Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, you know that the price at the pump is what everyone is talking about. And in my district in Tennessee, moms are now spending over $100 more to fill up the tanks than they were when the Democrats took the gavel in both the House and the Senate. It costs over $100 a month more to fill up the tank of an average minivan. We have seen the price of a gallon of gas go from $2.26 to $4 a gallon.

Madam Speaker, there is a reason for this. And we on the Republican side have solutions for this problem. It is time to waive the gas tax. It is time to waive the ethanol mandates. It is time to waive the requirements for boutique fuels. And it is time for Americans to explore for American energy on American soil.

There is a way to address this. There are bills that are filed. There is action that can be taken. I encourage my Democrat colleagues, encourage your leadership to rise to the challenge, reduce the price at the pump.

Mr. Speaker, traveling through my district in west and middle Tennessee this past week, gasoline and the price at the pump are what everybody is talking about. Busy moms in Tennessee are now spending about $240 to fill the minivan up every month. That's about $100 more than it was when the Democrats took control of the gavels in both the Senate and the House.

Well, the Congress must stop talking and they must take action so that we can solve this problem.

Government has been and continues to be a roadblock when it comes to lowering gas prices. Republicans want to incentivize efficiency and innovation. We want to incentivize and promote production of American energy resources for an American solution to this problem. We want to incentivize ingenuity. We are innovators. We can solve this problem when we put our best minds to it.

And there are some concrete steps that we could and should take now, things that we have supported, like repealing and delaying the ethanol mandates; taking advantage of our natural resources, western shale,

Mr. Speaker, it's so interesting listening to this debate this morning. And I think that the gentleman was rattling off some bills that they have passed. The problem is they're all talk and no action. They don't do anything to get the price down at the pump; don't actually accomplish the goal of producing any more oil.

What the American people want to see is not right now a debate on a bill which could go through on a voice vote, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network. What they want is for us to take the time to address the price at the pump and the cost of energy.

My constituents in Tennessee ask me every week, what did you all do to address the price at the pump? They know that we, as Americans, are the greatest innovators that there are. American ingenuity can solve all sorts of problems. They know that we have the resources on American soil to address this issue. They also know that we need a short-term, a mid-range and a long-term strategy.

Now, to my colleagues, I will say no is not an energy strategy, and no is not an energy policy. No is a roadblock to a sustainable, predictable energy source.

Now, we can go in and look at what was happening with the price of a barrel of oil, and we're using about 21 million barrels of oil in America today to get the 420 million gallons of gasoline that you are pumping when you go to fill up your car.

Now, when the Democrats took the gavels in the House and in the Senate, and they're the ones that are setting the legislative agenda, they are the ones that are saying no to getting this price down, they are the ones who are making decisions that continue to drive it up. $123.85 a barrel. That's where it was yesterday. That is where it was.

What has caused this to happen?

Mr. Speaker, I would say it is because of the history of action. When you look at ANWR exploration, House Republicans have supported this 91 percent of the time. House Democrats have opposed it 86 percent of the time.

Coal-to-liquid. There's another innovative source. 97 percent of the Republicans have supported it. 78 percent of the Democrats have opposed it.

Oil shale exploration. House Republicans have supported it 90 percent of the time. House Democrats have opposed this American solution to American resources and American energy 86 percent of the time.

The Outer Continental Shelf. We know that Cuba is letting China drill 50 miles off our shores. What are we doing with the Outer Continental Shelf? 81 percent of the time House Republicans support that. Democrats oppose that 83 percent of the time.

Mr. Speaker, actions speak louder than words. Rhetoric is what the Democrats have given us on the issue of the price at the pump, on the issue of home heating oil.

The American people want answers and they want solutions. And what they are getting from the Democrat leadership is prices that are going up and up and up and up, in my district, from $2.20 a gallon to $3.99. $3.99. That is what Democrat leadership of this body has given you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to pose a question today, a question for the majority leadership of this House. My constituents are asking me, how high does the price of gasoline have to go before the Democrat leadership of this House decides to vote to allow domestic energy production? How much are Americans going to have to pay before they will bring our bills to the floor to address this issue? They are wanting to know. They also want to know why no refineries have been built since 1976. They want to know why permits seem to be slow walked when it comes to exploring for natural resources.

Today, my constituents in Memphis, Tennessee, are paying $3.63 for one gallon of gasoline. That's nearly 55 percent more than they were paying when Speaker Pelosi took over.

The American people are wanting answers. And what is the energy solution that the Democratic leadership has offered? Well, it has been banning the traditional light bulb.

