Floor Statements

Thank you Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank my dear friend and colleague, Randy Forbes, and all the other Members who are gathered here tonight in support of House Resolution 888.

I rise today to speak in support of this resolution that honors the religious foundation of this country and designates the first week in May as American Religious Heritage Week.

From the devout convictions of the Continental Army to the current steadfast faith of our men and women fighting the war on terrorism, faith and religion have played a significant role in America's history, especially in times of conflict.

Military chaplains have a long history in serving the religious needs of the Armed Forces. There's a list of chaplains in the U.S. military that goes back to George Washington, who first sought to minister for his Virginia regiment in 1756. Washington placed the success and survival of his Continental Army on the power of faith and prayer.

His most famous acclamation was his prayer at Valley Forge. He said, ``Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son Jesus. Of all dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.

``To the distinguished character of a Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of a Christian.''

Today, military chaplains are found in every part of the military from army medical centers, veterans' clinics, official ceremonies, as well as combat zones. Now more than ever our soldiers, veterans, and their families need spiritual leadership and guidance; yet in some places, chaplains and their religious convictions are coming under fire. In several instances across the country, military chaplains have been marginalized for their reference to God and the Bible in religious ceremony.

Tonight, as we honor the religious foundation of America and commend the role of military chaplains, I hope that we can continue in the steps of our Founding Fathers by upholding the importance of faith, prayer, and religion.

Madam Speaker, I wish to submit the following earmark:

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: Military Construction, Additional Defense Access Roads funding for Fort Bragg Access Roads, Phase I (Bragg Boulevard/Murchison Road)

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: BRAC Regional Task Force, Inc. Fort Bragg, NC.

Address of Requesting Entity: P.O. Box 70999 Fort Bragg, NC 28307,

Madam Speaker, I wish to submit the following earmark for the Record.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: Other Procurement Army (OPA), Training Devices--Non-System.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: General Dynamics Information Technology.

Address of Requesting Entity: 2941 Fairview Park Dr., Suite 100, Falls Church, VA 22041.

Description of Request: This request is for authorization of $4 million FY `09 OPA funding to allow instrumentation of 12 to 14 of the remaining buildings at the Range 74 Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF) site to Combined Arms MOUT Task Force (CAMTF) standard. The Army's CAMTF training requirement provides 80 percent coverage for a generic 20-26 building site. The Ft. Bragg Range 74 CACTF consists of thirty-two (32) training buildings, only six (or 18%) of which are instrumented. Ft. Bragg's CACTF supports sixteen (16) brigade-equivalent units with six (6) instrumented buildings. Considering the XVIII ABC training throughput, the level of instrumentation currently fielded is not commensurate with the size and scope found at installations with smaller training requirements. Fort Campbell's Cassidy Urban Training Complex and Eighth Army's Rodriguez CACTF in Korea are illustrative of the Army's training strategy and feature at least 18-20 instrumented training buildings, per facility. The situation is more pronounced when you examine the troop populations at each installation. Currently, the Rodriguez site supports one maneuver brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, while Cassidy hosts three maneuver brigades from the 101st Airborne Division. There is a compelling need to instrument another twelve to fourteen (12-14) buildings at the Ft Bragg CACTF to align it closer to the Army's standard.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: RDT&E, Navy.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Combat Displays, Inc.

Address of Requesting Entity: 100-B Industrial Drive, New Bern, NC 28562.

Description of Request: Provide an authorization of $6,800,000 for development of environmentally sealed, ruggedized avionics displays for vertical lift systems and will be done in conjunction with the Center for Vertical Lift Excellence, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, NC in support of technology to benefit our military aviators. This request is consistent with the intended and authorized purpose of the Navy RDT&E account.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: Defense-Wide Procurement.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Raytheon Technical Services Company.

Address of Requesting Entity: 6125 E 21st St., Indianapolis, IN 46219-2058.

Description of Request: Provide an authorization of $6,000,000 to procure 80 RAMS B kits for Special Operations Forces. RAMS is a remote- controller initiator to control the activation of demolitions. This request is consistent with the intended and authorized purpose of the Defense Wide Procurement account. These kits are used extensively by United States Special Operations Command and our servicemembers in OIF and OEF.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: OPN Budget Activity 01, Line #19, Items Less than $5 million.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: IMO Pump.

