Floor Statements

Thank you, Representative Blumenauer, for leading us in this discussion. I appreciate the fact that you've brought together this thoughtful discussion, this dialogue on how we need to embrace a stronger sense of stewardship with our environment that ties to our energy policy, that ties to our economic recovery opportunities.

I have to first and foremost mention that you're right; I headed the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in the State of New York, my last workstation before serving here in the House. I was totally surrounded by consummate professionals who make it their role, their job, their advocacy, their vocation to make a difference with energy policy that allows us to be stronger stewards of our environment and to advance this effort for renewables, for innovation that allows us to reduce that mountain of electrons that we require for the workplace, the home place, for quality of life, and allows us to use that in much more useful, measured terms so that energy efficiency is seen as our fuel of choice and that that comes before any of our energy thinking. And that provides for a greener outcome that allows us to address this phenomenon of climate change.

Now, whether or not you believe in climate change--and to me, the scientific evidence is insurmountable--but see it as an opportunity for good-paying jobs, jobs that advance research and innovation and intellect and ideas as an economy that can then transition us into a very powerful economic recovery.

But I want to make certain that I introduce onto this floor the discussion about Mother Nature and its grip on the 20th Congressional District and, before redistricting, when I represented the 21st, as major storms Irene and Lee impacted my region. People had lost,

Representative Blumenauer, everything for which they ever worked-- houses swept into the river through storms that just, through the force of Mother Nature, overpowered communities.

Many houses were destroyed. Heritage crown jewel items in the region that were visitation centers and destinations, destroyed. Covered bridge, historic in nature, wiped away through the ravages of water.

This was a profound impact. Lives lost, many injured. Communities are still rebuilding, businesses are coming back, households are still abandoned. The efforts have been powerful. We've witnessed volunteerism to the Nth degree, a tremendous statement about the human heart to respond to the needs of neighbors and at times total strangers. And then this year, seeing what had happened with the ravages of Sandy, Superstorm Sandy, that impacted New England, impacted metro New York, New Jersey and beyond, Pennsylvania. These are atypical situations. Tornadoes, tropical storms, hurricanes as far north as upstate New York had been unheard of.

So there is a statement that Mother Nature is making. We are faced with this climate change phenomenon, a concept that we need to address in scientific measure, in ways that allow us to constructively build a plan that allows us to move forward, again, by enhancing the opportunities for job creation.

What I had seen through the advocacy at NYSERDA, the State Energy Research and Development Authority, was this effort for us to be the keepers of the funds that would go towards innovating and transitioning into a better reliance on renewables, using in a benign way the environment qualities that surround us--the winds, the sun, the soil, the water--in a way that allows us to respond to the needs that we have as a society for energy and to do it through intellect. The intellectual capacity of our Nation is something we constantly cultivate through education, training, higher ed, apprenticeship programs. These are forces that can then bear good news of invention, of innovation.

I have the renewable center for GE, the international center in the heart of my district. We have the R&D lab in Niskayuna. All of these places are working in a way to allow for us to look at new battery design, the linchpin to innovation that allows us to embrace, perhaps, storage of intermittence power, that it makes it more predictable and of more useful capacity. Investment in cable that allows for less line loss in the delivery, in the transporting of electrons to the source.

There are many, many ways that we can be significantly sensitive to the demands on our society for energy and not to be wasteful, to be innovative in our approach, and to green up our thinking.

I'll say this--and I know we have others that want to speak. When I first arrived here in 2009, after the 2008 election for my first term to serve in the House, I was able to sit at the table when we formed, as Democrats, SEEC, the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. It's a group of like-minded thinkers who want to take us in a green direction, with progressive politics, and enable us to think outside the barrel, to be able to be clever in our approach to provide for new ways to meet society's needs, to open the door to job creation, to provide for soundness of outcomes in a sustainable way that allows us to make a very bold and noble statement, and that is typically this: that we inherit this environment for the moment, and it is our task, I believe, morally to hand it over to the next generations in even better stead.

That is a daunting challenge these days. It's a daunting challenge. But in my heart I believe that we can accomplish what we need to accomplish. We can respond to the challenge by opening up to new thinking, and to not be restrained and restricted by status quo or by the disbelief that these things are happening right before our very eyes, right in the heart of our communities.

I wanted to make certain that I shared the impact on my district of Mother Nature and the clarion call to respond with urgency and with in- depth knowledge, driven by the passion to make a difference because there is always that pioneer spirit in America, and we're at our best when we embrace that inspiration and move forward as a Nation.

You're a great leader also, so thank you for leading us in this discussion and leading us routinely on sound transportation quarters, including those bicycles that don't pollute.

Representative, if I might just add to that statement, the many discussions I have had with constituents who say where is the wisdom in sending hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign nations-- oftentimes enemies of this country--who are using American energy consumer dollars to train troops to fight our son and daughters on the battlefield.

This is a no-brainer. This gluttonous dependency on fossil-based fuels, imported to keep our energy agenda alive, has got to stop. We need to move forward--again, with the progressive thinking that I know we can embrace in this House. Get it done. So I thank you again for your leadership in this dimension.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a distinguished New Yorker and former Member of this body, who will be honored in a special ceremony in New York's 20th Congressional District on April 8. Hugh L. Carey was born in Brooklyn in 1919, enlisted in the Army in World War II, served in Europe where he helped liberate prisoners at a concentration camp, and eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Upon returning home, Mr. Carey received a law degree from St. John's University. In 1960, he was elected to this Chamber and went on to serve seven terms before being elected Governor of New York in 1974, a position he held until 1981.

Governor Carey is widely remembered for his steady hand during New York City's economic crisis, during which he brought many competing interests together to forge compromise on difficult issues. He also instituted improvements for the mental health community of New York State. A born storyteller with a quick wit and boundless charm, Hugh Carey was a New Yorker to the core.

I am honored to have this opportunity to remember a former Member of this body, as well as New York's 51st Governor, who throughout his career led with distinction and compassion. I look forward to next month's ceremony recognizing his service in World War II.

I rise today to recognize four towns in the 20th District of New York that will celebrate their 225th anniversary tomorrow. They're the towns of Stillwater, Saratoga, Halfmoon and Ballston.

The place of the Still Waters had French settlers as early as the 1600s, and they were known to have a mill. Originally part of Albany County, the districts of Saraghtoga, and Halfmoon were divided on March 24 of 1772. In 1775, BallsTown was taken from Saraghtoga, making three districts within Albany County. Eventually, in February of 1791, the New York State Legislature created the county of Saratoga. Early Ballston residents were deeply involved in the Revolutionary War. And in Halfmoon, some of the original minutes from the first town meeting in April of 1788 still exist.

Mr. Speaker, these towns are replete with history and rich in heritage. We do well to remember the foundation on which we are built and to continue to add to the mosaic that is the Capital Region, the State of New York, and indeed our Nation.

Congratulations on the celebration of the four towns' 225 years. May our future and theirs be even brighter than our rich past.

Mr. Speaker, with pride I rise today to congratulate Jack's Oyster House of Albany, New York, on the celebration of its 100th anniversary recently held on January 24. Founded by Jack Rosenstein, the restaurant is currently owned by his grandson, Brad. As a sampling of its entree depth, Jack's has served liver and onions since the first day it opened. One menu, dating back to 1939, lists the price of this signature dish as 75 cents.

Sadly, however, many restaurants do not make it past their first few years of operation; but Jack's has endured because it remembers and honors its past, including well-dressed wait staff and boutique tables and place settings, while striving to serve its current customers in a top-notch manner with quality, classic fare.

The only day, interestingly, Jack's ever closed in the past 100 years was in 1986 for Jack Rosenstein's funeral. May he rest in peace. And may Jack's Oyster House continue to thrive for centuries to come. We wish all involved a happy 100th birthday.

Sure. Thank you, Representative Garamendi. Thank you for bringing us together for this hour on the floor, where I think it's important to pay attention to the needs out there as they relate to the damages that were brought upon certain areas of the country by Mother Nature.

Yes, there's been a lot of focus with this on Superstorm Sandy. That really had its presence felt just to the south of my given congressional district. However, there was some damages in the northern reaches of upstate New York, the more northern sections as we traveled north of the metro area.

But suffice it to say, the need here for assistance by not only New York, but New Jersey and Connecticut, where the proper of New York, the metro area of New York City, Long Island, Westchester County, were impacted severely by this storm. As I said, on the fringe elements in my area, not as much. But certainly, New Jersey and Connecticut were hard hit.

But just over a year before that storm, you're absolutely right, we were impacted by Irene and Lee, a double dose of damage that really impacted my given congressional district severely. It looked like a war-torn area, as was the case here with Superstorm Sandy.

And this Nation, whenever impacted by natural or manmade disasters, found a response from Congress, that the President, whoever that person might be at the time, working with Congress, expedited the assistance, wanted to get that aid there with a high degree of urgency.

