Floor Statements

Offered By: Mr. Quigley

Amendment No. 520: Page 231, beginning on line 22, strike

section 1535.

Offered By: Mr. Quigley

Amendment No. 161: Page 23, line 12, after the dollar

amount, insert ``(reduced by $1,083,333,333.33)''.

Page 28, line 20, after the dollar amount, insert

``(reduced by $216,666,666.67)''.

Page 359, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $1,300,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Quigley

Amendment No. 162: Page 33, line 9, after the dollar

amount, insert ``(reduced by $971,099,800)''.

Page 33, line 16, after the dollar amount, insert

``(reduced by $1,796,130,300)''.

Page 34, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert ``(reduced

by $2,674,240,500)''.

Page 34, line 17, after the dollar amount, insert

``(reduced by $2,079,741,200)''.

Page 359, line 6, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $7,521,211,800)''.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, I come from Chicago, home of the world champion Chicago Blackhawks, and I rise today in support of the National Hockey League's designation of the month of February as ``Hockey is for Everyone Month.''

``Hockey is for Everyone'' is a nationwide initiative that works to break racial and economic barriers that prevent children from playing ice hockey. It reaches more than 300,000 underprivileged boys and girls annually across North America and includes programs for veterans and the disabled. I believe that no matter your background, every child should have the opportunity to play the greatest sport in the world. Increased access to healthy exercise will aid in the fight against childhood obesity and continue to decrease high school dropout rates.

On behalf of kids all over the continent, I thank the National Hockey League and ``Hockey is for Everyone'' for putting more hockey sticks in more hands--and more pucks on those sticks.

Well, I want to thank you so much for having me. I want to thank my colleague from New York for his efforts and everyone who's here tonight toward this end. This issue is critical not just to our health, our Nation's health, but also to our country's national security and our economy. Because I rise today to protect the integrity of all things of science because it is science that these facts and figures that have led hundreds of scientists to

confirm that global warming is real. It is this science that led the Supreme Court through jurisprudence to rule that the EPA does in fact have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. And it is this science that led the Congress to pass the Clean Air Act, the act which designated the EPA as the body charged with overseeing, adapting, and implementing these regulations.

In the coming months, the EPA will begin regulating greenhouse gases from certain emitters for the first time. These regulations have become hugely controversial and, sadly, political. These rules combat man-made climate change--man-made climate change that is melting our polar ice caps, that is raising the level of our oceans, and that is modifying our seasonal temperatures; man-made climate change that is altering the duration of our growing season, that is flooding parts of the world and causing multi-year droughts on others; man-made climate change that is allowing particulate matters to infiltrate our children's lungs, making them suffer from lifelong asthma and making us die earlier.

But some would argue these rules, these new regulations, are burdensome; that they kill jobs, they imperil economic recovery, they are nonsensical, they aren't pragmatic. That is nonsensical.

Let's take EPA's proposed rule regarding toxic emission from industrial boilers, a seemingly innocuous rule, right? Wrong. This rule called for the cleanup of units that burn fuel onsite to provide electricity and heat. This action, this rule, would cut mercury particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and acid gases by requiring facilities to install equipment to clean up these toxic emissions. This so-called ``job-killing rule'' would, as predicted, save from 2,000 to 5,000 lives each year. The need to crack down on greenhouse gases is based on sound science, the results of hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies that say that global warming is real and that man contributes to it.

And if you're keeping score at home, there are zero peer-reviewed scientific studies that say that global warming is not real and that man does not contribute to it. But, more than that, the need to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions, the need to give EPA the tools to do its duty as mandated by Congress and deemed their responsibility by the Supreme Court. This issue certainly is lethal. It kills people. And my friends who oppose this radical fight against global warming, you can't work if you're dead.

December 31, 2010, marked the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act has saved the lives of over 160,000 people, as conservatively estimated by the EPA. This issue then is a public health issue.

