Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, residents of Long Island, New York are truly fortunate that our local firefighters are also our neighbors. Since 1934, residents of the Peconic Bay hamlet of North Sea have relied on the professionalism of the all-volunteer North Sea Fire Department, and today I proudly rise to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding.

To date, 2009 has been one of the busiest years on record for the North Sea Fire Department, as they have responded to more fire calls than any other department in Suffolk County. Each has been answered with the speed, skill and courtesy that has been the department's calling card for 75 years.

Madam Speaker, while the children of North Sea may be upset that the firefighters have not been able to lavish their customary level of attention on the department's annual Fourth of July carnival and fireworks, their parents can rest assured that their neighbors at the firehouse are devoted to keeping the community safe any hour of the day or night. I offer my thanks and best wishes as they continue their tradition of community service for many years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the members of the Coram Fire Department on the 80th anniversary of its founding. Like all of Long Island's volunteer fire services, the Coram firefighters reflect the best of the American spirit: bravery, loyalty, and commitment to public service.

As Coram has grown over the past 80 years, its fire department has expanded and enhanced its services to meet the needs of the community. Operating from three firehouses, the department offers firefighting, EMS and rescue services to nearly 55,000 area residents.

Mr. Speaker, as my primary district office is located in Coram, I deeply appreciate the firefighters' commitment to protecting my second home. On behalf of my staff and the residents of Coram, I offer my thanks and best wishes as the department continues its tradition of service for many years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 50th anniversary of the founding of Longwood School District, which unites four central Long Island hamlets under a single purpose: providing a top quality education to the children of our community.

The first recorded area schoolhouse was established in Coram, New York, in 1811, nearly a century after permanent European settlement in the area known as ``The Plains'' due to its inland location. Division of the area into separate school districts soon followed, and schoolhouses for primary education proliferated. In 1959, local school boards moved to consolidate the schools in order to better serve area students, selecting the name of Longwood from a centrally-located estate.

For the past 50 years, Longwood School District has educated students from the communities in my district of Coram, Middle Island, Yaphank, East Yaphank, Shirley, Ridge, Lake Panamoka, Gordon Heights and portions of Medford, Miller Place and Shoreham. The district has grown to include four primary schools: Charles E. Walters, Coram, Ridge and West Middle Island, with students graduating to Longwood Middle School, Junior High School and High School.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the families served by the dedicated teachers, administrators, and staff of the school district, I congratulate Longwood on reaching this important milestone and offer best wishes for continued success in the classroom, on the playing fields, and in post-secondary pursuits.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate an important milestone in the history of public health in the community of Southampton, New York. A century ago this year, a group of committed local doctors and philanthropic citizens founded Southampton Hospital, beginning a tradition of quality, compassionate care that continues today.

In 1908, two Southampton doctors received an emergency call from a woman living on the outskirts of the village. The doctors could not risk moving their patient to the nearest hospital, so they conducted a life-saving operation by kerosene lamp in the woman's attic. This incident crystallized the need for a local health care facility where modern emergency procedures could be performed in safety.

In 1909, Southampton Hospital received a charter from the State of New York and a modest home was acquired to house a dispensary and nurse. Since that time, the hospital facility at Meeting House Lane and Lewis Street has been expanded and augmented with the latest in medical technologies. Its mission to provide the highest standard of health care continues to be sustained by the generous and grateful community.

Today, Southampton Hospital offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient services and is staffed by more than 240 physicians, dentists, and other health professionals. Board-certified emergency physicians staff the hospital every hour of every day. In addition, satellite facilities have been established throughout the South Fork of Long Island to provide services in primary care, radiology, physical therapy and rehabilitation to the broader area.

Madam Speaker, as a native of Southampton, the Hospital is an institution especially close to my heart. Two years ago, the hospital administrators gave me a beautiful drawing depicting the hospital and grounds that I proudly display in my personal office in Washington. I was born at Southampton Hospital, as were my two daughters, and it has served my family well in times of distress and joy. As the hospital enters its second century, I offer its staff and administration my deep thanks and best wishes for the future.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of Paul Sidney, legendary radio personality and fixture of community life in Eastern Long Island for 45 years.

