Charles Boustany

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Ways and Means be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6438) to extend the waiver of limitations with respect to excluding from gross income amounts received by wrongfully incarcerated individuals, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his very, very kind words. It has been a true pleasure working with him on the Tax Policy Subcommittee. I want to congratulate him on becoming ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee. I know he will do a fabulous job. I am only sorry I won't be around next year to work with him and beyond. I congratulate him. Godspeed, do a great job, and get tax reform done. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 875, the Cross- Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016, to strengthen our ability to enforce U.S. trade laws. I am very pleased that our solution has such strong bipartisan support and makes good on our commitment to stop the flow of illicit goods while also facilitating legitimate trade that is vital to American economic competitiveness. I urge passage of this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I have no other Members wishing to speak on the bill, and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Amodei).

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd).

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. After my remarks, I will include in the Record an exchange of letters between the chairmen of the two committees. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 875, the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2016, is a commonsense, broadly supported, bipartisan bill that will provide a mechanism for increased trade enforcement while also enhancing the facilitation of legitimate trade and travel. I am pleased to note that the other body passed an identical bill by unanimous consent just last week, signaling widespread support. Through this legislation, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to providing the necessary tools to maintain American economic competitiveness while preventing the entry of illicit goods into the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the Federal law enforcement agency responsible for facilitating international travel and trade at our Nation's ports of entry as well as for detecting and interdicting counterfeit, unsafe, and fraudulently entered goods. Last year, the CBP processed more than 382 million passengers at the Nation's 328 land, sea, and air ports of entry and over $2.4 trillion worth of goods. The CBP estimates that inbound trade and traffic will continue to grow. In 2013 and 2014, Congress created 5-year pilot programs authorizing the CBP to enter into reimbursable agreements with public and private entities as a way to meet the escalating demands of increased trade and traffic at the ports of entry. These agreements with private and public sector entities allow for additional inspectional services beyond what the CBP would have normally allocated at ports of entry. They provide additional resources to increase enforcement and processing capacity and to improve dated infrastructure at our ports. Since 2013, the CBP has entered into reimbursable service agreements with 29 stakeholders at land, sea, and air ports of entry. These agreements have contributed to more than 125,000 additional processing hours to meet stakeholder demand during which 3 million travelers and almost 460,000 vehicles were processed. The pilot programs have been widely regarded as forward-leaning and an effective way to enforce our laws at the border and to meet the demands of increased trade and travel. Today's legislation would move beyond these tested pilot programs to establish more permanent authority for the CBP to enter into these arrangements, providing the opportunity to make the CBP more efficient and effective at our borders. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture, Washington, DC, December 5, 2016. Hon. Kevin Brady, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Brady: I am writing concerning H.R. 875, the Cross-Border Trade Enhancement Act of 2015. This legislation contains provisions within the Committee on Agriculture's Rule X jurisdiction. As a result of your having consulted with the Committee and in order to expedite this bill for floor consideration, the Committee on Agriculture will forego action on the bill. This is being done on the basis of our mutual understanding that doing so will in no way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Committee on Agriculture with respect to the appointment of conferees, or to any future jurisdictional claim over the subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation. I would appreciate your response to this letter confirming this understanding, and would request that you include a copy of this letter and your response in the Committee Report and in the Congressional Record during the floor consideration of this bill. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Sincerely, K. Michael Conaway, Chairman.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 875, currently under consideration.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 875) to provide for alternative financing arrangements for the provision of certain services and the construction and maintenance of infrastructure at land border ports of entry, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. I thank the chairman for yielding time, and I stand in support of this bill. Mr. Speaker, south Louisiana recently experienced historic flooding that damaged 12,000 businesses, leaving them struggling to survive. Recuperation is one thing, but survival is at stake right now for these businesses. The Department of Labor's overtime rule would effectively force a choice for these flood-affected employers: either delay the much-needed recovery efforts or rapidly deplete limited funds they have available for recovering, paying for higher labor costs, as dictated by this new rule. The consequences of this rule are real. They are having a real