Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5114, the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act of 2010. This legislation would reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through fiscal year 2015 and make several improvements to the program.

My Congressional District is home to some of the most flood prone rivers and streams in the United States. Nearly every major rain event causes some type of the flooding for residents and businesses. As a result, the NFIP is a tremendously important program for my constituents and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this legislation.

H.R. 5114 contains provisions I authored to help communities that are currently constructing flood control projects where new scientific data would require changes in the design of the levee systems. In this situation, residents and businesses would be required to pay flood insurance rates as if the levees were not even constructed.

Mr. Chair, it is enormously unfair for communities that have contributed millions of dollars toward a flood control project to be penalized with higher flood insurance rates because of conflicting scientific data. Communities invest in flood control projects with not only the expectation of being protected from future floods but also having the expectation of receiving reduced flood insurance rates.

My provisions ensure that when this situation arises the community will be treated fairly for purposes of purchasing flood insurance during the construction of flood protection measures.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the conference agreement.

Mr. Speaker, this is not a perfect bill, but this is a darn good bill. I know we are going to hear objections on both sides of the aisle, but if you have a chance to look at it, and it is a lengthy bill, the 2,600 pages that are presented to both the House today and within a week or so to the Senate constitutes the first revolutionary change of securities laws in the United States since the Great Depression. At that time we had a tremendous collapse, and our forefathers and predecessors rose to the occasion by establishing a regulatory platform within the United States that made us the envy of the world.

We had in 2008 a collapse and a failure of that system. It primarily grew out of the failure of the regulatory system to use all the powers it had and to keep track with our highly speculative and greedful nature at the time to allow us to go into the tremendous credit crisis that we faced in 2008.

To now make an argument that we need do nothing and we will recover and we will prosper is pure ludicrousness. The fact of the matter is there are holes, there are loopholes, there are failures within our system. We have to cleanse that system and fix that system, and that is exactly what this bill does.

I am pleased to say that I had a part in doing that. I helped prepare one amendment, the too-big-to-fail amendment. What we can say to our successors and to our constituents is that never again in the future will there be an unlimited power for financial institutions to grow either in size, interconnectedness or other negative factors that they can remain and put in jeopardy systemically the economy of the United States and the world.

We have the authority vested in our regulators to see that that doesn't happen. If our regulators are able and will use those powers, never again will we face the too-big-to-fail concept of having to bail out some of the largest institutions in the world.

Secondly, a large part of this was devoted to investor protection. I can't go through all the elements, but for the first time in history we're going to allow the regulators to study and come up with rules and regulations that allow a fiduciary relationship between broker-dealers, investment advisers, and their clients--their customers. Most people in this country think that already exists. It doesn't. After this bill and the use of those new regulations, it will. You can then trust that the advice being given by the broker-dealer or the investment counselor is in your best interest as a customer and not in theirs.

We also call for the largest comprehensive study of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the history of the commission. It will put into place the tools necessary to revise the entire SEC in the future. It also will be the predicate for that type of a comprehensive study to be used in other agencies and commissions of government to allow us the long road of reform in the American government. These things are in the bill. Beside that, we have the capacity to require that no one in the future need worry about the responsibility of the companies they're dealing with as to whether or not they will have counterparties, whether they are relying on representations that are true or false, because we're going to have transparency within the system.

In the other areas dealing with derivatives, we're going to have exchanges. We're going to have disclosure. Never has that happened in the history of the United States. Over the years, the last two decades, we have made attempts and have always failed. This time we have succeeded.

Mr. Speaker, without reservation, I recommend to my colleagues a vote of ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise maybe to make a suggestion. I know it may drop on deaf ears, but, you know, we are about to undertake an historic event, both in this institution, the Congress of the United States, and in the United States of America, and that is to enact laws by a democratic society through their elected representatives that will cause occasions to happen that may actually save the economy of this Nation or the economy of the world.

It seems to me at this first preparation date we are awaiting the appointment of our conferees here on the House side, that we are already indicating that there will be a political flavor to this conference as opposed to an attempt by both sides of the aisle to find what is best for America and what is best for the economy of this country.

Now, I suggest, and I will concede, having worked with the chairman and Members on the other side, the ranking members and others, for these last 15 or 16 months, that this is not a perfect bill or a perfect solution. I wish it were. But I think we will all have to wait until another day of a higher order to get to perfection.