With his rapid patter and unpolished voice, Paul provided ``local news of local interest'' to generations of Long Islanders from the studios of WLNG radio in Sag Harbor. Joining the station in 1963 as programming director, he later became WLNG's vice-president, general manager and, eventually, president.

Paul was recognized as a pioneer in community radio when he was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in 2007. One of his innovations at WLNG was his early embrace of on-location remote broadcasting. Local events from retail store openings to Easter Egg hunts could expect a visit from Paul in the station's mobile broadcasting bus, and anybody in attendance was eligible for an impromptu on-air interview.

Perhaps what endeared Paul most to his listeners was his dedication to keeping WLNG on the air during even the most severe hurricanes and blizzards, earning him the nickname ``the master of disaster.'' With his commitment to keeping the community informed in trying times, Paul was part entertainer and part public servant.

Between shifts on-air, Paul would hold court from his favorite bench between the Sag Harbor Pharmacy and the Variety Store on Main Street, dispensing wisdom, talking baseball and maybe collecting a few anecdotes for a later broadcast. A lifelong bachelor, his listeners were both his friends and his family.

Madam Speaker, if being successful in life is loving your work, Paul Sidney was one of the most successful people I have ever known. That irrepressible voice has fallen silent, but Paul and his achievements over the years at WLNG will always be remembered.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. McGovern for yielding. I want to start by thanking Chairman Spratt and his colleagues on the Budget Committee and the conferees for so quickly coming to an agreement on the conference report.

I rise to support the rule and the underlying conference report.

This budget resolution begins the long and painful process of digging out of the very deep hole that we have inherited. It makes good on President Obama's promise to cut in half the deficits he inherited in 5 years. In fact, it cuts the deficits by two-thirds, and it does so even while we are cutting taxes for 95 percent of Americans to the tune of $1.7 trillion worth of tax cuts. We also invest in priorities that are absolutely vital to our future.

I'd like to be specific about one of those priorities, and that is the investment made in higher education and in education in general that is accommodated by the conference report. There are significant investments in higher ed and an increase in the Pell Grant maximum, which will make it easier for hard-pressed students and their families to achieve their slice of the American dream. The moving from the Federal Family Education Loan program, the so-called ``FFEL program,'' to direct lending will save $97 billion over 10 years, and it will put money in the hands of needy students as opposed to having that money added to the bottom line of banks and of other loan providers. It will restructure the Perkins Loan Program to make it more readily available to students. It will create a college access and completion fund that will enable colleges to emulate best practices across the country so that students really do succeed, and it will make permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit. All of these are the kinds of investments we need to make if we are going to have the prosperous future that we all want.

With specific reference to education, Mr. Dreier made reference to the various alternatives that Republicans have offered to our budget resolution. The alternative that the Republicans offered made absolutely no mention of education.

There is no mention of education. There is no plan to invest in higher education. There is no plan to invest in job training. There is no plan to invest in any of the vital services that our children need to put them on a path to success.

Instead, that budget resolution made a series of very deep, unallocated cuts that could easily fall on education. We cannot have the bright future we need to have if we don't invest in our children's education. Our budget resolution does that.

I thank the chairman for yielding, and I thank him for his really extraordinary leadership as we work our way through a very difficult process.

I want to speak first obviously in opposition to the motion to instruct, and I am going to focus primarily on the implications for that with respect to the Committee on Education and Labor. But before I do, we should be clear; the argument that is made by our friends on the other side of the aisle is very much a situational argument. I do not recall in 2001 or in 2003 or in 2005, when the Republicans used reconciliation to push through policies that increased our deficit over 10 years by about $1.8 trillion, I don't remember them saying that they needed to ``jam this through,'' I don't remember them saying that they needed to ``rush it through,'' I don't remember them characterizing it as ``sweeping it through.'' They felt that they were passing legislation that was responsive to the American people. We feel we are passing legislation that is responsive to the interests of the American people.

Let me speak with specific reference to education. We intend to enact policies that will save $47 billion over 5 years and allow us to use that money to help students and families, particularly needy students and families so that they can get their slice of the American Dream so that college attendance can be a realistic and realizable aspiration for them.

