Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, many countries, including China and European nations, are continuing to move to clean energy, such as nuclear power. The United States, the nuclear power pioneer, lags far behind in the development of new generating plants. The United States could and should move to the licensing and development of more nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power is an efficient and a cheaper way of providing clean energy to America's manufacturing sector. We should streamline the long cumbersome process of power plant applications that use safe reactor designs, designs that have already been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Progress, safety and costs have advanced to a state that America can safely store spent nuclear fuel rods and also recycle fuel. One of America's most impressive plants is the North Anna Nuclear Station here in nearby Virginia. Nuclear power is responsible for 20 percent of our energy, but in France 80 percent of their energy comes from nuclear energy. Nuclear power will keep jobs in America and help free us from the shackles of foreign control of our energy.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, while our President preaches the virtues of government-run health care, the Prime Minister of Great Britain is apologizing to his country for their socialized system. And no wonder--Bella Bailey went to Staffordshire Hospital for minor surgery. But things were so bad, she got scared because of the poorly trained English staff. Her fears proved correct when a nurse dropped Bailey on the floor. Her daughter said, ``Meals were brought to patients who couldn't feed themselves, but the staff wouldn't help. Elderly men wandered the halls in a confused state. Vulnerable patients were left hungry and dirty screaming in pain without help.''

``Some patients were so thirsty, they drank from flower vases. It was like a third-world country. Things were so bad, I fed patients and took them to the lavatory. It was like I was watching my mum die and others too.''

Well, Mrs. Bailey did die in that government-run hospital from injuries sustained while there. Do we really want the government controlling access to health care? Nationalized health care will have the competence of FEMA, the efficiency of the Post Office, and the compassion of the IRS.

And that's just the way it is.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, this amendment would make it a requirement for the President to report annually the total United States cash and in-kind contributions to the United Nations system each fiscal year by every United States agency or department. This amendment only applies for the next 2 fiscal years.

Last year, American taxpayers contributed $5 billion to the United Nations, making the United States the largest member donor to that institution. Seeing the amount of American investment and the influence the United Nations has on world opinion and world events, it's important that Americans know how their money is being spent and that it is not subsidizing activities which hurt American security, values or our national interests.

The amendment I am sponsoring today would make it a requirement for the President to submit to Congress a report of U.S. cash and in-kind contributions to the United Nations and U.N.-affiliated agencies each fiscal year. The funding would be reported on usaspending.gov, as required by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act; and this amendment would expire after 2 years. Without the report, Americans would be in the dark concerning the ways in which their money is being spent in funding the United Nations.

I urge the adoption of this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman for his response in support of this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, unveiled today was a new energy plan that would increase production of American-made energy in an environmentally sound manner. The American Energy Act is an all-of-the- above solution that offers more affordable energy, good-paying American jobs and American energy independence, and it is safe for the environment.

However, what the administration and the taxacrats are still proposing is a none-of-the-above approach to energy development. They call it the cap-and-trade bill. Their answer is to tax energy consumption, not actually find more energy.

Their new tax will cost the average American family over $3,000 in additional taxes each year. If you use energy, you are going to be taxed. That will mean all sources of energy will cost all consumers more money. Electricity costs will go up. Natural gas, gasoline, and even the cost of food and consumer goods will rise. Everything is going to cost a whole lot more, because everything Americans buy is produced using the energy the administration is going to tax.

Their plan is to punish Americans who use energy by taxing them, plus there is no real plan for energy that they propose. Their new cap-and- trade national energy tax will financially devastate middle class families across America. It will be especially hard on energy-producing States like Texas that are going to lose thousands of jobs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued their analysis of the energy consumption tax this week. The CBO reports say that the administration cap-and-trade tax imposes $846 billion in new national energy taxes that will affect all of us. Not only that, the CBO told the Senate the new energy consumption tax will have little or no effect on the climate. Now, isn't that lovely?

