Floor Statements

Madam Chairman, I want to begin by taking the time to congratulate Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz for her excellent work on this bill as well as in the subcommittee the past couple of months. It has been a pleasure to work with you and I look forward to working with all other Members as we continue to address the concerns of all people working in and visiting the Nation's Capitol.

I would also like to commend Ranking Member Wamp for his work. Together the chairwoman and ranking member have fostered a collegial bipartisan atmosphere.

The bill before us is a good bill, a bill that brings us necessary security upgrades, that shows a commitment to increased oversight, and does it in a fiscally responsible manner.

Among the bill's many important provisions is funding for the Greening the Capitol Initiative. This initiative will enable us to start switching from coal to cleaner burning natural gas for the running of the Capitol powerplant. Pages live in the shadow of the Capitol powerplant. It will allow us to purchase energy efficient light bulbs, and will allow us to begin other energy savings operations throughout the Capitol Complex.

The bill includes necessary funding for the Office of Compliance, which will allow that office to conduct oversight of the utility tunnel improvement efforts and health and safety issues. During hearings in the subcommittee, I have raised concerns, along with several of my colleagues, about the utility tunnels and workers and I am pleased to see that the Office of Compliance will receive the resources it needs to oversee the ongoing situation.

This bill also includes funding for the Library of Congress and several of its extremely important programs, such as the Books for the Blind Program, which provides services to blind and physically handicapped patrons including the production and distribution of books and magazines in Braille and electronic media.

Again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill and thank Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz and Ranking Member Wamp for the efforts they have put in to the subcommittee this year to ensure that the Capitol Complex and various agencies around us are run well and efficiently.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to state what my amendment does not do. It does not provide any funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program or any new weapon development. It does not take specific funds from non-proliferation activities, activities which I support. And it does not, regardless of the misunderstanding or misstatement of others, in any way make it easier for terrorists to acquire nuclear materials. In fact, my amendment would actually restore funding cuts for security measures that keep our nuclear materials safe at our national laboratories.

I understand that in an amendment that moves this much money there can be great concern, and there should be great concern. Yet, it must be understood exactly what is and is not happening--and the entire purpose, the entire substance, of this amendment is meant to help protect the core missions of the labs. Ultimately, this will accelerate a diversification of their missions in order to better meet the national concerns and priorities that we will continue to face in the future.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

First let me thank the chairman and ranking member for their work on this bill, which provides a bold vision for moving this country forward along a path of clean energy independence and limits spending on new nuclear weapons.

My district has a particular interest in this bill, as I represent the scientists, employees, and community of Los Alamos National Laboratory, also known as LANL. The scientists at LANL are the best in the world and they work with a commitment to both national security and the pursuit of scientific knowledge. In recent years, there have been administrative and managerial difficulties, which we all agree are unacceptable. Nevertheless, the mission of the lab and the workers are the two things that I will always fiercely defend.

Stockpile stewardship, the core mission at LANL, certifies to the President every year that the nuclear stockpile is safe, reliable and accurate. My amendment will help ensure the stability of that mission and thus the rigor of our Nation's security, while also building a bridge to the future.

It will restore funding to the President's request for three specific areas, including upgrades to the Road Runner computer; the readiness and technical base and facilities at LANL; and the scientific campaign. In so doing, I propose to reduce spending in the office of the NNSA Administrator.

The Road Runner computer upgrades will increase LANL's supercomputing capability and keep the lab's ability to conduct computer simulated weapons testing at state-of-the-art. Additionally, the capacity can also be used for advanced non-weapons materials research, and thus broaden the scientific capability of the lab. The amendment restores proposed reductions in Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities at LANL, which would grind to a halt any safety improvements in the lab's infrastructure.

Finally, the science campaign is at the heart of stockpile stewardship. It sustains our Nation's capabilities and understanding of nuclear weapons, which is essential to protecting our Nation. It also allows us to keep our treaty commitments and not perform nuclear testing.

I believe that the cuts in this bill to our Nation's premier national security laboratory hurt the core mission and inhibit the laboratory's ability to transition toward the necessary work on energy independence.

LANL must prepare for the future, which includes diversification of its mission. As Chairman Visclosky has recognized in this legislation, securing our Nation's energy independence is one of the most critical areas of our national security. LANL has an important role to play in this regard.

