Sandy Adams

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler).

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. I rise today in support of H.R. 6185, the Local Courthouse Safety Act of 2012, because it will give local courthouses the resources to enhance their security, and to do so at no cost to the Federal taxpayer. My bill would allow for surplus metal detectors to be provided to local courthouses to enhance security. Like other regions throughout our Nation, central Florida has seen its share of courthouse attacks. Shortly before I joined the Orange County Sheriff's Office as a deputy sheriff, a courthouse shooting occurred. An armed gunman by the name of Thomas Provenzano walked into the Orange County Courthouse with a 12-gauge shotgun, an assault rifle, and a .38 revolver, all loaded with live ammunition. Bailiff William Wilkerson, a 60- year-old veteran who retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commander, was killed on that day. Bailiff Harry Dalton, a 53-year-old father of six, was shot in the face and left paralyzed from the shooting. He died 7 years later. Correctional Officer Mark Parker was only 19 years old at the time of the shooting. He survived the shooting but was paralyzed from the shoulders down and had to spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair. I introduced the Local Courthouse Safety Act because the things this bill does are important to me and to most Americans. I know the families of Bailiff Dalton and Bailiff Wilkerson, who lost their lives as a result of the violence that day in the Orange County Courthouse, and remained friends with Officer Parker until he passed away a few years ago. I am deeply aware of the grief they've had to live with all of these years. Since September of 2010, there has been about one shooting per month at a local courthouse. So even though the shooting in Orange County happened 30 years ago, courthouse shootings are still happening all over this country and innocent people are still dying. Those who are exercising their constitutional right of seeking justice in our courtrooms should not have to fear for their safety, and neither should our law enforcement officers, judges, advocates, and court personnel. It is my hope that this bill will help to prevent horrific and senseless incidents of violence like this from happening in our local courthouses. I want to thank my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee for recognizing that we need to take courthouse security seriously and for joining me in this bipartisan effort to help prevent violence in local courthouses across this country. We need to give sheriffs and local courthouses access to the training, equipment, and resources they need to improve security, so I urge support for the bill.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Adam Hawkes for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Adam constructed picnic tables for a local soup kitchen. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Adam has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Mitchell Koebke for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Mitchell has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Tracy Murphy for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Tracy provided benches for resting on a local hiking trail. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Tracy has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Caleb Dowdy for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Caleb has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Peter E. Mallory, of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, who recently passed away after a long and exemplary record of service to Volusia County, Florida. Mr. Mallory was a family man, an entrepreneur, and an award-winning writer, but more than that, he believed in his community. Moving to Florida with his family from Ohio at a young age, Mr. Mallory graduated from New Smyrna Beach High, and had served on the board of trustees for Daytona State College and the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach. His true passion would lay in writing, as his friend Henry Frederick has said, ``All Peter ever wanted to do was write his own column, on his own terms, free of the bias of the liberal media.'' In 2007 Mr. Mallory helped finance and began writing a column for NSBnews.net, New Smyrna's first 24/7 Internet newspaper. The newspaper has come a long way since 2007 and none of its success would have been possible were it not for the contributions and hard work of Peter Mallory. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, Mr. Mallory taught in the local high school and volunteered as a coach for several athletic teams. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Mallory passed away at the end of June, but his work and his passion for unbridled news remains as an example for others to follow. Volusia County will miss the writings and community work of Mr. Peter E. Mallory and we salute his memory.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3803, authored by my friend, Representative Trent Franks, which prohibits abortions in the District of Columbia on pain-capable unborn children. Recently, a poll conducted revealed that 63 percent of respondents favored banning abortion after the point where the unborn child can feel pain. Because abortions may be performed in the Nation's Capital for any reason during all 9 months of pregnancy, the need for this bill is very clear. Mr. Speaker, when we debated this bill in the Judiciary Committee a few weeks ago, I was shocked that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle referred to this child as a fetus. I'm sure my female colleagues who have been blessed to experience the joy of motherhood will agree with me when I say during the time I was carrying my daughter, I always thought of her as my baby, never a fetus, and I am very concerned that the discussion is being centered around everything but the most important thing, and that is what the baby feels and is capable of feeling at this time. We all have the opportunity to do the right thing. So let's stop playing word games and pass this legislation.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Matthew Winchester for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Matthew provided several tetherball sets to benefit a local summer youth camp. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Matthew has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Joshua Whetman for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout Project, Joshua developed an action archery course to benefit a local youth camp. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Joshua has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Furthermore, the individual mandate is the largest tax increase on Americans in American history, the largest tax increase. It is time my colleagues on the other side of the aisle join us in repealing ObamaCare and its taxes. I may not have been here when Congress passed ObamaCare, but I was sent by my constituents to Washington to repeal it.

