Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the efforts of you and Ranking Member Rahall, and those efforts, how they have advanced this bipartisan piece of legislation. I would also like to thank Subcommittee Chairman Gibbs for giving this issue the urgent attention that it deserves.

For more than 40 years, America's waters have been made cleaner and safer by a balanced regulatory partnership between the States and the Federal Government. The basis for this partnership was a commonsense understanding that not all waters are subject to Federal jurisdiction and that the States must have the primary responsibility for regulating waters within their own boundaries.

But, now, decades of success have been put at risk under the guise of clarifying the scope of the Federal jurisdiction.

Under its proposed rules, Federal agencies like the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers would see their regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act drastically expanded, to the point of covering almost any body of water throughout America, from ditches to culverts to pipes to watersheds to farmland ponds.

This would have devastating consequences on virtually every major section of our economy, including farming, construction, manufacturing, transportation, and energy development.

That is why I have introduced H.R. 5078, the Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act of 2014. Our bipartisan bill draws a line in the sand that preserves the critical Federal-State partnership in place today.

By preventing the EPA and the Corps of Engineers from finalizing or implementing the proposed rule, we are providing a safeguard against the Federal Government's overreach into regulatory decisions best made by officials at the State and local levels.

We are also requiring the EPA and the Corps to consult with the State and local officials to form a consensus proposal on the scope of the future water regulations under the Clean Water Act.

This bill is not anti-environment. It is not anti-clean water. Our bill preserves the partnership we have had in place for years to strengthen the health of our waterways and manage our water quality, and it does so in a way that maintains certainty for our job creators.

For these reasons, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

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

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

I rise today in support of the Southerland-Tierney-Jones amendment, a bipartisan provision that reaffirms, for the third time, the House's intent that no funding under the underlying bill should be allocated for new limited access privilege programs, also known as catch shares in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico fisheries.

Catch shares is a fishery management tool that allocates a portion of a once-open public fishery to a select group of fishermen, forcing the others off the water and out of business. Put more simply, it is cap- and-trade for the oceans.

Our bipartisan amendment takes a big step towards halting the perpetuation of economic harm on our coastal communities, one of which my family has lived in for 200 years.

Let me be clear, our amendment has zero impact on catch shares already in place. If you have catch shares now, you will have them tomorrow, but we owe our fishermen a voice in addressing these issues through the House and Senate reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act before we consider funding for the development, implementation, or approval of new catch share programs. That is proper process. It is common sense.

I encourage all of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to support this bipartisan Southerland-Tierney-Jones amendment and preventing the funding of development, implementation, and approval of new catch share programs going forward.

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

Mr. Chairman, I also want to remind my colleagues that no one was a greater champion of my amendment than former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank. He is definitely a stalwart in New England fisheries. So though he is not here, his spirit in favor of this amendment rings true.

I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott).

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

Offered By: Mr. Southerland

Amendment No. 24: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a truly heroic and remarkable man, Taylor County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Lundy. On February 5, 2014, Deputy Lundy was having his car serviced in Perry, Florida, when a crazed gunman drove his vehicle through the front of the store and opened fire.

Despite being off duty at the time and suffering a close range shotgun blast, Deputy Lundy courageously engaged the shooter without hesitation and took him down. As a result of Deputy Lundy's bold and selfless actions, innocent lives were saved that day and a gunman intent on causing mayhem was stopped before he could do any more harm.

After spending several weeks in a coma and being told he would need at least a year in the hospital, Deputy Lundy was able to return home in just over two months--a testament to his strength of spirit and an unyielding determination to be there for his wife and two young daughters.

While Deputy Lundy has a long road ahead in his recovery, his bravery and selfless sacrifice will not be forgotten. On behalf of the people of Florida's Second Congressional District, I express my sincere gratitude to Deputy Lundy and wish him a speedy and successful recovery.

Madam Speaker, this month of April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Pat Tuthill of Tallahassee, Florida, lost her 23-year-old daughter, Peyton, on February 24, 1999. Peyton was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered by a convicted criminal on unsupervised probation. Three months after her daughter's death and through her own pain, she was determined to get better, not bitter.

