Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6058) to ensure that the housing assistance programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs are available to veterans and members of the Armed Forces who have service-connected injuries and to survivors and dependents of veterans and members of the Armed Forces.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Administration to meet the needs of our veterans with service-related injuries and their families with their housing and mortgage programs.

As importantly, the bill asks that HUD and the VA help the survivors and families of these courageous people with respect to these matters. I compliment my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for his leadership in introducing this legislation and urge my colleagues to pass this bipartisan bill.

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

I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama for his remarks and the gentleman from Minnesota for his leadership.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4072, the AMERICA Works Act. This is a bill that would direct the use of already- appropriated funds within the Carl Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act to prepare American workers with the skills necessary to qualify for the increasingly high-tech jobs available in the 21st century. It would do so by making available Federal funds from these programs to obtain nationally recognized industry credentials acceptable anywhere in the country.

Under this bill, training would continue to be done by technical schools, universities, and union-sponsored journeyman programs in coordination with companies and business groups. A welder trained in a junior college in Maryland would have a certificate qualifying him to work in a machine shop in Idaho. An AmeriCorps trained diesel mechanic in my State could get an auto mechanic's job in yours.

American workers are the best in the world. They are resilient, innovative and hardworking, but they must be properly trained and have widely accepted and understood credentials making them employable anywhere. This bill will ensure that Federal job training is used to provide hardworking Americans desiring training with the certificates, degrees, and credentials American industry needs to fill the sophisticated technical jobs available in today's business world.

I thank my colleague from Louisiana for his support and the gentlewoman from Hawaii for her leadership, and urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan commonsense legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Tom Lamar, a resident of Moscow, Idaho, on his 20th anniversary as Executive Director of the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI). Tom has built this organization from a small environmental group to an important element of the Palouse community. On June 16, 1990, Tom's first day of work, PCEI had a $30,000 budget and a one-room office rental in the Moscow Hotel. Today, PCEI has a $1.4 million budget, 14 full-time staff, and a 12-acre home with two buildings for office space. Currently, PCEI now boasts over 1,000 members in Idaho and many other states.

PCEI undertakes numerous environmentally themed restoration, education and outreach programs throughout Idaho and eastern Washington. From planting trees and utilizing solar powered panels to teaching children about owls and placing AmeriCorps members throughout Idaho and eastern Washington, PCEI has emerged as a premier environmental organization for the region.

Tom began work at PCEI by cleaning up the local creek. In 1996 PCEI began watershed restoration projects and have since completed 56 watershed restoration projects in the region.

Tom has helped to run the McCall Outdoor Science School (Idaho's only residential Science Camp) established in 2001. It has since taught 14,000 students in hands-on scientific discovery. Today, the work of PCEI reaches over 2,500 students a year.

Tom helped create PCEI's AmeriCorps Placement Office in 2004, over 100 AmeriCorps members are placed across the state annually. In 2009, the year Tom was honored by being named Environmental Leader of the Year, PCEI volunteers contributed nearly 19,000 hours of environmental service to the region.

Tom has helped to develop other community organizations including the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Palouse Land Trust, Rural Roots, Idaho Smart Growth, Village Bicycle Project, and Backyard Harvest. Tom serves on the steering committee of the Idaho Environmental Summit, and on the board of the Latah Trail Foundation. He also serves on the Moscow City Council.

I had the honor to visit PCEI recently and can attest to the great things they are doing and the positive impact that Tom and the dedicated PCEI staff and volunteers are making each and every day. Tom's work and leadership sets an important example of environmental commitment and community service that I encourage others to follow.

Congratulations Tom.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a great American Hero from my state of Idaho, Lance Corporal Randal Wright of Cottonwood, Idaho, of the 1-2 Marine Division. On May 23, 2010, Corporal Wright almost lost his life in an I.A.D. explosion that took his two fine legs and arm. Against all odds he survived, and now courageously goes forward with his new battle to rebuild his life. His faith and his courage is a lesson to us all, about to what heights a heart can soar. In less than three months, Randal has come so far, so fast in his recovery. On Friday July 23, Randal plans to marry the love of his life, Vanessa Hylton. In honor of his courage, and selfless sacrifice, and his family and the upcoming wedding on this Friday, I submit this poem penned in honor of them by Albert Carey Caswell for the Record. And may they have a wonderful life together.

What Is Wright

What Is Wright?

What is bold? What is bright?

To fight the darkness, for hearts to hold . . . to bring the

light!

Who evil must fight!

And what is true, to make all hearts believe in . . . ignite!

Is but a man who will go off to war, all for his country such

burdens bore . . .

Who'll walk through the valley of death, all for our nation

to so bless . . .

A man who wears the uniform, of a United States Marine so

very warm . . .

What Is Wright?

Are all of these magnificent's, who evil must fight!

Is but a heart, that will bring its light!

For in that moment Randal, when you looked down. . . .

And saw, all of what you had lost . . . that you had found!

How easily you could have given up, let down!

As the tears, broke upon your fine face so now . . .

As when Marine, your fine heart began to pound!

And told you, that you have to cover some ground. . . .

For you have a life to live!

So much more to give!

