Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my continued support for H.R. 639, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act. This legislation will provide the United States an important tool to address unfair currency manipulation practices, and I hope that it can receive a debate and a clean, up-or-down vote in the House.

I voted against the Motion to Recommit to H.R. 3078, the U.S. Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Act because it was a poison pill motion that would have derailed this important, carefully negotiated trade agreement that enjoyed the support of President Barack Obama as well as 262 bipartisan members of the House. Were one word to change in the U.S.-Colombia agreement, this agreement, that has taken years to reach, would have lost its legislative protections in the Senate under the Trade Promotion Authority Act. Doing so would have killed this agreement and further delayed action to level the playing field for U.S. workers and create jobs here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor graduates of West Chester B. Reed Henderson High School Class of 1966 whom served in our Armed Forces. These individuals served the United States honorably and proudly and I commend their service. The following are the names of those individuals:

Charles B. Spadoni. 1st Lieutenant. Army

Jon H. Barber. Lieutenant Colonel. Army

Raymond C. Carr. E-4 PFC. National Guard

Stephen C. Cottrel. E-4 Sgt. Air Force

Maria Cottrell. Sergeant. Air Force

Brad Johnson. 2nd Class Quartermaster. Navy

David E. Haring. E-5 Sergeant. Army

S. Kurt Hettel. E-7 Specialist. USA Reserve

Ronald F. Hoopes. E-4 Specialist. Army

Gary V. Jamison. E-4 3rd Class Petty Officer. Navy

Harry C. Jamison III. E-5 Specialist. Army

Ernst W. Jordan, Jr. E-4 Petty Officer 3rd Class. Navy

Walter S. Mitchell. E-4 Specialist. Army

W. Eric Pederson. Lieutenant Colonel. Army

Arnold S. Hughes. Army

Thomas D. Rodgers. E-4 Petty Officer. Navy

David A. Salveson. Lieutenant Commander. Navy

George M. Smith. E-4 Specialist. Army

Frederick W. Waldbuesser. E-4 Specialist

Harry J. Cabot. E-4. Air Force

Joseph R. Skovrinski. E-5 2nd Class Petty Officer. Navy

Nicholas Ranalli. E-5 Sergeant. Army

Robert J. Dehaven. E-5 2nd Class Petty Officer. Navy

Ernst Tallington. Sergeant. Air Force

John J. Higham. E-5 Specialist. Army

Clifford R. Angry. E-5 Sergeant. Air Force

Terry Neilon. Colonel. Army

Madam Speaker, few come to this Congress with more interest in protecting air and water than myself, as I did as a prosecutor who actually used the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act for the good of the country. We must find balance.

Madam Speaker, I am here today because I woke up this morning with the thought of steelworkers on my mind, some of the 1,500 steelworkers whose jobs are now at risk since the Sun Oil Refinery announced last week that it is getting out of the refining business--in essence, the inability to compete because of the overregulation that we have--and these jobs are going to be shipped overseas.

Good union-paying American jobs that could be here, because of the policies that are coming out of Washington, are being destroyed and sent overseas. It is counterintuitive; it is counterproductive. We must use common sense.

We can't let the rhetoric stand in the way of reality. We must fight for the future of those jobs while we fight for clean air.

I want to thank my good friend from Nevada, Dr. Heck, for the opportunity to organize this moment for us in order to recognize the significance of this weekend on which ceremonies and memorials all across our country will be held. We will come together as a Nation to honor the thousands of innocent lives that were lost 10 years ago.

There is no doubt that, as the events of September 11 forever changed our Nation, the lives that were lost on that horrific day continue to live in the hearts and the minds of millions of Americans, and people around the world will continue to honor their memory.

I know, for many, for those who knew and lived with people who gave their lives, this is a personal issue as well. For me, it's a remembrance of a very special family, the Bavis family. Mark Bavis was one of the individuals on the plane that went into the World Trade Center. He was a member of the Boston Bruins and was a wonderful young man. These are acts of heroism and courage from that day that will continue to be honored, and our brave first responders who risked their lives to rescue others will certainly be first among them.

