John Boehner

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate, thank, and recognize my constituent Mrs. Neldleen ``Nell'' Wright. Nell is a testament to the innate goodness of human nature and the overwhelming positive effect one individual may have on the community. As a wife, mother, and tireless volunteer in Ohio's Eighth Congressional District, Nell has quietly given much more than she has taken. Her work, as an employee with the Butler County Republican Party, over the past fifteen years has been a constant source of pride and unconditional praise. Nell's dedication is undoubtedly a major reason for the party's huge success. Mr. Speaker, Nell's warm smile and gentle personality are known throughout Southwest Ohio. Her attitude, fierce determination, and community spirit are a constant source of energy for all those around her. So much of Nell's work is done quietly and without reward, and it is my honor to take this moment and say thank you to her. I congratulate Nell and wish her a very happy 80th birthday.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, today, I join my colleague from South Carolina in offering this important legislation to improve and increase the options available to parents of students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The IDEA reauthorization is a top priority for my Committee this year. We want to build on the success of the No Child Left Behind Act and align IDEA with NCLB. One of our key principles for reauthorization is the encouragement of innovative approaches to parental involvement and parental choice. IDEA already contains choice, for the educated and the wealthy. There is no reason to deny millions of parents those same opportunities. We should empower all parents to expand their participation and increase knowledge of their rights and responsibilities under the law. This bill would accomplish three goals: Encourage states to develop innovative, flexible choice programs for children with disabilities and permitting states that have such programs to allow federal funds to follow the child based on the parents' choice. According to a report by Education Week, Florida's pioneering program, launched two years ago under Governor Jeb Bush and Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan, resulted in state education officials receiving more than 14,000 inquiries from parents interested in exploring scholarships as a means of securing the best education possible for their children. Federal law should not discourage other states from emulating the Florida model or from engaging in other innovative efforts to improve choices for the parents of children with special needs. Permit districts to use their funds under this Act to provide necessary accommodations (including reasonable, additional expenses) to allow children with disabilities being educated in schools designated for improvement under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to participate in supplemental educational services. NCLB, enacted in 2002 with overwhelming bipartisan support, guarantees parents with children in underachieving federally-funded schools--including children with disabilities--the right to obtain tutoring and other supplemental educational services for their children from providers reimbursed with their children's share of federal education funds. Eligible providers include private and faith-based providers of educational services. NCLB established an important historical precedent for the portability of federal Title I education funds, in which the money follows the child. The same principle should be applied to federal special education funds when children with special needs are otherwise being denied the opportunity for a quality education. Expand the options of parents and decrease transition problems for the youngest children with disabilities by allowing states to expand current Part C (currently ages 0-2) programs to children that would otherwise be participating in Section 619 (ages 3-5). Parents can choose for their preschooler to remain in the Part C program with their current providers (including private providers) without interruption or transition from traditional Part C at age 3. School choice, particularly for children with disabilities, provides a constructive way to continue to improve public education by insisting on excellence for every child. I strongly believe that parents are in the best position to determine where their child should be educated. We should allow all parents the right and the responsibility to have that choice. I urge my colleagues to support this measure to give parents and children with disabilities the choice they deserve.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome the members of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to Washington, D.C. for their 20th Annual Employment Law and Legislative Conference. Today, more than 200 SHRM members will visit Capitol Hill to share their views and experiences with issues such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, health care reform, and pension reform. SHRM is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 170,000 individual members, the Society serves the needs of human resource (HR) professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive set of resources available. As an influential voice, SHRM also seeks to advance the HR profession by ensuring that HR is an essential and effective partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. As a legislator, I want to congratulate the members of SHRM for recognizing the important role individuals can play in affecting the legislative process. HR professionals maintain demanding schedules and are crucial to the successful operation of our nation's organizations. Most importantly they understand the positive impact of meeting with their Senators and Representatives to discuss recent workplace trends, their policy implications, and suggested remedies. Citizen participation is a crucial component of the legislative process, allowing legislators and their staff the opportunity to hear constituents explain personal experiences as they live and work within our nation's laws. Finally, legislators gain critical knowledge through these conversations, resulting in legislation that's clearly applicable to the workplace and effective for employees and employers. Mr. Speaker, I sincerely thank the members of SHRM for their commitment to provide value to employees and employers across the United States while contributing an essential component to the political process--practical real world experience.