Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, October 10 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Republic of China, which is now on Taiwan.

Just as the United States is considered a cultural melting pot, the Republic of China represents a society that has found success in embracing openness and respect for all citizens. As closely related and longstanding trade partners, the United States and Taiwan have a rich history of cooperating to create economic growth.

Since passage of the Taiwan Relations Act if 1979, the United States has been very supportive of the Republic of China, and, in turn, Taiwan has remained a friendly and faithful ally to the United States. America's support for the freedom, security, and stability of Taiwan stems from our shared foundation in individual liberty and from our mutual interest in defending peace and prosperity in the Pacific Rim region and throughout the world.

As a member of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, I am committed to enhancing and strengthening U.S.-Taiwan relations, and ensuring that the Republic of China continues to thrive as a free and democratic country. I am working with my colleagues to ensure that Taiwan has the capacity to defend itself from potentially hostile nations, and to perpetuate the democratic ideals that inspired its creation.

I urge all my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Republic of China on completing its first century as a nation, and in renewing America's commitment to our common defense.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the following:

On July 27, Carol Augias from Mahopac, New York wrote to me:

``Representative Hayworth, I have never written to a Congressperson before, however, I am deeply troubled by the debt ceiling stalemate. While I firmly believe that the massive debt we carry in this country needs to be reduced (I personally curtail my spending when my debt exceeds my comfort level), I am very concerned about what may happen if we default on our loans. Please find a way to get this issue resolved prior to the August deadline. Some compromises must take place. Once we have taken care of the immediate issue we, as a Nation, must evaluate our financial position so that our country will continue to flourish and children will also be able to purchase a home, afford a college education.''

Mr. Speaker, Carol is right. We need to resolve the debt limit crisis for the sake of future generations. Just as the American people--like Carol--pay their bills, the federal government must do the same, so we are obligated to raise the Treasury's debt ceiling. But we must do so responsibly because our nation has another critical and painful problem that is related to our enormous debt: 14 million Americans need jobs.

We can make our economy grow, and create jobs, by assuring that the dollars Americans work so hard for are theirs to spend and save and invest. To do this, the federal spending juggernaut has to stop.

And, as Carol pointed out, there is a need for cooperation. We can reform our tax code and close loopholes, as the President has urged, and we can do so without raising net taxes. We cannot, in good conscience, increase the burdens on Americans who need a vigorous economy.

Our nation didn't reach the point of fiscal crisis overnight, and we aren't going to get out of it overnight either--but we can make progress in the right direction now, and continue doing our utmost together to bring this federal government to the right size, and empower our citizens to enjoy the freedom and dignity that is their birthright as Americans.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes.

My amendment proposes that we cut the $632,780 proposed increase in funding to the Botanic Garden and transfer that amount to the spending reduction account. While the Botanic Garden in the FY12 budget receives an increase, almost every other account in the Legislative Branch appropriations bill has been decreased, including for the Congressional Research Service, the Congressional Budget Office, JEC, JCT, and the Capitol Police Buildings, Grounds, and Security account.

The Botanic Garden provides education and outreach programs, and they are definitely of value. They have been commended in the committee report for their accomplishments. But it is a time of austerity and the Botanic Garden should take the necessary steps to continue to pursue those programs with the same funding as they received in fiscal year '11. Throughout the rest of the legislative branch in the Federal Government we're cutting costs, we're eliminating employee spots, and we're taking other reductive measures. Each of our offices and committees will be operating with additional cuts. The Botanic Garden can itself continue to provide successful services and maintain its venue with the same level of funding as in FY 2011.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar).

Mr. Chairman, I certainly respect the point that the gentleman from California has made; but in a time when we are running a deficit of $14 trillion, at least, we have to seek to pursue sensible measures to reduce budgets wherever we can. And we are, unfortunately, faced with a time in our history in which what is nice to have or good to have must yield to what we absolutely must have. Therefore, I will defend the proposed reduction in the account that we have made in this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I could not agree more with the gentleman from California that the Botanic Garden is a treasure. I, too, have visited it, with great delight. But I would suggest that we perhaps could get together and seek voluntary contributions to fund this additional budgetary amount so that we can respect the urgent needs of the United States budget and of the United States taxpayers.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Assistant Chief Brian Lena and Captain William Bahr of the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department; for their heroic actions and longstanding commitment to their fire department and community.

