Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Palma Yanni, who has been named Lady of the Year by UNICO, the nation's largest Italian- American service organization. Palma Yanni was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Casper and Rose Torchia Adamo. She was raised in Scranton and graduated from Scranton Technical High School. She is a former member of St. Anthony's Church in Scranton, and is now a member of St. Peter's Cathedral. Prior to raising her own family, she worked at JC Penney and the Holly Shop in downtown Scranton. While her children were in school, she was an active member of the PTA and served as President.

Through her work with local service organizations, Palma has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to community service. She has been an active member of the Scranton Chapter of UNICO's Ladies Auxiliary for the past 30 years, holding offices of Corresponding Secretary and President and is a member of the Board of Directors, where she has chaired and assisted in many Auxiliary events.

In 2003, when women began to join, Palma began working with the Scranton Chapter of UNICO. She was elected Second Vice President in 2009 and in 2011 became the first woman to serve as President of the Scranton chapter of UNICO--the largest chapter in the country. She also serves on the Board of Directors and was elected Chair of the Board in 2012. Palma was also named President of Ladies Auxiliary of the North Scranton Knights of Columbus, is a member of St. Joseph's Center Auxiliary and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and volunteers with ``Family to Family'' and St. Peter's Cathedral.

Although she has just recently earned national recognition, Palma Yanni has been a pillar of the Scranton service community for decades. She remains an active member in the Scranton UNICO chapter, volunteering and

working on all local functions and events. I am proud to congratulate Palma Yanni on being named UNICO's Lady of the Year, and thank her for her decades of leadership and selfless dedication to serving others.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Monsignor Thomas Banick, who after 50 years of service to the Catholic Church and his community, is retiring. Monsignor Banick was ordained by Archbishop Martin J. O'Connor on December 18, 1963, in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. A day later, he celebrated his First Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. In 1964, he was awarded the Degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Shortly thereafter, Father Banick returned to the United States and celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving at Holy Family Church.

Monsignor Banick was first assigned to Holy Ghost Church in Olyphant as an assistant pastor, where he took up residence after serving as an interim assistant pastor for the summer of 1964 at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church in Dunmore. In 1967, he was transferred to Gate of Heaven Parish, where he served as assistant pastor until September 1969. From then until 1978, Father Banick held the position of Professor of Theology, Director of Spiritual Life, and Director of Music at St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton. During this time, he also served as Lecturer in Religious Studies and Theology at the University of Scranton, Lecturer in Liturgical Music at Marywood College, Chairperson of the Music Commission of the Diocese of Scranton, and Director of Music at St. Peter's Cathedral. Father Banick engaged in further studies at Fordham University and Woodstock College in New York, the University of San Francisco, and the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where he was awarded a Doctorate in Sacred Theology in 1973.

In 1976, he took up residence at Marywood College and was appointed the first Director of the Office for Continuing Education of Priests by Bishop J. Carroll McCormick, the sixth Bishop of Scranton. In September 1976, at the request of the Board of Bishops of the North American College, Bishop McCormick released Father Banick for service to the College as Director of the Advising Program and Director of Music. A year later, he was named Vice Rector of the College, a position he held until 1985. While in Rome, he was also Assistant Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University of St. Thomas Aquinas. Before leaving Rome to return to the Diocese, he was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II, on May 28, 1985.

After returning to Pennsylvania, Monsignor Banick was appointed to his first pastorate at St. Mary's by Bishop James C. Timlin on September 4, 1985. Since then, Monsignor Banick served faithfully as Pastor of St. Mary's Church of the Immaculate Conception in Wilkes-Bane for 28 years. Soon after becoming pastor, he established a Pastoral Team to assist him in the pastoral leadership of the large downtown church and in the ongoing ecclesial renewal inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council. St. Mary's Parish Center, constructed in 1995 to mark the 150th anniversary of St. Mary's founding, provided much needed space for parish ministries and activities, including a Religious Education (CCD) Center, a Music Center and a Reception Hall.