The none-of-the-above energy plan and tax on business hammers what few manufacturing plants are left in the United States. It is going to send countless American jobs overseas to places like China and India. You see, both of these countries have said they are not going to participate in any scheme to cap-and-tax carbon like America is going to do. Thus, they will make what were American products cheaper in those countries. Also, if all of these factories and plants move overseas, along with the jobs, to so-called polluting nations, how is this going to have any positive effect on our climate?

At the same time, the taxacrats are trying to kill off carbon-based fuel supplies; that is, things like oil and its derivatives, as well as natural gas. There is no transition fuel that exists at this time. That is at least 10 years away. Now we are really in a fix; no new energy, and, literally, we are going to be in the dark and we are going to be taxed back to the stone age.

The strange part of all this is that the taxacrats say natural gas could be that transition fuel, but they are trying to kill the drilling of natural gas, especially offshore. I wonder if they understand that natural gas is a carbon-based fossil fuel that requires drilling to unearth? You cannot grow natural gas like corn.

Those taxacrats also want to force us all into small, little green cars that are death traps. Have you seen these things? These dinky cars are too small for people like me and too small for even groceries or putting children in these toy cars. There is no room, and they are unsafe at any speed.

The Institute for Highway Safety ran three 40-mile-per-hour, car-to- car, front-to-front crash tests each involving one of these little bitty microcars and a midsize car from the same manufacturer. They didn't even use large cars or those SUVs. The results weren't pretty. They found that the weight of just a midsize car was devastating to these micromini toy cars. These green cars simply do not have the weight to protect the passengers, and they are not safe on American highways. So the government is going to force us to drive small, battery-powered, unsafe vehicles, but they will be cute, Mr. Speaker.

And speaking of batteries, if all our vehicles are electric, where are we going to dispose of the millions of larger batteries that will be required to generate these little cars? The other side talks about protecting the environment, but this will create an environmental nightmare when we are trying to dispose of these batteries somewhere in America.

It is just common sense to do everything we can to embrace an all-of- the-above approach that is environmentally friendly as well as affordable for the American people.

The American Energy Act is good for the country. We can drill safely off our shores for oil and natural gas. That will create American jobs and make us less dependent on foreigners.

We need to use more nuclear and hydroenergy, and eventually we will, as an American Nation, develop alternative energy. Meanwhile, we don't need the bureaucrats forcing Americans into a none-of-the-above energy plan, raising taxes and forcing us to drive unsafe cars.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are reporters for Current TV. They were in China near the North Korean border making a film about the horrible sex trafficking between North Korea and China. The North Koreans claim they crossed the border illegally, so the Communist court sentenced them to 12 years at hard labor. That's some border enforcement policy.

The conditions in these prison camps are harsh. Some reports say a quarter of the inmates die of starvation every year. The prisoners do backbreaking work in factories, coal mines and rice paddies. They're also used in experiments involving biological weapons. I guess the Communists didn't get the memo on human rights.

Now we hear that the journalists may have actually been kidnapped and forcibly taken to North Korea. Anyway, they are being used as political prisoners to try to force this administration to give more concessions and American money to North Korea.

North Korea is starving. The Communist regime is bankrupt. But they want to be able to sell nuclear technology to terrorist nations, so they're holding these journalists ransom until they get their way.

Mr. Speaker, the journalists should go free, and the North Korean outlaws should take their place in that prison.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania yielding and the support of the gentleman from New York.

I'm proud to sponsor H. Res. 454, which recognizes the 25th anniversary of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

As founder and co-Chair of the Victims' Rights Caucus, along with my friend from California, Mr. Costa, I am thankful for the work that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children does to protect the Nation's children.

At the time the Center was founded 25 years ago, there were little or no resources available to assist law enforcement with the cases of missing children. In fact, there was no way for police to enter information about missing children into the FBI's national crime computer. Today, thanks to the work of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, this is no longer the case.

Each year, approximately 800,000 American children are reported missing. When a child is missing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children works tirelessly alongside families and law enforcement agencies in locating, finding, and recovering the children and bringing them home to their parents.

Many people may be familiar with John Walsh from his TV show America's Most Wanted, but they may not realize the tragic events that led to his advocating on behalf of children and his work with America's Most Wanted.

