Floor Statements

I rise today to support the jobs of hundreds of hardworking coal miners in West Virginia and to highlight the misguided actions of the EPA in objecting to permits for coal mining activity.

On April 1, 2010, the EPA issued guidance under the Clean Water Act that bypasses the normal process for promulgating water quality standards. It nullifies the water quality standards put into place by our State regulators and our State legislatures. In other words, the EPA has taken over the States' prerogative on water quality.

Despite a 2011 Federal court decision that rejected the EPA's interpretation of its authority, the regulatory permitting process for surface mining has essentially been halted in the Appalachian region. Hundreds of permits will expire within the next 18 months in West Virginia alone. Failure to act on these permits will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in West Virginia, and just recently we have experienced a loss of 1,000 coal mining jobs.

The EPA should exercise its permitting and regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act in a manner that considers the impacts on jobs and the economy in West Virginia and other coal mining States.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Colonel Robert D. Peterson; who has served West Virginia through his leadership for the past 3 years at the United State Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District. Col. Peterson is responsible for the 300 navigable miles of the Ohio River basin. Col. Peterson employees over 800 staff members to maintain 35 reservoirs, and nine locks and dams. I want to personally congratulate Col. Peterson for his continued success.

The awards of Col. Peterson are just a fraction of what he has truly accomplished. Col. Peterson has successfully managed 35 flood projects that prevented over 11.3 billion dollars in damages while allowing over 30 million visitors to support these regions through tourism. He was responsible for the processing of 94 tons of commercial traffic valued at $18.6 billion dollars through nine locks and dams. He oversaw the ongoing construction of the Bluestone Dam including communication of risk in the event of dam failure and held a Combined Emergency Exercise to educate affected federal, state and local governments to potential dangers. As a result, the Huntington District was selected by the Great Lakes and Ohio River division as the Regional Dam Safety Production Center and soon after, selected by the Corps of Engineers Headquarters as the Corps' national Mandatory Center of Expertise for Dam Safety.

I had the honor to work with Col. Peterson as he executed nine Project Partnership Agreements for environmental infrastructure projects providing water and sewer service to unserved and underserved residents of the Second Congressional District, resulting in improved public health and safety. He has proven to be an effective communicator in a variety of public venues on the federal, state and local level, including such forums as the Ohio River Basin Alliance of which I have been involved. And lastly, he issued 800 permits for mining, highway construction, and flood emergency, including the permit to place West Virginia's newest resident, the Boy Scout Jamboree on a post-mining land site within our beautiful state of West Virginia.

Col. Robert D. Peterson is an outstanding soldier, friend, husband and father. He is a 1985 graduate from the prestigious academy of West Point, graduating with a Bachelors of Science and from the U.S. Army War College with a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies. Col. Peterson was awarded the Bronze Star, three Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Master Parachutist Badge, and the Bronze Order of the deFleury Medal.

Col. Peterson's work has greatly enhanced the state of West Virginia and the world around him. Congratulations to Col. Peterson on his numerous accomplishments.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishment of a constituent of mine, Mrs. Linda Scritchfield, and to praise her 25 years of service as Site Manager for the Ravenswood Senior Center.

Linda, whose first day as Site Manager was January 1, 1987, will work her final day on June 29, 2012. When Linda took over the Senior Center, it was located in an old locks building on the banks of the Ohio River and offered few activities. Under Linda's guidance, the seniors started looking for land in order to build a new center. They held multiple fundraisers, and with the help of Jackson County Commission on Aging, grants, and the city of Ravenswood, the new center opened in November 1997.

Linda was instrumental in raising funds for the services that the senior citizens of Ravenswood enjoy. The new center has a dining area, computer room, billiards room, library, pool area and offices. A therapeutic pool was opened a few years later. The center also provides services for veterans along with offering wigs for cancer patients, flu shot clinics, water aerobics, and open swim classes.

Although Linda has helped the Senior Center make great strides over the years, Linda says her biggest accomplishments in life are the personal relationships she formed with the seniors. They have made such an impact on her life, and she hopes that she has been able to do the same for them.

I thank Linda for her years of service and Ravenswood is fortunate to call Linda one of its own.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and ranking member and the conference committee, for what I think is a victory today. I think this reauthorization bill is one of the most important responsibilities we have. It's a jobs bill. It will bring efficiencies to our funding stream for very important projects, and it will remove a lot of uncertainty.