During his pastorate, Monsignor Banick served on the Presbyterian Council of the Diocese of Scranton. He also held membership in ecumenical, inter-faith, and community groups, including the Catholic Youth Center of Wyoming Valley, the Wyoming Valley Council of Churches, the Inter-faith Council of Wyoming Valley, the Children's Service Center of Wyoming Valley, and the Inter-faith Resource Center for Peace and Justice. Monsignor Banick was Chairperson of the Mayor's Task Force on Alcohol and Drugs in Wilkes-Barre, and was Vice-President of VISION (Volunteers in Service in Our Neighborhoods) which operated the shelter for homeless in the Wilkes-Barre area. He also served on the Administrative Board of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Board of Directors of the United Way of Wyoming Valley. He also presided over the Board of Directors of the King's College/St. Mary's Early Childhood Learning Center, located at St. Mary's, which he founded in 1995 with Father James Lackenmeir, CSC, President of King's College.

Recently, Monsignor Banick also became pastor of St. Joseph's Slovak Church and St. Therese Church when the reorganization plan of the Diocese of Scranton consolidated them into St. Mary's Church to form Our Lady of Fatima Parish on June 27, 2011.

Today, I am proud to honor Monsignor Banick for a lifetime of devotion to improving his community, serving the Church he loves through priesthood, and positively touching the lives of countless citizens of Northeast Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3824 to end the Republicans' refusal to extend unemployment benefits that protect 80,473 workers in my home State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, on December 28, 3 days after Christmas, this Federal Government allowed 1.3 million American families to be cut off of long-term unemployment insurance. It comes at a time when we are in the dead of winter, at a time when construction employment is dormant, when agriculture is not hiring. It comes at a time when the national unemployment rate is close on 7 percent, when the national long-term unemployment rate is 2.6 percent, which is twice what it ever was when we ever cut off long-term unemployment before, going back to 1959. It comes at a time when jobs growth is its weakest in 3 years, and it comes at a time when we know it is going to cost 240,000 jobs for our economy. This is money, Mr. Speaker, that goes right back into the economy because people are living hand to mouth on these checks and they need to spend it right away.

At this point, Mr. Speaker, I urge you to bring up the modest 90-day extension for unemployment insurance before we break for recess.

I thank my valued and trusted colleague from Wisconsin for granting me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise as a Congressman from Pennsylvania, in fact, a Congressman from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Secretary Robert Reich, I might add, someone we are very proud of. And I am very proud myself to be a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and I rise here to speak in support of a reasonable extension for UI benefits with no strings attached.

I say ``no strings attached'' because every time we have extended long-term UI benefits, we have done so with no strings attached, no political wrangling, no arm wrestling. ``No strings attached'' means no conditions whatsoever. It is the right thing to do because you have to do it in a situation like this. In fact, five times during the George W. Bush administration, this Nation extended UI benefits on an emergency basis with no strings attached, and I see no reason why we have to depart from this American precedent today.

I understand, Mr. Speaker, the importance of fiscal responsibility. It is not like there is only one party that understands fiscal responsibility. We get that on this side of the aisle, and we get that in the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well. But the question is of timing. We want to balance the budget. We want to pay down the national debt. We get why those things are important, and we know that UI benefits can't last forever.

But the fact of the matter is it is an emergency now. As our dear friend, the gentlelady from Texas just styled it, it is an emergency now. The reason it is an emergency is the vast number of American citizens who are long-term unemployed. Mr. Speaker, 1.3 million on December 28 got cut off. In my own district in northeastern Pennsylvania, over 6,000 families got cut off on December 28, 3 days after Christmas.

The fact of the matter is this is not American tradition. Since 1959, we have never ended long-term UI benefits at a time when so many Americans are long-term unemployed. The gentlelady from Houston just mentioned it is 2.6 percent long-term unemployed in this country right now. Every other time we have cut off long-term UI benefits, it has been at a time when the people who are long-term unemployed are way less of a percentage. I think the previous highest percentage was 1.3 percent, in other words, half the percentage that we have now. Now is not the right time to cut off people from long-term UI benefits.

