Floor Statements

I appreciate the gentleman for yielding.

Ohio and Indiana are going to be especially hard hit under the cap- and-tax, cap-and-trade system. I think it's important to start off with what the President said last year, Under my plan of cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to the consumers.

And I tell you, my friend, that's what scares me. As the gentleman from Utah was just saying, pointing out the amount of money that's going to be collected under the system is absolutely scary.

Ohio, Indiana. I would like to point a few of these out.

I represent in Ohio the 5th Congressional District, the largest manufacturing district in the State, also the largest agricultural district in the State of Ohio. And when we're talking about cap-and- trade, cap-and-tax back home, it has businesses and farmers scared. Why is that?

The Heritage Foundation, not too long ago, put together what they call this manufacturing vulnerability index. It takes how many manufacturing jobs that you have in your district and also with the type of energy mostly that your State uses--in our case, and also if you look at Indiana, Ohio is at 87.2 percent coal while Indiana is at 94.2 percent coal.

The problem with it, as you see, we have a very high vulnerability. When you take these numbers and go across--a lot of times when you were in school you wanted to be at the top, when you were playing sports you wanted to be at the top. This is one chart you don't want to be at the top of. The Ohio 5th Congressional District ranks number three in the most vulnerable districts in the State of Ohio when it comes under the cap-and-tax, cap-and-trade notion.

What's happening right now? We've been in a tough recession. Again, being the largest manufacturing district in the State of Ohio, we're suffering. And fortunately when the announcements were made from General Motors yesterday, we did not lose our General Motors plant, but just nearby in the 4th Congressional District, they are going to be closing. But a lot of my people work in those plants.

So what does this mean? One of my counties right now, which is right in the corner of Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, it's the highest unemployment rate in the State of Ohio. Williams County. Over 16 percent. You have hardworking men and women up there that want to go to a job every day; but because of this recession that we're in, they're not getting to a job.

What we gotta do is we've got to get these people back to work. But the thing is--that's already been mentioned by my friend in Georgia-- it's going to be very difficult to retain, expand and create new jobs if we're in a situation where we're not going be able to compete around the world. How is that?

If you look at these numbers right here with Indiana and Ohio, if you tip this down to the 20th Congressional District that's going to be hit by cap-and-tax, 16 of those districts are from Ohio and Indiana. It's not very enviable when Indiana and Ohio split eight each in the vulnerability of our jobs into the future under cap-and-tax. And it's going to be very difficult for businesses to survive.

Every week when I get home, I try to be in my district at a plant or in a business. And not too long ago, I was in another factory--and these factories are all pretty much holding on to what they got. It might be that they're not able to go out there and keep people employed. So a lot of them are doing, you know, if we cut back and cut back the number of hours people are working, if management takes a cut, if they try to do anything in-house and not do any contracting out, what happens is they're trying to hold on to the jobs they got.

However, there are a lot of factories in my district that are working 5, 6 days a week. Now they've got people working four 10-hour-shift days. The problem with that is people aren't working overtime. They're not getting money to put in the bank. They're not getting more money out there because--in my district I have the largest washing machine plant in the world. In a good year, they're producing over 6 million washing machines. We can produce anything in northwest, north central Ohio when it comes on the automotive side. But, again, these companies are hurting.

You have got companies out there that supply the auto plants and if you're in tier 2 or tier 3, you're in trouble. They say, Well, it's going to be rationalized--I think the term was down the street--that we're going to have to rationalize what's going to happen to these. A good term for that is ``you're out of business.'' Where are these people going to go? We've got a domino effect that's going to be happening. But this domino effect is going to be happening more rapidly if these companies cannot afford power.

Again, in Ohio, 87.2 percent of our power is coal generated. Indiana, again, is 94.2. So we can't have that going on because when we're talking about these numbers, we're talking about a catastrophe in the making.

I just wanted to show this chart. Again, this is the top eight districts in the State of Ohio. They're going to be affected by cap- and-tax. I would like to show you the bottom eight.

Well, as we start down the list, that being as least affected with a manufacturing vulnerability index ranking of only 3.2 percent is Mr. Waxman's district. When you go down to Speaker Pelosi's district it only gets down to a 2.2. And, again, we're talking about Ohio and Indiana, districts in the 100 percent, the 98 percent range.

Out in California they're using a lot of nuclear; they're using a lot of natural gas. So these areas in the country aren't going to be hit.

People say, back home, Bob, who's asking for this? We're in a catastrophe

here in the Midwest. Who's asking for this?

If you look at a map, go from California to Oregon to Washington, you know these are very low vulnerability with these States. You go from the east coast, very low vulnerability. Not a lot of manufacturing, not a lot of coal.

So when you look at this, who's getting hit the hardest? The Midwest. Those States that are the industrial heartland of America, those men and women who get up every day, pack that lunch box and get to work are the ones that are going to be affected.