impact, a detrimental impact. That is why just last week, my home State of Louisiana joined 20 other States in filing a lawsuit challenging this rule. This rule will force many businesses to unfairly and substantially increase their employment costs. This rule will lead to higher unemployment, in many instances. Small businesses will be really affected in a big way by this, at a time when labor participation is at an all-time low in the workforce--at least, something we haven't seen since the seventies. We should be encouraging growth. I don't know why our colleagues don't understand the need for economic growth and progrowth policies. We should be encouraging growth of small business and development in the workplace. This rule, instead, would hinder opportunities for employees to move up the career ladder. That is why I support this bill, the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act. This is really important legislation that will delay the implementation of this ill-conceived, disastrous rule. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Water Resources Development Act of 2016. I want to thank Chairman Shuster for bringing this bill to the floor. The bill will authorize critically important projects for my home State of Louisiana, including the Southwest Coastal Study. Over this past weekend, we remembered the 11th anniversary of Hurricane Rita making landfall. This storm, and subsequently Hurricane Ike, demonstrated the dire need to implement greater measures to protect our coastal communities, many of which were destroyed back then. Congressional authorization of the Southwest Coastal Study will open the door for necessary hurricane and storm damage risk reduction and coastal restoration projects for southwest Louisiana for the first time. Authorization language for this project was included in the manager's amendment, and I want to thank Chairman Shuster for doing so. Additionally, the bill includes vital funding for the Calcasieu Lock project, which is the 10th busiest lock in the Nation, a vital feature of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system. The lock facilitates navigation, controls flooding, and prevents saltwater intrusion from the Calcasieu River into the Mermentau River basin, a major agricultural area. The bill also includes construction authorization for the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project, which will provide critical storm surge protection for Louisiana's river parishes, something that has been in the works for over 40 years; and additionally, the Comite diversion project, which would have prevented a lot of the flooding we just saw in Louisiana. These and other reasons are really why we should support this very important legislation, and I urge final passage. To my friend from Oregon, I would say this: I have worked extremely hard since I got here to fix the problem with the harbor maintenance trust fund. We have made significant strides with last year's water bill and the cooperation of our friends on the appropriations committee to up the level of funding. But I agree that we should have included this language, and I am committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure that we take those fees that are collected specifically for operations and maintenance dredging and use them for that, period. We will have more work to do there, but I urge adoption of this bill, and I thank the chairman for his bringing it forward.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith) for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker since ObamaCare passed, we have seen nothing but major problems: higher costs, higher premium costs, higher out-of-pocket costs, network disruptions, and coverage disruptions. Just 2 years after the implementation of ObamaCare, the Louisiana Health Cooperative closed its doors. Actual 2014 enrollment in the CO- OP was less than half of estimated enrollment: 13,000 midyear in 2014, compared to the 28,100 projected. By December 2014, those numbers had dropped significantly, the highest percentage loss among all the Nation's 23 CO-OPs during that period. Over 7,000 Louisianans complied with ACA's individual mandate by purchasing health insurance through one of the CO-OPs created under the law, but their plan was terminated midyear by the failure of that CO- OP. Now, let's just have some common sense here. This was no fault of the good men and women who put their faith and put their hard-earned premium dollars into this CO-OP. They enrolled, as required by law. And it is just wrong, it is wrong to hold these working families financially responsible for the cost of a CO-OP's failure because it went under due to factors out of their control. Mr. Smith's bill is very narrowly crafted to provide this kind of relief. It is a commonsense bill. It helps people who are struggling with these costs, many of whom have lost employment and everything else. That is why I support the CO-OP Consumer Protection Act. This is really important legislation that will help Americans across this country who have been harmed, harmed by ObamaCare's closing of these CO-OPs. It is not their fault. We should provide them with some relief under difficult economic conditions. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. It is common sense. It is narrowly crafted, and it is the right thing to do. It is the moral thing to do.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman. The American people want transparency. I don't understand why our friends on the other side of the aisle would be opposed to transparency. All we are asking is that these agencies be truthful and very clear with the American public and provide all assumptions built into their methods of calculating the impact and the cost. This is a simple amendment. It is a simple ask. We shouldn't even have to ask for this. I urge adoption of the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, this is an absolutely essential amendment because we need more transparency about methods and how these assumptions are built into what they are proposing. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk).