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

Mr. Chairman, in closing, first of all, the

NNSA is the problem, not the scientists. NNSA was put there to bring a better security situation, and security has deteriorated since they are there, and that is why I take the money away from the NNSA Administration.

Secondly, I know we can't legislate on an appropriations bill, but I think it would be very appropriate to take a look at the role that NNSA should play in this whole situation, if not return to the Department of Energy managing the nuclear complex. They did a better job.

The vast majority of scientists at Los Alamos work on a broad variety of subjects, not only weapons activities. They stand ready to conduct the research that is most essential to our Nation. However, we need to make sure that these top scientists can do their jobs and have the support they need to work on other missions.

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

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) for their work and commitment to expanding small business opportunities. I am especially grateful for their efforts to bring this bill to the floor today. I would also like to thank all my colleagues who supported this bill by joining me as cosponsors.

This important legislation before us today, H.R. 2284, allows Small Business Development Centers to apply for an additional SBA grant to provide specified services assisting small business start-ups and expansions owned by Indian Tribal Members, Alaskan Natives or Native Hawaiians. My bill ensures those seeking to create, develop and expand small businesses have full access to the counseling and technical assistance available through SBDCs. The tools offered by the SBDCs can assist these entrepreneurs with the information and opportunity to build sustainable businesses in their communities.

H.R. 2284 also ensures participation of governing bodies of Indian tribes, Alaskan Native entities and Native Hawaiian organizations by requiring grant recipients to request their advice on how best to provide assistance. Our intent is to ensure that these business development tools are provided in a culturally sensitive way.

Small businesses create 75 percent of all new employment opportunities and make up 99 percent of all employers. They anchor our neighborhoods, provide jobs and contribute to the overall economic development of many communities. That is why it is so imperative that we take steps to help ensure that small business development reaches the places in this country where economic prosperity has yet to be fully realized.

I have the great honor of representing 14 Pueblos, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and a portion of the Navajo Nation. Many of these communities would greatly benefit by more economic development. It is clear we can do more to aid Native American entrepreneurs in my district and throughout the country. I hope to help rectify this situation with the passage of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, adaptable lifestyle factors such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition, unmanaged stress, and obesity account for approximately half of premature deaths in the United States. Spending on chronic diseases related to lifestyle and other preventable diseases accounts for an estimated 75 percent of total healthcare spending and it is estimated that by 2014 our country's total health care expenditures will be $3.6 trillion.

Clearly we cannot continue down this path. We must shift the focus of our nation's health care system to prevention and wellness programs. In so doing, we can reduce health care costs, improve health, improve quality of life, and boost productivity. Unfortunately, a very small percentage of health care spending is devoted to health promotion. The national investment in prevention is currently estimated to be less than 5 percent of annual health care costs. Our nation needs a new approach to healthcare---one that puts prevention front and center.

That is why I rise today to introduce the Healthier Lifestyles and Prevention America Act, also known as the HeLP America Act. This important bill, which is companion legislation to a bill recently introduced by Senator Harkin, is designed to reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes by reorienting our nation's health care system towards prevention, wellness, and self care.

The HeLP America Act is a comprehensive approach to prevention and health promotion. It provides tools and incentives for schools to improve their nutrition programs. It provides tax incentives for employers to implement wellness programs. It provides grants for communities to implement activities to prevent and reduce the incidence of obesity, and chronic diseases associated with this condition. It establishes a federal taskforce on childhood obesity to provide a coordinated leadership in Federal effort to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.

These are just a few of the many provisions included in the HeLP America Act, all aimed squarely at attacking the problem of skyrocketing health care costs associated with the increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

With a greater focus on prevention, we will be able to greatly reduce the number of individuals who suffer from all types of ailments. It will improve health outcomes, improve people's lives, and help cut down on our exploding healthcare expenditures.

Madam Speaker, as is noted in the findings of this bill, per capita health spending in the United States is 56 percent greater than the median for countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is unacceptable. We need to get more bang for our healthcare buck and we need to look no further than focusing on prevention. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I urge my colleagues to join me in seeking a new and more effective approach to curing our nation's ills by cosponsoring the HeLP Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Sabinoso Wilderness Act of 2007. New Mexico is filled with extraordinary landscapes and, as a representative of this beautiful State, it is an honor to work to conserve these scenic and historic areas for future generations. One of New Mexico's special places is the Sabinoso Wilderness Study Area. Last year, I had the opportunity to explore this unique area on horseback. While traveling through deep canyons covered with indigenous trees such as pinon-juniper, cottonwood, willow, and ponderosa pine, it was evident that Sabinoso is an exceptional setting that deserves to be protected and accessible to all. That is why I am introducing legislation to designate as wilderness the lands in and near the Sabinoso WSA.