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6079, Repeal of Obamacare Act. Along with many Americans, I was disappointed that the Supreme Court did not strike down the law, but the Court did rule that ObamaCare is a tax, a tax on all hardworking taxpayers, including middle-income taxpayers. Let's go back for a moment to when this bill was passed. In 2010 President Obama said if you like what you have, you can keep it. We now know that isn't true. He also said health care costs would go down, and again not true because health care costs are rising. They have gone up. He also said on numerous occasions that this is not a tax. It's a penalty. Well, the Supreme Court has spoken, and there is no denying now that it is a tax on all hard-working taxpayers. We all remember former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi famously saying, we have to pass a bill so that you can find out what is in it. The 111th Congress passed a bill ignoring the will of the American people. After the bill was signed into law, Americans across this great Nation did find out what was in the bill and, guess what, they didn't like it. Across the country, Americans showed their displeasure with Congress at the ballot box. With their votes, they demanded Congress listen to them and repeal ObamaCare. Even today ObamaCare is less popular than it was the day my Democrat colleagues passed it. It's not hard to figure out why the American people don't like ObamaCare. This is a law that takes $500 billion from Medicare, a law that will lead to the rationing of care for our seniors, and a law that adds job- killing taxes on individuals and small business when our economy is hurting.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. I ask you today to approve this resolution. Bring some credibility back to our Department of Justice. If this had happened in another agency throughout this Nation and if one of our officers had died and if the Department of Justice were involved in the investigation, they would be asking for the same documents that we are asking for.