In October of 2010 these two men, along with their fellow firefighters, responded to an evolved structure fire which blocked the only exit the occupants had. At the scene, Assistant Chief Lena and Captain Bahr bravely rescued the occupants through a second story bedroom window. During this time, the hose crew also attacked an advancing fire in the kitchen and hallway.

In response to these heroic actions, Assistant Chief Lena and Captain Bahr have both been awarded the distinct honor of Firefighter of the Year. They have received this award with several agencies, including the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department, Putnam County Volunteer Firemen's Association, Hudson Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association, and the Firemen's Association of the State of New York.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Assistant Chief Lena, Captain Bahr, and all of the other first responders who came out that day. We are fortunate to have such dedicated volunteers protecting us in the Hudson Valley.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the largest employer in New York's 19th Congressional District, IBM, on the 100th anniversary of their founding. IBM employees, retirees, partners, and clients within the Lower Hudson Valley and around the world are hosting an IBM Centennial Day of Service to donate their time, skills, and expertise to support our communities.

Since 2003, IBM employees have donated more than 13 million hours of service around the world in over 120 countries. Within the last six months alone, IBM volunteers have contributed over 2.5 million hours to service in behalf of worthy causes, including teaching math and science to middle school students; mentoring young Uruguayans from impoverished neighborhoods; and coaching hundreds of small business entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

$12 million in service grants are also being distributed as part of the IBM Centennial Day of Service, and I commend both IBM and its thousands of dedicated and talented employees for their generosity.

I thank my colleague from Tennessee, Dr. Roe, for yielding me this time.

In New York's District 19, I have been sharing a headline with our seniors and with all of our citizens, which is that the Affordable Care Act ends Medicare as we know it. It ends Medicare as our seniors know it. And you, sir, have stated the reason exactly. The Independent Payment Advisory Board, which was written into law and passed by the 111th Congress, signed into law by President Obama, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, will assure that our seniors, starting in 2015, when they have to make a 0.5 percent cut in Medicare's budget, our seniors will stop having the access to care that they are accustomed to. And they will not be happy about it.

And then in every successive year, in 2016 it will be 1 percent; 2017, 1.25 percent; 2018, 1.5 percent, if I have done that math right, Dr. Roe. Our seniors will find that their access to the doctors they know, the doctors they prefer, will not be the same.

So when we talk about what we need to do as a Nation, we in the House majority have pledged to our seniors that we will keep the promises that America has made to them, to make sure that Medicare benefits remain secure and safe for as long as they need them, which is why in the budget that we passed in April, the Path to Prosperity Budget, we guaranteed that seniors 65 and above, and in fact our citizens age 55 and above, will not see changes to Medicare as they know it. That gives Americans 10 years at least to prepare for a more secure future for Medicare for exactly the reason that you have talked about, Dr. Roe, which is we do have many blessings in this extraordinary country, and one of them is that we do continue to make wonderful advances in medical science. They do come at a certain cost. So we have a challenge that we need to face together. There are certainly ways in which we can, together as a Nation, figure out how we make our health care more cost effective, and there are lots of opportunities.

It is true, there is waste, fraud, and abuse in the system. That needs to be addressed. There are also ways we can protect our health better in our youth that Americans haven't necessarily had to think about nearly as much in the past couple of decades, but that they are starting to think about. So we need to make sure that we are making those advances together and that our seniors and all Americans who need advanced care will be able to get it, that the sickest among us will not be deprived of care because of the arbitrary decisions of a board that has to cut budgets. Again, that is the headline. The Affordable Care Act ends Medicare as you know it, but what the budget that the House Republican majority passed in April does is to restore Medicare as our seniors know it and allow all Americans time to prepare for a better future for Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, this Monday is Memorial Day, and Memorial Day reminds us that the most fundamental right of Americans, the one we cherish most, is to be free. But that freedom is purchased at a dear price.