All we are trying to do here is to work in the regular order of the legal process to see if we can make certain that we don't bring down our economy or our government or the world's economy or the world governments. And that's what we are attempting to do.

Now, you know, we have all these titles, and I am probably as guilty as others, ``too big to fail.'' And we talk about that like that's an easily definable entity. Well, in reality, it isn't.

The fact of the matter is, some things are so interconnected and intertwined and involved in our economic system that, for all intents and purposes, they would appear not to be a risky organization, but that when you examine them and you see the tentacles that they send out through our society and other organizations throughout the world, that their failure can precipitate a failure of the economic system of the world.

That's what we experienced in an organization known as AIG. You know, an organization in excess of 100,000 people, working in tens of countries around the world, had a little organization in London, England, called AIG Financial Products. Those 400 people were able to take a name, AIG, American International Insurance Group, and utilize that to get into the derivative business to the tune of $2.8 trillion without the support of adequate assets to meet their counterparty positions.

And what happened? It started to fail to meet its counterparty positions and immediately would have put at risk most of the major banks of not only the United States but of the world.

Now, when that was happening--and that occurred after other failures in the United States had occurred--we had several choices. We could have sat by and said, ``Well, the market will cure all things.'' And I guess if you are a purist, that's not a bad position philosophically to take, because it is correct. I will concede to that.

But I am one of those people that favor affecting the market and taking the actions that will, in some instances, short-circuit the effects of the market when the effects of the market will be so severe on our population that it warrants such action. And that's exactly what happened at AIG.

If we had sat back and allowed that to occur and the ripple effect around the world, we would have collapsed the economy of the United States and the world, probably, some of our best economists in the world indicated, within 72 hours. We would have been in a position of no one knowing what the world's economy would have looked like.

We were called upon to take certain actions, and that was way back in September or October of 2008. And many of us came back to Washington just before our vital elections that year, and we went to work and we created something.

Can I reconstruct for you gentlemen what it was about? We didn't come back to the Obama administration. We didn't come back to a situation-- --

Parliamentary Inquiry

It is certainly a pleasure to address the Speaker, and I will. I am sure we should adhere to the decorum of the House and the rules of the House, and I will definitely do that.

I wouldn't think of calling the attention of my observations to my colleagues on the other side. That could be frightful if we did that because they may have to respond to those observations. So we won't call those observations.

I was going through how we got here and why we are here. And how we got here was we met in rooms around this Capitol for a number of weeks, 2 or 3 weeks, as I recall. And the President of the United States, George W. Bush, in his last year of presidency, or in the last several years of his presidency, indicated that his Secretary of Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve were his designees to work with Congress to see what we could do to prevent the potential meltdown or catastrophe to the world's economy. And we went to work to do that.

Now, as I recall--and I sat in some of those meetings, not all of those meetings--we would periodically tune the conference telephone to economists, Nobel Prize-winning economists around the world, of all political persuasions and philosophical positions. And, to my best recollection, there were several dozen. And to a man, or woman, not one of them disagreed that what we were facing was total meltdown and that precipitous action had to be taken.

And the precipitous action that was taken was to provide a rescue package, giving unusual, incredible authority to the executive branch of government, to

be utilized by the Secretary of the Treasury, to do what we could to prevent a meltdown in the United States.

Now, at all times, as I recall, those eminent economists were telling us that it was their opinion that even if we did these strange and unusual activities of empowering the President and the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow monies, use monies, buy assets, do all kinds of things, the chance of success was rated at about 50/50.

As I recall, we worked for about 2 or 3 weeks crafting what originally was a three-page bill that ultimately became a 400-page bill and became known as the ``rescue'' bill. We brought it to the House floor, if all of you will recall, and it failed. And the day that it failed, the hour that it failed, the half hour that it failed, the New York Stock Exchange dropped 900 points. And finally, there was a realization across the country and across the world that if this rescue package was not passed, we probably were looking at the beginning of the failure of the American economic system, and we went to work to see if we could put a coalition together to get it passed, and that took another week, if I recall.