As a member of this committee, I'm really, really pleased that we were able to come to a compromise. The efficiencies and the streamlining, when the chairman brought the committee to Yeager Airport, that was one of the resounding complaints about current funding in the transportation sector is it takes too long, it's too expensive, and time is money. And we can do a lot better job with more efficiencies and make our dollars go farther. And with hard deadlines and some exemptions, I think that this bill will do that.

There are a couple of provisions in here that I regret were not included, and most specifically, the provision on the coal ash provision. I mean, we're looking at a time where we have scant resources. We have to make smart decisions about how to weave the balance between our environment and our economy; and the coal ash provision would have provided, I think, the certainty to the construction industry and to those surrounding, also, the coal industry that smart use and responsible use of coal ash would be in our future.

Unfortunately--and I believe it occurred in the Senate that that provision was not included in our bill, and I'm deeply disappointed by that. But we will, as an energy State and as energy representatives, we'll live to fight another day.

Additionally, I would like to say, as a member of the Financial Services Committee as well, the reason that the flood bill is on this bill is extremely important, again, to lend the certainty to lenders, Realtors, homebuilders, and really, the consumer that we can get that housing market moving again; and the certainty provided by the reauthorization of the flood bill in here will provide us with that.

But I simply want to say that I think that in a bicameral, bipartisan way we moved together to show folks in West Virginia and across this Nation that we can work together to create the jobs that we need in the sectors that we need, and I look forward to supporting the bill.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to see that H.R. 4348 includes pension reform provisions that will allow businesses to invest more to create jobs, while generating over $9 billion in Treasury revenue over the next 10 years. H.R. 4348's pension reforms are critical to help businesses create jobs in a struggling economy.

However, I am concerned these vital reforms will be incomplete if financial reporting requirements known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles do not conform to H.R. 4348's changes in law. H.R. 4348 does not provide a deadline to adjust these financial reporting requirements to match the bill's pension reforms.

We should expect prompt harmonization between the law and how pension obligations are reported on companies' financial statements. If there is not harmonization many company balance sheets will be required to show inflated liabilities that H.R. 4348's pension reforms seek to address.

The clear policy of H.R. 4348 is that pension funding be calculated by a more stable, long-term method. I expect, and Congress should expect, that financial reporting requirements conform with Congress's clear intent on this issue. Financial statements should be consistent with the rate stabilization set forth in this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Colonel Robert D. Peterson, an outstanding West Virginian who served in our nation's military. Col. Peterson is responsible for overseeing the 300 navigable miles of the Ohio River basin. Col. Peterson employs over 800 staff members to maintain 35 reservoirs, and nine locks and dams. I want to personally congratulate Col. Peterson for his continued success.

Col. Robert D. Peterson is an outstanding soldier, friend, husband and father. He is a 1985 graduate from the prestigious academy of West Point, graduating with a Bachelors of Science and from the U.S. Army War College with a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies. Col. Peterson was awarded the Bronze Star, three Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Master Parachutist Badge, and the Bronze Order of the deFleury Medal.

The awards of Col. Peterson are just a fraction of what he has truly accomplished. Col. Peterson has successfully managed 35 flood projects that prevented over $11.3 billion in damages while allowing over 30 million visitors to support these regions. In the Huntington District, he has made the most of 3,000 volunteers, doing over $2 million worth of service. He has also been responsible for 94 tons of commercial traffic with 35,000 lockages valuing at 18.6 billion dollars. He has issued 800 permits for mining, highway construction, flood emergency and more. Of these permits he was responsible for placing the Boy Scout Jamboree within our beautiful state of West Virginia. He has worked and encouraged the support for projects overseas within Afghanistan and Iraq. Col. Peterson's efforts have allowed these regions to thrive.

Col. Peterson's work has greatly enhanced the state of West Virginia and the world around him. Congratulations to Col. Peterson on his numerous accomplishments.

I want to thank my colleague from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley) for his solid work on this issue.

I want to say to my colleague from California, who said that this issue is going to hold the transportation conference bill hostage, it's absolutely not a fair statement. I'm on the transportation conference committee. We're working day and night, in a bicameral, bipartisan way, to reach a compromise on a jobs bill, and this coal ash provision is very important.