Mr. Speaker, these are real people we are talking about. Before my voice entirely gives out, I want to read to you a letter I got from a lady named Carol Blankenhorn from Schuylkill Haven in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, which I proudly represent. Carol writes:

I am writing because I am a single unemployed mother that

does not get any child support and have been supporting

myself and my son up until my territory at my job was

dissolved. I have been very diligent in my job search, but to

no avail. I believed that at least I had 26 weeks of standard

benefits, but the emergency extension is so crucial to me and

others because of the poor economy and the lack of jobs. I

have now received a notice of exhaustion for benefits in 3

weeks, and I am devastated. I am not one of those people that

are sitting back collecting. I couldn't live with myself. But

now as I sit and look at my son 1 week before Christmas, I am

beside myself and have no idea how I am to survive. I am

urging you to please extend and renew emergency Federal

extended unemployment benefits. In closing, I would ask you

to please respond to me of your views and intentions on this

very important issue.

That was Carol Blankenhorn, a real person from Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania. These are real people we are talking about. Leaving aside the damage to the economy of stopping UI benefits at this point, leaving aside all of the economic realities that favor extending UI benefits, remember above all, we are talking about real people and real families; and that alone, in the dead of winter, is a great argument not to cut people off UI benefits at a time when it is next to impossible to find another job.

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Carmen F. Ambrosino, who recently retired from a career of public service as the Chief Executive Officer of Wyoming Valley Alcohol & Drug Services, Inc. Over the last four decades, Ambrosino has made tremendous contributions to efforts to combat substance abuse and addiction at the local, state, national and international levels.

Since 1973, Mr. Ambrosino has dedicated his entire career to help others battle to overcome addiction. As a leader in the field of substance abuse counseling, he has received numerous awards and accolades for excellence in his profession and leadership in his community. He was the founding member of the first Chapter of National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors in Pennsylvania and was a National Board Member representing the Commonwealth for two years.

For 40 years, Mr. Ambrosino worked tirelessly to educate people about the dangers of drug use. He has contributed hundreds of articles to newspapers on drug and alcohol abuse and related issues, and he wrote a weekly column for six years in Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice and Pittston Sunday Dispatch. During his distinguished career, Mr. Ambrosino made over 2,600 presentations on chemical dependency. He also authored a role-play presentation entitled, ``A Family in Conflict'', which has been presented to over 250 groups in Pennsylvania and New York and was awarded a National MARKIE Award for excellence in alcoholism communication.

As a current member of the adjunct faculty of Wilkes University and King's College and a past faculty member of Misericordia University and Penn State University--Wilkes-Barre, Mr. Ambrosino is invested in the education of future drug and alcohol counselors, and has drafted drug and alcohol policies for many institutions. At Wilkes University, he developed an innovative graduate course for educators on early detection, identification of high risk behavior children, intervention/ confrontation techniques, codependency, and other topics. He also developed a five-course curriculum for students focusing on chemical dependency at Misericordia College, which was adopted by other colleges and universities as a chemical dependency model for use in sociology departments.

Today, I am proud to applaud Carmen Ambrosino's lifetime of service to Wyoming Valley Alcohol & Drug Services, myriad institutions of higher education, and to all those struggling with addiction. He has dedicated his life to educating the world about the dangers of substance abuse and to helping others battle addiction. On behalf of the 17th district of Pennsylvania and the many individuals and families he has touched, I thank him for all his work making our community a safer, healthier, better place.

Mr. Speaker, for far too long, Congress has failed to act while the impacts of climate change threaten our security, our economy, our budget, and the health of our citizens. In fact, the GAO included climate change in its high-risk report this year--meaning the GAO thinks it is critical for the Federal Government to address the financial threat posed by climate change. Whether we are talking about the Federal flood insurance program, whether we are talking about FEMA payments, climate change undeniably threatens our finances as a Nation and as a Federal Government.

We have to put our partisanship aside and deal with the financial effects of climate change.

That's why in the coming months, I intend to release a comprehensive climate adaptation bill that will address the need to protect our Nation's assets and our citizens from the devastation that is now inevitable due to our already changing climate.