And as the gentleman mentioned from Georgia, what's going to happen?

Well, if we can't manufacture cheaply in the United States and compete against the rest of the world--and the rest of the world today is China, India and that area--what are they going to be doing about it? There is some talk around here and at the White House, We're going to go over and talk to the Chinese and say we would like you to cap your emissions. That's what all of this is about, capping carbon emissions. There is not one person in this Chamber that would say that they want to have pollution. But we have to manufacture in a way that can be done that we can compete. When you're looking at these numbers, it's going to hurt the Midwest.

But what happened when the Chinese were questioned about the whole notion of what are we going to do about cap-and-tax, especially when it comes to China? China's philosophy is this--and it was a quote that was in the Washington Times not too long ago. Their minister said this: You don't understand the problem. We only produce it. You consume it. If you hadn't consumed it, we wouldn't have produced it. So you pay any of the tax that might come from this.

They don't want to get involved in it. They are not going to get involved in it. So what we're putting around the legs of the manufacturing in the United States is a ball and chain. We're saying, Okay, we're going to throw you in a hundred feet of water and you better start swimming somehow. That's what this Congress is advocating, and it can't be done because America cannot compete under those standards.

We have got to be on an equal playing field with the rest of the world. If we don't have that, we're going to be in a situation where American jobs are going to be lost to overseas.

I said about my district, I have some of the highest unemployment in the State of Ohio. Again, high manufacturing, and we cannot afford to be in a situation where we have this type of situation where we're going to be hurting the heartland of America under this policy. And as I mentioned, we've got businesses out there hanging on by their fingertips and all we've got to do is put this chain around them and they're not going to be able to survive into the future.

A lot of things are being advocated when you're talking about carbon capture and sequestration. That technology, in a lot of cases, is not even available and it's untested. And we're telling businesses we're going to have to be doing some of this into the future. Impossible.

Businesses out there, they're going to say, How are we going to do this? Some of the businesses out there that are owned by multinationals across Ohio and the Midwest--you know, I've had some companies tell me, We don't have to be in Ohio. We don't have to be in the United States. We can go over to our Pacific Rim countries and produce the product and bring it back to the United States probably at a cheaper rate than you can do it right here in the United States. And they're saying that, but they want to stay here; but if we do this, if this cap-and-tax gets passed, America is going to suffer, America is going to lose jobs.

And when you look at some of these numbers that the Heritage Foundation has brought forward, they're looking at by the year 2035, it's reducing the aggregate gross domestic product by $9.6 trillion. Destroy 1.1 million jobs per year on average with the peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2.479 million jobs.

Again, as has been mentioned by my friend in Georgia, increasing the average American cost of living by 2035, $4,300. Where are Americans going to come up with this money?

If you are getting cut back on your hours right now at your plant, you're not going to have additional dollars, and then we're going to have the Federal Government mandating these things. There are not going to be any Federal dollars.

Raising electricity rates by 90 percent. Again, when you look at this vulnerability, you look at the Midwest. You look at the companies that are out there that have to have that base load capacity every day to turn those machines on to keep America running. They are not going to be able to do it. Pass this bill and that's what you're going to get.

We're going to see gasoline prices rise by 74 percent. Right now, you're looking at gas increasing. It was really nice for a while there this past year when we were looking at about $1.63 gasoline in northwest Ohio. Well, the other day when I got gas before I came back to Washington, it was $2.52. And people were saying to me at those gas pumps, When is it going to stop?

I say, if you pass this bill, you're going to watch gasoline prices skyrocket. Eighty percent of everything that is brought into Ohio in goods is brought in by truck. So, again, those prices are going to go up.

Agricultural prices are going to go up because the fuel that's needed to make the fertilizer, the fuel for the tractors to make sure that you can harvest, all of these things are going to go up. The drying of the grain. All prices are going up. Again, when these numbers that they're talking about how can you come up with $4,300, when you look at your electricity, your gasoline--you go right down the line--the food you put on the table, these prices are going to go up.

Raise residential national gas prices by 55 percent. And then increase the inflation-adjusted Federal debt by 26 percent or $29,150 additional Federal debt per person again after adjusting for inflation.

We can't afford this. We cannot afford this, and we can't have this happen.

But my friends let me tell you, there's not one person that's not for clean energy, and here the Americans want something, and the Republican Party has come up in this House with a strategy.

And last week during the break, several of us were in Pittsburgh and Indiana and California stressing the need to make sure that we have this nuclear being stressed. There's a nuclear power plant in California that supplies 10 percent of that State's needs, and the last time we've even been able to site a new plant in this country was 1977.