Many Americans are unfamiliar with this, but 40 percent is used as raw material to build our highways and our bridges.

I was just visiting the Sutton Dam in Braxton County in West Virginia. My colleague talks about the Hoover Dam. We celebrated its 50-year birthday of its construction. It's built with coal ash, and it's just as effective today as it was 50 years ago. It is an essential and safe material to be used in our infrastructure.

According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, if we don't use coal ash in bridge and road construction, the cost would increase over $100 billion over 20 years. We simply can't afford this.

Let's be smart about this. We can find the way, and we've known the way, as the Sutton Dam and the Hoover Dam have shown us. I think we can find a way to safely reduce the costs of construction in our roads and bridges by using coal ash.

We have unemployment of over 8 percent for 30 consecutive months. We need a transportation bill. We need a smart transportation bill that's going to put America back to work and rebuild our infrastructure.

Mr. McKinley's legislation, and this motion, takes the right approach by giving the States the authority to deal with this. I hope my fellow conferees will work to ensure that this important provision remains in the bill, that we pass the gentleman's motion to instruct. This will not be an obstruction to us passing the transportation bill, and I look forward to passing that bill on the floor in a bipartisan way.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishment of a hero from the Second Congressional District of West Virginia, Second Lieutenant Theodore Remington Woo; a highly honored West Virginian soldier who served in two wars for his country. He was the first soldier of Chinese descent to die in combat for the state of West Virginia. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Distinguished Service Cross Citation, Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman's badge, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Theodore Remington Woo's accomplishments of his life exceed his collection of medals. I am honored to have requested his name stand forever within the 20 64 53.27wb bridge on Interstate 64 in his home of Kanawha County, West Virginia. The bridge will be located only minutes away from where his high school once stood. Second Lieutenant Woo grew up in a patriotic family with several relatives being named after American presidents. He and his brother George, who went on to become a House Delegate, played along the Kanawha River and helped out in their family restaurant, The Canton.

Second Lieutenant Woo was a student at West Virginia University before he enlisted in the Army. Woo then served with the 93rd Division of the Third Army in France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia where he received the Bronze Star for ``Meritorious Achievement in Ground Operations Against the Enemy in European Theater of Operations.''

After World War II, he reenrolled in West Virginia University, but was needed during his senior year to train at Fort Knox as an infantry leader until 1951. Second Lieutenant Woo then served in the Korean War as Platoon Leader in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Calvary Regiment in the 1st Calvary Division. A story of heroism echoed through our nation when he and his men destroyed an enemy bunker while dodging overwhelming mortar and small arms fire. Out distancing his leading elements, he was forced to retreat the hill to regroup. Despite being wounded in the arm, he continued to lead and retake the hill. Upon capturing the hill, Second Lieutenant Woo was tragically killed during counter attack while evacuating the wounded. Woo's courage and devotion will be forever recognized and serve as a symbol of our commitment to peace.

West Virginians are truly honored to count Second Lieutenant Woo, a real American hero, among us.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the sponsor of the bill, my colleague from Florida, for her work and her courage in bringing this forward.

I rise in support of H.R. 4970. Quickly, I'd like to tell a story about a situation in my hometown where a young boy was in the car with his mother. She was being beaten by her boyfriend, or her friend. She pulls the car over. He steps out of the car to try to flag somebody down to help his mother. He's 11 years old. He's hit and killed in the middle of a domestic violence situation. Tremendously tragic.

We know that sexual and domestic violence can happen to anyone at any age, race, income group, religion, or gender. Worldwide, one in four women is abused. In 2001, in my own home State, 13,000 domestic violence offenses were reported to law enforcement; and half of these offenses were between family members and household members, like that young man on the interstate that night. To be safe in your community, women first need to be safe in their own homes.

We have made great progress, I think, with the Violence Against Women Act that was enacted in 1994; but this current reauthorization builds on the successes of the last decade and will prevent more women and families from suffering. These women are our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our friends, and our colleagues.

VAWA is working to break the cycle of violence in this country. And by speaking and lending a hand to our neighbors, our friends, our family members, we can break the cycle and take a vocal stand against abuse.