Who wants to argue against increasing the Pell Grant maximum? Who wants to argue against indexing that maximum to the rate of inflation plus 1 percent so that it preserves its buying power? I certainly don't, and I would hope that my friends on the other side of the aisle don't want to either.

I would hope that we can look at a low or moderate income student and say that you have every chance to have the same access to higher education as a student in the top 1 or 2 percent of our Nation's wealth. This budget resolution and the legislation that we will need to pass to put in place the legislative underpinning for these policies will allow us to do that.

And who doesn't want to save $94 billion over 10 years, $47 billion over 5 years by having the government take over a student loan program that they can run, that we can run every bit as efficiently, every bit as effectively as the privately run program now, and do it in a fashion that will be invisible to students, and do it, as I say, by saving taxpayer money to the tune of $47 billion over 5 years and taking that money and putting it into the hands of needy students? That is a worthy aspiration. That is an aspiration that deserves the support of every person in this Chamber, and hopefully we will realize that.

I thank Mr. Scott for yielding.

As Chairman Miller indicated, since January of 2007 this Democratic Congress has made great strides in ensuring that students across the country have access to high-quality education. Passage of this budget resolution continues this commitment to ensuring that every child who dreams of going to college can do so.

Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have described this budget as a budget that expands Federal control of education. What it really expands is access to educational opportunity, particularly in the area of higher education. And not only does this budget significantly expand access, it does so in a fashion that is fully paid for.

The budget resolution would accommodate the President's major initiatives in higher education, which include increasing the Pell Grant maximum by an additional $155 and indexing that maximum to the CPI plus 1 percent. It would also include phasing out FFEL lending and moving to 100-percent direct lending providing students with the same access to support but doing so at a 5-year savings of $47 billion.

It also calls for restructuring the Perkins Loan Program, increasing funding for this program by a factor of six and increasing the number of students who can benefit from this program by 2.7 million students.

And finally, it calls for a creation of a college access and completion fund of $2.5 billion over 5 years so that schools can adopt best practices in both access and completion.

Taken as a whole, these four proposals will be of significant assistance to students. We cannot achieve economic prosperity without an educated populous. This budget will ensure that those who can benefit from higher education will do so and that students will get their chance at their slice of the American dream.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this budget resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of my colleagues and the entire nation the service and sacrifice of firefighter and 9/11 first responder John McNamara.

A 10-year veteran of the New York Fire Department, John is currently assigned to Engine Co. 234 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He is a first responder who not only assisted during the search and rescue efforts following September 11th, 2001, but also assisted the New Orleans Fire Department and the citizens of Louisiana during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Formerly a resident of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and currently a resident of Blue Point, Long Island, John is valiantly struggling to survive a nearly three-year battle with Stage 4, metastatic colon cancer. John, age 43, and his wife Jennifer have a 2\1/2\ year old son named Jack.

In the firefighting tradition of ``leaving no man behind,'' John's friends and fellow firefighters at Engine 234 / Ladder 123, Engine 220 / Ladder 122, the Blue Point Volunteer Fire Department and the New York City Firefighter Brotherhood Foundation are working hard to see that John and his family are supported as his battle grows more difficult.

Like John, many of the brave first responders who served at Ground Zero are now struggling with debilitating diseases as a result of their courageous efforts. As a nation, we made a promise to help all those who suffered as a result of the heinous acts of September 11th. We must keep that promise. We must ensure that those brave first responders receive the medical care and other support they need.

Today, we in Congress honor John McNamara for his service to New York and to our nation.

On behalf of the residents of eastern Long Island, I would like to commend Chairman Oberstar and Chairwoman Johnson for their leadership and unwavering dedication to clean water issues. I would also like to thank Ranking Member Boozman and the committee staff for their hard work and commitment to advancing this legislation.

The Water Quality Investment Act will renew our commitment to clean

water in America and provide funding to chip away at the tremendous backlog of water infrastructure needs across the Nation. This legislation will increase investment, reduce costs, and promote efficiency in our water infrastructure.

I am particularly proud of Title IV of the bill that provides monitoring, reporting, and public notification of sewer overflows. My good friend, Mr. LoBiondo of New Jersey, and I have worked to advance this issue for several years through independent legislation, the Sewage Overflow Community Right-To-Know Act, that is a part of this legislation.

