Floor Statements

Yes, I have. And that certainly doesn't cut it with the American public, with middle class working families across the country. It simply does not cut it.

But, Representative Sutton, I do want to commend you for the leadership as co-Chair of our task force on job creation. And I found your introductory comments to inspire a thought: Let's really look at how this started.

We went from a record surplus under the Clinton administration to a record deficit. Had we stayed the course, the deficit reduction plan of President Clinton would have been completed. It would have completed its mission this year. We haven't seen deficit wipeout except for one Presidency, that of Andrew Jackson. So this could have been an historic year if we had stayed the course. What we found was that people will talk about the deficit, which the deficit has driven this recession which went longer and deeper than any forecasted, and now it's the daunting task of all of us who serve here in Washington to stop the bleeding. And great indicators out there suggest, many key indicators suggest that that has happened, as you alluded to, with 1.6 million additional jobs coming into the picture, direct and indirect measurement. We have also seen corresponding to that a .3 to a .9 percent reduction in unemployment. That at least is welcomed news that we could stop the bleeding. But now the overwhelming task, the challenge, is to grow this economy. And how are we going to do that?

There are a lot of needs out there that require us to create those jobs, to funnel the resource to those jobs so as to improve America's competitiveness. We are asking our businesses and our workers to function in a global economy, and there are investments that we can make, Representative Sutton, that will take us out of this economic catastrophe and allow us to climb back.

But the last 8 years have been devastating. They have put us into a deep financial hole. And as we cleaned up the mess, as we put the war in Iraq online in the budget, as we took the doughnut hole that was created that has hurt our seniors who are Medicare eligible as they have had to reach into their pocket to work with Medicare part D's doughnut hole, that was not put online in the budget in a way that really reflected the costs of these programs. So now we have truth and honesty in our budgeting, but that has produced an even deeper deficit because we're doing it with fairness and frankness.

Now, with the task force and many Members in a bipartisan bicameral way, we hope, we can then get to the picture of job creation. And that's what it's about right now in Washington. How can we create the programming that will allow for the increase of jobs, be it in the energy-related field, in manufacturing, in our parks, in our municipal levels of government with public safety, fire, and police numbers, teachers in the classroom? All of these efforts need to be brought in and built, if we can, and we must build an innovation economy that will be sparked by our growing the competitive edge for our businesses so that we can win and retain and grow jobs.

Right. Some were shipped off into a foreign economy. Others simply evaporated. And we saw in record numbers the losses that were out there because they simply could not compete and stay effective.

I meet people every day in my district, and I represent a capital region in New York State so that we have the benefit, the buffer, of public sector jobs. But our unemployment numbers are hanging near in excess of 9 percent. This is unacceptable. We need to do much more work as we go forward. And we applaud the efforts to date to take that surplus and apply it as a downpayment. But that's as it's seen, as a downpayment. There are many more installments to come in order for us to build hope in the lives of people, and that's what it's about.

You hear it. We've talked about it. I hear it in my district. The fear with

which people speak, the uncertainty of their tomorrow, the need for us to provide jobs for the youngest in society who are being released from higher ed who are in search of employment. Those who have been chronically unemployed, as you point out, before this recession hit and as it hit, chronic unemployment in many of our neighborhoods. All of this has to be taken into a full-picture view and create those situations that allow us to be competitive. And I think we can do it.

For instance, in the energy-related areas, we can grow jobs of the green collar variety. We can reduce demand for energy in this country. We're the most gluttonous society as it comes to use of our energy supplies. We send hundreds of billions of dollars into the treasuries of unfriendly nations, those who inspire terrorist activities in our country and around the world. We're sending hundreds of billions of dollars there. And do you think we could move forward with an energy security agenda, growing our energy independence, providing for energy audits, creating energy teams that can go into neighborhoods, allowing jobs for those who have been chronically unemployed or those recently unemployed, training, retraining programs through our community colleges to advance those energy audits and then to do the implementation of the audits as they're developed? These are great jobs that reduce our demand of energy through an energy efficiency program, allow us to create American jobs as we generate our supplies locally through embracing our intellectual capacity as a Nation, inspiring investments in R&D, research and development, and that will also deploy these ideas that are coming from public and private sector R&D centers, put those into working capacity for our Nation's people.

It's the cleverness. It's standing back and having a heart and a soul for our working families. And you know we can do it. You know that we have the capacity here as a legislative body, as the two bodies of the Capitol here in Congress, in working with the White House. We can make it happen, and the will must be there because we have the way and the means to make it happen.

Not at all, Representative Sutton.

Again, I applaud your efforts with Cash for Clunkers. You were a leader in making that happen. And you talk about the merit that that brought, but let's talk about the ripple effects that it inspired. Dropping that pebble into the pond and having those ripple effects reach into the auto industry, not only did it inspire people to trade in an energy-inefficient automobile, but they were now purchasing an efficient automobile and they were sparking additional production for our auto industry, which is absolutely important.

So some of these actions that we take have positive follow-up actions. There are direct and indirect hits, and all of that grows jobs, grows opportunity and speaks accordingly--favorably--to an energy plan, to an environment plan, and to an economic recovery plan. So, across the board, all of these plans are responded to in a progressive fashion.

The same is true, as you made mention, of the infrastructure issue. We think traditionally of roads and bridges. Well, many of those bridges that are measured ``deficient'' need to be addressed for public safety purposes. It also responds to the ironworkers across America who will have to provide for the supplies, and it responds to all of those who work in the industries, in the trades, who are connected to the ordinary transportation construction projects out there. It is the cement manufacturers and those who are providing all of the resources that are required. All of that produces more than just construction jobs on the scene. There are many ancillary industries that are favorably bolstered simply by this investment.

When we talk about infrastructure, we can't stop just with roads and bridges. We need to look at the most efficient form of travel, that being rail, and we need to look at building into that today's ahead-of- the-curve sort of responses with high-speed, energy-efficient rail. Again, that requires embracing R&D so that our brightest science and tech minds can create efficient braking systems and efficient cars that can be utilized in the rail transportation corridors. All of that inspires progress, and it allows us to take some of the brightest minds who can help us with the intellect and with the discoveries that we require, but it also involves a full spectrum of employment--from trades individuals over to the Ph.D.'s. So we cover the full spectrum of jobs out there, and we provide, again, hope for American families.

You know, I think it is important also for us to look at the measures that we can inspire and encourage that find us working with the deployment of these wonderful innovative and ingenious measures that are used now by other nations.