Now, we did those things in the midst of an election. We did those things with a Republican President and a Democratic Congress, and it seems we did it pretty successfully. And we didn't call it a ``bailout'' bill. That became a political terminology so that people could be misinformed, misdirected, and have a visceral reaction to what the Congress has done when they really didn't understand it. And what occurred? Well, that prevailed. Rather than calling it a ``rescue'' bill anymore, it became known as the ``bailout.''

I want to correct that because I've heard that term used here at least a dozen or two dozen times. I asked the question, what did we bail out? We made extensive commitments to banks in the United States. To the best of my knowledge, all those banks have now repaid those commitments to the Treasury or to the Federal Reserve. What was the success of that? Most of them did not fail and our economic system did not fail, in totality, so it was pretty good, but we were losing employment and falling like a rock, the economy, to the tune of, in January, when the new President of the United States was sworn into office, this Nation lost 750,000 jobs and had been losing jobs at that rate for several months before and it continued several months after. And we started to get into, as opposed to discussing economics, free market situations and legalities of how we handle this problem. We got into a political ramble that has continued to this day. I think that's what I got up to address.

If we stay on this course and this direction, the only thing that's going to happen at this conference committee--and ultimately the bills that are enacted into law and signed by the President--will be very limited-capacity pieces of legislation that will not nearly accomplish what could happen. On the other hand, I say to my friends on the other side and the Members and colleagues of this Congress, if we can put our personal prejudices, our political advantages to the side and spend the next 2\1/2\ or 3 weeks in an honest effort to get the best bill possible to reform the financial markets of the United States, and indeed the world, we can do something that is so historic in nature that we place the stability of our economy for the next 75 years as it was ably put together in the 1930s.

If we don't accomplish that, what we're going to end up with is a temporary solution to a disastrous problem, fighting a lot of silly political questions which will long disappear before most of us do from the face of the Earth, but not accomplishing anything for the American people.

So I just end this dialogue with saying this--to the gentlemen on both sides of the aisle, so I'm not charged with directing it towards one side--let's put our disagreements aside for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Let's listen to the chairman of the House committee and the ranking member. Let's listen to the chairman of the Senate committee and ranking member and the other 30 participants of this conference committee, with the commitment of doing the best we can within our powers to prevent this from happening, certainly in the near future, or potentially ever again. If we fail to do that, we will have failed our job.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to the seven Gold Star Members of the Welsh Bethel Baptist Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Welsh Bethel Baptist Church was founded in 1884.

During the 1940s, the Church established an Honor Roll of all of the members of the Church who served during World War II. In total, 111 members of the Church served in World War II, including 110 men and 1 woman.

The Church would honor those who were killed in action during the War by placing a gold star next to their name on the Honor Roll. Six members of the Church were killed in action during World War II and received this honor.

About ten years ago, the Church recognized its only member to be killed in action during World War I by adding his name to the Honor Roll along with a gold star.

Every year on Memorial Day, the Church holds a ceremony to honor its seven Gold Star Members.

On Sunday, May 30, 2010 the Church will pay tribute to the seven Gold Star Members of the Church by dedicating a memorial stone in front of the church in their honor.

The seven Gold Star Members, and Wilkes-Barre natives, being honored are:

Private William Robbins who was killed in Germany in World War I. He was only sixteen years old.

Private First Class Charles Grosspietsch who was killed in Luzon in the Philippines during World War II. He was 20 years old.

Corporal Kenneth Hobbs who was killed in Whelan, Germany during World War II. He was 28 years old.

Private First Class Robert Hummel who was killed in Germany during World War II. He was 21 years old.

Private William Parry, Jr. who died at Normandy during World War II. He was 24 years old.

Private William L. Richards who was killed in Anzio, Italy during World War II. He was 22 years old.

Staff Sergeant Thomas D. Williams who was killed in Russeisheim, Germany during World War II. He was 24 years old.

The memorial stone will be unveiled by Jack Johnson, the last surviving World War II veteran of the Church.

Madam Speaker, please join me in honoring these brave men who gave their lives protecting our country. This stone will serve as a reminder for future generations of the ultimate sacrifice made by these seven men who came before them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to the 100- year anniversary of the St. David's Society of Lackawanna County.

The St. David's Society of Lackawanna County was founded in 1910 to promote, preserve and hold sacred the Welsh traditions of Lackawanna County in northeastern Pennsylvania and foster friendship among all ethnic groups in the region.

The Society is a non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political organization.