Sewer overflows discharge roughly 850 billion gallons of sewage annually into local waters. These discharges end up in local rivers, lakes, streams, and the ocean.

The best way to avoid health and environmental concerns from sewer overflows is to ensure that they never occur in the first place, a primary goal of this legislation. However, even with significant increases in investment, sewer overflows will continue to occur. Therefore, it is imperative that we provide the public with comprehensive and timely notification of sewer overflows, which is also accomplished in this bill.

Mr. Chairman, the Water Quality Investment Act makes investments today to protect our families tomorrow. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this commonsense legislation to ensure we maintain our commitment to clean water.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. I rise particularly noting that Congressman Bacon at one point represented the district that I have the honor of representing.

I want to be clear on what our friends on the other side of the aisle are fighting for. The prevailing wage for a bricklayer in Lee County, Florida, is $8.34 an hour. That is an annual rate of $17,000 a year. The Federal poverty level for a family of four is approximately $21,000 a year. Does this Congress really want to go on record as imposing a wage rate that consigns the hardworking people of our communities to living under the Federal poverty level? I would hope not.

The prevailing wage for a backhoe operator in Madison County, Arkansas, is $12.17 an hour. Is that a wage that we can find indefensible? Is that a wage that is going to bankrupt the companies that hire these people? Absolutely not. An annual rate of $25,000 a year, how do we help our families get their piece of the American dream when we consign them to wages as low as $17,000 a year or $25,000 a year.

So I would urge my colleagues to both reject this amendment and to make a statement that we want to support the working families of our communities. We want to see to it that they are paid a livable wage. And we want to ensure, frankly, that we don't give opportunity to unscrupulous contractors who will not be bound by Federal prevailing- wage requirements, and they will then access a workforce that is willing to accept the subsistence wages and no benefits that would go along with such a job.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1127. I oppose

this legislation, not due to a lack of merit, but because many members of this body have sought relief for an equally vital visa issue--the H- 2B Visa program.

The H-2B Visa program was designed to provide access to nonimmigrant, temporary workers for seasonal needs when no American workers can be found. These foreign workers offer short-term assistance and return to their home country at the end of their season. H-2B visas are capped at 66,000 per year. This still does not meet the needs for small businesses. In fact, the 2009 cap was met within the first week of January.

I have previously called upon the leadership of the Congress to address this urgent need in districts like mine across the country. To the detriment of so many of the small businesses that are the engine of our economy, this issue is ensnarled in the broader immigration debate and no action has been taken to date.

In the absence of such a consensus, I respectfully oppose this bill and ask my colleagues to join me in supporting and calling for a vote on H.R. 1136, the ``Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act,'' introduced by my friend from Michigan, Mr. Stupak.

During these difficult economic times, we cannot leave our small businesses with few options and even fewer workers.

Madam Speaker, let me start by taking this opportunity to commend both the House and Senate conferees on crafting this compromise legislation that will create and preserve nearly 3.5 million jobs here in America and will set our Nation on a course toward economic recovery.

It is imperative that we plug the holes in our job market that lost 600,000 jobs last month alone, and these holes will not be plugged by a strategy of saying ``no'' nor will they be plugged by a strategy of returning to the failed policies of the past, which is all our friends on the other side of the aisle are offering.

Through investing in our infrastructure and investment in our children's education and preserving the ability of our States to provide essential services, this bill will create jobs for millions of Americans, even as we better prepare the next generation for the challenges they will face.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that this historic effort will return our Nation to economic prosperity and provide hope to the millions who have suffered as a result of the failed policies of the past.

Madam Speaker, I rise today recognize George C. Welker at the close of his 40-year career serving the employees of CWA Local 1108 in Patchogue, New York. His remarkable tenure spans dramatic changes in the telecommunications industry and labor relations in America. Unwavering and undiminished in that time is Mr. Welker's devotion to the members of CWA Local 1108 and his Long Island community.