Recently, the SEEC Coalition in Congress, of which I'm a founding member--and it's a brand new vehicle this year, the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition--has been bringing in guest speakers. We had the most recent former Energy Minister of Denmark in to speak to the group to talk about the innovation that Denmark was doing with its economy on energy-related matters. Afterwards, I spoke to him. Representative Sutton, what he said to me was so telling.

I asked him, What was the inspiration? Where did you reach to get these

ideas that transformed the energy outcomes for Denmark?

He smiled broadly and said, Many of them are American patents.

We have not provided for that funding mechanism to take the whiz-kid ideas in the lab and in the R&D centers--both public and private and at academia. We have not provided the funding to deploy those into manufacturing or into retail use so that we can get the return on investment that was made. The Angel Network, the venture capitalists-- that ``valley of death'' as it is labeled--needs to be addressed. If we do that, we are providing more jobs, not just in R&D, but by inducing wiser manufacturing operations.

You know, you talked about manufacturing and the heyday of which we all know of the manufacturing that was here. I represent a series of mill towns, which is a necklace of communities along the course of the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. They were the Westward Movement. They were the epicenters of invention and of innovation, staffed many times by immigrant labor that created those ideas, which allowed us to rule the world. We created the Westward Movement with that sort of canal activity and those mill towns. Today, those mill towns have gone rusty, but we can save manufacturing in America if we do it smarter. We don't have to do it cheaper. We need to do it smarter.

With the emergence of nanoscience in this country, there is a nanoscience center in the capital region of New York, which I represent, that just 2 days ago introduced an investment that will allow them to provide for precision characterization and inspection of product line development and manufacturing. This will take us a long way to being the best and the smartest, and that's the sort of investment that American workers deserve. America's families can have that hope brought into the fabric of their families simply by the wisdom that can be inspired with sound public policy here and by the investment of resources that can make things happen.

Well, Representative Sutton, anyone who knows you picks that up as the mantra. You share that vision of a renewable form of energy in wind turbines that could be established.

You know, we don't have the luxury to sit around and let this opportunity pass us by. We will have failed generations of Americans if we do not advance a sound agenda for jobs in the energy arena and across the board with all of these aspects and dynamics of job creation. It's not like someone else isn't going to take over, because we are now seeing robust activity in India, in China, in Japan, in Germany, and in other centers around the world. So we have no choice. We cannot be lulled into a false sense of security. As if the recession, deep and long as it is and was, isn't enough and as if the job loss was not enough, we now are challenged by the actions of others who are moving past us.

So, for many, many fair and just reasons--and maybe it's something we don't want to acknowledge--we need to move forward aggressively with a sound jobs agenda that will speak to the heart and soul of this Nation: the working families of this country.

Now, when you talk about energy transformation and jobs that can be created, isn't it ironic that we will hear on this floor debates about whether carbon emission is a reality in our lives, all while these job opportunities are passing us by? Delay here is costly, perhaps into the millions and billions of dollars. Carbon emission? Let's talk about job emission. Let's talk about the job loss because, as we go forward, it will be critically valuable if we can put that focus onto this job package as well as the infrastructure.

While we are talking about energy, water/sewer systems and water treatment centers, I would also say that, in my former life just before Congress--after my years of service in the legislative body of the New York State Assembly--I went over to NYSERDA and led that authority. It is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. NYSERDA had many problems it had worked on with energy-efficient water treatment centers. So here are ways to help local communities. Water is the commodity. They say, in the next 30 years, it will be transportation, water, and energy. We need to invest in that infrastructure. Let's do it in a state-of-the-art fashion where we are creating energy-efficient water treatment centers. Let's invest in these centers, and let's help local governments grow their job opportunities. One of the marketable strategies is to have an abundant and up-to-date water supply, a sewer treatment center so that you can have these facilities, that infrastructure, in your midst. I think that is so very important.

As you talk about the American Dream that your dad allowed you to dream that took you to noble levels, it began with education and higher education. So investing in the human infrastructure of education, investing in green schools and in improved schools at the school infrastructure, all of this needs to be part of our package. We know that leadership is responding to that jobs agenda. We know that, as a task force, there is a lot of homework to do.

You have rolled up your sleeves as co-Chair with Representative Hastings. The two of you are leading us, along with the chairman of the caucus, John Larson, and along with many of our standing Chairs, like George Miller and, certainly, Speaker Pelosi. All of us working together can make this happen. There are great ideas that every Member is feeding this body, and we need to move forward aggressively but effectively and intelligently so as to create the package which is the greatest pronouncement of economic recovery that we can imagine.

Representative Sutton, it is great to work with you. I am inspired because of the sort of intellect that you bring to the discussion, and there are many people with whom we have partnered who have it within their hearts and souls and minds to make a difference.

It's rather dramatic, and to think of what was happening with productivity on a curve and as to what was happening with GDP and with its curve and then contrasting that with the average American incomes, with the household incomes, it is a very painful but telling story.

Representative Sutton, now that you are by the chart, explain for the American public, if you will, just exactly what was happening through this time frame. Again, there was a lot of work to be done to stop the bleeding. People ask, Well, what are you doing about jobs? What are you doing about the recession? Wait. This took a while to clean up, and now it is time to move forward with the Progressive agenda.

Describe for us, please, where this great recession began and just what the curves tell us on that chart.

If you will suffer an interruption, if the gentlelady will yield, I think in simple terms what that is saying is some people were doing quite well and maybe perhaps realizing a bonanza and others were asked to live with what they've got and they stayed flat-lined.

Is that perhaps an easy way to place it?

And whose pocket was it coming out of but the American working families. And so when we think about this, the work that we have to do, you know, somebody approved that there be no regulator, no watchdog over the financial sector. Somebody approved that. Somebody said, Let's create a doughnut hole and let people make a record bonanza on the pharmaceutical needs that our American seniors require. Somebody said, Let's give a tax break to the upper income strata and that will trickle down. Somehow that chart is telling us that was a fairy tale; it was fiction, not truth.

A number of these elements now come to haunt us. So bringing about regulatory reform in the banking industry, in the financial sector, a step done just a few days ago; making certain there was a tax cut for middle-income America in the stimulus package, an historic, largest tax cut for middle-class America, part of the stimulus package; making certain that we now start putting down payments onto those issues like our energy infrastructure, which failed miserably in 2003, where we didn't invest in a domestic agenda; ending this off-line, off-budgeting of a war in Iraq that now is finally brought on-budget, to have truth and honesty in the budget.

All of this hit at once. And then investing in a stimulus to stop the bleeding. We had to bring things under control and now talk about the progress that needs to be made, needs to be struck, in not only bringing about jobs but inspiring an innovation economy, those meaningful jobs that will be uniquely American or provide for America's needs through her own workers and allow us to clean the environment, respond to a favorable progressive energy agenda and make smarter outcomes, the outcome at our manufacturing centers, and inspire investments in our public safety workers, our firefighters, our police, and bring back a strength in our education process that won't deny our future workers; our children are our present and our future.