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I am here to offer an amendment to H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016. This amendment is based on legislation I proposed earlier in the year. By creating a new process that requires the administration to keep a clear, organized, and easy-to-understand list of all proposed and outstanding rules and regulations, we are forcing transparency on bureaucrats who are currently running amok. I also want to thank my colleague, Mr. Loudermilk, for working with me to offer this very sensible amendment. Our simple amendment requires the administration to make the data collected and the formula used for all Regulatory Impact Analysis, or RIA, publicly available. This is about simple transparency. In other words, for an example, let's say BSEE, under the Department of the Interior, says that the well control rule--a proposal that will drastically affect the Louisiana energy offshore sector--will only cost the offshore oil and gas industry $800 million to implement, and industry projections put that number over $9 billion, well, BSEE should be required to prove how they reached those figures. They should be required to make completely transparent their assumptions and their methodology. That is what the American people ask for. The Obama administration is responsible for an unparalleled expansion of the regulatory state, with the imposition of 229 major regulations since 2009, a lot of costs incurred. These proposals are being made with little regard to impact on businesses at a time of weak economic growth. The constant barrage of new regulations is causing some of the rules to be counterproductive, contradictory, difficult to understand, and impossible to implement. This simple amendment will allow Congress to send a clear message to the administration that regulations must be based in facts, clearly understood, and completely transparent to the impacted industry and to the American public. I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, I have long fought for the highest quality health care for our veterans and accountability, and I applaud Chairman Miller for bringing H.R. 5620 to the floor for a vote. It is long overdue. This will not only provide greater options for veterans going through the VA's broken appeals process, but it also makes vital reforms to the Department's employee performance policies. This is commonsense legislation. It will improve outcomes for veterans in my home State of Louisiana, where the VA has a long history of very poor performance. The bill's provisions will make it easier for the VA Secretary to fire, demote, and recoup bonuses from employees who don't do their job. Veterans in Louisiana have dealt with the VA's ineffective bureaucracy--and, in some cases, downright wrongdoing--for far too long. We desperately need more stringent accountability measures in place for the agency charged with caring for America's veterans. This has gone on far too long. Chairman Miller and I have fought with others for a very long time to do the very best for our veterans. Enough is enough. Enough is enough. It is time for a change. It is time for true accountability. I am proud to stand with Chairman Miller and others to support this legislation, and I urge all my colleagues to support it. It is urgently needed.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Tiberi for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Halt Tax Increases on the Middle Class and Seniors Act. This is a critical piece of legislation that addresses one--just one--of many contradictory and damaging provisions of ObamaCare. ObamaCare was passed in 2009 in a very partisan way, and we have seen steady increases in health insurance premium rates, double-digit increases year upon year, as well as out-of-pocket deductible costs that Americans must cover before their health insurance coverage even kicks in. Now, we have to do something about this. Unfortunately, many American families have had to forgo the ability to deduct the majority of their total medical expenses since 2013 when this ObamaCare provision took effect for those under age 65. Yet to make matters worse, on January 1, 2017, America's cash-strapped seniors will also be hit with this harmful provision. Today, more than 56 percent of those claiming the medical expense deduction are aged 65 or older. This is punitive. This is damaging. It is destructive, and it is unacceptable. That is why I stand in support of Representative McSally's critical piece of legislation, which will afford American families and seniors a small measure of the financial relief they desperately need right now. For people on a fixed income this is difficult. We should be doing everything we can to help them and not hurt them and especially protect them from the ravaging consequences of this horrible law that has devastated and really wrecked our health care system. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bill, and I urge passage.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart in the aftermath of a trying and challenging time felt throughout Louisiana, where 13 of our own lost their lives as a result of the recent flooding. The rain started falling on August 10th and continued for weeks. Water rose up to rooftops, families lost most of their possessions, schools were damaged, and as the water has continued to recede, the extent of devastation is still being realized. It was most definitely a flood of historic proportions. Louisiana is known for its joie de vivre: we work together, we play, fish and hunt together, and this event showed just how strong that community spirit shines throughout our state. We came together to volunteer at shelters, dispatch our own ``Cajun Navy'' in rescue efforts, lend hands to gut flood-stained homes, and donate millions of dollars to post storm relief efforts. It has been said before, and remains true, Louisianans are resilient. We have persevered before and we will again. Unfortunately, this tragic event resulted in the death of 13 individuals--two deaths in Livingston Parish, two in St. Helena, five in East Baton Rouge, three in Tangipahoa and one in Rapides Parish. As our community begins to recover from this devastation, I simply ask my colleagues to stand with me, my colleagues from our Louisiana delegation, and with the State of Louisiana for a moment of silence in remembrance of those we lost.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Madam Speaker, as a physician, I took an oath to save lives, to protect lives, and as a heart surgeon, I worked day and night to save lives, to protect life at every step of the way. I believe that the oath I took way back when I finished medical school meant protecting all stages of life. Healthcare providers who share this belief should not be forced to act against their consciences by participating in or by facilitating an abortion. Current law prevents discrimination against healthcare providers who do not wish to participate in abortions. Unfortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights refuses to enforce this policy in its taking years, oftentimes, to consider complaints of conscience rights violations. That is just wrong. It is wrong. The Conscience Protection Act will provide the healthcare community-- doctors, nurses, hospitals, and insurers alike--with the right to seek their day in court when the administration fails to enforce existing law. Americans should never be forced to violate their conscience rights in order to do their jobs. I urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying legislation.