You will hear many of us tell stories about the opportunity to be participants in the aftermath of that immediate event. It was a small opportunity--I think, really, it was a privilege--just a few days thereafter to have had the nomination of the President of the United States honored and passed on by the Senate to become the United States Attorney, to go to work in the Justice Department just days after, and to participate in playing a role in the Nation's response to this horrible act of terrorism.

I think of my role as being really quite minimal in respect to, but it became a front seat in the ability to watch so many others who rallied around as a Nation and who, frankly, then went into harm's way with the objective of keeping our Nation safe from the continuing threat of terrorism.

I particularly focus on those warfighters who are bravely overseas now, who are putting their lives on the line, and I focus on the vigilance of the members of our law enforcement and others. The testament of their effect has been that we are a decade later still recognizing, not just their memories, but the reality that we as a Nation have not been similarly attacked.

It is my hope that, not just on this anniversary of 9/11, but every day we will remember the lives lost and those who were left without fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Over 3,000 children lost one or both of their parents that fateful day, including 32 babies who were born after 9/11. Their incredible strength and resilience and the courage of their loved and lost is an inspiration, and I trust we as a grateful Nation will keep them all in our prayers.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for the opportunity to address the Chamber this morning.

I am pleased to speak on behalf of this bill, a bill that will address the

terrible uncertainty that has been taking place over the course of these last few weeks--the seniors, the taxpayers, the small business people who have been speaking to me as I have been making the phone calls and talked with them about the concerns that they have in this era of uncertainty.

I've heard commentary that this is identified as a crisis caused by Republicans when, in fact, the crisis has been the business as usual which has been taking place in Washington, D.C. This is finally a time in which we looked at the issues that are before us and made the tough decisions to address the long-term unsustainability of this debt; $14.2 trillion in debt is going to be facing the next generation. I note that there are arguments that somehow it was policies of Big Oil and health care, the things that have been Republican policies when, in fact, if you look just at the beginnings of this administration, there was the commitment to Medicare, there were the subsidies to Big Oil, we were in with the subsidies, not just to Big Oil, but also involved in two wars and the debt was $162 billion. Now it's 1.2 trillion.

We must take these kinds of steps and work together. This is a solution that will allow a genuine bipartisan opportunity to address this for the future generations, create predictability, and allow us to get back to creating jobs. I urge Members from both sides of the aisle to support this bill.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

As we used to say in the courtroom, the facts are that there are no facts. The truth of the matter is that the only people who are cutting $500 billion from Medicare are the Democrats in their proposal, but that's not my point.

No, the gentleman will not yield. Let me make my point, and then I'll be off.

The issue here is really one of compromise. I come here as a freshman, as somebody who is looking at this for the first time. When we came in and worked on the bill, the Boehner proposal, the frustration for me was knowing going in that evening that I'd already been made aware that this leadership, the leadership of the party on the other side, had whipped their members so not a single member was ready on the other side to sit and talk to anyone on this aisle. The whip was there: You will not vote. You will not talk.

We were not able.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak.

As we've been talking so much, I hear so much about a balanced approach. What we really need is a balanced budget.

The concern right now, as I talk to the many phone callers who are calling in, is that America has taken the time to tighten their belts at home; and when you talk to business people, they've made the tough decisions, and they're looking to us now to make the tough decisions as well.

And that's what I think this legislation has done, legislation which we can look at right now and we can put away the arguments from each side, the Republican side and the Democratic side. This is about America right now. The people who are calling in, who are watching, they are watching right now and greatly concerned because of the fact that they feel their economic security is at risk because we can't deal with the long-term implications of this budget and this debt.

There is a plan, and the Republicans in this House have put together a plan. And I'm not going to get into the partisan rhetoric. Let us go around this plan. If we've got differences, let us resolve those differences effectively for the American people. Let us get to work in this House, get it to the Senate, pass it today so we can get the good work done that will allow America to get back to work with a sense of confidence in the future of our economy, get people back to work creating jobs.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, On behalf of myself and my colleagues in the Pennsylvania delegation (Mrs. Schwartz, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Brady, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Holden, Mr. Marino, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Altmire, Mr. Gerlach, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Critz, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Dent, Mr. Platts), I would like the following statement submitted for the record. I rise today to honor Rear Admiral Kenneth J. Braithwaite, II.