Northeastern Pennsylvania has a strong Welsh tradition dating back to the 18th century when Welsh made up about one-third of Pennsylvania's colonial population.

After the discovery of coal in the region during the 1800s, a new wave of Welsh immigrants descended on northeastern Pennsylvania. By the early 20th century, Welsh-born immigrants were heavily settled in the city of Scranton.

Today, Pennsylvania maintains one of the highest populations of Welsh ancestry in the country.

Over the past 100 years, the St. David's Society of Lackawanna County has worked to preserve Welsh history throughout the region.

Last year, the Society commemorated the 140th anniversary of the 1869 Avondale coal mine disaster by completing a restoration project at the Washburn Street Cemetery in Scranton where 60 Welsh miners were buried.

Each year, the Society celebrates St. David's Day on March 1 with an annual dinner in honor of the patron saint of Wales and as a yearly celebration of Welsh heritage in the region.

This year's centennial celebration began on March 1 with flag raisings in Carbondale and Clarks Summit, PA.

To commemorate this historic anniversary, the Society has also organized a special Welsh Heritage Exhibit at the Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton to promote the Welsh influence in the coal industry in northeastern Pennsylvania.

On May 29, 2010, the Society will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a dinner and concert in Dickson City, PA.

This year's dinner and concert will feature the Ystradgynlais Male Voice Choir who will be traveling from Wales to take part in the festivities. Catrin Brace of the Welsh Assembly Government in New York will serve as the keynote speaker.

Madam Speaker, please join me in honoring the St. David's Society of Lackawanna County on this historic occasion. In the years to come, I am confident they will continue to foster a rich ethnic appreciation for the next generation of northeastern Pennsylvania residents.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the Honorable Mark S. Critz, be permitted to take the oath of office today.

His certificate of election has not arrived, but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard to his election.

Madam Speaker, it is my honor to introduce to you and to our colleagues today our newest member of the Pennsylvania delegation, Mark Critz. Congressman Critz is a dedicated public servant to the people of western Pennsylvania. For more than a decade, Mark has served in many roles for the late Jack Murtha, including as his district director. As I am sure many of you know, a Member's district director knows the ins and outs of a Member's congressional district, and Mark was an integral part of the communities for which he served and a strong advocate for them. He deeply understands the needs of western Pennsylvanians and comprehends what needs to be done to help them. Mark is a proven problem solver, and residents of western Pennsylvania can clearly see the results of his and Jack's efforts throughout their district. These experiences have prepared him well for his job as a Member of Congress.

This is a bittersweet moment for me. Jack passed away too soon. I recently said that Jack was always there when Pennsylvania needed him, and that he was emblematic of the hardworking Pennsylvanians that he represented for so many years. During many of his years in Congress working right next to him and helping Jack get the job done was Mark. I could think of no better person to take over his seat and continue Jack's efforts than Mark. It is a true honor to introduce him as the newest Congressman from Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I yield to a Member of Congress from Pennsylvania, Joe Pitts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie on his appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Judge Vanaskie was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in 1953.

He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Lycoming College in 1975 where he was a first-team Academic All-American football player. In his senior year, Judge Vanaskie was named outstanding male student-athlete.

Judge Vanaskie attended the Dickinson School of Law where he was a member of the Dickinson Law Review Editorial Staff and was named to the Woolsack Society for outstanding academic achievement. He graduated Cum Laude in 1978.

After law school, Judge Vanaskie clerked for Chief Judge William J. Nealon of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 1978 to 1980.

From 1980 to 1994, Judge Vanaskie worked in private legal practice in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He worked in the law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman until 1992 before leaving to become a principal member of the law firm Elliott, Vanaskie & Riley.

On November 17, 1993 President Clinton nominated Judge Vanaskie to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. His nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 10, 1994.

Judge Vanaskie was sworn in on March 1, 1994 and served on the U.S. Middle District Court for fifteen years, including as Chief Judge from 1999-2006.

In 2001, Judge Vanaskie began serving on the Information Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In 2005, he was appointed by the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist as Chair of the Judicial Conference Information Technology Committee and served in that position until 2008.

Throughout his career, Judge Vanaskie has continued to give back to his community. He is the former Chair of the Scranton Preparatory School Board of Trustees and a Member of the Scranton Community Medical Center Board of Directors.