The Sabinoso WSA comprises approximately 20,000 acres and is situated in San Miguel County, 40 miles east of Las Vegas, NM, and 25 miles northwest of Conchas Dam State Park. Roaming the canyons last year, I was struck by the ecological, scenic and recreational values of the area. Sabinoso overlays a thick section of colorful sedimentary rocks, typical of desert rock formations throughout the West. The area's scenic and densely vegetated landscape is also home to a rich diversity of wildlife, such as red-tailed hawks, western scrub-jays, broad-tailed hummingbirds, mule deer, bobcats, and gray foxes. All of these natural resources will provide outstanding opportunities to hunt, hike, horseback ride, take photographs, and simply experience the unspoiled lands of our ancestors.

During the 2007 session of the New Mexico State Legislature, House Memorial 53, which calls on the New Mexico congressional delegation to support the establishment of the Sabinoso Wilderness Area, was introduced by State Representative Thomas Garcia and passed unanimously by a vote of 66-0.

Unfortunately, this beautiful piece of land is currently inaccessible to the general public. Designating the area will help open it to everyone and provide access to all of these activities. Opening Sabinoso will also create important new economic development opportunities for the surrounding communities. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation and creating the Sabinoso Wilderness Area so that everyone will be able to experience its natural and unique beauty for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Army Sergeant James Akin, a true American hero who lost his life while serving his country in Iraq. James was one of four soldiers killed near Baghdad on Sunday, June 3, 2007 when a roadside bomb detonated alongside the Humvee he was driving. He was killed less than a month before his 24th birthday.

James was a successful businessman who sold his retail cell phone company at an age when most Americans are just beginning their professional career. But he was always more interested in serving the public than himself. James felt that a public servant is effective through action and experience rather than rhetoric. To that end, he enlisted in the Army and was deployed to Iraq in the fall of 2004. He was honored to serve his country, and, envisioning a future political life, he wanted to understand issues of military conflict from the perspective of a war veteran.

I regret that I did not know James personally, for those who did describe him with love, and they do so passionately. The many messages posted on his personal web page by those who knew him convey the tremendous admiration they had for him, and illustrate the caring, influential and thoughtful man that he was. They describe a father figure, a brotherly adviser and a considerate, deeply loving and equally loved husband.

A current member of my staff, Sarah Cobb, who worked with James on a congressional campaign in Albuquerque, said of him: ``He truly was what is said of him--gregarious, outgoing and effervescent.''

The love James had for his country and his countrymen was infectious. He openly and honestly told anyone he met of his future desire to run for President of the United States. He encouraged those he knew, and those he did not, to stay informed and to be involved in government and the electoral process. From what I have learned of James, I believe that if his life had not been cut short, he may indeed have addressed the Nation from the floor of this great Chamber.

Today, there is a void in the lives of all who knew him, and New Mexico is a lesser place for having lost him. Yet James will live on in the hearts and minds of those he touched, and New Mexico is lucky to call him a native son.

In 2004, James managed the New Mexico State senate campaign of my friend Victor Raigoza. Though they did not win that tough political battle, James showed the true measure of his character when he sent the following words of wisdom and encouragement to Mr. Raigoza: ``Live life to serve, because you can. Dissent, because you can. Enjoy freedom, because you can. Remember always that the measure of our progress is not whether we can provide more for those who have plenty, but whether we can provide enough for those who have little.''

My heartfelt condolences go out to James' family and James' wife Syreeta, his father and namesake James, and the large number of friends, extended family members and fortunate individuals whose lives he touched.

I spoke to Syreeta last Friday and told her how much the Nation appreciates James' service to his country. To Syreeta and James' family, thank you for your sacrifice.

I believe I speak for all New Mexicans when I say our Nation will always maintain a priceless debt of gratitude and the utmost respect for the service and sacrifice of Army Sergeant James Akin. He will be missed.