So we can do it in this country by just having what we've got, by making sure we use our clean coal technology, to use nuclear. Get out there, get the oil, the natural gas, we use the hydro, the geothermal, and then of course on all the others. We have the wind, the solar, the ethanol, the biodiesel. We can do it, but we've got to have an all-of- the-above policy, but we cannot go with this cap-and-tax because, again, it's a jobs killer for America, and I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker:

Whereas, Congressman Robert E. Latta extends his congratulations on the occasion of the One-Hundred Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Village of Ottawa, Ohio; and

Whereas, Ottawa, Ohio has been a proud member of the Northwest Ohio community since 1833; and

Whereas, the citizens of Ottawa, Ohio provide friendship and tradition to all those in Northwest Ohio; and

Whereas, Ottawa, Ohio has a long history of fostering business, education, and community relationships; therefore, be it

Resolved, The people of Northwest Ohio are grateful for the service of the citizens and employers of Ottawa, Ohio. Ohio's Fifth Congressional District is well served by their dedication and support. We wish Ottawa, Ohio all the best during its celebration the One- Hundred Seventy-Fifth anniversary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to have this hour with my colleagues to talk about a very, very important issue facing this country.

The issue that's facing this Congress is cap-and-tax. Why is it important? Well, as you can see from this chart right here, Cap-and-Tax Vulnerability by State. I'm from Ohio. I represent the largest manufacturing district in the State of Ohio as well as representing the largest agricultural district in the State of Ohio.

If you see from this map where it says, the vulnerability key from high, medium and low, you will see that Ohio, along with a good part of the Midwest, is all facing a very, very tough time under this proposal.

At the same time I know when I am back home, I talk to the folks; and they say, Well, who's proposing this? I say, If you look from California to Washington. You go from Washington, D.C., up the coast to Maine, that's where it is. You look at that--very low vulnerability. That concerns me. It concerns me because, as I said, manufacturing is the lifeblood in my district. I would like to talk about it for just a few minutes.

First, every week I go out in my district. I go out in that district, and I go into plants. We manufacture everything from car parts, to batteries, to windshields, to washing machines. You name it, we make it.

My district, when people say, What's your largest city? It's my hometown of about 30,000 people. So over 140 miles east to west we have a lot of small manufacturers out there. We have large manufacturers. We have a large General Motors power train plant. When you keep going across, you have a Chrysler plant. We have a furniture

manufacturing plant. As I mentioned, we have a washing machine plant.

We go across it, and then we have a lot of smaller ones. We have plants that might employ 50, 100 people. But those are the folks that make this economy run because small business is the main economic engine for this country.

So when I see things like this where you look at the vulnerability, I see that right off the bat, we're in trouble. But we're also in trouble because Ohio, being a large manufacturing State in total, we have another situation out there. And that situation is this: When you look at the plants that we've had, we've had to grow, as our former Governor and now Senator George Voinovich used to always tell us when we were in the legislature together, that we had to work harder and smarter in the State of Ohio.

Well, a lot of factories are that way now. They don't employ as many people. But at the same time, we have watched a lot of these plants, because of the economic downturn, having to lay people off. Every week I go out into these plants. I remember one not too long ago I went into the plant, and they said, We'd like to take you in the back. They usually had around 180 employees. They said, We're down to about 70. They said, We make brass fittings; and with those brass fittings, they're in competition against the world. And of course that means the Chinese right now. They said, It costs us X number of dollars to make this product, and at the same time the Chinese can make it for 45 cents.

They can't have any more impact on them, especially if we're going to raise the price of energy. We can't have a national energy tax because if we do that, these companies are going to shut down, and they're never going to open up again.

Back in 1982 we were coming out of that recession that started back in the Carter years when--you might all remember--we had 21.5 percent interest rates, double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment rates. It was tough; but people still thought, When this thing's over, those factories are going to open up. I'm going to have my job back. Not so today. Not so today because when people start looking around-- and we're in a global economy.

I was a county commissioner of Wood County for 6 years. We used to compete against some parts of Ohio and over in Indiana and Michigan, but now we're competing against people on the other side of the globe, and they're going to eat our lunch if we're not careful.

When we have these situations, like I said, that you go into these plants, and these folks are saying, We can't have one more increase or we're out of business, they mean it.

Then the question is going to be when they come to me and say, Well, where am I going to get a job? Or like last weekend I spoke to a commencement address. I asked them beforehand, I said, Just out of curiosity, what would you like me to talk about? They said, What we'd really like you to talk about is telling our graduates what you're working on, what you're helping to try to do to make sure that--where we are going be when we come out of this tough economic situation that we're in. So you have to start these things off by saying, You know, I'm not going to paint you any kind of a rose-colored picture here.

If we work hard and we do the right things here in Congress, we're going to survive. But if we pass the wrong pieces of legislation, I can't go back to that same college in a couple of years and look at those next graduates coming up and say, You know what, you're going to have a job, because they might not. So what we have to do is think about these things.