On August 7, 2009 President Obama nominated Judge Vanaskie to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 21, 2010 by a vote of 77-20.

Judge Vanaskie was officially sworn-in by Chief Judge Anthony Scirica of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on April 28, 2010.

He is only the second judge in the 107-year history of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Judge Vanaskie resides in Clarks Green, Pennsylvania, with his wife, the former Dorothy G. Williams. They are the parents of three children, Diane, Laura and Tom.

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Judge Vanaskie on this auspicious occasion. His exemplary service throughout his distinguished judicial career demonstrates he is most deserving of this achievement.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Most Rev. Joseph Bambera, the newly ordained Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

On Monday, April 26, 2010, Bishop Bambera became the 10th Bishop of the Scranton Diocese. A native son of the 11-county Catholic diocese, Bishop Bambera spent nearly 20 of his 27 years as a priest ministering in the diocese's parishes.

He brings to his new post enthusiasm, humility and a unique understanding of his Catholic flock.

``With deep humility, I offer thanks to Almighty God, through whose providence and grace I've been called to serve as the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Scranton,'' Bishop Bambera stated during his installation at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton before a large audience of priests, bishops, Cardinal Justin Rigali, head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Apostolic Nuncio Pietro Sambi, Pope Benedict XVI's top diplomatic and spiritual representative in the United States as well as hundreds of the faithful.

Bishop Bambera has received the endorsement of many of his fellow priests in the Diocese who know him as a consensus builder and a man who appreciates the power of humor. ``In God's wisdom and providence, he has given you one of your own as bishop,'' he said referring to the fact that he is only the second bishop to be a native of the diocese. ``For you, perhaps God's wisdom may be confounding,'' he added to laughter from his church audience.

Then, he offered, ``For me, your example, your dedication to prayer and service and your support have been a great source of inspiration and great consolation.''

Again, Bishop Bambera called upon his gift of humor to express his deep emotion about his family roots. He recalled that his father died in 2004 and that his mother, when told that her son had been appointed as bishop, she was not ``ecstatic.'' He recalled that she said, ``Well, you've got quite a job to do.'' Then, when told that the public announcement of his appointment would occur on a Tuesday at 10 a.m., she responded, ``That works out just fine. I have a hair appointment at noon.'' Choking back tears, Bishop Bambera thanked his parents for raising him well.

``My mother and father taught us by their example powerful lessons of faith and hope, peppered with healthy doses of commonsense. As parents go, I could not ask for more,'' he observed.

Bishop Bambera called attention to the chalice he uses during Mass, noting that it was a gift from his Great Aunt Marie, who died in her 80s, after outliving three children. ``One day my mother asked her, `How do you remain so upbeat given all the loss you've experienced in your life?' Here's what she said, `No one knows the tears that I shed for those I've lost. But I am convinced that there is nothing that we cannot bear in life if we have faith.' ''

Bishop Bambera called upon the faithful of the diocese to work together with him to ``. . . meet the challenges.''

In his remarks, Cardinal Rigali, speaking about Bishop Bambera, noted that, ``. . . the faithful bishop is a good shepherd who knows that despite his own human limitations and his many faults and shortcomings which he recognizes and strives with God's help to overcome, he must still challenge the flock.''

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Bishop Bambera on this most joyous and inspiring occasion. His faithful service to the spiritual well-being of his parishioners; the respect that he enjoys among his peers and superiors; his leadership and his unyielding devotion to God and the Catholic congregation of northeastern Pennsylvania will serve him well as he moves forward in this new and demanding position. In that regard, we all wish him well.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5017) to ensure the availability of loan guarantees for rural homeowners, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and insert extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5017, the Rural Housing Preservation and Stabilization Act. This legislation aims to preserve the U.S. Department of Agriculture's section 502 Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program that helps low- and moderate-income rural residents obtain safe and affordable housing.

Since its inception, this program has helped hundreds of thousands of families realize the American dream of homeownership. Managed by the USDA's Rural Housing Service, the program provides a vital source of mortgage credit in communities of less than 20,000 residents. USDA currently guarantees rural home loans with the money that it receives through the appropriations process and the upfront fees it collects on loan originations.

Historically, Congress has also set, through the annual appropriations process, the statutory limit on the maximum loan commitment authority that the Federal Government will guarantee. These guarantees decrease the exposure of home lenders to default so that they will underwrite more mortgages for low- and moderate-income families in rural America.