Thank you very much. And I very much appreciate the gentleman yielding.

Let me say, first of all, to Congressman Cleaver, you told a story that I think we hear over and over again about the effects around the world. You told it for Greenland. You took a trip up there that I think is going to go down in history as a turning point.

The Speaker of the House, you were with the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. She takes this trip to Greenland, she sees this ice cap, sees what's going on and has said to the United States House of Representatives that she is going to do something about this, put it on the schedule and move it forward. So all of us, I think, Representative Inslee, are very gratified by that because we feel that there has been a sea change here in the House. We have gone from just a few short years ago ignoring this issue to now where the Speaker says we are going to do something about this, and that is very gratifying.

I would like to point out, too, I think that ice cap is in some places two miles thick. And so people should realize when we are talking about a two-mile thick ice cap, if that thing melts, it raises the oceans, and many of our costal areas in America would be under water.

But, Jay Inslee, I agree with you very much. We don't want to paint doom and gloom. This is about optimism. And you have been an incredible leader on energy. I hope you will a little bit later explain to everybody your new Apollo Energy Act, because that is one of the areas that you have led out in particular. I know you are writing a book on energy. You have done so many things here in the Congress in terms of leading on this issue.

The one point I wanted to jump off on, you mentioned new technology. I don't have any doubt that we are going to be able to unleash unbelievable new technological solutions to energy. I also believe that there are a lot of things that we can do right now that we could, as a Congress, and I think you are going to see this in the energy package that the Speaker puts forward in July and calls up, things that we can do right now to make a real difference on CO2, on pollution, and on energy efficiency. And let me just tick off a list here.

Fuel efficiency of automobiles. I think easily today we could end up doubling, it is technologically feasible, doubling the fuel efficiency of the fleet, going from about 24 miles per gallon now up to close to 50, and we could do that very easily.

On wind energy. New Mexico is one of the places in the United States of America which has the benefit of having a constant wind, and we have already ramped up from zero to 10 percent in the last 5 years. So 10 percent of our last electrical base is wind. There are many other places in the Nation that can do that.

And people are now starting to purchase, as Representative Inslee knows, people are starting to purchase, on their electric bills they can sign up and say I want clean energy, and many times that is hydro, which Jay has up in the Northwest, solar, which many of us have in the Southwest, or wind or some other form.

Conservation. There is an awful lot we can do there. We know that in the European countries they use half what we do. And so there is a lot of waste going on out there.

The one little simple thing I marvel out in European countries, and all of us who travel, is that when you go to a European country and you stay in a hotel, when you go out of the room, they have a button at the door that shuts off all the lights. You just punch one button and all the lights are shut off. As you know, in almost every American hotel or motel, you have to go around individually and shut out every light. And they have done that technological thing, Jay, to try to look for ways to do savings and make it easier for people to do it.

Energy efficient bill. Once again, I think that we can do a lot there. This is a huge contributor in terms of CO2, energy efficient, more efficient appliances, air conditioners, things like that, and a new energy portfolio for our power companies, where we take a mandate and say to power companies you will produce by 2020 20 percent of your power from renewable sources.

So I think those are some things we can do now, and I hope we will talk in a little bit about some of the things specifically we would do on carbon dioxide emissions.

I would like to yield back to the gentleman from Washington.

Representative Inslee, your optimism and Representative Cleaver's optimism is what should imbue this entire debate because there are many, many things we can do.

Just to give you another example, in New Mexico, when I was back going to town hall meetings several months ago, I visited an area outside Taos, New Mexico, and this small, little operation was set up to collect all of the fast-food oils in town. They would go to the various hamburger joints and others and collect these excess oils that were basically being thrown away. They were having to pay companies for somebody to come and take them.

These individuals were taking them, and they said, we will just take them off your hands. You don't need to pay us. And they went out and they set up an operation with just a couple of tanks. They put the oils in there. They put a little bit of lye in. They mixed it up. They had a chemical process. And I rode around that day in a diesel truck where they pumped the fuel right from these tanks, and that was biodiesel.

They told me that from their testing and everything that they had understood, is that this was completely clean fuel. In fact, it took them a while to convince the City of Taos to run the city bus on this fuel, because the mechanic was very worried. He said, this is new. And this is going to cause a problem.