Address of Requesting Entity: 1710 Airport Road, Monroe, NC, USA.

Description of Request: Provide an authorization of $4 million for the procurement and installation of Canned Lube Pumps (CLP) on four LSD-41/49 Class amphibious ships. This funding will purchase 16 CLP units to complete the LSD-41 class. Approximately, $400,000 is for technical support for installation; $2.8M for the CLP units and installation; $600, 000 for battle spares; $200,000 for proto-type shipboard test for LHD class. The Navy has indicated that the total savings over the life of the LSD 41/49 class from installing the CLP is over $33.1 million and the return investment to the Navy is 394 percent. This funding will complete the procurement and installation of the Whidbey Island Class.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: Defense-Wide, RDT & E.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and Northrup Grumman.

Address of Requesting Entity: UNC-Charlotte Campus in Charlotte, NC is the location of performance (where the work will be done): University of North Carolina-Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223 and Northrup Grumman, 7323 Aviation Blvd., Mail Stop 1105, Baltimore, MD 21040.

Description of Request: Provide a $3 million authorization for Superlattice Nanotechnology research for the Department of Defense to be performed at UNC-Charlotte. Most of today's compound semiconductor devices made from silicon (Si) and silicon germanium (SiGe) have high power capabilities, but are limited by defect density and other factors affecting yield, cost and performance. One of the most promising new materials is SiC, which is used to make high power radio frequency (RF), power switching, and high current switching devices for a multitude of DOD applications. Superlattice nanotechnology can mitigate the size, yield and performance limitations of SiC by utilizing atomic level control of the SiC-on-Si growth process. This will greatly reduce the cost and improve the performance of many of the desired SiC devices. Superlattice nanotechnology will form the structure for the next dimension in RF electronics (Radar, EW, communications), radiation hard electronics (satellite, special use), and power conditioning electronics (DEW, electromagnetic gun), enabling performance levels unachievable with today's technology. Request $5.0 million be added to the President's FY09 Budget Request to continue development of silicon carbide (SiC) Superlattice Nanotechnology.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robin Hayes.

Bill Number: H.R. 5658, The Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2009.

Account: Defense-Wide, RDT & E.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: United Protective Technologies.

Address of Requesting Entity: United Protective Technologies (UPT), 4600 H Lebanon Road, Charlotte, NC 28227 and their Locust, North Carolina facility.

Description of Request: Provide a $2 million authorization for Non- Hazardous Infrared Anti-Reflective Coatings for Army Aircraft Sensors. An alternative coating to extend the service life of expensive and critical infrared range sensor windows is now available. This coating presents none of the health or environmental impacts found in other currently used Anti-reflective coatings. Prototype examples and early stage data of this new capability have been presented to the U.S. Army and have received very positive feedback. Key features include unprecedented environment stability, and excellent abrasion and erosion protection. This coating may also be used on both flat windows and on dome-shaped configurations. This coating will increase the survivability of sensor windows and reduce cost of ownership through an increase in operation life and performance. Army provided Cost/Benefit analysis shows that the windows of the AH-64 Targeting Sensor Array (TADS/PNVS) are currently demonstrating a Mean Time between Unscheduled Removal of 5031 (PNVS) and 5495 (TADS) flight hours. With the current Operational Tempo AH-64's can be expected to fly approximately 100,000 flight hours per year (total fleet). Based on the damage seen on removed windows, a conservative estimate is that this coating will cut unscheduled removals by 50%, saving $41 8,000/year for the

Apache Airframe. Other Army airframes could show a savings amounting to an additional $800,000 annually.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support this farm bill and especially to thank Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Goodlatte and really especially the incredible members of the House Republican and Democrat staff for their tremendous work on this very difficult legislation.

However, I must oppose a provision that should not be in this conference report.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation needs an agriculture policy for the 21st century. Anyone who is paying attention to their grocery bill lately can see that things are changing around the world and in this country. It's showing up in the price of food. If you're keeping up with the news, the changes we are seeing in higher prices are being played out as full-blown food shortages in other parts of the world. Sound agriculture policy is not just about our economy; it's a key component in our national security.