Just to show you on another chart something that the Heritage Foundation put together, they took all 435 congressional districts. What they did was, they put together a manufacturing vulnerability index. They took what your State's percentage of energy usage from coal was, and then they took from each district the number of manufacturing jobs.

This is one of the times you don't want to be at the top of the list. My good friend from Indiana, who will be on in a couple minutes here, unfortunately ranks number one in vulnerability in this country because of the number of manufacturing jobs and coal generation in the State of Indiana. I'm number three because I have 80,623 manufacturing jobs, and we get 87.2 percent of our energy from coal. You put those two things together, and my manufacturing vulnerability index percentile rank is at 99.5 percent, which puts you at three.

When I go across my district, I can't go out there and say, Things are just fantastic. I'm telling them, Right now I want to try to keep you in business, but I will tell you, if we start passing these bills in this Congress to put a national energy tax on you, you're in trouble. And not only are you in trouble, but every generation coming up in Ohio is in trouble because these jobs aren't going to come back. These jobs are not going to come back.

When you look, as I said, from 1982 when people thought, Well, we are going to come back. Why? Because the United States was at the top of the heap. Today the Chinese have become, in 2009, the number one manufacturing country in the world. We got knocked off after over 100 years being on top. Not anymore. That's why we have to start thinking about our future. When you talk about what the folks want to do here, they need to look around the world a little bit.

Not too long ago in the Washington Times there was an interesting article. The headline was Chinese Official Aims Emissions Cost At Consumers. The folks here in Congress are saying, Well, it's not fair if we do all these things. We need to have the rest of the world cooperate with us. Well, guess what. Let me just read you one quote. This is from their lead climate negotiator in China who said this:

``As one of the developing countries, we are at the low end of the production line for the global economy. We produce products, and these products are consumed by other countries. This share of emissions should be taken by the consumer, not the producer.''

Interesting philosophy. They can produce it, but they're not going to pay anything for it. They want us, for consuming it, to pay that cost. But at the same time in this country what we're going to be doing is we're going to be paying on both ends because we're going to be paying to produce it. It's going to be very difficult for these manufacturing jobs in States like Ohio and Indiana to stay in one spot.

The one thing would be that they might say, We're going to leave and go to another State. But I've already had companies that are multinational say, You know what, we don't even have to be in Ohio. We don't have to be in the United States. We'll just produce it in another country. That's where we are. And I'll tell you what, the future is very bleak if we start looking at these things.

Last summer we talked about an all-of-the-above energy plan for this country, and the American people got it. Because first of all, the American people went to the gas station, and they saw, like in Bowling Green, Ohio, $4.19 for a gallon of gasoline. People understood right off the bat what was happening. But sometimes when they hear about cap- and-tax, cap-and-trade they say, Well, we're not really sure what that is. But it will affect everybody immediately when this thing starts.

Let me give you a couple of statistics here from a Heritage Foundation report. This is about the negative impacts on consumers. This is from the Heritage Foundation. By 2035 this legislation would, one, reduce the aggregate gross domestic product by $9.6 trillion, destroy 1.1 million jobs per year on average with the peak year seeing unemployment rise by over 2.5 million jobs, increase the average family cost of four by $4,800 a year, raise electricity rates by 90 percent, raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent, and increase inflation-adjusted Federal debt by 26 percent or an additional $29,150 per person after adjusting for inflation. That's what this cap-and-tax, this national energy tax is going to get us. This is a massive tax. We can't afford it.

Going back to this chart, when you look at the States that are using a lot of coal and you have a lot of manufacturing in your district, well, we can't take it.

Now, let's go to the bottom of the chart. For those that are in favor of it, you look at their percentile rank. Zero. Well, that's out in California. Very little manufacturing. When you look at

the number of manufacturing jobs in the bottom four of California, you've got 15,500 and 19,000 manufacturing jobs in a congressional district. Again, compare that with Indiana 3, which has almost 104,000 manufacturing jobs, you wonder why we're concerned about this in the Midwest. You wonder why we're concerned about this when we talk about making sure that our people have jobs in the future.

Let's think about the tax bases out there. We've got areas in the State of Ohio that are going to be devastated when you take these kinds of numbers, and we're not going to have these jobs anymore. What's going to happen to the local school districts? What's going to happen to the municipalities? What's going to happen to the fire departments? Everything? They're all going to be affected. So again, we can't afford this, and it's a tax on the American people. It is a loss of jobs that we can't afford in this country.

At this time I would like to recognize some of the other Members today that are here. My good friend, the gentlelady from Oklahoma, who I would like to recognize at this time.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. You have brought up some very good points, especially when you are talking about rural America. I know in my district when I go in the plants, one of the questions I always like to ask is how many folks have driven X number of miles? It is nothing for people in my district to drive 30 to 50 miles one way to go to manufacturing jobs. If those manufacturing jobs are not there or the cost of fuel is too high, they can't get there. That is

an excellent point. I'm glad you brought that up.