In 2009, the 115,000 loans made under the program averaged $112,000. The financial crisis, however, has created unprecedented demand for and spiked homebuyer interest in the program. As a result, the program has more than tripled in recent years from guaranteeing about $3 billion in 2006 to guaranteeing more than $10 billion at the end of March 2010.

In March, USDA notified its State directors and participating lenders in the program that they would have to stop making conditional loan commitments at the end of April because they had exhausted their funding and would have to wait until they received additional appropriations. H.R. 5017 offers a commonsense solution to this problem by raising the upfront fee that USDA can charge commercial lenders up to 4 percent and increasing the USDA's loan authority to $30 billion for the current year. USDA confirms that these amounts would be sufficient for the program to continue to operate without interruption.

Moreover, by making this program self-sustaining, we would also reduce discretionary spending by $24 million in the current fiscal year. So this legislation represents a win for American taxpayers and a win for America's heartland.

This legislation additionally enjoys broad support and passed out of the Financial Services Committee by a bipartisan vote last Thursday. In this regard, I am especially grateful for the work of my colleague, the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), who has worked closely with me on these matters. Her suggestions have helped make a good bill even better.

Additionally, many groups have called upon Congress to act quickly to fix this problem, including the National Association of Realtors, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and the American Bankers Association. We should heed their advice and pass this bill.

In sum, Mr. Speaker, to preserve the dream of homeownership in America's heartland, I urge all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5017.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues

in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Dr. and Mrs. James Burne for their outstanding community service for which they are being honored by the Scranton Kiwanis Club.

Dr. Burne maintains a general Dentistry Practice in South Scranton. He is a member of the American Dental Association and the Pennsylvania Dental Association and has been an active member of the Scranton District Dental Society since 1969. He has served as its president, a member of the board of directors and chairman of its dental health programs.

A graduate of the University of Scranton, Dr. Burne received his doctorate of Dental Surgery from Georgetown University School of Dentistry. He is also a graduate of the L.D. Pankey Institute for Advanced Dental Education and the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry.

Dr. Burne is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry and the American College of Dentists along with additional fellowships and honors.

He served as a Captain in the United States Army Dental Corps and he is the recipient of the Frank J. O'Hara Award, University of Scranton.

He is a past member of the YMCA Board of Directors and is currently a member of the Scranton Chapter UNICO National, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Kiwanis Club. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Directors of Penn Security Bank.

Mrs. Mary Lou Burne is a graduate of Scranton Central High School, Keystone College, Millersville University and she pursued graduate studies at Marywood University. She is a former Special Education teacher with NEIU 19 and was the founder and director of its summer program for special needs children. She was also founder and director of the local Special Olympics and she received the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation Award.

She has served as local and state president of the Youth Association for Retarded Citizens. She has served as trustee at Keystone College and she received its Distinguished Alumni Award. She was a member of the White House Conference on Children and is a past President of the Scranton District Dental Alliance. She received the Boy's and Girl's Club Champion of Youth Award and the Thelma Neff Award of the Alliance to the American Dental Association.

Dr. and Mrs. Burne are co-founders of the Family-to-Family Thanksgiving Food Basket Program that since 1986 has served over 175,000 people. For that service, they have received the following awards: Justice Michael J. Eagen Humanitarian Award; J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, James Crowley Humanitarian Award; UNICO National Civics Illustris Humanitarian Award, National Association of Social Workers Public Citizens of the Year and letters of commendation from Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Dr. and Mrs. Burne are the parents of four children: James 3d, Dr. Mark, Mary and Matthew Burne.

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Dr. and Mrs. Burne on this auspicious occasion. Their outstanding service to community is inspirational and has earned them respect and admiration throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Susan Patte of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the occasion of her selection to be honored as ``Woman of the Year'' for 2010 by the Lackawanna County Federation of Democratic Women.

Mrs. Patte is a daughter of the late Aldone and Bernie Melesky.

She graduated from West Scranton High School in the class of 1963.

She went on to marry Anthony J. Patte and the couple has four children: Deborah Ann Riccardo, Susan A. Kahlau, Lisa Tulaney and Tony B. Patte.

