Floor Statements

I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, recently, I had the opportunity to meet with more than a dozen of Michigan's private colleges and university presidents. They're working hard, as you might guess, to address the rising costs of college education with their institutions and other institutions and with students who desire an education. At the same time, this House, under the direction of this committee, is working hard to address student loan interest rates in a way that brings long-term stability to the program.

The interest rate for federally subsidized Stafford loans is currently set to rise to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2013, matching it to the current unsubsidized Stafford loan rate. Other Federal loans have rates as high as 7.9 percent. Any further temporary extension of the current rate only kicks the can down the road. We've done this already. In politicians versus markets, markets will always produce better long- term results, and only those who refuse to deal with the truth of history and reality would say otherwise.

Congress has a unique opportunity to institute long-term, bipartisan reforms. Why not? We know in our hearts it's the right thing to do. Both President Obama and the House have favored market-based solutions to current rates. The Secretary of Education desires a long-term solution like this as well.

Instead of another short-term fix, the Smarter Solutions for Students Act provides a long-term solution to the student loan interest rate problem. It returns all Federal student loans, except Perkins loans, to a market-based interest rate and takes politics out of this part of our children's education.

The only way this plan won't work is if the liberal, progressive, central planners that control our government policy now are allowed to continue their failed approach. And it is a failed approach. Pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor to recognize SSG Travis Mills of Bravo Troop 4/73 Cavalry 82nd Airborne, of The United States Army. An American hero if ever there was one. On April 10, 2012, while out on patrol with his troops in Mialand Province Afghanistan he almost lost his life during an IED explosion. Travis is the fourth Wounded Warrior to lose all of his limbs. He is known for leading his men in combat, where they go he goes! And since arriving at Walter Reed Hospital, he has inspired all of his fellow wounded warriors, spending many hours up on the ward and throughout the complex leading them to recovery. His can do attitude and great sense of humor makes you proud to be an American. Any parent would be proud to call him his or her son. Also his wonderful wife Kelsey, who adds new meaning to that song ``Stand by your man''. And their beautiful child Chloe, have given Travis so much to live for! I submit this poem penned in his honor by Albert Carey Caswell.

The Deepest of The Deep

The . . .

The Deepest . . .

The Deepest of The Deep!

And on that morning Travis when you awoke . . .

Oh what to you, your fine heart so spoke . . .

While, lying there without much hope!

As when you so realized,

that this was not a bad dream . . .

and somehow you must so find a way to so cope!

As the tears rolled down upon your most

courageous face,

as the Angels up in Heaven so too cried and prayed . . .

and to you so spoke!

As somehow all in that darkness of most evil war,

Travis you so found the hope!

All with but your most amazing grace,

to somehow to someway so cope!

And to so accept God's Will,

as the tears ran down your most brilliant face!

As it was your faith Travis,

that which you so invoked!

As you so came to such a place!

Where only,

but The Deepest of The Deep can so face!

And for all of them BRAVO,

one day heaven so awaits!

That which,

so helped you to wipe all of those tears away . . .

as you so began your most heroic climb on that day!

All in what your fine heart and soul,

so had to say!

All in what Travis,

you so gave!

The Deepest of The Deep!

To so fight on,

but to so live another day!

As all around you we'd so weep!

As we so looked upon your most courageous face,

and into your most beautiful of all eyes so very deep!

As there we so saw something,

something so very precious and oh so very sweet!

Something,

that to this day wise men still so seek!

Was but,

The Deepest!

Was But The Deepest of The Deep!

All in what so comes from within ones heart,

that which so heroically so beats!

And all within ones soul,

so very deep!

Is but The Deepest of The Deep!

As it was there Travis,

that you so chose to live or die!

As it was there Travis,

all in that hospital bed as you so lie . . .

As your fine wife so began to cry!

As your family so asked why?

As when,

your soul so took flight!

As you were Airborne,

2nd to none!

To so lift us all up,

and cast your most heroic light!

As once before Travis,

you so stood so tall before us almost like a God!

As now without arms and legs,

an even greater person we now saw!

As we so began to cry!

Get up or give in,

for only this you could so decide!

As Travis you so dug in deep!

To so become one of,

The Deepest of The Deep!

As somehow Travis you so kept hope alive!

All on your most heroic path,

as you so began your climb!