At this time, I would like to call on and yield to a good friend of mine from Ohio, the gentleman just to my south. Good afternoon.

I appreciate your being here. And you bring up an excellent point when you talk about jobs disappearing. Last summer, I was number 9 in the list the National Manufacturers Association puts out. I was number 9 in the United States in manufacturing jobs out of 435 districts. Earlier this year, I dropped to 13 already. And we are watching those jobs disappear from across Ohio and across this country. And you are absolutely right. We have a massive national energy tax. Those jobs aren't going to stay. They can't compete. And they are gone. So that is an excellent point. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

At this time, I would also like to introduce my good friend from Illinois who also represents manufacturing and what it can do to his State and also across the Midwest.

Well, I thank the gentleman, and he is absolutely correct. When you look at these margins that these companies are working with today, they are slim.

It's the same thing in my district. You know, I get in those plants every week. When I go in those plants, they show me what one blip of an electrical costs. I have massive, heavy energy users in my district, especially on the electrical side. With one blip, they could say, You know what? We're done. We'll go overseas. We don't need this, and we don't need one more Federal regulation. We don't need one more government bureaucrat telling us how to run our business, and we're out of business in this country.

Then what do we tell our constituents? What do we tell the next generation of Americans out there? That you don't have a job. What do you have to look forward to in the future? It's not very bright when you look at this piece of legislation.

You know, the President said when he was running for office that, Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system,

electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket.

That will cost money. They will pass that money on to the consumers. It goes from one to the next, and it's going to finally get down to those honest people who are going to try to be in those factories, making a product, finding out first they don't have jobs and, at the same time, that their electricity rates at home are just going to skyrocket. How are they going to make a living? How are those kids going to go to college?

I thank the gentleman.

At this time, I'd like to yield to my friend from Louisiana. Thank you.

I thank the gentleman.

If I could just comment on a couple of things that he said.

I think you're absolutely right. I know when they shut the lights on us right here on this floor last year when we were down here talking about energy--and it wasn't hard to remember that we were talking about 65 or more percent of all of the energy that we were consuming in this country was being imported in this country. I remember those T. Boone Pickens commercials saying the largest transfer of wealth in history was occurring. I believe the number was like $700 billion per year. And so when you see those things happening, it's hard not to get up here and speak out on that.

I yield back to the gentleman.

I would like to yield to the gentlelady from Oklahoma.

I recognize the gentlelady from Oklahoma.

I thank the gentlelady.

Congressman, thank you very much for hosting this extremely important Special Order tonight on cap-and-tax. It's an issue that I think every American had better learn about quickly.

I did a teletown hall last night, and we discussed it quite a bit because in my area we're hurting. Just to kind of give you a little bit of background on my area, according to the National Manufacturers Association, I represent the largest manufacturing district in the State of Ohio. Last summer I represented the ninth largest in Congress, but because of what's happened with the economy and jobs, I now represent the 13th largest manufacturing district in Congress.

One of the things that we hear about, as you were talking about, is what we are going to be doing about cap-and-tax in this country. It is something I think the American people need to know, if it is something we need to have. In my opinion, it will be something that will destroy jobs across this country.

You know, the Chinese were asked not too long ago, and it was reported in one of the Washington papers, what about cap-and-trade? What were they going to do about it? And they said, Well, you don't understand the situation. We only produce it. You, the United States, consume it. And if you hadn't consumed it, we wouldn't have produce it. So, therefore, you pay the tax.

I think there is a real quick answer where they are going to be coming from on this. If the United States wants to go it alone on this and say that we're going to put these standards down on the American people, on American manufacturing, we're in trouble.

What we have to do is cast our eyes across that pond and see what they did in Europe. They have what they called leakage. That leakage occurred once they started putting in their cap-and-trade policies, the next thing you knew was these companies started filtering out, leaking out, and then they started coming into the United States.

If we do this, we're going to have companies say, we can't afford it. We'll just move over. Because most of these are multinational. They'll move over into the Pacific rim, and we'll have more job losses.

Absolutely.

Well, what you have to do is look at this. What is this thing? We're talking about carbon, carbon credits.

To put this all into perspective, Ohio is a heavy user of coal when we turn our lights on. So if what they are saying is that we're really going to hit coal, Ohio and Indiana are going to be in deep trouble right off the bat. Indiana is even, we might say, in worse shape than we are. In Ohio about 87 percent of our usage to turn on our lights every day and run our factories is coal generated.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Again, you are absolutely correct.

What will happen is this: I represent an area that manufactures. We have General Motors. We have Chrysler. We make washing machines. We make furniture. We make all kinds of things in my district. Brass fittings. But when you implement this tax, this cost is going to be passed on from the utility companies to the manufacturers. And the next thing that will happen is, these companies are going to have a very hard time competing within a global economy.

