Bruce Braley

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for organizing this well-deserved tribute to my friend, my colleague, my mentor, and my hero, Leonard Boswell. Now, we've been talking about how Leonard is Iowa through and through. But, Leonard, the secret is out: you were born in Missouri. That was a great day for America, but I think it has also been part of shaping the person you are because you know that we are much more than the State we come from, the region we come from; and everything about your life of public service has reflected that. Leonard grew up on farms in both Ringgold and Decatur Counties and, amazingly, was drafted into the Army on his 22nd birthday. Quite a birthday present. He served with distinction for 20 years, but the people who know him best can tell you that one of the things that made Leonard Boswell unique was he went from a draftee serving at the lowest levels of the Army, to being encouraged to go to officer candidate school. What happens when you get commissioned, you actually have to resign from the United States Army in order to be commissioned. Leonard did that and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on February 19, 1957. It seems like a long time ago. After his commissioning as an officer, you've heard how Leonard served two tours as a helicopter assault pilot in Vietnam. Leonard, I know from doing a lot of interviews with Vietnam veterans for the Library of Congress's oral history project that everyone remembers that first day when they arrived in Vietnam. And for you, that was on April 12, 1965. I'm sure that you can tell us the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings you had when you arrived there. One of the things that Leonard never talks about because he's too modest of a person is the fact that he was awarded not one but two Distinguished Flying Crosses for his bravery and heroism serving our country in Vietnam. On November 1, 1968, on his second tour of duty, Leonard became the assault helicopter company commander for the 336, and led that unit with distinction until he finally retired and came back to the State that he loved and started pursuing other things. But Leonard has always been about service to country, service to family, and service to his faith. So when an opportunity presented itself, he ran for office in Iowa. He was elected to the Iowa Senate, became senate president in Iowa in 1992, and then continued his career here, and we've heard the minority whip talk about how that all came about. And we're so glad that it did. Leonard has always been a strong advocate for military families. He has a lot of proud achievements in this body. But, Leonard, your proudest moment was when the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act was passed in the House, passed in the Senate, and signed into law by the President. And the reason why that was so meaningful to me personally is I knew Joshua Omvig's family long before he took his life. And for you to take up that cause and to give voice to the thousands of Americans who were losing loved ones to suicide who had served this country with honor and distinction was the cause you were meant to lead. And to me, that day when we passed the bill on the House floor was one of the highlights of my career in Congress, because one miraculous thing happened that day. After you stood and talked about why we needed to do more for veterans like Josh Omvig to help them before they got to that point of taking their own lives, an extraordinary thing happened. After you spoke, Members on both sides of the aisle came down to the well and told the stories of constituents from their district who did the same thing that Josh Omvig did and put a human face on this crisis that was damaging our country. That happened because of you, Leonard, and I have never been prouder of you. I've never been prouder of your leadership than the day that happened. And America owes you a grateful thanks for leading the charge and giving voice to that problem. But Leonard's courage and heroism just doesn't apply to his service to his country. Not long ago, when an intruder attacked his home and his family, Leonard was there to stand up and protect them as well. And you shrug it off, Leonard, but everybody who knows you knows that the outcome of that horrible moment was inevitable, that truth and justice were going to triumph because you were the one who was there at the right time and the right place. We are honored to have the privilege of serving with you. We wish you and Dody and your entire family the best. Don't be a stranger. We're counting on you to continue to inspire us. And may God go with you.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Jack Taylor and the Grinnell College basketball team. On November 20th, Taylor broke the NCAA single game scoring record by scoring 138 points in one game. The Grinnell Pioneers won by a final score of 179 to 104. Taylor, a sophomore at Grinnell, broke the NCAA record by 25 points. The previous scoring record was set at 113 points back in 1954. Taylor attempted an astonishing 108 shots, an average of one shot every 20 seconds. Overall, Taylor made 52 out of his 108 scoring attempts. He also made 27 of his 71 3-point attempts. His record setting game drew praise from some of the NBA's biggest stars. Taylor was also interviewed on Sports Center, Good Morning America and the Today Show about the game. When asked about the game, Taylor said he was thankful to his teammates for their support and their willingness to give him the ball so he could try and break the record. Taylor said he would not have been able to break the record without their help. Next year, I will have the honor and privilege to represent Grinnell College in the House of Representatives. I'm proud to have Grinnell College in my new district and I congratulate both Jack Taylor and the Pioneers basketball team on their record breaking victory last week.