In 1981, Adam Walsh, son of John and Reve Walsh, was abducted from a toy department store in Florida at a shopping mall. Two weeks later, fishermen found Adam's decapitated head. They never found his body. He was 6 years old.

Last year, after 27 years of not knowing who killed their son, police announced that Adam's murderer was a serial killer who had died a decade earlier while serving five life sentences in prison. Ottis Toole was his killer's name, and although we know this knowledge did not take away the Walshes' pain, we hope that it gave them some peace of mind and a sense of justice.

Even during the years of unanswered questions, John Walsh turned his loss into advocating on behalf of children. He helped fight for the passage of the important Federal legislation, such as the Missing Children's Act of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984.

The Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984 established a national resource center and a clearinghouse for missing and exploited children, thus creating the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. President Reagan officially opened the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on June 13, 1984. Twenty-five years later, we thank John Walsh for his pioneer efforts and recognize the center for their work on behalf of America's children.

We celebrate today that, since 1990, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's recovery rate of missing children has increased from 62 percent to 97 percent. Many children owe their rescue to the center, and many parents are grateful for the return of their kids, thanks to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

This legislation is sponsored by both the Victims' Rights Caucus and the Caucus for Missing and Exploited and Runaway Children. I would like to thank my friend and fellow co-Chair of the Victims' Rights Caucus, Jim Costa, and the co-Chairs of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, Judy Biggert, Bart Stupak, Zoe Lofgren and Frank Wolf.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, noble sacrifice dominates the character of a man who so willingly dedicates his life for others. There are none who understand that any better today than the men and women in our U.S. military. They personify the very essence of what it means to be an American.

Today, under the morning sky at Arlington Cemetery, myself and other Members of Congress--Rob Wittman from Virginia, Jo Bonner from Alabama, and Senator Sessions from Alabama--joined several hundred other family members and friends as a 21-gun salute and ``Taps'' was played for United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark E. Stratton, II. The somber silence of the grave sites was broken with this tribute.

Colonel Stratton trained as a navigator on an Air Force KC-135. In his honor, one of these massive aircraft flew low and slow over Arlington Cemetery, over the flag-draped coffin of one of Air Force's finest. He gave his life helping the Afghan people to know dignity of a life lived in freedom.

He was assigned to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon here in Washington, D.C. and he served as the commander of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan. On May 26, 2009, Mark died near Bagram Airfield of wounds that he sustained from an improvised explosive device, what we call an IED.

Mark had strong Texas ties. He graduated from Texas A&M University in December of 1991 with a degree in political science. And while at Texas A&M, he was a member of Squadron 1 in the Corps of Cadets. He received his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1992. He has numerous Air Force commendations, including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

He is remembered by friends as a man of unquestionable character and loyalty. He was a patriotic individual who exemplified the spirit of the American airman.

Lieutenant Colonel Gil Delgado, Mark's former roommate at Texas A&M, described Mark as a man who passionately loved God, his family, his friends and his country, and it showed in everything Mark did.

Through his heroic work in Afghanistan, Mark lived a life helping other people. His time was spent building roads and clinics, schools and canals for the Afghan people. He was an ambassador for the American spirit. He described the job to family and friends as the best he had ever had in his entire career. When he was killed, Mr. Speaker, the villagers in Afghanistan had a memorial service in his honor.

Mark held a deep sense of tradition. Just a few weeks prior to his death, Mark made a special effort to share his Texas Aggie spirit with the Afghan friends that he had met. Mr. Speaker, each April 21, the day Texas gained independence, Aggies from Texas A&M observed what is called Aggie Muster. This occasion is where all Aggies gather in all parts of the world to honor Aggies who have died the previous year.

Even though Mark was the only Aggie within 100 miles of his forward operating base, he convinced the Panjshir Provincial Governor and his security detail to join him atop a nearby mountain to observe the very special occasion of Aggie Muster. One Aggie Air Force colonel and Afghan villagers paid tribute to Americans who died the previous year; that must have been a sight to see.