Mr. Speaker, the time has come for congressional action for our own good and the good of our children and our grandchildren.

I thank the gentleman from Michigan.

Madam Speaker, I come here as a freshman in this Congress. I come from northeastern Pennsylvania, my first time involved in the political theater. And I tell you, Madam Speaker, that I have plied my entire adult life in the civil courts. I have handled all manner of civil cases on behalf of defendants, on behalf of plaintiffs, on behalf of people, on behalf of companies. I have seen the whole spectrum of civil litigation; and I have been doing that, both before and after the repeal of the mandatory LARA provision in 1993, so I am as qualified as anybody in this Chamber to speak to the merits of this so-called lawsuit abuse reduction bill.

It is a bill that should fail; and I say this, not just because it tends to shut the door further on consumers seeking justice in the court system of the United States, but because it also reinstates a rule that has already been seen to be misapplied, to be misplaced, to be a bad rule.

In 1993, we abandoned this rule for a reason. It wasn't because we pulled it out of thin air, the idea to abandon this mandatory sanctions under rule 11 rule. It is because of the experience.

The gentlelady from Texas held up the chart. You saw the spiking in rule 11 filings. That wasn't because people were out diligently cleaning up the mess in civil courts. It is because they were encouraged to make those filings because of the mandatory nature of the rule. They felt like their clients expected them to file for rule 11 if they won a motion or if they won a case, and it led to enormous increases in unnecessary, what we call satellite litigation.

It was the Federal judges who complained to the Judicial Conference. They went to the Supreme Court, and Congress ultimately decided, in its wisdom, to abrogate that rule and abandoned it because of all of this wasteful litigation that was going on.

We had a Federal judge outside of Philadelphia, United States District Judge Robert Gawthrop, who saw so much of it he added a nickname to this rule 11 litigation that people felt compelled to file. He called it ``zombie litigation.'' He called it zombie litigation, and he was enormously relieved when, in 1993, this Congress did away with it.

Current law allows judges to punish frivolous filings; and, on occasion, frivolous things happen in court, and the judges don't like them and they have the power to punish them. And it is within their discretion that they do that.

We like discretion to be vested in Federal judges. We are careful about selecting Federal judges. We vet Federal judges. We interview Federal judges. We actually confirm them here on Capitol Hill to make sure that they have sound discretion and good sense; and it is best left to the sound discretion and good sense of Federal judges to handle the situation when someone goes overboard with a filing.

This is us here now trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist. The National Center for State Courts--make no mistake, tort cases constitute 5 percent of filings in civil court. It is debt collection, it is breach of contracts cases that take up 70 percent.

From 1999-2008, tort case filings in State courts in the United States dropped 25 percent. Dropped to 2008. And this is all after the abrogation of the mandatory rule 11 rule.

What this bill is really after is simply to make people afraid to go to court to assert their rights, to assert their voting rights, to assert their workplace safety rights, to assert the rights guaranteed them under the United States Constitution. This bill makes them afraid to go to court to assert their rights, and that is why I urge my fellow Members, Madam Speaker, to vote against this bill.

I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.

I am not sure what the gentleman is referring to.

I thank the gentleman.

The answer is this: we don't have idiots as Federal judges in this country. If a Federal judge sees a situation where somebody is really acting egregiously, really abusing the system, really filing a frivolous case, then that Federal judge just about uniformly will sanction the guilty party. We see that over and over and over. What we are doing here is imposing a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all remedy that the judges don't like. It adds to increased litigation, and it is unnecessary and expensive litigation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with you the story of a couple from Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, the Zakoses.

In a one-on-one session last Monday, that is, a week ago Monday, Beverly and Bob Zakos of Catasauqua sat as the navigator, Mr. Hartman, worked online through their application with them. This time, although they had had a prior bad experience, the online connection worked ``like a charm,'' Hartman said. Once it is finished, the Zakoses will get a plan that will be more than $500 a month less expensive than the COBRA coverage they had been purchasing for $1,200, even without subsidies.