All of this needs to be brought into one intelligent package, as you lead us, along with Representative Hastings, Representative Larson and the leadership of the House under Speaker Pelosi. As we go forward, this will be very important now to create a smart investment out of what was a huge catastrophe where we went again, to repeat myself, from the largest surplus to the lowest deficit, the greatest deficit, and where we could have, had it stayed on course, reduced the deficit to zero in this given calendar year. What a tragedy for all of America, and now the task of building a smart response has begun through the task force and through the leadership of the House.

If I can just ask you to point on the chart what year where we're starting to see the dip for the average household income for Americans. It's in the year 2000, 2001, where it really begins to dip and just continued to decline throughout that 8-year period or so that really inflicted pain upon American households.

Representative Sutton, I will say this. Interestingly in that flat-lining of the red curve on your chart is that period, that 10-year stretch, where we saw health care insurance premiums more than double while that income, that average household income, remained flat. What a painful experience.

And then we all know through anecdotal evidence of the many stories of catastrophic situations where people were hit with--I can think of an example quickly--a 37 percent increase in insurance premiums over 2 years, and left with now one wage earner in a married couple household where they have to pick up $18,000 in medical expenses.

This recovery requires bringing health care into a reformed situation, where there's affordability, accessibility, quality health care, making certain that our Nation's employers and the families are all benefited by flattening and then bending that health care insurance premium curve. There are so many pieces to the puzzle that are coming into play that this House, this majority, has advanced as high priorities: energy reform, health care insurance reform, job creation and retention, making certain that services are provided in our communities, relief to State governments. All of this is part of a package that will be put together in a very academically, sound manner.

And when we do that, I think the working families will be inspired by the sort of attention that they will get because they have not received that degree of empathy, that sensitivity to their struggle and we have allowed this to go far too long. Finally now the recession, we hope, has stopped, the bleeding has been stopped, and we go forward now with the act of rebuilding, rebuilding an economy, but we need to do it cleverly. We need to do it in a way that responds to many of the policies out there that will drive this Nation in terms of smart outcomes, smarter manufacturing investment, stronger energy outcomes, a better and more sustainable health care insurance program. All of these underpinnings of support, along with the job creation, are essential so that the jobs we develop are going to be there for generations and where they will be cutting-edge jobs that have not yet been on the radar screen. If we can do that with the traditional mix of job sector out there, job elements that will be available for our families, then we will have responded in most wholesome fashion. Then we can step back and say that we have begun the process that now will bring a sustainable outcome, a recovery opportunity, and a strong sense of hope that we can build into the fabric of this country.

I think that we're onto the start of a long process. I chuckle when I hear people say, What have you done? The unemployment rate is so high. The people losing jobs are at this count. Where have you been?

I'm a new arrival. You have been working on these issues for the last term and a half. We have witnessed a major collapse that, as you indicated, was very predictable. All the indicators were telling us what was going on. But turning our backs to a situation does not offer comfort to America's jobless or even those who hold a job with great trepidation that they may not have that job much longer.

So, Representative Sutton, your leadership in this regard, Representative Hastings, working with Representative Larson and Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Miller and our Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, everyone coming together, working through the committee structure, putting this together in a forum that allows us to share openly and with great sense of vision, keen vision, we're going to make this happen. We're going to have a wonderful comeback, I believe.

Representative Sutton, you're on to a very key factor. The third quarter of this calendar year saw most of the growth, if not all of it in our economy, as something related to the stimulus, inspired by the stimulus, not as great as we would like, some 3 percent, perhaps growth, with a reduction of .3 to .9 percent in unemployment. But it's a start. And I think that when we talk about the transformation that we can do with our energy agenda, with generation, with reduction, efficiency should be our fuel of choice, what we can to do to reduce demand. All of that inserted into a sector like the manufacturing sector allows more jobs because we can reduce the cost of production which, again, the company is competing in a global marketplace.

We hear the stories. We hear the sad tales that are difficult. One in five children lives in poverty in this country. That is driving pain in the lives of so many families. When you hear stories like people having a job for 15 years in the manufacturing sector, now losing it; when I hear a dairy farming couple tell me that they don't think they can afford their daughter's high school graduation ring. We need to address all sectors of the economy, including our agriculture as a sector. The dairy industry needs to be responded to in a way where we provide those who work 24/7 a fair return for the market, for the product, the produce they bring to the market. There are so many challenges that behoove us to be at our very best. And now is the time, after all of this neglect, all of this destruction that was allowed to happen, it's a

huge mess to have cleaned up. And now we go forward and, inspired by the many stories that are real in the lives of people that will inspire our process to respond to people, I think is so key, is so elemental. Elementary statements out there that are made about various factors that drove job reductions in certain communities can be addressed simply by doing it in a wise and sensitive manner.

There are the tools at our fingertips. We are creating that package that will respond to it. This will not be, if we have our say as a majority, I believe, a jobless recovery that is not going to render any sort of hope for people. It resonates with a flatness, with a pain more than a flatness. And so the charts tell it all. The American workers tell it even better when they are left without a job, the dignity of work. We need to be inspired by the past history that spoke to us, the years of Franklin Roosevelt, when a CCC and a works program, a WPA were developed, and they built this Nation and it responded infrastructure- wise to the needs of communities across this country, coast to coast. We have a pioneer spirit of which I spoke that was centered in the mill towns along the stretch of the Erie Canal that gave a westward movement, that brought itself first to Ohio, our neighbors to the West, and then inspired an entire world. We created product designs and invention and innovation that drove a wonderful agenda.

Our hearts are full of the pioneer spirit. It's the American way to solve problems. That's truly the American spirit, and we can do it with the great agenda here.

Representative Sutton, it has been so wonderful to be able to join you this evening and to work with you side by side on the task force for creating jobs. We have a voice that will resonate on behalf of the working families in this Nation, and we will talk about taking that curve and swinging it upward so that it's not a flat line in the lives of people, because while that red line looks painful, it's even more painful in the pocket when people realize that the job lost and the dollars lost and the opportunities lost are simply so real in their lives that they're counting on us to do our job and do it with tremendous sensitivity. I thank you for your leadership. It's been a pleasure to join you this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, that is currently underway.

First, Mr. Speaker, I wholly reject false notions and political attacks attempting to destroy sound science and evidence. This issue, from its environmental to its energy and economic impacts, is too important for false political attacks and deceitful op-eds and letters to the editor.