I was in one of my district counties several weeks ago and went into one of the plants. They showed me two things. They said, this is the brass fitting that we make. This is the brass fitting that they make in China. You know, for like 45 cents they can do it over there, and it may cost us $3 or $4 to make the same type of product here.

The whole idea of putting cap-and-trade and raising this tax and passing it on to the manufacturers, we're not going to have any jobs left, not only in the 5th Congressional District but across the Midwest because with our heavy coal usage and with the number of manufacturing jobs.

The Heritage Foundation recently put out a study. What they did was, they looked at all 435 congressional districts. And what they said was, okay, we're going to look at the number of manufacturing jobs you have, and now we're going to also look at how much power usage is from coal, et cetera, going right down to natural gas through nuclear.

I have what you might consider the third worst district in the United States, according to the Heritage Foundation, when it comes to cap-and- trade because of the cost it will be to do business in my district.

I have companies in my district, because they use so much energy, a slight blip will make them have to think, is it even worth manufacturing in this country anymore?

We're in a tough recession right now. But one of the things that we have to look at right now is going back to the late seventies, early eighties into that recession. But the United States, people said, you know what, we're going to get out of that thing because we knew that those factories were going to start back up. But today we don't know that because when I go through these factories, and they take me in and say, you know, we only have a third of our factory running, or I hear today that one large company might have 50 percent of their workforce laid off, a huge company.

Correct.

Thank you very much for yielding.

Just to follow up on your conversation right there, we do have such great resources in this country. We have almost 25 percent of the world's coal. We ought to be using it. And it's that clean coal technology. We ought to have those contests out there. There are people in my district right now that are working on clean coal, but they are always being beaten down because they hear things coming out of Washington saying absolutely not, we're not going to have clean coal because we'll tax you out of existence. So who wants to use it?

So, you know, when you look at what we have in our country, we have all these resources. We have oil. We have natural gas. We have the coal. We should be developing nuclear. We haven't had a new nuclear power plant sited since 1977, and our competitors in the world like the Chinese are looking at 35 to 40 in the next 25 to 30 years. That's not sustainable.

In 1977.

Zero.

I'm still looking for the logic because, you know, we have all these resources. We have all this technology, but we're not using it. And we are all for, I think, on our side of the aisle what we call the ``all-of-the-above'' policy, all these things I just rattled off for using. In my district they manufacture solar panels. I'm going to have two companies by the end of the year manufacturing solar panels. We have the ability for wind, and we have everything from ethanol to biodiesel and we're looking at hydrogen down the road. But we need to be doing all of the above.

Right now I am getting calls from my constituents and they're saying, Bob, how come the gas prices are going up 30 cents in 1 week?

And I said, Well, gasoline is over $60 a barrel again.

And people are going to start watching it go up and up and up. And the same thing that's going to come is how are we going to pay for this, this, or this, and we're going to have to say we're not going to buy this.

I tell you, the discussion that we are having right now boils down to one thing, that this cap-and-tax is going to cost this country jobs.

And I am sure everyone in this body speaks at their local schools every month. I am going to be speaking at graduation this weekend at one of my colleges. What do you tell these students that are graduating? They have this great opportunity, that you are going to have the same chance that we had, that your grandparents had? Or are we going to tell them, You know what? It's going to be tough out there. Maybe you won't find a job.

You know, when you hear more and more that parents are worried that when their kids graduate from college, what do they do? They move home. There is no place for them to go. There are no jobs.

One of the things that I think we have to remember in this whole debate, this is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. And one of the things that people kind of also have to remember is that government does not create a single job. This government consumes wealth. The only avenue that we have out there to produce wealth in this country is through business.

And if businesses aren't able to operate, if they can't turn the lights on because it's too expensive, and day in and day out I am hearing from my constituents, I hearing from companies across the State of Ohio, they are saying, if this goes in, we don't know how we are going to literally keep the lights on.

I thank the gentleman. I will be brief. Time is short for this country. We have folks out there that need jobs--and they need them today. We have been in a tough recession.

Back in 1982, when we were coming out of that recession folks were confident that those factories were going to open back up; that those doors would be open and those jobs would be there. Today, a lot of those jobs are gone. We're in a tough economic environment. We're in a tough global environment--the competition is tough.

If we want to make sure that we can compete in this country and we can make sure that we have those jobs in this country to compete against the rest of the world, we have to make sure that we have the costs down. If we go through this cap-and-tax, it's going to be a bad day for America.

I just want to thank the gentleman for hosting this tonight. We're going to be talking about this not only here in Congress, but across our districts in the coming days.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Steven Billmaier of Bowling Green, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Steven's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Naval Academy this fall with the incoming midshipmen Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Steven brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of midshipmen. While attending Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio, Steven attained a grade point average which placed him fourth in his class of 257 students. During Steven's high school career, he was inducted into the National Honor Society and the Insignis Society; distinguished as a Regents Scholar; and received a National Merit Commendation.