At 62 years old, Mr. Zakos is hoping that with some adjustments to his income and his wife's Medicare, he can qualify for hundreds more a month in subsidies. I take that from the Allentown Morning Call.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the community achievements of attorney Carl N. Frank. Carl joined the working world when he was only 11 years old as a newspaper carrier for The Times- Leader Evening News. He later worked as a stock clerk at Lewis & Duncan Sporting Goods and for the Luzerne County Summer Youth Program as a maintenance worker at his high school. After graduating from high school, Carl worked as a Nurses' Aide at the Wyoming Valley Hospital on Dana Street in Wilkes-Barre. While in law school, Carl worked as a substitute teacher in the Philadelphia School District.

In the summers of 1975 and 1976, Carl clerked in the Wilkes-Barre law offices of Congressman Daniel J. Flood and attorneys James Lenahan Brown, his uncle Joseph B. Farrell, and Francis P. Burns. Carl was admitted to practice before the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in 1977. He later practiced with his uncle and attorney Harry P. Mattern for many years.

Carl joined the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association, where he served as Chairman of the Arbitration Committee. He also served as a member of the Association's Red Mass Committee and 150th Anniversary Committee.

On December 5, 1977, Carl was appointed City Attorney for the City of Wilkes-Barre. He was reappointed by Mayor Thomas V. McLaughlin in January 1980, and again in January 1984. During that time, Carl was the Chairman of the Pennsylvania League of Cities, City Attorneys Division, Chairman of the City Employees United Way Campaign, and served on the city's Vacant Property Review Committee.

Carl currently serves as the Solicitor of Wilkes-Barre City Aggregated Pension Trust Fund, on the Non-uniformed Employees Pension Fund, and on the Fire Civil Service Commission. He is the pro bono lawyer member of the Wilkes-Barre Building Board of Appeals. Carl maintains a general practice of law and has engaged in various practice areas including estate planning, estate administration, inheritance tax, real estate, personal injury, social security disability, workers' compensation, domestic relations, juvenile proceedings, criminal cases and a host of other legal matters.

During the administration of Governor Ed Rendell, and briefly during the administration of Governor Torn Corbett, Carl served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Office of Chief Counsel in the Inheritance Tax Division. He has served for many years as legal counsel for the Diocese of Scranton representing numerous Catholic Churches throughout Luzeme County, and currently serves as pro bono legal counsel for Catholic Social Services of the Wyoming Valley, the Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen, Saint Nicholas Church, and the Mary R. Koons Charitable Trust.

Carl served two terms as Chairman of the Board of Director of Catholic Social Services, where he has been a Board Member for more than 28 years, and two terms as President of the Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen Board of Directors, where he has been a Board Member for more than 26 years. He also served as a member of the Diocese of Scranton Review Board from 1993 through 2008; President of Saint Nicholas Federal Credit Union Board of Directors, where he served as a Director for more than 30 years; and Chairman of the East Side Landfill Authority Board of Directors for more than 20 years.

Mr. Frank also served King's College in many capacities, including as a member of the President's Council, Chairman of the 1994 Annual Fund Campaign, Chairman of the Act 101

Program for Economically Disadvantaged Students, a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Ethics and Public Life, and as a member of the Century Club Committee.

Carl has been very active at Saint Nicholas Church, where he served as Chairman of the 150th Anniversary Committee in 2005, a member of the Pastoral Council, a member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, and Chairman of the Parish Core Team during the reorganization of the Scranton Diocese. He also served as a member of the Saint Nicholas- Saint Mary's Elementary School Board of Education and President of the school's Sports Club. He served as the Coordinator of the Planning Committee for the inclusion of the Catholic Latino Community of the Wilkes-Barre into Saint Nicholas Church.

Carl is a member of Saint Nicholas Church, Saint Conrad's Society, the Westmoreland Club, and the Pennsylvania Society.

Carl is married to the former Jane Mary Rowan. They have two children, Carl Jr., a graduate of King's College and Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, and Mary, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. Today, I am proud to recognize Carl Frank's lifetime of achievement and service to his beloved community. He has been and continues to be an outstanding public citizen.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the South Ward Fire Company of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. This year marks their 100th anniversary as a firefighting unit.