On June 3, 2011, at the United States Naval Academy, the U.S. Navy celebrated the retirement of a long standing flag officer, Rear Admiral Kenneth J. Braithwaite, II. Rear Admiral Braithwaite served his country for over 25 years. Prior to his retirement, the Navy's Vice Chief of Information served as the principal Navy Reserve liaison and advisor to the Chief of Information having responsibility for formulating strategic communications counsel to the leadership of the Department of the Navy. Concurrently, he served as the head of the Navy Reserve (NR) Public Affairs program and as an adjunct advisor to the Commander, Navy Reserve Force.

A 1984 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Braithwaite was designated a naval aviator in April 1986. His first operational assignment was to Patrol Squadron 17, NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii. He flew anti-submarine missions tracking adversary submarines throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

In April 1988, Braithwaite was selected for redesignation as a public affairs officer (PAO) with his initial tour aboard the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66). He had additional duty as a PAO to Commander Carrier Group 2 and Commander, Striking Force 6th Fleet. He made both a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Force deployment to the North Atlantic operating above the Arctic Circle and a Mediterranean/Indian Ocean cruise where the battle group responded to tensions in the Persian Gulf. In 1990, he was assigned to the staff of the Commander, Naval Base Philadelphia as chief of Public Affairs.

Braithwaite left active duty in 1993 and immediately resumed naval service in the reserve where he served with numerous commands from Boston to Norfolk. Additionally during this time he earned a master's degree in Government Administration in April 1995 with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.

In October 2001, Braithwaite assumed command of NR Fleet Combat Camera Atlantic at Naval Air Station, Willow Grove, Pa. During this tour the command was tasked with providing support to the Joint Task Force (JTF) Commander, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In March 2003 Braithwaite deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom with a portion of his command in support of naval operations to capture the port of Umm Qasr. Following this tour he served as commanding officer of Navy Office of Information New York 102.

Most recently Braithwaite served as Commander, Joint Public Affairs Support Element-Reserve (JPASE-R) from October of 2004 to October 2007. In this role he commanded a 50-person joint public affairs expeditionary unit that was forward deployed to support Joint Combatant Commanders in time of conflict. While in command and following the devastating earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, Braithwaite was deployed to Pakistan as part

of the Joint Task Force for Disaster Assistance serving as the director of Strategic Communications working for both the JTF Commander and the U.S. Ambassador in Islamabad.

His decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with oak leaf cluster), Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal (5) with Combat ``V'', Navy Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon and numerous campaign and service medals. In his civilian career, Braithwaite is senior vice president, Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania where he leads the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council in Philadelphia.

His commitment to the Navy and our Nation would not have been possible without the support and love of his family, especially his wife Melissa, his daughter, Grace and his son, Harrison.

We commend and thank Rear Admiral Braithwaite for his relentless and selfless dedication to serving our country with honor and distinction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the Upper Merion School District of Pennsylvania for winning an Environmental Achievement Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Upper Merion was recognized for being a 2010 ENERGY STAR leader and for reducing its energy consumption by more than 30 percent, an achievement reached by only about a dozen of the Nation's 15,000 school districts. All six of Upper Merion's schools have earned the ENERGY STAR rating and several buildings have energy reductions near 50 percent. The district has also embarked on an aggressive recycling program that has resulted in about 50 percent of its solid waste being recycled instead of going to the landfill. I am proud to represent the citizens of Upper Merion in Congress, and their example of stewardship--of a community taking local initiative to reduce their environmental impact--is a model of bottom-up sustainability that municipalities across America should strive to emulate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the efforts of the students of Springfield High School, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, who raised a record sum of nearly $153,000 through their annual Dance-a- Thon to benefit pediatric cancer research. With over half of Springfield High's student body taking part in this extraordinary charitable drive, the Dance-a-Thon represents community service at its finest--citizens voluntarily giving of themselves to make a difference in the lives of their neighbors. Most of us have known the pain of losing a loved one to cancer, but the students at Springfield took action, joining together to help children who are fighting this disease. I am proud of these young men and women, and grateful for the example they have set for their peers and the students who will follow after them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf of the Infrastructure Jobs and Energy Independence Act, a bill that was introduced by a number of my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion just yesterday to deal with the issue of energy and our ability to make it available to Americans in an affordable and efficient capacity.

