Charles Boustany

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in full support of this amendment. For far too long, the VA has condoned an apathetic culture that encourages its employees to ignore their duties and to cover up serious problems. Last year, the staff of VISN 16, which includes my home State of Louisiana, admitted to inappropriately denying hundreds of veterans' medical care claims. When my office asked how many veterans' claims were being inappropriately denied, we were met with excuses and obfuscation. That is completely unacceptable. One important provision of this amendment would prevent bonuses and performance awards for VA employees who fail to fix these problems. This provision is similar to an amendment I offered to the VA appropriations measure this past April. No small business in Louisiana would survive by allowing employees with such poor success rates to earn bonuses. I believe this is one of the most effective ways we can force accountability on this overly bureaucratic agency. I thank Chairman Miller and Chairman Benishek for their efforts in this cause. I urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment and hold the VA accountable for their inadequate and unacceptable performance.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart in the aftermath of a terrible and horrific act of violence that killed two innocent victims and injured nine others in my hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, last Thursday night. Lafayette, my hometown, is known for its joie de vivre. We work together. We play hard together. It is a great community, close-knit, and has been recognized as the happiest city in America by an organization. But last Thursday our community was shaken to the core as a man, a lone gunman, opened fire at the Grand Theatre on Johnston Street, killing Jillian Johnson, a 31-year-old musician, local artist, and local businesswoman, and Mayci Breaux, 21, a radiology student. Nine others were injured in this attack; senseless, horrible violence. It would have been a lot worse if not for the heroics of our law enforcement, who moved promptly on the scene and got control of the situation. But I want to relay one other instance of heroic activity. One schoolteacher jumped in front of another schoolteacher to save her life and literally did. Both were injured. One of them had the wherewithal to hit the alarm to signal that something bad was happening. Last night I attended a vigil for the victims at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, where our community took time to reflect upon the lives that were lost. Now, as our community tries to make sense and come to grips with what happened, I just simply ask my colleagues to stand with me and my colleagues from our Louisiana delegation and with the community of Lafayette for a moment of silence.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, to thousands of Americans living with ALS and end-stage Parkinson's disease, the Steve Gleason Act literally means the difference between the ability to speak and silence. I had the great privilege 2 weeks ago to spend about an hour with Steve and his mother in Steve's home in New Orleans. You have heard about Steve's exploits on the football field and how he inspired so many in that first return back to the Superdome after Katrina. But Steve lost his ability to speak and is wheelchair bound due to ALS. This happened earlier this year. His 2011 diagnosis could have been a tragedy, but he turned it into something amazing and good. When I visited with Steve, it was amazing to see the fire and the spirit in his eyes because, despite all that has happened to him, he is determined to help a lot of people. He told me: I am not going to give up until you guys pass this legislation so we could help so many others who don't have access to this technology that I have been blessed to have. So Steve started Team Gleason, an advocacy organization. Its main priority is to raise awareness for ALS. And Steve is communicating, using this amazing technology, but he knows not all individuals with ALS or end-stage Parkinson's have the resources to be able to afford these expensive devices. This bill is named for Steve because of his tireless advocacy, and this final legislation will provide the resources to give voice to thousands of individuals living across this country with ALS, end-stage Parkinson's, and other types of neurological disorders. I am proud to have played a little role on the Ways and Means Committee with my chairman to help move this bill through. I think this is a very proud day for America. We are happy for Steve and his advocacy and happy for so many individuals who are caught with this very difficult disease.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chair, I rise today to express opposition to H.R. 6, the 21st Century Cures Act. As a doctor, I strongly support medical innovation and research. Over the course of my 30 years practicing medicine, I saw tremendous leaps and bounds in treatment that saved lives. I appreciate the hard work put into creatively attempting to modernize the health-care innovation infrastructure, specifically efforts to incorporate a patient perspective into the drug and device approval process, support advances in personalized medicine, and streamline clinical trials. However, I cannot support the sale of 64 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve being used to pay for these changes. Over the past year, the price of oil has dropped from above $100 per barrel to below $50. Although the price of oil is currently at $54 a barrel on the global markets, this is far from stable. I do not understand why Congress would agree to sell 64 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when the price is low, flooding the global oil marketplace, and likely causing the price to drop even further. This has the potential to cause havoc for our own domestic oil and gas industry. The decline in oil prices is hurting the states