As soon,

we all so realized . . .

that you were now more than a man!

As this battle you would so win!

Uncommon Courage,

something so very brilliant that can only come from so deep

within!

Is but The Deepest of The Deep My Friends!

As Travis you so chose life,

as all around us you'd so cast your light!

As all for Chloe your most beautiful little child,

and Kelsey your most devoted loving wife . . .

As you would take that hill!

As you would so win that fight!

For you Travis,

you are Pure!

Pure Michigan,

for that's so for sure!

As day by day . . .

And night by night!

Upon, this world you would so cast your light!

As the mountains you would so climb!

For we all have valleys,

into which we may fall!

But, all in that moment of truth . . .

will we so be the ones so standing tall?

To somehow rise up above it all!

And come out of all of that darkness,

to become a true champion and so answer courage's call!

When against all odd's,

upon our hearts it all so depends!

As you Travis so remind us all,

of that one fine thing!

Of what The Deepest of The Deep Can So Bring!

But, what so lies all in our such hearts of courage full!

Would we so be the ones to so find such strength,

all in such darkness to so stand tall?

All in these our darkest of days of nights,

to so bring such tears to the Angels eyes!

Bravo!

As Travis,

your fine heart went Airborne!

As up in Heaven your valor,

so too made our Lord cry!

As you so taught us all,

that anything is possible when hearts decide!

Yea Travis,

you are Pure!

Pure Michigan,

and that's for sure!

As a leader of men,

who so gallantly marched off to war!

And came back home,

and yet to us all gave so much more!

Whose heart and soul, and body and mind . . .

are but now all of folklore!

As Travis,

your courage makes us all so weep!

As we will follow,

as you lead!

As into the future,

as up with you we will all so try to keep!

For you are pure Michigan,

For you are Travis,

are but The Deepest of The Deep!

And so is your fine wife Kelsey,

so very sweet!

For Travis,

men like you up in Heaven our Lord shall keep!

And . . .

And On . . .

That Morning When You Woke!

As to you your fine heart so spoke!

As The Deep . . .

The Deepest of The Deep!

By Albert Carey Caswell.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman.

I find it unbelievable to sit here and listen to the divisive, erroneous, fear-mongering information that's being put forth by the other side of the aisle. It's unbecoming. Today's workplaces are a lot different than they were just a generation ago. Technology continues to alter the way goods and services reach consumers, and cultural changes have transformed the nature of America's workforce.

This important legislation, this compassionate legislation, allows private sector employees to choose--and I say ``choose,'' Mr. Speaker-- choose paid time off or comp time as compensation for working overtime hours, and this policy has already proven extremely successful.

For nearly 30 years, government sector workers have been able to earn comp time. In fact, last year employees at the IRS took more than 246,000 hours of comp time in lieu of overtime pay. No complaints. Yet working parents and individuals in the private sector are not afforded with this same choice.

This is simply not right. Certainly every employee faces a unique set of circumstances and challenges and responsibilities. For some, taking time at home is a good thing for them. Additional pay is not necessary for them at that point, but having the opportunity to spend time with their children, to go to parent-teacher conferences and do other things with family is more valuable than a few extra dollars in the bank.

Choice and flexibility helps employees meet the demands of their jobs and address the needs of their families. That's why I'm proud to support this bill, this pro-family, this pro-worker bill. This is what is meant for this time, and I encourage my colleagues to get off the divisive rhetoric and get to the unifying effect of saying, We will encourage people in their lives, their families, and their incomes.

Mr. Speaker, for many young people, higher education has become a very expensive dream because of rising costs. The average new graduate is struggling to pay off more than $25,000 in debt while hunting for a job in this stagnant economy.

While Washington can play a role in fixing the problem, we cannot look to

the Federal Government alone to fix this problem. Instead, we must work with State governments, schools, students, and parents to find a solution.

Within the past decade, costs have risen 66 percent beyond the rate of inflation. Instead of trying to work with schools, the Federal Government has been busy implementing policies that increase their costs. My colleagues and I on the Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee are looking at how to simplify and strengthen Federal aid programs.

It's obvious more needs to be done to help students and families make the best decision possible about their education at a price they can afford. My goal is to continue to identify and remove unnecessary and costly burdens from this process and put the dream of higher education in reach of more students.