The Copenhagen discussions are about responsible governments coming together to negotiate an international climate treaty to better our environmental and energy outcomes, not to mention creating a fair marketplace in which the world's economies will indeed compete.

There is a global race today, a race for a clean energy economy, the outcome of which will allow the winner to export clean energy intellect and expertise. Other countries are passing us by in this race. Like the space race of decades ago, we must come together as a Nation bound by the common goals of reducing global emissions, bettering our energy outcome, and enhancing our economy. The future of our Nation depends on us.

Mr. Speaker, as a new Member of Congress, I have spent this year actively seeking opportunities to offer constructive legislative proposals on issues important to my constituents and to the Nation. I have been honored to sponsor measures dealing with improving highway safety and fostering research and development for alternative energy.

In addition to my other legislation focused on energy and transportation safety, I also directed my staff to contact the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee because the protection and preservation of our parks, heritage areas, forests and public lands are of vital interest to me and the people I represent.

The committee informed me that the National Park Service needed legislation to deal with a number of technical concerns facing the agency, and I was honored to act as the sponsor.

H.R. 3804 includes 10-year reauthorizations for two important advisory boards, the National Park System Advisory Board and the National Park Service Concession Management Advisory Board.

The National Park System Advisory Board was first authorized in 1935 and advises the NPS Director and the Secretary of the Interior on matters relating to the agency, the National Park System, and programs administered by the NPS, including the designation of national historic landmarks and proposed national historic trails. A full, 10-year reauthorization of the Board is critical to maintaining the excellent management standards set by the National Park Service.

The Concession Management Advisory Board was established by the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998. The seven-member panel advises the Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service on matters relating to the effective management of concessions in units of the National Park System. Reauthorization of this Board is important to ensure that the lodging, transportation, dining and other services provided to park visitors are of the very highest quality.

H.R. 3804 also raises the ceiling for the popular Volunteers in Parks program from $3.5 million to $10 million. Volunteers, of course, are not paid, but many receive reimbursement for travel costs or other small expenses. Our national parks simply could not function without these volunteers, and the VIP program is really the least we can do to repay their enormous contributions.

At the request of the National Park Service, H.R. 3804 changes the designation of the Martin Luther King, Junior, National Historic Site in Atlanta to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, to better reflect the size and complexity of the unit.

The bill also makes several minor boundary adjustments that will allow the National Park Service to cooperate with other sites near the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial to make ticketing easier for visitors and makes technical corrections for six provisions in the omnibus parks bill from earlier this year.

Finally, H.R. 3804 will strengthen law enforcement in our national parks by increasing and standardizing penalties for violations of park laws.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill so that our Park Service can move to a more stable future.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Parsons Child and Family Center for immaculate community services that they provide for the needs of children and families in the capital region of upstate New York, which I represent.

Parsons was founded some 180 years ago and has become one of the largest human service agencies in upstate New York. Its contributions to the 9,000 children and families it serves include counseling services, parenting education, child abuse prevention and treatment, and mental services.

While there is no typical child served by Parsons, most have endured a significant traumatic event in their lives. The highly trained staff at Parsons

using the latest techniques work to improve the lives of all they serve. The role and importance of the family are stressed, with the ultimate goal of preserving the family unit whenever and wherever possible.

Today I want to commend Parsons' service and commitment to our region's families and children. I encourage us all to look towards them as a model of positive support and outcomes in a system that has turned around the lives of so many. With one in every five American children living in poverty, we commend the role of the professionals at Parsons for the work it does.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3029) to establish a research, development, and technology demonstration program to improve the efficiency of gas turbines used in combined cycle power generation systems, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3029, the bill now under consideration.

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

My bill establishes a research, development, and demonstration program through the Department of Energy to improve the efficiency of natural gas turbines used in electric power generation systems. The Department had a similar public-private partnership research program in the 1990s that led to technologies used in turbines today. Resurrecting this capability is essential if our country is going to be the energy technology leader of the world.

Currently, the United States uses natural gas for nearly 20 percent of our power generation, and with the recent discovery of natural gas in different regions of our country, that percentage is most likely to grow.

Efficiency is paramount in turbines. The most advanced combined-cycle gas turbine systems today are capable of reaching somewhere near 60 percent efficiency. The goal of this bill is to develop systems that achieve up to 65 percent efficiency.

The energy and fuel savings created by more efficient turbines will help ratepayers save more than a billion dollars per year in fuel costs alone. Deployment of 65 percent efficient gas turbines throughout the country would result in significant reductions in fuel use, leading to savings in electricity costs of some $180 billion through the year 2040.

Energy efficiency should be our fuel of choice, a fuel we need to drill and mine like we currently drill for oil and mine coal. That's exactly what this bill does, Mr. Speaker. It makes energy efficiency our fuel of choice.

Just 1 percentage point improvement in efficiency would result in CO2 emissions reductions of 4.4 million tons per year, as well as palpable reductions in NOX, SOx, and other harmful emissions.

In addition to the environmental benefits and energy and fuel savings, this bill promotes United States technology leadership, putting our country in a position to assume a greater share of the worldwide energy market by creating and retaining high-value domestic jobs in turbine manufacturing. Furthermore, many technologies developed under this program can be retrofitted onto the existing fleet of turbines.

This program will create thousands of domestic jobs in a variety of technology sectors. There are potential jobs in our labs, jobs in our factories, and jobs in our construction sector. This bill is a positive step toward restoring our energy, economy, creating clean-energy jobs, and enhancing our energy security.

Getting this legislation to the floor today would not have been possible without the help of my colleagues on the House Science and Technology Committee. After the full committee markup of this bill, we continued to work to address the concerns of my colleagues, Mr. Hall, Mr. Bilbray, and Ms. Kosmas. With their help and leadership, we were able to expand the scope of this bill to include simple-cycle turbine systems, in addition to combined-cycle.

I want to thank them for their suggestions and working with me to create an even stronger bill. In so doing, we also modestly expanded the authorization levels for the bill to reflect the inclusion of simple-cycle turbine systems.

I want to thank Ranking Member Hall, his staff, and all of my Science and Technology Committee colleagues for continuing to work with me to improve this bill. Our chairman has been most helpful.

Finally, I also want to thank Mr. Inglis for understanding the importance of this legislation and joining me as a cosponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Let me again thank those of the committee and subcommittee respectively, Chairman Gordon and Chairman Baird, for their tremendous help in this measure, along with the ranking members on the committee.

Before we close this debate, I think it's important to acknowledge the numerous letters of support that we have received dealing with this legislation. We have letters of support from the Gas Turbine Association, from General Electric, from Solar Turbines, Strategic Power Systems, Inc., and Florida Turbine Technologies, Inc.

Having strong industry support is vital if we're going to be successful, Mr. Speaker, in moving forward with an innovation economy. We all must work together to move our country and our economy forward to a greener and brighter future. The bill before the House is a measure that will obviously underscore the value of energy efficiency and will allow us to make use of natural gas turbines in a way that promotes that added 5 percent of efficiency that will translate to billions of dollars of savings and economic and environmental savings that will come from the efforts of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3598) to ensure consideration of water intensity in the Department of Energy's energy research, development, and demonstration programs to help guarantee efficient, reliable, and sustainable delivery of energy and water resources, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3598, the bill now under consideration.

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

Demand for energy and water resources is stressing our environment and our economy. Innovation and technologies which address the nexus between these two resources is critical to the future of our country. H.R. 3598 requires the Secretary of Energy to consider water-related issues in the Department's energy efficiency and energy technology research programs. Additionally, H.R. 3598 creates an energy-water architecture council that will facilitate the collaboration of industry, of academia, and of the Federal Government in improving energy and water resources data collection, reporting, and technological innovation.

Chairman Gordon and Ranking Member Hall of the Science and Technology Committee have worked hard to improve this bill on its way to the floor. To ensure appropriate use of taxpayer dollars, the bill now includes direction to the Secretary of Energy to develop a strategic plan which will focus the Department's efforts on the most energy- and water-intensive programs and projects with the most potential to achieve the purposes of this bill.

This legislation is the product of recommendations heard in five Science and Technology Committee hearings on water and several reports from the National Academies, the Government Accountability Office, the National Science Technology Council, and the Department of Energy. With letters of support from the Water Innovations Alliance, NanoH2O, Inc., and the Alliance for Water Efficiency, this legislation takes important steps to deal with our country's water and energy resource challenges.

I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 3598.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me, on behalf of the Democratic members of our Science and Tech Committee, wish Elizabeth Kowal Chapel the very best in the steps to come. May I also share the sentiment that the child be gifted with a sense of humor that so obviously prevails at the Science and Tech Committee meetings. We wish you the best.

We have no further speakers from our side on behalf of the bill, Mr. Speaker.

However, I would like to make this final point of encouraging our colleagues to support H.R. 3598, which would put a primary focus, rightfully so, on water-related issues as the Department of Energy deals with the innovation economy that is sparked by energy efficiency and energy technology research. To do that optimizes the outcome, and I think it's a very strong bill.

I congratulate the Chair and the ranking member on behalf of the work they've done on H.R. 3598.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Schenectady County Community College on its 40th anniversary of founding. Over the last 40 years, Schenectady County Community College has met the educational needs of tens of thousands and offered a pathway to career success and prosperity.

SCCC has recently expanded its educational offerings to meet the needs of the 21st-century workforce. The college offers a cutting-edge Nanoscale Materials Technology program that trains students for top careers in the high-tech industry. The Culinary Arts program at SCCC attracts students from around the country and is a model for other community colleges as well. In addition, the college offers one of the only aviation programs currently available at a community college.

As testament to the college's importance to the community, full-time enrollment at the campus has increased by 15 percent over the past year.

On behalf of the residents of the 21st Congressional District, I would like to take this opportunity to thank President Quintin Bullock and Schenectady County Community College for 40 years of educating students and preparing tens of thousands for successful futures. We look forward to your continued achievement, and express our heartfelt congratulations.

Madam Speaker, we're going to utilize our 60 minutes this evening on the floor so as to have Democrats speak to jobs as they relate to this energy rethinking so that we can address the energy reforms that are essential for the strengthening of this Nation, to embrace our intellectual capacity, and to provide opportunities in job growth by promoting a strong sense of energy security, enhancing our energy independence, and therefore addressing favorably, Madam Speaker, our national security. All of these fine dynamics are met as we think outside the barrel, if you will, on energy policy.

How do we create these jobs? Well, there is just a sampling in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that, when passed in early February, spoke to the creation of a half million jobs. That will now be invested through the Department of Energy, other resources, other agencies on the Federal level of government to make certain that we grow these opportunities through research and development investment, through energy efficiency, through renewables that are available through wind, solar, and the Earth, through geothermal; making certain that we can go forward with a progressive agenda so as to speak to a cleaning up of the environment and the security strengthener for the American economy by growing less reliant on fossil-based fuels. That gluttonous dependency that this Nation has on those fossil-based fuels is driving down our economy, and we have the potential here to enter a clean energy race, a global energy race, and win that race.

I am joined this evening, Madam Speaker, by two of our colleagues who have asked to participate so as to insert their thinking and to share their enthusiasm with the American audience and those here in the House about the job potential as it relates to energy reforming and energy transformation. We're joined by Representative Jay Inslee from the State of Washington, the First District of the State of Washington, and we're also joined by Representative Ben Lujan from the Third District in the State of New Mexico. Both are outstanding Representatives as it comes to energy transformation but also outspoken voices about job creation, job retention as it relates to energy policy.

Representative Inslee, because we are all, the three of us, partners in this new developed SEEC, the coalition that is provided for a Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, a group that has brought together soundness of thinking and the advancement of progressive policy. You serve as a cochair of that panel on which both Representative Lujan and I serve. And so this evening if you would just share your comments with us about job potential as it relates to energy as an arena.

Absolutely. Thank you, Representative Inslee.

You talk about energy efficiency. I think we need to regard energy efficiency as our fuel of choice. We should give it highest priority because, for too long, supply-side solutions were encouraged without any addressing of demand side. We have a gluttonous dependency on whatever fuel mix we have in this country. We have got to do it with more efficiency. And I think that the kilowatt hours saved represent those cheapest that we need address into the future. The plant you never have to build will be the outcome here that provides for the cheapest kilowatt addressed.

We set a record, an historic record, with the $70 billion worth of investment in energy transformation, in renewables and energy efficiency and R&D through ARPA-E. All of this is a record proportion in this country's history. If it were a stand-alone bill outside of the Recovery Act, that would be the case. And so we can take great pride. There are people who are advancing this agenda because we know it is the right thing to do. And as you indicated, competing nations out there are already deeply invested into the race. We do not have the luxury to sit by idly and lull in some sort of sense of complacency and believe that we can escape this race. We need to be in it as we were in the Space Race in the sixties.

You're absolutely right. And I'm very proud to serve on Science and Tech as a committee assignment in this House with Representative Ben Lujan. We see, firsthand by that committee assignment the innovation that is sparked, that the policy we're developing is investing in all of this intellect here in the States, in the United States where we can provide these opportunities; many are shelf-ready. We're not even utilizing those. So we need to advance those efforts. Science and Tech is a good way. The SEEC Coalition, the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, is a great opportunity on which all three of us serve.