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend International Dot Day. This September 15th marks the annual celebration of International Dot Day, which encourages students' creativity by asking them to make their own unique mark on the world. This year's celebration will involve more than half of a million children in all fifty states and on six continents. International Dot Day was inspired by the children's book ``The Dot'' by Peter H. Reynolds. The book tells the story of a student named Vashti who doubts her own abilities as an artist until her teacher encourages her to make a single mark on the page. The single dot she creates in art class and her teacher's encouragement starts a journey of creativity and discovery for Vashti who goes on to inspire other students to be creative in their own ways. Mr. Speaker, creativity and genius are important attributes for students of all ages to pursue, and I applaud my constituent Terry Shay, an educator from Waterloo, IA, who founded Dot Day in 2009, to inspire his students to make their own mark. Mr. Shay has helped inspire other educators around the world to encourage their own students by sharing the message in Peter Reynolds' inspirational book. I would like to take this opportunity to officially recognize September 15th as International Dot Day, and I wish Mr. Shay and other educators well as they continue encouraging creativity in their students.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Well, I think that one of the things that we need to make sure everybody understands is, as of September 30, September 30, which is just a couple of weeks away, there is no farm bill. We revert back to a 1949 farm bill that nobody in this country wants to see happen, including the Secretary of Agriculture, who would be given extraordinary powers that were given under that old farm bill to determine markets, to determine prices, to select winners and losers. It would be a horrible situation. And that's why the American people are depending on us to put aside our partisan bickering, to come together and solve this problem. And that's why I'm looking forward to working with my Republican colleagues to get support for this discharge petition and work to get signatures so that we can bring this bill to a vote on the floor, which is what should have happened before August 1.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. One of the other common themes that I heard at all of my listening tours--and this is uniform across the country, whether you're living in Connecticut or Iowa or California or any other part of the country--the average age of the farmers in Iowa is 59, and we have a lot of people who are nearing the end of their farming careers. We need to have opportunities for young farmers and young people who want to get involved in agriculture to get their foot in the door. So that's one of the exciting things about this farm bill is, for young farmers and beginning farmers who may be doing it as a second career, they may be working at a John Deere factory in Waterloo and farming on a part-time basis because it's in their blood, it's what they love the most out of life, but to give people that opportunity to get started, we have to be focusing on some innovative new ways of allowing them to earn an income from farming. Whether that's specialty crops, which you mentioned earlier, whether it's dealing with orchards and other types of new and innovative ways of raising money from production agriculture, all of those things are at a standstill if this bill doesn't move. And that is one of the reasons why it's inspiring, at a time when so much that focuses on Congress is about partisan bickering, that there is actually an enormous opportunity here to reach across the aisle to our friends on the other side and say, join us, make this happen, bring this bill to the floor. We will work with you to improve this bill and get it to a conference committee so that we can get an up-or-down vote on the future of agriculture in America.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I thank my friend for yielding. The thing that I think we need to focus on at the beginning is 62 days. It's been 62 days since the House Agriculture Committee reported a strong, bipartisan farm bill that passed out of committee after extensive debate and numerous amendments, and that's on the heel of the Senate Ag Committee passing a farm bill with strong bipartisan support, that passed the entire Senate where it's incredibly difficult to pass anything these days with a strong bipartisan vote. So I think the question on the minds of many of my constituents in Iowa's First District is when is the House going to vote on a farm bill, which in the past has always been a bipartisan priority of the House and the Senate. Now, my district in Iowa has been burning up all summer. Almost every part of the First District of Iowa has been classified as