Mr. Speaker, we need this legislation, and I support the passage of the agriculture provisions. But there is a provision that was added late in the process that has nothing to do with agriculture, nothing to do with farmers or our food supply. It's a provision that will liberalize our current trade practices with Haiti.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know what the impact of this Haiti provision will be. Two of the leading textile groups say the impact will be minimal while the positive benefits of the farm bill will be

much greater. While I would reject this policy change under any procedure, this Haiti provision was added without hearings, without any debate. Mr. Speaker, out of principle I don't think this is the time or the place to add this trade provision with Haiti. And, therefore, to make that point, I am going to cast a ``no'' vote on the farm bill conference report today.

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear. My vote today is to protest this Haiti provision, but my goal is to ensure passage of the farm bill. I know there's a veto threat from the White House. If the President decides to follow through, I will be there voting to override him because we need this update for our Nation's policy.

Mr. Speaker, after a very lengthy conference process, I am pleased to report significant victories in the ag portion of this bill. As the Ranking Member of Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, I worked with my colleagues to eliminate or water down many of the Livestock Competition issues that were included in the Senate passed Farm bill. Most importantly, we were able to defeat the inclusion of the ban on packer ownership. This ban would have been detrimental to North Carolina and the livestock industry across the nation.

The economic adjustment assistance program for textile mills is another significant provision included in this bill. This important provision will provide critical assistance to textile manufactures for the modernization of equipment and operations. This is a priority for our leading domestic textile organizations including the National Council of Textile Organizations, the Cotton Council and the American Manufacturing and Trade Action Coalition.

The White House or anyone else watching, should not read my ``no'' vote today as opposition to passage of the agriculture provisions in the Farm Bill. Our Nation needs updated agriculture policy. As a member of the Agriculture Committee and conferee to this bill, I had a hand in shaping these changes. We ultimately need to get this done, and I will be there to make sure it does.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

First let me thank Congresswoman Velazquez, Sam Graves, and others for bringing an excellent bill to the floor.

I rise today in support of the bill and support of Mr. Matheson's amendment. But I think a picture in this case is worth a thousand words, because as we look at the small businesses, the men and women that make up the small business core of our communities, the one item that is on their minds is the price of gas.

In the Washington paper last week was a political cartoon. Unfortunately, there was nothing funny about it. If you would follow me for just a moment: Very obvious in the picture, the Capitol is there. And in the first frame it says: We demand that you energy companies do something about high gas prices.

Well, if you move with me to the second frame the question is asking, you have heard it here today: Can we drill in ANWR? Can we explore off our coastal regions while the Chinese are drilling off the coast of Cuba? The answer: Forget it. Forget it. We can't do that. So we take that off the table. Now the second frame it talks offshore.

The third frame, clean coal. We have more coal resources than Saudi Arabia has oil. We have technology that can be improved even more to allow us to burn coal cleanly, but we also must be able to turn coal into gas for fuel in airplanes for the Air Force. This is something that we must do.

Conservation is critical, and I applaud the new majority for their emphasis on conservation. We are all sensitive to that and we are working in our own ways to conserve as much as we can.

Alternate sources of energy, vitally important. But as a livestock and agriculture member, our food supplies, our food prices are being driven up by a lack of balance on alternative fuels like ethanol.

So back to the picture. Nuclear power. It is clean, it is safe. We are making progress every day in the effort to use spent fuel in positive ways. But, no, that is not on the table.

Last but not least: You're joking. Why don't you do something?

Well, folks, we can do something. The Small Business bill is critical. The last Congress that met on this floor passed the legislation that is referred to. The only thing not mentioned in this political cartoon that is not funny is the expansion of our refinery capacity.

So, again, I thank the gentlelady, Mr. Matheson, and others for their important efforts to strengthen small businesses. But I would remind everyone here, because you have the same experience that I have, whether you are talking about BRAC, agriculture, economic development, the research campus in Kannapolis, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, gas prices strike you in the face like somebody shaking you by the shirt walking around the room when you see that price going up every day on the sign at the gas station.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would simply ask that we Members of Congress join together in a bipartisan way as we are handling these amendments and put forth a resolution that says to the foreign oil exporters who are gouging us for prices; we say to the rest of the world we will explore, not exploit, we will use nuclear energy, we will use our coal resources, we will expand our refineries so that we become competitive while developing vitally important alternative sources of energy that will ensure the future, the independence opportunity for everyone in this country.

I thank the gentleman for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize a pillar in the medical community, as well as a friend, Dr. Bertram W. Coffer, who recently passed away.

Coffer's medical career began in 1975 when he joined Raleigh Anesthesia Associates. He was 34 years old and married to the former Jeanne Gardner, a registered nurse he had met in a Duke University Medical Center operating room while working as a scrub nurse to pay his way through NC State University.

He later served in the U.S. Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, had 2 years of surgery residency at Duke, and completed his residency in anesthesiology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Coffer went on to become not only a certified anesthesiologist, but someone who brought added value to the care of all patients.

Bert instituted many positive changes in the way his practice operated in the community hospital. Today, the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists touts the Raleigh Practice Center/ Critical Health Systems model, whose essence reflects one of Bert Coffer's philosophies, which was, ``Act like a physician first, and always make yourself indispensable and worthwhile.'' Certainly, the redefinition of anesthesiology by Coffer and RPC/Critical Health Systems helped change the future of the specialty.

What a dear friend and wonderful human being. Our thoughts, prayers and sympathy go out to Jeanne, his wife, children Bert, Natalie and Holly, and all their families. We will miss you, Bert.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and pay tribute to the Concord High School girls basketball team for winning the North Carolina State Championship this year. Lady Spiders ended a 31 win and 2 loss season by defeating Beddingfield 77-62 on March 15, the first girls championship in the school history and the fourth State championship for the school in the last 5 years.

Concord's Nyshia Hammond was named Most Valuable Player, and T.T. Belcher won the Most Outstanding Player Award for the Spiders. Concord's coach and school Athletic Director, Angela Morton, was also named the 2008 Associated Press women's basketball Coach of the Year for North Carolina. Morton has coached the team for five seasons, during which she led them from a 0-24 season, to a State championship title.

The athletic program at Concord High is one of the great traditions that dates back even further than my years. The nickname, Spiders, came from the athletic field at the old high school, named after Principal and School Superintendent A.S. Webb. Concord's first title was won in 1929.

I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of these young women from my hometown. Congratulations, Coach of the Year, Angela Morton; Assistant Coaches, JarMark Parker and Samantha Bedford, and the Lady Spiders on your successful season and State championship victory.

Mr. Speaker, this year I had the opportunity to nominate several outstanding high school students in the Eighth District for our Service Academies. Five of these students won nominations.

Ms. Morgan Grohol, Central Cabarrus, varsity athletics, National Honor Society, Beta Club, will attend the Air Force Academy.

Mr. Milton Cantos, Concord High School, U.S. Naval Academy, Academic Honors Club, Key Club, varsity soccer.

Mr. Gabriel Whaley lives in Cabarrus County and attends the North Carolina School of Math and Science, National Honor Society, Academics Honor Club, varsity soccer. He will attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Mr. Andrew Chinlund graduated from Jack Britt High in Cumberland County. National Honor Society, Junior ROTC. He will attend the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Finally, Mr. Derek Graves is a senior at Hoke High School. Student Council, Academic Honors, cross-country. He will attend the U.S. Naval Academy.

These are five hardworking young people. I'd like to commend them for their extraordinary work and dedication and service to their country, and I wish these five students the best of luck in their future. I thank them for choosing to serve their country.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to participate in the following votes. If I had been present, I would have voted as follows: February 14, 2008: rollcall vote 60, I would have voted ``nay''; rollcall vote 61, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall vote 62, I would have voted ``nay''; rollcall vote 63, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall vote 64, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall vote 65, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall vote 66, I would have voted ``yea''; rollcall vote 67, I would have voted ``yea''; and rollcall vote 68, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, on February 13, 2008, I was unable to participate in the following votes. If I had been present, I would have voted as follows;

Rollcall vote 43, I would have voted ``yea.''

Rollcall vote 44, I would have voted ``yea.''

Rollcall vote 45, I would have voted ``yea.''

I thank Congressman Keller for yielding.

Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of the Doggett amendment. I believe this amendment will simplify the application process for students and families seeking financial aid.

I feel that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, is overly complicated and a real burden on students and parents who need the most financial assistance. I believe we must take the burden off families and put more of it on the IRS and the Department of Education.

Current language in the bill encourages the Secretaries of Education and the Treasury to work together. By adopting this amendment, we are requiring the Federal agencies to work together to use existing IRS data to get positive outcomes.

With the implementation of data matching, we can eliminate the cumbersome and confusing FAFSA questions, increase the accuracy of the data used in calculating aid eligibility, and ensure that Federal financial aid dollars are going to the right people for the right reasons.

The issue was brought to my attention by University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles. I worked closely with him on this issue and hope to see the changes that we discuss, which are included in this amendment, be included in the final bill.

I thank Mr. Bowles and the UNC system for their commitment to making the FAFSA easier for students and families. Again, if we are going to evaluate this issue, let's do it right. Let's put more of the burden on the government to make the financial aid application process easier for students and families who are applying for assistance.

I appreciate Chairman Miller and Ranking Member McKeon for their dedication in improving our education

and hope that my colleagues will support the Doggett amendment.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to congratulate a friend and hardworking farmer who has received one of the most distinguished awards a farmer can receive in the Nation. Bill Cameron, a Hoke County citizen, won the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farm of the Year for 2007, and I couldn't be more proud of him for this well- deserved accomplishment.

Bill Cameron is a native of Hoke County. He coached the high school football team for 11 years and then decided to focus on farming full time and invest his life in the agriculture industry.

Bill started his farming operation with 82 acres, and it has grown to almost 900 acres today. He is well diversified with swine, cattle and row crops. His livestock operations include Santa Gertrudis cows, bulls used to raise seed stock, feeder steers and a large breeder gilt grower operation. On the crop side, Cameron grows hundreds of acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, rye and hay.

During the Southeastern competition, Cameron was selected among ten state finalists in the Southeastern states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Folks, this is quite an achievement to be selected from such a competitive group of farmers, and I am very happy for Bill. I know that there was a tremendous amount of hard work and sacrifice that went into his operation and making it such an efficient and successful operation.

Anyone who knows Hoke County understands that agriculture is at the heart of the community. Bill Cameron has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help create and sustain a strong agriculture community, and as a citizen of North Carolina, I join many in sincerely thanking him.

Not only has Bill Cameron built a first class farming operation, but he has worked tirelessly to help increase the quality of life for Hoke County and the 8th District as a whole. Bill is a former Hoke County Commissioner, and his determination to help build and create a better community and a better North Carolina is inspiring.

I would also like to acknowledge Bill's family that has been there backing him in his efforts and successes. I am sure Bill's wife, Rhenda,

and his two children, Candace and Bill, are as proud as I am of his many accomplishments and his dedication to his profession.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1120, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

I want to thank Chairman Rangel, Chairman Herger and Chairman McCrery for their great work. Unfortunately, I must rise today in opposition to H.R. 3688, the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

My opposition to this agreement stems from what the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition calls a continuation of a flawed trade policy of trade deficits, offshoring and job losses.

Auggie Tantillo, the executive director of AMTAC goes on to state, ``Congress spending the entire year focusing on an unpopular Peru FTA instead of passing a strong anticurrency manipulation bill is an enormous disappointment to U.S. manufacturers desperate for relief from China's predatory trade practices.'' Folks, I could not agree more. I don't see where this particular legislation helps combat the largest threat to our Nation's manufacturing base, China.

As many of you know, manufacturing, the textile industry in particular, has taken a massive hit in both loss of jobs in businesses due directly to unfair trade practices by China and their fixed currency. Without a level playing field for our textile workers, businesses, and the manufacturing sector in general, the demise of our manufacturing industry will continue to take place all over the country.

I'm a cosponsor and strong supporter of the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which was sponsored by Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Tim Ryan. This important piece of legislation will level the playing field for American companies by stipulating that countervailing trade cases targeting government subsidies can be brought against nonmarket economies such as China, and it does it in a WTO-compliant manner.

Another issue I'm concerned with is the lack of enforcement of our current trade laws, in particular with textile enforcement. Textile enforcement is vital to the future of the U.S. textile industry and its workforce. The U.S. textile and apparel industry is critical to the economic national security of our Nation.

The industry contributes almost $120 billion to our Nation's GDP. However, we are putting this industry and its workforce in harm's way if Customs does not continue to utilize all enforcement tools, such as seizures, detentions and special operations to help our Nation's industrial base.

Folks, we need to get our priorities right here. We need to focus on preserving American jobs and American businesses. We have lost too many jobs. Too many companies have been hurt because of unfair Chinese trade practices and lack of proper enforcement. It's time to start fighting back.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3920, the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007. Textile workers in my district in North Carolina have been disproportionately affected by trade and have suffered a number of closings.

I appreciate what Mr. McCrery is doing. I wish also that these two bills could have been better combined to take care of the advantages of both.

As many of you know, I have introduced the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act, H.R. 1729, which seeks to expand the current TAA program to give greater resources to displaced workers.

Earlier in the year, I asked Chairman Rangel to include the provisions in my bill in the comprehensive TAA reauthorization bill. I was pleased to see that many of these provisions made it into the legislation.

Specifically, this bill expands TAA eligibility to include dislocated workers affected by a shift in production in which workers' jobs are moved to nations that have no preferential trade agreement with the U.S., including, particularly, China and others.

It provides a strong increase in the health coverage tax credit. H.R. 3920 increases that credit from 65 to 85 percent. It increases TAA funding authorization from $220 million to $440 million.

I was disappointed to see that H.R. 3920 did not include a key provision to provide automatic eligibility for dislocated textile and apparel workers. However, I was pleased to see that it does include a provision that allows for industry-wide certifications. This bill requires the Secretary of Labor to conduct industry-wide certifications when three petitions from firms in the same industry, such as the textile industry, are certified within a 6-month period. This doesn't provide automatic eligibility for dislocated textile workers, but it is a step in the right direction.

Since I have been in Congress, I have pledged that our office would do all it could to assist displaced workers from the Eighth District in the State of North Carolina. I am pleased that many provisions of the reform act were included in the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3920, the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance program is a good program. I have worked hard to expand this program and make it better in the past, but we must make additional changes to help our manufacturing workers in this increasingly competitive global marketplace. While it is good that these workers are going to get extended unemployment benefits and insured health care, we all know that an unemployment check is no substitute for a paycheck. But when workers are displaced, we want to give them the skills to successfully re-enter the workforce.

As many of you know, I have introduced the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act, H.R. 1729, which seeks to expand the current TAA program to give greater resources to displaced workers. Early in the year, I asked Chairman Rangel to include the provisions in my bill into the comprehensive TAA reauthorization bill. I was pleased to see that many of these provisions made it into this legislation.

Specifically, this bill:

Expands TAA eligibility to include dislocated workers affected by a shift in productions in which the workers' jobs are moved to nations that have no preferential trade agreement with the U.S., including China and others.

Provides a strong increase in the Health Coverage Tax Credit, HCTC. H.R. 3920 increases the tax credit from 65 percent to 85 percent.

Increases TAA funding authorization from $220 million to $440 million.

I was disappointed to see that H.R. 3920 did not include a key provision to provide automatic eligibility for dislocated textile and apparel workers; however, I was pleased to see that it does include a provision that allows for industry-wide certifications. This bill requires the Secretary of Labor to conduct industry wide certifications when three petitions from firms in the same industry, such as the textile industry, are certified within a 6-month period. This doesn't provide automatic eligibility for dislocated textile workers, but it is a step in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed working with my good friend and colleague Congressman Mike McIntyre on this bill and North Carolina's Rural Center. The Rural Center is a non-profit that seeks to promote economic development throughout North Carolina's rural areas, and the Center has been a tremendous advocate for helping dislocated workers throughout the state. This bill resembles many of the recommendations that were published in the Rural Center's report, ``Gaining a Foothold--An Action Agenda to Aid North Carolina's Dislocated Workers.''

Since I have been in Congress, I have pledged that our office would do all it could to assist displaced workers from the 8th District and the State of North Carolina. I am extremely pleased that many of the provisions of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act were included in this bill to make it possible for these workers to receive expanded assistance and job training to help them to make a successful change in their career.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues as we debate and develop legislation that seeks to help our Nation's workforce adapt for new careers and opportunities.