Organized on October 22, 1913, the South Ward Fire Company has dedicated itself to preserving the safety, property and well-being of Tamaqua residents and surrounding communities for a century. Since the early 20th Century, the operation has grown from using a hand-drawn horse cart out of rented space at the Vulcan Ironworks on Spruce Street to erecting three new stations. The South Ward Fire Company today regularly maintains and updates its equipment and methods of operation, serving as a model fire and emergency response organization. The Company is composed of a competent and disciplined team of volunteer firefighters who are committed, well-trained and dedicated responders to fires and other emergencies.

I offer my congratulations to the South Ward Fire Company on achieving this remarkable milestone, and I applaud them for providing effective fire and emergency services to their fellow citizens for the past 100 years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate C.F. Martin & Co. of Nazareth, Pennsylvania on achieving 180 years as a guitar-maker on November 6. C.F. Martin & Co. has been as an icon of craftsmanship in America's rich musical heritage, a stalwart provider of specialty jobs and specialty exports, an inspiration as a legacy family business, a trend-setter in sustainable practices, and a supporter of its local community over its many years of operations.

Since 1833, C.F. Martin & Co. has been producing some of most highly respected and innovative guitars in American history. Blending hand craftsmanship with state-of-the-art technology, Martin guitars were very difficult to match in tone, playability, quality, and enduring value. Embraced by artists in all corners of the globe, Martin guitars helped to define many musical genres including country, folk,

blues, and rock and roll. As the oldest surviving acoustic instrument producer in the world, C.F. Martin & Co. led the charge ever since the guitar began to take hold in the early 1800s and eventually surpassed the piano as the most popular instrument.

Impressively, six generations of the Martin family have continuously owned and operated C.F. Martin & Co. The company persevered through the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and even the disco decade. C.F. Martin's adherence to high standards of musical excellence and the company's adaptability have helped account for its remarkable longevity. Business conditions and musical trends have changed over the years, but Martin's attitude toward guitar-building clearly has not.

C.F. Martin & Co. is also a commendable corporate citizen, with a long-standing dedication to responsible timber sourcing and a willingness to support its local community of Nazareth and the Lehigh Valley. Nationally and internationally, royalties from more than fifty signature edition Martin guitar projects have been donated to support of an array of charitable causes of various recording artists' choosing.

C.F. Martin & Co.'s achievements are a reflection of its guitars' high quality and the inspiration those instruments imbue in artists' hands. The company's accomplishments are a source of pride for its generations of employees and for Martin guitar players around the globe. I extend my wishes for continued high contributions to the world of music for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, we have a couple of things going on today.

Number one, the House will be discharged at the end of the day to go back to a district work period, and we know what we are going to hear at home. What we are going to hear is: Why can't you people do your jobs? Why can't you get together and come together and come up with a budget so that American businesspeople can plan, so that Americans can decide what to do with their futures, instead of doing what has been happening for years on end, these continuing resolutions and things like the sequester? The sequester alone is going to cost 1 million jobs next year in this country if we don't replace it.

The other thing that is going on today is the opening of the work of the conference committee on the budget. Twenty-nine Senators and Representatives from this House are getting together and trying to do just that--come up with a budget, come up with something sensible, and forge the compromises that Americans expect us to reach.

I say, let us speed them on their work. Good luck to them. Let's hope they come up with something Americans can appreciate.

It is my pleasure, my dear friend and colleague from New York.

It is almost hard to believe, I would say, that we are noting the 1- year anniversary of the terrible storm we called Hurricane Sandy striking our Nation's shores. It seems like no more than 6 or 7 months ago that that all happened.

Maybe one of the reasons is that it was so horrific, so damaging, so devastating, that the harm continues. There are still families searching for a place to live. There are Americans still digging out from this problem, trying to salvage the situation for themselves and their families. And so it is almost hard to believe that it was a full year ago that this happened.