extreme drought conditions. Now, what does that mean? Well, I will tell you what it means to the eye when you go out and visit the farms that I visited back in the First District in July and August. Corn that normally fills up an entire ear, and the ear is typically about this long, now is coming out on ears that are this long that if you're lucky has a fraction of the kernels per ear that you would normally see in a typical Iowa cornfield. Stalks of corn were burning up in July and had to be chopped because they have no value other than the insurance policy that was in place on those crops because commodity insurance has been available to those farmers. Soybeans were more fortunate because they weren't burning up and got late rain that allowed them to mature, and we're hopeful that the bean crop will not be as devastated to the extent that the corn is. This is profound, it's real, it's going to have dramatic implications for the cost of food in this country, for the cost of fuel in this country. And while we sit here and do nothing in the House to get a farm bill reported out into conference committee, farmers back in my district are looking at what's going to happen this fall when they face dramatically reduced yields. Then we roll into the period of time this winter when they're buying crop inputs for next spring. All of these things have enormous ripple effects on our domestic economy. Then you look at what's happening with our nutrition programs, which will also be expiring on September 30. And we know how many people depend on those nutrition programs. Who are they? Most of them are seniors, the elderly, who depend on those food stamp programs. It's people who are disabled and on fixed incomes and working and are underemployed right now. So this failure to act is having profound consequences for the people I represent in Iowa. I have done 14 listening posts on the farm, food, and jobs bill in Iowa this summer, and we get people from across the spectrum who will be dramatically impacted if Congress fails to act. You look at the rural economic development title of the farm bill. It has profound implications throughout this country, and it's not based on whether a district is blue or red or purple. Every single district in this country is impacted by our failure to act. That's why I'm glad to be here tonight talking about these implications, and I hope to be bringing to the floor soon a discharge petition that has been delayed because of the inaction on this bill but that will give every Member of the House of Representatives the opportunity to go down and record on a piece of paper whether they want to see a farm bill brought to the floor for a vote, an up-or-down vote, and I encourage all of my colleagues to take a serious look at joining me in signing that discharge petition so we finally get action on the long overdue piece of legislation.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I'll be happy to yield back to my colleague.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I think the thing that is so disturbing to so many of us who represent parts of rural America that are heavily dependent on agriculture is this has never been a partisan stalemate in the past. Usually, the farm bill bogs down over regional differences over how you structure a bill that's going to get the necessary support to get the necessary votes on the floor. There is strong bipartisan support here in the House among our colleagues. Earlier, Congressman Welch initiated a Dear Colleague letter--they got 60 signatures--calling on leadership from both the House Democrats and Republicans to come together, get this bill to the floor, bring it for an up-or-down vote so that people get to see who's willing to put their vote behind crafting a bipartisan bill that can get support and move this country forward. That's the disturbing thing is I'm confident that there would be broad support across this Chamber to get a bill on the floor, to have an amendment process, to allow people to offer amendments to improve the bill. That's what happens in committee. That's what happened in this particular case. But when we can't even get a bill to the floor--and everything we're hearing is that there's no plan to bring a bill to the floor before the election--and then you look at everything that's being pushed back into the so-called lame duck session--which you know, Congressman Courtney, is one of the worst times to bring people together with everything going on--it's very frustrating, because this is a bill that could have and should have been passed before the August recess, and that's why it's so frustrating.