Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, earlier today I introduced legislation to put an end to an industry that's taken cruelty to animals to a whole new level.

Animal dealers who operate under a USDA Class B license have been guilty of gross violations of the Animal Welfare Act's minimum standards for the decent treatment of animals.

Class B dealers have routinely kept dogs in overcrowded cages, fed them rotten food and food contaminated with feces, ignored problems like frozen drinking water, failed to provide veterinary care for dogs with serious untreated injuries and diseases, and left live dogs caged up with the carcasses of dead dogs. And if that's not enough to turn your stomach, Class B dealers have beaten, strangled, and shot dogs.

Now, all that would be bad enough, but this story gets even worse. There are two kinds of dealers who sell dogs to research facilities. Class A dealers raise the dogs they sell to researchers, and they are strictly regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Class B dealers, on the other hand, acquire the dogs they sell from so-called random sources. What this means is that Class B dealers buy animals, often with no questions asked, from an unregulated network of suppliers.

Thanks to the work of animal rights groups and undercover investigators, we know that Class B dealers buy dogs that were family pets: pets that have in many cases been stolen or adopted under false pretenses. Class B dealers often acquire lost pets from local pounds or shelters and it's clear that they do it knowingly.

Like millions of Americans, I've got a dog I love. He's a golden retriever named Brody. I get sick to my stomach when I think about someone treating him the way Class B dealers treat the dogs they buy and sell.

The Animal Welfare Act has been in place for fifty years, but Class B dealers are still getting away with murder. The Class B trade in animals creates strong financial incentives for theft, inhumane treatment of animals, and other crime, as the record of this industry over the years has proven. It's time to shut this barbaric system down.

With that end in mind, Congressman Chris Smith and I have introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that we believe would ensure that all dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally. This legislation, the Pet Safety and Protection Act, would effectively prohibit the use of animals purchased from Class B dealers by scientific and biomedical research institutions.

Specifically, the Pet Safety and Protection Act would require research facilities to obtain dogs and cats from only five sources: Class A dealers, law-abiding publicly owned and operated pounds or shelters, properly licensed research facilities, federal research facilities, or people who have owned the dogs or cats in question for at least a year and who are donating these animals for research.

This legislation would effectively ensure that lost or stolen pets would no longer be slipped into the supply chain for research animals.

Ending the trade in random source dogs won't halt or harm much-needed research. Most researchers have stopped using animals from Class B dealers, and researchers will still be able to procure purpose-bred research animals from a number of more reliable, more humane, and more reputable sources. But, it will ensure that somebody's beloved pet doesn't end up in a Class B dealer's hands.

The Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society strongly support this legislation. In fact, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Society have been actively engaged in trying to end this abuse for years, and they know more about this problem than anyone else. I'm grateful to them for their efforts to raise public awareness about this problem, and to enact legislation to end it.

Class B dealers across this country violate the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act every day and cause needless suffering for thousands of dogs and cats, many of which were once beloved family pets. Class B dealers starve, beat, and kill these animals, and they deserve to be shut down.

I urge my colleagues to join me in enacting the Pet Safety and Protection Act so we can put an end to this unnecessary and abhorrent practice.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 290, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this bill was the same bill that passed the House last Congress and is the result of lengthy negotiations in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to come to a bipartisan agreement that all can support. This agreement requires the FCC to make certain procedural rule changes and requires an inquiry into other process changes.

The bill includes the FCC Collaboration Act, a bill that allows for more than two FCC Commissioners to discuss official business as long as certain safeguards are in place. This bill should help the Commissioners reach consensus more quickly.

The bill also includes important provisions offered by Democrats last Congress, such as Representative Clarke's provision to require that the FCC provide quarterly reports on pending decisions to ensure accountability and timely responses, Representative Matsui's provision that required the FCC to coordinate with the Small Business Administration to improve small business participation in FCC proceedings, and Representative Loebsack's provision that requires the FCC Chairman to publicly post the agency's internal policies and procedures for greater transparency. The addition of these Democratic ideas make this a better bill.

The bill also requires the FCC to post, in its entirety, any item adopted by the Commission within 24 hours of filing of final dissenting statements, a compromise that was reached by Congressman McNerney and Congresswoman Ellmers last Congress.

FCC process reform has been an issue in our subcommittee going back several years. I hope this compromise bill is something all Members can support.

Mr. Speaker, I see no other speakers on my side of the aisle, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 423, the Anti-Spoofing Act, introduced by Representative Meng as well as Representative Barton of Texas and Representative Lance of New Jersey.