Americans want answers, Mr. Speaker, but even more, they want some action. They want the problem solved.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Tim Murphy) for the leadership that he brings to our Health Subcommittee.

I also want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) for her attentiveness to women's health issues. She is an effective advocate.

And to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey) for his leadership on the issue, and for honoring us, all women, with the resolution and bringing the resolution forward to the body as a whole.

Mr. Speaker, as has been discussed, this is House Concurrent Resolution 331, and I do join my colleagues in encouraging all of us, not only to support the resolution, but to be effective spokespeople for what the resolution means; that we move forward, actively, to encourage women to gather the information that they need, because indeed, one of the purposes is to encourage women to seek information, to become health conscious and as the gentleman from New York said, to develop those healthy habits.

And it is not only adult women that we are speaking to, but it is to young girls also as they look at diet, as they look at exercise, as they gather information about how to best take care of themselves. And we do encourage them to seek that information, to get regular checkups, to become knowledgeable of the preventive screenings that will help them to stay healthy and to enjoy a better quality of life.

One thing that we also do is encourage women to have that relationship with their primary care physician, somebody that they can go to to gather the information about how to become knowledgeable on taking care of their bodies.

We've talked a little bit about some of the diseases that affect women, fibromyalgia, depression and, of course, postpartum depression, which concerns us all with the young women and those in the child- bearing years.

Heart disease also and some of the screenings that are important for that. And as the gentleman from Pennsylvania said, there is the website where individuals can access this information.

But we do stand together to promote prevention and awareness for disease management so that the women of this Nation are certainly taking better care of themselves, and are knowledgeable on the diseases that could impair their quality of life and their productivity.

Again, I join my colleagues and thank them for the leadership on Resolution 331. And I appreciate the opportunity to stand and speak on the importance of this, and again, encourage all Members, not only to support it, but to actually be certain that we disseminate this information to our constituents.

I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, and for his leadership on this issue.

Getting our hands around waste, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse is something our freshmen class when we came to Congress said we were going to be committed to. And certainly pushing forward earmarks and the issue of pork-barrel spending is something we have committed much of our time in this Congress to.

Madam Speaker, I think it is so appropriate as we talk about this issue that we realize yes, indeed, we have called for a moratorium on earmarks and would encourage all Members to join us, doing so partly because this is an issue that over time has grown and grown and grown.

When you go back and look historically, the first correspondence on this that we could find was Thomas Jefferson writing a letter to James Madison March 6, 1796, and Jefferson wrote commending to Madison did he think of all of the consequences that would come from the proposition of using public money as a bottomless pit, if you will. It is a great quote.

There are quotes from President Monroe in 1822 when he argued that Federal money should be limited to great national works since if it was unlimited, it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil. That's 1822, how interesting.

As we look at the period of time through the 1950s and the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s, how this body repeatedly increased spending every single year and increased the use of those earmarks every single year, and how the practice became commonplace.

Well, some of us feel like enough is enough, that the American taxpayer deserves greater consideration. Now is the time for an earmark moratorium.

Mr. Speaker, I heard from one of my constituents who said they felt like this bill was not really about rescuing homeowners, they felt like it was another attempt at wealth redistribution. They felt that the risk and the costs that are borne and should be borne by irresponsible lenders, investors, and borrowers are going to end up being transferred to the Federal Government and thereby to the American taxpayer once again. And this time, it is to the tune of $300 billion.

What the bill does is the good actors, the 92 percent of all mortgage holders who are paying their mortgage on time, they are going to end up being liable for the irresponsible actions of lenders and speculators. The way my constituencies see it, this is a risky business. This Congress should not send a message that it is acceptable to give up on an obligation because you're going to have a government buyout or a bailout and you are going to be able to cut your personal losses.

Last week I did a seminar in my district. I worked with some government and private sector initiatives such as Hope Now, working to help homeowners weather the storm, to get the information to them that they needed.

Mr. Speaker, that is what we should be doing, educating homeowners on the options at their disposal, as opposed to passing measures that reward recklessness and provide a safety net for irresponsibility. Congress does not need to bail out the housing market, it needs to encourage a kick start. I hope that my colleagues will join me and that together we will vote this bill down.

Madam Speaker, this weekend at its State convention, Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary organization of women educators dedicated to educational excellence, honored my dear friend Cheryl Petty with its Distinguished Teacher Award. I ask my colleagues to please join me in extending sincere congratulations.