I rise in gratitude to the millions of Americans who have made the sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, and to their family members. I remember in particular Private David R. Fahey of Yorktown Heights, New York, from our own District 19, who made the ultimate sacrifice this year.

Thanks to all of our veterans and all of our families who do so much to assure that we enjoy the freedoms that we cherish every day.

Thank you and the committee, Mr. Chairman, for your support of my amendment.

The amendment that I have offered, No. 4, simply adds the sense of Congress that the Federal Government should not be in the business of competing with its citizens in private enterprise. As such, the Federal Government should not carry on activities if they can be procured more economically from a commercial source.

What we are talking about here is in-sourcing of activities that ordinarily should be available commercially, such as food services, mapping, audio-visual services. And we have an example in our own district in the food services area. Unfortunately, in-sourcing does not produce net savings in such cases. It is often the case that higher costs, lower quality, and less support for local businesses are the case.

We want to make sure our Armed Forces have everything they need to be as effective as they can be. Therefore, this amendment specifically exempts positions that are inherently governmental in nature. But I do hope that we will give favorable consideration to our local contractors and our local economies and not have the Federal Government compete with local businesses.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered by Mr. Grimm commending our intelligence services' ``commitment, perseverance, professionalism, and sacrifice they displayed in bringing Osama bin Laden to justice.''

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the effort to bring Osama bin Laden to justice was the result of countless hours of intelligence gathering, analysis, sharp thinking, skilled interrogation, and mission execution. The men and women who serve in our intelligence services, often anonymously, are true professionals, and they deserve our utmost thanks and gratitude.

I would also like to take this opportunity to commend President Obama for his leadership in overseeing the mission that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, and Leon Panetta for his stewardship of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The death of Osama bin Laden closes a painful chapter in our Nation's history. While I hope that the victims of, not only 9/11, but the countless other acts of murder, terror, and brutality he perpetrated can find some solace in his demise. But two headlines today remind us of the challenges that we still face in the threat of terror.

In Islamabad today, a pair of suicide bombers struck paramilitary recruits at a training center in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 80 people. And in New York City on Wednesday two individuals were arrested with a hand grenade, three semiautomatic pistols, 150 rounds of ammunition, and intentions to blow up a synagogue.

The fight against terror is ongoing, and because of the tireless work of our intelligence agencies, we have not had a single deadly act of terror perpetrated on U.S. soil since 9/11. Our neighbors abroad have, unfortunately, not fared as well, as the attacks in Pakistan remind us.

There is a reason for this, and it is the professionalism, patriotism, and perseverance of the professionals in our intelligence services. I again commend them for a job well done in bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, and wish them godspeed as they continue to protect our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleagues from South Carolina and from Arkansas for putting together this hour, which is of so much value.

I am here as a physician who's also a Member of Congress. I've had the privilege of taking care of elderly patients for 16 years in private practice and in hospital settings, and I have two parents whom I cherish who have been Medicare recipients for many years.

And the facts of the case, as our colleague from Pennsylvania has aptly pointed out, we have to go by the facts of the case. And as a doctor, that's what we always did, and approach them with compassion and sensitivity to be sure.

But the facts of the case are that we currently have roughly 10,000 Americans, baby boomers, now entering Medicare eligibility every day. On average, each of them will have contributed approximately $110,000 in payroll taxes over their lifetimes, and that's a lot of money. There's no question. But, Medicare will spend, on average, it's projected, approximately $330,000 on their care. As all of us can tell, unfortunately, that's not something that we can sustain. That's not something that our children and our grandchildren will be able to pay for. That is what is threatening the future for everyone, including our seniors and including all of us who will be senior citizens, Good Lord willing, by and by.

We know that in the Affordable Care Act measures were taken to control the cost of Medicare. One of the measures, in fact, took funding away from Medicare, roughly half a trillion dollars. So we know we need to do something about it.

The way the Affordable Care Act approaches it is to have the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which is a board of bureaucrats that's going to decide how money is spent on our seniors' care. I, as a doctor, and as a daughter, would much prefer to see us have that choice. That's why premium support makes sense.