Mr. Speaker, I rise with my colleagues today to ask why the media has not reported on this atrocity that's been going on related to Dr. Gosnell. I rise as a Member of Congress, but also a minister.

I read an article just recently on this very issue that really brought to my attention what the problem is, why the media won't report. The article, talking about Dr. Gosnell, said:

He regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in

the third trimester of pregnancy--and then murdered these

newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors.

He overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread

venereal disease among them with infected instruments,

perforated their wombs and bowels--and, on at least two

occasions, caused their deaths.

Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here. But then, Mr. Speaker, it ends by saying, ``But no one put a stop to it.''

Until we stand as citizens of the United States, until ministers in the pulpit stand and speak for life itself, God-given, until we return to our foundational principles, the media, our Presidents, no one else will listen to the cries of these innocents. Mr. Speaker, it is time for America to stand in their defense.

I thank the gentlelady, my friend from Missouri, for holding this opportunity for us to speak on the Second Amendment.

I've often said at town hall meetings that we're talking about the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights, that namely speaks to the issue that was declared so strongly in the Declaration of Independence, that document, one of two documents that could be considered the greatest manmade documents ever penned, the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights understood what the Declaration said, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights, namely, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I think the Framers and Founders understood with the First Amendment, the right to free speech and the freedom of religion, but also that understanding that the right to life involved making sure that I could defend myself, protect myself, care for myself, feed myself with the use of a weapon in the field in hunting, but not simply that. Mr. Speaker, I will say, it was there to make sure that a citizen, a free citizen of the United States, was able to care for himself or herself, his family or her family, in any shape or form.

And so I see the First Amendment as important, but I see equally important the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms. And as my friend Ted Nugent says: ``Keep'' is defined as ``It's mine. It's not yours. You're not going to take it from me.''

Very simple. Very simple.

I think we need to understand as there are laws that are being thought of, well-intentioned even, and yet laws that really aren't based in reality of what takes place around civilization, when it understands that we need to make sure that we don't step on other

people's rights and their freedoms and their opportunities, yet there is a place when we must be prepared to defend ourselves so that those rights can be carried on, not only for ourselves, but for those that count on us to care.

In a famous quote, Benjamin Franklin said it this way:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little

temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.

Well said.

I think there are people with well-meaning intentions right now that aren't thinking of the fact that liberty comes with a cost, that it comes with the responsibility and an accountability to continue on to make sure that liberty continues, not only for me, but for you and everyone else, and that liberty is protected from those who would take away our freedoms, our rights, even our lives.

I like to hunt, and I love to trapshoot, and I love to shoot skeets, and I love to shoot sporting clay, and I love to target practice. On my farm, we have a target range, and my wife uses it as well. In fact, she uses it better than I do with a pistol. Yet with the fun and enjoyment that can come from being trained, we also understand the concerns that are there as with any tool, as my dad taught me. He taught me not only how to shoot a gun and about the inherent dangers that were there that also demanded my responsibility and accountability, but he also taught me how to use a radial saw. He said it would work very well in doing the things it was meant for, but you have to be careful with it.

So, yes, we who believe in the Second Amendment believe that there ought to be training and that people ought to care for how they use their weapons, but we believe they ought to be allowed for us to freely use as they were intended for all good purposes. I grew up on the south side of Chicago. Leroy Brown and Junkyard Dog were my neighbors. I love that area of Calumet City where I grew up, but I also know that there are dangers. I also know that protection is required and that the protection to fit the need and the concern is what must be there.

So I would say to my friend and colleague, as well as to the Speaker and to those who might listen to these words, that the Second Amendment is not the problem; and the law-abiding citizen who carries out the responsibilities of the Second Amendment is not the problem. Most of us fit in that category. Nothing in the bill that was put forth in the Senate, or any other thoughts, would take care of those criminals. It would not have changed the Boston bombers in their ability to get and to use for criminal, terrorist purposes any change or impingement on the Second Amendment. They would have still committed their atrocities, and they would have still gotten their weapons. The only negative impact would have been on law-abiding citizens, the ability to keep and to bear arms, to protect themselves--to carry out the constitutional right.

So I thank the gentlelady from Missouri for allowing us to speak on this issue.