Mrs. ADAMS. I am going to come to you from a different angle, one of a law enforcement officer. I served over 17 years as a law enforcement officer, and I worked many undercover operations. As a law enforcement officer, you knew you didn't give guns to bad guys. The drug cartels, they're bad guys. You know if you let a gun walk with a bad guy that you're going to see that gun whether it's at a crime scene, or you're going to be looking down the barrel of it. So when the Attorney General came to our committee, I asked him, Who approved this operation? Why was it approved? And he just wouldn't answer. He didn't know. Okay. Well, what rises to the level of the Attorney General? If an international operation that allows guns to walk to another country and that are then used to kill one of our agents and that are used to kill and maim their citizens doesn't rise to his level of approval, who approved it? This is something that is just normal procedure in any operation in a law enforcement agency. So now you have an Attorney General who won't tell us or can't tell us who approved this international operation. You have others saying, Well, this is something that started under another administration. It didn't. That was a different operation, and they realized they couldn't keep up with those guns, so they stopped it. When this one started, it was flawed from the beginning. The Attorney General said it was flawed from the beginning. Yet we still have no answers. We don't have answers. The American people don't have answers, and most importantly, the Terry family doesn't have answers. That's just unacceptable. I've heard from the other side of the aisle and from my colleagues here today that this is political. This isn't political. To me, it's personal. We have a law enforcement officer who was doing his job and who was killed by a flawed operation that no one will take ownership of in the Attorney General's Office; and the Attorney General, himself, won't tell us what rises to the level of his knowing what's going on in his agency if an international operation does not. So I will tell you that it was not political when I started looking into this and when we started looking into it. It is not political today. The way that it became political was when there was asserted, right before the gavel dropped in the committee, an executive privilege.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today not only as a congressional Member but also a widow of a law enforcement officer who lost his life in the line of duty. I rise to speak on behalf of all those families that have lost a loved one in the line of duty, and especially for Brian Terry and his family. The Terry family deserves to know what happened. The American people deserve to know what happened. And Congress deserves to know what happened. But let us not forget, Officer Terry's family deserves to know what happened. I stand here on behalf of all of those families who have lost law enforcement officers throughout our great Nation in the line of duty. We must not waiver. We, as a Congress, need to find out what happened so it never happens again. And that's something that we never should lose sight of. We need to make sure that whatever took place, it doesn't happen again. We should not be losing our officers this way.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Austin N. Krohne for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Austin coordinated an oyster reef restoration project to benefit marine flora and fauna, and to improve water quality within the Indian River Lagoon. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Austin has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Kristopher A. Eagle for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Kristopher constructed an enclosure to house a monitor lizard for the C.A.R.E Foundation. To fund his project, Kristopher held a car wash, bake sale, and a yard sale, investing a total of 360 hours into the project. Throughout the history of the Boy Scouts of America, the rank of Eagle Scout has only been attained through dedication to concepts such as honor, duty, country and charity. By applying these concepts to daily life, Kristopher has proven his true and complete understanding of their meanings, and thereby deserves this honor. I offer my congratulations on a job well done and best wishes for the future.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Chairman, I rise this evening in support of the Adams-Stearns-Scalise-Broun amendment, which ensures the protection of taxpayer dollars at the Department of Energy. American taxpayers were left out in the cold when President Obama's administration went through with this loan when the now-defunct bankrupt Solyndra was restructured. In the restructuring agreement, the Department of Energy ensured investors and special interests would recover their money first, before the American taxpayers. This is unacceptable. Although the Department of Energy continues to argue that it has the power under Federal law to put the needs of the American taxpayer at the back of the line in a financial crisis, this amendment makes it absolutely clear the Department shall not do it again. This amendment will ensure that if the taxpayers take a risk, they will be protected when the loan goes bad. I thank Chairman Stearns, and Representatives Scalise and Broun for their leadership on this issue and I urge support of this amendment.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the ongoing troubles at the VA and its apparent inability to effectively manage major construction projects, specifically, the new veterans hospital at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Orlando, Florida, in my congressional district. Our Nation's veterans have served our country honorably, putting everything on the line to protect our freedoms. After all they have done for us, it is Congress' duty to ensure that our veterans' service- connected medical needs are taken care of. The American people were told that for $665 million they would receive a state-of-the-art medical facility to care for the hundreds of thousands of veterans in central Florida, which is one of the most underserved veteran populations in this country. This project is desperately needed in our community. Our veterans cannot wait any longer, nor can hardworking taxpayers afford more expensive delays. Recently, Chairman Miller held a hearing with the Veterans' Affairs committee to examine these delays. During the hearing, it became clear that incompetence and a lack of leadership from the VA is to blame for the egregious amount of errors with this project. Those errors include forgetting to order medical equipment, designing incompatible power sources in patient rooms, and designing doorways too small for the equipment that needs to get through them. These basic design errors are absolutely unacceptable, and we must hold the VA accountable for them. While I am not a member of the committee, I felt it was my duty, as the Representative for central Florida veterans, to participate in the hearings and conduct the oversight necessary to get answers and move the project forward. Having toured the hospital construction site recently, I knew that the project was behind schedule and over budget. Listening to the hearing testimony, coupled with seeing the site firsthand, reinforced the fact that the VA has fallen down on the job and is failing our veterans. Veterans in my district have to drive hundreds of miles in some cases to get the cure and the care they need and have been promised--they've been promised--in return for their service to our Nation. These are often elderly men and women who cannot afford the trips. And we have young veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have sustained injuries that make those long trips incredibly painful. This is not the best we can offer; and we should be ashamed, in the VA, that those brave warriors have to travel long distances with the vague hope of getting the care they need. The VA can do better. We can do better. Today's consideration of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill helps put the VA's feet to the fire and will spur them to return the focus to our veteran population and not on bureaucratic mismanagement and political infighting. The language of the bill makes it clear that, while the hospital construction remains fully funded, it is no longer an open-ended construction project with bills to be paid years into the future. The legislation states quite clearly that funds obligated to complete construction have to be spent within 5 years. The message should be heard loud and clear by the VA: get your management in gear and finish this hospital. Mr. Speaker, the delays at this hospital are despicable, and the inability of the VA to provide what our veterans have been promised is unacceptable. Our veterans and their families have put everything on the line to defend our country. Making sure their service-connected needs are taken care of is the very least we can do to repay our Nation's heroes.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, PRENDA, introduced by Representative Trent Franks. As the mother of a daughter, I am disturbed by what I am hearing about sex selection occurring in the United States. A 2008 Columbia University report found that there is strong son bias and there is clear evidence of sex selection, most likely at the prenatal stage. The victims of sex-selection abortions are predominantly female and most are later term, which means that these gruesome abortions are occurring after the child becomes pain capable. In 2007, the United States spearheaded an international resolution to condemn sex selection; however, there are no laws preventing or prohibiting the practice in the United States. And while I stand here, I think about just yesterday as I watched as my little granddaughter-- inside her mother's womb--turned towards that ultrasound. This issue of life is a divisive one in politics, but I think all Americans can agree aborting babies because they are the wrong sex is just plain wrong. Let's put a stop to this egregious practice, and let's pass this legislation.