To Beseech Us! To So Teach Us! To So Reach Us!

As you Marine, do so now!

For all in this world of darkness,

and wrong. . . .

Your fine life Randal, is but a bright light . . . a song!

Of what is Wright, to take with us into those darkest of all

nights . . . so now!

To lead the way, but with your light!

Of, all on God's green earth . . . of what is Wright!

And if ever I but have a son. . . .

May he shine Randal, as bright as you fine one!

Of What Is Wright!

Thy will be done!

Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk designated under the rule.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to modify my amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, this amendment, while short in length, is extremely important to the commercial banking industry and to small business in my State and all of the United States. What it does is adds commercial real estate to the category of assets that can be covered by small business loan guarantees and increases the amount of those assets up to $10 million.

This allows a category of assets that is now being held by small business men throughout the country, a category that is very large that needs to be refinanced because commercial real estate loans are short term and banks simply do not have the capacity in the current market to finance and process all of the commercial loans that need to be reprocessed over the next 3 to 5 years. By making these smaller loans that our community banks have made to strip shopping centers, to restaurants, to small business, making them more liquid by applying a Federal guarantee, they will be able to sell these loans in the market. The bank will get cash and be able to make another commercial loan.

So this is a very important piece of legislation, an important component of the Small Business Lending Act that will do more, I think, than any other single thing in terms of getting our banking system functioning again and providing credit to the entrepreneurs and small businesses across this country who will fuel the economic recovery and create the jobs that will bring us out of this recession.

I urge my colleagues to accept this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman.

I would urge my colleagues to endorse this amendment and ask that it be added to the bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California and extend her an invitation to come to Idaho anytime.

Madam Chair, you'd be a good addition.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 879, celebrating the goals and ideals of American Education Week. Public schools are the backbone of America's democracy and the key to our continuing competitiveness in a 21st century global economy.

In 2010, the 89th American Education Week will take place November 14 to November 20. Each day will spotlight the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from pre-K through college.

As Federal legislators, we must continue to support American public education and make it the very best in the world. Dedicated American educators, teachers, principals, administrators, and their trade organizations work tirelessly to serve students and communities throughout the Nation with care and professionalism.

American Education Week celebrates the effort and achievements of these dedicated professionals and encourages community, parental and elected government official involvement in our public schools.

As a parent of four children, all of whom benefited from an outstanding public school education, I have witnessed firsthand the extraordinary lengths to which our hardworking teachers go in helping American youth to learn. I applaud the nearly 15,000 teachers and thousands of support staff in Idaho and those throughout this great Nation who devote their professional lives to ensuring our children are equipped with the skills, knowledge and work ethic required to succeed in 21st century America.

Let's all enthusiastically endorse American Education Week. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and recognize the efforts and sacrifices of America's educators.

I am delighted that my colleagues from the States of Tennessee and California recognize that we do play football in Idaho and at a rather outstanding level, and I would ask that they might take back, particularly the gentlewoman from California, that word to the Pac-10 Conference commissioners, and both of you might mention our strong performance to the BCS, which currently grants teams from my State second-class status.

The University of Idaho, in particular, is the turnaround story of the year in football in my part of the country. What coach Robb Akey has done is taken a mediocre team and, through superior recruiting and force of leadership, has turned it into its first winning season and its first Humanitarian Bowl victory in many years.

It's fair to say, with the strong leadership of the coach in his producing outstanding student athletes like Mike Iupati, who went from the WAC and this bowl to the Senior Bowl as an All-American, that there are great things ahead. This league is very competitive, and the word from Idaho to all of our colleagues in the other 49 States is: The Vandals are back.

Mr. Speaker, Idaho produced two outstanding football teams last year; and the premier one from national ratings comes from my hometown, Boise, Idaho.

As my colleague, the esteemed gentleman from Tennessee, recognizes, we do play national class football; and, as he also stated, we're not only good but we can be tricky when the circumstance requires.

Coach Petersen is a coach's coach. Not only did he produce three undefeated conference champions in the past 4 years, he did go to the Fiesta Bowl twice and on that national stage made Idaho proud. He is, in addition to being a skilled technician and student of the game, a superb leader in another sense as well. His students graduate from college. His students are properly disciplined, and he manages to go through a winning season hardly ever having to raise his voice. He is the epitome of the good things that college athletics stand for, and I would like to salute him for his success in my State in bringing the Broncos among the top five rated preseason teams this year and a team that has an outstanding chance of becoming, even with the BCS rules, next year's national champion.

The success of Coach Petersen and the Boise State Broncos demonstrates why, above everything else, if we are going to be fair to schools that come from outside the major BCS conferences, we need to revise the way the BCS championship system works. We need a playoff system. We need to give every team, including the two from my home State, a fair opportunity to compete for and win the national championship.

I am proud of what Boise State has accomplished. It's an extraordinary tale of success, a tribute to an excellent coach, and I think it is clear to everyone in this country that the Broncos are a world-class football team. And for everyone in Idaho, I would say 2010 is going to be another spectacular year.

Go, Broncos, go.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove Mr. Simpson as a cosponsor of House Resolution 1177. He was added in error.