Hopefully, some would hear the common sense of it all and not just hear what some would say: that if we appreciate weapons, we are warmongers or that we are living in danger and producing danger in other people's lives. The fact is just the opposite: we are there to ensure safety, ensure liberty and to make sure that people are protected against criminals who would abuse us regardless of what the law or the Constitution says.

I will defend that, and I thank my colleagues for standing for this reality and truth for the Second Amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Tibbits Opera House in Coldwater, Michigan, a cultural icon in my district that has excelled in arts and entertainment for 130 years. Having recently completed a stunning restoration of the building's facade, the community will be holding a celebration this weekend to dedicate the restoration and tell the story of the people that preserved it.

Built in 1882, Tibbits is the second oldest operating theater in Michigan. The 499 seat venue operates year round, enriching the area with professional and community theater programs, community events, concerts and youth theater productions. Strategically located on the primary thoroughfare between Chicago and Detroit, it has hosted many notable performers and acts over the years, ranging from P.T. Barnum and John Philip Sousa to Mickey Rooney and Jeff Daniels. From early vaudeville performances to a spell as a movie house, Tibbits has served as the cultural center of the area.

As early as the 1950s, locals recognized the need to safeguard this treasure for future generations and formed a group committed to the preservation of the theater. After falling into disrepair and facing the threat of demolition, a group raised funds to pay off owed taxes. Further updates and improvements have taken place over the years, the most impressive being the authentic restoration of the building's facade. Using photographic and field evidence, craftsmen meticulously restored the theater to its original French Second Empire design using locally selected materials. The effort has certainly paid off, earning a 2013 Governor's Award for Historic Preservation. But even more important than the accolades, the project ignited an enthusiasm among the residents, businesses and other area organizations, who gave of their time and finances to support the restoration. The renewed sense of pride displayed by the community has been apparent, and I'm heartened by their appreciation for the past and hard work to ensure its preservation for future generations.

Today, Tibbits Opera House continues to be a landmark that has drawn visitors to Coldwater for many generations and I suspect, Mr. Speaker, will continue to do so. With an annual attendance of nearly 30,000, there is rarely an evening when the stage is not in use. I commend my colleagues to take a trip to Coldwater if ever possible and enjoy a show, and I look forward to joining the Tibbits community at this weekend's festivities to celebrate this testament to preservation.

I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be in the battle for the middle class of Michigan's great Seventh District, as well as the middle class of the United States.

Today, Michigan's unemployment rate is nearly 9 percent, and the actions of this dysfunctional Board have only hindered Michigan's attempts to grow and develop a healthy economy and have more people able to climb to the middle class.

For our State to recover and thrive, we need Michigan to be open for business. What our employers need now, more than ever, is certainty. Unfortunately, this Board has done little to help foster their success.

In fact, the NLRB has been a chilling factor to economic success for employers and employees. In January 2012, President Obama attempted to make three unconstitutional recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. However, a year later, on January 25, 2013, they were found, indeed, to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In that year, the Board made numerous decisions, oftentimes with significant consequences for job creators and for employees. They made it more difficult for employers to investigate employee complaints or misconduct and undermined employee rights to not engage in partisan political activities of their union bosses.

In spite of the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Board has continued to issue rulings and decisions. I would urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and help bring much-needed certainty and stability to America's workforce and increase in our needed middle class.

Mr. Speaker, President Obama finally released his 2014 budget this week, 2 months late and trillions of dollars short.

Similar to last year's plan, it taxes more to spend more. While the President claims his budget will reduce the deficit in a balanced way, it won't ever balance--not in 10 years, not ever.

The President's plan is $8.2 trillion of new debt. It also includes $1.1 trillion in new taxes. Hardworking taxpayers don't deserve more taxes; they deserve a budget that allows them to keep more of their own money and not worry about financial debt being placed on their children and grandchildren.

House Republicans have passed such a budget, one that balances: a proactive budget that eliminates the deficit while also providing economic security for employers and employees, a sustainable safety net for the poor and those retiring, and a secure future for our children and grandchildren.

Americans know what it takes to create a balanced budget for their own families and their own businesses, and they deserve the same from their government.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address this Chamber and to address an issue of great concern to me. I just heard my colleague and friend from Ohio and what he had to say, and certainly there is a debate that's going on that's worth being had, a debate about the progression of this great country, the greatest on this Earth, in the history of this Earth, a country that has distinguished itself in just a few short years, 236, 237, as a Nation that understands what liberty is about, but also understands the authority that we come under.