Well, it ended up they said, we will do it for a trial period. They did it for 6 months in the city bus. The mechanic took the engine apart to retool it, and he said it looked like the engine hadn't even been operating over that 6 months. It was so clean.

So there are wonderful things that we can do. There are great success stories out there. We need to get out that word, and we need to move in a clean energy future. I mean that is the real key to things.

I would like to talk just a minute about how do we get there? Because the people are probably asking, they are watching us and they are saying, why is it that the American people, by 70 and 80 percent say we should move to clean energy, we should do all the things we have been talking about this evening. Why aren't we doing that?

Well, the reason is because the rules of the game right now are set up to favor the established industries that are there. The laws, the regulations, the subsidies, the tax credits, for the most part, are emphasized and pushing us towards fossil fuels as we know.

All these laws and regulations and subsidies kind of shape the energy market. As many of us know, this energy bill we recently passed, I think in 2005, most of the subsidies in that bill went to major, mature industries; oil, gas, nuclear, coal.

So one of the things we have to do, and I know Representative Inslee has been working on this, he is going to be doing this in his committee come this summer, is how do we change the rules of the game? How do we put a price on carbon dioxide emissions to change the whole marketplace? I think that is what we are going to be doing this year when we start getting into energy.

I have a bill, Congressman Waxman has a bill, Representative Inslee is on a variety of bills, Senator McCain over in the Senate has a bill. But the basic theme of these bills is, put a price on carbon dioxide and start moving us in a new direction.

Mr. Inslee, one of the things that you mentioned early on, and I think we are being held back. You were in England and you talked to Tony Blair and Tony Blair's minister. The G8 countries are meeting. There is no doubt in these G8 countries, the meeting going on right now, they want to set for these industrialized countries a specific cut in CO2 emissions. They want to commit to a specific cut. They came into the G8 meeting saying let's have a specific cut on CO2 emissions; and our President went over and sidetracked that and derailed that and basically said, no, we don't want to commit to that.

I think the big debate here is are we going to have voluntary measures or are we going to move towards some mandates and a cap in trade system and a regulatory system so we can get ahold of this.

Madam Speaker, today we stand on the verge of passing two pieces of lobby reform legislation that mark an important step toward greater transparency and accountability for Congress. This is a welcome and much-needed response to the growing dissatisfaction of the American people, who do not approve of the increasing role and influence that special interests have on our democracy. There is, however, much more that Congress must do.

In the November 2008 election, the American people made it clear that the corruption that has been seeping into government cannot be tolerated. It is now the task of Congress to raise the standards of ethics in lobbying and campaign finance in order to meet the expectations of the public. We must take action now to remove the grip that private money has on our democracy. I urge my colleagues to support these lobbying reform measures on the floor today, but believe our work is not yet done.

We must break the link between private financing of campaigns and the electoral process. During the 109th Congress, Chairman Obey introduced legislation to do just that. His bill would have set specific expenditure limitations for general elections, established the Grassroots Good Citizenship Fund to provide public funding for House candidates' expenditures, and banned independent expenditures in House elections. This bill would take money laden with strings and political debts out of House elections. I cosponsored this bill last Congress, and I hope Chairman Obey will be reintroducing it soon.

We must also take the job of reorganizing districts out of the realm of partisan politics and special interests. H.R. 543, the Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act of 2007, introduced by Representative John Tanner, would establish an independent commission for the purpose of doing the work of redistricting. I am a cosponsor of this legislation, and hope that this Congress will look very seriously at passing it.

We must utilize the public airways to make campaigns less costly. Most of what is spent in an election is spent on advertising. We can change this. By fairly utilizing publicly owned airways to run campaign ads, the exorbitant cost of campaigns can be reduced, and the associated fundraising, and perceived corruption could be curbed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 430, which calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately release Dr. Haleh Esfandiari.

Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, a highly respected member of the Washington, DC and Maryland communities, is currently serving as the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In December, she traveled to Iran to visit her ailing mother, something that she has done countless times before. On her return to the airport, her travel documents and personal effects were taken from her. When she attempted to obtain replacement travel documents in Iran, she was instead subjected to days upon days of interrogation and essentially placed under house arrest for several months.