that had benefited from the domestic oil-production boom in recent years. My home state of Louisiana ranked second in the U.S. in oil production and second in natural gas production in 2013, with more than 64,000 Louisianans employed in extraction, pipeline and refining industries. This industry matters to everyone in Louisiana. According to the American Petroleum Institute the U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports more than 9 million jobs nationwide, supports over 7% of GDP, and contributes more than $86 million to the Federal Treasury every day. Since oil prices began to drop, it has been widely reported that the oil and gas industry have been struggling to keep their employees on payroll. In April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that Louisiana suffered a 3,300 job loss in the mining and logging sector. In June we saw two consecutive week losses in mining employment--that's the category that includes many oil and gas exploration and extraction jobs--have slipped below 100 in Louisiana. I will not accept the false choice between supporting medical innovation and Louisiana oil and gas jobs. I believe it's irresponsible to flood the global market for petroleum with more product while Louisiana families are experiencing layoffs because of low global prices. Many of my colleagues have stated that given the remarkable expansion of North American oil production, a reduction in the size of the reserve could be seen as responsible cost-effective public policy. I would disagree. Research shows that price spikes in transportation fuels is highly regressive, with most of the cost disproportionately hitting middle class and low-income groups. This vulnerability remains even though our work shows that the U.S. and much of the Western hemisphere will largely separate from physical trade flows with Middle East producers in the next few years. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), the U.S. economy will continue to rely upon petroleum for many years, and work by EPRINC and many other research groups demonstrates that we will remain vulnerable to severe economic damage from disruptions in petroleum supplies in the world oil market. The SPR remains an important strategic asset for protecting the U.S. economy and security interests from this vulnerability. Selling barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be done in a thoughtful and strategic manner when global prices are high, not as another coffer for Congress to raid at its convenience and at the expense of Louisiana's oil & gas industry.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to highlight the vital role Fort Polk, Louisiana, plays in our Nation's strategic defense and to urge the U.S. Army to spare it from any cuts. Fort Polk houses the Army's primary Joint Readiness Training Center, the Nation's premier combat training center. Fort Polk is also home to the 3rd Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk's lone brigade combat team, a highly mobile, lethal, and flexible combat unit. This team was recognized as a superior brigade combat team, awarding it the Meritorious Unit Citation for its efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Any cuts to this award-winning unit would deal a devastating blow to the post, its surrounding communities, and Louisiana as a whole. The local community and State have invested money and donated land, demonstrating their commitment to this imperative post. As the Army announces its troop realignment, Louisiana stands together to support the 3rd Battalion, 10th Mountain Division brigade combat team, the Fort Polk community, and the military excellence they represent.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a resolution constituting a question of the privileges of the House.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Rules Committee for giving me time. Let's set the facts straight here. Liberal union leaders, radical environmentalists, some of our friends on the other side have been relentless in pushing misinformation to confuse and distract the American people. It undermines the confidence that the American people have in this body, the people's House. Let's look at the facts. TPA, trade promotion authority, it is not a trade agreement. It is the process by which we get the best possible trade agreement, the best possible agreement on behalf of the American worker and the American farmer. This is Congress asserting its constitutional authority by setting the priorities for our negotiators. We are robustly involved in the negotiation process, and this TPA version is even better than previous ones because it empowers all Members of Congress, not just the Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee. TPA has been public. It has been public for months for anybody and everybody who wants to read it. Just go to congress.gov. It is not secret. They are trying to deliberately confuse TPA, trade promotion authority, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a trade negotiation underway and not completed yet. We want a strong TPP-- Trans-Pacific Partnership--agreement for the American workers and for farmers. We won't get that without TPA. TPA puts a strong check on the President, placing the Congress in the driver's seat with 150 negotiating objectives that must be addressed or else the final agreement won't be brought up for a vote. We will kill it. We have the power, not the President. It contains strong protections against the President from putting in any new immigration authority in violation of American law. It prevents the President from subverting U.S. sovereignty and all these urban myths that are out there. Frankly, the misinformation is disturbing, and it undermines the trust of this body. We have to put the facts on the table for the American people. This has been supported by a wide number of groups-- business groups, conservatives, many other groups. If you support transparency, if you support placing a check on the