Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of a spiritual leader in my central Florida community, Dr. Ronald Merthie, who recently passed away.

A proud son of Seminole County, Dr. Merthie attended Crooms High School, where he was elected class president. He went to Texas Southern University on an athletic scholarship and, upon graduation, returned home to become a teacher, assistant principal, and coach.

Dr. Merthie struggled with substance abuse for a period of time. But he found strength and redemption through faith, overcoming personal hardship, serving as a role model to others, and becoming a pillar of his community.

Dr. Merthie's life was filled with action and achievement. He established the New Life Word Center Church, offered spiritual guidance on a weekly broadcast, and empowered the next generation by founding a K-through-12 school.

It was Dr. King who said that ``Life's most persistent and urgent question is, `What are you doing for others?' ''

Dr. Merthie devoted his life to serving others. He lead a good life in the most meaningful sense of the term. He will be deeply missed.

I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional man and offering our condolences to his family and all those whose lives he touched.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a spiritual leader in my central Florida community, Dr. Ronald Merthie, who recently passed away.

A proud son of Seminole County, Dr. Merthie attended what is now known as Crooms Academy of Information Technology, where he was elected class president. He went to Texas Southern University on an athletic scholarship and, upon graduation, returned home to become an educator.

Dr. Merthie struggled with substance abuse for a period of time, but he found strength through faith, overcoming personal hardship and becoming a pillar of his community.

Dr. Merthie's life was filled with action and achievement. He established the New Life Word Center Church, offered spiritual guidance on a weekly broadcast, and founded a K-12 school.

It was Dr. King who said, ``Life's most persistent and urgent question is, `What are you doing for others?' '' Dr. Merthie devoted his life to serving others, and he will be deeply missed.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional man and offer our condolences to his family and to all of those whose lives he touched.

Mr. Speaker, since coming to Congress, I have made it a priority to ensure that our men and women in uniform are prepared for success once their military service ends. The members of our Armed Forces serve and sacrifice for this Nation. We have a moral obligation to help them thrive when they transition to the civilian world.

That is why I am so pleased the final version of this bill includes the bipartisan amendment I coauthored to increase funding for the Wounded Warrior Program. This initiative places disabled veterans in paid, 2-year fellowships in House offices, providing them with potentially life-changing opportunities for professional and personal growth. It also enables Members of Congress to better serve the American people, because veterans can use the unique skills they gain in the military to improve public policy and help constituents.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my amendment to H.R. 1635, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. This amendment would ensure that student borrowers who are considering whether to

transfer to another academic institution are provided with the guidance necessary to make fully informed decisions related to their student loan debt and academic credit transfers.

Currently, students who take out Federal loans to finance their education are limited to borrowing up to a certain aggregate amount, with the precise amount depending on the type of loan they have, their financial status, and whether they are enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program.

My amendment would ensure that a student borrower who wishes to transfer to another institution is provided with a clear and concise explanation that the loans he or she has received up to that point will count towards their aggregate loan limit, regardless of whether all the course credits they have completed are accepted by the school they seek to transfer to. Students will benefit from learning this important information because it will help them more effectively plan their educational and financial futures. Students who know the facts before they transfer will be in a better position to decide whether transferring is, in fact, the right decision for them.

Those students who do decide to transfer will be more likely to carefully research all their transfer options, and they will likely give preference to those schools that will accept the credits they earned at their current school and that otherwise provide students with a smooth and seamless transition process. Fewer students will be in the position of having transferred only to find out that very few of the credits they worked so hard to earn and had paid for will actually count towards their degree.

I believe my amendment will be particularly helpful to students who are enrolled in community or State colleges and are seeking to transfer to a 4-year program. Many students who live in my central Florida district are in precisely this position.

Notably, the University of Central Florida, which I am proud to represent, has established a strong transfer program in partnership with six State and community colleges throughout Florida, including Valencia College and Seminole State College in my district.

The program is called DirectConnect to UCF. In general, it guarantees students admission to UCF if they have earned an associate degree from a partner college, and the credits earned by the student at the partner college typically transfer. This is exactly the sort of transfer program that my amendment will encourage students to utilize.

Collectively, Americans owe a crushing $1.4 trillion in student debt. As someone who is still paying off her own student loans, I know there is far more we can and should do to ensure that students are not saddled with excessive debt and are prepared to succeed after graduation.

Nevertheless, I am encouraged that we are taking a step in the right direction today by considering this important legislation. By increasing transparency in the student loan process as it relates to credit transfers, we will provide our students with the information they need to make the best educational and financial decisions for themselves.

I thank the Rules Committee for allowing the House to consider this amendment, and I respectfully ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I would just reiterate my hope that my colleagues will accept this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as a former DOD employee, I know our men and women in uniform must have the authorities and resources to get the job done. They must be well equipped in order to deter and defeat adversaries. That is why I strongly urge my colleagues to pass the National Defense Authorization Act.

I thank Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership on this bipartisan bill. As a member of the Armed Services Committee and of the conference committee that reconciled the House and Senate versions of the bill, I am honored to have played a role in crafting this final product.

We must fight for our servicemembers as hard as they have fought for us. We must give them the tools they need to succeed not only on the battlefield, but also once they leave the service.

Our military produces remarkably talented and well-trained individuals, but too many of these warriors struggle to transition to the civilian world. That is why I am so pleased that the core of my bill, the BATTLE for Servicemembers Act, was included in the NDAA. This provision improves DOD's Transition Assistance Program, which helps departing servicemembers prepare for life after the military.

Specifically, my provision ensures departing servicemembers take a specialized 2-day course to prepare them to attend college, learn a trade, or start a small business. These targeted courses are optional under current law, and, as a result, few servicemembers can take advantage of them. I am hopeful my provision will lead to increased participation in these courses so that more men and women in our military will be prepared to make a successful transition to civilian life.

I am also proud the NDAA includes the full text of my bill to modernize SBA's microloan program, which provides small-dollar loans to aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, including veteran entrepreneurs.

I urge my colleagues on both sides to support this bill.

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

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

I rise in support of this bipartisan amendment, which I am proud to colead with the Congressman from California (Mr. Knight), the Congressman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), and the Congressman from Nebraska (Mr. Bacon).

This amendment would provide additional support for two important and successful initiatives overseen by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

First, it would increase funding for SBA Women's Business Centers by $600,000. This amendment builds on a successful floor amendment I offered to last year's bill, which boosted funding for WBCs by $1 million.

If our amendment is adopted, the House would provide a total of $19 million for WBCs, a substantial funding level that I will work to retain when the House and the Senate meet to reconcile their respective bills.

There are more than 100 Women's Business Centers located across the country, each operated by a local nonprofit organization that receives financial support from SBA and others. These WBCs provide business training, counseling, and mentoring geared to women, especially those who are socially and economically disadvantaged.

Every WBC tailors its services to the specific needs of the community in which it is located, but all provide training in finance, management, and marketing. They also help clients utilize SBA's suite of capital, counseling, and contracting programs.

My central Florida district is home to many talented entrepreneurs, and, yet, it currently lacks a WBC. If this amendment is adopted, it will increase the number of WBCs that can be established nationwide and increase the chances that a WBC will be established in the Orlando area. This would help many of my constituents start or grow their small businesses and, in doing so, further strengthen our local economy.

In addition, our amendment would increase funding for SBA's Veterans Outreach programs by $400,000, from $12.3 million to $12.7 million.

Each year, SBA uses these resources to serve more than 200,000 veterans and their families, including service-disabled veterans. SBA provides veterans with business training and mentorship, and helps them obtain loans, apply for Federal contracts, and cultivate connections with commercial supply chains.

My support for these investments in our veterans is rooted in the belief that servicemembers have fought for our Nation, and, we, as a Nation, must fight for them, both while they are in the military and once they transition to civilian life.

Our amendment does not increase the total amount of founding appropriated by Congress in the bill, and it enhances support for WBCs and veterans programs without reducing support for any other priorities.

I thank the Rules Committee for allowing the House to consider this bipartisan amendment. I respectfully ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague, Mr. Vargas, for yielding, and I support his amendment.

I also support this bill more generally because it supports the quiet heroes in our intelligence community. They don't seek public praise; in fact, they shun it. While others enjoy the limelight, they work hard in the shadows.

Section 1511 is a version of legislation I wrote called the POISE Act. I filed it after the President disclosed highly sensitive information to Russian officials at a White House meeting. This information had been entrusted to the U.S. by a key ally.

Section 1511, drawing on the POISE Act, says Congress must be notified when a member of the executive branch, including the President, discloses top secret information to an adversary government outside established intelligence channels.

As a former specialist at the Department of Defense, I know these disclosures are dangerous because our adversary could use it to harm U.S. interests. Our partners could stop sharing intelligence if they don't trust us to keep it confidential.

The congressional notification requirement will deter irresponsible disclosures and enable Congress to conduct oversight and limit any damage caused by the disclosure.

I also wanted to express my disappointment on a matter of national security. Congressman Curbelo and I offered a bipartisan amendment to require the DNI to report to Congress on the national security threat posed by deep fake technology and how the intelligence community will counter it. Deep fake technology is the digital falsification of images, video, and audio to portray an individual as having done or said something he or she didn't do or say.

Senator Rubio has raised alarms about how foreign intelligence service could use deep fake technology to undermine our Nation's security and democracy.

Frankly, I was dismayed our amendment was not ruled in order, despite being supported by the Intelligence Committee. I know the Rules Committee often makes decisions for reasons unrelated to policy. But the exclusion of this amendment was a serious mistake, and I will look for other ways to ensure our country is prepared for the emerging threat posed by deep fake technology.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for bipartisan legislation to begin Puerto Rico's transition to statehood.

There are over 3 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico, and over 5 million individuals of Puerto Rican heritage in the States. My Florida district is home to more Puerto Ricans than any other district in the country.

I care deeply about Puerto Rico because my constituents care deeply about Puerto Rico. But every Member of Congress should care about Puerto Ricans because they are our fellow citizens. We are part of the same American family.

Puerto Rico has been a territory for 120 years. Its residents are treated unequally under key Federal laws. This impairs economic progress and quality of life, spurring migration to the mainland. And even though Puerto Ricans serve in the military with distinction, they cannot vote for their President and Commander-in-Chief. They have no Senators, and have only one nonvoting delegate in the House.

The hard truth is that Puerto Rico's lack of political power too often makes it an afterthought in Washington, as the Federal Government's poor response to Hurricane Maria made painfully clear.

I support statehood because I support equality. The people of Puerto Rico deserve the same rights and responsibilities as their fellow citizens in Florida and every other State.

Puerto Rico has earned its star on the American flag.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bipartisan amendment, which I am proud to colead with Congressman Barr of Kentucky and Congresswoman Sinema and Congressman Biggs of Arizona. This amendment would increase funding for the National Guard Counterdrug Program by $3 million and reduce funding for the operation and maintenance defense-wide account by a corresponding amount.

If the amendment is adopted, the House will provide $200 million in budget authority for the National Guard Counterdrug Program, which is approximately the amount that the National Guard Bureau indicates it can execute on an annual basis.

My colleagues and I offered this amendment for a simple reason. We believe the National Guard Counterdrug Program is important, that it is effective, and, therefore, that it should continue to receive robust funding. This is

especially true in light of the opioid epidemic that is harming so many communities and tearing apart so many families throughout this country, including in my district in central Florida and in Mr. Barr's district in central and eastern Kentucky.

Under the program, the National Guard Bureau distributes the money it receives from Congress to the National Guards in the States and the territories using a funding allocation model that examines the nature and scope of the drug problem in each jurisdiction. With this funding, National Guards may provide many different forms of authorized assistance to law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations, including analytical, reconnoissance, and training support.

This program is effective because it is targeted and tailored. Each State uses its funding in a way that reflects the drug interdiction priorities of its Governors, the capability of its National Guard, and the needs of its law enforcement partners at the Federal, State, and local levels.

For example, the Florida National Guard receives about $10 million a year under this program, which it uses to reduce the supply of and demand for illegal drugs in the State. Since 2014, support provided by the Florida National Guard has been instrumental in over 2,000 arrests and the seizure of nearly $14 billion in illicit drugs, property, and cash. National Guards in other States have their own success stories as well.

In conclusion, I hope my colleagues will support this bipartisan amendment, which is vital to our Nation's effort to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations and to protect our communities and our children from drug-related violence.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman's support for this amendment, and I would just reiterate my view that the National Guard Counterdrug Program is important. I would respectfully ask my colleagues to support this amendment, which will help ensure this program is fairly funded.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be the Democratic lead of this bipartisan bill, and I want to thank Mr. Garrett of Virginia for working with me on this legislation.

The purpose of our bill is to ensure that States have effective plans in place to protect infants who are innocent victims of the opioid epidemic. The bill aims to help Florida and other States develop evidence-based policies and procedures to properly care for babies born dependent on drugs.

Too many Americans and too many Floridians battle opioid addiction. As a mother, it breaks my heart to see innocent children suffer the consequences of adult addiction. We must do everything possible to ensure that drug-dependent babies receive proper care at the hospital and proper family, community, and medical support once they are discharged.

There are an estimated 2.1 million Americans addicted to opioids, typically, to prescription painkillers. Babies born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy are at risk of an opioid withdrawal condition called neonatal abstinence syndrome. While there are common and effective ways to treat this syndrome, there are no uniform protocols.

Under Federal law, States are required to develop a plan to safely care for infants exposed to substance abuse. However, a 2015 investigation by Reuters indicated that very few States have plans in place that fulfill this Federal requirement. As a result, too many infants exposed to substance abuse and their caregivers are not receiving the comprehensive support they need.

Our bill seeks to address this problem. It would require HHS to provide guidance to States on how to implement safe and effective plans to care for infants born dependent on drugs. It would ensure this guidance promotes evidence-based practices and encourages State governments to collaborate with healthcare providers, social service agencies, and other community stakeholders, and it would ensure that HHS' guidance promotes family-centered treatment that seeks to keep families intact whenever possible.

Each year, thousands of babies in this country are born addicted to opioids, including about 4,000 in Florida alone. These babies need our support. This bill seeks to provide it. I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, the American people have little faith in Congress. They don't trust Members to work together in a bipartisan way, to put public interest above self-interest, and to do their most basic job, which is to set a budget and be fiscally responsible.

Our Nation is strongest when our democratic institutions generate confidence, not cynicism, and when our leaders inspire pride, not pessimism. That is why Congressman Fitzpatrick and I introduced the FAITH in Congress Act.

It requires House leaders to prioritize bipartisan bills over partisan ones, because we must put country over party.

It abolishes automatic pay increases for Members of Congress, and it prohibits first-class travel at taxpayer expense, because it is time we end these perks.

It enacts a simple principle called no budget, no pay, which says that if Congress doesn't pass a budget and appropriations bills on time, Members don't get paid, because the best way to stop incompetence is to stop rewarding it.

Finally, it imposes a lifetime ban on former Members becoming lobbyists, because there should be no doubt that Members come to Congress to serve the public, not to line their own pockets.

It is up to Congress to take the tough but necessary steps to earn the public's trust. The American people's faith in Congress has been damaged, and it is our job to repair it.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy once said that a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers. Consistent with that principle, my bill would designate a U.S. Post Office building in Oviedo, Florida, after Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe.

Sergeant First Class Cashe died in 2005 as a result of wounds suffered while serving in Iraq. When I recount the actions this American soldier and son of Oviedo performed and what he endured in the process, it will take your breath away. The word ``hero'' is ascribed to many people in our society, perhaps a bit too casually, but this was heroism in its purest and most profound sense.

Let me start the story at the beginning: Alwyn was born in 1970 in Sanford, Florida, and was raised in Oviedo, attending Oviedo High School. He was the youngest of nine children: five girls and four boys. The family didn't have much money, but they had plenty of pride. When Alwyn was 6, his father passed away. Alwyn's mother, Ruby Mae, worked long hours at demanding jobs: working on an assembly line and later as a custodian at Florida Tech, since renamed the University of Central Florida.

One of Alwyn's sisters, Kasinal, described her brother as the baby of the family: rambunctious; a little spoiled by his siblings; and, of course, deeply loved. Alwyn enlisted in the military after high school. Kasinal said it had a transformational effect, turning this somewhat aimless boy into a resolute man, the civilian into a soldier. And not just any soldier but a soldier's soldier, a tough-as-nails infantryman, and an old-school leader in the best sense of the term.

As Kasinal put it, Alwyn ``bled Army green'' right from the start. The Army gave him a second family with even more brothers and sisters, bound together by the American flag on their uniform and the events they experienced and endured together from boot camp to combat.

On October 17, 2005, Alwyn, now Sergeant First Class Cashe, was on his second deployment to Iraq. That fateful day, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle carrying him, six other American soldiers, and the squad's Iraqi interpreter struck an IED. The blast instantly killed the interpreter and ruptured the vehicle's fuel cell. Flames engulfed the vehicle.

Initially only lightly injured but covered in fuel, Sergeant First Class Cashe descended into the hull, extracted the driver, who was on fire, and extinguished the flames. At this point, multiple soldiers remained in the vehicle, one of whom managed to open the rear hatch. With no regard for his own safety, Sergeant First Class Cashe rushed to the back of the vehicle, reached into the hot flames, and started pulling out soldiers. His fuel-soaked uniform caught fire, and the flames spread quickly over his body.

Despite what must have been terrible pain, he returned to the vehicle twice more to extract his soldiers, all while he was still on fire and exposed to enemy gunfire. By the time he had extracted all of his soldiers from the vehicle, Sergeant First Class Cashe had the most severe injuries. Second- and third-degree burns covered 72 percent of his body. Nevertheless, he refused to be evacuated until all of his soldiers were medevacked out before him.

When he arrived at the U.S. military hospital at Balad Air Base in Iraq, he was still fully conscious. What remained of his uniform had melted to his skin, yet he tried to fight off the nurses, insisting that they treat everyone else first. Despite determined efforts to save his life at various hospitals abroad and in the United States, he eventually succumbed to his wounds on November 8, 2005, surrounded by members of both his biological family and his Army family.

Scripture teaches us that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends, and Sergeant First Class Cashe made the ultimate expression of love. After his passing, he received the Silver Star, the third highest combat award that the Army confers. Over the past years, there has been a painstaking effort to have Sergeant First Class Cashe's Silver Star upgraded to the Medal of Honor, an award no African American has received since 1969.

Notably, this effort has been led by the battalion commander who nominated Sergeant First Class Cashe for the Silver Star. This individual, now a 2-star general, came to believe that Sergeant First Class Cashe deserves the highest award for valor that our Nation bestows. I strongly agree with this conclusion and have written to the Secretary of the Army to express my view.

We cannot bring Sergeant First Class Cashe back or erase the pain felt by his sister Kasinal, his other family members, and the men and women in uniform who served beside him; but we can pay tribute to his life and legacy. We can engrave his name on a plaque and designate a Federal building in his honor so the American public never forgets this remarkable man who laid down his life for his friends in service of our country.

Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be the lead Democrat on this bipartisan bill which would provide government officials with the timely information they need to prevent and punish fraud in connection with charitable solicitations and the use of charitable assets.

I want to thank my colleague and colead from Pennsylvania, Congressman Mike Kelly, for his leadership on this issue. I also want to thank the chairman, ranking member, and the members of the Ways and Means Committee which unanimously approved this bill last week.

Our bill would require charities to annually file Internal Revenue Service form 990, the form used by tax-exempt organizations, in electronic as opposed to paper format. It would also require the IRS to make these electronic filings available to the public in machine- readable format. Our legislation has been endorsed by the National Association of State Charity Officials, or NASCO, which is an association of State agencies that oversees charitable organizations.

The purpose of our bill is threefold:

First, it would help law enforcement agencies and government regulators identify, shut down, and prosecute fraudulent charitable organizations that use financial contributions for their personal benefit rather than to help those in need.

Second, it would protect American taxpayers who make generous donations to charitable organizations and deserve to feel a sense of security that their hard-earned money is being used for its intended purpose.

And third, it would help reduce the often excessive and overlapping Federal and State filing requirements applicable to charitable organizations, on which these organizations spend considerable time, money, and resources complying every year. This would enable genuine tax-exempt organizations to focus more on their charitable mission, whether that is helping wounded warriors, sponsoring cancer research, assisting victims of gun violence, or other notable causes.

I would note that, in its letter of support for this legislation, NASCO states that having electronic data for all form 990 filers, as this bill mandates, would ensure that the States have the ability to identify and stop fraudulent activity that harms charities and donors more quickly and effectively. NASCO further states that the bill could result in returning to charitable organizations significant resources that these organizations must currently devote to compliance with unnecessary government filing requirements.

In closing, I respectfully ask my colleagues in this Chamber to support the bill, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to quickly follow suit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Jim White, chief of the Winter Park Fire Department, who will be retiring in May after over 35 years of public service in the firefighting profession.

Chief White began his career in firefighting only a few miles from here as a volunteer at the Arlington County Fire Department in Virginia before moving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he worked for ten years as a professional firefighter. Chief White later established roots in Winter Park, where he has spent the last fifteen years as our city's top firefighter.

Some might say firefighting is the White family business. His father also volunteered as a firefighter, and his brother went on to become the deputy fire chief of the same Arlington fire station where White began his career. These men exemplify courage--running in while others are running out.

But whether it is because firefighting is in his family's DNA or because of his own passion for the job, it is clear that Chief White is both a capable leader and a dedicated public servant. During his tenure as the Winter Park Fire Chief, he oversaw the development of the city's first emergency management office, the improvement of several of the city's fire safety accreditations, and the construction of Winter Park's own public safety facility.

Chief White's achievements did not go unnoticed. In 2008, the International City Management Association awarded Winter Park its ``Community Health and Safety Program Excellence Award'' in recognition of an effort led by Chief White to modernize the city's fleet of ambulances, making it safer for rescue personnel to save lives. And, in 2014, Chief White received the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association's ``Fire Chief of the Year Award'' for his service to the public and his contributions to the fire service as a whole.

Although Chief White's leadership and experience will surely be missed at the department, he will leave an incredible legacy for others to follow. As a Winter Park resident myself, I want to personally thank Chief Jim White for his remarkable career in public service, and I wish Jim and his entire family all the best as they enter this new and exciting chapter in their lives.

May God bless Chief White and our brave firefighters and first responders across this nation who put their lives on the line to keep us safe

Mr. Speaker, when the Federal Government spends far more than it receives year after year, it threatens the long-term stability of our economy, compromises our children's future, and undermines our security.

Amending the Constitution to require a balanced budget is a serious step, but one that has become appropriate. That is because all other efforts to make Congress demonstrate a reasonable degree of fiscal discipline have failed. But not all proposed balanced budget amendments, or BBAs, are created equal.

The BBA we are considering today--and I say this with respect for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--is poorly crafted, painfully cruel, and profoundly cynical.

It is poorly crafted because it is excessively rigid. For example, it does not allow Federal lawmakers to run even small deficits to help the country emerge from a recession or a depression. That is bad economic policy that will hurt working families.

It is cruel because it would allow a Federal court, if called on to enforce the BBA, to order cuts to Social Security and Medicare payments, harming citizens who have earned their benefits through a lifetime of hard work, and it is cynical because House leadership is bringing this bill to the floor after it enacted a tax law that doesn't do enough to help middle class and small businesses, and that will explode our Nation's deficits and debt.

In fact, in a sobering new report, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that our annual deficit will exceed $1 trillion within 2 years. CBO also estimates that the debt to GDP ratio will approach 100 percent within a decade--a dangerous figure not witnessed since the immediate aftermath of World War II.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this BBA is a superficial exercise in political messaging rather than a serious effort to address a real problem. This is a real shame because we must tackle this problem, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as patriotic Americans concerned about the future of the country we love.

That is why last June I filed my own BBA, which has been endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition. I believe my bill is a far better approach to the problem than the resolution we are considering today. My bill generally prohibits the Federal Government from spending more than it receives in a fiscal year, but it does not dictate how lawmakers should bring receipts and outlays into balance. We must examine the problem in a holistic manner and make the tough but necessary choices our constituents elected us to make. My bill contains provisions to protect Social Security and Medicare.

Unlike the resolution before us, it would not balance the budget on the backs of those who built our economy. My bill recognizes that there are times when running a deficit is necessary or sensible; like when our Nation is engaged in a military conflict or mired in an economic slump.

Therefore, the bill authorizes an exception to the balanced budget requirement when Congress declares war, when GDP does not grow for two consecutive quarters, or when unemployment exceeds 7 percent for 2 straight months. In addition, a supermajority of the House and Senate may vote to authorize outlays to exceed receipts in other circumstances.

In short, the goal is not to make annual deficits impossible, but to make it harder for policymakers to sacrifice the long-term stability of our economy for the sake of short-term gain.

If the Federal Government is going to spend more than it receives, that decision should be taken in a deliberate and bipartisan fashion, and not merely because it is politically expedient.

My broader goal in filing a BBA is to spur an honest conversation in Congress, in my central Florida district, and around the country, about the consequences, for both our economy and our national security, of piling deficit upon deficit.

It is clear our country must change course. We still have time to act. The question is: Do we have the courage to act?