This is a country that suffered so much in loss because of Hurricane Sandy, with $245 billion in business losses and $50 billion in property damage.

I come from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, so far as it is from the seacoast, still had 1.2 million residents lose electricity during that event. In my own district, up in the hills of the 17th District of Pennsylvania, we still lost power for 53,000 residents.

Indeed, I am so sorry to say that we had several lives lost in my district due to Hurricane Sandy; people who perished because of falling tree limbs and because of hypothermia due to exposure. We had somebody we lost because of exposure to carbon monoxide because of generator fumes that were emitted during the blackout.

We had tens of thousands of homes and businesses damaged in my district because of Hurricane Sandy. So don't think we didn't notice it either and don't think we didn't pay attention to the suffering of all of the other Americans because of Hurricane Sandy.

There is no denying that there is climate change. There is just no denying it. We can argue all day about what is causing it and what to do about it, but there is no denying that it is happening and that it is resulting in more and more frequent weather events like this and more and more severe weather events like this. There is no denying that these things are happening, and there is no denying the damage and harm that comes to our Nation as a result.

In 2011 and 2012, there were 25 severe weather events that caused a billion dollars or more in damage each; 25 of them were in a 2-year span. The total price tag for that was $188 billion in property damage to our Nation. And the taxpayers had to pick up $136 billion of those losses because that is what we do in emergency relief and in flood insurance and in crop insurance. These weather events cost taxpayers money.

We have something in the legislature called the GAO. The GAO used to stand for the General Accounting Office. In 2004, we changed the name to the General Accountability Office, better to reflect the mission of that office--accountability and the proper husbanding of the assets and resources of the Federal Government. And they keep track of these things.

Every year, they come up with something that they call the GAO High Risk Report. The GAO High Risk Report is a compilation of all the risks and assets and finances we have in this Nation as part of our government. It is a list of the things that threaten the assets of the Federal Government. For the first time, earlier this year, the GAO High Risk Report included climate change as a reason for risk to the American Government's assets.

This is not just about security. It is not just about infrastructure. It is not just about damage to agriculture. It is not just about risk to the health and well-being of all Americans. It is also about financial losses to the American Federal Government, because, after all, we are an insurance company.

We are a government that insures against flood. We are a government that insures against crop damage. We do that. That is something that we have thought about and something that makes sense for our Nation. But we end up in the position of an insurance company, and we end up paying the price tag when these storms happen. The GAO recognizes that and recognizes that climate change is a major driver in the risks to the American finances as a result of these programs that we do.

As a result of all of that, in a few months, I will be introducing a comprehensive climate adaptation bill. Because, again, we can argue until the cows come home about what causes climate change and what the effects of it are, but one thing that can't be denied and that the GAO doesn't even deny is that this costs American taxpayers money, and the best way to handle that is to plan for it. And so, with the support of the White House, I will be introducing a comprehensive climate adaptation bill later this year. It should be out in a few months.

And so, on this, the 1-year anniversary of the horrible tragedy that was Hurricane Sandy, we remember the devastation and we remember the losses. We remember the loss of life. We remember the communities that are continuing to struggle with the damage that was caused by that storm. And I say it is time for us also to plan for the future to minimize these losses that will continue to happen as the planet climate continues to change.

Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged that we have today before us a bipartisan bill that will help improve our Nation's waterways and infrastructure and create jobs.

However, I do agree that this bill is imperfect, and I am dismayed that this bill includes provisions that will undermine our environmental protections and reduce the ability for public input. In that regard, I wish to associate myself with the remarks of Mr. Dingell.

What is left out is an environmental review process that avoids pitfalls and saves taxpayers money by allowing the Army Corps of Engineers to understand where problems may exist with their proposals.

The bill also misses an opportunity to encourage the Corps to use natural infrastructure in its flood control projects. In order to better address future extreme weather, safeguard our neighborhoods, and improve wildlife habitat, nonstructural alternatives to Corps projects should be considered as viable options.

Project delays are overwhelmingly due to funding issues or changes to the project, not environmental review. I urge my colleagues to fix these shortcomings in the conference committee process.