Outside the classroom, Steven demonstrated his dedication and service to his community and peers by being active in the Boy Scouts of America in which he obtained the rank of Eagle Scout, in addition to earning four Eagle Palms. Steven utilized his leadership skills during his participation in Central Catholic High School's German Club, Environmental Club, Spiritual Commission, and he was a class officer. Athletically, Steven has been an active member of Crew, participating in both the fall and spring sessions during the past four years. I am confident that Steven will carry the lessons of his student leadership to Annapolis.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Steven Billmaier on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Our service academies offer the forest military training and education available. I am positive that Steven will excel during his career at the Naval Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Mark Brake of Ohio City, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

Mark's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Military Academy this fall with the incoming Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Mark brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of West Point cadets. While attending Lincolnview High School in Van Wert, Ohio, Mark attained a grade point average which placed him in the top third of his class. During Mark's high school career, he earned several Scholar Athlete Awards and tutored other students. He was active in Spanish Club, Science Club, and Marching Band, serving as field commander his senior year.

Outside the classroom, Mark demonstrated his dedication and service to his community and peers by being active in many church activities and excelled on the violin. He was also a representative at Buckeye Boys State. On the fields of competition, Mark was a varsity wrestler and participated in track and field events. I am confident that Mark will carry the lessons of his student leadership to West Point.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mark Brake on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Military Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Mark will excel during his career at the Military Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young woman from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Allison Reedy of Tiffin, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Allison's offer of appointment poises her to attend the United States Air Force Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Allison brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of Air Force cadets. While attending Tiffin Columbian High School in Tiffin, Ohio, Allison attained a grade point average which placed her in the top ten percent of her class. Allison participated in Tiffin Columbian High School's marching, concert, and symphonic bands; she was a member of the Quiz Bowl, and was active in TC Crew. Allison was also inducted into the National Honor Society.

Outside the classroom, Allison was a member of the cheerleading and swim teams. Allison utilized her leadership skills as President of the Spanish Club and leader of the Band Dance Committee. I am confident that Allison will carry the lessons of her student leadership to the Air Force Academy.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Allison Reedy on her acceptance of appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Allison will excel during her career at the Air Force Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to her as she begins her service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Benjamin Van Horn of Whitehouse, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Ben's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Air Force Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Ben brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of Air Force cadets. He was a member of the National Honor Society, received the Anthony Wayne Academy Award in grades 9-11, received the Presidential Physical Fitness Award and the National Physical Fitness Award, among numerous other academic awards.

Outside the classroom, Ben was a member of Brailey Union Church Youth Group, serving as vice president, was a student leader for Campus Life. He was President of the German Club and active in marching, concert, and jazz band. Ben participated on Anthony Wayne High School's cross country and track teams, earning varsity letters in both and serving as captain of the cross country team. He has taught hunter safety courses, fire safety courses, and obtained his student pilot license. He has been extremely involved in community service projects. I have no doubt that Ben will employ the lessons of his student leadership as he excels among the leaders at the United States Air Force Academy.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Benjamin Van Horn on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Ben will excel during his career at the Air Force Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young woman from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Janelle Runion of Tiffin, Ohio has been offered appointments to attend the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy. Janelle has accepted the offer to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Janelle's offer of appointment poises her to attend the United States Military Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Janelle brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming Class of 2013. While attending Tiffin Columbian High School in Tiffin, Ohio, Janelle attained an impressive grade point average; was inducted into the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society; participated in Tiffin Columbian's Student Forum, and was active in the Spanish Club.

Throughout high school, Janelle was a member of the track, basketball, and soccer teams. Janelle demonstrated her dedication and service to her community and peers by being active with the TC Crew Club and by serving as a Tech Center Ambassador. In addition, Janelle utilized her leadership skills by being the secretary of her class for three years and coaching in Tiffin City Schools' elementary league basketball program. I am confident that Janelle will carry the lessons of her student leadership to West Point.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Janelle Runion on the acceptance of her appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Janelle will excel during her career at West Point and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to her as she begins her service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Michael Wurth of Perrysburg, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Mike's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Air Force Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Mike brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of Air Force cadets. While attending Perrysburg High School in Perrysburg, Ohio, Mike was a member of the National Honor Society and High Honor Roll.

Outside the classroom, Mike was active in Boy Scouts, serving as a Patrol Leader, Chaplain's Aide, and Order of the Arrow Brotherhood Member. He obtained the rank of Eagle Scout and served as a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster. Mike participated on Perrysburg High School's cross country, track, and wrestling teams, earning varsity letters in each and serving as captain of the cross country and wrestling teams. Mike also organized community track meets. I am confident that Mike will carry the lessons of his student leadership to the Air Force Academy.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Michael Wurth on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Mike will excel during his career at the Air Force Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Matthew DeMichiei of Napoleon, Ohio has been offered appointments to attend the United States Air Force Academy and the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Matt has accepted the offer to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Matt's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Air Force Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Matt brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of Air Force cadets. While attending Napoleon High School in Napoleon, Ohio, Matt attained a grade point average that placed him among the top of his class. While a gifted athlete, Matt has maintained the highest standards of excellence in his academics, choosing to enroll and excel in Advanced Placement classes throughout high school. Matt is a member of the National Honor Society, Honor Roll, and has earned varsity letters in soccer each of his four years.