Mr. and Mrs. Patte also have five grandchildren: Michael Riccardo, Tanner Kahlau, Alex Tulaney, Jack Tulaney and Annie Kahlau.

Mrs. Patte is employed as a bookkeeper and accountant in the Lackawanna County Treasurer's Office.

She served eight years on the Scranton School Board which included two years as President of the Board and one year as Vice President of the Board.

During her tenure on the school board, Memorial Stadium was refurbished and West Scranton High School was renovated. She participated in labor contract negotiations as part of her responsibilities. She also oversaw implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Program and also helped develop the SAVES program that provides continued education for children who are expelled. She was also chair of the Special Education Committee during implementation of the federal IDEA program.

She is a past President of the Lackawanna County Federation of Democratic Women, having served in that office during 2007 and 2008.

Currently, she is serving as Fourth Vice President of the Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women.

She is an active community volunteer for organizations that include the Scranton Tomorrow Winter in the City Project and also the American Cancer Society's Ball of Hope Committee.

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Susan Patte on this auspicious occasion.

Throughout her many years of outstanding service to her community, she has been an inspirational force in demonstrating to those who will follow her the importance of contributing to the betterment of her neighbors through political action and charitable volunteerism.

Clearly, Mrs. Patte has contributed to the improvement of the quality of life throughout the region and, for that, she has earned the respect and admiration of a grateful community in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Beverly Blakeslee Hiscox, who is being honored by the Wilkes University Alumni Association and its Scholarship Fund for extraordinary service over many years.

Born in Hanover Township in 1932, Beverly graduated from E. L. Meyers High School in Wilkes-Barre and attended Wilkes College.

Mrs. Hiscox has served Wilkes University in many roles including as president of the Alumni Association, member of the Board of Trustees, an active member of the Advisory Board of the Creative Writing Program, and she continues as Trustee Emerita.

Her dedication to the Wilkes-Barre community does not stop with Wilkes University. Her commitments over the years have included 20 years as a member of the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Auxiliary, an early organizer of the Lawyers' Wives, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Wilkes-Barre YMCA.

She has been involved with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic since its inception in 1972, serving on its Board of Directors and as president of the Board. She is also a member of the Westmoreland Club.

Ordained as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Wilkes- Barre, she was also active in the Women's Association of the church for many years. She has served on the Session of the First Presbyterian Church in Wilkes-Bane as an elder.

Mrs. Hiscox married attorney Harry Hiscox in 1956. They had five children: David, a lawyer in practice with his father; Richard, a family practice physician; Steven, president and CEO of Automotive Training Center, the top professional institution of its kind in the nation; Susan, a school psychologist in New York and Carol, an elementary school teacher in Wilkes-Barre.

Mr. and Mrs. Hiscox also have 10 grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Mrs. Hiscox on this auspicious occasion. Her exemplary community service is inspirational and has earned her widespread respect and admiration throughout northeastern Pennsylvania.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask you and my esteemed colleagues in the House of Representatives to pay tribute to Mr. James J. Flaherty, who is retiring as Vice President and General Manager at General Dynamics in Scranton, Pennsylvania, after a long and distinguished career in the Army munitions industry.

A son of James Flaherty, Sr. and Jean Joyce Flaherty, Mr. Flaherty was raised in Pittston, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from St. John's High School in 1960. A 1963 graduate of Penn State University, Mr. Flaherty joined Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation, Scranton Division, where he held numerous engineering positions until 1969 when he was promoted to engineering supervisor of the forging operations.

In 1972, he was promoted to operations manager after which he was elevated to Assistant General Manager in 1976. In 1978 he was transferred to Chamberlain's New Bedford, Massachusetts, operations where he remained, until 1986 when he was promoted to Vice President and General Manager. He served in that post until 1991 when the New Bedford operations ceased production and he was relocated back to Scranton as Vice President and General Manager of that division.

In 2000, he was promoted to Executive Vice President and, in April, 2003, he was named President of Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation. In 2006, after General Dynamics acquired Chamberlain, Mr. Flaherty was named Vice President and General Manager of the Scranton operations.

Mr. Flaherty was a member of the ARMS Public Private Task Force, Executive Advisory Committee, and the Industrial Committee of Ammunition Producers. He is also Past President of the Board of Directors of the Northeast Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. He serves on the Board of Directors of the local chapter of the Salvation Army, is a member of the Lions Club and was an elected member of the Moscow Borough Council.