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Well, I think one of the things that's helpful is to talk about some misconceptions about the farm bill. This isn't just something that affects farmers. At every one of my farm bill listening posts, I started off by pointing out that in 1900, my State of Iowa had 11 Members of Congress in the House of Representatives and Florida had two, and there were about 40 percent of Americans at that time who lived on farms. After the next election, we will have four Representatives from my State of Iowa in the House and Florida will have 28; and now, less than 1\1/2\ percent of the American population lives on farms. So that illustrates why it's such a big challenge anymore to put this bill together. But when you look at who showed up at my farm bill listening post, it wasn't just people engaged in agriculture. There were plenty of farmers there. There were representatives from the corn growers, the soybean producers, the cattlemen, and the pork producers, but there were also people there from Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, the Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited. There were people from nutrition groups who were involved in providing food to underserved portions of the community. There were people there from school lunch programs impacted. There were people from rural electric cooperatives who serve not just rural America today, but even medium- and small-size cities. You had people there from all these different groups who came together, from energy groups who were part of the energy title of the farm bill. Everybody who eats in this country is impacted by what's in this bill. Everybody who puts fuel in their vehicles is impacted by what's in this bill. For many people in America, this is one of the most important economic development bills we pass every 5 years. The reason we do it every 5 years is because when you're involved in the types of operations that produce the food, fiber, and fuel we depend on, you don't just do it on a week-to-week, month-to-month business plan. You have to know right now what you're going to put in the ground next spring and what it's going to cost to do it and what type of risk you're taking on in order to be successful and continue in that operation. And so you can't just kick the can down the road--which we are so good at in this body--and hope it all works out in the end, because for many farmers that will be too late. That's why it's time to come together and work in a bipartisan manner to solve this problem and get it done, because the American people are depending upon us. If we don't do it until after the election, it's too late.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Petty Officer Second Class, Taylor Morris. Taylor grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and after graduating from high school in 2007, Taylor joined the Navy. Looking for a challenge, Taylor trained as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician. While all of our servicemembers face danger in the course of their service, EOD techs literally put their lives on the line to disarm bombs and keep all of our forces safe. Taylor deployed to Afghanistan for the first time in January of this year. On May 3, while working with Army Special Forces in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan, Taylor stepped on an IED while clearing a route. The blast of the IED blew off all four of Taylor's limbs. Remarkably, Taylor remained conscious after the blast and called out to the medics that were rushing to help him to stop, recognizing the possible danger of other IEDs. After the second EOD with Taylor had cleared the area, medics arrived to address his wounds. On May 6, Taylor arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center, not too far from here in Bethesda, MD, where I first had the chance to meet this remarkable young man, along with his girlfriend, Danielle, and his mother, Juli, who've stuck by him since he got home. Taylor is one of only five quadruple amputees from the last decade's wars, and despite his wounds he's remained upbeat and shown remarkable courage in working to recover. Even a few weeks after his injuries when I visited with him for the first time he was raring to move forward and get better. Just last week, on July 23, I was proud to welcome Taylor, Danielle, and his sister Claire to the Capitol for a tour. Every time I've met Taylor, I've left inspired by his courage and dedication, and I know we all can learn something from his cheery demeanor in the face of such odds. Mr. Speaker, I'd also like to enter the full text of a poem by Albert Caswell that was written for Taylor, titled ``Greater Than Gold'' into the Congressional Record. Taylor is truly an American hero. Greater Than Gold--In Honor of an American Hero, E5 Taylor John Krull Morris, the United States Navy Greater Than Gold Greater! Greater than gold! All in our lives to be told! All in ones heart we can mold! All in our moments now so to behold! All in what we so hope to all know! All in ones life, that which forever so glows! Forever so glows! As is ``MIGHTY MO!'' Are such things to be found, as are all as so! That which are but far much more precious than gold! Precious than gold! To Have and To Hold . . . To Have and To Hold! As upon our world, as your gifts to us Taylor you now so bestow! So bestow! As have all of our American Heroes! Heroes! All in what our children must all now know! As is such so! As is such so! Something, that is far much more greater than gold! Something, that could so launch a thousand ships as is so! Something that so leads men into battle, yet not to know! While, living on the very edge of death . . . while there all so! As time and again, as Taylor you so chose to so stand! As something so very special, to have and to hold! To have and to hold! That which so brings such tears, to even the Angels eyes as is so! As is so! As from you Taylor, of what I now know! What is far greater than gold! As from that first moment on, when I so walked into your hospital room so! With that smile on your face! I knew in an instant, oh what a man of such splendor and grace! As stood before me so! So! As all in that moment, as I