Representative Lujan, I know you have great thoughts about where we can go with energy policy. You're an outspoken voice, to your credit. It's great to have you here this evening.

Thank you. It's also a way to clean the environment. You know, the ripple effects of this whole exercise are so great that they reach out over the spectrum of jobs in so many dimensions. There are the trades that Representative Inslee mentioned a while ago. There are those with a bachelor's degree or an associate's degree, a master's degree, a Ph.D., all are brought to the table because we need the strengths of every one of those sectors of the work force to respond to this energy innovation. And I saw from where I sat prior to my entry here in Congress, as President and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy, Research and Development Authority, where job creation was a big part of the outcome, whether we're retrofitting a factory to make it smarter.

Many are suggesting, well, we can't compete in a global marketplace because the workforce is paid so little in some other communities, in some other global communities. That may be true. But what we also can do is work smarter, and the working smarter is where you embrace the intellectual capacity of this country and put it to work for our manufacturing sector, put it to work for the businesses across this country, where we can reduce that cost of energy, reduce the cost of their products and then make them more viable on the global scene, where we sharpen that competitive edge, don't dull it with the exorbitantly high cost of energy, and where innovation and intellect are not embraced in a way that can really make a difference. We see it all the time.

Representative Inslee, I know you want to hop in here because you are that outspoken voice from the west coast, if we might add.

I think the point you make is a very important one. There are so many strategies that we can utilize, so many approaches to network with consumers out there, be they residential, business, commercial, industrial, we can reach them because there are ways with these quick payback periods that come with much of this retrofitting or with the energy or conservation measures that we can utilize the efficiency efforts.

We can show people where they can recapture that money that was invested simply through savings in their energy bill. And I think what happens also is that as it catches on in a way that inspires one another, neighborhoods, communities and States start getting into programs, and it spreads; the good news spreads.

We did, when I was at NYSERDA, a dairy program that invested in energy efficiency at dairy farms. Now they were not getting what they believed was a fair enough price, and I agree with them, for their product. We couldn't control that at a State level, but we could reduce their costs of production. And we did it by reducing, through energy efficiency, their energy bill. And they would take pumping and cooling processes at the farm, they would take all of the elements that needed to be put into the process, the business plan of that dairy farmer, and reduced, in a very clever way, by working with Cornell University, working with the local utility, working with NYSERDA, and working with the Farm Bureau, we came up with a program that really saved a lot of farms.

Today that program is very popular in a couple of counties in the State of New York where the demonstration was begun. And it is something that could be stretched through time over a larger bit of geography for many farmers to utilize such a program.

When Representative Inslee talked about the school system and saving the schools money so that they could then, with that fungible notion of that budget, transfer some of those savings over to investment in the classroom, that's great. But I also think we teach by example.

Our students watch what we are doing. I spoke at a high school graduation this summer at North Colonie School System at Shaker High, about 500 or so graduates, and incorporated all of the talk about energy transitioning, innovation economy and the need to protect the environment and strengthen the environment. I have to tell you, throughout the course

of the summer, so many students from that high school reached out to me. They would see me and in casual conversation they would support the statements that you offered, the ideas that you were sharing at their graduation. They are going to push us. They are going to push these generations that are today making decisions to move forward with a progressive plan, with an idea that really saves our Earth and allows this economy to jump-start.

I think of that idealism, and I take myself back 40 years. what a great opportunity to shake the hands of the Apollo 11 team a couple months ago in July when everyone was in town celebrating the 40th anniversary of having won that space race. The U.S. landed a person on the Moon, and look at the technology improvements that came from that race. And we won it.

We need that same passionate resolve to enter into this race. We don't have the luxury to say we won't enter this clean energy global race. We know there are other partners already out there. And in my heart, I totally believe that we can win this race. But we can't afford to sit by because China, India, Japan and Germany--Germany is investing in solar PV hot water systems where they are training a niche of plumbers to retrofit homes where they are using the sun to power the hot water needs that they need. It's available.

All these opportunities are there. We simply need to move forward.

Representative Inslee, you wanted to jump in.

Thank you, Representative Inslee, and thank you not only for your dedication to the efforts of reforming energy policy, but your determination to keep fighting to that finish line. And it's that kind of advocacy that will get it done. We thank you for joining us this evening.

Representative Lujan, we hear about the messaging that is so important about creating jobs. We have an environment out there that needs to be strengthened, cleaned and protected. We have energy crises of various types that need to be resolved. And all of this can respond to a job crisis in this Nation and in this world.

There are hurting economies. There's a recession that went deeper and longer than many projected. There was a deficit inherited by this administration that was developed over the course of 8 years that really puts this economy into a hurting situation.

And so now it's our task, the Obama administration's challenge, to take that deficit inherited that really destroyed an economy, and now we have the opportunity to rebuild that economy but, at the same time, to respond in a way to the dynamics out there of energy reform, of environment, of strengthening the environment response, and at the same time, developing jobs of all types, from the trades on over to the Ph.D.s.

I know that you're in the middle of that battle. I know from your statements made in the Science and Technology Committee and from your statements made on the floor that no one can second guess where your heart is and where your thinking is on this issue.

Well, Representative Lujan, what I believe you're expressing here is the greatness of America. And that is driven by a belief, a set of values, a skill set, an investment in education that says we have succeeded in the past, we can continue to succeed, and we will succeed because the success that is driven oftentimes is determined by a tone that is established. This administration has said, enough with these deficits that were created that we inherited and now we have to resolve. We have to move forward with an investment that carries us through these dark times that were developed.

And how do we do that? Well, you and I, both working through the Sustainable Energy and the Environment Coalition--SEEC, as is commonly referenced--heard from the former minister of energy from Denmark. He talked about transitioning that economy of Denmark, transitioning their energy thinking. Afterward, I talked to him and said, Just how did you do it? Some of the ideas were driven by the American think tank. They took patents from this country and they deployed that thinking into their economy and they invested in their economy. Well, now that's sharp thinking. That's the sort of efficiency that we all should strive for in government.

Now, in this process we need to invest, yes, in the R&D, but we need to then transition those discoveries in the lab, those whiz-kid ideas. We need to take those and deploy them to manufacturing, we need to deploy them to the commercialization sector, so as to realize the discovery here in a way that provides for improvements in society and new responses to energy crises.

Well, just recently the President traveled to my district, to the capital region of New York, to Hudson Valley Community College. We have been talking about the wonderful economy, regional economy, that has been a foundation, a fertile ground for fostering the thinking of nanoscience and semiconductor as an industry. There is that fertile investment that now is anxious to couple with Federal thinking, with Federal resources.