We've heard how this bill has been bipartisan in the past. It can be bipartisan right now. It can be bipartisan today. We can work out the difference. We can do the right thing. That's what we're here for, for that little boy on that interstate that night.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 250th anniversary of the city of Romney. In 2012, the city will celebrate its 250th birthday with a year-long celebration. Romney is the oldest town in the oldest county in West Virginia. On December 23, 1762, Virginia's Governor signed the act that created Romney.

When Virginia was divided during the Civil War, Romney was located in what became West Virginia. The city was located in an area that was important to both the North and the South during the Civil War and is rumored to have changed hands 56 times as a result. Romney is home to the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind as well as Davis History House, Hampshire County Courthouse, the Taggert-Hill House, the Wilson-Woodrow-Mytinger House, and the oldest office building in the state. I'm pleased to have this unique city in my district!

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Mary Skeens, as she is inducted into the West Virginia Affordable Housing Hall of Fame. Mary was raised in southeastern Kentucky, but has chosen West Virginia as her home to carry out her life's work in affordable housing.

Mary is currently the Executive Director of Community Works in West Virginia, a statewide housing network with a membership of 27 nonprofit housing providers serving the State's moderate to low-income home buyers. Since becoming its Executive Director, Mary has expanded the organization's lending capacity by becoming a qualified Seller/Servicer of loans to Neighborhood Housing Services of America. In addition, Mary has created a Campaign for Excellence, a leadership program designed to empower nonprofit housing managers; and developed an Affordable Housing Internship Program in partnership with West Virginia University, Marshall University and West Virginia Wesleyan University. As a matter of fact, I currently employ one of the first interns in this valuable program.

Prior to joining Community Works, Mary worked for the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises, known as FAHE, and held various positions at the West Virginia Housing Development Fund with the HOME Program and in the Commercial Business and Development Department.

Mary has remained active in many state and local organizations that serve affordable housing solutions such as the West Virginia Interagency Housing Council, NeighborWorks America Rural Initiative Advisory Committee, Board Member of Rea of Hope Fellowship Home for Women and as Board Member and past-Chair of the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the West Virginia Affordable Housing Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor men and women who have made significant and lasting contributions to affordable housing in West Virginia. Mary Skeens is truly a leader in affordable housing and community investment, and deserving of this honor.

I thank Mary for her years of service to the improvement of housing for all West Virginians. West Virginia is fortunate to call Mary one of its own.

I thank my friend from Texas for yielding me the time.

I wanted to come down and talk today. I support the rule, but I really support H.R. 9, the Small Business Tax Cut bill. This tax relief will go to 28,000 small businesses in West Virginia.

I'm from a small State. Small businesses, I heard earlier, the statistics, create 70 percent of the jobs. In my State, it's probably 90 percent of the jobs are small business owners. Entrepreneurship and small businesses are going to drive us to recovery, not more spending and more debt.

I heard the gentlelady talk about restaurants. That's who this is aimed at. Our top three small businesses in West Virginia would be health care and the service industry and the food industry.

I've spent the last 2 weeks traveling in my district and listening to the concerns of families and job creators. They're very frustrated, very frustrated by the high price of gasoline, rising health care costs, and new regulation upon new regulation. It's making it difficult for our job creators to operate and to grow the jobs.

A recent study by the U.S. Chamber found that 80 percent of small businesses reported that taxation, regulation, and legislation from Washington make it harder for them, for their businesses, to hire more employees. This tax cut will have an immediate effect, I believe, on the economy and certainly in my State.

Just several weeks ago the Senate, the House, and the White House, we worked together to pass the JOBS Act; and I've already gotten very positive feedback from several people that they're, number one, glad that we're looking at the real problem in this country, which is the lack of jobs and job creation and, number two, that we did something together, that we worked together to try to get ourselves out of this slow recovery that we're in right now.

I hope we can work in the same bipartisan spirit and pass this tax cut to give our job creators the ability to hire somebody else, buy new equipment, expand their businesses, choose another location, all the things that I think this tax cut bill will provide.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishment of a constituent of mine Mrs. Rebecca Poe; specifically her twenty-six years of service as Executive Director of the Randolph County Senior Center along with her other accomplishments as Randolph County director for North Central Community Action, campaign chairman for United Way of Randolph County, President of the Elkins Rotary Club and her service on the board of Elkins Rehabilitation & Care Center.