In February, 2009, Mr. Flaherty was inducted into the Honorable Order of St. Barbara by the U.S. Field Artillery Association and that same year was awarded the W. Francis Swingle Award by the Greater Pittston Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

Mr. Flaherty is married to the former Sheila Redding of Pittston. The couple has two children and five grandchildren and plan to reside in Oriental, North Carolina.

Madam Speaker, please join me in congratulating Mr. Flaherty for an outstanding career. His contributions to his profession, his community and his nation have been exemplary and he has been responsible for inspiring many others to emulate his example and his achievements.

Mr. Speaker, today I voted for legislation designed to improve the affordability and accessibility of health care. Americans already spend more on health care than the people of any other nation. If we take no action, health care costs are expected to double over the next 10 years, just as they have over the last 10 years. It is not the bill I would have written if it were up to me alone, but it is the best we can do at this time.

This was one of the most difficult votes I have ever cast, primarily because there is a great deal of confusion about what this bill will do. Over the last year, many people throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania have taken the time to voice their thoughts on this health care reform bill, and I have taken each voice into consideration. I have heard the desperate pleas from people who have been sick and can no longer obtain any insurance. I have heard from small business owners who struggle to pay the premiums for their employees. I have also heard from a sizable number of my constituents who fear they will lose fundamental freedoms if this bill becomes law. From my careful review of the legislation, I have come to the conclusion that this fear is unfounded.

Democracy requires the consent of the governed, but that consent needs to be informed with facts, not the widespread misinformation which has permeated the national conversation about this legislation. I had hoped that the House and Senate would conduct a conference committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate bills televised by C-SPAN so that the American people would have an opportunity to understand the provisions included in this very complex bill. It is important to set the record straight between facts and myths.

This bill does not empower the federal government to take over health care. In fact, this bill preserves the employment-based private insurance delivery system upon which a majority of working Americans relies for insurance coverage. It allows participants to choose the health insurance plan that best fits individual and family needs by creating a marketplace of insurance plans, resembling the Federal Employees Health Program used by all federal workers, including Members of Congress. The bill attempts to rein in those private insurers by prohibiting their most egregious abuses: denying coverage for individuals with pre-existing medical conditions, imposing a lifetime cap on medical care, and limiting the ability of individuals to change jobs without the fear of losing insurance coverage. It will also enable young adults to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26.

If people currently have health insurance, whether it is through an employer or another means, their coverage will not change. If anything, their premiums are expected to decrease because there will be more people in the insurance pool. But, if people are unsatisfied with their insurance, they will have the capabilities to switch to a plan that best fits their needs.

Senior citizens have expressed a great deal of worry that they will be denied services if this bill becomes law. In fact, seniors will experience better coverage for their prescription drug costs and will have no out of pocket costs for preventive care. In addition, this legislation reduces excessive payments to private insurance companies that administer Medicare Advantage Plans and applies those savings to the bill. It also works to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare program, which will help strengthen the program. As a result of this legislation, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the solvency of the Medicare program will be extended by more than 9 years.

This bill will help save American families money and prevent health care costs from bankrupting our country. The U.S. spent 16 percent of its gross domestic product, GDP,

on health care in 2008, more than any other industrialized country. CBO estimates that number will rise to 25 percent without changes to federal law. CBO also estimates that this bill will reduce the deficit by $138 billion over the 2010-2019 period.

Many of my friends who oppose abortion have expressed concern that their tax dollars could be used to pay for abortions. I have been assured that this is not the case, and I am pleased that President Obama intends to issue an executive order to clarify that no funds in the bill will be used for abortion. Moreover, I will continue to remain vigilant to ensure that the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding of abortion, remains the law of the land.

I was greatly disturbed when the student loan legislation was hastily attached to the health care reform bill at the last minute because of the impact it would have on the 1,100 Sallie Mae workers in my district. Yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan assured me that he will use all of the tools at his disposal to help ensure that these workers will remain employed.

I thank the many Northeastern Pennsylvanians who have shared their thoughts with me on this important legislation over the past few months. When you are sick, the last thing you should have to worry about is how to pay the bills. Insurance is supposed to relieve this worry, but instead the current system has made that worry worse. Today, we are working to reverse this course.