What it will do is take dollars that we can use by investing in the ability to take the resources from the Outer Continental Shelf leases and put those $2 to $3 trillion worth of assets to work by dedicating them to rebuilding our infrastructure, focusing on our ability to find renewable and clean energy resources, and to put those dollars as well towards cleaning up our environment.

It's a bipartisan effort that gives an ability to hold down the long- term costs of energy. It's a tremendous opportunity for us to get ahold of this. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and making this law.

Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 300, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Markey

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 92, the Kline Amendment No. 214, I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word and to speak in opposition to the amendment that was just proposed by the gentleman from Illinois.

Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of this very, very significant and important piece of military hardware, the V- 22 Osprey. Notwithstanding the discussion in which the GAO has made a report, the fact of the matter is this is an instrument which has proven itself in the theater of war. Those who have been the most significant advocates for this very, very important airplane have been those who have used it in the theater of war, the United States Marine Corps. This has been used successfully in 14 different deployments, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has proven itself time and time again; proven itself to have the flexibility to be able to accommodate the new challenge that the Marines are facing in these dramatically challenging circumstances; the functionality to be able to respond quickly to moving troops, not just to insert most effectively in a time fashion but to be also able to get there as quickly as possible, in real-world combat situations that are changing as we speak.

Day and night raids. This is the instrument that the Air Force, Special Forces, and the Marines have identified as among the most important; the instrument that rushes to the front and medevacs the soldiers. I just visited Walter Reed just about a month ago, and the ability to get soldiers who are injured from the front lines back to the United States in time is remarkable. This is one of those instruments that allows them to do it. It's a technology which has been proven, not just in the battlefield but has also been proven by its performance. They have worked out the kinks. They have paid for it. This is the thing that the Marine Corps is asking for that's consistently within the boundaries of the existing defense budget. The soldiers on the front line are asking for the V-22 Osprey because it helps them do their job. We must stand in support of the soldiers who are doing the work defending our Nation most effectively. They are the ones who are proving that it works.

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

Amendment No. 63 Offered by Mr. Gutierrez

Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure to be here as a Congressman, but before I came here, I served as a prosecutor, both a Federal prosecutor and a State prosecutor, and I have actually been probably one of the few people who has actually been involved in investigations who have used the Patriot Act, used the Patriot Act against the proclaimed Imperial Wizard of the KKK in plotting to take handgrenades to blow up an abortion clinic. It helped us to be able to resolve a case and see a just sentence.

But what is happening today by virtue of these provisions is the ability for us not to just use what was important then in 2003, but to appreciate the changing nature of technology and the need for law enforcement to be able to keep pace with that.

This roving wiretap simply allows law enforcement to be able to track the individual rather than the phone. You have to appreciate that law enforcement is operating in real time. I have heard many references as well to the idea of the sort of lack of due process, and because we are dealing with the issue of a potential terrorist, we are looking at it differently from the context of the probable cause context, but we are going before the FISA court.

Mr. Rogers explained specifically about the need to take this same information of probable cause before a court, and even if that phone is changed after the fact, we have to report back to the judge about what has been done with that phone. The protections have been built in with what Congress did. I was in the Justice Department when we came before you, and you fixed these provisions significantly.

Lastly, I now chair a subcommittee of Homeland Security dealing with the issue of terrorism and the lone wolf provision. It was Janet Napolitano who talked about the changing nature of the threat and this being one of the most serious times since 9/11.

Mr. Speaker, we must stand together and support those that are on the front line with these commonsense changes that have already been put into the bill. We are not going over new territory here. What we are doing is allowing those on the front line to use the

tools before them to keep America safe. I urge support for this provision.