Chicago is my hometown. It is in the midst of a public health crisis. We are the morbidity and mortality capital of the United States for asthma. Having two children who face this ailment, it strikes near and dear to home. We are dealing with skyrocketing rates of death due to asthma, but we're not the only city with this problem. A report released by the American Lung Association reported nearly 60 percent of Americans live in areas where air pollution has reached unhealthy levels that can and does make people sick.

Yet we are standing here on the House floor arguing against job preserving measures, measures that will keep us alive and able to work, measures that will create jobs in clean and green industrial areas.

As Al Gore said in 2005, ``It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly and wisely.'' Attacks on the Clean Air Act and the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases are a huge piece of the larger climate crisis, a crisis that has a hefty cost--our health and our lives.

Thank you for having me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the long and distinguished career of Margaret Dunne. For over 25 years, she has instilled a love for reading in the children of Chicago's Independence Park neighborhood, and inspired a life of service in all of her colleagues.

Ms. Dunne began her career with impressive educational merit. She has Masters degrees in English, Special Education, and Library and Information Science. With this background, Margaret joined the Independence Park branch of the Chicago Public Library, where she would spend her entire career as the Children's Librarian.

Throughout her career, Margaret has worked to reach as many children as possible through visits to classrooms, parks, and daycare centers. She has also been instrumental in programming the Chicago Public Library's Summer Reading Program, which encourages children to continue reading during their summer vacations. Her exciting summer reading themes have delighted and inspired children, consistently making the Independence Park Library's Summer Reading Program one of the most successful in Chicago.

Margaret's hard work and dedication garnered citywide attention and, in 2002, earned her the Chicago Public Library's Librarian of the Year Award. Consistently, she has served as a mentor for many people in the field of librarianship and has inspired a high level of commitment to children's reading programs.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Ms. Margaret Dunne and her commitment to promoting a love of reading in children. Her career has touched the lives of people both young and old. In the words of her colleagues, ``her dedication will be greatly missed by all.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 32 and to offer my thoughts and prayers for my friend and colleague Gabrielle Giffords, as well as the 18 other victims of Saturday's unthinkable tragedy in Tucson.

I hope and pray for the wellbeing of all those battling for their lives and offer my deepest condolences to those who did not survive-- Christina Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Judge John M. Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwin Stoddard, and Gabe Zimmerman. My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of all involved.

Congress on Your Corner is democracy in action. Ms. Giffords, her staff, and everyone attending Saturday's event were doing what this country is built on: participating in a conversation between an elected official and the people she represents. As sadness gives way to reflection, I hope we will remain committed to that ideal.

Just 2 years ago, I was a new member of this body. Gabby Giffords greeted me with warmth, kindness, and friendship. With all my heart, I hope to one day return the favor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember a Chicago hero. On Dec. 23, firefighter Corey Ankum tragically lost his life in the line of duty when the roof of a South Shore building collapsed. Corey was just 34 years old.

A former member of the Chicago Police Department, Corey had been a firefighter for just 18 months. He left the Police force to follow in the footsteps of his close relative, Gerald Glover, a veteran firefighter. Gerald, who rushed to the scene of the burning building in South Shore, remembered Corey as someone who ``loved helping people.''

Whether it was battling the flames of a burning building or helping to keep neighborhoods safe, Corey spent his life serving Chicago and protecting Chicagoans. His selflessness will live on through his memory, and the lives of his surviving wife and children.

I join the rest of Chicago in mourning the loss of one of our own. The city Corey gave his life to protect will never forget him.

May he rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember the courage and honor the life of firefighter Edward Stringer. Edward was killed in the line of duty on Dec. 23, when the roof of a burning South Shore building collapsed. He was 47 years old.

Edward often joked that he was the guy running into burning buildings when everyone else was running out. That was the case on the afternoon of the tragedy that took his life. Worried there might be a homeless man or woman seeking shelter from the cold in the abandoned building, his commitment to the Chicagoans he swore to protect was far stronger than any sense of self-preservation.