Consumers should feel safe knowing that the caller ID information they see when they answer the phone is accurate. Unfortunately, fraudsters use misleading caller ID numbers every day to trick consumers into handing over sensitive information.

Americans, from young people to senior citizens, are misled by crooks using a fake caller identification into thinking they are being connected to a trusted institution. This practice known as spoofing contributes to the millions of identity theft cases in our country each year and so many other forms of fraud.

Under the law today, it is already illegal for scammers to use fake caller ID information for regular voice calls. This legislation expands that band to text messages and to calls coming in from overseas. That just makes sense.

It is a bipartisan bill. It passed last Congress on a vote of 382-5.

I urge my colleagues to stand up for consumers and strengthen spoofing protection. It is time for us to pass the Anti-Spoofing Act.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Meng), the primary sponsor of the Anti-Spoofing Act.

Mr. Speaker, I do not have any other speakers.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 588, the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act, or the SANDy Act, introduced by Ranking Member Frank Pallone. This bill is all about making sure that the communication networks that so many Americans rely on are as resilient as they can be.

Disaster is going to strike and networks are going to go down. The purpose of this bill is to ensure that when those networks go down, the network operators have the resources they need to get things back online as quickly as possible.

The bill also requires the FCC to conduct a study on the future of network resiliency, and how new and existing technologies can be used during our times of need to communicate with loved ones or call for help.

This is a commonsense piece of legislation that passed 389-2 in the last Congress, and I urge all Members to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the primary sponsor of the bill, a friend and colleague, and the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 555, the Amateur Radio Parity Act. This is a bill that passed the House last Congress by voice vote after careful negotiations in the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Amateur radio operators provide essential services in times of emergencies, and they shouldn't be prohibited from building their facilities. H.R. 555 will provide for new rules that will help these operators navigate homeowner association restrictions when they are attempting to build their stations.

The bill strikes the right balance to ensure that homeowner associations can impose reasonable regulations for amateur radio towers, but it would also make sure that amateur radio enthusiasts can continue to operate.

Again, this measure passed the House by voice vote last Congress, and I encourage Members to support it today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), in spite of the fact that the gentleman is a New England Patriots fan who showed no mercy to my Pittsburgh Steelers last night, to show there are no hard feelings.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise to support H.R. 460, Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, the bipartisan bill introduced by Representative David Young and cosponsored by a number of

other Members, including Representatives Welch and Loebsack from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

We deal with a lot of high-tech and complicated issues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, but this bill aims to address the most basic function for a telephone system: making sure all Americans' phone calls go through.

Many people take our modern communications tools for granted, but, in rural America, even the basic function of connecting a call is sometimes difficult. Consumers have been reporting to the FCC that calls in rural areas result in false busy signals, calls not arriving, or long pauses after dialing a number.

This isn't just an important problem for rural Americans but also for people in all of our districts who want to reach loved ones across the country and can't. This state of affairs is simply not acceptable. We need reliable telephone service to keep us connected.

Problems with call completion are often related to intermediate providers--the middlemen hired to route calls. This bill requires intermediate providers to register with the FCC and comply with service quality standards.

These commonsense steps should make it easier to figure out when providers are cutting corners or not doing their jobs. Ultimately, the bill puts consumers first by helping to make sure that we can stay connected to one another.

H.R. 460 is a bipartisan bill that passed on suspension last Congress, and I urge my colleagues to support it today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch), a distinguished colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 599, the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act. This bill passed the House last Congress with unanimous support after careful negotiations that resulted in a bipartisan agreement. The FCC oversees a wide range of industries that drive economic growth in the Nation. These industries connect businesses to markets large and small, but, most importantly, they deliver innovative new products and services to consumers.

Democrats and Republicans agree that the FCC needs to collect good data to inform the public about these dynamic markets. Good data is important for Congress to have as well so that we can make good policy decisions and conduct oversight of the FCC. At the same time, we have worked to ensure this effort to promote efficiency does not undermine important existing FCC obligations and authorities.

Again, this bill is one I think that all Members can support. I urge its passage today.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers on my side, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in general support of H.R. 582. The primary sponsor is Representative Gohmert.

This is a bill that passed the House last Congress by voice vote.

I agree that we must do all we can to make sure that consumers using multiline telephone systems can directly dial 911 without having to dial additional digits first. These are in many large office buildings and hotels. Many of these systems require consumers to dial an extra 9 before they get a dial tone. You have to hit 9 before you get your dial tone to get an outside line. Most of us know that, but too many people do not realize that this applies to 911. If you don't dial 9 first, you can't reach the emergency services.