Texas Aggies have a long tradition of military service. In fact, during World War II, Texas A&M produced over 14,000 officers, more than came from West Point or Annapolis combined. Mark was a proud Texas Aggie.

Mark is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and their three children, along with his mother, stepfather, and his brother, Michael. Mark's late father and namesake served as an Army captain in the Vietnam War. His stepmother, Debby Young, lives in southwest Houston. Mark's brother, Michael, and stepbrother, Steven, also live in the Houston area.

A great testament to Mark's life is the lives he forever changed through his work; every structure, every canal and road well traveled. Every school Mark helped build will offer generations of Afghan children the opportunity that comes from education. Every clinic he helped build will be a place where sickness will be cured, where human suffering is relieved, and where lives are being saved every day.

Mark has left a noble legacy as he has come to the end of this Earthly journey. It is for others now to pick up the torch he used to light a way for the Afghan people in the rugged mountains and deserts of this remote nation.

Mr. Speaker, it has been said, ``The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.'' Next year, on April 21, at Aggie Muster, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Stratton's name will be called. His name and life will be remembered by Aggies and other grateful Americans and by his Air Force buddies. But no doubt the people of Afghanistan will also remember the man from America, the Air Force colonel who built their schools, their water wells, and their villages. And maybe those villagers will return once more to that mountaintop and pay tribute to this American hero, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Stratton.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, we have yet another czar appointed by the administration. The Pay Czar will set limits on how much money people can make that took bank bailout money.

The government is establishing a central committee accountable and answerable only to the President. These czars and czarinas avoid scrutiny of Congress. There is no advice and consent by the Senate and little oversight, and no one knows what these czars really do or how they're doing it. There is no authority found anywhere in the Constitution to appoint these czars. They enforce czar rules with no recourse by the citizens. The czars claim they know best how to take care of the masses.

It's appropriate that this administration and past administrations use this Russian term ``czar'' since the Russians, under the Soviet Union, invented the Politburo. The Soviet Politburo was made up of political party appointees that made all policy decisions and ruled the country through their dictates.

Now we have 21 czars. The newest, the Pay Czar, is moving us ever nearer to a socialist union which leaves us less and less control of the government by the people.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, the recent focus on Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict that continues today is vital and important to our world peace. There are a lot of people out there trying to revise history, however.

The State of Israel was established in 1948 by British mandate after the Holocaust of World War II. The Jewish people lay claim to this area since Biblical times. The establishment of the Jewish State of Israel merely formalized the return of their indigenous homeland by international agreement. Both the United States and the U.N., including the Soviet Union, recognized the State of Israel.

The day after the Jewish state was established in 1948, it was invaded by six surrounding Arab nations. A negotiated cease-fire ended hostility, with Jerusalem being split in the middle between Israel and Jordan.

In 1967 Israel was once again invaded by Syria from the north, Jordan from the east and Egypt from the southwest. During the war, Israel defended itself and expanded its border by including the Golan Heights that was controlled by Syria, the West Bank, controlled by Jordan, and Gaza, controlled by Egypt.

Some would have you believe that the establishment of the State of Israel changed the borders of Arab states in agreements that had existed for centuries. That is simply incorrect. The boundaries of the Middle East countries were fixed by Western powers after Turkey was defeated in World War I. The French took over Syria and Lebanon. The British took over Palestine and Iraq. The areas allotted to Israel had been under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1917. During this 400-year reign of the Turks, the Holy Land was only sparsely populated. The few folks living there were an oppressed Jewish population and mostly revolving Muslim immigrant groups, but also there were small groups of Christians in the area.

The actual boundaries of what became the State of Israel were set by the United Nations in 1947. When formally established in 1948, the attacks on the tiny new state of Israel began immediately by the neighboring Arab states.

Yasser Arafat formed the Palestine Liberation Organization, or the PLO, in 1964. He formed a state within a state in the Palestinian homeland of Jordan. Arafat many times stated that Jordan is Palestine. It was not until the 1967 war that the Arab nations backed the PLO for the purpose of taking back land that Israel had won in that defensive war of 1967. In 1967 Arab forces massed against Israel, surrounding the tiny nation.

Egyptian President Nasser was allowed to kick the U.N. peacekeepers out of the Sinai Peninsula, which acted as a buffer between Egypt and Israel. The world watched as hundreds of thousands of Arab troops tried to ``drive Israel into the sea.'' The unexpected brilliance of the Israeli military stopped the aggression from all directions, and Israel was secure for a moment.

As a result of that war for survival, Israel fairly won land: The Sinai, the West Bank and Gaza. Everywhere else in the world, territory acquired in self-defense is only returned in the context of a negotiated peace. Israel has never been fully afforded that negotiated peace. Israelis have returned land time and time again when a peaceful settlement was reached. Soon they may run out of land to give away.

In the Camp David accords of 1978, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in return for a peace treaty. Jordan and Syria have less formal but similar agreements with Israel.

Now one issue is whether Israeli Jews that have settled into the West Bank should leave or not be allowed to have natural expansion of their own communities. This should be negotiated between the Israeli Government and the Palestinians. The United States should not interfere in and prevent negotiations by picking winners and losers.

This year the United States is picking the loser of Israel. The United States should help broker negotiations

and help get all parties to negotiate, but not demand either side take a certain position.

Israel has been a longtime ally of the United States, and our interest should be that the sides involved solve this problem without the United States dictating who wins and who loses.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, there is no such thing as a former marine. Once marines leave the military, they are still marines at heart, soul, and patriotic zeal.

One such marine is Frank Larison, who served in Vietnam--14 years in the military.

The 58-year-old combat veteran lives in Lake Highlands in Dallas, Texas. Like many marines, he has Marine bumper stickers and decals on his vehicle. But the homeowners' association claims the stickers are advertising, which is prohibited under deed restrictions.

Marine Larison has been told to remove the stickers or face fines or towing. Larison is not retreating from this battle. Marine Larison has, in the unique Marine vocabulary, ``politely'' refused to peel off any of the red and gold Marine decals. Larison told a Dallas reporter, ``I'm not advertising. I'm just proud to have served my country.''

Marine Larison will win his fight with the association because freedom of speech is still sacred in America whether the association likes it or not. There is nothing like a U.S. Marine. They are a breed of their own. They are truly unique, proud Americans. The association picked the wrong person to do battle with, a U.S. Marine. Semper fi, Frank Larison. Semper fi.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Saturday, June 6, 2009, will mark the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. Operation Overlord was the code name, but most folks know the massive invasion by its military term. We call it D-day.

We honor the amazing men who stormed the beaches at Normandy on that historic day. Utah, Sword, Gold, Juno and Omaha beaches were the names of the invasion sites.

June 6, 1944, was a wicked day of weather. The seas were high and the rain came in hard. The sky only broke occasionally for the Allied air cover to protect the landings.

Our boys laid claim to the beachheads inch by bloody inch. The Rangers climbed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc

under heavy, brutal German fire. The sand was stained red with the blood of young American warriors and that of our friends, our allies.

Felix Branham went ashore at the second wave of Omaha Beach as a demolition man. Felix had joined the National Guard in 1938. Branham said of his landing: ``The water was so rough. The guys were getting seasick. I saw water spilling up over the sides of our landing crafts.

``The seawater was splashing in on us from shells bursting and rifles hitting our boat. But I never raised up and looked over to the side of that boat. None of us did.

``When we got off the landing craft, the water was up to my knees. Of course, the tide was rising a foot every 10 minutes and we had to get in quick, because high tide would cover up the obstacles in the water that we used for cover and we would be blown out of the water. They were firing at us from everywhere.

``When we got to the beach, there were Rangers who were separated from their units piling in with us at the same time.

``My team was the first one to go over the sea wall; and I saw some of my friends die.

``In my team of 30 men, we had lost only about five or six of those men. We were lucky. God knows how lucky we were. We went up the hill and then we crossed over Omaha Beach and eventually made it to a little French town.

``The day after D-day, I walked up to the beach, went up and down the beach and saw guys lying on the beach who were dead. They were there with their eyes open, their rifles ready. They were solid in their death.''

Mr. Speaker, these brave men who cracked the Nazi grip on Europe began with the liberation of France 65 years ago. And then from there they went on to Germany. Nothing like it had ever been done before in history. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers hit the beaches during the assault landings on the 6th of June. By the 4th of July, over 1 million joined the invasion force through Normandy. It was a miraculous feat for 1944.

These young men were from every State and territory of the United States. They were young and hailed from places in the rural farmlands to the big cities. Many had never been but a few miles from home until they went ashore and overseas. They have been called the Greatest Generation.

Growing up, I learned that my dad, a farm boy, served in the great World War II as a soldier in Europe. He was only 18. That's all I knew. Neither he nor my mom, a war bride, ever said anything about my dad's service until they went to a certain place. Here is that place, Mr. Speaker, a place called Normandy.

They went on the 50th anniversary of the D-day landing. When he came back to Texas after this grave-site visit here in this photograph, he started talking about his buddies, those that had lived, and those that had died. He talked about the concentration camps he saw like at Dachau, and how he nearly froze in the Battle of the Bulge, and much, much more.

But he claims to be no hero, even though he is my hero. He says the real heroes are buried right here in this cemetery at Normandy, his fellow warriors who gave up their youth so our country could have our future.

Mr. Speaker, some today forget the feats of these warriors of World War II. Those World War II troops went to liberate but not to conquer. They fought for a people they didn't even know in a land they had never seen. They freed an entire continent of Europeans from tyranny and wanted absolutely nothing in return.

Mr. Speaker, here are some of those Americans that never came home: 9,387, to be exact, still buried in graves in Normandy. Buried on the cliffs, their white crosses and their Stars of David shine and glisten in the morning sunshine over Omaha and Utah beaches.

Mr. Speaker, others are buried in unmarked graves all over Europe, known only to God. They were great Americans and we should always remember them. We will always be proud, and we will always be free because of them.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, ``We shall not flinch or fail. We shall go on to the end. . . . We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing strength in the air. We shall defend . . . whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight everywhere. We shall never surrender.''

Winston Churchill said this showing the dedication of our armed forces. They never give up; and, of course, they never give in.

Churchill was right, Madam Speaker. In WWII, American troops did not flinch--they fought wherever and whenever they were. needed--to the very end.

For many young Americans, 31,000, to be specific, that courage took them to the beaches of Normandy, France.

And for more than 6,000 Americans that meant giving everything they had for the cause of liberty and freedom.

This July 6th marks the 65th anniversary of the infamous D-day.

I am a proud cosponsor of the resolution before the House today which expresses the gratitude and appreciation of the House of Representatives for the acts of heroism and military achievement of all the Members of the Armed Forces who participated in the D-day landings on Normandy beach.

These brave warriors went to war to liberate Europe for the cause of freedom.

The average age of the brave young warriors representing the United States on those shores was just 20 years old.

They might have been young Madam Speaker, but their leadership and their commitment to freedom marked the beginning of the liberation of France and ultimately culminated in the destruction of the Nazi Empire and the triumph of the Allied Forces.

I am pleased to speak in support of the resolution today and urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the State of Texas is caught in the crosshairs of a green movement hostile and detrimental to our energy industries. Texas produces 1 million barrels of oil every day, or 20 percent of the U.S. production. We're also home to refineries that produce one-quarter of the country's gasoline and also produce oil byproducts for plastics.

The new cap-and-trade tax will destroy thousands of Texas jobs, and the Congressional Budget Office says that the tax on energy won't even help the climate. No matter, the taxacrats in Washington want to punish red energy State voters by nailing them with the new disastrous tax on energy consumption.

In the name of saving planet Earth, the government barons are trying to push us to so-called ``green'' energy sources that don't even exist yet. Green energy that will support this country's needs is at least 10 years away.

The immediate solution right in front of us is expanding our own oil and gas production while we develop these new technologies. That will create jobs, keep money in America, and make us less dependent on foreign oil. But that logic is lost in the hazy political climate of Washington.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, recently, in Texas, we actually had a woman ordered to remove her American flag from her work space. Debbie McLucas works at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas. She comes from a very patriotic family. Her husband and both of her sons served in the United States military. Her daughter is a combat medic and is currently deployed on her second tour of duty in Iraq.

When Debbie arrived at work the Friday before Memorial Day, her American flag was gone from her hospital work space. She had displayed it in honor of Memorial Day and in honor of our troops. Debbie was met by her supervisor and was told that there had been complaints about the American flag. An immigrant coworker had complained that the American flag was offensive, so the flag was taken down by management. Debbie found her flag wrapped around the pole and laying on the floor in the corner of her supervisor's office.

Debbie McLucas said in an interview that one of her colleagues who had migrated to the United States from Africa 14 years ago had complained to the supervisor. Debbie was then told by management that it only took one complaint, and the so-called ``offensive'' flag had to come down immediately. Debbie told her supervisor that she was offended that somebody removed the flag. She said she could not fathom that anyone in America would find the American flag objectionable.

As soon as this episode hit the news wires, there was outrage from sea to shining sea and rightfully so. After all, Debbie's freedom of speech to display the flag was stolen by the hospital elites because one person whined and griped. Let me tell you about how some Americans appreciate the flag as Debbie McLucas does.

Several years ago during the Vietnam War, a university student in Houston, Texas, had desecrated the American flag. He was charged under Texas law with the felony of flag desecration. That was before the Supreme Court gave peaceniks the right to burn the flag, saying it was free speech. Anyway, two young prosecutors--Vic Pecorino and Andy Horn, a recent returning Vietnam veteran--had to prove to the jury that the flag was, in legal terms, a venerated object, or one that deserves special treatment.

After proving the case, except for this one requirement, the State called Chris Cole, a judge, to prove that the flag had to be treated in a respectful manner. He came in to testify, accompanied by his seeing eye dog. Judge Cole was a marine in World War II. He was involved in the bloody island hopping of the South Pacific. During the flag trial, he was asked by the prosecutors when the last time was he saw the U.S. flag.

He paused, and with a tearful response, he said, The last time I saw the flag it was raised on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima Island in 1945. You see, several days later, Judge Chris Cole had a Japanese hand grenade explode near him, and he permanently lost the sight in both eyes. He never saw Old Glory again.

In the flag trial, the defendant was convicted by the jury because they thought, as Judge Cole testified, that the flag holds special significance to Americans; but the law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

There are a lot of Americans, especially those who serve in the military, who hold the view that the flag represents everything that is good and right about our Nation and that it is their right to display the flag.

Mr. Speaker, the flag is displayed here on the wall behind me. Each morning, Members of Congress pledge allegiance to the flag as do schoolchildren across the vast plains of America. Obviously, Debbie McLucas is another one of those Americans who respects the values that the flag represents, and she wishes to proudly display it. Debbie McLucas should be praised for exercising her constitutional right of freedom of speech by displaying America's flag.

So, in her honor and to honor her military family, I have requested that an American flag be flown over the United States Capitol on Saturday, June 6, on the 65th anniversary of the D-day landing of Normandy during World War II. The flag will be sent to this American lady in appreciation of her patriotic spirit, of her loyalty to American warriors and to the American flag. May she display it proudly.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the new carbon energy tax is about to nail all Americans who use energy. It's about old-fashioned, central planning control that would make the now-defunct Soviet Union green with envy.

In the name of saving Planet Earth, the taxacrats want to control every dollar spent on energy in America. They also want control over who can use it and how. So they came up with the mother of all mandates: The cap-and-trade national tax on energy consumption. This scheme will bankrupt manufacturing businesses and cost American families thousands of dollars a year in new taxes.

If you use electricity or natural gas in your home, you've got another tax. If you drive your car, the gasoline tax will go up. It's all about government control over our lives.

And the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the cap-and- trade boondoggle will be a major tax increase or a massive expansion of government, or both. And they also told the Senate last week that it won't have any impact on the Earth's temperature. Now isn't that lovely.

And that's just the way it is.