Outside the classroom, Matt was a member of the Quiz Team, French Club, Youth Soccer Club, Camp Palmer Counselor, Prom Committee, and Student Advisory Board. Matt participated on Napoleon High School's soccer, swimming, and tennis teams. I am confident that Matt will carry the lessons of his student leadership to the Air Force Academy.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Matthew DeMichiei on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Matt will excel during his career at the Air Force Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young man from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Jared Leininger of Archbold, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Jared's offer of appointment poises him to attend the United States Air Force Academy this fall with the incoming cadet Class of 2013. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Jared brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of Air Force cadets. While a gifted athlete, Jared has maintained the highest standards of excellence in his academics, having been on the alpha honor roll and honor roll each year, and earned varsity letters in wrestling and football.

Outside the classroom, Jared was a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Hand Bell Choir, Senior Lutheran Youth Fellowship, serving as both Vice President and President, and served as an elementary tutor and teachers' aide. Jared participated on Archbold High School's football, wrestling, and baseball teams. Jared's dedication and service to the community and his peers has proven his ability to excel among the leaders at the Air Force Academy. I have no doubt that Jared will take the lessons of his student leadership with him to Colorado Springs.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Jared Leininger on his acceptance of appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Jared will excel during his career at the Air Force Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to him as he begins his service to the Nation.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to pay special tribute to an outstanding young woman from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District. I am happy to announce that Jacqueline Crawford of Waterville, Ohio has been offered an appointment to attend the United States Naval Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island.

Jackie's offer of appointment poises her to attend the United States Naval Preparatory School this fall, and after successful completion, will attend the United States Naval Academy with the incoming midshipmen Class of 2014. Attending one of our Nation's military academies is an invaluable experience that offers a world-class education while placing demands on those who undertake one of the

most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives.

Jackie brings an enormous amount of leadership, service, and dedication to the incoming class of midshipmen. During Jackie's high school career, she received honors in chemistry and chose to enroll and excel in Advanced Placement courses.

Outside the classroom, Jackie demonstrated her dedication and service to her community and peers by being active in the Race for the Cure, the Diabetes Research Walk, Meals on Wheels, and other fund raising and relief efforts to assist those less fortunate. Jackie utilized her leadership skills during her participation in Anthony Wayne High School's FCCLA, track, choir, theater, softball and as captain of the cheerleading squad.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Jacqueline Crawford on her acceptance of appointment to the United States Naval Preparatory School. Our service academies offer the finest military training and education available. I am positive that Jackie will excel during her career at the Naval Academy and I ask my colleagues to join me in extending their best wishes to her as she begins her service to the Nation.

I appreciate the gentleman yielding.

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the Democrat budget.

In 2010, the death tax is set to expire; however, the President's budget retains the death tax, and the Wall Street Journal said yesterday, and I quote, ``The President's budget calls for the largest increase in the death tax in U.S. history in 2010.''

The death tax is an unfair attack on small businesses and farmers across this Nation. You know, Members go across to their county fairs every summer. I was at one of mine. One piece of equipment, one combine with one head cost $425,000. One piece, $425,000. The death tax forces Americans to have to make tough decisions. They have to make decisions that they have to hire attorneys, you have got to hire CPAs, you have got to hire your financial planners. It is tough. You are taking time away from these people's business when they can be out working and making money. It is not right.

You know, the time has come that this death tax expire. It should expire. Most of all, to quote again from the Wall Street Journal yesterday, ``What all this means is that the higher the estate tax, the lower the incentive to reinvest in family businesses. Former Congressional Budget Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin recently used the Summers Study as a springboard to compare the economic cost of a 45 percent estate tax versus a zero rate.''

It goes on to say that, ``He finds that the long-term impact of eliminating the death tax would be to increase small business capital investment by $1.6 trillion. This additional investment would create 1.5 million new jobs.

``In other words, by raising the estate tax, in the name of fairness, Mr. Obama won't merely bring back from the dead one of the most despised of all Federal taxes, and not merely splinter many family- owned enterprises. He will also forfeit half the jobs he hopes to gain from his $787 billion stimulus bill. Maybe that's why the news of this unwise tax increase was hidden in a footnote.''

Madam Chairman, it is time that we make sure that this death tax expires. It is time that the government's cold hand gets out of the warm grave.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor to H.R. 1135.