In 1969, George Welker joined CWA as Steward for his gang of installers at New York Telephone's St. James garage. He rose through the ranks, serving as Chief Steward of Repair, Area Representative and Business Agent, before being elected President of Local 1108 in 1990 and serving until 2008. He was also a member of the Regional Bargaining Committee, participating in the negotiation of four collective bargaining agreements, and served the CWA National Union as chairman of its Finance Committee.

The most significant of Mr. Welker's many achievements at CWA Local 1108 include negotiating the addition of 3,200 temporary employees to Bell Atlantic's regular payroll in 1998, winning an arbitration case that restored the livelihoods of 215 union members who were wrongfully dismissed in 2002, and overseeing Local 1108's successful merger with Local 1110 in 2004.

Madam Speaker, organized labor deserves much of the credit for the rise of America's middle class. The labor movement and its successes are built on the shoulders of leaders like George Welker. He will be sorely missed by the workers of CWA Local 1108, and I join them in thanking him for his service and offering best wishes for a retirement free of grievances.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 912) to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to clarify the eligibility requirements with respect to airline flight crews.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 912 into the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking Chairman Miller for supporting this bill and for helping to bring it to the floor so quickly. I would also like to thank Representative McCotter for being the lead Republican cosponsor of the bill, as well as my colleagues who have cosponsored this bill. In the 110th Congress, this bill passed by an overwhelming majority, 409-2. This legislation submitted today is identical to the measure that passed in the 110th Congress, and I hope it

once again receives the strong support it did in the last Congress.

H.R. 912 simply states that an airline crew member will be eligible for Family Medical Leave Act benefits if they have been paid for or completed 60 percent of their company's monthly hour or trip guarantee and have worked 504 hours.

The Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, has been a great program for working families in this country since it was passed in 1993. No one can question the benefit it has provided for working men and women by being able to take time off from work to care for themselves or for their family members.

The intent of the law was to provide for 12 weeks of unpaid leave if an employee had worked 60 percent of a full-time schedule over the past year, which equates to about 1,250 hours per year. Therefore, in order to qualify for FMLA coverage, an employee has to have logged in at least 1,250 hours over a 12-month period to be eligible.

While 1,250 hours adequately reflects 60 percent of a normal full- time schedule for the vast majority of employees in this country, that equation does not work for flight attendants and pilots. Flight attendants and pilots work under the Railway Labor Act rather than the Fair Labor Standards Act, which covers most 9:00 to 5:00 workers.

Time between flights, whether during the day or on overnight/ layovers, is based on company scheduling requirements and needs but does not count towards crew member time at work. Flight attendants and pilots can spend up to 4 to 5 days a week away from home and family due to the nature of their job; however, all of these hours will not count towards qualification.

The courts have strictly interpreted the law and insisted that crew members must abide by the 1,250 hours for qualification, even though the intent of the law was to work 60 percent of a full-time schedule.

Thus, airline flight crews have been left out of what was once a legislation that was intended to cover them. Therefore, a technical correction is needed to ensure that FMLA benefits are extended to these employees. This legislation seeks to clarify the original intent of the law.

This legislation brings these transportation workers in line with the intent of the original legislation and as promised when the law was passed.

Last year, during a committee hearing, we heard from Jennifer Hunt, a flight attendant for U.S. Airways. Jennifer was denied FMLA benefits when she applied to take time off to care for her ill husband, an Iraq War vet. Jennifer, unfortunately, like many other flight attendants and pilots as well, did not meet the hourly requirements and, thus, was denied coverage.

Again, I thank the chairman for his support in bringing this legislation to the floor, and I urge the support of my colleagues.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Does the gentleman from Kentucky have any further speakers?

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me just say that the extent to which the two sides cooperated on this bill I think serves as a model for the way that legislation can go forward in this Chamber. We worked together very cooperatively both at the staff level and at the member level to work out issues that existed that were sources of concern to various members. We were able to do that. And as I say, in the last Congress, we only had two dissenting votes.

I am hopeful that we will have similar support in this Congress, and I am also very hopeful that this measure, which last Congress was stalled in the Senate, this year will receive a somewhat better fate in the Senate so that we can act to correct this very narrow omission, if you will, in what is an otherwise very good law.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge the support of my colleagues.

I yield back the balance of my time.