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, I am privileged to join my friends from the Ohio delegation on the House floor today to mark yet another special occasion for our home state. Several weeks ago, we gathered here to celebrate and honor the Ohio State Buckeyes' college football national championship. And now we're here to mark yet another significant and historic event for the Buckeye State: Ohio's bicentennial. Ohio's heritage is rich, and its importance to the nation is immeasurable. Consider these bits of trivia: Ohio played a vital role in the American Civil War. Our state contributed more of its population to the Union Army than any other state. Ohio is the home of 8 U.S. presidents. In fact, between the years 1840 and 1920, Ohio natives won 11 of 14 presidential elections. Ohio is home to legends in America's space program. Not only do Neil Armstrong and John Glenn call Ohio home, but the Buckeye State also is the home to twenty-two current astronauts. And finally, Ohio is the birthplace of aviation. The Wright Brothers called Ohio home and this year will be the focus of a celebration very close to my congressional district marking 100 years of flight. Today, in Ohio schools, scores of students are poised to lead our state into its third century, and if the past two centuries are any indication, the best is yet to come. Madam Speaker, it has been an honor to represent my friends and neighbors in Ohio on the local, state, and federal levels during my time in elected office. I wish them and all Ohioans across our state the very best today and in the years to come. May our next two hundred years be as prosperous and exciting as the last two hundred.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, this year more than 865 million people will visit a museum in America and millions will use their local library for books and other community services. Libraries and museums play a vital role in educating our children and promoting communities. Throughout our Nation, libraries are at the forefront of reading and family literacy programs. Libraries are critical to many people with disabilities, providing them with specialized materials and resources that are obtainable in a single accessible location. For those persons of limited financial resources or who live in remote areas, libraries provide access to books and reference materials, computer services, and other community-based services. Museums across the country work with local schools to provide K-12 educational programming. They are an important source of cultural and historical knowledge for people, as they learn about the history and traditions of our country and other places around the world. In addition, museums serve as places where people of different backgrounds come together to share information about history, culture, and civilization. Under the leadership of Chairman Hoekstra in the last Congress, the Education and the Workforce Committee worked in a bipartisan manner to report the Museum and Library Services Act of 2002. That bill had 94 cosponsors, was supported by the Bush Administration, and had been endorsed by the American Library Association, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, and the American Association of Museums. The Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 is very similar to last year's bill, and with 126 cosponsors, it builds on the bipartisan bill reported by the Committee on Education and the Workforce last year. The legislation before the House today funds the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency devoted exclusively to museums and libraries, which partner with our Nation's schools. It consolidates museum and library board activities to reduce unnecessary paperwork and duplication. In addition, the reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act is an important next step in ensuring that the President's education reforms signed into law last year are properly implemented. H.R. 13 requires that all library activities are coordinated with activities under the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's landmark education reform legislation. First Lady Laura Bush, a former librarian, supports reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act. Mr. Miller, the ranking Democrat on our Committee is a cosponsor of this legislation--I would like to thank him for his support. Mr. Hoekstra has put together a good, bipartisan bill and I encourage my colleagues to support the legislation and our Nation's museums and libraries.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I am joined today by many of my colleagues in introducing the Pension Security Act. One year ago, President Bush sent a clear message to Congress that he is committed to preserving American workers' pensions by calling for new safeguards to help workers preserve and enhance their retirement savings. The House responded to the President's call and passed the Pension Security Act on April 11, 2002 with strong bipartisan support. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on the legislation before adjournment. I am pleased to reintroduce his proposal today. One of the tragic realities of the corporate scandals of last year is that it rattled the confidence of American workers in the country's pension system--a system that by and large has served employees and their families well. A Pew Research Poll released on February 21, 2002 indicated that 77 percent of Americans believed the Enron case was an important issue, and 47 percent of them believed the worst thing about the Enron case by far was the employees had lost their retirement funds. Even more tragic is the possibility that much of it could have been avoided. At least some of Enron's workers might have been able to preserve their nest eggs if Washington had taken some basic steps to update our nation's pension laws. We should not have to wait for another Enron or WorldCom before providing workers with new protections that can help them enhance and protect their retirement security. As more and more employers provide 401(k) plans to their workers, rank-and-file employees are shouldering more of the risk of their investment. Unfortunately these employees rarely have the time or knowledge to actively manage these investments and most have no access to quality investment advice through their employer. Millions of employees who have seen their 401(k) balances dwindle might have been able to preserve their retirement savings if they'd had access to a qualified adviser who would have warned them in advance that they needed to diversify. The Pension Security Act would fix outdated federal laws and allow employers to provide their workers with high- quality, professional investment advice as an employee benefit, but also includes key safeguards to protect the interests of workers and investors. That is why today, my collegue Sam Johnson (R-TX), chairman of the Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee, and I are re-introducing the President's proposal on behalf of America's workers. Workers must be fully protected and fully prepared with the tools they need to protect and enhance their retirement savings. Specifically, the Pension Security Act includes new measures that give employees the freedom to diversify their portfolio and would provide them better information about their pensions. Under the bill, employees may sell company stocks and diversify into other investment options after they have worked for their employer for three years. In addition, it requires companies to give workers quarterly benefit statements that include information about accounts, including the value of their assets, their right to diversify, and the importance of maintaining a diverse portfolio. In addition, the Pension Security Act includes the provisions of the Retirement Security Advice Act (H.R. 2269), which passed the House in November 2001 with a large bipartisan vote. Current law continues to needlessly deny rank-and-file workers access to quality investment advisers to help them make sound investment decisions. The Pension Security Act encourages employers to make investment advice available to their employees and allows qualified financial advisors to offer investment advice only if they agree to act solely in the interests of the workers they advise. The Senate failed to act on this legislation prior to adjournment, though it passed the House with the support of 64 Democrats. Lastly, the bill clarifies that companies have a fiduciary responsibility for workers' investments during a blackout period. Under current law, employers are not responsible for the results of workers' investment decisions. This ``safe harbor'' from liability does not apply during a blackout period. Under the Pension Security Act, employers will be responsible for the consequences of the workers' inability to control their investments if they violate their fiduciary in implementing or administering blackout periods. Congress has taken some positive steps in the recent past to update our nation's pension laws, and this committee has been central to those efforts. Last year, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley bill regarding corporate accountability, which incorporated two of the provisions in the Pension Security Act dealing with notice and trading during blackout periods. The House also passed the Pension Security Act last year by a margin of 255-163, with the strong bipartisan support of 46 Democrats. We also passed the landmark reforms authored by my friend and colleague, Representative Rob Portman (R-OH), that gave workers more pension portability, faster vesting, and a host of other needed changes. We passed the Retirement Security Advice Act to give rank-and- file workers the same access to professional investment advice that wealthy executives have. But in spite of these efforts, a lot of work still lies ahead. We need to pass the remainder of the President's plan this year. I am optimistic that common ground can be reached with Democrats because there is bipartisan support in Congress for the reforms I have just outlined. The nation's private pension system is essential to the security of American workers, retirees, and their families. Congress should move decisively to restore worker confidence in the nation's retirement security and pension system, and this reform proposal will do just that. I urge my colleagues to respond to the needs of America's workers by supporting the Pension Security Act.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle), chairman of the Subcommittee on Education Reform.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), a valued member of our committee.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), the chairman of the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Employer- Employee Relations.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the 1996 welfare reform law that we are reauthorizing today has been an unprecedented success, one of the most important pieces of social policy since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. We transformed the welfare system from a permanent entitlement system that tolerated government dependence to a temporary assistance program which helps people earn a new start, find a job and become self-sufficient. Today, with the Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act, we are prepared to build on that success. This bill marks the beginning of a second phase of reform that will help even more Americans find productive jobs. The colleagues on the other side of the aisle may say, The system is working, why fix it? Why argue with success? Here is why. Welfare caseloads have fallen dramatically since 1966; but as this chart shows, some 58 percent of TANF recipients still are not working for benefits, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The bottom line is approximately 2 million families remain on welfare rolls today, and we need to do something about it. Over the last 2 years, the Committee on Education and the Workforce has held five hearings on the success of welfare reform and the