Cheryl is a native of Franklin, Tennessee, and has given back to that community by educating its children--first at Johnson Elementary for 21 years, and now at Moore Elementary for the past 18. Cheryl began her teaching career after receiving a bachelor's degree in education from Vanderbilt University. She would later add a master's in education from Middle Tennessee State University.

Not content with her service to the Franklin Special School District and raising a family, Cheryl has become a cornerstone of our community through her membership in not only Alpha Delta Kappa, but also the Williamson County Cultural Arts Commission, Williamson County Republican Career Women, the Woman's Club of Nashville, the Professional Educators of Tennessee and the Heritage Foundation.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the accomplishments of my friend Cheryl Petty and congratulating her and her family on this wonderful occasion.

Madam Speaker, this Thursday evening in Franklin, Tennessee, our community will gather to honor an extraordinary American. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Ed Moody as he receives the Community Service Award from Williamson Christian College.

Ed Moody was born and raised in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. After serving in the Pacific Theater in World War II, he joined his brother in a tire re-treading business on Main Street in Franklin. That business would eventually relocate to Columbia Avenue and become an institution in our community, Moody's Tire & Auto Service.

Not content with running a business and raising a family, Ed embraced Rotary International and its motto of ``service above self.'' In his 56 years of membership, Ed Moody has been a living example of Rotary's principles of encouraging service, promoting ethical conduct, applying the ideal of service in personal, business, and community life, and advancing understanding, goodwill and peace.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the life of Ed Moody and congratulating him and his family on this occasion. We would all do well to follow his example of leaving a small piece of the world better than we found it.

Mr. Speaker, truckers from Tennessee are visiting me this week, many of whom are operating at a net loss because of oil and gas prices. Gas prices are at historic highs. Residents of Clarksville, Tennessee are paying $51 for a 15-gallon tank of gas. That's a difference of $18.45 since January 2007 when Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership gained control of Congress and began making promises.

They continue to wax eloquent about the future of energy. Their words sound promising, but the reality is, they're as empty as a lot of our gas tanks.

So what have they been doing? They have not encouraged domestic production, but have sought to remove exploration incentives that would promote energy independence.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are calling on this Congress for action. So let's take some action. Let's invest, explore and provide opportunities for American innovation to develop reliable, affordable energy for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Memphis Music. This summer, my district will play host to a tradition that has evolved with the city for more than 70 years, Carnival Memphis. Every year, Carnival Memphis lifts up the best of our city and asks it to help those Memphians who are most in need. Leaders of an honored industry roll up their sleeves to help special Memphis charities, charities that are often otherwise ignored. This year, the honored industry, Memphis Music, is at the very foundations of our beloved city.

Mr. Speaker, so much of the music that is identified as iconic American music came from Memphis. It rose up from the heat of the Mississippi Delta and drifted into the city where it was stamped on vinyl in studios like Stax and Sun. From there, the sounds of Elvis, Mavis Staples, Al Green, Booker T. and the MGs, and Isaac Hayes became part of the fabric of American culture.

This summer, Memphis Music and Carnival Memphis will turn their hands and their hearts to the Emanuel Episcopal Center Neighborhood School, and United Cerebral Palsy of the Mid South. They will be joined by the King and Queen of Carnival, the Royal Court and all of the mystic societies. The economic, cultural, and spiritual engine that is the entertainment of industry in Memphis will turn their efforts to lift the spirits and circumstances of those in need in Memphis.

I am proud to represent a city that has left such an indelible mark on American culture. I congratulate Carnival Memphis on their 77th year and all their hard work to enrich Memphis. And I encourage all of my colleagues, the next time they hear Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Green Onions, or Heartbreak Hotel, to join me and do what I do, and think of Memphis.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of my constituents in Tennessee's Seventh District, I rise to protest President Jimmy Carter's decision to meet with the leadership of Hamas, a group designated by the U.S. State Department as international terrorists. They see this as an outrageous act, something that is a disgrace to the men and women who have protected this Nation.

Madam Speaker, Islamo-Fascist terrorism is the plague of our time. Every American official, past and present, should stand ready to help destroy it and to eradicate its philosophy of hate. My constituents feel that by meeting with Hamas, Mr. Carter a former President, undermines the critical goal and only goads the enemy further.

I urge Mr. Carter to reconsider his ill-conceived plan, join the rest of us in our collective to eradicate Islamo-Fascist terrorism and to halt any plan to prop up the enemy.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that our majority has set up this Special Order hour and those of us in the minority have the opportunity to come to claim this time and to talk about issues that are of tremendous importance to us.