Such a requirement led to a tragedy in Texas several years ago. Kari Dunn was killed while her 9-year-old daughter tried to call for help. She did what she was taught to do in an emergency. She dialed 911. But because the system she was using required her to dial a 9 first, she only heard silence on the other end of the line.

Building on the Herculean effort of Kari Dunn's family, we are one step closer to fixing this problem once and for all. H.R. 582 is an important step to making our systems work better in an emergency. But for all the good this bill does, it still leaves work to be done.

Specifically, these multiline systems still often fail to deliver accurate location information to first responders. That means that if somebody called 911 from this very building, for instance, precious minutes would tick by as emergency personnel struggle to figure out where the call came from in this

enormous complex. That delay could be the difference between life and death.

We have to correct this problem, too, because making sure the call goes through is only helpful if the public safety officials can find the caller. Democrats tried to include such a provision in the version of this bill from last Congress, and at that time we received a commitment from Chairman Walden to work together on a separate bill to address this concern.

We were not able to solve this problem in the last Congress, and we expect that commitment will carry over to this Congress. I urge Members to support H.R. 582.

Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers on this side, so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of my constituents, Jeffrey Ballou, who takes up new responsibilities today as the 110th President of the National Press Club.

Jeff is a Pittsburgh native, the son of Geneva and Henry Ballou. He grew up in Pittsburgh's Homewood-Brushton neighborhood, and he attended Taylor Allderdice High School before going on to earn his undergraduate degree in journalism from Penn State University and his graduate degree in journalism and public affairs from American University. Jeff is an unwavering fan of Pittsburgh's legendary sports teams--the Pirates, the Steelers, and the Penguins.

Jeff started his career in journalism working for CONUS Communications covering the White House. He subsequently worked as planning editor for Fox Television Channel 5, WTTG, here in Washington, DC. He worked at C-SPAN and National Public Radio as well. He's spent roughly the last ten years at Al Jazeera Media Network, first as its Deputy News Editor and then as Editor of its 24-hour English language news channel.

Throughout his career, Jeff Ballou has demonstrated a strong commitment to objective journalism and to improving the profession. He served on the Executive Committee of the Radio & Television Correspondents Association, for example, and he served as President and National Committee Co-Chair of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Finally, he has been actively involved in the National Press Club, which proudly claims the title of ``the world's leading professional organization for journalists.'' For more than a hundred years, the National Press Club has been a prominent organization in the field of journalism and an advocate for free press around the world. Jeff has been a member of the National Press Club since 1992 and served on its board from 2014 to 2015. Jeff was elected to serve as Vice President of the organization over the past year, and in recognition of his extensive experience in journalism and his proven leadership skills, Jeff was elected to serve as the 110th President of the National Press Club for the coming year.

I am confident that Jeff's many years of experience have prepared him well for his new responsibilities as President of this storied institution. I want to congratulate Jeff on this honor--and new opportunity to improve the profession of journalism, and I wish him a successful term as the 110th President of the National Press Club.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Joseph Matthew Gaydos, Sr., a member of this body for twelve terms and a tireless advocate for working Americans. He passed away on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015. He was 88 years old.

Born July 3, 1926, Mr. Gaydos was the youngest of seven children. His parents, Helen (Elena) Megella and Joann (John) Gajdosh, (later changed to Gaydos) emigrated from Hungary and first settled in Greene County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Gaydos was born in Braddock, but grew up in Glassport where he attended Glassport High School before joining the Navy during World War II.

After returning from the war, he attended Duquesne University and then the University of Notre Dame Law School. Following his graduation in 1951, he served as general counsel to the United Mineworkers Union District 5. He also served as Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania and Assistant Solicitor of Allegheny County before entering politics.

Mr. Gaydos served briefly as a state senator for the 45th District from 1967 to 1968 before being elected to fill the seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Representative Elmer Holland. He was sworn in as a Member of Congress on November 5, 1968; he was the first Slovak- American to serve in Congress. He subsequently served nearly 25 years as the Representative for Pennsylvania's former 20th District.

In Congress, Mr. Gaydos was a strong supporter of the steel industry and a dedicated advocate for his constituents. He founded the Congressional Steel Caucus in the early 1970's, and he was one of the first to alert the public to the consequences of subsidized foreign steel being dumped on the American market. Through the Congressional Steel Caucus, Mr. Gaydos encouraged members ``to strengthen trade law enforcement from unfairly subsidized and dumped steel imports,'' United Steel Workers spokesman Gary Hubbard said to the Pittsburgh Tribune- Review. ``He sponsored bills for job safety in industrial workplaces and the coal mines.''