Ms. Tuthill quit her job and became a public speaker and an advocate for victims of violent crime. She has traveled the country, lobbying policymakers to support legislation that strengthens the monitoring and supervision of criminals on parole and probation.

Last year, Ms. Tuthill's dream became a reality with the implementation of the first National Automated Standardized Victim Notification system.

I had the honor of meeting with Ms. Tuthill this morning in my office in order to congratulate her on receiving the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award in recognition of her efforts by the Department of Justice.

As a father of four daughters, I thank her for her tireless effort. I thank Ms. Tuthill for her courage and for her service to others. I can think of no one who is more deserving of this award.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the 50th anniversary of America's war on poverty. While this war may have been launched with the best of intentions, it is clear we are engaged in a battle of attrition that has left more Americans in poverty than at any point in America's history by number.

That fact is staggering, considering the $15 trillion and counting that has been spent on fighting this War on Poverty. The status quo simply isn't working. In fact, it is hurting many, many vulnerable families.

We have a moral obligation to do better for the people of Florida's Second Congressional District and across this great Nation, and for the 46.5 million Americans overall who are living in poverty.

As chairman of the Republican Study Committee's Anti-Poverty Initiative, I look forward to working on things going forward, on new, forward-thinking solutions that do several things: strengthen two- parent families; improve effective educational opportunities; create long-lasting job growth, producing fulfilling careers; and restore people's God-given opportunity for earned success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate this year's BCS national champions, the Florida State Seminoles.

In one of the greatest championship games of the BCS era, head coach Jimbo Fisher and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston led the Seminoles to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory last night over the Auburn Tigers, to a 34-31 victory. With 1 minute and 11 seconds left, the Seminoles drove 80 yards to score the game-winning touchdown, thereby capping an undefeated season.

As the Representative of Florida's Second Congressional District, I could not be more proud. As the Bowl Championship Series comes to a close, the Florida State faithful can forever take pride in knowing that the last BCS title will forever reside in Tallahassee, Florida.

On behalf of the people of north and northwest Florida and Florida's Second Congressional District, I extend my congratulations to the coaches and players who helped us provide a wonderful year for the fans and such an exciting season.

I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

I thank the gentleman very much for those sentiments and that offer. We will contact the coaches and see what we can do.

Go Noles.

Mr. Speaker, the problems with this health care law won't be cured with political fixes because this isn't about politics. This is about real people. People like Paul and Victoria Morson of Panama City, Florida, my hometown.

The Morsons are health care providers themselves. By day, they provide care to infants and toddlers struggling with catastrophic injuries, blindness, autism, and other developmental delays. At night, they run a medical courier service, delivering cancer treatments and medications.

Paul and Victoria each received this letter from Florida Blue, informing them that their coverage was being canceled at the end of this year. Their plans failed to meet the law's requirements for maternity and newborn care and pediatric dental care, despite the fact that the Morsons are in their sixties and have no children.

They were informed their new plans would increase their combined premiums from $520 to $1,260 per month. Now Paul and Victoria are trying to figure out how to keep alive a medical practice that has already been reduced from a 10-county area to just one.

That is a real-world impact and a real-world example on this misguided law, and that is why, if you like your plan and you were promised that you could keep your plan, you should be able to keep your plan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the people of Franklin County, Florida, who are celebrating the 50th annual Florida Seafood Festival, a two-day event that draws tens of thousands of visitors to the historic city of Apalachicola.

First held in 1914, the Florida Seafood Festival did not become an annual tradition until 1963. This non-profit, volunteer-driven event celebrates not only the finest seafood in America, but also the dedicated men and women of the seafood industry who serve as the backbone of Franklin County's economy and rich history.

This year's milestone celebration comes at a time of both economic and ecological hardship for Franklin County's oyster industry. However, with all challenges come new opportunities, and I am confident this close-knit community will persevere in the face of adversity as it has time and again.