Over the past few weeks, some of my colleagues and I have come to the floor on a weekly basis, and we have talked about the Federal budget and what you find in the Federal budget. And, Mr. Speaker, we think that this is a very important thing to do because the budget that the majority has brought to us this year is a rather large budget and it contains the single largest tax increase in history.

So we have spent some time talking with our colleagues and with our constituents about what you actually find in this document. Now, we have called this ``Budget School: The Right to Know How Washington Spends Your Money.'' And, of course, as each week we have talked about this, you can go to the whitehouse.gov Web site and go to OMB and pull down a copy of that budget. Then you can get the Republican response from budget.house.gov/republicans and see what we would do, how we would go about reducing the taxes that you pay and making certain that you, the taxpayer, are keeping more money in your budget.

Now, if you want to watch some of the sessions that we have had on Budget School, you can go to house.gov/blackburn, and there are some Budget School resources there. One of the resources that we have used is the Basics of the Budget Process briefing paper. You can go to the Budget Committee Web site, budget.house.gov/republicans, and be able to get a little bit of information about how we actually go through this, how you look at the different functions of the budget, where you find those, looking at the size of the budget, being able to follow it through, looking at the timeline of the budget and how it goes through the process of the President's presenting his budget, then its going to the committee, how the committee works through the process, brings it to the floor, and then this summer as we start through appropriations and through the earmarking process. And we're going to be back to talk about that part of the budget, the earmarks, as we get into the summer.

Tonight as we talk about process and what has actually happened, I want to welcome to the floor and to this session of Budget School the ranking member, and the ranking member of the Budget Committee is our number one Republican on the Budget Committee, and this is the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), who is known for being one of the top fiscal conservatives in the U.S. Congress. And I am delighted that he has joined us for Budget School. He is a leader in the Republican Study Committee and a leader on the Budget Committee.

I yield to the gentleman.

If the gentleman would yield, I would like to go back to this poster for just one moment.

So what I am hearing you say is you all worked through this process in Budget Committee. And as the budget document came to you from the President, and then you worked it through committee, this is the resolution that the Democrat-led majority came to in that committee, that they didn't want to have a budget that stressed priorities. They didn't want to have a budget that was going to lessen the burden on the taxpayer. What they wanted to do was have a budget that was just going to keep the focus on spending and taking more out of the taxpayers' pocket.

And in order to get to their number, their desired number, the $683 billion tax increase that's going to take place over the next 5 years, what they are willing to do is to have those income tax rates go back up, the marginal rates go to 39.6 percent, which will affect so many of our small businesses.

And as you so rightly stated, 70 percent of all the jobs in the country come out of the small business sector. Capital gains, which are very important to our senior citizens, those that are living on retirement income, who have worked hard, who have built a nest egg, who have saved, we are going to

see that go up to 20 percent. The death tax is one of those taxes that I think is so egregious because you acquire something, you pay tax. You earn the income and you pay tax. You make an acquisition and you pay tax. You maintain it and you are paying tax. Then if you have a capital gain, you pay tax. If you put that aside so that you're leaving something for your family, the government reaches in, the IRS reaches in one more time after you're gone and takes it again. And that is going to go to 55 percent.

For staying married, you are going to end up paying $1,400. You will go from zero back up to $1,400. Your child tax credit, in the meantime, is going to be cut in half. And then that 10 percent bracket, that lowest bracket for those that are working and need to have a break, the government needs to give them a break, they are going to raise that back up to 15 percent. And that is the resolution that the majority chose to move out of the Budget Committee.

I thank the gentleman for his leadership at the Budget Committee and for being there in the fight on this, to make certain that we bring forward these issues, to point out that we are focused not on immediate gratification when it comes to this, not on saying yes to pork-barrel projects. We are focused on the long-term, what is the legacy going to be.

As you pointed out in your charts, by the time we get to 2030, it is going to take every dollar of our existing tax base to cover Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That is it. I mean, it will just be the entitlements that get covered.

And for our children and grandchildren, if you were to take a dollar and extract 40 cents out of that, and there again, that is just the Federal Government portion, it is not your State, it is not your local communities, it is not your county, it is just the Federal Government. They have that right of first refusal on your paycheck. And now when you earn a dollar, before they give you any of it, then by the time we get to 2040, they are taking 40 cents out of that dollar and then giving you 60 cents for yourself, for your family, for your State, your county and your community.

That is a frightening, frightening thought for this next generation. That is not the legacy that we want to leave them. We should be about securing the blessings of this great Nation for our children and our grandchildren and future generations. It is truly indeed regrettable and even shameful that the focus would be only on the here and now and not on what is to come for generations to come.

