Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, as our economy continues to struggle, an immediate and cost-effective way to offer relief to consumers is to provide incentives for mass transit use. According to a study published by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation use in the U.S. saves an annual 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline. Factoring in the current average gasoline price of $1.65 per gallon, public transit saves consumers more than $2 billion in gas costs per year.

Greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles also pose a severe threat to our environment, as emissions from our transportation sector account for nearly a third of all U.S. emissions. Public transit, however, reduces CO2 emissions by 37 million metric tons annually. This is equivalent to the electricity used by nearly five million homes. If we want to get serious about emissions reductions, we must get serious about investing in public transit.

Current law allows businesses, governments, non-profits and employees to purchase tax-free transit benefits. However. there is no tax incentive for employers to directly subsidize their workers' transportation costs. The bipartisan Creating Opportunities to Motivate Mass-transit Utilization To Encourage Ridership (COMMUTER) Act of 2008 offers employers a 50 percent tax credit for all transit benefits provided to employees, up to $115 per employee per month. Under the COMMUTER Act, employees could receive up to $1,380 in free mass transit funds each year, with the employer receiving $690 in tax credits per employee. As family budgets continue to tighten, an extra $1,400 to $2,800 could help ease the burdens of health care and education or help bolster retirement savings.

A study recently conducted by BusinessWeek Research Services estimates that 53 percent of employees in Chicago, San Francisco and New York would take public transportation if their employer provided access to current transit benefits. Out of the respondents, 60 percent said their company does not provide tax-free commuter benefits.

I believe we must work to provide long-term solutions to our energy crisis, such as passing long-term tax incentives for research and development of renewable and alternative energy, fuels and vehicles; eliminating the so-called boutique fuels and offering the nation one clean burning fuel; financing energy development projects in China, central Asia and the Gulf to meet Chinese energy needs apart from oil; and increasing fuel economy standards.

But our economy, environment and national security cannot wait ten, twenty or thirty years for the entire restructuring of our energy policy--we need to take action now. I am proud to offer the COMMUTER Act with Representatives Dan Lipinski (D-IL) Judy Biggert (R-IL) and Peter Roskam (R-IL) and to help provide that immediate relief. I hope Congress will act swifly and in a bipartisan manner to pass this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, today I am introducing a bill to ensure the federal government fulfills an important obligation to the families of service men and women in my district. In 1950, President Harry Truman established the Impact Aid program to assist school districts and communities that lose their property tax base because of the presence of the federal government. Without this federal money, the burden would fall to the remaining residents whose property taxes would continue to rise while impacting the quality of education which can be provided. The Impact Aid program helps to alleviate this problem by directly reimbursing public school districts for the loss of traditional revenue sources.

For years Impact Aid was fully funded and offered some of the strongest direct assistance to military families across the Nation. Unfortunately, over the last decade we have fallen behind on this commitment, and it is time to reverse this trend.

While I support fully funding the Impact Aid program, I believe the situation in my district warrants special attention. In order to ensure that our students most in need continue to receive necessary resources, I have introduced this bill to help North Chicago to continue to qualify for heavily impacted payments, and Glenview and Highland Park receive fair compensation.

Due to a unique housing situation for the Great Lakes Naval Training Facility, Impact Aid funding should be higher in five of my school districts. This Naval base is located in North Chicago, one of the poorest school districts in my state. However, some service members and their families live in Navy housing obtained when Ft. Sheridan and Naval Air Station Glenview, located in other suburbs, were closed in the 1990's. These former bases are located within the boundaries of other school districts that now must bear the economic cost of educating children from a base, but receive none of the economic benefits a base provides. Thus, it is vitally important that we both ensure North Chicago continues to receive heavily impacted payments for the benefit of students living there, and that the surrounding communities are more fairly compensated for their loss of property taxes.

By passing this bill, the federal government will be fulfilling its responsibility to these communities, and giving our military families the support they deserve.

Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Terrorist Rewards Enhancement

Act. This bill will assist in our fight against terrorism around the globe. Currently, the terrorist rewards program run by the State Department assists in our hunt for terrorists by promising a cash reward or other type of reward for information leading to the arrest of some of the world's most deadly terrorists. This program has been very successful in the past in apprehending key people including Mir Amal Kansi, a terrorist who had murdered two CIA employees and injured three others in a 1993 shooting outside CIA headquarters in Virginia.

Under current law, the U.S. may not pay a reward to an officer or employee of another government. I have traveled to Pakistan each of the last 4 years, where I met with a number of government officials. At the strong suggestion of Pakistan's ISI and IB intelligence and police bureaus, I believe the President should be able to pay such a reward to anyone having information leading us to the greatest terrorists. If there is anyone, anywhere, even if they work for a Pakistani government agency, who has information about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, we should be doing all we can to elicit that information.

With the increasing number of cross-border incursions into Afghanistan coming from the Waziristan region of Pakistan, it is more important than ever to develop a complete picture of where al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are hiding. We need to provide our State Department and intelligence officials with all the possible tools to aid in the capture of the world's number one terrorist. The Terrorist Rewards Enhancement Act will provide one more of these tools.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand here today to introduce legislation which provides for the exploration of methods to eradicate the dangerous Asian carp from the Great Lakes.

Each year, invasive species in the Great Lakes cause more than $5 billion in economic damage and irreparable harm to an ecosystem that provides more than 40 million people with jobs. water, food. and recreation. A new invader, the Asian carp, threatens to further destroy the region's ecosystem and economy, and it is imperative that we act to prevent this catastrophe.

A single barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, built as a temporary demonstration project 5 years ago, is the only thing preventing these invaders from entering Lake Michigan and drastically altering the entire region's ecosystem. While Congress recently provided full authorization and funding for this critical barrier, it may not be enough to prevent the Asian carp from infiltrating the Great Lakes and the devastating consequences that would follow.

It is therefore critical that we also explore alternatives and supplements to the carp barrier. My legislation would direct the Fish and Wildlife Service in conjunction with the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and

Great Lakes States to conduct a study on the feasibility of a variety of approaches to eradicating Asian carp from the Great Lakes. The legislation specifically directs the agencies to study the feasibility of temporarily harvesting Asian carp as a means to eradicate the invasive species in an environmentally responsible manner.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to explore all possibilities to effectively eliminate the threat that this dangerous species poses to our Nation's most precious natural resource.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to stand here today to introduce this bipartisan legislation that will help protect the Great Lakes from harmful pollution that poisons our water and closes our beaches. The Great Lakes are the world's largest freshwater system and serve as a source of drinking water, food, jobs and recreation for more than thirty million Americans. It is critical that we enhance our restoration efforts for this critical resource, not degrade the condition of the lakes even further.

In 2007, British Petroleum (BP) threatened to begin a billion-dollar expansion of its refinery facility in Whiting, Indiana which would have included a large increase of pollution into the Great Lakes. The company sought to discharge an increase of 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan per day. This would have totaled a combined increase of more than 1,800 pounds per day of these pollutants which strangle aquatic life and contribute to the increasing number of beach closures each year.

Based on a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, BP was eligible for a tax credit that would have allowed them to expense half of the capital costs in the first year of the expansion. Essentially, the government would have paid the company to pollute our lakes. While providing incentives to energy production and refinery expansion helps to lower gas prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we must not do so at the expense of one of America's most treasured natural resources.

Fortunately, BP yielded to public pressure and chose not to move ahead with the expansion as planned. Due to the determination and cooperation of federal, state and local officials, environmental advocacy organizations and communities around the region, BP is now working with a coalition of scientists and small businesses to seek an environmentally friendly way to expand its refinery.

While I applaud BP for making the right decision in the end, we must ensure that no refinery ever comes as close to drastically harming our precious lakes. That is why I am introducing the Bad Polluters Act, which will deny the capital expensing tax credit to any refiner whose facility's NPDES permit allows for an increase in any pollutant above its 2006 levels into the Great Lakes. This will prevent companies from seeking to increase pollution into our

drinking water. In order to claim this important tax credit, companies will be forced to search a bit harder for a new solution to water treatment. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and join in the fight to protect our national treasure.

Madam Speaker, today I introduce a bill to reauthorize and expand Rob Portman's landmark legislation, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act. This reauthorization will help developing countries reduce foreign debt and provide comprehensive environmental preservation programs to protect forests and endangered marine habitats around the world.

Since enacted in 1998, Tropical Forest Conservation Act programs have generated more than $162 million over 10 to 25 years to help conserve 50 million acres of tropical forests in Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America. But the rate of deforestation continues to accelerate across the globe in all types of forests.

Similarly alarming is the rapid rate of coral reef and coastal exploitation. The burden of foreign debt falls especially hard on the smallest of nations, such as island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific. With few natural resources, these nations often resort to harvesting or otherwise exploiting coral reefs and other marine habitats to earn hard currency to service foreign debt. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 60 percent of the world's coral reefs may be destroyed by the year 2050 if the present rate of destruction continues.

The Forest and Coral Conservation Act will credit qualified developing nations for each dollar spent on a comprehensive reef preservation or management program designed to protect these unique ecosystems from degradation. This legislation will make available resources for environmental stewardship that would otherwise be of the lowest priority in a developing country. It will reduce debt by investing locally in programs that will strengthen indigenous economies by creating long-term management policies that will preserve the natural resources upon which local commerce is based.

This legislation has enormous consequences for the existence of critical ecosystems, the health of our planet and the livelihoods of millions of people across the globe. I am proud to introduce the Forest and Coral Conservation Act with Representative Alcee Hastings (D-FL), which will help preserve the world's most precious natural resources.

Madam Speaker, a year ago, the subprime crisis surfaced. This month, we see the results of inordinate and mis-regulated financial risk-taking. The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac put these mortgage giants into conservatorship. The Treasury and Federal Reserve intervened to keep the largest U.S. insurer out of bankruptcy. Twice in 1 week, the U.S. stock market posted 1-day drops not seen since two airplanes were flown into the Wall Street's World Trade Center buildings. Congress is taking swift action to protect the capital markets that keep our economy going. We must not forget the small investor.

Middle class families are seeing significant losses in their investments weaken investor confidence, consumer spending and the future growth of our Nation's economy. Stock investors have watched the values of their portfolios drop more than 20 percent this year, and homeowners fear that continuing mortgage market volatility will hamper recovery of the real estate markets--down 30 percent in some regions of the United States. Some middle class Americans nearing retirement may need to work additional years to earn back their stock losses.

With continuing economic uncertainty, we must bring relief to middle class families while boosting investor confidence in an uncertain stock market. Today, I am introducing the Middle Class Investor Relief Act, increasing the maximum annual capital loss a taxpayer can take from $3,000 to $20,000.

Current tax law is asymmetrical with regard to taxing capital gains and writing off capital losses. Long-term gains are taxed at 15 percent while capital loss write-offs are capped at $3,000 per year. An individual who lost more than $3,000 in the stock market could take years to rebuild his or her holdings. The Middle Class Investor Relief Act will correct the asymmetry of current tax law and help middle class Americans recover losses and rebuild their portfolios.

Madam Speaker, today I am pleased to rise in support of a resolution I authored, H. Res. 875, honoring and supporting the Hadley School for the Blind.

Dr. William A. Hadley, an Illinois high school teacher, lost his vision at age 55. With the loss of his sight Dr. Hadley believed that he would also lose his greatest joy--teaching. Although he taught himself Braille so he could continue to read, he was frustrated with the lack of educational opportunities for blind individuals.

Dr. Hadley wanted to help others like him gain the skills and knowledge that could lead to independence. In 1920, Dr. Hadley and ophthalmologist Dr. E.V.L. Brown created the Hadley School for the Blind. Today, the Hadley School is the largest single educator of blind persons in the world, reaching 10,000 students annually in all 50 states and in 100 different countries.

The school began with teaching Braille with the innovative use of correspondence courses. While it is still known for its superior Braille curriculum, the school has expanded to offer a high school degree program and adult continuing education classes. In 2008, the School will expand again to include the Hadley School for Professional Studies for professionals who serve those who are blind and visually impaired.

Students from the school have done extraordinary things. Former student Christine Gilson, a blind doctoral candidate and Fulbright scholar from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was the 2007 recipient of the Hadley School for the Blind's President's Service Award for exceptional work in raising awareness of the needs and abilities of blind and visually impaired people. She bridged cultural boundaries by teaching visually impaired

Chinese students English language classes online.

The Hadley School for the Blind recently formed a partnership with Bookshare.org, an online community that lets people with print disabilities, such as blindness or low vision, scan books and exchange them legally through its website. The strategic partnership will extend the reach of both organizations and provide a broad range of learning and reading materials to people who are blind and visually impaired.

I am proud to be the author of this resolution that supports an institution that has, for almost 90 years, provided a valuable education for thousands of visually impaired individuals.

Madam Speaker, in July we bailed out entities with well- paid executives including Daniel Mudd, President and Chief Financial Officer at Fannie Mae ($11.5 million), and Richard Syron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Freddie Mac ($18.3 million). Recent press reports show that a number of chairmen/CEOs were highly compensated before their companies began failing including Bear Stearns CEO, Alan Schwartz ($35 million), Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld ($40 million) and AIG's Martin Sullivan ($47 million).

Federal regulators rightly blocked planned golden parachutes for the failed leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we should now set that precedent into law--if you get a taxpayer bailout, you lose your job and your parachute.

Today, I am introducing legislation that will ensure that no taxpayer dollars can be used for executive compensation or a golden parachute for any senior officer of a company that received credit or direct assistance bailout. My bill also grants Treasury Secretary Paulson the authority to terminate senior officers of any entity seeking a bailout from the taxpayer.

Given the dire economic warnings, Democrats and Republicans must pull together to save jobs and strengthen the economy for working Americans. But this must be a bailout with consequences, including a prohibition on any taxpayer dollars used for senior officer salaries or golden parachutes and the termination of senior officers of companies receiving aid.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Boozman, who helped bring this bill forward and has developed an expertise on Great Lakes harbors, and then our leaders on these issues, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, Mr. Oberstar.

We all should tell many of our fellow colleagues who don't represent the Great Lakes that quite obviously our region is studded with industrial cities which helped build the United States. But as our economy changed, many of these communities were left with bankrupt hulks occupying much of the most valuable resources and real estate in America.

In 2001, I joined with Chairman Ehlers to begin this new program, the Great Lakes Legacy Act. This program was designed to clean up these Midwestern harbors, like Waukegan, Illinois, that suffered from George Soros' Outboard Marine Corp that polluted our harbor before Soros then looted and bankrupt the company.

The funding for this program also resulted from a unique story. Congressman Rahm Emanuel and I, as newer Members of Congress, were invited by the President of the United States on Air Force One. We decided jointly that in the corridor of that aircraft we would buttonhole the President, and me, somewhat more softly, and Rahm, somewhat more forcefully, urged the President to support the Great Lakes Legacy Act. Finally, the President relented and said, Okay, Mark, Rahm, I get it. Clean up Great Lakes harbors. So appropriations were found, even in the President's budget.

This program now has cleaned up five areas of concern, with 31 to go. The success of cleaning up harbors no longer can be doubted, especially in my area, because we are all now seeing what is happening in Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin, recognized now as tremendous economic successes.

When we clean up Waukegan Harbor, in all likelihood, probably using a more traditional Superfund authority, we expect to see an $800 million economic boom in eastern Lake County.