What we saw here was uncalled-for delays as people languished. I mean, we have to look at the human element here, the human cost of 88 Americans that were impacted, lives lost because of this tremendous devastation, the impact that befell so many communities with infrastructure being damaged severely, if not destroyed totally.

It was also about the impact on the business community, the loss to commerce, and certainly property damage that people are going to have to respond to over a long course of comeback that I have witnessed in my district with the storm, as you indicated, being more than a year ago.

And so it is important for us, as a Nation, to be responsive and responsible. That has always been the measure coming forth from this Nation, understanding, with sensitivity, what needed to be done and getting aid to people. That's what it's all about.

And so today, when finally a vote was taken, some 70 days after Superstorm Sandy hit, 70-plus days after the storm hit, finally we get a response, when so much pain and anguish was allowed to continue, unnecessarily so.

The infrastructure issues in this country, storms aside, need to be addressed. The American Society of Civil Engineers has graded many of our bridges into a D classification, a poor grade, deficiencies that are out there brought to our attention.

So not only do we need to respond to these tragedies and respond to our given infrastructure, but I think what happens here is an opportunity to come forward with job creation, providing for the trades and skilled tradespeople to be put to work. That is so important for our economy. It's so important for our public safety; it's so important for emergency response, as we've witnessed here in the northeast of the country.

And so while the fight was long and at times unnecessary, at least the vote was taken today and we moved forward.

Right. You know, I think over and over again people are measuring with exit polling the sentiments of the electorate out there; and people have said that there is a need for government. They want effective government, efficient government.

Well, I think when we look at some of the data that are collected, Representative Garamendi, it is important for us to acknowledge that as we rebuild in our areas that have been damaged by Mother Nature, you don't just replace; you need to improve upon the situation.

For instance, if there are data that are telling us that more and more water volume is expected in certain watershed areas, as in my district, it would be foolish to spend tax dollars, the hard-earned taxpayer dollars and simply replace an infrastructure, a bridge, at the same height, at the same span, if, in fact, we know that the water and the force of that water is growing with time.

And so these are the ways to, I think, incorporate the soundness of academics and analysis that go into how we respond to this. And if much of it is driven by climate change, global warming, some of the impacts of Mother Nature that are causing these disruptive scenarios, then ought we not look at sound policy that then stretches our thinking and really puts a laser sharp focus on these situations?

So this is a call for a big-picture view. It's a call for effective replacement and repair so that we're responding to data that are collected that speak to the demographics that we should expect to have happen as we go forward and as we rebuild, making certain that there are those opportunities for waterfront communities to embrace their sense of geography.

I represent a district that is not only donor area to natural resources, but also historic resources in those waterways. And people want to have waterfront opportunities. They want to rebuild their communities so as to utilize these natural resources as a marketing agent to draw people to the area.

Well, we can steward those resources so as to tame the Mother Nature impact in a way that allows us to go forward with this re-marketing strategy, that allows us to utilize our sense of location, our place destination, and do it in a way that is possible because of preventative measures, because of retrofitting that can take hold; and it's a way to utilize the engineering services out there, civil engineering, architectural opportunities to build communities and build them in a way that allows us to have that sense of place only deepened, rather than denied because we've walked away from what might have been damage from Mother Nature and have abandoned those opportunities.

Well, when you speak, Representative Garamendi, about the cost of these repairs or improvements we're talking about a design team, we're talking about a construction team, we're talking about a maintenance team. And all of that translates into jobs. So these efforts are, yes, an expenditure, but it's putting people to work and addressing not only public safety but commerce.

Again, my home county, which is split by a historic river, was the scene of a devastation just over 25 years ago where a New York State Thruway bridge collapsed because of the flooding that was occurring beneath that bridge. A creek that you could walk across, walk through in the middle of summer, was equal to in CFS, cubic feet per second, the flow of Niagara Falls. We lost 10 lives in that incidence, and also saw the impact locally to commerce. It just disrupted the flow of activity to ship goods to whatever section of our area. It totally disrupted that situation. That is just a microcosm of impact of what happens.

But you're very right. With the levees that might be at risk that could be a challenge to public safety, the poor ratings of our many, many bridges

across this country, the need to begin aggressively to address these situations, means that you can bend that cost curve simply by moving projects forward, because the longer we go in time the more expensive it will be and the more risky it becomes with these deficient bridges.

So programs like The American Jobs Act or Build America Bonds, all of these efforts are a progressive bit of policy that then takes us to a new realm of thinking, a commitment to the safety of the people of this great country, a commitment to commerce and the doable qualities of having infrastructure vastly improved that enables us then to talk serious business about growing our Nation's economy.

So I think that the efforts here by the Democratic Caucus to bring to the attention of the full House the sort of positive thinking, the sort of planned opportunities that speak to the very nature of our infrastructure--and both of us represent States that rely heavily on well-developed and very well-maintained infrastructure--is indeed imperative. We need to move forward with a very strong supportive statement about this Nation's infrastructure.

Well, absolutely. The manufacturing element in our society is strong. It still is very much--a bit of statistical evidence that we rank high in the international economy with manufacturing jobs, but there was a huge loss in the decade before this administration; 4.6 million jobs lost in that manufacturing element. Well, in order for us to stop that bleeding, it's important, I believe, to promote advanced manufacturing. Retrofitting our manufacturing centers in a way that allows us to be cutting edge and doing it smarter--not necessarily cheaper, but doing it smarter--allows us to maintain that world leading status for manufacturing.

Also, as we talk about infrastructure, beyond the bonds effort and the American Jobs Act, an infrastructure bank bill that will allow us to utilize that concept to leverage public and private funds that expand the opportunities to invest in our infrastructure takes us well beyond the traditional roads and bridges and levees that we talked about, the waterfront opportunities and dam repair, but it also brings us into the infrastructure for telecommunications and for electric utilities so that we then are cutting edge. We can provide for an upgrade, if you will, in the grid system.

Now, we saw what that collapse was about in the year 2003, when branches rubbing on some power lines in Ohio put out the lights on Broadway in New York City. Now, that is unacceptable weakness. If there was ever a vulnerable, gaping situation that would have those looking at us for a weakness, it was there, that this grid system was so weak, designed for a monopoly setting and now being utilized to where electrons, not only region to region within States, but State to State if not nation to nation, with Canada wheeling in electrons into the

Right. The efforts that we have with so much of manufacturing, with the incubator programs that enable us to provide for an innovation of sorts in any of these assembly operations is key, I think it's key to our future.

I think of those situations in my district, or even in my former district, where they worked with a local college that was very technically sophisticated. In this case, RPI, in the Greater Capital Region of New York, worked through its incubator program to develop these new opportunities within the plastics manufacturing that Kintz Plastics in Schoharie County utilized.

I think it's worth mentioning on this floor that that really brought about a new phase of activity for this company. By innovation, by readjusting its procedure, its process, they were able to compete more effectively. That required, however, that they move to training their workforce because it required a new skill set. As they did that, they reached out to a local community college, in this case, Hudson Valley Community College in the Capital Region of New York.

That partnership created the human infrastructure, the incubator provided the innovation, and they lived happily thereafter, because what they did was secure contracts in that international competitive sweepstakes because they provided for innovation. The improvements that they made to their assembly operation enabled them to maintain that sense of competitiveness.

It's that sort of thinking that takes us to a new level of job creation and job retention. Compounding that, or creating in the complement the Buy American concept, then inspires reaching to those local firms. It can all be done in that holistic sort of format, with a big picture sort of view that enables us to go forward and build upon sound policy, sound investment, with guarantees of much better outcomes for America's working families.

The middle class is taking it on the chin. The working families have paid the price, and it's time for us now to be high geared in terms of making certain that the American worker comes first in our thinking.

You speak to the innovation, you speak to research, and to me that speaks to the DNA of our Nation, which has always been this pioneer spirit. It's what's paid tribute to on this floor when policies such as that which you just describe are promoted. It's embracing that pioneer spirit, knowing that there are better ways, better opportunities out there and better avenues to travel. Let's pursue that with this utmost bit of pioneer spirit.

I represent a district that was the donor area to the Erie Canal-- you've heard me talk about this--that provided for the Westward Movement and the Industrial Revolution. It was America at her best, believing in herself, listening to the needs of workers, listening to the ideas of workers and moving forward, embracing that sort of pioneer spirit and building the research opportunities. I'm thinking of line- loss along our electric grid system. Think about what we can save in terms of energy supplies and in dollars if we moved forward with the superconductive cable research project.

There are so many of us that are fans of education, higher education investment. Think about it, we cultivate all of this talent, we draw forth the abilities of people through education, and we allow them to discover who they are. What are the gifts that I bear that can be utilized to strengthen society? Well, we make that investment and then don't gain on it. We don't stretch those opportunities to the max.

It's so important, I believe, to continually think beyond the status quo. And when we're dealing with the energy arena, it's a line-loss for one that allows for huge savings, and great opportunities for jobs to research that potential; but it's also issues like waste heat which can be recaptured and make our energy system more efficient. So as we create and generate

these energy supplies, if there's waste there, and we can captivate, or capture, that waste and stretch the amount of energy supply that we can create, here yet is another opportunity.

So it's endless. And for us to just continue to do the same old kind of responses to everyday issues isn't the sort of challenging outcome that I think allows us to best function as an American society.

So there are policies and there are tax reforms that encourage and inspire this sort of investment, research tax credits, opportunities within the renewable energy area with production tax credits. All of this, being promoted in advance, we need to expand upon those opportunities. Because you're right, Representative Garamendi, it is an investment, it requires dollars, but those investments provide for lucrative dividends. And there are many more dollars earned than those invested into the progress that we need to strike.

Representative Garamendi, what I hear you say is probably a definition of the American Dream.

The American Dream was designed and brought to us by the boldness of generation upon generation of immigrants who added to the peoplescape of this great Nation, added to the native American population by stages of journeys that traveled to these shores. We as a compilation of those journeys are a stronger people. The foundation upon which we stand and function and dream was developed by people who dared to dream nobly, dared to invest in their community, in their people. That, I think, is the challenge to us in this very moment in time.

Will history see us as a people that dreamt beyond the ordinary, or will we be those who were frightened by the thoughts of the challenges of our times? I think that our greatest days lie ahead of us. The American Dream that burns boldly and nobly in our hearts speaks to us as that beacon of inspiration. Move forward, invest in America's people, invest in ingenuity, innovation, in the intellectual capacity of this Nation, and tread boldly into the future. And know that you will leave that next generation with an even stronger foundation that was granted us for our time in this Nation.

It has been an honor to join you this evening.

Just yesterday, Americans celebrated New Year's Day. They ushered in 2013. As we rang in the new year, the usual message of hope that accompanies the new year--any new year--rang hollow for millions of Americans because of actions taken at the close of that New Year's Day here late last night. People were met with the devastating news that we were not going to take up a measure that would respond to Superstorm Sandy.

And so I rise today to ask the leadership of this House, the people's House, to respond accordingly to the needs of people. I make this request not through some political calculus but rather through the lens of caring and concern and compassion, which ought to be the hallmark of this great institution. We ought not forget that the role that we play here calls upon our moral responsibility to engage our actions and our compassion and empathy for the people we represent or perhaps do not represent directly. Because we, I believe, need to relate to that measurement of compassion to family, friends, neighbors and yes, at times, total strangers.

I make this request sensitized by a situation in my district, the 21st Congressional District at the time, in upstate New York, just about a year-plus before the devastation of Sandy. The torturous treatment of Mother Nature through Irene and Lee on that congressional district, my congressional district, stole lives, wiped away livestock, flooded homes, tore away the hopes and dreams of individuals, and found people abandoned, having lost everything for which they ever worked. And I witnessed how people responded to that tragedy. They picked up and mustered the strength. But they required government to be their partner at that very dark moment in their lives. Having witnessed that pain, having visited communities and having talked with the people, shared tears with the people, I understand that now this situation, in a much more densely populated area of our State, and in neighboring States, requires our assistance, immediate assistance, to respond with compassion.

Mr. Speaker, and leadership of this House, I implore you to respond with compassion and empathy and bring us to the floor to acknowledge and support the funding for Superstorm Sandy.

Madam Speaker, well, here we are on the last day of calendar year 2012 with an impending fiscal cliff challenging all of us.

The women and men who serve in this great body assemble and express great differences, but those differences ought not divide us; they should build us with the best consensus.

We need a bold and balanced approach to this fiscal cliff. We need to make certain that the 33 consecutive months of private sector job growth are not disrupted. We need to make certain that the unemployment rate does not rise as the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, suggests, to 9.1 percent. We need to avoid taxes growing by $2,200 for an average family of four in 2013. That's what's impending here. It is important for us to go forward and take the initiative and avoid the consequences of that fiscal cliff.

I'm concerned because FEMA, as an example, would be cut by some $878 million. Having witnessed the destruction in my district, we can ill- afford that. Cuts to nutrition programs, cuts

to Medicare. I implore our leadership in this House, bring a bold and balanced approach to solve our fiscal cliff crisis here today.

Yes, it did. Sandy.

Sure. Absolutely. And you know the impact of Sandy, Representative Garamendi, comes on the heels of last year's storms with Irene and Lee, a double whammy that impacted several counties that I represent. And upstate New York was devastated. There was a loss of lives, there was destruction to the public infrastructure. Many businesses, farms and housing were destroyed, tremendously so; and the need to rebuild became very apparent.

This year, with Sandy, the same sort of impact, this time in a very densely populated region of New York City, Long Island, and the southern portions of New York State. And so I think it's a stark reminder, a very real example, a very painful outcome that speaks to the need of investing, investing in our infrastructure.

As we go forward, there's also an opportunity to improve upon what existed at the time of these storms. For instance, in the energy networks, the utility networks, we can do state-of-the-art. We have taught other nations how to build those systems. It's time to do nation-building at home.

I think the beauty here is that, while we invest in transportation and other infrastructure, energy infrastructure and water systems and treatment systems and public schools, what we're doing is rippling into the benefits of efficiency, of public safety, of employment and economic development.

That is a positive series of dynamics that then lifts the economy and provides for work. Ninety percent of the jobs, it's projected, that come from this sort of infrastructure investment are speaking to middle-income households--jobs that, again, provide for the strengthening of our economy, the reduction of our deficit, the confidence-building in our economy that is so powerfully felt as we walk this distance from the recession, as we continue to do the steady climb upward as we grow private sector jobs. This is an important part of it. It enhances our productivity. It provides for efficiencies. That's what infrastructure investment is about. And it's calculated that for every $1 billion of investment, 18,000 jobs are created and a sound public service is designed and structured and built so that we can go forward with rightful anticipation of a stronger tomorrow for our economy.

And so I think these are important elements, rebuilding after Mother Nature has impacted us with very profound damages to our communities-- and building in a way that allows for the creation of jobs and an improved outcome, to top it off.

When the Representative from Pennsylvania, Representative Altmire, talked about the Minnesota situation, I served in the State Assembly in New York when the collapse of a thruway bridge in upstate New York took 10 lives. We recently commemorated the 25th anniversary of that event back in 1987 and the painful consequences that came to bear upon that upstate region, where commerce was affected, where jobs were affected, where public safety was compounded. They took the major artery of the State of New York with

the thruway and had to reroute that through a community by establishing a makeshift system. And just the presence of that moment onto the economic consequences of the State spoke painfully well of how important infrastructure is.

And so we look at the needs in this Nation from coast-to-coast, from your west coast to our east coast, and we understand that there are needs for those water treatment facilities, for our energy infrastructure. We're wheeling electrons along a system that was designed for regional service, and now we're wheeling not only from region to region but State to State. We're wheeling electronics from nation to nation. Canada into the United States.

We need an upgrade. We need the sort of R&D component that translates into jobs that provide the best investment possible. And that's what we're calling for here--the sound stewardship of resources and Federal tax dollars being utilized in a way that provides the strongest outcome. Sometimes it's in the saga of urgency, as is the case with Sandy in New York State, as it's been with Irene and Lee, as we continue to recover over a year later from those storms that damaged upstate New York just over a year ago, and now the most recent element of consequence that came with Hurricane Sandy.

So I thank you for bringing us together to shed light, to acknowledge that we can create jobs as we address public safety, as we address efficiency, as we address productivity, as we address economic boost, so that we can walk from this arena here in this House of Representatives knowing that we're doing the sound, academically driven, analytically provided results that will speak to a favorable impact across the board.

Thank you for bringing us together.

Yes, just rather briefly, the opportunity to invest in infrastructure--for an example, our water treatment facilities. When I was at my last work station prior to entering the House, it was with NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. There I witnessed these consummate professionals working away at retrofitting systems or designing new that dealt with water treatments. The savings that were anticipated--that were measured in some cases-- were significant so that the energy cost for local governments doing their role, performing their role for treatment of water became much cheaper. Those are savings that are recurring. So that while we invest in this opportunity, we're also chipping away

at those budget costs into the future. The same is true of some of the research investment that found us, for example, capturing waste heat and getting more bang for the buck, so to speak, for the investments made in energy systems.

The American intellect, which has always served as our DNA for discovery--you know, we are proud of our pioneer spirit of this Nation. It drove an industrial revolution, it inspired a westward movement, and it created from mill town capacity these epicenters of invention and innovation. Well, we still have that within our core spirit. If we can come up with the innovative ideas, the concepts that allow us to serve the taxpayer with more useful outcomes of their investments, it is beholden upon us to provide the climate by which to do that.

Earlier, our colleague, Representative Higgins from New York, spoke of the mitigation opportunities now facing New York with its repair of its infrastructure. If we can do the preventative measures that provide for longer life expectancy for these investments, isn't that not only the wise thing to do, isn't that the responsible thing to do?

So there are ways that we can move forward in a transitional sort of format where it's ever impacting to a favorable outcome of operating costs into the future, of research investments that's translating into job creation, and then the infrastructure build that takes to mind the concepts, the intellectual capacity of this Nation. It also speaks to the wisdom of responding to infrastructure repair, replacement, new construction that looks statistically at the data that are collected that speak to the impacts of global warming and climate change.

If we were to, for instance, rebuild exactly as the infrastructure in my upstate district after the impact of these storms, it would be foolish. We need to adjust the span length. We need to adjust the height of this infrastructure so that it is accounting for the dynamics of change that are real, that are recorded, that are statistically valid. We need to do that in a way that brings this investment into the job-creation zone that it is.

As we stated earlier, as I made mention earlier, for every $1 billion of investment in infrastructure, we can anticipate, rightfully, 18,000 jobs being created, 90 percent of which are finding their way into the middle-income community. This is what it's about. It's not about this cost-cutting frenzy that denies opportunity, denies our responsibility that we all bear here, but, rather, inspires us to belt-tighten, where we get rid of outmoded programs and where we most effectively invest in the improvements, the repairs, the replacements that are under our stewardship.

Sure. And, Representative Garamendi, thank you for bringing us together for an hour of discussion on what is very important: growing jobs, strengthening our economy and strengthening the fabric of our communities by addressing public safety via investment in infrastructure, a very sound investment. It is always a pleasure to join you. It is an honor to serve in the New York delegation with Representative Higgins, Brian Higgins, who served with me, or I with him, perhaps better stated, in the New York State Assembly where I sat on the Transportation Committee. And I was seated on that committee right in 1987, in the shadow of the collapse of a New York State thruway bridge where 10 people perished. We recently commemorated the 25th anniversary of that event. It was very tragic, and it was in the heart of my home county, a small county of 50,000 people, Montgomery County, New York. And the impact economically that that devastating occurrence brought to bear was incalculable.

So when you talk about, and I listened with interest to the exchange that you and Representative Higgins had about how do you pay for it, one way you don't want to pay for it is through an impact on the economy of your local region. The commerce hit that was taken was severe. The loss of dollars to the community was just incomprehensible, and of course the loss of lives which surpasses anything in importance. And interestingly, many of the individuals who were on that victims list were not from the region. So we're all impacted by weak infrastructure no matter in which State that might be because you never know when you're traveling over a situation that is unsafe.

So I think it is a wise investment to go forward and put to work tens of millions of skilled laborers who can make a difference in public safety in our communities, making certain that the soundness of investment and improvement, absolutely essential for our quality of life, for our public safety, for the strengthening of our commerce. And we know that infrastructure improvements--you and I have talked in the past about the infrastructure bank bill. We have talked about ways of leveraging dollars to weaken the impact on the public sector, on the taxpayer. There are ways to do that in very strident terms that allow us to go forward with the commitment and with the investment that is required.

But certainly with the aged infrastructure in this country, and to the earlier point made by Representative Higgins, if we can build other nations, and thank goodness that we have helped people strengthen their situation for their own people, but, my gosh, we should take advice, our own advice here, and understand that there is a strong bit of economic growth that occurs when you strengthen your infrastructure-- from traditional roads and bridges to rail to communications, wiring our communities, and to the grid.

The grid system has had several tests--designed to run in a monopoly situation, and now being used to wield electrons from region to region, State to State, country to country. So there is a huge, vast involvement of infrastructure there that begs our investment. And I think for sound reasons, for public safety reasons, and for economic recovery purposes, it makes sense; and let's put the people to work, and let's build a stronger community.

Representative Kaptur made an interesting point that there was a sense of vision when they pursued the efforts with the St. Lawrence Seaway. There was a sense of vision in my district as a donor area and in Representative Higgins' when Governor DeWitt Clinton perceived this Erie Canal as a way to transport goods and to open up the westward movement to spark an industrial revolution. That gave birth not only to a port called New York City, but birth to a necklace of communities called mill towns that became the epicenters of invention and innovation.

So it's that spark of vision that is the first step. And we're going to denounce any of these creative opportunities to invest in nation- building by denouncing it as socialism? Was President Eisenhower a Socialist? Were all those who preceded him or followed him that came up with these great visions--a space program that gave us an unleashing of technology? No, they were thinkers. They were visionaries. They were leaders. That's the first step. And then we develop policy from that vision. We tether it into real terms, and then we invest in the implementation of that policy. That's America at her finest.

If we look back at the Erie Canal history, when they did that, it wasn't easy times. They were tough times. They were tough economic times. And so they stepped up to the plate and said, We're going to do this. It's not easy to launch, but we're going to do it because it's the way through the tough times.

We have tough times now, chronically high unemployment that, for many, preceded the recession. They need opportunity. Our economy grows when we invest in those workers of whom Representative Higgins spoke, in those materials and goods that allow for our Nation's businesses to prosper, add jobs, become part of a recovery. So that is all very critical.

I talked earlier about the bridge collapse that spans the Schoharie Creek in upstate New York that you can walk across in the summertime. It was flowing equal to the efforts, the CFS, of Niagara Falls. So there are some economic impacts coming from Mother Nature that are driven by global warming and climate change. So when we do some of these visionary things, incorporate all of the policies so that environmental concerns as policy formats

with economic recovery terms, with energy terms, with transportation can all be woven together and you solve some of our ills where we're being impacted by Mother Nature with natural disasters that are draining our infrastructure, as we witnessed with Sandy all along the east coast, where now tens of billions of dollars of recovery are required.

Let's add the policy dimensions that allow us to reduce the threats from Mother Nature, build our economy by adding jobs and providing for public safety, and creating a state-of-the-art economy driven by transportation, communication, energy transformation with renewables and the like that will cut down on the emission of particles and dangerous substances that are toxic on the ozone layer. That's America at her finest.

And if we do that simple thing of providing vision, followed with policy, followed with resource advocacy, we will have achieved, and brightest, best days lie ahead, not denouncing that thinking as Socialist.

Representative Garamendi, again, thank you for bringing us together again.

You talked about that austerity budget that some would advance. I have to tell you another disaster last year, Irene and Lee, that hit as a hurricane and tropical storm, impacted the several counties I represent, from Schoharie in upstate New York, to Montgomery, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Albany. These counties were severely impacted. To talk to the people directly devastated--I mean devastated, lost their homes, everything for which they ever worked--and to tell them we're going to change the rules in the middle of the game on disaster aid, it took fights galore to win that argument on this floor. That austerity approach didn't cut it with folks who might have believed it before the disaster, but certainly not in the midst of.

So we need to be there for situations, not only disastrous situations, but the investment that occurs so that we can

effectively compete. We know in our heart, we know in our minds that there are ways to do this.

I know, just listening to the magnanimous description of the situation in the auto industry that Representative Kaptur defined for us, on a much smaller scale, but equally significant, I watched some of the businesses in my district retrofit and do that through research in incubator programs and providing for our advanced manufacturing which allows them to add that competitive muscle that enables them to compete in that global marketplace. That made a total difference.

Folks like Kintz Plastics in Schoharie County, New York, where they were engaged in an incubator program with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Some very smart science and tech minds came up with ways to automate what they were doing and trained through the community college their workers to pick up on this new phase of activity within their assembly line process. Today they are successful, but it took investment, investment of capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure, and human structure, training the worker and providing for those relationships to prosper. Everyone wins in that situation.

So we know we have it within us to make this all possible. It talks to investment. It speaks to investment. It speaks to the opportunity that we can provide so that people can have that American Dream tethered in reality, so that it can be within their grasp, so that they can continue to build upon this Nation's significance.

A great nation stays great if it continues to stretch itself. It's about the churning and the turning and becoming more mighty through investment of research, development, retrofitting our manufacturing base. We can win this by doing it smarter. We don't necessarily have to do it cheaper. Do it smarter and you win those contracts that then equate to jobs. Research equals jobs. I see it all the time. It gives birth to new ideas, new product lines, better efficiencies. It drives an economy.

You can't walk away from this tough moment and talk about austere responses. You need creative responses--not just throwing money at a situation, but thinking it through, thoughtful, analytical, economic approaches that then provide for the best policy formats.

The President has offered several ideas that were not taken up in this House. We could grow that economic recovery, which has been slow and steady with 32 consecutive months of private sector job growth. We can expand upon that, and we can create much stronger numbers if we do it wisely.

So I think the American people have spoken. They've spoken to an investment in the middle class, the investment in the American Dream, the investment in ideas and research. We know--we've all talked about it on this floor--where research occurs, that's where manufacturing will network. It will migrate toward that research element. So we are wise to invest in research and to invest in the human infrastructure, the worker. The important significant part of the equation: having that trained, skilled, educated workforce that can make it all happen.

Again, thank you, Representative Garamendi. It's great to join with our colleagues here this evening to share thoughts about how we move from a very trying, difficult time into perhaps America's glory days.

I think it's important for us to first acknowledge that every Member elected to serve in this wonderful Chamber of the House of Representatives and those down the road here at the United States Senate, each of us is challenged, required, and responsible to polish that American Dream and make it within the grasp, provide it to be within the grasp of America's working families and those who will grow into the middle class and those who are being further empowered by work, the dignity of work, and stronger outcomes with correct policy formats.

I think that this journey that we've asked to embark upon, by putting our names on the ballot, begins with us: being a people of vision, being a House that provides a vision for America. That tells me we only need to look to our history--recent and some not so recent. But that will instruct us. Our history will instruct us.

We have built a strong Nation. We have provided for growth around the world. We know the secret to the success. We know how we built a Nation. And it took a vision, a New Deal that provided for housing, for manufacturing, for a strong defense, for the opportunity for us, as a Nation, to respect its labor force and insert a value-added connotation for that workforce. That was us in our glory days. And we're going to be even more gloried because of investments that we can make by sound thinking.

The research that we need to provide will enable us to compete. We will create products not yet on the radar screen. And if we think all the products ever needed by society have been conceived and designed and manufactured, then the story's over. But we know better than that. Product lines are coming up as we speak that allow us to use our resources much more wisely.

We are a Nation of abundance. But that means we can't be wasteful. We need to be resourceful. That challenge is out there to us. And as we become resourceful, we become more efficient, and we become more profitable by sound policy. We can do it. We have ways to invest in our infrastructure, invest in research, invest in workforce development, invest in housing, invest in communities. And that investment will earn lucrative dividends. It's not spending. It's investing with the expectation--the rightful expectation, mind you--that we will get that just return.

And so tonight I feel hope for our Nation, driven by a sense of ideals carved by the richness of our history.

Thank you, Mr. Garamendi, for leading us in this very important hour of discussion.

As I listened to Representative Pallone speak about the disaster in his district and across the map of New Jersey and now into New York City and Long Island and great portions of New York State, it was shades of the not-so-distant past that came to mind. And we're still doing recovery from the storm of August, the flooding of Irene and Lee in August of 2011, which impacted my district severely. There were human lives that were lost, property that was damaged, homes that were swept away into the river. Everything for which people had ever worked taken from them. Drastic situations. So as we do our work here in Washington, we need to make certain that on this House floor there is advocacy for the response to these given situations.

Already the price tag is coming forth from the leadership back home. Governor Cuomo, for instance, suggesting the price, the impact has now steadily risen. At first snapshot, you cannot begin to comprehend all of the damage and all of the aspects and dynamics of recovery that will be required. And now we are looking at something like $30 billion that impacts a State in a very severe way, disrupts service and electric power that is disrupted, commerce that's frozen in place, human misery that's incalculable where lives have been impacted forever by the forces of Sandy.

So, you know, this is a revisitation, so to speak, as we are still recovering. It was a fight on this floor to make certain that disaster aid moneys were brought into play so we could respond with compassion and dignity and integrity to these given situations.

So the lessons here are to go forward as we deal with this given fiscal issue at hand, to go forth with the priorities that are the most urgent and important and meaningful in putting back the fabric of these communities.

There is a need to work closely with an outlay of resources to FEMA, making certain that disaster aid is at the level that will be required here, working with other agencies that are as significant in the equation--the Department of Transportation, the Small Business Administration--working with HUD, making certain that all of these various elements are addressed in our sense of advocacy here.

The human misery, again, is impacting. It is a situation that now brings to mind the fact that in upstate New York, and even in metro New York City and the Long Island area and in New Jersey, these are atypical situations for hurricanes to travel that far north. To have something in upstate New York do the sort of hurricane damage that we witnessed last year is not typical.

So the nomenclature of a ``100-year storm'' is just ludicrous. It doesn't speak to what's really happening. We've had several storms in a 20-year period that were dubbed 100-year storms. So right there, the logic and, again, the nomenclature is misrepresenting the facts at hand. We are getting more and more repeats here of situations from disasters driven by mother nature. And as Representative Pallone made mention, a 500-year storm is what they were dubbing the case to be in the 21st Congressional District that I now represent in the State of New York.

So there is a need here for us to be cognizant of those responses to disaster situations but also to look at the bigger, bigger public policy issue--that of the environment and that of climate change and global warming. We need to be cognizant of our stewardship over our planet. We need to make certain that if these data that are compiled are telling us that there is increased precipitation, for instance, over a given Catskill watershed in the area just south of my district, let's be aware of that. Let's know what's happening here, and let's respond accordingly to sound public policy as it relates to the environment and our stewardship of the environment, and let's be cognizant of the needs in responsiveness measure.

I know that you want to add to this discussion here, so I'll just say this. In a time where government perhaps has been hit hard by critics out there who are suggesting there's no role for the public sector here, we need to reduce government, I can tell you that people were addressing ``the war room,'' as they designated it, putting together all of the professionals and academics and people who operate these programs and are well trained. Watching that compilation, that collaborative effort of these professionals who are responding through public sector employment to the needs of these given communities is powerful, and it speaks to what I think the public asks for and deserves--sound, effective government. But this option of ``no government,'' I know people were reaching out. They wanted that partnership because they were in such immense pain and were at a loss for how and where to move.

So, Representative Garamendi, thank you very much for bringing the focus to what should be our staunch advocacy for people in need.

Sure.

Well, absolutely, some of these programs are welcomed news. Two points I would make--and I would just like to go back for a moment to the sense of community that is expressed at times like these tragedies. It's not government as a stand-alone solution--we understand that--but it's an essential part, and we want effective government.

We also have had a private sector response and volunteerism. I mean, the sense of volunteerism, that sense of American spirit comes right into the core of all of this expression. And you begin to understand the greatness of this Nation through some of the darkest hours that we share. So that point has to be made clear.

But to your point about infrastructure improvement, infrastructure bank bill, the transportation bill that provides for adequate amounts of resources, putting together these bonds that are unique in design so that we can have the resources to make it happen, I absolutely agree.

I contend that as we get impacted by some of the storm and Mother Nature occurrences, we need to make certain we've reached the facts. If data are telling us that we're going to have additional activity, two things need to happen. You need short-term and long-term response. You do not rebuild exactly as if you had. You need to retrofit that to the projected impacts of now a newer, stronger force of Mother Nature.

Secondly, we need that global policy. We need policy that speaks to the environmental outcomes. If we're ignoring that, we're going to see a hasty buildup, I believe, of some of these situations, which is only going to drain our budgets. So, it's time to be academic and to be economically wise and effective here.

I think that's what voters have asked for, that's what the electorate asked for, that's what the people of the country demand and deserve: a sound use of resources. To go forward and build it in a way that provides for a more improved, more effective outcome.

You look at some of this infrastructure, and it reminds you when it's taken away how significant it is to our quality of life and our profitability as a Nation. You know, a grid system that connects power to the sources that require it, a communications network that allows us to dialogue and build our profitability. The infrastructure that moves freight, our roads, bridges, highways. You talk about the damage done by salt-infested waters.

Again, it's incomprehensible about what that score goes to in terms of impact when you think of a subway system, rail system, energy generators, and all of the power supplies within the utility infrastructure and communications. It's just important for us to learn from these effects of the storms.

If we can put together concepts like an infrastructure bank, if we can put together the bond activities that will respond more compassionately and more effectively and more urgently to a given situation, then let's prioritize where we need to prioritize so as to make things happen.

The infrastructure needs--we've talked about them outside the context of the ravages of Mother Nature. Water and sewer systems that just need to be upgraded because of the age of some of these systems and the new technology that has been introduced where we can do it in energy efficiency formats where you save operating costs for local governments.

Now's the time, when you've taken this blow, perhaps we can then retrofit to do state-of-the-art that will mean less costly operating expenses for local entities and NGOs, nongovernment organizations, that allows for everyone to win and the taxpayer dollar is stretched in positive, favorable terms to be a more effective outcome for everyone in the equation.

Sure. Let me do this quickly.

I think we have it within our intellect to create the outcomes that are strong, that will reinforce those in need, and still go forward and address the critical economic times. I can tell you, because the memory is so fresh, people did not want to hear about offsets and Tea Party mentality when they were without last year. They lost everything for which they ever worked. They are endorsing, now, a balanced approach.

Take a scalpel to the situation. Don't wield an axe. Come up with sensitivity, with an effective response using academics. Deal with policy strengths in the long-term picture outcome, and get us our immediate assistance so we can rebuild and do it in cutting-edge fashion so we will have learned from this experience and come out even stronger.

I think in general, in a bigger picture framework, our best days lie ahead if we approach these issues with sound academics and with the skillfulness and the compassion required.

Thank you so much for leading us in this hour of discussion.

Thank you, Minority Whip Hoyer. You have led us so expertly well on this floor.

You cite the many failings of this do-nothing Republican Congress. It is tragic that we will leave for home now and not get the work of the people done and will not respond to the needs of America. That is such an unjust outcome.

We know that a middle class tax cut has been passed in the Senate and that the President has said he would sign it. We need that measure. We need that measure done so as to provide for confidence in the American economy. What we need right now is that sort of boost. That booster shot can do a lot for growing sales for businesses out there. The aggregate demand for goods and services, driven by relief for the middle class via a tax cut, is important. The Violence Against Women Act that was reauthorized in the Senate failed to come to this floor. Postal reform--overwhelmingly approved by the Senate--fails to come to this floor. There is also the farm bill, which is important to all of upstate New York, and I know our members from the upstate delegation, from the New York delegation, are greatly disturbed by the do-nothing Republican Congress.

Minority Whip Hoyer, thank you for leading us in this discussion. We have not earned a 6-week recess until election day without having done the people's business. We need to stay here and get the people's work done--build America's economy, go forward with progress--and provide for the results that America so desperately needs. It's a shame that this do-nothing Republican Congress has now called a halt to all business on this floor for the next several weeks.

This evening we'll spend some time here in Special Order on the House floor to address a great bit of unfinished business that rests before the House. And we have just returned from what is a 5-week recess where Members of this House were back in their districts and addressing the events of this session. It has been labeled by many as a do-nothing Congress. This evening we're going to talk about that do- nothing agenda.

We have attempted in every which way to encourage the Congress, the House, to address legislation that speaks to job creation and economic recovery, continuing to build upon the achievements of the 111th Congress, and we're now serving in the 112th.

But for me, it's my second term in the House. The very first term for me, the 111th Congress, was deemed by several polls out there to be one of the most productive in decades where there were many things taken up by this House that responded to the needs of America, middle class Americans, Americans of all stripes, who required initiatives from this House.

We were in the midst of a very dark period, a recession that gripped this economy that put 8.2 million people at risk by their losing a job through no fault of their own. We were losing as many as 800,000 jobs a month.

So the devastation of that impact on the American economy, bringing America's economy to its knees, needed a response from government.

The President acknowledged an agenda that would move us not only into a response against the recession but putting us at the cutting edge of a modern economy. Investing in research, investing in science and technology, investing in an ideas economy, investing in an innovation economy--that's the sort of priming of the pump, if you will. That's essential for us to respond in substantive terms for us to utilize government as a tool that is productive and enabling and empowering the middle class, empowering our small business community, empowering our entrepreneurs.

That was the hope-for. And it happened in the 111th Congress.

But something drastically happened with the change in leadership in the 112th Congress. We now have been ranked in single-digit percentage approval. Below 10 percent is the approval rating for this Congress, some of the lowest points achieved, or earned, by this Congress in its history as a House.

That is a very telling statement. How do we go from the most productive in decades to most unfavorable in the history of the House?

We have a reactionary response from those who want to destroy the essence of government. They do not weave any sort of government program activity into the fabric of response to a very difficult period in our economic history. It is one that is unpopular and unproductive. It is one that is being rejected by people out there.

When I go back to my district, I hear it from Republicans, Democrats, Independents alike: Why can't something get done? There's a paralysis here. And it's because there's a rejection. There is a sense of partisanship rather than partnership. There is an outright attempt to deny anything coming to the House as a request to get productive and progressive policy done.

So there are things that languish. There is this crush of big tasks that rest before the House, work to produce a jobs bill, work to produce a response to the ag crisis, the reauthorization of our ag bill, work to invest in the middle class.

It's been this House, when controlled by the Democrats, that spoke to the opportunities, the ladders of success, if you will. The Democratic conference in this House was all about, has always been about, in my tenure here, about producing ladders of success. You know, we believe in that American principle that you work hard, act with responsibility, play by the rules, and expect to taste success.

Well, we haven't seen that sort of cooperative spirit from the new Republican majority in the House.

You know, we believe, as Democrats, that you produce those ladders of opportunity. You allow people to climb toward their American Dream. We enable people to utilize their gifts, their talents, their passions, their skills to empower themselves, their families, the small businesses. And so we stand for this wonderful three-legged stool that speaks to the empowerment of small business, forever the pulse of American enterprise, that looks to create jobs that are then tethered very strongly with small business citizenship into the local community grain.

Then we talk about investing in entrepreneurs, those dreamers, the movers, the shakers, the builders of society that have forever been the American spirit, the pioneer spirit.

I represent a district in upstate New York that is the donor area to the Erie Canal. And that canal produced not only a port out of a little town called New York City but gave birth to a necklace of communities that became the epicenters of invention and innovation.

The empowerment of the entrepreneur--another strong underlying principle of the agenda of Democrats in the House.

Finally, a thriving middle class--making certain that we utilize the policies that can be created in this House that will empower with tax fairness, empower with investment in the worker, in education, higher education, apprenticeship programs to empower the middle class and small businesses.

We have measures that we have asked to be brought to the floor. There is a denial of any sort of single jobs bill before the House. We have requested over and over again to invest in that agenda the empowerment of America through small business, entrepreneurs, a thriving middle class. It's been rejected.

Tonight I'm joined by a colleague from the State of Connecticut, Joseph Courtney. Joe Courtney is a strong believer in this government process. He's a strong believer that when we can prime the pump and when we can utilize government to make a difference, when we can create programs that speak to the honest-to-goodness agenda for all strata of America, but utilizing that middle class strata--small business, farming as a small business--making certain we utilize every strength, every sector of our economy and not just relying on a service sector, especially the financial services that we did that brought us into a crisis situation--we can incorporate all of the sectors of the economy.

One of those prime sectors? Agriculture.

Representative Courtney, it is great to have you joining us this evening in this colloquy.

The agriculture industry from coast to coast is a heavy-duty important industry. You sit on the Ag Committee. As a representative from Connecticut,

you know the importance of agriculture to your State. I know the importance of agriculture in upstate New York, throughout New York.

Reauthorization of an ag bill is fundamental, is it not, to go forward and create opportunities?

Representative Courtney, you're a great friend. You're a great friend not only to me, but to this House, to the district you represent, and to the State of Connecticut. And you're such a good friend because of the academics that you put into the

job. I have watched you in action, and I know that you are about building consensus.

But what we have here, you talk about, doesn't this become even more urgent an item with the drought situation that we've had across this country? Grain prices are going to rise. So to have some stability and security--predictability--into the ag outcomes for many sectors of agriculture, it becomes even more critical. And to go back, to revert to a 1949 formula, is sinful. It's immoral.

People talk about the lack of sensitivity, the lack of productivity, but we're talking about immoral outcomes here that don't enable people to do their work. I mean, this is a small business--in many places large business--but agriculture runs that gamut. For many, it's small business, it's family business, it's a way of life, and we're denying that very fabric of this country.

I know groups have come together in atypical fashion--outside groups that are putting pressure here--they have come in partnership to say: Hey, look, get this done, as you're suggesting, get it done. You've done some of the basics. Why are you ignoring this number one industry for many States?

You know, I listen to you, and your State was tremendously impacted by Irene and Lee last summer. My State was tremendously impacted. We reached for those very pots--that we've emptied with the Republican solution--that served our communities so very well with disaster funds. We can't tamper with some of those legitimate set- asides because they're there, they're required by acts of Mother Nature or by manmade situations where we need to have disaster dollars available.

But you can't help but quantify. I mean, you just imagine the extrapolating out of jobs, the impact of jobs if you don't get this done, the ripple effect into those ancillary businesses that feed into the needs of agriculture. It is a tremendous opportunity for us to grow stability in the economy. And to not do this, this do-nothing Republican Congress is devastating the economy. We could have made major strides, we could have gone forward with a lot of attempts to do good.

Now, what I sense here, from what you've talked about with these poison pills that have been adopted or placed into their solutions, or the ignoring of agreed-upon legislation in committee, this is a recurring theme. I mean, we saw the FAA, the Federal Aeronautics Administration, impacted again by delays, games that were being played because they need the full loaf or they want it their way. There is no sense of consensus that is driving these outcomes. And so we delayed for months the FAA outcome, which challenged, put at risk hundreds of projects, tens of thousands of construction jobs that were going to speak to safety at our airports.

We saw it with student loans. You were so actively involved with that. You were outspoken in your criticism of perhaps doubling our students' interest on their loans. And they, again, inserted poison pills. We waited until the midnight hour to get something done--with a lot of unpredictability again.

We saw it with the payroll tax relief that we were trying to do for middle-income America and small businesses. Couldn't get it done. Waited till the last minute. Poison pills that delayed progress.

This is a recurring theme, is it not?

Representative Courtney, you talk about the reducing of VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act. If the spirit and letter of that law has been to protect women, why would you weaken certain protections?

There's this order of meanness and selectiveness and insensitivity that has abounded in this House, where they reduce efforts that have been championed over the decades, hard-fought efforts, bipartisan efforts, bicameral efforts, the executive branch working with the legislative branch, making certain that the heart and soul of this reform through the ages has been about making America stronger.

You know, it's we, the people, working toward a more perfect Union, a more perfect Union. We've made such wonderful progress. We have acknowledged the needs of women, where they were ignored in legislative or statutory concepts. We go forward. And now it's

like, as you suggest, rolling the clock back, being insensitive to so many needs out there and reducing the fabric of our government. It's like trying to speak to an archaic sort of quality that's driven by extreme thinking. It's the tail wagging the dog in the conference where this extreme thinking has taken over the majority and this do-nothing Republican Congress is not responding, not stepping up to the plate at a time that it's very, very critical.

We saw this economy challenged more greatly than perhaps the Depression of the past that really was a prime test, but in many of the lives of today's working Americans, this is the first-time greatest experience, a challenge before us. And when we should step up and be the champions, the fairness and justice and resolve to move forward with progressive policy, we're getting almost the reverse. It's the antithesis of what's required here.

And I agree with you. I think that the brinkmanship that was utilized in the debate and the development of a response to the debt ceiling crisis was an attachment of bells and whistles and all sorts of extraneous materials that were being applied in an inappropriate way. We needed to move forward and address an order of crisis. America knows that, they understand they play by the rules and you pay your bills.

But it was this attempt to weaken a process, and it was an attempt to stall and delay and make a political statement at the expense of having our then credit rating downgraded by S&P. So the outcome here was a devastating one.

And, you know, it is really unfortunate that we're not heeding the need out there. I believe the American public has been stating emphatically they want solutions. They want us to come up with a response to an economic crisis. They want to know how we're going to move forward with this idea economy, innovation economy, clean energy economy. They want to see us move toward energy independence. They want to see us addressing transformation of the economy. They want advanced manufacturing that requires training of workers that begins with education investments, all of these things. They want us to develop solutions.

They don't want paralysis. They don't want this divide, this great divide. They don't want the partisanship.

They want partnership. They want solutions.

We saw what happened when you can advance solutions in this House. You and I enjoyed the 111th Congress and the productivity of that Congress. And to have moved to this sort of paralysis is unacceptable.

And the do-nothing Republican Congress is being watched very carefully here, and I believe that this coming election will be a very telling statement about rejecting the sort of delay, the rejecting of the games being played, a rejecting of the disinvestment, a rejecting of the defunding and the dismissiveness of a role that government could and should play in very important areas.

You ask these other economies out there with which our American business is competing. We're in an international race on innovation. You know, much like the race, global race on space in the sixties, when this country came together in resolve after a Sputnik moment, when they dusted off their backside and said, Never again, and we're going to move forward and we're going to be the Nation to stake that flag on the Moon.

We won because we resolved to do it. We did it with great passion. We did it with intellect. We did it coming together as a people of all sorts of political stripes, and we worked together as one Nation.

You're right, on this given day of 9/11, when we reflect upon those tragedies and when our virtues as a Nation--our liberties, our freedoms, our opportunities--were challenged and threatened and numbed us for a moment, we came back with great resolve. Let's show the passion here that we did in the sixties to win that global race in space. Let's invest. Let's go forward. Let's make certain we don't tie the hands of America behind her back. Let's move forward and invest in an economy, in a race that is important to our efforts to maintain our leadership on the international scale.

A point oftentimes lost. Even millionaires and billionaires would get their tax breaks on a first order of income, $250,000.

Do you know what stands in the way? If we have to be totally frank here, they want to make certain that millionaires and billionaires continue to get their bonanza of a tax break. Well, do you know what? We know what got us into the economic crisis. We had a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires primarily that was never paid for. We fought two wars off line, off budget. So one of the first orders of business that the President wanted to address was putting together an honest budget. You didn't have the mechanism, the payment mechanism, for the millionaire-billionaire tax cut, and you have to bring that cost of the war into the budget.

We need to move forward with a sound and reasonable approach to economic relief. The middle class has taken it on the chin, and it's their turn. They need to be relieved, and we need to invest in those orders of comeback that will empower our middle class. What I think is, with the efforts

that have been made here in the House, the requests made in the House are very legit: Do what you can afford. Keep the economy going. To me, it's about aggregate demand for goods and services. So, if you relieve the middle class, if you strengthen their purchasing power, if we had that thriving middle class, someone needs to buy your product; someone needs to make your product. If you empower that middle class, it's a formula for success.

As you point out, Representative Courtney, it is 98 percent of the general public that will enjoy that empowerment and 97 percent of the small business community. There is a way to go forward with a reasonable approach that really speaks to that strata that needs the most assistance today.

Representative Courtney, you talk about that event. When he made his presentation, he did that long-term review and a rather shorter focus over the last couple of years--the first term of President Obama's. Yet, when he talked about the track record over the last decade, he talked about 28 years of Republican leadership versus 24 years of Democratic leadership. He talked about the outcome in jobs, and said, under the Republican watch, 22 million jobs, I believe, were created. Under the Democratic watch, there were 42. So, he said, let's look at the record. Let's check the scorecard. Then he did the short- term outcome of President Obama's administration. He was talking about the numbers of jobs created and gave a zero to what the Republicans were advancing in the House.

It's pretty obvious that there is this outcome of success. People constantly refer to the Clinton years now. What happened there? Well, we undid the surplus that was created. We spent down on a tax cut that wasn't paid for. We fought two wars that weren't on line with the budget. It's obvious we know what happened. Why would we give the keys back to someone who drove us into the ditch?

So this whole effort in this administration with 30 now consecutive months of private sector job growth and the President's asking for Congress to move forward with an agenda that has had obvious positive results and its being denied and held up, played with, entered in with poison pills is not what the American public wants. They want those solutions, and they are denying those solutions. I think the do-nothing Republican Congress has caused great pain and has denied progress for the comeback scenario that we so desperately require and that the middle class and all of America so rightfully deserve.

Thank you, Representative Courtney. I thank you for your outstanding leadership. You've been there on the student loan issue. You've been there on the ag reauthorization measure. You've been there on the American Jobs Act.

We know that there has been a formula for success driven by the President for the American Jobs Act. He has asked for Congress to move forward. The Senate has, in a bipartisan way, moved forward with efforts to address a middle class tax cut. The President has asked us to complement that with the American Jobs Act that enables us to move forward with investments in educators, allowing for teachers and class size to be addressed, making certain that our young people, our workforce of the future are able to enjoy that self-discovery, that sense of identity that they require in the classroom. What are their gifts, their passions, their skills, their talents? How can they best contribute their fabric to the American scene?

That is part of the American Dream. That is part of the investment that provides those underpinnings of support, that builds an economy with capital investment, physical investment, human infrastructure investment, all of which are required in order to have the holistic response. With the American Jobs Act formula, the President is saying, Look, we've grown 30 months of consecutive private sector job growth. We've enabled the economy to come back powerfully. We're investing in that order of business.

He's also asked that that public sector element which has been reduced, that has offset some of the progress, has reduced some of the progress because of pain at those State capitols putting together their budgets, he said, Look, let's from a big picture point of view. Invest in educators, in public safety, in police officers, in firefighters, in emergency personnel.

On a day like today where we humbly reflect upon the pain this Nation endured, the loss of lives, nearly 3,000 people impacted by the acts at the Pentagon, in a lonely field in Pennsylvania, and, yes, in metropolitan New York, we are reminded most humbly, most sensitively, most lovingly of that

dreadful moment. And we saw how important our public safety elements are, our first responders, critical to that situation. It showcased a very noble measure in a very painful and dark moment in our history what those role models are, who they are. That's their everyday work. It was showcased in a very magnified way. But every day we reach to their skills, their talents, their strengths.

The President is saying invest in that public safety element, invest in our firefighters, in our police officers, in our emergency responders. He's asking for that in the American Jobs Act. We've done pieces of it, but we need to do the entire package to have the strength that this economy requires for its comeback.

He talks about infrastructure improvements through an infrastructure bank that is part and parcel to the outcome, making certain that our infrastructure is strong and able to move our situation of a comeback. Commerce requires the shipping of freight. It needs the infrastructure. Our communities require that investment in infrastructure; otherwise, they go it the way of a property tax or a less progressive tax structure.

We know what needs to be done, and the denial here by the do-nothing Republican Congress is not acceptable. It's painful. It's immoral. It's insensitive. It's un-American. To put partisanship ahead of partnership is unacceptable.

We know that the American spirit requires better than that, so we need to respond to America's working families. We need to respond to the hope that ought to be delivered to the doorsteps of families across this great Nation. Our history is replete with investment, investment to take us to new ages, new elements of success, new impacts on the world scene.

Earlier, I had spoken of the mill towns that became epicenters of invention and innovation. It was their product delivery coming out of the mill towns, out of those 24-hour-a-day operations that impacted the quality of life, not just in these United States, but in nations around the world. People were lifted by discovery and product development in this Nation. And as we move forward, we need to advance our manufacturing agenda, we need to invest in the research, and we need to invest in the innovation.

I'm reminded of some of the incubator outcomes at campuses within the 21st Congressional District in upstate New York in the capital region of Mohawk Valley that I represent, incubators at public and private sector institutions, clean room science activity going on in lab formats at community colleges, working with our nanotechnology industry, our semiconductor industry, advanced battery manufacturing. All of this requires a plan, a holistic plan that allows for the unleashing of talent and opportunity from the American public. Someone before our times invested in our future.

Throughout our noble history, throughout our growth as a Nation, there were those who believed in America and invested in her people. We can ill afford to go back. We can only go forward, as was made mention by the President and many of his administration that were speaking at the convention, many legislators who appeared at the convention and spoke about the agenda to constantly move forward, embracing the American Dream in the process. That American Dream is what inspired so many to journey to this Nation.

We are, in major fashion, a compilation of journeys. Other than our Native American sisters and brothers, it's the immigrant population that traveled to these shores embracing that American Dream, believing in a brighter tomorrow, understanding that if they put their mind and heart and soul to work, that better opportunities would be there, that they could climb the ladders of success, that they would not pull up those ladders when they reached the mountaintop, but extend additional ladders to everyone to climb that ladder of success until they reached that American Dream.

That has been the saga of this great Nation. That has been the profoundness of this Nation, the greatness of this Nation. Why would we change course now? We saw what ill effects came of some bad policy or lack of sound stewardship of our resources. Let's learn from that history, but let's also learn from the history of greatness where America struggled through tough times, faced immense challenges, but powerfully spoke in a way that engaged that American spirit and put it into policy format, resource advocacy, and budgets that spoke to a soundness of a future for America.

Our best days lie ahead if we pursue that agenda that shows its belief and its promise in America's children and working families. The undeniable progress that we can make speaks boldly to us. We've seen an administration reach out to this Congress asking for a partnership, a bipartisan response, one that will allow all of us to share in the great success that can follow. We've seen what happens when we go forward with some of the measures of progressivity.

We have a grid system that was challenged as early as 2003, where we know there is a need for investing in the capacity of that system that was designed for regional utility matters, and now we're wheeling electrons from region to region within States to States to States and from nations to nations. We know that we have to step up to the plate and invest in that utility infrastructure. We know that there are deficiencies in our routine, traditional infrastructure that require our investment.

We know that there's a need for energy transformation so that we can grow with the American intellect, that intellectual capacity that enables us to provide for the innovation, the American independence, the American security that can be dealt with through renewables, and energy efficiency as our fuel of choice and outstanding discoveries that can be made in a way that are most powerful, and research that equals jobs.

We see it happening all around us, and it's not like we have the luxury to decide not to do it. We're in the midst of an international competition.

And unlike the sixties, where it was U.S. versus U.S.S.R., we are now with many more competitors on the international scene. They are partnering with their governments. They are partnering in a way that provides research monies, incubator space, higher-ed communities that are growing in leaps and bounds while we languish with a do-nothing Republican Congress that wants to promote delay, insert poison pills, or just deny progress in a partisanship way that is not speaking to the American spirit that was imagined and planted by our Founding Parents.

You know, tonight, for this past hour, we as Democrats have enjoyed sharing our thoughts about what a productive Congress could be in terms of shaping our future, what a productive Congress could mean to fairness and justice and equitable opportunity for generations to come.

Our children are watching, they're measuring our actions much more than by our words, more so by the achievements that we can assess. They're watching carefully, and we need to move forward in a way that finds us working together to build consensus. When we insert the ``we'' in us, it is much more powerful than the ``me'' in us.

This House has had great moments when they've rolled up their sleeves as Members and have come to the table and said, America beckons. Her people need that sort of response. True leadership will move forward in a way that allows us to enjoy the taste of success.

You know, tonight, as we've talked about the paralysis that has gripped this House, as we talked about the denial that has been part of the outcome that has been demeaning and destructive at times, I reach to the assessment by very nonpartisan congressional scholars, in this case Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein. They have been, over the years, very much bipartisan in their criticism and critiquing of the behavior in Congress.

I just want to quote from their report:

In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when

we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no

choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies

with the Republican Party. The GOP has become an insurgent

outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme;

scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding

of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the

legitimacy of its political opposition.

Tonight I will close with that statement because I think it's a challenge. It's a challenge to us to forget about the unproductive nature of the last several months and move forward with a newfound order of resolve that will enable us to acknowledge that some of the greatest moments in American history came with some of her darkest hours where with that regard, that true American spirit we're able to rise to the occasion, reach to the best intellect and the best temperament of this Nation as she came together in an order of consensus and where our best days followed that sort of agreement.

We can build upon success. We can learn from history, the soundness of history that saw us respond and rise to the crushing situations that gripped this Nation and move forward with a sense of greatness, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of fairness and empowerment and, most importantly, a delivery of hope to the doorsteps of individuals and families across this great Nation. America's greatest moments are truly lying ahead if we can embark upon that challenge before us.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 55 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, September 12, 2012, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for yielding time.

I would hope that the order of business on this floor is guided by priorities, the most essential priorities that are calling for this body to respond to the people of this great Nation, and in these difficult economic times to do it with a degree of urgency. But what is our order of business here today on the floor? Fixing a typo. That's what we're doing here this morning. We're fixing a typo in an election- year driven, politically motivated bill. But we are really wasting time and playing games. You see, our families and businesses are calling out for compromise, for confidence and for certainty. And this body has utterly failed to answer that call.

Just yesterday, the other Chamber passed a bill to guarantee the current tax rate for our middle class. If this bill fails to pass, taxes will go up on nearly everyone in this country.

But instead of passing the Senate bill, an extension of tax rates that nearly every single Member of this body supports, our order of business is an attempt to pass a rule on the underlying bill for a second time. Why? So that we can continue to hold the extension of middle class tax cuts hostage to enable the richest amongst us to get another Bush-era style tax handout.

Make no mistake. There is but a single roadblock in the way for the middle class right now--and that's the majority in this House. The other Chamber passed a bill. The President said he will sign that bill. And if just one of every 10 Republicans in this body stands with our side of the aisle, we can ensure certainty and confidence for our middle class.

Instead, it looks like we are heading down the road of yet another manufactured crisis. From government shutdowns to debt ceiling debacles to highway bill holdups, this body has consistently fallen short over the past year and a half.

So let's quit these games on the underlying bill. This is about more than a typo. It's about priorities, and it's about values. And right now, we must prioritize middle class tax cuts and provide the certainty and predictability that our American families so desperately deserve and need.

Mr. Chairman, here we go again.

It isn't enough that the Obama administration's offshore drilling plan

makes more than 75 percent of our oil and natural gas resources available for drilling; but the majority is not going to be happy until we have turned over every square foot of our public lands and our coastline to the oil and gas companies.

H.R. 6082 abandons any pretense to the support of states' rights by mandating lease sales for the east coast and southern California--the coastlines of States that are on record as opposing oil and gas drilling along their coasts.

Too bad New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. If your citizens want to prioritize the tourism, recreation, and fishing industries, Big Oil wants to move in, and H.R. 6028 gives them the authority to do so. H.R. 6082 requires no public comment or consultation with the States. Apparently, those steps, steps followed by the administration in putting together their plan, are too time consuming. Besides, they may result in opposition to this ill-conceived drilling plan.

On the same day that the United States Chemical Safety Board has released its report on the Deepwater Horizon accident with the finding that safety lessons were not learned from the 2005 refinery accident, we're moving a bill that does nothing to improve the safety of offshore drilling for either the people who work on these rigs or for the many citizens and businesses whose coastal access, enjoyment, or livelihood would be lost if there were an oil spill.

Thankfully, this bill will go no further than this House, at least in this Congress. If it passed the other body, the President has already issued a veto threat. Why are we doing this? One can only speculate.

I'm disappointed that the Rules Committee did not make my amendment in order. It would have required oil and gas companies that are awarded leases to disclose their Federal campaign donations to candidates and super PACs.

We are in real danger of losing our democracy. Free speech should not cost millions of dollars, and corporations are not people. Sunshine is the best anecdote to this particular brand of poison. The public should know who is funding issue ads and other campaign-focused activities, especially when those funds come from corporations that profit from public resources.

The Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case unleashed a tidal wave of anonymous campaign donations. There are now over 600 super PACs poised to spend at least the $221 million that they have collected so far to dominate the airwaves with advertisements of the political viewpoints of corporations and wealthy individuals. According to a Bloomberg news article published earlier this year, Americans for Prosperity, an organization backed by oil interests, paid over $12 million for ads attacking the Obama administration's green energy policies.

The public has a right to know how profits made through exploitation of public resources of our land and our coastlines are being used to influence elections. My amendment would have provided the public with some of that information.

H.R. 6082 will not make us energy independent. It will not make us more energy efficient. It will not lower fuel prices. Energy efficiency and investment in our new energy resources are the real way to kick our oil habit.

I urge my colleagues to reject H.R. 6082.