In closing, I congratulate the people of Franklin County for hosting the 2013 Florida Seafood Festival and expect a tremendous turnout that reflects the support we all have for North Florida's seafood industry and the people of Franklin County.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding to me today.

Today I rise in support of this rule for the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, and I agree with my colleague on the other side of the aisle, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Hahn). She understands how important this bill is, as do I.

Make no mistake, this is a jobs bill. We are going to be able to take advantage of economic opportunities because of this piece of legislation. I am proud to serve as a member of the Transportation Committee. That this bill passed unanimously out of committee is something that I think needs to be noted.

This legislation enhances the Army Corps of Engineers' ability to develop and support America's port and waterway infrastructure, and it does so with full spending offsets and zero earmarks. That is the kind of commonsense reform I believe the American people expect and deserve.

This bill places hard caps on the time and cost of studies, eliminates duplications and delays, places a 3-year cap on those studies and caps in dollar amounts of $3 million. It expands the role of public-private partnerships in water infrastructure and makes significant changes to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund so that monies that are collected for harbor maintenance are more fully utilized for their design purpose. I know it is a novel idea that those monies collected for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund would be there, and this bill addresses that.

Perhaps most importantly to the people of my district, this bill begins a critically important conversation that began at the committee level on the impact of the decreased water flows down the ACF River system and into the Apalachicola Bay. The Apalachicola Bay is a natural treasure, producing 90 percent of Florida's oyster harvest and 10 percent of the Nation's oyster harvest. The oystermen, small businesses, and hardworking families who depend on this bay have seen their livelihoods put at risk.

I am pleased that Chairman Shuster and the ranking member have worked in good faith to begin this dialogue with me. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this rule, as well as the underlying bill, which provides critical support to Florida's 15 deepwater ports and allows us to be fully prepared for the economic opportunities as a result of the Panama Canal expansion.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to represent 72,000 veterans in Florida's Second Congressional District.

The bill that we will be voting on today is a bill that says, we support you, not just for what you need today, but we also support you for what you did in your past.

What our veterans did in their past was join arms with fellow Americans and went to fight for a principle, a principle of no special treatment. They believed deeply in the Declaration of Independence that says we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

Mr. Speaker, I'm proud today to join arm-in-arm with our veterans to say we agree with that principle. It is time that we re-establish the deeply held belief that there is one standard that should apply to all Americans, not two standards, not a ruling class and then the majority of the Americans that have to serve them. There is but one standard.

I applaud our veterans. I thank them for their sacrifice, and I believe that this bill, Honoring Our Promise to America's Veterans Act, is the only thing that is right and principled in this Chamber today.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' in just a few moments on this bill honoring our veterans.

I would like to thank and commend you, Mr. Chairman, on your great work.

Madam Speaker, there's been a lot of things talked about today and in the past about the motivation. I've been very involved in this bill. The ranking member, she and I have gotten to know each other, and it has been a pleasure. I mean that sincerely. I want you to know, Madam Speaker, that my motivation has only been to introduce the blessing of work to able-bodied people.

Madam Speaker, from your chair, if you look down the center aisle, you can see one of 23 faces that are at the top of this room. The face you are looking at is the face of Moses. That is the only face that is a full frontal view and not a side view like the other 22 faces that surround this room. It was his work, the work of Moses, that in the very first chapter of Genesis, God created Adam and placed him in the garden to work it.

Work is not a penalty; work is a blessing. God's very first work was to introduce the responsibility of an able-bodied individual to do not just a physical activity, not just an economic activity, but, in every sense of the word, a spiritual activity.

What we have done in this country is wrong. We have failed in introducing the blessing of work to able-bodied people who have the ability, who are mentally, physically, psychologically able to work, and we have robbed them of knowing a better life that they helped create for themselves and their families.

I want to be very clear. This bill excludes children. It excludes the disabled. It excludes seniors. It makes sure that able-bodied individuals who are mentally, physically, and psychologically able to work know the blessing that God intended.