Rebecca, whose first day as Executive Director of the Randolph County Senior Center was July 1, 1985, will work her final day on April 27, 2012. When Rebecca took over the Senior Center it was a small operation with a staff of seven people. Today it has a staff of about 120, including both full-time and part-time positions.

Under Rebecca's guidance the Senior Center home care program began in 1988 with a nurse and coordinator. Today the program has 140 clients and features two full time nurses and a support staff. In 1989 under Rebecca's guidance, the Senior Center made use of a seven-county regional grant to upgrade the nutrition program for their seniors. The Country Roads Transportation program began in 2006 to transport riders of any age.

Although Rebecca has helped the Senior Center make great strides over the years, she insists that the center and the many people she's gotten to know there over the years have made just as big an impact on her.

Mr. Speaker, as the nation's baby boomers move into their senior years, we certainly need more people like Rebecca Poe and the outstanding level of care to our aging population.

I thank Rebecca for her years of service and Randolph County is fortunate to call Rebecca one of its own.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the lifetime accomplishments of Colonel John K. Carney. Col. Carney, originally from Braxton County, West Virginia, passed away less than one month ago on March 17, 2012. He was a World War II veteran and worked more than 38 years in government service.

Col. Carney began his military career in 1941 serving for the United States Air Force. Throughout his tenure, he supervised an array of management and logistics programs for the Air Force both in the United States and abroad. His overseas assignments included tours in South America, Trinidad, and Saudi Arabia, in addition to two tours in the Philippines. His final six years in the military were spent in the Pentagon at Air Force Headquarters. Here, he worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he headed joint service planning and negotiating groups leading to the consolidation of major logistics functions within the Department of Defense.

After 24 years of military service with the Air Force, Col. Carney retired in 1966. It was at this time when he began a second career with the General Services Administration. While working with the GSA, he pursued the development of a government-wide national supply system, which entailed a series of negotiations between the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. He retired a second time in 1980 from his position as Director of Supply Policy.

Along with his dedication to his work, Col. Carney was committed to his community and family life as well. While living in Springfield, Virginia, he played an integral role in the founding of St. Bernadette Catholic Church. It was in Springfield where he and his wife raised their six children, sixteen grandchildren, and nineteen great- grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, the level of devotion to both family and country by Col. Carney is one deserving of great honor and respect.

I wish to thank Col. Carney for his years of service and Braxton County is fortunate to remember him as one of their own.

I rise today to bring attention once again to this administration's assault on our domestic energy production.

For the past 3 years, I've been saying many times from this very podium that the EPA is overstepping its bounds and regulating where it cannot legislate and costing us American jobs.

Last Friday evening, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia overruled the EPA's veto of the Spruce Mine's Clean Water Act permit. The decision stated--and this is a quote from the judge--that the EPA's veto was ``unprecedented'' and it had acted in a manner that was ``arbitrary, capricious, and not in accordance with the law.'' Could there be a clearer sign that we've been subjected to an overreach of Executive power?

This decision is a win for West Virginia, but we have a long way to go because the administration's so-called energy policies have led to higher gas prices and higher heating prices.

We're blessed to have abundant natural resources in this country, particularly in my State of West Virginia, but this becomes irrelevant if this administration continues to hold these domestic resources hostage. All-of-the-above means following the law.

I want to thank the chairman. I really want to thank the whole Financial Services Committee for working together on this bill, the JOBS bill, Jumpstart Our Business Startups.

Our unemployment in this country is over 8 percent. We've got to find and make every means available to create jobs and to give those great ideas to be able to grow from small businesses to large businesses. We want to make sure that our entrepreneurs are able to find the funding to be able to grow those seeds of a business that then could flourish and grow.

When we talk about some of the things that have started in this country as start-ups most recently, we might look at something like AOL or something like Apple or even FedEx when Fred Smith wrote that famous paper in business school that I think didn't get a very good grade but now has resulted in our FedEx. If they hadn't been able to find the funding to begin, many of them I think today would say that because of the regulatory structure, because of the inability to find funding, that they wouldn't even be able to get started today and grow to the thousands of jobs that they have.

This has great potential. It's bipartisan. I support the JOBS Act.