Melissa A. Hart

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman not only for yielding but especially for his 6 years of incredible service as chairman and his other years of service on the Ways and Means Committee. I have not in my 16 years as a legislator seen anybody who is so capable of developing great policy which certainly has produced an incredible return for this country.

Following with that, this legislation carries a number of important tax provisions and extensions of some of those great policies that have really helped the economy to grow in this country. With today's announcement of an additional 132,000 new jobs created this month, this adds to the 5.7 million jobs that our pro-growth tax policies have created since the year 2003.

These provisions are also important to the economy in my home area, especially in western Pennsylvania, where we have seen our unemployment rate drop to about 5 percent over the last 3 years from upwards of 7- plus percent.

Part of what is continuing to help development and job growth in my area are some of the incentives to redevelop brownfields; brownfields, those abandoned industrial sites that are very difficult to find the capital to clean up. We are extending the incentive to clean up brownfields. This is so hugely important to an area like mine where there are so many industrial sites that need to be redeveloped but also the expansion of that credit to areas that have some petroleum contamination, which will also help us clean up the smaller sites such as old abandoned gas stations. Extremely important to the communities I represent.

Also the green building incentives. These tax credits for the construction repairs for energy-efficient homes and commercial buildings are extremely important. My home area is home to development of such products. My area is home to a significant amount of design of green buildings and also development of such buildings. We have had a great spurt in that growth and are headquarters to the Green Building Alliance. That is certainly going to help our region.

But, finally, the issue of health care and health coverage is one that we have great strides in the last few years to improve for Americans. The other side can say what they want about HSAs, and I hear a lot of silliness in the characterization of HSAs from the other side of the aisle. There are more than 3.2 million enrollees in these health savings accounts, an alternative health coverage in this country. More than 30 percent of those individuals were previously uninsured. And I am going to restate that. More than 30 percent of people who put HSAs were previously uninsured. This alternative health coverage has provided so many opportunities for families who find it difficult to afford traditional health coverage. The changes that we include in this legislation will provide even more opportunity for more families to have very good flexible health coverage.

I urge my colleagues to support these changes. They are vitally important.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 524, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

I thank the gentleman for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the rule, supporting the rule, that would move this legislation to the floor.

We have been debating this issue for a number of years, since certainly before I came to Congress in 2001, and it is a very important issue. It is an issue of respect.

My colleagues and I, many of us, served in State legislatures before we came here; and we had the opportunity to move forward legislation that would require parental notification, parental consent before a minor girl could be subjected to the procedure called abortion.

Unfortunately, there are still some States that do not have such laws, though they are in the minority. My State of Pennsylvania is one that does have one of these laws, and the people in the Commonwealth are overwhelmingly supportive of it. Unfortunately, some neighboring States don't have these laws, and we have heard terrible stories in recent years of young girls as young as 12 brought across the border by often the perpetrator of a rape to be given an abortion, to hide the crime, to hide the relationship and, unfortunately, further providing further damage to that young girl.

What this bill would do is prevent this from happening. If a State has the requirement for parental notification or consent before a minor girl can have an abortion, then other States must respect the home State's law.

It only makes sense, Mr. Speaker, for government to respect the relationship between the parent and the child. It is most important for us to respect that relationship, because that is the relationship that will guide that girl into responsible adulthood. Currently, unfortunately, we allow many States to interject and interrupt and really disrespect that relationship.

This bill will remedy the problem. This remedy will make it a criminal offense to transport a child across the State lines for the purpose of having an abortion. In many of these cases, it has been an adult male who has exploited the teenager who then becomes pregnant and is, of course, pressuring her to get an abortion and sometimes is the one to transport her across the State lines.

The idea of doing so defies all logic. Critics argue that these young girls are in the worst possible situation, like rape or incest should be exempted from this law, that this is especially cruel to them. But these girls are in the worst situation of all, and it is certainly most important for us to protect these girls, because rape and incest could be hidden if we don't pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and in support of the bill, and I am sure my colleagues will do the same, especially now that the Senate has agreed to it.