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the Holocaust Days of Remembrance. In 1938, there was a family that lived in Vienna, Austria. The father was a successful tea merchant. The boys were both talented and bright. And when the Anschluss came and the Nazis arrived, the younger son watched as his mother signed away all of their possessions.

The mother made her way to the United States, because she had relatives here. The older of the two boys was smuggled out of Austria in the trunk of a car. The younger boy was taken to an orphanage, a boy's orphanage in Belgium.

The father, Sigmund, was not able to obtain passage, as the boys eventually did to the United States, and he ended up in the free city of Shanghai, where he reestablished his tea business. He kept writing to his wife, Rose, over the ensuing 2 years, and then she stopped hearing from him. It turned out that Sigmund Haimovitz had died in Shanghai of malaria.

His younger son, Henry, was my father-in-law, and I want to remember Sigmund Haimovitz and his brave family and all those who perished as a result of the terrible events of the Holocaust.

I thank you for your commitment and dedication. I have the privilege of serving the 19th Congressional District in New York, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is in my district. We have sent, as we all know, thousands of young men and women to join and to sustain the long gray line. Their talents and their commitment are made to our Nation in order to defend us from threats from without. We owe them that same dedication and commitment and sacrifice and discipline here in the Congress, in the House, and in the Senate. And our President owes it to them and to the children of America whose future is at risk from within.

We were elected in that great wave in November 2010 because the American people told us we could no longer afford to continue on a path of enormous deficits and mounting debt. It is difficult to do what we are called on to do, and that presumably is why the Senate has so resisted the lead that we have offered them with the passage of a continuing resolution to compensate for a budget that was never passed for this fiscal year by the 111th Congress. It is difficult to say no to certain types of spending that have become the usual mode of behavior by the Federal Government, but that is what we are called on to do.

And what we do pales in comparison with what the men and women who put themselves in harm's way around the world must do every day. What they sacrifice must be emulated by us in this small way. We must join together in the House, and we must be joined by the Senate to pass this bill that will fund our troops through the end of fiscal year 2011 and will allow us the time that we need to bring everyone together, to bring the Senate and the President on board so that they too will have that discipline that they need so that we can do what is right for America's future and so that we can get on to thinking, as we must, about the budget for 2012 and beyond.

I thank you, Judge Carter, for your leadership in ensuring that our troops are properly cared for and for your leadership in this enormous and crucial fight for our Nation's future.

Mr. Speaker, the 19th District of New York is home to the United States Military Academy and today I join the cadets and alumni of West Point in celebrating Founders Day. On March 16, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed into law the Military Peace Establishment Act that founded the United States Military Academy at West Point. Since then, over 50,000 men and women have joined the Long Gray Line and served in the United States Army in times of war and peace. This year, approximately 1,000 cadets will be commissioned as Second Lieutenants and continue a great Army tradition dedicated to Duty, Honor, Country. Their deep and enduring patriotism; their tenacity, talent, and sacrifice, make the United States Army the greatest in the world. May God continue to protect them in their mission to preserve our peace and freedom every day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Firefighter Howard Carpenter of Kent, New York for his steadfast commitment and dedication to our community as a forty-year active member of the Kent Volunteer Fire Department. Firefighter Carpenter is a founding member of the Kent Fire Department and has remained active for the entirety of its existence. Firefighters like Mr. Carpenter have a crucial role in protecting our homes and families. It is because of committed volunteer firefighters like Mr. Carpenter that our communities have active emergency responders that come to our rescue in our times of need. Mr. Carpenter has a longstanding history of commitment to his community and his fellow firefighters. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Firefighter Howard Carpenter for his 40 years of outstanding fire service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Firefighter Douglas Casey of Kent, New York for his steadfast commitment and dedication to our community as a forty year active member of the Kent Volunteer Fire Department. Firefighter Casey is a founding member of the Kent Fire Department and has remained active for the entirety of its existence. Firefighters like Mr. Casey have a crucial role in protecting our homes and families. It is because of committed volunteer firefighters like Mr. Casey that our communities have active emergency responders that come to our rescue in our times of need. Mr. Casey has a longstanding history of commitment to his community and his fellow firefighters. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Firefighter Douglas Casey for his 40 years of outstanding fire service.