In addition, Congressman Gaydos played an important part in drafting the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which protects workers' pensions.

Shortly after retiring, Mr. Gaydos joined his son's law firm in 1992 and the name changed to ``Gaydos, Gaydos & Associates''. Mr. Gaydos remained with the firm handling Governmental Relations until 1994 when he retired for the second and final time.

In a recent interview, Joseph Gaydos, Jr. described his father as a humble, hardworking man who had a pragmatic attitude and took the concerns of his constituents very seriously.

``He was never somebody who needed to drive a big car and have the fanciest of things,'' Joseph Gaydos, Jr. said. ``He was a regular fellow who told us to always remember where we came from.''

Mr. Gaydos was a proponent of actions over words, his son said. ``Don't tell me what you're going to do,'' Joseph Gaydos, Jr. recalled him saying often. ``Show me what you've done.''

Mr. Gaydos strived to live up to his own advice and often quoted ``A Politician's Prayer,'' a poem his wife wrote early in his career:

So as a public servant / I pray to God above

For guidance and humility / and a little bit of love.

And after my life's ended / and I lay down to rest

I'll know I can truly say / I've done my very best.

Mr. Gaydos' friends, family and constituents can all attest to the fact that he did indeed do his very best. Joe Gaydos was a dedicated, hardworking public servant who spent his life championing the interests of working men and women. We could use more men and women like him in public life today.

Joe Gaydos was a good man. I was proud to know him, and I want to extend my deepest condolences to his family and friends on their loss.

Mr. Speaker, 16 days--House Republicans are playing a dangerous game of chicken with America's security, threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security unless we give in to their extreme demands on immigration; threatening to force DHS employees on the front lines who keep us safe--people in the Border Patrol, TSA, the Coast Guard--to go to work and risk their lives while they are not getting paid; threatening to furlough DHS workers who support the frontline folks by training new agents, purchasing new equipment, and collecting intelligence.

Republicans are wasting our time on an unnecessary and dangerous showdown when they should be focusing on economic growth, creating new jobs, and increasing hardworking Americans' paychecks, so that we can preserve and expand the middle class in this country.

I call on my colleagues in the Republican Party to abandon these unacceptable tactics, pass a clean DHS funding bill for the remainder of 2015, and start focusing on creating new jobs and increasing Americans' paychecks.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the greatest legislators of recent decades, John Dingell, who will retire at the end of the 113th Congress.

John Dingell has diligently served the people of Michigan's 12th district and our nation for nearly 60 years.

John is recognized as the Dean of the House and the longest-serving Member of Congress in our nation's history, but it's not his longevity that has made him so special--it's the impact that his legislative accomplishments have had on our society.

Through his service in Congress, he has crafted a legislative legacy that I believe to be unparalleled in its scope and its importance.

John developed his reputation as a legislative giant with years of hard work, persistence, and shrewd coalition-building.

Throughout his tenure, he has been at the forefront of passing groundbreaking, commonsense legislation.

Most notably, John has been a strong, tireless leader in Congress in enacting important civil rights laws.

Not only does this includes his work on the Civil Rights Act, but also his work to renew the Voting Rights Act and pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

This type of diligent persistence and strong leadership is something every one of us can learn from going forward.

1John served for many years as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he drafted landmark legislation and conducted painstaking oversight of the federal agencies within the Committee's jurisdiction.

This includes championing environmental protection--from the groundbreaking legislation of the 1970s to the revolutionary Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 to fighting in recent years against efforts to roll back the progress that we've made.

His passion for the environment and the outdoors is unmatched, and his accomplishments reflect his deep determination to make America a better place.

Impressively, along with the issues I've already mentioned, he has had a tremendous impact on policies as varied as consumer protection and health care.

Few Members of Congress have done as much to improve Americans' lives as John Dingell, and we can't thank him enough for his service.

John's record of public service will be hard to match.

As a youth, John served as a Congressional page.

After serving our country in the Army in World War II, John served as a county assistant prosecutor before succeeding his father in Congress in 1955.

Since then, he has served 29 remarkably productive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

I am proud to call John Dingell a good friend and respected colleague.

It has been an honor working with him on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

He has been a great mentor, a gifted leader, a skilled policy-maker, and a dedicated public servant.