new challenges that we face today. Last year our committee approved a bill introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), the Working Toward Independence Act, which is now part of this overall bill which is before us today. It strengthens work requirements to ensure that we move welfare recipients on the path to self-reliance. As Connecticut Governor John Rowland has said, ``The most compassionate way to break the cycle of poverty, dependency, and hopelessness is through work.'' The bill requires welfare recipients to participate in work activities 40 hours a week. But within these new requirements, there is significant flexibility for States and recipients themselves. Welfare families will have 16 hours a week to pursue education and job-training opportunities. They can also attend school full-time for up to 4 months over a 2-year period. This measure also increases the percentage of welfare families in each State that must be engaged in work-related activities, currently at 50 percent, moving to 70 percent by 2008. Some have questioned whether States can meet these new requirements, suggesting that we are setting the bar too high. But I agree with what President Bush said, ``If it brings dignity into someone's life, it is not too high of a goal.'' And remember, the bill gives States 5 years to comply with the new work requirements. The bill also includes significant funding increases for child care, boosting spending for the Child Care and Development Block Grant by $2 billion over the next 5 years. In addition to this new money, it is important to remember that States have half the case loads that they had in 1996, which means that they have twice as much money available to spend on work programs, child care, transportation and other services that are necessary in order to help move people from a life of dependency toward the mainstream of American society. H.R. 4 also incorporates key elements of President Bush's Good Start, Grow Smart plan to improve early childhood education. It encourage States to address the cognitive needs of young children so they are developmentally prepared to enter school. Finally, the bill includes a promising new plan to empower States and localities to develop innovative solutions to help keep needy families working towards independence. It would give States and local agencies the opportunity to coordinate certain welfare and workforce development programs and improve their efficiency and their ability to help move people from welfare to work. Mr. Chairman, in closing I would like to echo the sentiments of President Bush when he said that no level of despair should be acceptable in our society. With this bill we are going to help some of the most vulnerable members of our society to help them achieve independence and self-sufficiency, and I urge Members to support the bill. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), a valued member of the committee.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. The success of the 1996 welfare reform law is beyond dispute. Even the New York Times has called it an ``obvious success.'' The debate today has been about how to build on that success and how to put even more Americans on the path to self-reliance. While it is true that the 1996 reforms significantly reduced welfare caseloads, we still have a lot of work to do. A majority of TANF recipients today are still not working for their benefits. The Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act builds upon the best aspects of the 1996 welfare reform law. It strengthens work requirements, enhances flexibility for States and localities, and it does so while providing States with significantly more funding for child care, which is crucial for welfare families transitioning into the workforce. President Bush stated that no level of despair should be acceptable in our society. With this new legislation we help some of the most vulnerable members of our society achieve independence and self- sufficiency. I urge my colleagues today to support the welfare reform law, H.R. 4.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), a valued member of our committee.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis), the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform. (Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown) invoked the No Child Left Behind bill, the education reform plan which aims to educate every American child. We have increased funding for education over 200 percent over the last 5 years, including 30 percent in the last 18 months. But the issue in education is not about more money; it is about attitude, and it is about whether we as a Nation want to insist that all of our children get an education. I will tell the gentlewoman that we have worked hard to increase funding and we are continuing to work hard to increase funding to help make this plan real in every American school. But let us leave no doubt about it: if money alone would solve the problems in our Nation's schools, they would have been solved decades ago. This is not about money. It is about whether we as a Nation are going to demand that all of our children get a chance at a good education. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson). (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, as we said before, the 1996 act has been a huge success in helping 9 million American families move from welfare to work, lifting their spirits, allowing them to participate in the mainstream of American life. The proposal that is before us, the substitute offered by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, would literally take us back to the pre-1996 welfare reform bill that trapped people in dependency and never really allowed them the opportunity to be all they could be. We have the lowest African American child poverty rate in history as a result of the 1996 changes. We believe that we will make more advances in giving States more flexibility, more child care money, stronger work requirements to help move more people from welfare to work. Even though welfare rolls are down 60 percent from where they were in 1996, the States are getting the same amount of money, so Members can argue that they will be able to spend twice as much as they have in helping those on the system. Let us not go back, let us move ahead.