so looked into courage's face! As all of those tears, I could not so hold, and would not so erase! Yea, Greater Than Gold! As it was all in that moment Taylor I want you to know, when you so taught me the true greatness of the human race so! And what is far much more Greater Than Gold! As I so looked so deep down into your very soul! As your fine heart so all out to me so glowed! So glowed! To have and to hold! To have and to hold! To carry with me now, as I grow old! As you so taught Taylor, so taught me there so! Like the corn fields of Iowa, your heart has so grown! All in what is far much more greater than gold! Greater Than Gold! And what we so hold in our hearts is but The Greatest of All of Those! As it was you Taylor who so chose to so live, and would not let go! Let go! And yet that even without legs, as still you stood so! And that even without arms, all of our hearts still you can hold! Still hold! Far greater than gold! Greater than Gold! As now Taylor, to me you have so showed! That The Greatest of All Things, is but what so lies in one's soul! In one's soul! So deep down inside of our hearts, all in what we so hold! As now, it's all ahead full . . . The Navy's Crown Jewel! As you so recover even in that hospital bed! For you have mountains to climb, all in your time! As you even make The Navy Seals, say ``Taylor you are my hero!'' And you've got places to go! And hearts to so heal, as they so watch you all so! And people to so inspire, for you will not ever so tire wherever you go! As you So Teach, and So Beseech Us . . . and all of those! All in that one fine thing that we all must now know! That what lies in one's heart and one's soul, is but Far Much More Greater Than Gold! Greater Than Gold! Yes arms and legs we all need, but we can get by! But, without a heart and a soul . . . we will so surely die! And in Heaven you need not arms nor legs! And Taylor, that's where you are going one day! To look into our Lord's eyes as so! Yes, Taylor . . . by God you were Taylor Made so! To have and to hold, to have and to hold! For you Taylor, and what's in your heart is Far Much More Greater Than Gold! Yea, ``Mighty Mo'' what's in your soul! Is Far Greater Than Gold! Albert Carey Caswell, 2012

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to congratulate Bob Bauman on his long-awaited and well-deserved retirement from the Butler County Rural Electric Cooperative, REC. Bob has served as CEO and General Manager in Allison, Iowa, since 1984, and has been very active in rural development. He was instrumental in establishing an economic development program at Butler County REC and building a $1.8 million revolving loan fund for the program. In addition, he was the leader in forming Homeward Inc., a nonprofit housing provider assisting rural Iowans with their housing needs. Homeward has made more than $10 million in loans in 25 Iowa counties and assisted 1,000 families as they acquire and maintain their homes. He has served on the Governor's Task Force on Housing, the Iowa Institute of Cooperatives Legislative Committee, and on boards of directors for the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, the Community Vitality Center, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, CFC, and the National Cooperative Services Corporation. He's also served on the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NRECA, Community and Economic Development Committee, and as chair of the NRECA/CFC Rural Housing Committee. In March 2012, the Iowa Area Development Group honored Bob with the Silver Shovel Award for outstanding leadership, innovation, and achievement in business and community development. Calling Bob a leader is an understatement. He has had a tremendous impact on the quality of life of thousands of Iowans, and he has been a good friend and adviser to me. I wish Bob all the best in his next endeavor, and I know his wife, Vicki, and all of their children, are proud of him.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I opposed the contempt of Congress resolution today because I don't want political games or partisan politics to stand in the way of a serious effort to find the truth. The best place to resolve this dispute isn't on the floor of the House in an election year, but in a federal court where both sides can present their cases and the debate won't turn into a political circus. I've been disappointed by the failure of both House Republicans and the Justice Department to find a practical way to get the American people the full details of this tragedy without compromising existing court orders and other national security concerns. An American was murdered and we owe it to his family and the public to get to the bottom of what happened.