I wish John, his wife Debbie, and the entire Dingell family all of the best.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his support of the legislation during consideration in the committee. I also want to thank every member of the Pennsylvania delegation who cosponsored this bill with me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5146, legislation which would officially designate the Federal courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my home district, as the Joseph F. Weis Jr. United States Courthouse.

This would be fitting recognition for an individual who served his country so well, first as a soldier and then as an outstanding jurist. Throughout his 91 years of life, Joseph F. Weis, Jr., served our country with humility, integrity, and an unfailing sense of duty. As a young man, he enlisted in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. Reflecting on that decision later in life, he said plainly: ``It was the thing to do. The country was at war, and I felt I should be out there doing my share.''

He was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor and a Purple Heart with oakleaf cluster after sustaining multiple injuries over the course of his service.

Upon returning back home, Joe Weis pursued a legal career, joining his father's practice after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1950. After becoming a respected trial lawyer, he was elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in 1968 as the first choice on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. As a judge, he quickly developed a reputation for patience and hard work. He always strove to improve our judicial system, advocating for innovative courthouse technologies and enforcement of judicial ethics.

Two years later, Judge Weis was appointed to the Federal bench, and in 1973 he was appointed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, one step below the Supreme Court. He served on that court for 40 years, retiring just last year when he was 90 years old. He was recognized for his outstanding service on the bench with the Devitt Award, the highest honor given to Federal judges.

Amidst this remarkable list of accomplishments, he was known perhaps most of all for the strength of his character. ``He is, if anything, an overly modest and unassuming individual,'' said the University of Pittsburgh chancellor at his Devitt Award ceremony.

Joe Weis was equally beloved by his colleagues and his law clerks, who to this day still call themselves the ``Weis guys.''

The life of Joseph F. Weis, Jr., is a model that all public servants should aspire to emulate. Naming this Federal courthouse in his honor is a fitting way to recognize his long, faithful, and extremely capable service to our country, to inspire trust in the Federal justice system which he served for so long and with great integrity, and to provide future generations with an outstanding example of a great public servant. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation to name the Federal courthouse in Pittsburgh in his honor.

Mr. Chairman, I want to start off by congratulating our Republican opponents for putting up a hard-fought game in last night's Congressional Roll Call game.

As you know, we broke two records. Last night, we broke an attendance record and a record for the amount of money raised for the charities. We raised over $400,000 for three charities. They were the real winners last night.

I want to congratulate the Democratic baseball team. This is our sixth victory in a row, not that we are counting. Our guys played a hard-fought game.

I want to very quickly single out two people that I think really made a difference. They both played second base. One was Raul Ruiz, our MVP, who made some outstanding plays; and second, our co-MVP, Linda Saanchez, brought the crowd to its feet.

With that, I yield to my good friend and Republican manager, Joe Barton.

I will tell the gentleman that won't be permanent either.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Lowenthal

Thank you, Mr. Green, for yielding and for your support of the Autism CARES Act.

First off, I want to thank my good friend and Autism Caucus cochair Chris Smith for his leadership and work on this critical legislation over the past 11 years. It has been a real pleasure and a labor of love to work with Chris on these issues. He is truly a champion in the autism community. I look forward to continuing that great working relationship with him.

Mr. Chairman, it seems that every time new data is released on autism spectrum disorders, the numbers become more and more troubling. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control's most recent data show a continued rise in autism prevalence rates: 1 in every 68 American children. That is 1 in 189 girls and 1 in 42 boys.

These are staggering numbers with serious implications for many aspects of American life. That is why passage of the Autism CARES Act today is so important: to continue research into the causes of autism, to educate health care providers and the public, to improve early diagnosis and intervention, to identify effective treatments, and to evaluate the types of services available to young adults with ASD. We can and must do better for the millions of Americans living with ASD and their families.

Many Federal autism programs were first authorized by the Combating Autism Act of 2006, which has made a huge difference in the lives of autistic Americans and their families. Since its inception, Congress has reauthorized these Federal autism programs twice. Without new legislation to reauthorize them, the funding for these important programs will expire on September 30 of this year.

We have made tremendous advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, but this progress will be lost if Congress allows these programs to expire. This is why it is so important that Congress pass this commonsense, bipartisan, bicameral legislation like the bill that is before us today.

The autism programs this legislation would reauthorize are vitally important to many families and individuals across the country. Early diagnosis and intervention can make a huge difference in an autistic individual's life and can have a dramatic impact on the individual's family and community as well.

With the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders much higher than we thought just a few years ago, inaction is simply not an option.

I urge my colleagues to support the Autism CARES legislation.