And so the President showcased this wonderful thinking in the region, through the community college, developing curricula for green-collar workforce development; dealing with construction majors who will know state-of-the-art solar or PV installation; working with all those budding scientists and skill sets from the trade sector that are going to be there to transition us.

So he talked about the investment in human terms, in capital terms, in ways that will allow us to now transition. This is how we grow out of this deficit situation, which we inherited from no sense of vision and from poor management of resources. Now we're going to work together to develop energy plans, to work on a situation that grows jobs.

This is all about growing jobs. We hear it all across America. People are looking for jobs. This is a good way to develop those jobs--R&D jobs, manufacturing jobs. Once you invest in that so-called ``valley of death'' where there isn't that network of Federal resources to be matched with the angel network and the venture capitalists that take the idea from the lab, from the investment, from both the private sector, academia, or maybe even government, taking that and transitioning it over into the commercial sector, into the manufacturing sector--that is the resource we need.

And when the President traveled to the district, he heard how we needed to connect those dynamics so that the confluence of those ideas and those resources spell success, spell new ideas. The American intellect is so very capable of making that happen. That is the greatness of America. And we can underscore that greatness by investing and inserting the sort of policy that makes the total difference here.

Again, we don't have the luxury to wait. We cannot sit by in some sort of idle complacency that finds us comfortable with where we're at today without stretching, without transforming, without moving forward in a way that we did 40 years ago with the space race. And we were proud when we won that.

When I was a kid, we heard Sputnik all the time--in school, at home, at church, wherever you traveled in the community. People were passionate about making that happen. We were going to move forward, we were going to invest. We shared a vision. We fine-tuned that vision as an American people and then won that prize by landing that person on the moon. That influenced all sorts of technology growth and inspiration.

We have that same golden opportunity here. What a mistake if we're to let it go by. We will fail generations to come if we do not seize this moment and make it work in policy terms, in investment terms, in resource terms, in a way that spells a new day for energy generation, energy efficiency, and energy investment through R&D.

Representative Lujan, I know that working on these several projects, we can make a difference.

Representative Lujan, I couldn't agree more. And I really do believe that many of us were sparked--our interest was sparked by just the vision that we shared and by the news that we would hear on a daily basis. We'd come home from school and hear it on the night news. That sparked so many people to look at math, at science, at engineering, because we had leaders that really saw that we had this greatness of potential within us.

So everyone marched along in this chorus of belief that we could make the world a better place. There was a sense of global community. There was a commitment of this Nation to really lead in a way that provided for great outcomes.

That sort of leadership is coming back here. I think that this administration, the leadership here with Speaker Pelosi and the leaders of so many committees in this House see it, they get it. They know we can solve this job crisis by bringing in the nuances of energy reform, of health care reform, of providing for a jobs agenda.

You know, when you look at some of these issues where you take nanoscience within my district, where they're really developing this precision testing--the mass production of the past Industrial Revolution was about a great idea, perhaps started in your garage and then developed into a factory-size space because you had to meet demand. Well, today it's about precision. As you pointed out, something as thin as a strand of hair will be what they're working on.

And so the prototyping, the testing, the evaluating, are all elements of success. Very pricey. And so there's a role here for the Federal Government to insert itself, to say, Look, you're an entrepreneur; you're a budding scientist; you're an emerging technology that's being driven by your intellect. Let us partner with you, let us partner with the angel network, with the investor communities, so that we can take this idea and make it real and put it on the shelf. That's what it's all about.

Other countries are using our ideas--and our ideas are still those that are driven by an investment in education, in higher education. So this is a full set of circumstances by which we will govern ourselves, our thinking, in a way that transitions this economy. That's what it's about, the innovation economy. And yes, there's a jobs crisis. But yes, we saw what the deficit that had been going far too long did to our employment issue. Did this happen overnight? Did this just happen 3 months ago? Did we just start to lose jobs just weeks ago? I don't think so. But now the transitioning into an innovation economy is driven by heart and the mind--the thinking here that we can do better and we will do better. And that's what it's all about. It's taking the stand and making certain that we invest our way through some very difficult times.

Absolutely. And it's responding to the needs of middle- income America, working families across this country, who are part of the solution. They are part of the solution. We need simply to bring everybody together into a working semblance that then allows us to move forward.

You know, I think of the wind energy efficiency bill that I got passed in this House that started in the Science and Tech Committee, taking a step back to look at how we can improve not only the placement but the wind forecasting. But also the manufacturing, the materials that are utilized. The gear assembly. How do we do this? Well, you couple that with the nanoscience sector and you can take that nanoscience growth, that intellect that's being developed, that's being fostered in the various centers of nanotechnology, and couple them with perhaps agriculture or pharmaceutical as an industry, or the health care industry, certainly the energy industry, and produce stronger materials, lighter materials, more durable materials, working on situations that provide for the greatest efficient outcome with the resources that we invest.

I look at kinetic hydropower that was used as a demonstration project at NYSERDA, where I used to serve as president and CEO. We used the turbulence of the East River along the island of Manhattan, and we utilized that water movement to turn the turbines sub water to create power needs for Roosevelt Island. Well, that's just a snippet of the imagination that can be tapped into.

Today, after improvements through the DOE lab in Colorado, we're now looking at the potential of 1,100 megawatts of power produced by kinetic hydro. That's just a sampling of what can happen. We see geothermal and its potential. I was there for a ribbon-cutting for a project at the Culinary Institute of America utilizing

geothermal to help run the campus activities.

All of this has immense potential, immeasurable at times, and all we have to do is unleash the talent. A leading Nation such as ours cannot, again, be complacent. And we need to continually energize our thinking and our behavior. No lead nation can allow itself to slip backward. Unless we encourage our workforce and our students out there, our youth, to desire, to invent, and discover and explore, we will not maintain a leadership status.

So I agree with you, for those who are agents of no, for those who wanted to settle for the status quo, those who are perhaps using partisan approaches to deny progress with this administration, need not put the burdens and the hurdles before us.

We need to march forward in progress, sharing a boldness of vision, created by a situation here that has really triggered the need for the American ingenuity, the American intellect, and the American resolve to move us forward.

Representative Lujan, it's great to have you here this evening.

Well, I agree. And thank you for leadership like that that you have provided, because it's that advocacy, that voice of can-do that will make the difference. I think of the opportunity that we have to make solar a legacy piece.