President, if you support robust oversight, and if you support getting the best deal for the American worker, knocking down barriers--whether they are tariff or nontariff barriers in these other countries--to give the American worker a break, open markets, then you support TPA. TPA is a catalyst for economic growth. It opens the door for a robust trade agenda for the United States. We created the global trading system after 1945. Are we going to walk away from it? We only have 20 agreements--with 20 countries, that is, free trade agreements. These are important agreements. Other countries have 40, 50, hundreds of them. Why are we sitting on the sidelines? We have been sitting on the sidelines for decades. It is time for American leadership. We can't walk away from the trading system we created. Our partners around the world want us engaged. This is the catalyst for American leadership. This is an important part of our national strategy and an important part of our foreign policy. You want a strategy? You want economic growth? You want fairness for the American worker? Support TPA as a catalyst for growth and leadership.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the distinguished chairman of the committee for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I believe all of us here in Congress can agree that evasion of antidumping and countervailing duties is a serious problem and needs to be effectively addressed. That is why I rise in support of this bill, because I think it thoroughly and thoughtfully addresses the issue. The seafood industry in Louisiana has been particularly hit by this, which prompted me to work with industry, the committee, and others in the administration to come up with a legislative fix for the growing problem. Thankfully, the bill before us today contains language from my PROTECT Act, providing tools for Customs to help out our legitimate importers, distributors, and trade-affected domestic industries to prevent and combat fraud at our border, not after the fact, which makes it much more difficult to deal with. Specifically, the language in this bill is dedicated to preventing and investigating evasion. Within that unit, there will be a point of contact for private sector evasion allegations who will have the authority to direct these evasion investigations and the duty to inform interested parties. They have to inform the interested parties about the status of the investigations. We have also increased the types of data that Customs can use to target evading imports, and this language will increase information sharing between the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to effectively investigate evasion. Finally, the bill sets specific requirements for Customs to adequately train its personnel involved in combating this. These are necessary improvements to stop fraud before it gets to our borders. I can tell you, I have gotten plenty of comments from folks back in my district. Kimberly Chauvin, who is the owner of Bluewater Shrimp Company in Dulac, Louisiana, said the language ``creates provisions that we need. The Senate bill is a watered-down version. If we do not get Boustany's bill, the whole bill does us no good whatsoever.'' We need these tools. These tools are essential to effectively combat evasion. Evasion is too important a problem to remain unaddressed, and I think we are going to get to the best possible agreement on this when we go to conference with this bill. So I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this very important piece of legislation. Let's move the ball forward. Let's really strengthen our laws to combat evasion and get this job done.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, after 1945, the U.S. set up a global trading system, and countries around the world are taking advantage of it. The world is not sitting still. Hundreds of trade agreements exist, but we only have 20 with which we have a trade surplus, and we are sitting on the sidelines, standing still. It is just unacceptable. American leadership is needed. If we are going to grow this economy, if we are going to create good-paying jobs for workers and farmers, we need to open markets, as 95 percent of the markets are outside the U.S. Let's open those markets. Let's be fair to our American workers and farmers. Let's give them market access. TPA is the catalyst to opening those markets and for growth. The world is crying for American leadership. I am afraid American prestige is on the line right now. It is waning. Countries around the world are watching us to see how we vote on this today. We have the opportunity to show that America will lead the global trading system we created. I think, if we don't do this, we have dealt a serious blow to American leadership. It is a catalyst for American leadership. Let's pass TPA.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Trade promotion authority gives more transparency to the whole process. Right now, we don't have the kind of transparency that is necessary. TPA, trade promotion authority, is public. That is public. That is the process. It is very public. Go to congress.gov. Anybody can read the legislation. It is public. Plus, passing TPA will require that the final trade agreement--those negotiations aren't done yet, but once they are concluded, the President has to make it public for 60 days in order for anybody and everybody to read it. That is transparency. If we fail to pass this, we are giving up American leadership. We are basically throwing the American worker under the bus. We need growth. We need American leadership, and trade promotion authority is the catalyst for providing that leadership. Trade promotion authority is necessary for Congress to provide the proper checks and balances on the administration. I don't want the administration negotiating without our having a robust consultative role in this, and that is what TPA does. I urge my colleagues to support the rule and to support this underlying legislation.

Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the chairman for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of trade agreements being carried out all over the world today, and the United States--our country--is sitting on the sidelines. Ninety-five percent of the market is closed off in many respects because we don't have trade agreements; we don't have the market opening. We are an open economy. They are sending stuff here, but we don't have the opportunity to sell there. That is a problem. Let's talk about what trade promotion authority really is. At a very basic level, it is the catalyst for American economic engagement around the world. It is the catalyst for American leadership. I, for one--and, I think, for most of my friends here on this side of the aisle--am not ready to just step back and relinquish American leadership to others. That is just unacceptable. Trade promotion authority gets us started. We are on the verge of negotiating two very important trade agreements with growing areas around the world--the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union. This represents the lion's share of gross domestic product growth around the world. Why would we want to lock ourselves out of these markets? It is absolutely ridiculous. It is absurd. We want the American worker to have access to those markets. I want mothers around the world to buy goods off the shelves that read, ``Made in America.'' Those markets are closed. Let's open them. Let's get trade promotion authority in place. What is it? It is not the trade agreement, itself. It is the process by which we get the strongest and highest quality trade agreement for American workers that would be most beneficial to our country. It is the whole way we are going to achieve growth in this economy. We can't do it to the extent we need to without this. It puts Congress in the driver's seat, providing over 150 negotiating priorities that we set, not the administration. We set these as we negotiate with foreign countries. If we fail to pass this, the President negotiates on his own priorities, not on the priorities of the American people.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. So this is really about achieving America's goals. This is about improving our economy. It is about growing jobs. It is about economic connectedness. It is about helping countries that have struggled and building newer relations and stronger commercial relationships with those countries. This, ultimately, is about doing what America does best and extending our values worldwide. I urge the support of this bill. It is a good bill. A lot of thought went into it on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding time. This is a really important bipartisan bill. I want to thank Mr. Rangel for his work and, of course, Chairman Ryan. This bill is important because it is part of our soft power. This is about how America exerts soft power in these regions. It is about helping to build trade capacity in the long run to get us to expanded commercial relations in areas of need. This bill encourages the adoption and implementation of WTO agreements, including the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which eliminates red tape at the border, something that we have worked very hard to do and something that will benefit American companies in the long run, as well as our trading partners. This encourages the development by AGOA beneficiaries of utilizing strategies to improve the effectiveness and use of the program to make this program more effective. It commits the United States to working with AGOA beneficiaries to develop and implement these kinds of strategies. It outlines a path for deepening and expanding trade and investment ties, all good for American national security, good for the American economy, good for job creation. The Generalized System of Preferences program--extends this program until December 31, 2017. It provides retroactive relief to eligible products that were imported during the lapse of the program, and it implements U.S.-WTO commitments by making duty-free certain cotton articles eligible from least-developed beneficiary developing countries. All good policy. With regard to Haiti--and my colleague spoke earlier about this--this extends the HOPE and HELP programs for products from Haiti until September 30, 2025; encourages foreign investment and job creation by extending trade preferences to reinvigorate the apparel industry and attract new and expanded foreign direct investment; and reaffirms U.S. foreign policy and national security interests by promoting trade and long-term investments in Haiti, as it does with the other countries in Africa through the AGOA program. We also correct the program that we had earlier dealing with the Medicare sequester, supplementing the entire package with a different pay-for. I think that is more acceptable.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chair, in Louisiana, we fish--whether that's enjoying a Saturday on the water for fun or making a living as a commercial or charter fisherman. That's why I stand with my Louisiana colleague, Garret Graves, in support of this common-sense amendment. As an expert on policies affecting our Gulf Coast, Congressman Graves knows it is rare for all 5 Gulf states to agree when it comes to ocean management and conservation policy. So it's remarkable when these 5 states come together on a proposal to transfer Red Snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico away from the federally managed program that continues to fail recreational anglers. That's all this common-sense amendment does--make this existing management agreement into law. I believe as Representative Graves does when states come together to present a working proposal to Congress, we as their Representatives should listen. I urge my colleagues to support states' rights and support this amendment.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman, the majority whip, for yielding to me. I rise in support of this bipartisan amendment. This amendment basically exempts AbilityOne products from certain DOD procurement programs in this legislation. These procurement programs have severely affected Louisiana's disabled workers in the recent past, and in Louisiana alone these programs have forced disabled workers to be laid off to the tune of approximately $18 million in lost revenue, so while I believe it is important to support these critical overseas partners that we have as they rebuild their economies, we also need to focus on jobs here at home. That is why I have cosponsored this. It is a commonsense amendment. It is revenue neutral. I strongly believe that this amendment will allow AbilityOne disabled workers nationwide to hold on to jobs.