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the distinguished majority leader.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), a member of our leadership team.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. For our colleagues who have listened to the debate today on the reauthorization of H.R. 4, the welfare reform law, I probably do not have to remind my colleagues that the sounds of the debate, the points that have been made, were all made in 1996. Members on our side of the aisle and, frankly, half the Members on the Democrat side of the aisle who supported the 1996 welfare reform law were confident that we could help move people from a life of dependency, despair and hopelessness to a life where they do have hope, they do have opportunity and can move into the mainstream of American society. As my colleagues have seen over the course of this debate, the 1996 welfare reform law has been a tremendous success, even to the point where the New York Times called it an obvious success. The substitute that is before us today undermines every major 1996 welfare reform law improvement, reversing recent historic gains in work, independence, family flexibility and in funding. I think it hurts our most vulnerable recipients. I think we create a costly new entitlement with the substitute that we have before us. It undermines work requirements and goes back and creates the same kind of dependency that we saw prior to 1996. Yes, work is not something that most people would prefer to do, but the most important thing we did in 1996 was to encourage people to work, to encourage them to put their foot on the first rung of the economic ladder, and we agreed that we would provide assistance to help them up that ladder, whether it was transportation, whether it was child care, education, training to help them along while allowing them to keep their government-paid medical insurance; and what the program being offered here as a substitute to our bill would do would be to create the same kind of dependency. People would leave work and go back to welfare under the proposal that we have before us because one of the provisions in the substitute says that if a person is not earning at least 250 percent above the average poverty rate, they are entitled to go back on to TANF. There are a lot of working Americans and hard-working Americans who do not earn 250 percent above the poverty rate. We do not want to create the kind of dependency that we had before. We have a great success. There is no reason to turn tail and throw in the towel when, in fact, we have helped 9 million American families move from welfare to work, increased their dignity and gave them the hope of a lifetime to be in the mainstream of American society. We should reject the substitute offered by my colleague from Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English), one of the real promoters of the original 1996 welfare reform law.

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), a valued member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. BOEHNER

Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and let me congratulate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), his staff, the committee members, along with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) and his staff, for a product well done, considering the handicaps of never having a budget and never having appropriation bills from the Senate. Mr. Speaker, this Congress has promised to do its part on behalf of America's school children, and the spending bill we debate today more than delivers on those promises. Much like the President's budget itself, this agreement is particularly generous towards education. It will provide yet another large increase in Federal education funding on top of record increases provided last year and the years before. This means that more than enough is being provided for States and public schools to carry out the reforms in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act. Not only are we providing enough money, we are providing more than enough. For 35 years, this Congress spent billions of dollars in education without ever insisting on results for the children that it was meant to serve. Just over a year ago, on this very floor, Democrats and Republicans stood proudly together to bring that era to an end. And as my colleagues rightly pointed out, we made a commitment to our children on that day. But maybe some of us need to be reminded of what that commitment was. What No Child Left Behind promised was that politicians would stop using money as an excuse for a 35-year failure to close the achievement gap. Thirty-five years and $150 billion later, the achievement gap has not changed at all over that period of time. We have now significantly increased our funding for education, twice since the bill was signed into law, and there are no more excuses. Our children need results. Let us look at title I. Under this agreement, aid to needy and disadvantaged schools through title I is increased by another $1.4 billion. And this is on top of the $1.5 billion increase provided as a result of last year's spending bills. In other words, title I has virtually doubled since fiscal year 1995. Are we spending too little? I do not think so. Let me look at the second chart which is even more striking, and this is on special education, IDEA. As the chart shows, we have increased IDEA in this agreement by $1.4 billion. That is on top of the $1.2 billion that we increased it last year. Since fiscal year 1995, we have increased funding for IDEA 400 percent. That quadruples the amount of money that we are spending for our special-needs children. In addition to that, we put another $100 billion increase in the Teacher Quality Program. We increased Pell grants and pay off the shortfall from the prior year, and we increased Head Start funding by another $131 million. Mr. Speaker, if money alone can solve the problems in education, they would have been solved a long time ago. What we need to do is work to change attitudes in America that says that all of our children deserve a chance at a decent education.