Mrs. ADAMS

Mrs. ADAMS. Madam Speaker, Democrats in Congress and others have been accusing Republicans for months for waging a war on women. We've been called antivictim, elitist, homophobic, and racist. These ridiculous attacks stop now--right here, right now. It's a shame, really. We've always had a bipartisan vote on this issue. It has always been a bipartisan issue, but this year, it has turned into an election year politic. The Violence Against Women Act was bipartisan legislation when it was enacted in 1994 and when it was reauthorized by a Republican-controlled House in 2000 and in 2006. Instead of coming together to reauthorize grant programs to help victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have created a phony war on women to score political points. These attacks are unfortunate and divisive. Domestic violence knows no political or socioeconomic boundaries. Neither should legislation to fund these important programs. Critics of this bill outright dismiss the dozens of good, broadly bipartisan things that this bill does in its nearly 200 pages of text, and they have chosen to focus their attention on a handful of things it doesn't do. So let's be real about what the bill does: It reauthorizes the VAWA grant programs for 5 years at the same levels as the Senate-passed bill. That's over $680 million a year in Federal funds to support these programs, and this is on top of the increase in funding for these programs that were adopted just last week by this House in the CJS appropriations bill. It sets aside specific funding for sexual assault investigations, prosecutions, and victim services as well as reauthorizes State rape prevention education programs, programs to promote educational awareness to prevent violence and to improve services for young victims. The bill also improves emergency and transitional housing services for victims. This bill provides greater protections to Indian women by designating domestic violence tribal liaisons within the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and it creates a new provision to allow victims of domestic violence or Indian tribes on behalf of victims to seek protection orders from U.S. district courts against Indian or non-Indian abusers. When I made the decision to pack what few belongings I could carry and leave with my daughter to escape an abusive relationship, all I cared about was protecting my daughter and providing her a safe and healthy life. In my years of service in law enforcement, not once did a domestic assault or rape victim question where the help was coming from or which political party or organizations endorsed the law that made that funding possible. The reason for that is this: This bill isn't about Washington politics. It's about people's lives. If you vote against this bill today, you will vote to deny help to millions of victims. Opponents are willing to sacrifice helping millions of American women escape their abusers in the name of political gamesmanship, so I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion to recommit and ``yes'' on the final passage. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. ADAMS. I oppose the motion.

Mrs. ADAMS. I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Gowdy), my dear friend, a former Federal prosecutor and an original cosponsor of this bill.

Mrs. ADAMS. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. ADAMS. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.