I want to yield now to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), who is a CPA. When we talk about fiscal responsibility, many times this is someone that we turn to and say, tell us what you know and give us your best insights. For that wisdom, I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

If the gentleman would yield, the bill that he just referenced I think is so important, because what it does is to redirect the funds as the budget works its way through the process. You mentioned the top line number, and that is the number that gets set in the Budget Committee, and then as we move through this process with the appropriations, and we are going to be back on this floor during that season talking about earmarks, but those are hard-fought battles.

But let's say that we eliminate a program and that program saves $50 million, eliminates $50 million in spending. Then that money is not used as a savings. It is not realized as a savings for the taxpayer. It goes back to the committee and the committee can choose to spend it another way. And your legislation, and they can go to your website and get more information on that legislation, would require that the Federal Government use that money to lower the deficit.

I appreciate that explanation from the gentleman from Texas, and I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin for a comment.

I thank the gentleman.

I want to welcome another member of the Budget Committee to our discussion this evening. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz- Balart) was a freshman with me in 2002, and we all worked together starting the Washington Waste Watchers. Waste, fraud and abuse, fighting waste, fraud, and abuse was our freshman class project.

We certainly have stayed at the forefront. The gentleman from Florida has stayed at the forefront of fighting wasteful spending and then seeking ways to reduce that, seeking ways to approach the budget process, changes, and also looking for ways to reduce the burden of taxation.

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

If the gentleman will yield, I think that there was also an amendment presented that day in those 36 amendments that would have allowed your State of Florida and your State of Texas and my State of Tennessee to continue to deduct the sales tax deductibility that some of us worked very hard in 2003 to have that deduction restored for our States, where we did not have a State income tax. We have a sales tax. That is an issue of tax fairness, and it was a party-line vote to take that deduction away.

In my State of Tennessee, that is about a $1,600 deduction per family. That ends up being real money in the pockets of our families. This new $683 billion tax increase that the majority has brought forward and laid on the table here in this House and said we are for it, that is what they want, that is what they think should be the priority. That bill, their budget, will take another $2,668 per tax filer out of the pockets of my constituents and send it here.

I yield back to the gentleman from Florida.

I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin, and I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

The gentleman from Texas talks about his seven grandchildren and the gentleman from Wisconsin talks about his three children. I have two adult children, and I am going to have a grandbaby in just a few days, and it is so disappointing when you see what that child is going to be responsible for when they come on the face of this Earth.

This year alone, Washington is going to spend over $25,000 per household and that is going to be a heavy burden for every man, woman and child to bear.

Just as a reminder, our budget school, the right to know how you spend your money, if you want to see how the Republicans would have approached this budget this year and not raised taxes, how the Republicans fought a $683 billion tax increase, $683 billion, this is where you go: Budget.house.gov/Republicans, and you can pull that response down. To get more information on our Republican Study Committee, budget and school resources, go to House.gov/Blackburn. That is a great way to figure out how we think is the best way to approach fiscal responsibility, how to be a good steward, a wise steward of the taxpayer dollar.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for having yielded the time tonight.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important week here as we are hearing the updated assessments from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

Under the leadership of General Petraeus, our troops in Iraq have accomplished an astonishing reversal in a nation that was on the road to crippling ethno-sectarian violence just 18 months ago. One of the statistics that we are seeing is that these ethno-sectarian killings are down 90 percent. And with the security provided by coalition troops, the Iraqi parliament is now learning how to work as a parliament as a legislative body to negotiate and to cooperate.

By passing their 2008 budget this February, the Iraqis demonstrated their commitment to bolstering security gains by working toward reconciliation, stability, and economic growth.

The people of a Muslim state in the heart of the Middle East have rejected violence and extremism, they have cast their lot with the modern world and they have chose freedom. It is significant, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Speaker, today is a serious day on Capitol Hill. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have returned. They are reporting to the Nation on the progress in Iraq.

Since they were last here, this is what the Iraqi Parliament has passed: A pension law for regime officials; de-Baathification reform; an amnesty law; a provincial election law. The national government is sharing oil revenues with the provinces; sectarian killings are down 90 percent; civilian deaths have dropped by more than 70 percent; and coalition casualties have dropped by more than 70 percent. Most importantly, Iraqi security forces are fighting for the future of their very own country.

Some in this House are so invested in the narrative of defeat that they are blind to the results of a campaign that ranks among the greatest in the history of our Armed Forces.

Our troops have achieved tremendous success through valor and sacrifice. Let's not sell them out and choose to lose a winnable war. History would not forgive us for that.