Mr. Speaker, I have wrestled with coming to the floor tonight, because since I first began my legislative career back in 1982 in the Michigan House of Representatives, and when I stood in front of people and asked for their opportunity or their support to give me a privileged position in that great body, I stated clearly, and I have from that point in 1982 to this very day, I've stated that, as a Christian and as a former pastor, while I would not flaunt my religion, I would not hide my faith.

I've continued that in coming to the U.S. House of Representatives as well. I truly believe that all laws are moral. Some of us would consider morality one way and others of us would consider it another. We all come through filters in life. I understand that, and I respect that. I believe that the Framers and Founders of this great country, its ideals that were based upon truth as they determined truth to be, as they understood it, truth coming from the revealed word of God that they declared to be found in the Bible at that time, and they were not ashamed to say that and quoted many times from Scripture, even without reference, because it was clearly understood by the citizens of that day that the basic ideals that this new government was established upon were ideals found and written down in the Bible and clearly understood to be the word of God.

I'd wrestle with the fact that I understand that there are filters, and the moment that I let it out of the bag, as it were, Mr. Speaker, that I'm a pastor, I'm a Christian, I come from a Judeo-Christian value system, that that's my filter, that I would lose the opportunity to speak to society in general. Well, I assume that risk this evening, because we have come to a time in our history where the unified understanding, whether we acknowledged it or fully agreed with it or certainly lived by it, because I know, as one who has feet of clay, that though I understand truth, I don't always live by it, yet our country is at crossroads in a battle along those principles.

I read in this greatest man-made document ever penned, the Constitution of the United States, I read the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Third Amendment, and on through the Tenth Amendment, which are classified as the Bill of Rights, Bill of Rights that were given and acknowledged by the Framers and Founders and the implementers of these amendments, the Bill of Rights, as really stemming from God, Himself, unalienable rights, God given, not man given, recognizing these rights as above simple human reasoning.

In recent days, I've read and reread our First Amendment that says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of

religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the

right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the

government for redress of grievances.

And I go on to the final, the 10th, that gives the States the authority that they should have. And I see what's taking place in relationship at this point in time to one complex bill that was passed, called the Affordable Health Care Act, but with specifically one mandate that I clearly believe runs roughshod of this First Amendment when it, in fact, is a law that prohibits the free exercise thereof of religious beliefs. Now, again, that's my perspective, but it's a perspective I think is backed up by the Framers and Founders in their writings and their speeches and their beliefs that they implemented into this great, great country.

Just recently I read an article that, more than just simply being an article, gave names of fellow citizens,

businesspeople, who through no fault of their own, except for the fact that they were religious, they were people of faith that had firm convictions, convictions that they believed went beyond themselves but went to the God that they honored, people like Chris and Paul Griesedieck--I hope I pronounced that name right. I don't know them personally, but I know they run a 105-year-old company started by their great-grandfather, a company in St. Louis that employs 150 people. They are sincere Christians that believe to be forced to supply health insurance that provides abortifacient coverage, agents that will produce abortions, is against their firmly held Christian beliefs and would be a violation of their responsibility to their God.

Now, that's their morality, that's their filter, but from the inception of this country, believed that that, along with all other religious beliefs, was protected under the Bill of Rights.

They are at a point right now, if they violate the mandate of the law, which they are attempting to get an injunction and attempting ultimately to see themselves covered just like churches and Christian colleges, but if they aren't, they're looking at a $5 million fine under that mandate, annually. They've indicated that that will put them out of business.

There's another company run by David Green--we all know it well-- Hobby Lobby. We've seen their ads at Easter and Christmastime, full- page ads that he pays for with his own money, to declare the meaning of Christmas and the meaning of Easter in his faith. He pays for it, longstanding, and yet if he doesn't fall under this mandate and bow the knee to the government and not keep his knees bowed to his God that he serves, he'll pay a $1.3 million per day fine, which will take the 13,000 employees that he employs and potentially put them out of a job, many of whom agree with his personal strong faith.