Last month, Dr. Esfandiari was summoned by the government and was taken to the infamous Evin prison, where she is currently being held. She has been accused by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry of trying to set up networks of Iranians to start a revolution to bring down the government. In fact, she has long advocated for building bridges between the United States and the Middle East

Iran's imprisonment of Dr. Esfandiari is entirely baseless and shows a disregard for the rule of law as well as the Iranian government's continued claim that they would like to gain the world's respect. We must demand Dr. Esfandiari and all other Americans that are being held without just cause be released by the Iranian government.

I urge all my colleagues to join us in support of this important resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation honoring the legacy of Rachel Carson, the ecologist and author whose courage, selfless spirit and sense of wonder ushered in the modem environmental movement.

May 27, 2007, will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson. While we as a nation continue to feel the impact of manmade environmental challenges and consider measures to lessen our impact on the planet, it is important to remember the person who first warned us of the hazards of environmental degradation, while capturing our hearts with her love and concern for nature.

Through her tireless activism and inspiring literature, in particular her book Silent Spring, Carson raised public awareness about humanity's inherent relationship to nature. In exposing the dangers of chemical pesticides, Carson demonstrated how life at all levels is interconnected, from the bottom of the food chain to humans at the top.

Carson wrote her landmark book, testified before Congress and rallied support for environmental awareness and action while secretly fighting the debilitating effects of the cancer that would soon take her life. Although she preferred quiet anonymity, Carson weathered tremendous scrutiny and made a courageous stand against powerful industry interests to serve the greater good.

Though she died at the young age of 56, Carson's impact was astounding. In the years immediately following her death, the U.S. Government enacted a string of environmental laws, created the Environmental Protection Agency and banned most uses of the chemical pesticide DDT, which resulted in the resurgence of numerous American ecosystems and wildlife species.

Rachel Carson's influence continues to reverberate, now more than 40 years after her death, in the ongoing struggle to balance the needs of our society with a healthy environment.

I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to pass this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation, the third supplemental bill we have considered this year, has many merits. However, I am extremely disappointed that it does not include a plan for phased redeployment of our troops. It is past time that we chart a new path in Iraq.

I have supported the previous versions of this legislation because they required that the White House demonstrate milestones of success and progress in Iraq with an explicit timeline for troop removal. But to now give the President a blank check would be unacceptable. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this war and have yet to see even the beginning of the dividends of democracy promised to us by the President. Additional funding must include sufficient requirements for evidence of success. We also need an understanding of how much longer we will be in Iraq.

It is significant that the new Democratic leadership in Congress has ensured that appropriations funding bills are now focused on the soldiers and I am pleased to see that this bill includes funding for the armor and equipment needed. Nevertheless, this bill, with its absence of a plan for phased regional redeployment of American troops, will only further ensure that we stay in Iraq with no end in sight. The best way to support our troops is to give them the tools to do their job, and to change our policy to bring them home as safely and quickly as possible.

I believe this President must be held accountable for the deteriorating situation in Iraq and for lacking a plan to succeed. I believe it is the role--and the right--of Congress to be substantially involved in the direction of our foreign policy. And I believe that our men and women in uniform deserve better leadership. For these reasons, I cannot, and will not, support continuing to fund this war without a distinct time line for redeployment, and I will be voting ``no.''

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Congressman Altmire for offering this amendment and also want to thank Chairman Miller for his support. Over the past two Congresses I have introduced legislation very similar to the language we are now considering, and I am very hopeful that it will be included in today's bill.

For every soldier who is deployed overseas, there is a family back home faced with new and challenging hardships. The toll extends beyond emotional stress. From raising a child to managing household finances to day-to-day events, families have to find the time and resources to deal with the absence of a loved one.

Today's amendment offers a way to help ease this transition. The Altmire-Udall amendment would allow spouses, parents or children of military personnel to use Family and Medical Leave Act benefits for issues related directly to the deployment of a soldier. Current FMLA benefits allow individuals to take time off for the birth of a child or to care for a family member with a serious illness. The deployment of a soldier is no less of a crisis and certainly puts new demands on families. We should ensure that the FMLA benefits given in other circumstances are provided to our fighting families during their time of need.

The passage of this amendment and its inclusion in the final conference report will bring new relief to thousands of families across the nation, and it will demonstrate the thanks we owe our brave men and women serving overseas.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to provide business developmental assistance to Native American entrepreneurs across the country. I am pleased to be joined in doing so by Representatives Abercrombie, Renzi, Moran, Michaud, Grijalva, Herseth Sandlin, Honda, McCollum, Wu, and Moore.

