Floor Statements

Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of the Peters of Michigan amendment and the underlying legislation to reform our financial regulatory system.

For many years, we were told that what is good for Wall Street is good for Main Street, that the benefits are somehow supposed to trickle down. But the only thing the people of Michigan have seen is their hopes and dreams trickle out of reach. Wall Street's collapse has left my State with a 15 percent unemployment rate.

Last fall, Wall Street said they needed to borrow $700 billion from taxpayers to paper over their losses. Michiganders were forced to open up their wallets to support big Wall Street banks. Unfortunately, these big banks have decided to stop lending to Michigan homeowners and Michigan businesses. Employers can't get loans they need to bring people back to work.

This week, the Treasury said that TARP has performed better than expected, but they still expect to lose taxpayer dollars. We still do not have a guarantee that the bailed-out financial industry will actually repay taxpayers for their loans.

Mr. Peters has offered an excellent amendment to ensure American taxpayers will get their money back and that those that created this mess will pick up the tab. This amendment enables the FDIC to make additional assessments on the Nation's largest, most systemically risky financial institutions to pay back this TARP money. This amendment finally puts in place a plan for Wall Street to pay back its loan. This is common sense. Those institutions responsible for the collapse should at least be forced to repay their loans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of RTD Manufacturing in Jackson, Michigan, and my constituents desperately in need of a job. Just 6 years ago, this family-owned auto supplier had 60 workers. Today, only 12 are left.

To diversify their business, RTD teamed with several other firms, and just 6 weeks ago, we learned that RTD would be the principal manufacturer for a major Army contract. What great news--until I was contacted by RTD's president last week.

Their long-time bank, Citizens Bank, denied RTD's loan to buy $85,000 worth of steel from another local company to produce components to protect our troops from improvised explosive devices, IEDs. So instead of hiring six workers to build supplies that our troops in the field need now, RTD is the latest victim of the credit crunch.

Get this. Citizens Bank--the number one small business lender in Michigan that has received $300 million in Federal bailout funds-- denied this loan. I'm working overtime to ensure RTD doesn't lose this chance to create jobs and save soldiers' lives.

Mr. Speaker, because of rising medical costs, families in America are literally going broke. Yes, broke. The American Journal of Medicine reported that 62 percent of American bankruptcies are linked to medical bills. These medical bankruptcies have increased by 50 percent in just 6 years. The shocking fact is that 78 percent of these people actually had health insurance, but gaps and inadequacies in the current system left them unprotected when they were hit by devastating bills.

Important insurance reforms in this bill will fix this, and as a result of this bill, 36,000 of my constituents will finally be able to afford quality health coverage and peace of mind for their families.

Perhaps more than in any other State, people in Michigan know that the current system is broken. It's time for us to fix it. It's time for us to pass H.R. 3962.

Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of the Peters amendment.

The Small Business Administration has played a key role in the current economic crisis by helping businesses and manufacturers maintain access to credit, but we must do more.

Michigan's unemployment numbers are unacceptably high. Hillsdale County in my district has an unemployment rate in excess of 17 percent. Local companies tell me every day that they are ready to invest and hire more employees, but they are having trouble getting the credit they need to help put Michigan and America back to work.

Earlier this year, we passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that created new programs for small businesses and manufacturers. These programs have helped. With just a $12,500 government-backed loan, Diane Brabon was able to create 10 new jobs at the Trusting Heart Home Health Services in Delta Township. Yet successful businesses are still starved for credit. With this amendment, the SBA will be able to guarantee loans that recognize the challenges small businesses are facing in high unemployment areas.

I proudly support Mr. Peters' amendment and look forward to working to find new ways to encourage more lenders to participate in these important programs.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I am from the State of Michigan, where people are losing their health insurance every day. Businesses are struggling to pay for health insurance for their employees.

I rise today to give voice to one of my constituents, Mike Gossett, who works for Apollo Express, a trucking company in Jackson, Michigan. He says he is a partner in this company of 70 full- and part-time employees. They have 42 employees on their health insurance program. Just this year, they received notice of a 15 percent increase in their health insurance rates for next year. He tells me this happens each and every year, and they are looking for answers. He fears that they will be forced to continue to decrease their coverage where they will just be able to offer catastrophic coverage for their employees.

Our families and our businesses are paying more and more every year and getting less and less. He is calling upon us, Democrats and Republicans, to fix this problem. That's why I am here in Congress, and I hope we can work together to pass health care reform.

Madam Speaker, I wish to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Paul and Arlene Pryor, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary earlier this year. Through their devotion to one another, their commitment to their children and grandchildren, and their involvement in community life, Mr. and Mrs. Pryor have contributed a great deal to the State of Michigan and its future.

Standing by each other, Mr. and Mrs. Pryor have demonstrated the power of love for seven decades. This momentous anniversary only epitomizes the devotion they have shared for so many years. Paul and Arlene Pryor are truly an inspiration to many.

Madam Speaker, please join me in celebrating their joyous occasion.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, my amendment gives priority in awarding Federal grants to schools, States, and nonprofits to encourage dislocated workers to complete their degrees.

In the last 2 years, 6.5 million Americans have lost their jobs, and many of them remain dislocated workers. These individuals are in need of retraining in a new field that will help them transition in the new economy. And nowhere is this more true than in my home State of Michigan.

I want to tell you about Ray Roddy in Hillsdale, Michigan. His home county, by the way, has an unemployment rate of 20 percent. Mr. Roddy was laid off from his job making engine components and realized he would need further education to find another job. He enrolled at Jackson Community College and is working hard to become a nurse. Many like Ray need retraining to regain employment in a new field but are unable to find it.

Now, within the Access and Completion Innovation Fund, my amendment will give priority to degree completion, something that matters to people like Ray Roddy. H.R. 3221 will make key investments in providing Americans with affordable and accessible education. My amendment will ensure that those who have been hurt the most in this tough economy, like Ray, aren't lost and are provided with opportunities for retraining to get back on their feet.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge).

I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

Madam Chair, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your quick leadership on such an important issue.

When I ran for Congress--and I'm from Michigan--I pledged that I would fight every day for people in businesses in my community who are being hurt by a brutal economy. The Cash for Clunkers program has breathed life into a very difficult economy in communities all around my district. Here is why this is important:

I've talked to car dealers in my district. They can't keep cars on the lots. They will be ordering new cars from manufacturers in my State and from around the country. Suppliers who supply parts for those cars will be manufacturing more of them. This is very, very critical, and it has been very effective in turning around our economy in just a matter of days.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for giving us the opportunity to continue this program and to continue to turn our economy around.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Philip Maring of Grass Lake, Michigan, for his service in the United States Army. His courage and commitment while serving as an infantryman in Vietnam is truly deserving of our respect and admiration.

Mr. Maring enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 17 upon finishing high school. He volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was deployed with the 196th Infantry Brigade in 1972. In July of that year, Mr. Maring was severely wounded by skilled enemy explosives. He remained in the Army despite his injuries and returned home for duty with the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division. Because of his outstanding service in Vietnam, he earned both the Air Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.

Later, Philip Maring was honorably discharged, and he moved to Michigan. He is now retired and enjoys time with his six grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, hundreds of thousands of Americans still carry the wounds of Vietnam with them. They are deserving of our constant recognition and support, and I am pleased to be able to have shared just one of their stories today.

May the United States Congress and all Americans thank and recognize my constituent, Philip Maring of Grass Lake, Michigan, for his service to our great Nation and for the injuries he sustained while serving as a U.S. Army infantryman in Vietnam.

May God bless Philip Maring and his family.

Mr. Speaker, while we can argue over the details of health care reform legislation, we know one thing for sure: Costs are guaranteed to increase if we do nothing. The status quo is unsustainable and unacceptable. Unfair trade deals and skyrocketing health care costs have devastated manufacturing in my State of Michigan over the past decade.

Last month, in my district, I heard from a small manufacturer at a health care forum in Tecumseh, Michigan. Karalyn Roesch told me that her manufacturing firm employs seven people in Lenawee County and that it covers 100 percent of her employees' health care insurance costs.

She said, ``We are trying to do the right thing for our employees. Yet we have to compete with those who provide little or no health care.''

She said that a quality, affordable health care system that covered every American would not only provide needed care for the uninsured but that it would also help level the playing field for small business owners like her.

It's time to put partisan politics aside on this issue and put companies like Roesch Manufacturing first. We need a uniquely American health care system that costs less and that covers more to help small businesses compete in our global economy.

Today I want to tell you about Ray Roddy from Hillsdale, Michigan. Ray was laid off from his job making engine components and realized he would need further education to find another job. He enrolled at Jackson Community College and is working hard to become a nurse. Ray isn't alone. In the last 2 years, 6.5 million Americans have lost their jobs and many remain unemployed.

In today's economy with rising unemployment, it is critical to invest in our future by increasing the number of college graduates. That's why I support President Obama's American Graduation Initiative. This initiative will help prepare Americans for the jobs of the 21st century. It will help people like Ray gain the education and skills they need to compete in the global economy. It will also establish new grants to help community colleges improve access to education and build ties to businesses to increase graduates' chances of gaining employment. With the American Graduation Initiative, the number of unemployed Americans will be dramatically reduced in the next 10 years by helping 5 million people earn more college degrees. Ray Roddy needs a job, and he is going to get one. Thanks to this exciting initiative, so will 5 million other Americans.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to honor Jackson County Intermediate School District (JCISD) Superintendent, Dr. John Graves upon the occasion of his retirement.

After an accomplished 40-year career that started as a teacher and a coach at Grass Lake High School to a principal at Beaverton and included leading four different school districts, Dr. Graves is retiring to go back to school. He will begin classes at the University of Michigan Law School, where he was initially accepted in 1968 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in economics.

Dr. Graves has led the 450-employee JCISD since 2001. He is most recognized for his organizational leadership and his foremost concern was always how well students performed and achieved. For the past 40 years, Dr. Graves has earned both the respect and admiration of other educators, colleagues, staff, and community members for his skillful and honest leadership.

Dr. Graves is a model of patriotism and well deserves our respect and appreciation for his many years of dedication and distinguished service in education. His intellect, eagerness, and vision will be sincerely missed by not only Jackson, but also the many other communities he has touched. May he know of my sincerest best wishes in all his future endeavors.

I thank Mr. Tonko. It's an honor to be part of this discussion on behalf of a new group of Democratic Members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

I am from Michigan. The Seventh Congressional District is seven counties in southern and central Michigan in a State with an unemployment rate of 12.9 percent. To me, energy policy is about two things. It's about protecting our planet, being stewards that we need to be to hand this planet to our children and grandchildren, but energy policy in my State is jobs policy, and that's how it must be and that's how my constituents look at it.

I'm here to offer that and magnify reality in Michigan. Yesterday, the news from General Motors was very difficult for my State when they announced seven plants that would be closed. Based on that forecast, the fiscal analysts in Michigan have projected that our unemployment rate will reach 17 percent. That is really horrific, and for every family experiencing that, that's 100 percent unemployment and very, very devastating.

So our State has lost over 400,000 jobs since the turn of this century, and we have much to do to rebuild our economy.

I want to talk about a couple of things relating to a clean energy economy in Michigan and around the country. First is in the auto industry. Michigan has the highest concentration and the most by number of automotive and advanced manufacturing research and development of anywhere in the country, in fact anywhere in this continent, and that is an asset that we must build upon.

I was at an event in my good friend and colleague John Dingell's district in Ann Arbor. My district is immediately adjacent to his and shares Washtenaw County, with a company called Sakti 3. This was a company that was a direct spinoff from the University of Michigan's School of Engineering, that this entrepreneur has developed the second generation of automotive battery technology before the first generation of that technology has actually been built.

Everyone knows, I'm sure, that the Chevy Volt will be built here in this country. The reality of the truth is General Motors chose a Korean supplier of that battery. They developed the chemistry there. Sadly, they were ahead of us here in the U.S. That battery will be built in the U.S. That's the first generation. This electric car that will be developed will be able to travel up to 40 miles without using a single drop of gasoline. Talk about reducing our carbon footprint. That is amazing. And of course, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act there is a generous tax credit to help drive down the cost of those electric vehicles.

But I was mentioning this other new startup, and I want to mention that a number of battery technology companies in my State are seeking some of the $2 billion that we approved in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for automotive battery technology. So the first generation is about to be built for the new Chevy Volt. The second generation is already being developed by a company immediately adjacent to my district, and it will employ people from within my district. And this is, I think, an example of how good energy policy is good jobs policy.

This is what we need, and we candidly need, to do our part in Congress to partner with a new General Motors, new Chrysler, Ford and other auto companies to innovate. Representative Tonko talked about an innovation policy, innovation economy, and that's exactly what we can do in the domestic auto industry, and we must do, and I certainly will be making the case that Michigan should be the center of that new technology and our commitment to not only reducing our carbon footprint but to creating jobs.

I'm optimistic about what we can do. It's going to take all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work together with our President to make sure that we make the right investments--the right strategic investments in protecting our planet and creating jobs. We certainly need that in Michigan. We need that in every part of the country during this deep recession.

Thank you. I yield back my time to my good colleague from New York, Representative Tonko.

Thank you, Representative Tonko. I want to tell you about what can happen when governments work together with the private sector. Obviously the ideas, the innovation comes from the private sector. It's often led by our great universities, and we all come from incredible States. But the State of Michigan has an amazing system of public universities, public higher education. I've talked about the University of Michigan a little bit. There are others, including Michigan State University, that are doing amazing things in biofuel and bioenergy. But I want to tell you what can happen when everyone makes a commitment to developing these new energy technologies.

Having recently come from the Michigan legislature, some of these incentives are very real to me. The State of Michigan made more than $500 million in incentives available to prospective advanced battery manufacturers. The State of Michigan has already attracted four of these advanced battery manufacturing companies. They plan to invest $1.7 billion--with a B--and create more than 6,500 jobs.

Now, to stand here the day after General Motors announced some very difficult cuts in my State and in other States around the country, the prospect of 6,500 jobs from advanced battery manufacturers to propel our vehicles with clean energy to reduce our carbon footprint is exactly what we need to be doing.

I will mention one other thing that I have been working on in my office, and I gather each of my colleagues here have been working with companies in their States. We all have assets regardless of our region. Some are sunnier. Some have stronger winds. In Michigan we have the most fresh water shoreline in the country that we need to take advantage of from an energy standpoint. But I've also been working with some wind energy companies and solar energy companies. There is a company in my hometown of Battle Creek that is developing a facility to build the state-of-the-art photovoltaic material. I think to the credit of President Obama and through the work of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we will move more aggressively to see that our Federal buildings--and I'd like to see that include our military buildings--use that photovoltaic material to reduce energy costs. That's a job creator. And certainly with a company like United Solar Ovonic that's building a facility in my district, that's a job creator. But I'll mention briefly, before I yield to Representative Connolly from Virginia, that wind energy in a State like Michigan provides incredible job opportunities. I am working with a company that is an automotive supplier, that is one of those shops that's been in business for multiple generations. In this case, in Eaton County, the company is called Dowding Industries in Eaton Rapids. They made the leap about a year ago to start building windmill turbine hubs, creating new jobs. They partnered with a company to build the machining. They're the industry standard. But they're ready to do more, and they're talking about creating thousands of jobs with a new technology to build wind turbine blades right in a State that has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs due to the decline, the transformation of the auto industry. So this is about energy policy. But to me, this is about economic policy and jobs policy.

I thank the gentleman from New York for the opportunity to talk about jobs, talk about Michigan and talk about energy policy.

Thank you. This is why we are here. I came to Congress to help fight for Michigan's economy, help move our country in a new direction, and energy policy is going to help us do that. We have touched on so many of those pieces this evening. As new Democratic Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, we will continue to lead to make sure we invest in our country, invest in protecting our planet, and invest in new clean energy jobs in this country.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise to a offer an amendment to address a pressing need in my community and in many communities around the country. We need to help small businesses succeed in this difficult economy. It's not enough to simply survive this downturn; we need to expand and grow jobs, and small businesses are the best way to do that. I'm so pleased that this bill has been brought forward. I thank the chair for her leadership and the sponsor of this bill to address these pressing needs.

In Michigan, we've been fighting this economic fight for 9 years. One of the bright spots in our fight has been the Small Business Development Center program. In my State, our SBDC has a great record of achievement. In 2007, more than 11,000 businesses were served by this program, and these companies created more than 3,000 jobs. In 2008, more than 12,000 businesses were assisted through SBDCs. These businesses included 515 veteran-owned businesses, 2,200 female-owned businesses, and 2,500 startups. Counseling provided by SBDCs helped create more than 3,400 new jobs in Michigan, despite the economic turmoil that my State has been facing.

Clearly, this program works, and my amendment grows this program to help small manufacturers that have been pummeled by this recession. Specifically, Mr. Chair, my amendment creates a $2.5 million pool of funds to establish a grant program. It's a new section in the Small Business Act to create the Small Manufacturers Transition Assistance Program to provide technical assistance and expertise to small manufacturers that are seeking opportunities in different industrial sectors.

For example, if a small machine shop wants to shift from automotive contracting to aviation or aerospace contracting, my amendment provides funding for Small Business Development Centers to provide help with that transition.

And this isn't just a hypothetical situation. This is a very real one in my State where struggling manufacturers are looking to new opportunities to survive and grow.

The SBDCs have had real success in this area, but more resources are needed during these tough times for American manufacturing. That is why I offer this amendment to create the Small Manufacturers Transition Assistance Program. Mr. Chair, these are services that 11,000 to 12,000 businesses a year use in my State, and they're desperately needed at this time. I hope my colleagues will support this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank my colleagues for their support.

I yield back the balance of my time.