Ric Keller

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 2638--The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009:

Requesting Member: The Honorable Ric Keller.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638--The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009.

Account: Army National Guard Operations and Maintenance, Operating Forces, Budget Activity #1 to acquire and field the Weapon Skills Trainer (WST).

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Cubic Defense Applications.

Address of Requesting Entity: 2001 W. Oak Ridge Road, Orlando, FL 32809.

Description of Request: Provide $3,000,000 to the Florida National Guard to purchase new WSTs in order to train and prepare Florida National Guard service men and women to be combat ready upon deployment.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638--The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009.

Account: Army/Army National Guard, Other Procurement, Line #169, Training Devices, Nonsystem, for the Mobile Virtual Training Capability (MVTC) for the Army National Guard.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Coalescent Technologies.

Address of Requesting Entity: 731 North Garland Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801.

Description of Request: Provide $2,500,000 to the Florida National Guard to purchase new MVTC programs, which provide required training and a highly realistic training environment, with photo-realistic models, real-world maps, and accurately simulated weapons systems.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638--The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009.

Account: Air Force, Other Procurement (Air Force), Budget Line #308F, Procurement Line #9, PE #41214F, for the Halvorsen 25K Loader.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: FMC Technologies.

Address of Requesting Entity: 7300 Presidents Drive, MD11, Orlando,

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I rise today as a proud supporter and cosponsor of H.R. 3232, the Travel Promotion Act. I would like to tell you why I support it, how it works and what the benefits are.

Why I support it, I represent the world's number one vacation destination, Orlando, Florida. We have 49 million tourists a year, mainly because my fine city is home to Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World and many other exciting theme parks.

Forty-nine million tourists a year represents 46 million tourists domestically, but only 3 million internationally. You would think that Orlando and the other tourist destinations throughout the United States would be a good value now for European travelers, particularly with the weak American dollar. But we are not seeing that. In fact, our international tourism numbers are down to levels lower than they were before 9/11. Even though domestic travel is up 13 percent, international travel is down 6 percent.

Other countries spend millions of dollars to promote international tourism. We don't. Unfortunately, a lot of travelers in Europe and other continents mistakenly think that the process of entry and visas and security is a lot more complicated than it really is.

So, how would this legislation work? This legislation provides $200 million

to promote international tourism through marketing overseas and communicating U.S. security and entry policies. It spends this $200 million without one penny being charged to taxpayers. Half of the money comes from the private sector, the other half is paid for by foreign travelers.

Now, what is the benefit of this legislation? It will create thousands of jobs. One of my employers alone provides 60,000 jobs. One out of four people in my area is employed in the tourism industry.

Expert studies show that this legislation will generate up to $1 billion a year in an additional tax revenues. This is legislation that is key to stimulating the economy, at a time when we need the economy stimulated the most.

I want to close by pointing out the broad bipartisan support that this legislation has. We have 243 cosponsors. I want to especially congratulate the lead sponsors of this legislation, Mr. Delahunt of Massachusetts and the minority whip, Mr. Blunt of Missouri. They have worked on this legislation for many years and pushed very hard to finally get us a floor vote. I am proud to join them today as a cosponsor and proud of their hard work.

I want to urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes on H.R. 3232. Let's be in favor of the Travel Promotion Act, and let's create some jobs at a time when we need them the most.

Mr. Speaker, when a single mom in Orlando, Florida, is paying $80 to fill up her minivan, that's a crisis. It's a crisis that this Democratic energy bill does not address.

Now, why doesn't it address it? Democratic colleagues at the Sierra Club, the head of the Sierra Club said, ``We're better off without cheap gas.'' Well, let's look at the specifics. There is no ANWR in this bill whatsoever, even though it's the single largest untapped source of oil in the United States of America.

With 10.4 billion barrels of oil available, that's enough to provide all of Florida's energy needs for 29 years. It's enough to give us 1 million barrels of oil a day every single day for the next 30 years, but it's nowhere in the bill.

Why? Because we're better off without cheap gas, according to the Democrats and their colleagues. Well, we are not better off without cheap gas, we are better off without cheap political stunts, and that's what this Democratic energy bill is.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on it and give us an up-or-down vote on the American Energy Act.