There's been a lot of talk about Scripture and a lot of talk about God's plan. I want people to know that it was Moses--Moses--who in this very room is placed in a position of prominence. It was his very first chapter that he gave us God's plan for able-bodied.

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

Mr. Chairman, the numbers don't lie. America's welfare system is broken.

Food stamp benefits have tripled in the past decade. There are more Americans living in poverty today than when the war on poverty was launched a half century ago. Instead of incentivizing work, we are reinforcing the same government dependency and cyclical poverty that we all wish to eliminate. It is clear that an important variable has been missing from America's antipoverty equation, and that is the element of work.

History has proven that work is the surest way to empower able-bodied Americans to advance from welfare to self-sufficiency. When a Republican-controlled Congress and a Democrat President joined together to pass welfare reform requiring work, the results were dramatic. Nationwide, welfare rolls dropped by 67 percent. In my home State of Florida, the number was higher--approximately 85 percent. Work participation by never-married single moms and household earnings skyrocketed. Child poverty rates plummeted. This true bipartisan success story is what my amendment is based upon.

My amendment empowers the States to require work for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. We apply the same sensible work preparation, job training, and community service activities that are at the heart of welfare reform. Our plan is endorsed by several States' Human Services Secretaries who approached us because they understand how important work can be for individuals truly in need.

The simple fact, Mr. Chairman, is that ``work'' works. We must have a system in place that provides a helping hand to the most vulnerable among us. By requiring work for able-bodied SNAP recipients, we can ensure that the resources get to those in need more effectively and efficiently.

I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting my amendment and in renewing the God-given opportunity for earned success in America.

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

Mr. Chairman, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia, Majority Leader Cantor, who represents a State in which, as a result of the 1996 work requirement, welfare rolls were reduced by over 84 percent.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert), whose welfare rolls were reduced by over 55 percent due to the 1996 work requirement.

Mr. Chairman, I now yield 45 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), whose welfare rolls were reduced by over 85 percent in the 1996 work requirements.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, 1,700 days and counting: that's how long it's been since the application to build the Keystone XL pipeline was submitted to the State Department. And with each passing day, every new delay, job creation has been stalled and American energy independence has been pushed to the back burner.

That is why I am pleased to join my colleagues in saying no more roadblocks to American-made energy. No more roadblocks to the 40,000 jobs that will be created during the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, not to mention the jobs to run and operate it in the future.

The time for the Keystone XL pipeline is now. The time for our energy independence is now. Let's pass this bipartisan legislation and get to work for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the place that I am proud to call home: Bay County, Florida.

One hundred years ago today, Bay County was established by act of the Florida legislature, igniting a century of growth and opportunity for a close-knit community that still cherishes its rich history and tradition.

Bay County is located in the heart of northwest Florida, overlooking 41 miles of sugar-white sand beaches along the Gulf of Mexico's emerald green waters. With an additional 270 square miles occupied by pristine lakes, springs, streams and the magnificent St. Andrew's Bay, Bay County has become a national destination for tourists, fishermen, boaters, and water sports enthusiasts.

While Bay County's beaches and diverse inland areas attract over eight million visitors each year, it is the people who live and work there that give us our unique spirit. A small community of little more than 11,000 in 1920, Bay County now embodies the drive of a diverse and growing population totaling more than 170,000 people.

Bay County's workforce is among the best educated and most highly prepared in Northwest Florida, with institutions of higher learning that rival any in the region. Its economic engine is fueled not by tourism alone, but also by thriving small businesses, nationally recognized companies, major manufacturers and

one of the newer airports in America. And, as the home of Tyndall Air Force Base, Naval Support Activity Panama City, and more than 22,000 veterans, Bay County enjoys a rich military history.

On this date, April 24, 2013, the day of Bay County's centennial, I am proud to join with friends, neighbors, and local and county officials from Panama City, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven, Springfield, Parker, Callaway, Mexico Beach, and the unincorporated areas of our county to celebrate our proud past and bright future.