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Speaker, as a medical doctor, I took an oath to protect lives. As a cardiothoracic surgeon for many years, I worked day and night to save lives in the operating room. Today, I stand proudly with my colleagues here on the House floor to defend the lives of those poor, innocent unborn children who don't have anybody else to stand up to defend them. The scientific evidence is clear: unborn babies feel pain. They feel pain at 20 weeks postfertilization. This bill bans late-term abortions, with very limited exceptions. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the United States is currently one of only seven countries worldwide, including North Korea and China, that allows elective late-term abortions. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates enacting this bill will save 2,750 lives each year. Twenty-four States, including my home State of Louisiana, have already acted to ban these late-term abortions. I urge my colleagues to be compassionate. I urge my colleagues to support the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act so that unborn lives in all 50 States are protected from painful late-term abortions.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, the administration continues to rule using executive orders and a top-down approach without taking stakeholder voices into account. That is arbitrary, and it is just wrong. This Federal Flood Risk Management Standard is a case in point established by executive order. The President solicited no public input on its merits before charging full speed ahead. This is horrible for Louisiana. It will be devastating for our coastal communities, inhibiting their ability to grow and develop. This order affects critical programs like disaster preparedness assistance and Federal highway and housing aid; yet no cost-benefit analysis was ever undertaken. This is just not the way things are supposed to work around here. I encourage all my colleagues who are concerned not only with the content of this, but the fly-by-night process by which this revision was proposed, to support our amendment and send a message to the administration that this will not stand.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, our veterans deserve better than long, drawn-out claims processes that inhibit access to high-quality care. This is just unacceptable. Since the passage of last year's landmark VA reform legislation, the VA has demonstrated disturbingly little progress on addressing the emergency medical care claims processing backlog that is hurting our veterans. I requested data earlier this year on the VA's progress in fiscal year 2015. I was shocked to find that, as of late March of this year, only 14 percent of the claims originating from VISN 16, including my home State of Louisiana, have been processed within 30 days. That is abysmal. No employee at any business in Louisiana or anywhere around this country would be given a bonus with such a poor success rate. Mr. Chairman, it is high time the VA starts demanding a higher standard from its employees. My amendment is fairly simple. It prevents this agency from granting bonuses to its emergency medical care claims processing staff until the percentage of emergency medical care claims processed within 30 days reaches 90 percent. This is just unacceptable behavior. Time and time again, we have asked the VA and have worked and legislated to get them to clean up their act. Our veterans are suffering, and this is no way to treat them. That is why I have offered this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I understand the gentleman has a point of order raised against the amendment because it violates the House rules of legislating on an appropriations bill. I just feel compelled to speak out because of the plight of our veterans, who are at the mercy of an incompetent agency, and it has got to change. I hope that all Members of this House on both sides of the aisle will work so that we clean up this mess and treat our veterans the way they should be treated because they have gone out and fought for us. Mr. Chairman, with respect to my friend, the chairman of the subcommittee, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, this week the House has an opportunity to make historic reforms to Medicare that will provide certainty to doctors and patients across the country. I spent 30 years practicing as a heart surgeon, fighting to save lives on the operating table every day. I know firsthand that the cycle of temporary patches and extensions injects tremendous uncertainty into the process, making it much more difficult to run a successful practice. Last week, I stood with a bipartisan group of Representatives and Senators to introduce the replacement legislation under consideration. This bill repeals the unworkable SGR, consolidates duplicative programs, and improves transparency for patients and doctors. It is a historic solution to a problem that has plagued doctors and providers for over a decade. But no solution is one hundred percent perfect. I believe we must continue working toward full repeal of the unworkable Medicare outpatient therapy cap, something I've introduced legislation to address and will continue to work with my colleagues to make this law. That's something I'll continue to fight for. But today, it's time for Congress to do what we are elected to do: come together, find common ground, and pass a solution. This is the first meaningful opportunity to fix this broken system in years--let's not bypass this moment. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this permanent doc fix.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a cosponsor of H.R. 976.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart to commemorate the loss of 11 outstanding servicemen, including four members of the Louisiana National Guard, as a result of a helicopter training accident off the coast of Florida. From the Louisiana National Guard's 1st Assault Helicopter Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment based in Hammond, Louisiana, we lost Chief Warrant Officer George Wayne Griffin, Jr.; Chief Warrant Officer George David Strother; Staff Sergeant Lance Bergeron; and Staff Sergeant Thomas Florich. From the United States Marines, based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, we lost Captain Stanford Henry Shaw, III; Master Sergeant Thomas Saunders; Staff Sergeant Marcus S. Bawol; Staff Sergeant Trevor P. Blaylock; Staff Sergeant Liam A. Flynn; Staff Sergeant Kerry Michael Kemp; and Staff Sergeant Andrew C. Seif. Mr. Speaker, I ask our colleagues to join us in a moment of silence on behalf of these servicemen.