United States Congress and with the American people.

I am honored to join his friends, family and colleagues in congratulating him on his retirement after 36 years of service to the people of New Jersey in making a real difference in my home state's conservation efforts.

Congratulations Tom and best of luck to you in your retirement.

I rise to express my strong support for today's YouCut proposal offered by my friend and colleague from Minnesota, Congressman Erik Paulsen.

As freshmen members of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Paulsen and I have been vigorous in our efforts to bring the TARP program to a close and to ensure that any remaining funds be used for deficit reduction and not for new government spending.

The TARP law was meant to provide a one-time infusion of funds to help stabilize a financial system on the brink of failure. Yet some in Washington see TARP as a slush fund for more spending. Acting to terminate TARP and TARP-related programs once and for all will protect taxpayers from future losses and provide certainty that the remaining funds will not be used for further Washington bailouts.

I urge my colleagues to join me in support of Mr. Paulsen's fiscally responsible proposal.