I thank the chairman. And I would like to indicate that the partisanship which leads to this particular procedural process for bringing this bill back to the floor has nothing to do with the merits of the legislation. Congressman Simpson has done a great deal of work on these remote water systems that were ignored when two wilderness areas were protected, and exist in both of our districts, carefully crafting, as the ranking minority on the committee has stated, the Congressman from Washington, carefully crafting a very narrow bill which creates some exceptions that allow 22 land holders who have, since before these areas were created as wilderness, operated very simple gravity-fed water systems whose points of intake are now in wilderness because they're upstream, up small creeks in almost every incident, and who need to maintain these systems from time to time, occasionally using mechanical means.

Congressman Simpson looked and catalogued these 22 inholdings, drafted very carefully legislation to deal with this issue to correct the oversight. And the oversight was not the wilderness; it was just not considering the continued use of these private inholdings. The legislation will allow them to continue operating as they are in perpetuity. This is good legislation. It's good for Idaho. It's good for wilderness.

I want to congratulate my colleague on his diligence, and to urge my colleagues to support this remedial legislation.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, we all support the goal of stronger, more uniform consumer protection regulation, but you don't achieve that by splitting

the responsibility between two regulators, in many cases thousands of miles apart, each with half the responsibility. And you compound that mistake by creating exemptions to the new regulation which create gaps and inconsistency.

Every regulation has some impact on both the solvency of a financial institution and on its customers. To split the responsibility between two inherently feuding regulators will lead to conflict, inaction, failure, and frustration.

My amendment is much superior. It creates a strong mandate for consumer protection in all of the existing regulators. Every regulator must have a division in charge of consumer protection reporting to a person with coequal responsibility for safety and soundness. The regulations themselves will be set by all of the major regulators, a council including regulators from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Federal Reserve to State Attorneys General. The staff for this council will be in the Treasury, and it will have rulemaking authority, but the existing regulators will have the responsibility for administration and enforcement.

Before I yield, I would like to thank the gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Schock, and his legislative director, Mark Roman, for their leadership in forging a bipartisan coalition that yields this commonsense solution to this increasingly important problem.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Boren).

May I inquire as to how much time I have remaining?

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schock).

I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle).

Madam Chair, how much time do I have remaining?

I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell).

I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance).

I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert).

Madam Chair, how much time is remaining?

Madam Chair, the CBO has scored the total cost of my council and the components in the various agencies as less than $50 million. That compares to a massive new Federal bureaucracy they have scored at $4.6 billion.

How many times, Madam Chair, are we going to create a massive, new Federal bureaucracy to deal with an important priority? First, it was the expansion of the EPA and cap-and-trade to deal with climate change.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the brave men and women of our Nation's armed forces. As a U.S. Army veteran, I understand how important it is that we keep our promises and thank them for their commitment to freedom.

I'm pleased to announce the introduction of the Rural Veterans Reimbursement Act. This bill enjoys bipartisan support and has been endorsed by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the American Legion.

This legislation will allow rural veterans to receive reimbursement for their food and lodging any time they must travel to a VA medical facility to seek treatment for a service-connected injury. Many veterans living in backcountry Idaho and in other rural areas around the country must travel on narrow, winding roads for the better part of a day to reach the nearest Veterans Hospital or clinic. They deserve to be reimbursed for their travel expenses.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to lend my strong support to Senate bill 509. This bipartisan legislation will authorize the construction of a new outpatient clinic at the VA Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington. The Walla Walla VA hospital provides vital medical care to thousands of veterans from Idaho and a new state-of- the-art facility will allow the hospital to provide expanded services to the members of our armed forces.

As more of our troops continue to return home from their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is crucial that they receive the timely and effective care they deserve. And with Veterans Day just around the corner, this is an excellent opportunity to honor those who have sacrificed so much for our country. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this important legislation.

I thank Chairman Filner and Ranking Member Buyer for their strong leadership and continued commitment to improving the lives of veterans.

Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize and honor an extraordinary youth education program that serves boys and girls in Idaho. The Gem State Young Marines is celebrating its 50th anniversary and Red Ribbon Week on October 17, 2009.

This program serves youths from the age of 8 through high school in the Treasure Valley. It encourages young people to find strength within themselves by learning life-changing skills. Important talents such as determination, discipline, strength and integrity are all taught through a variety of team building events and activities.

The Young Marines focus on community service, specifically reducing drug use in teens and young adults. The group strives to instill the core values of honor, courage and commitment, adopted by the Marine Corps, to each of their members. Each young marine is required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of community service each year to qualify for the Young Marine Community Service Ribbon. The Young Marines focus on character building through a combination of self- discipline, teamwork and leadership, as well as promoting a healthy, drug free lifestyle. Helping people in their formative years reduce the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs deserves our sincere admiration and respect.

It is important that we recognize the service of groups such as the Gem State Young Marines. The Gem State Young Marines should be extremely proud of all the work they have done for communities in Idaho. I applaud this group and their members for their efforts, their actions show that Americans of all ages can--and do--make a profound difference in communities across the country.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 783, I was caught in traffic returning from a lunch at I and 18th Street, NW. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''