Representative Giffords introduced her solar efficiency roadmap legislation, and allowing for us to look again at the efficiencies that we can drive into the solar discussion, the solar outcome, we should create a legacy piece of that. We need to look at thin film and R&D that can put us into a situation where we discover the materials that can shave the priciness of some of these renewable opportunities that then make them all the more competitive, make them all the more connected to consumer behavior out there.

You know, if we can utilize the sun, and if we can utilize water, and if we can utilize the wind, and if we can utilize the soil to provide for our needs in a benign way, then what a tremendous legacy, what a tremendous bit of progress to leave that next generation as they will continue to grow upon our success stories. But what a tragedy if we're to look back and say that we thought status quo was fine, that 40 years ago we won a space race and we were content to sit still. Nothing could be more un-American than that thinking.

So in this House, in this loftiness, we require lofty thinking, and that's what it's about. I'm so proud of this majority in that they do speak in lofty terms, Madam Speaker. I think this is the way we get things done, and I am just impressed with what I see here being brought forward not only in resolve for an energy problem or problems or with environmental concerns, but in job creation, where we're allowing as a down payment a half million jobs with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but then looking at the millions of jobs that come forward through a program like ACES, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, that allows us to, again, think outside that barrel and say, That's not good enough for us.

Fossil-based fuels, you know, the dependency to send hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign economies where there are unfriendly governments that are utilizing those monies in their Treasury that are poured in from the American pockets and then fight us as terrorist regimes or what have you, we have got to step back and say, There is a better way. And there is a better way, and we're promoting it. We're advancing it here, and it's all in the name of job creation, job retention, which I believe is a benefit that is immeasurable in its kind.

Madam Speaker, we thank you for the opportunity this evening to share sentiments on behalf of Democrats in the House who are advancing the notion of progressive energy policy, of resources that will enable us to think in new capacity as we speak to the energy needs of this Nation all while advancing the notion of jobs. We thank you for that opportunity.

Representative Lujan, any closing comments?

Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

I would like to take a moment to honor a very special 75th anniversary celebrated by two of my constituents, Morris and Gertrude Solomon. Morris and Gertrude were married in New York City on November 16, 1934. Two years later, in 1936, they moved to Albany, where they have resided ever since.

Upon moving to Albany, Morris bought his own pharmacy, where he served mostly the children of immigrants, as Morris himself was an immigrant, and he earned the nickname Doc. His credit plan during World War II and difficult economic times was ``pay me when you can.''

Gert stayed home raising Harold and Barry. Afterwards, she went to work for the State of New York, retiring in 1976, the same year that Moe sold the drugstore and retired. They have five children and five great grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, this year Gert and Moe both celebrated their 97th birthdays. May their 75th wedding anniversary be an occasion for all of us to reflect on their many extraordinary achievements, and an occasion to celebrate life, love, and a unique closeness between two incredibly strong and caring individuals. Their relationship with one another, their family, and their community is a model to emulate.

Congratulations to this wonderful couple.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak in support of the Affordable Health Care for America Act, one of the most important pieces of legislation this body has considered since the passage of Medicare in 1965 and Social Security in 1935.

Mr. Speaker, every Member of this body has been listening to her or his constituents, and they are saying that they are ready for health insurance reform. They need health insurance reform.

We listened when seniors said they wanted better care from their doctors, and the doughnut hole eliminated. This bill does that. We listened when young adults told us they were having trouble finding insurance and wanted to stay on their parents' insurance until age 27. This bill does that. We listened when the uninsured told us heartbreaking stories about going without needed health care and asked us to give them affordable, quality health care insurance. This bill does that. We listened when the insured told us they were paying too much for insurance and they needed more protections for their health insurance. This bill does that.

Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have not listened. They are offering a substitute bill that would not accomplish any of the things our constituents have asked for. Instead, they are offering a bill that does not end the discrimination based on preexisting conditions; does not reduce the number of uninsured Americans; does not offer assistance to those struggling to afford health insurance; does not repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurers; and does not stop price gouging by insurance companies. Our bill does all these things and more.

Mr. Speaker, the Affordable Health Care for America Act not only brings quality health care within reach of tens of millions of Americans, it enhances the care that those with insurance and Medicare already receive. This bill is as much about the insured as it is about the uninsured. It is a monumental bill. I urge defeat of the Republican substitute and, indeed, encourage passage of H.R. 3962.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of health insurance reform for many reasons but especially for how it helps the 50 million Americans living in rural areas.

There are three main problems people in rural America face when it comes to the current health care system: lack of choice of affordable health insurance, lack of access to health care providers, and certainly a lack of access to quality health care and preventative care.

Our health insurance reform bill, H.R. 3962, addresses all of these issues and more for rural Americans.

Fifteen percent of people living in rural areas live in poverty, and one in five uninsured Americans lives in rural areas. This bill will extend coverage, and the public option will give choice to Americans living in rural areas. This bill will make coverage affordable. It will invest in our health care infrastructure by training thousands of new doctors, nurses, and other health care providers and will put them on the ground where they're needed, especially in our rural areas.

Finally, this bill gives all Americans free access to preventative care and encourages and rewards high-quality care. It is what we need in rural America and across the country.

Mr. Speaker, in January, President Obama took office while facing the worst economic crisis in generations.

Faced with that tremendous challenge, President Obama and the Democratic Congress responded with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an aggressive plan to jump-start our economy and to create jobs.

As we look back on the Recovery Act's first 8 months, its success in averting catastrophe is clear. We are not out of the woods yet, and much more work remains to create good jobs and to lower unemployment; but there are positive signs that the recession is over and that the economic policies pursued by the Democrats are starting to work.

Just last week, the Obama administration made important announcements to invest $3.4 billion into the smart energy grid and into the first round of awards under the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, or the ARPA-E program. These announcements by the administration show that the Recovery Act is working, giving investors the confidence they need to leverage private funds to create new clean-energy jobs to put people back to work and to revolutionize the way we power our economy and drive American innovation.

Mr. Speaker, the American people elect us to serve as innovators and problem solvers. I am an engineer; I see a problem, and I come up with a solution. The Democratic Party is a party of solutions, especially when it comes to health insurance reform.

So I ask you today, Mr. Speaker, where are the Republican solutions? One hundred and thirty-three days ago, my friends from the Republican side of the aisle said they were going to have a comprehensive plan. Where is that plan, and just what are those solutions?

Democrats have already pledged to make the merged health reform bill public for 72 hours before it is considered on the floor. Will Republicans promise to do the same?

Given the status quo of health insurance coverage in the United States, it appears as if Republicans want to continue to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, force families into bankruptcy because of health care costs, stifle the growth of business, and continue to play politics as usual by defending insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. Then they should also be happy to be labeled the party of ``no.''