He said, It's come down to the point that I'm forced to either abandon my beliefs in order to stay in business or abandon my business in order to stay true to my belief. That's not the America that was founded by people who put the Bill of Rights together, and specifically the First Amendment.

I could go on with other illustrations about other business owners. Well, let me point out one business owner here who is doing significant work not only as a very successful 85-year-old insurance executive of an insurance company, but he's taken those resources--like Mr. Green, who has given over $500 million to charitable causes, living out his faith--but this gentleman has done the same thing in reaching out to many needy people and developing a business that impacts peoples' lives who are in difficult circumstances. His name is Charles Sharpe. He is 85 years old. He founded Heartland Ministries with the money that he developed to provide a Christian rehabilitation program for men and women battling drug and alcohol addiction, and a boarding school for troubled youth, with his own money. Yet, if he falls under the mandate, the employees that are employed running this organization, but more importantly the lives that are impacted positively by this ministry, will be impacted and the ministry will go under.

As I said, I could go on and on with other illustrations of how this First Amendment liberty is being violated by a country that made this as the first of the Bill of Rights.

Just recently we all heard, I believe, a concern that a briefing had been given to U.S. Army Reserve recruits which classified Catholics, some Jews, evangelical Christians and Sunni Muslims as religious extremists along with the KKK, Al Qaeda and Hamas. In America, religions strongly held, firmly believed religious beliefs, are being attacked as extremist, along with terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, Hamas and KKK.

Mr. Speaker, I submit to you this is not America. I don't care what the courts have said at this point. They've ruled on a tax. But on a constitutional question, I think it's clear for us who read it to understand it is more than just the document, but to understand it as a warning to us and a reminder that the blessings of the freedom of this great Nation come with a commitment to ideals that are beyond us, that are timeless, that are important, that we often call religion but are beyond that. They are faith that goes to our integrity, our convictions, our character.

John Adams, one of the Founders of our country, John Adams, who defended liberty even when he defended the Red Coats under the same premise that we believe that all people deserve a hearing and a just trial, John Adams, who was willing to give his life, his fortune, his sacred honor, said:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious

people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any

other.

Why in the world would he say that? There is huge wisdom there, but it came from an understanding that humanity wasn't enough in itself. Human beings weren't wise enough in their own right, but rather had to flow from some truth wiser than that.

Social critic Irving Kristol I think encapsulated it when he said:

This appears to be a sociological truth. It is religion

that reassures people that this world of ours is a home, not

just a habitat, and that the tragedies and unfairness we all

experience are features of a more benign, if not necessarily

comprehensible, whole. It is religion that restrains the

self-seeking hedonistic impulse so easily engendered by a

successful market economy.

We are a successful market economy here in the United States, and I'm grateful for that, and we need to do a lot of work to continue that. But our faith beliefs--and I'm not talking about one religion over another. I certainly come from a Judeo-Christian viewpoint, and I believe it to be true. I would not have given my life to that belief if it weren't. It impacts society as a whole.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn understood it with his life. He said:

All individual human rights are granted because man is

God's creature; that is, freedom was given to the individual

conditionally in the assumption of his constant religious

responsibility. Two hundred or even 50 years ago, it would

have seemed quite impossible in America that an individual

could be granted boundless freedom simply for the

satisfaction of his instincts and whims.

Mr. Speaker, I submit to you that seems to be the point in time where we're at right now, where we're willing for our whims, our instincts, our desires, our own purposes to give in to the baseness of those hedonistic philosophies. And it's proven to be true. The results are there. Here are just a few of them.

Since 1960, we have the end of the so-called ``Christian America,'' as the media has called it in Newsweek. The U.S. illegitimacy rate has rocketed from 5 percent of all births to 41 percent. Among African Americans, the share of births out of wedlock is 71 percent. That's up from 23 percent in 1960. The percentage of households that were married couple families with children under 18 had plummeted by 2006 to just 21.6 percent. Since Roe v. Wade, 50 million-plus abortions have been performed. The Declaration of Independence? We are all endowed with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Between 1960 and 1990, the teenage suicide rate tripled, though the number then fell. As of 2006, suicide was the third leading cause of death of young adults and adolescents age 15 to 24, just behind homicide.

And I could go on with the tragic results of going away from religious belief, faith belief, truth, a moral character. Again, all laws are moral--right, wrong or indifferent. We all have filters.