While our nation has experienced a steady economic expansion over the course of its history, the vast majority of tribal communities have not benefited or experienced similar growth. The unemployment and poverty rates for Native American and Alaska Natives are nearly double those rates for all Americans. Additionally, many tribal communities lack sufficient physical and technological infrastructure, and are hindered by low income levels.

Despite these shocking facts, there are reasons to be optimistic. Many Native American owned businesses are flourishing, while the number of Native American and Alaska Native owned businesses continues to increase. In fact, Indian tribe members and Alaska Natives own more than 201,000 businesses. These businesses employ over 190,000 employees and generate almost $27 billion in revenues.

My bill works to expand on these entrepreneurial efforts by ensuring that small business owners and budding entrepreneurs can grow their businesses by accessing counseling and technical assistance available through our nation's Small Business Development Centers. The bill does this by authorizing grants that SBDCs can apply for to provide assistance with outreach, development, and enhancement on Indian lands of small business startups and expansions that are owned by Indian tribe members, Alaska Natives, or Native Hawaiians. The business development tools offered by the SBDCs can assist Native Americans with the information and opportunity to build sustainable businesses in their communities.

This legislation also requires SBDCs receiving grants to help with these services to request the advice of the governing bodies of Native American tribes, Alaska Native Entities, and Native Hawaiian organizations on how to best provide services to their tribal members. This ensures assistance from the SBDC that is culturally sensitive and appropriate.

It is clear we must do more to assist Native American entrepreneurs in building their businesses, which will, in turn, benefit their communities. With Congress's support, this initiative can play an important role in bringing economic growth to our nation's Native American lands. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill and help foster entrepreneurial opportunities on areas of this nation that have thus far been left behind.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce the EEOICPA Ombudsman Enhancement and Extension Act of 2007. I am also pleased to be joined in doing so by Representatives Udall of Colorado, Slaughter, Wamp, Whitfield, and Hastings.

This important legislation is needed to extend the authorization of the EEOICPA Ombudsman, which is set to expire on October 28th of this year. The office of the EEOICPA Ombudsman was created in 2004 to help individuals making claims under Part E of the program navigate the complex and cumbersome claims process. The EEOICPA Ombudsman has proven to be an effective ally for these Cold War heroes who have contracted serious illnesses as a result of their work for the United States Government.

Since the implementation of EEOICPA, it has become tragically apparent that the program is not working as intended. Claimants face overwhelming obstacles on their road to compensation. From a complex bureaucracy, to a highly technical burden of proof, to intimidating health physics discussions--all the while dealing with the physical and emotional strains of their illnesses--obtaining compensation for many claimants has proven to be a particularly difficult process.

With that in mind, Congress created the Office of the EEOICPA Ombudsman, an independent office tasked with providing information to claimants and advising the Department of Labor concerning additional Resource Centers. However, due to objections from the Administration, language originally included in the FY05 Senate Defense Authorization that provided broader authority for the office was scaled back in favor of the language that ultimately became law. As a result, the Ombudsman was not only scheduled for sunset, but was also prohibited from serving as an advocate for claimants. It was instead restricted to a role in which its powers are limited to making inquiries on behalf of claimants. There is no question the Ombudsman has proven to be extremely valuable even in its limited capacity, but with broader authority, the Ombudsman will be that much more effective as an advocate, helping claimants receive the compensation they deserve, which, after all, is the intention of the EEOICPA program in the first place.

Today, my colleagues and I seek to provide broader authority for the EEOICPA Ombudsman by introducing this legislation. This bill extends the life of the EEOICPA Ombudsman indefinitely, expands its authority from Part E of the program to Part B, and provides contracting authority for services necessary to fulfill their duties. Also, this legislation expands the powers of the EEOICPA Ombudsman to act as an advocate for the claimants when the Ombudsman determines it is appropriate. One other expansion of power in this legislation is to give the Office of the Ombudsman the authority to provide recommendations to Congress about legislative changes needed to make EEOICPA work more effectively. These are all expansions that are greatly needed to help the Ombudsman build on its already valuable role, which, in turn, helps EEOICPA claimants obtain their compensation.

I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this legislation and help improve and expand efforts to provide some measure of justice to our Cold War heroes.