Mr. BOUSTANY

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chair, in Louisiana, we understand quite clearly how good environmental policy, economic policy, energy policy march hand in hand. We also know that the men and women who work on these rigs are our friends, our neighbors, our family, and safety is first. We also know from experts across the industry that this proposed rule is a one-size-fits-all proposal that increases risk. It makes it more risky, and we will not stand to allow this rule to go forward. That is why I urge the adoption of this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves).

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chair, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Chairman, my amendment will prohibit any money being spent for the implementation or enforcement of any rule or guidance similar to the well-controlled rule offered by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE. Unfortunately, according to experts throughout the oil and gas industry, many of the prescriptive requirements contained within the final well-controlled rule will neither improve safety nor reduce environmental risk in drilling, but will actually have unintended consequences of increasing risk beyond that of existing regulations. Additionally, the final rule will create significant additional expenses and burdens for those engaged in exploration development and production activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. Ultimately, these added economic and compliance cost tens of billions of dollars over 10 years, and together with other regulatory burdens, they could force some smaller operators out of business and drive larger operators from the Federal OCS toward countries with less prescriptive regulatory environments or other opportunities. This means that the negative impacts of this destructive rule will likely be felt throughout all 50 States. To my colleagues who represent States that do not have offshore development, I would argue that you should support this amendment because BSEE's well-controlled rule is yet another example of the Obama administration not listening to real experts in this industry and, instead, forcing rules and regulations into place that will hurt the domestic industry and our U.S. economy. In effect, the well-controlled rule ultimately could increase risk and decrease safety on the Outer Continental Shelf. It is a one-size- fits-all proposal that really is not realistic. It will also negatively impact the attractiveness of the Gulf of Mexico for future oil and gas investment, and it will likely result in oil and gas operators choosing to develop energy resources in other parts of the world, taking those jobs and those investment opportunities with them. As the House's Task Forces on Reducing Regulatory Burdens and Restoring Constitutional Authority explains in its mission statement, we as a government should be working to ``make it easier to invest, produce, and build in America with a modern and transparent regulatory system that relieves the burden on small businesses and other job creators and encourages financial independence while balancing environmental stewardship, public safety, and consumer interests.'' BSEE's well control rule does not do this. America cannot continue to be the global energy leader without policies that foster this kind of innovation, investment, and development of our energy resources. Safety, not convenience, must always be the driving force behind these initiatives. BSEE'S well control rule not only leaves industry with numerous questions about compliance, but it also has experts concerned that these new measures will increase risk. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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