I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that we are challenged economically, we are challenged socially, we are challenged in our security and we are challenged in our liberty because we have wantonly walked away from or in complacency have given away the underpinnings that allowed God to bless this great country, which is still receiving the results of much of that blessing.

The Founders argued very clearly that ``virtue derived from religion is indispensable to limited government.'' The American model of religious liberty takes a strongly positive view of religious practice, both private and public. Far from privatizing religion, it assumes that religious believers and institutions will take active roles in society, including ministers, including engaging in politics and policymaking and helping form the public's moral

consensus. In fact, the American Founders considered religious engagement in shaping the public morality essential to ordered liberty and the success of their experiment in self-government.

John Witherspoon, a minister who signed the Declaration of Independence, said in talking about our Republic, ``a republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.''

Mr. Speaker, as I began, I will never intend to flaunt my religion, but I will not hide my faith; and I believe, in this country where we've given the greatest amount of freedom to all religious beliefs, we would do well to remember that ourselves--to not hold it back but to encourage faith and to encourage laws that respect that to the fullest degree and say to people like David Green or to the Griesediecks or others: we respect you for what you do, your beliefs, and we will certainly honor your freedom. We will not impinge upon you by mandates, no matter how good the law might seem, because there is something higher than health, physical health--and that's our spiritual health, our character health, in this country.

There is a stone above you, Mr. Speaker, that's there tonight and that has been here since this great Chamber was put together, and it's a quote of Daniel Webster's. I read it often, and it says simply this:

``Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests--'' Daniel Webster could be speaking to us tonight and to our country, Mr. Speaker-- ``and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.''

I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that if we would restore liberty and justice for all, if we were to restore the opportunity to live under our spiritual liberties and beliefs and not mandate people to go against that--bow their knees to almighty government as opposed to bowing to Almighty God--this Nation will be a blessed Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity tonight, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the American people, regardless of political affiliation, expect elected leaders in Washington to offer a plan to reduce mounting deficits and revive our stagnant economy. House Republicans agree and have offered another responsible plan to balance the budget with responsible reforms.

Meanwhile, the best plan Senate Democrats can come up with continues to spend more money than we take in. They call for a balanced approach, and yet their budget never balances and includes $1.5 trillion in new taxes. At least Senate Democrats have finally come around to offering a plan, after spending the last 4 years on the sidelines. The President has yet to submit his budget to Congress, already 6 weeks behind his legal deadline.

Budgets offer a picture of how government plans to steward taxpayer money. The Senate budget asks for higher taxes to fund higher spending, to finance ever-growing government.

My constituents are tired of the cavalier and unserious approach that has become all too common in Washington. I'm pleased that the House Republican majority continues to take its responsibilities seriously and produce budgets which balance, getting us back on track to fiscal sanity and a healthy economy.

I thank the chairman.

Madam Chair, our country's job training program often stands, sadly, as a barrier between workers and the employers who want to hire them. In December 2012, employers reported 3.6 million job openings all across our country despite the 12 million Americans searching for work. The challenge is that today's job hunters are getting increasingly frustrated by bureaucratic inefficiencies in their getting the specific skills they need to fill many of these jobs.

The SKILLS Act would reform the Nation's workforce development system and better equip job seekers with the abilities they need for today's

economy. It just makes good sense that reducing the size, cost, and scope of Big Government expands the greatness and success of America's industry and workforce.

H.R. 803 ensures that local employers are given more of a say in these programs, helping to ensure that they are qualified and recognized for today's most in-demand jobs. It also includes reforms that allow States to determine what standards will be required for providers, which will streamline the bureaucracy that has limited many workforce development providers, such as community colleges, in their goals to succeed.

My congressional district is fortunate enough to have a number of talented, hardworking individuals and community colleges that are committed to helping reinvent Michigan and its workers through these programs. It's time to give both workers and employers more ability in providing smart, commonsense solutions and tools to strengthen our workforce and to put Americans back to work.

For, really, isn't that the reason that our government is set in place--to ensure the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and to ensure that that liberty will allow people choices that only Americans really can make. Please join me in passing H.R. 803.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, welfare work requirements have helped Michiganders and millions of Americans reduce their dependency on government assistance and get back on their feet again, and that's a good thing. And that, for many people, is the American Dream.