A 12-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department, Edward worked out of the firehouse at 63rd and Dorchester. He was a lifetime South Sider, a proud Chicagoan and an American hero. His bravery will never be forgotten by the city he gave his life to protect.

May Mr. Stringer rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because, despite opposition from the Secretary of Defense, the President, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps, the Senate spending package still includes $450 million for a second engine for the F-35. Americans across the country are tightening their belts, 15 million are unemployed, and many of those with jobs have not seen raises in years. But the Federal Government seems to think that it is exempt from this shared cost- cutting.

Despite the recession and ballooning debt, we continue to fund wasteful projects like the second engine, which our own military has asserted they neither need or want. Sadly, the second engine is just the tip of the defense spending iceberg, the lowest of the low-hanging fruit. According to a recent report by the Sustainable Defense Task Force, hundreds of billions could be cut from our defense budget without harming national security. There can be no sacred cows. Cost- cutting has to include defense, and it should start with what Secretary Gates has called the ``costly and unnecessary'' second F-35 engine.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2965, a bill to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Just blocks from the Capitol lies Congressional Cemetery, the resting place of Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his distinguished service in Vietnam.

As a race relations instructor, he was instrumental in helping the military overcome its past legacy of racial discrimination, but he fell victim to the Air Force's discriminatory ban on gays, and was discharged in 1975.

His headstone, in sight of the Capitol dome, reads: ``When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.''

As a great man said, when it comes to matters of equality, it is always the right time to do the right thing. Our national security and our country's long-standing history of fairness depend on it.

Today, I urge my colleagues to do the right thing and support the rule and H.R. 2965 for Technical Sergeant Matlovich and for our country.

Madam Speaker, in the wake of the worst fire in Israel's history, I want to commend USAID and the U.S. Forest Service for leading America's vital effort to help extinguish the flames.

Now that the fires are out, the hardest work begins. The U.S. Forest Service will work closely with the Jewish National Fund and the State of Israel's national foresters to rebuild the destroyed forest.

Their first order of business will be assessing the damage and creating a plan for the long-term renewal of the historically significant Carmel Forest. The Mount Carmel region in Israel is rich in biblical history, most famous as the site of Elijah's battle with the prophets of Baal.

The coordinated efforts of the JNF and the U.S. Forest Service will ensure this precious area is restored and maintained for generations. The partnership of the U.S. Forest Service and the Jewish National Fund is yet another reminder of the strong ties between the United States and Israel.

I urge my colleagues support the efforts of the JNF as it works to restore and rebuild this beautiful and ancient region of Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the DREAM Act. Further, I rise in support of our Nation's children and young adults, children who, sadly, have borne the brunt of our immigration issues; children who have graduated from high school and want to continue on to college, but cannot receive any help; children who would sign up and fight and die for our country, but are seen as ghosts by their host country.

In August of 1864, President Lincoln wrote: ``It is not merely for today but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children's children this great and free government which we have all enjoyed all our lives.''

Nearly 150 years later, we are asked to stand up to the same task to perpetuate this great and free government for all our children. I ask my colleagues to support the children and support the DREAM Act.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember Ron Santo, a Cubs legend and legendary Cubs fan. Ron passed away last week after a courageous fight against bladder cancer. He was 70 years old.

For 14 years, he patrolled the hot corner at Wrigley Field. He was a nine-time All-Star, won five Gold Gloves, and hit 342 home runs. But Ron was never a numbers guy. On the field and for 20 years in the broadcast booth, his joy, devotion, and eternal optimism embodied the best of the Cubs.

Whether he was clicking his heels behind third base or leading the fight against juvenile diabetes, he wore his heart on his sleeve and a smile on his face.

Ron will be missed by everyone who ever watched him play, heard his voice on the radio, or was touched by his philanthropy and kind heart.

Let us hope that one day soon he will take his rightful place alongside baseball's immortals in Cooperstown, because Ron Santo belongs in the Hall of Fame.