Now Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Boozman have rightly backed this bill, which underscores a key point that environmental cleanup and economic development go hand in hand in the Great Lakes. We did run into a snag in the Senate, Senator Coburn, who set certain conditions on the passage of this bill.

I wish they could have visited some of these communities. I wish he could have seen how much economic development has already been fostered. I wish he could have seen the new entrepreneurs and businesses created. But, for now, here in the House, we rightly join together as Republicans and Democrats to build a success upon a success to keep this program on track.

I thank the authors of this legislation and commend their work and urge their quick adoption of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to introduce this important resolution calling for a comprehensive strategy to address the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, and condemning the ongoing assaults and obstruction by the Khartoum regime. I am joined in this effort by my distinguished colleagues Mr. Jackson of Illinois and Mr. Wolf of Virginia.

The tragedy of Darfur seems to know no end. After years of violence and death, the genocide in Darfur continues this month with renewed fighting between the Khartoum regime and rebel forces. Once again, entire villages have been decimated, civilians have been slaughtered and thousands have been left homeless.

We cannot turn away from the violence before us. We must continue to raise the issues of Darfur that confront our Nation and the international community. While the violence is perpetrated by those who carry the guns and drop the bombs, we have a responsibility as well.

I am proud of the young people in my own district who have worked to raise awareness of the crisis in Darfur. Zack Harris, now a sophomore at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, learned about the conflict in Darfur 2 years ago and became determined to help. As the eighth grade student president at Central School in Glencoe, he organized ``Dance for Darfur,'' a fundraiser for the Luol Deng Foundation. Named after the Chicago Bulls player from Sudan, the foundation works with the World Food Program in Darfur to assist with food distribution. The ``Dance for Darfur'' was the first charity dance ever held at the school, and helped raise awareness at the school and in the community. In total, Zack raised more than $5,000.

In March of this year, I organized a Model Congress with high school students from all across the 10th District. They held hearings and markups on the Darfur Peace and Security Act to bring an end to the genocide. Together, they amended and passed this comprehensive bill to provide humanitarian aid and adopt strict sanctions, along with other measures, to stop the violence in the region.

Other organizations such as the Chicago Coalition to Save Darfur, the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Congregation Beth Or in Deerfield, IL, and Chicago Tikkun are all working to bring awareness to the crisis.

Like these students and activists, Congress and the administration must remain committed to ending the tragedy that is unfolding before our eyes. We must build upon the basic achievements that we have won to ensure the full deployment of the UNAMID mission, full access to humanitarian aid, full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and full accountability of the Khartoum government for all its actions.

The U.S. must collaborate with the international community condemn the actions of the Khartoum regime, which have demonstrated the worst that humanity has to offer, and implement a comprehensive strategy to address the crisis in Darfur.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution to bring attention to the plight of the Darfurians and work to find a lasting comprehensive strategy to address this crisis.

Mr. Speaker, as a co-chairman of the Congressional Great Lakes Task Force I am pleased to rise in support of S.J. Res. 45, the Great Lakes--St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. This bipartisan legislation, supported by the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the Great Lakes Commission, Alliance for the Great Lakes and more, would implement a host of water conservation and transparency measures that will limit water diversions and encourage responsible, sustainable water use. A state-by-state approach will not solve the problem--S.J. Res. 45 is a comprehensive, regional solution to prevent the selling off of our most important natural resource.

The Great Lakes are among the Nation's most precious natural resources. As the world's largest freshwater system, the lakes provide food, recreation, drinking water, and jobs for nearly 40 million people. Yet the Great Lakes face a number of threats, ranging from sewage and industrial pollution to invasive species and decreasing water levels. These hazards threaten not only the ecosystem and water supply, but also the long-term economic stability of the entire Midwest.

Studies document that lake levels have been on the decline since the 1970s. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the Great Lakes are now a combined 3.5 feet below their long-term average. Many factors are believed to contribute to the declining levels, including increasing air and water temperatures which reduce the ice cover of the lakes and result in faster evaporation during winter. In fact, the National Wildlife Federation estimates that the lakes could drop up to 8 feet this century if action is not taken.

While Congress can take steps to help mitigate the effects of global warming, Great Lakes states must regulate water use. We run the risk that without water diversion safeguards, the drop in lake levels could continue--we must set standards to responsibly manage water use. In 1998, the Canadian Nova Group tried to ship Lake Superior water in bulk to Asia. Last October, then-Presidential candidate Bill Richardson suggested that western states use Great Lakes water to meet their growing water demand. Clearly, the desire to seize Great Lakes water exists, and we must prevent the large-scale depletion of our resource.

Perhaps the most shocking example of water mismanagement is the Aral Sea at the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 50 years, what once was the world's fourth largest inland sea lost 75 percent of its water due to irresponsible irrigation and regional growth. This demonstrates how seemingly limitless supplies of water can vanish quickly.

To protect the Great Lakes, Congress needs to pass the Great Lakes-- St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. As a proud original cosponsor to H.R. 6577, the House companion version, we must do everything we can to protect this national treasure for future generations to enjoy. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this sorely needed legistiaon.

Mr. Speaker, let me strike a more bipartisan tone. Given the dire economic warnings that we see, Republicans and Democrats in this House must pull together to save the jobs and the economy for working Americans. But if there is to be a bailout, it must be a bailout with consequences. We should include a prohibition on taxpayer dollars being used for senior officer salaries or golden parachutes and require the termination for senior officers who are receiving aid.

Federal regulators rightly blocked the golden parachutes for the failed leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We should now set that precedent into law. If you get a taxpayer bailout, you lose your job and your parachute.

In the Navy, we know how to deal with this. If a skipper runs his ship aground, he is immediately relieved of command.

Madam Speaker, the Outboard Marine Corporation dumped tons of PCBs directly into Waukegan Harbor, polluting it. OMC's owner, George Soros, then looted the company and left.

I joined with Congressman Ehlers and Congressman Emanuel to address that issue. To date we have been successful in cleaning five of 31 areas of concerns. One more is underway, and seven additional harbors are under evaluation. Under this very program, more than a million pounds of polluted sediment have been removed.

This bill before the House increases environmental remediation funds, and it speeds up the cleanup. It will help us to protect the Great Lakes, the source of drinking water for over 30 million Americans. I am particularly looking forward to Waukegan's cleanup. Shortly, we will announce the full Superfund cleanup of that harbor. Under Federal law, the Federal Government will take the lead to do its duty to remove this threat to human health. Some locals don't want the cleanup of our harbor, but they will not be able to prevent this needed environmental remediation. And when complete, it will increase Lake County property values by over $800 million.

We still have a few more days left to fund this program under the Great Lakes Legacy Act. I hope we do because then the cleanup will be even faster.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to introduce this bill to award Dr. Joseph B. Kirsner the Congressional Gold Medal for his outstanding work in the medical field of gastroenterology.

The son of Russian immigrants, Kirsner overcame adversity as a young man and graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine

at the top of his class. He went on to earn his medical degree at the University of Chicago. While training in Chicago, he became an expert in gastroenterology and helped to make the University of Chicago the premier center for research and therapy of inflammatory bowel disease. His leadership and research led to unprecedented medical advances in the field of gastroenterology, enhancing the lives of people across the world.

Despite his devotion to his research, Kirsner was compelled to join the Armed Forces in World War II, earning a third battle star in the battle of the Philippines before serving under General Douglas MacArthur in Japan. Following the war, Kirsner became a full professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. During his time as a professor, he published over 700 papers and 15 books, and gave over 25 named lectureships. He has served as a leader on a number of boards and foundations, such as the National Institutes of Health, the American Gastroenterological Association and the Chicago Medical Society. Despite all of his world-renowned successes, he continues to provide personal care to patients from across the country.

Dr. Kirsner, a World War II veteran and devoted civil servant to the field of medicine, has lived his life in service to others, deserving of national recognition for his honorable contribution to our country.