In the 1990s, while serving in the Michigan Legislature, I had the privilege of cosponsoring legislation that did this very thing in promoting workfare and edufare that ultimately became, arguably, the pattern for the 1996 Federal reform. It changed lives. We had welfare recipients who were completely reliant on government now given hope. I'll never forget the single-parent mother who was on welfare for most of her adult life and said in a public service announcement that she asked to be involved with, after going on edufare and then workfare, I was angry when I was first approached with this requirement. Now I can only say it changed my life. It not only changed my life in developing self-sufficiency, but it changed my family's life. They know that they can indeed make it on their own.

Those were illustrations that we experienced; and I saw how it worked in Michigan and then later in our country as a whole after the 1996 reforms. Unfortunately, last July, the Obama administration offered guidance that would undermine this requirement. Without consulting Congress, and despite bipartisan support for work requirements, the Department of Health and Human Services began moving forward this agenda. Congress should repeal the HHS's waiver plan and prevent the administration from waiving the work requirements. It's the right thing to do. It's time to move past this waiver debate so we can move forward with building a stronger, sounder TANF program that promotes self- sufficiency and positive action.

Please join me in supporting H.R. 890.

Hardworking taxpayers in Michigan and across the country live within their means in large part because they create responsible budgets. It's only natural that they expect the same from their government. A balanced budget is important to those of us who want to protect and save Medicare and Social Security. It's also important to the young workers and families who cannot afford to see their taxes go up. Unfortunately, the Senate and President have repeatedly failed at this basic duty.

Last year, the President sent Congress a budget that never balanced, while the Senate hadn't the courage to even produce a budget in nearly 4 years. However, since the American people entrusted the Republicans with the majority in the House, my colleagues and I have twice passed a responsible budget to address our mounting debt and promote a healthy economy.

Today, we'll also pass the Require a PLAN Act, which would obligate the President to submit a budget that balances within 10 years, or provide a supplemental budget plan identifying when the Federal budget would balance.

We believe there is a better way to tackle our Nation's debt than higher taxes and the President's sequester. Together we can produce solutions that get our debt crisis under control. Our neighbors and our families deserve our best effort.

I thank my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey, and I thank you for your leadership as a medical doctor.

It is a real special thing in this Chamber that we have pro-life patriots who represent medicine, the profession of law, mothers, fathers, people who understand life from the most intimate fashion.

I happen to be a pastor. It was 40 years ago that I had just accepted the call to my first church out of divinity school. I was busy in that ministry and getting started and didn't take too much notice of Roe V. Wade. But it was in 1978 when that issue hit me full square in the face, when two wonderful young people in my church came to my office and said, Pastor, we have a problem, and went on to talk about an unplanned pregnancy that they had. As we discussed, they committed to the fact that they intended to keep the child as a gift of God. But ultimately the story didn't go that way because their parents--who were fine, upstanding church members yet determined that these children wouldn't have that as a detriment to their life--encouraged them to, as they called it, terminate the pregnancy.

It broke my heart, and I watch the pain in these two young people go on even to this very day 40 years later. I committed to my God that I would stand for life strongly and have the privilege of doing that in the pastorate, in counseling sessions, on boards of adoption agencies, and crisis pregnancy centers as well.

It was just a few years ago--6 years to be exact--when I held in my hands little John Timothy Walberg, my first grandson, along with his twin brother, Mica Todd Walberg, two little boys born at 24 weeks, 1.12 lbs, 12 inches long, fighting for life. They had been born just down the corridor from where abortions were being done on those same age children. I saw these two boys fight for life. Someday I will see John Timothy again in heaven, but I thank God that little Mica Todd is a live 6-year-old, growing strong, healthy, a gift of God.

The Framers of our Declaration of Independence went to their knees many times. They understood the value of politics, but they also understood the value of truth, truth that came not from man, but truth that came from God. Truths such as these were set in Psalm 127:3:

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the

womb is a reward.

Jeremiah 1:5:

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you

were born I set you apart.

Psalm 139, where it says:

For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and

wonderfully made.

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance.

And in Your book were all written the days that were

ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

I end by going back to what ultimately came from understanding of truth by our Framers and Founders, when they said:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable rights, among them the right to life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness.