Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Home Star program. The Home Star program will give us the tools we need to move towards energy independence while strengthening our economy and the middle class. This program encourages energy efficiency improvements during a period when people are strapped for cash. These new improvements will save money in the long run, while creating clean energy jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil in the short term.

The key to this program is it incentivizes purchases that otherwise wouldn't be made. This is exactly the way we want to go about stimulating growth in our economy. In my home State of New York, approximately 76 percent of the homes were built before 1970. As a result, we pay a lot more for our energy needs to heat and cool our homes.

I am proud to support the Home Star program to help homeowners make improvements that will save them money and create new green energy jobs.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 10 years, Washington failed to regulate our financial marketplaces, and some people on Wall Street took advantage of that to take ridiculous and dangerous risks with dollars that they couldn't back up. This must never be allowed to happen again. All across America, we know what happened. When Wall Street melted down, Main Street paid the price. It's time for us to put in place commonsense reforms to fix this system.

I was proud to support the financial reform that we passed here in the House last fall, and I look forward to getting a final bill in front of us. We must make sure that taxpayers never again are responsible for bailing out failed financial institutions. We must also protect our consumers from some of the risky and predatory behavior we saw in the marketplace from unregulated organizations pushing mortgages that couldn't be afforded. And we've got to inject transparency and accountability into our financial system. The fresh light of day will disinfect so many of the ills in our financial system.

This is about more than just reform. It's about strengthening the system and strengthening our economy and strengthening all of us in this country.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 212, H.R. 1257, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today as someone who has been building and starting small businesses for my entire adult life. The small businesses in my district have been asking me for a long time what will this health insurance reform do for them. I think it is very important that we make it clear to them, for our small businesses that are less than 50 people, it will not require that they provide insurance but rather it will help if they are trying to provide insurance.

For our small businesses, they will be able to get tax incentives to help them pay for that insurance that they are trying to buy for their employees. It will allow them to band together and purchase as a group in a block on an exchange, much like they do with their local chambers of commerce today, to try to get purchasing power against those big insurance companies so they can hold their costs down.

It will also help solve one of the biggest costs they face. Today my small business owners know that they pay the cost of all of the people who use the emergency room for care and can't pay the bills. That is all shifted to our small businesses. With this legislation, that will go away, providing a big help in terms of keeping their costs down and helping our small businesses provide insurance to their employees.

This bill is going to help our small businesses and help all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 144, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today with the solemn duty to report the tragic passing of Marine Cpl Nicholas Uzenski. Corporal Uzenski was taken from us on January 11, 2010, in an ambush by insurgents in Southern Afghanistan.

Corporal Uzenski was a member of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, Bravo Company, based in Okinawa, Japan. A beloved son, grandson, brother, friend, and soldier, Corporal Uzenski will be sorely missed by the entire Franklin community, and a grateful nation whose freedom he fought to protect.

Just 21 years old, Corporal Uzenski followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle in joining the Marines. It was his lifelong dream to serve the nation he loved and defend the ideals for which he gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Corporal Uzenski is survived by his mother Lisa, his father William, stepmother Rebakah, and six siblings. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Uzenski family during this difficult time.

As we stand on this floor and debate the important issues of our time, let us never forget the true cost of the freedoms that we so often take for granted.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 17 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, December 16, 2009, at 9 a.m.

Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

I yield myself 1 minute.

This amendment would substitute the definition of a major swap participant that is in the current draft back to the language that was in the draft that came out of the Agriculture Committee.

Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Lucas worked with the whole committee to develop the definition that was used in the Ag Committee, and it's different from the version that is on the floor now in two ways: It's more restrictive in terms of allowing financial companies to be exempt from being classified as a major swap participant. So more companies would be held to a higher regulatory standard. And it is a little bit less restrictive with respect to manufacturing companies being classified as a major swap participant. I think that's very important because we want people who are systemically risky to be held to a higher standard of accountability, but we don't want to capture our manufacturing companies, the kind that are represented by the National Association of Manufacturers, the kind that are supporting this amendment, to be captured in that regulation.

We want them to be able to do their business and use derivatives to hedge their actual risk. That's why there was such broad bipartisan support for this when it was in the Agriculture Committee, and that's why we want to support it now.

Madam Chairman, I'd like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. McMahon).

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Kratovil).

Madam Chairman, I'd like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

In closing, I just want to say that I think that what we have here is an amendment that will take us back to the commonsense solution that we found on a bipartisan basis in the Ag Committee. It's a solution that does get at the root of the problem.

We've got large financial institutions who need to have additional accountability and regulation. That's what we're trying to do with our major swap participants. But it carves out our manufacturers and our energy companies that use derivatives to hedge their risk. That's why we've got support for this amendment from the American Wind Energy Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Rural Electric Cooperatives.

Our businesses that are using derivatives to hedge risks need not be subjected to the same rules and requirements as the large guys and the dealers. We need to make sure our end users are protected so they can use derivatives successfully to hedge their risk and stabilize their business. That's what's going to protect jobs. That's what we need to get our economy moving. That's why people need to support this amendment.

I yield back my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

My amendment very simply gets rid of an anachronistic law from 1933. Right now, it's illegal for banks to pay interest to business checking accounts. This adversely affects our small businesses and keeps them from building their business.

Now, as we are fixing some of the issues we have with our regulatory system, is the right time to get rid of that. So my amendment would make it legal for banks to pay interest to business checking accounts. It wouldn't require it, but it would make it legal. This is the kind of commonsense approach that's going to move us forward and help our small businesses get this economy going again.

Thank you, Chairman Peterson, and also thank you to Ranking Member Lucas.

The work we did on the Ag Committee I think is the kind of commonsense solution that Americans are looking for. We worked together to come up with regulatory reform in the Ag Committee with respect to the derivatives legislation. And we saw overwhelming support from not just Democrats, but Republicans, because people in that committee know what the American public knows: For the last 10 years, Washington has failed to regulate our financial markets. As a result, some of those on Wall Street and at the big financial firms have taken that opportunity to gamble with our money. They have put our future at risk, and they have put the very American dream that so many Americans spend their time hoping and praying for at risk. It is time for us to respond to that.

The failures in Washington and the failures on Wall Street precipitated the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and it is our job here and now to come up with solutions to that. Wall Street melted down, and Main Street paid the price. This cannot happen again.

So what do we need to do? We need to regulate what wasn't regulated. So many people now recognize that no one was looking at systemic risk, no one was looking at the AIGs of the world and seeing what they were up to. There were whole sections of the derivatives marketplace that no one was regulating; in fact, by a law that was passed here in Washington, no one was responsible for looking at it. That cannot continue.

There were whole parts of the consumer world that were not regulated--mortgage brokers, payday lenders. This cannot continue. We must regulate what was unregulated to bring everything into the system.

We need to protect our consumers. We talked about payday loans and mortgage brokers and the kind of liar loans that were put out there and passed. No one was responsible strictly for looking at protecting our consumers. This legislation will do that.

With the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, there will be a focus on protecting our consumers. That's something that is common sense. That's something that all Americans want us to do here in Washington.

The last thing that everybody in my district wants--and I think Americans all over this country want--is they want protection from taxpayers having to fund any future bailouts. Nobody thinks that Main Street should be bailing out Wall Street; it shouldn't have happened in the past, and it sure should not happen again in the future. It is critically important that we fix that. The bill that we have in front of us does set up dissolution authority. It is funded by the large financial institutions to help shut down those that fail. That is what needed to happen in the past; that is what needs to happen in the future. That is the kind of commonsense reform that we all need to come behind.

We need to regulate what wasn't regulated, we need to protect our consumers, and we need to make sure that taxpayers never again have to fund a bailout. That's what we are working on here. That's what this legislation would do. And I think it's very important that we come together to pass this and protect America's taxpayers, protect our financial system, and get our economy moving again.

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

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

I rise today to offer a simple amendment that would require the solar technology road map committee to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Energy and to this Congress on its activities over the prior 12-month period.

For far too long, our Nation has operated without a comprehensive energy strategy. As a result, we spent $475 billion importing foreign oil last year. That's more than our entire trade deficit. This is a crisis that we must address, and our working families and small businesses feel that every day as they see rising energy costs. And while I believe a successful energy strategy will require investments in a broad range of domestic energy sources--wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear--today's legislation is a critical step in the development of a strategy to more effectively develop and utilize solar technology and to move our Nation closer to energy independence.

I applaud Congresswoman Giffords, Chairman Gordon, Ranking Member Hall for their hard work on this important issue.

Today's legislation creates a solar technology road map committee that will be charged with creating a road map to present the best estimate of the near-term, mid-term, and long-term research and development needs in the solar technology world, as well as provide guidance for solar technology research, development, and demonstration activities supported by our regular Federal Government.

This is a critical path for us, and it's one we've been working on in New York with our own efforts for many years, and one that I'm familiar with. Our efforts at NYSERDA in New York really helped a lot of small businesses in the solar community and in other energy technologies, businesses that I worked with when I was an investor helping those small businesses grow. And as we heard Congressman Himes say a minute ago, this is the future of manufacturing in America, and this road map will be a critical element to moving us in the right direction.

Specifically, this bill requires that 30 percent of the DOE solar research and demonstration funding is awarded based on the recommendations of the committee in 2012, and that will rise to 75 percent in 2015.

My amendment simply requires that the committee report back their activities to the Department of Energy and to this Congress so that we can better evaluate the growing potential of solar technology and how we're doing in terms of implementing that road map. I think that that kind of accountability is exactly what's been missing from our Federal Government for far too long, and this is the kind of information that we need as a Congress to hold people accountable for the spending of the Federal dollars that we're going to put there.

We're making important investment decisions, but we also need to hold everyone who is involved accountable for making sure that those decisions are moving us forward on the road map and are aimed in the right direction. This strategy will help us do that. My report will allow us to hold everyone who is involved accountable for doing it and being successful. That's critical to the American taxpayers whose money is being invested here.

With that, I would like to say thanks again to Chairman Gordon for his hard work and to Ranking Member Hall.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I appreciate the support from Ranking Member Hall.

I would just close by saying it is incredibly important that we watch every taxpayer dollar in these tough times. And we're making important investments here. They're going to have an economic impact; they're going to create jobs in our communities. But we need to be responsible. This report will lead to that kind of accountability and responsibility.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 781, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS, Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 781, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, I stand today to point to upstate New York's leadership and significant accomplishments in partnering education and 21st-century job creation.

This week, the hard work of the capital region's higher education institutions and businesses were highlighted when President Barack Obama lauded Hudson Valley Community College's great work in preparing young professionals and training leaders for the 21st-century economy.

The President spoke about the vital importance of education and about the role community colleges will play in reviving our economy and in preparing a workforce for the future.

I have spent my entire career working to create jobs and high-tech businesses across upstate New York. One of the keys to preparing our economy for success is having a well-educated workforce.

This week, we heard the President lay out three building blocks for innovation: Education, infrastructure and research. This is exactly what we have been working on and developing in upstate New York, and it is what has made our region a leader in the innovation economy.

As our economy becomes more knowledge-based, the continued leadership of our colleges and universities will be ever more important. Twenty- first century jobs will require increasingly knowledgable workers in the innovative programs, and our Nation's fine higher education institutions are a key to them.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 732, the Motion to Adjourn, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

I rise today with the very sad duty of reporting the tragic passing of Army Private First Class Jeremiah J. Monroe. PFC Monroe was taken from us on September 17, 2009, by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, just 2 months after his deployment.

Private First Class Monroe was assigned to the 630th Route Clearance Company, 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, New York. A beloved father, brother, son, friend, and soldier from Warren County, Jeremiah, will be sorely missed by the entire Adirondack and Fort Drum communities.

Jeremiah Monroe was just 31 years old. He quit his job last year as a tradesman to enlist in the Army. He wanted to support his daughter and the extended family and serve the Nation he loved and the ideals for which he gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Private First Class Monroe was willing to give his life in service to all of us and to the country that he loved. The expression of our gratitude for his sacrifice to our Nation is beyond words.

Jeremiah is survived by his mother, Dolores Monroe; his brother, Robert Monroe, Jr.; his 9-year-old daughter, Delilah Rose; and her mother, Michelle. On behalf of a grateful Nation, our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Monroe family, who lost four relatives in the last 18 months, including Jeremiah's father, Robert Monroe, Sr.