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Madam Chair, I want to make a specific point of emphasizing that I'm offering this amendment in honor of one of the gentleman from Iowa's constituents, a young, 7-year-old girl named Kadyn Halverson who, on May 10 of 2011, was struck and killed by a pickup truck while exiting a school bus. And this particular section of the bill deals with the report language that talks about, among other things, the ability to talk about safety and pupil transportation relating to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. So to understand the purpose behind this amendment, it's important to know how this tragedy happened. This young girl was crossing the street to board her school bus. The bus had its red lights flashing. The stop arm was activated, and a pickup truck traveling at 60 miles an hour struck and killed her. The driver tested positive for marijuana and later pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Now, this is one isolated incident in my home State, but statistics show that 13 million violations occur in this country every year of vehicles passing stopped school buses. It's obvious we have a serious problem, and my amendment would use this funding for the purpose of working with States to create tougher sanctions and tougher enforcement to reduce this alarming problem of people violating the law and passing stopped school buses. The intent of my amendment is to require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, otherwise known as NHTSA, to prioritize at least $10 million for school bus safety work and, specifically, to work with State and local law enforcement to improve enforcement of State law concerning illegally passing stopped school buses. My amendment would ensure that we are enforcing the laws on the books pertaining to stopping those school buses. It's a part of an ongoing effort to provide safety to kids who are going to school and returning every day; 13 million violations a year is way too many. We have an obligation to work with States. My amendment would do that by directing NHTSA to use this opportunity to help those States become more effective in preventing these tragedies. It wasn't the only one that has become of significance in my State in the past year; 11-year-old Justin Bradfield of Janesville, Iowa, was tragically killed in 2011 after being struck by a school bus. That's why earlier this year I introduced Kadyn's Act in the House. The bill would encourage States to toughen their penalties for those found guilty of passing a stopped school bus. I am honored to have the subcommittee chairman as a cosponsor of that legislation. I hope that my colleagues will support this amendment, and I urge them to work to pass both these bills to make it safer for our kids to get to school and back. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize John Gaultier of Vinton, IA for his years of service to veterans in Eastern Iowa. John's service to the veterans and his community in Eastern Iowa has been a lifelong endeavor, as he's drawn on his own experience in war and battling PTSD to ensure that returning veterans are better served and that students are aware of the service and sacrifice their elders made in the Second World War. At the age of 18, John served as an Army Medic in the European Theater of Operations where he saved many American lives and participated in the liberation of two concentration camps and a Russian POW camp. Since 1995, John has logged over 7,000 hours of volunteer service at the Iowa City Veterans Medical Center visiting with his fellow veterans and drawing on his own experience battling post-traumatic stress to help them recover. John has worked with psychiatrists at the Medical Center to help them in treating servicemembers with PTSD returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. John has also donated money and vehicles to ensure that veterans have transportation to VA facilities for their care. John's service to his community also extends to students at Vinton- Shellsburg and North Linn Schools where he has shared stories of his experience in the war for the past eight years. John has turned his difficult experience in war into a lesson for our community's youth. For his work volunteering at the Iowa City VA hospital and sharing his experiences with students, John was honored earlier this year by Cedar Rapids' KCRG's ``9 Who Care'' Awards, and he was nominated to represent Eastern Iowa at the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, where he is a finalist for the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for ``Outstanding Community Service Benefiting Local Communities.'' As the son of a World War Two veteran, who landed on Iwo Jima when he was 17, I understand the service and sacrifice made by veterans like John. They truly are members of the Greatest Generation, and John deserves to be commended for continuing to serve after he returned home and turning his own trials from war into a learning experience for others. Congratulations John for this well-deserved honor. Thank you for your continued service to our community and work on behalf of Veterans. You represent the best of Iowa, having served your country and community for over half a century. Keep up the good work.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 325, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I regret missing floor votes on Friday, May 18, 2012 due to a visit to a wounded Iowa warrior at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. Personal Explanation

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, courage is a virtue that is too often in short supply. That's why I congratulate former Iowa Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit. These courageous public servants received the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for doing their jobs on the Iowa Supreme Court. Together, they stood up for equal protections under the law for all Iowans. These courageous Justices were part of a unanimous decision that recognized marriage equality for all Iowans. Although these Justices faced intimidation and threats after deciding the landmark case Varnum v. Brien, they did what they were supposed to do: uphold the Constitution. Justice Baker's words are a great example of why they deserve such a prestigious honor, ``I am comfortable with my vote in that case and even if I had known what would have occurred, I would have not changed my vote. We fulfilled our role as judges.'' Efforts to intimidate judges and try and turn the bench into a political soap box will do nothing to advance justice. Iowa judges are chosen based on merit, not politics. After they are appointed, their positions are subject to retention elections. In 2010, these judges were on the ballot for a retention vote and were ousted from their positions on the Supreme Court after large sums of out-of-state money funded a ``Vote No'' campaign. They were voted off the bench because they fulfilled their sworn oath to uphold the Constitution of Iowa, which guarantees equal protection under the law to all citizens of Iowa, without regard to their sexual orientation. They are great role models for my children and all Iowans. By their actions, they became symbols that doing what's right isn't always easy; and doing what's easy isn't always right.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I take a moment to honor and congratulate a constituent and personal friend, Bob Osterhaus. Bob is being recognized by the University of Iowa with an Honorary Doctor of Science degree for his service to our State and his work with the University of Iowa pharmacy program. Bob has spent his entire life serving other people. After he finished his education at the University of Iowa, he served in the United States Army and later served in the Iowa House of Representatives, contributing his perspective as a health care professional in shaping legislative initiatives like the HAWK-I insurance plan for children from low-income families. He has served his community of Maquoketa, Iowa, in many ways. Osterhaus Pharmacy is a staple in the community, and he is active with the Maquoketa Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Sacred Heart Church, and the Knights of Columbus. He was cofounder of the Maquoketa Area Community Foundation and served as its chairman for 7 years. Tomorrow, Bob will receive his Honorary Doctor of Science degree. The university could not have made a better selection, and I congratulate Bob for his outstanding service to Iowa, the pharmacy profession, and his country.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Mike Glover of Windsor Heights, Iowa. For more than three decades, Mike Glover has been as familiar a feature of the Iowa statehouse as its golden dome. Today marks a bittersweet occasion: its Mike's last day of work for the Associated Press as its chief political reporter in Iowa before he retires. After serving his country in Vietnam, Mike continued serving his community as a journalist. After working for newspapers in Burlington, Illinois and Fort Dodge, Iowa, Mike made Des Moines his home when he took a job with the Associated Press. For the past 32 years at the AP, Mike has been writing the first draft of Iowa's political history. He's covered state legislators, governors, senators, presidents, and candidates alike with the same meticulous reporting and low tolerance for spin. He's watched the Iowa caucuses grow from a curiosity to an international news event. He's traveled with presidential candidates as they crisscrossed the country. And he's challenged them all to be more specific about their plans to improve America. Mike has the ability to slice through prepared talking points with a pointed question. You knew you were in the crosshairs when you sat opposite of Mike at a taping of Iowa Press, Iowa Public Television's long-running public affairs program. I'll never forget my first time in the hotseat. Mike came out with his guns blazing--he asked tough, fair, and provocative questions. As the next election season draws closer, Iowa will be missing a familiar face. Mike Glover was and is a genuine article. Iowans will miss his sharp mind and his sharp wit. I will miss seeing him at events. I thank him for his years of hard work and wish him the best in retirement.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, the Patient Safety and Drug Labeling Improvement Act is meant to address a troubling inconsistency in the law, created by Pliva v. Mensing, which does not allow consumers injured by generic drugs to hold the manufacturer accountable for inadequate warnings. The Mensing ruling also eliminates any incentive for generic drug manufacturers to monitor the safety of the products they sell and propose necessary changes to labeling to the FDA, as currently required by federal law. Under the Patient Safety and Drug Labeling Improvement Act manufacturers of generic drugs assume the same duties as brand manufacturers to monitor the safety of the drugs they sell and to ensure that their labeling contains accurate risk information. More specifically, the legislation authorizes generic drug manufacturers to independently initiate labeling changes through the Changes Being Effected (CBE) process under the same circumstances that apply to manufacturers of branded drugs in order to ensure that all drug labels accurately reflect current health and safety information.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 158, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Grijalva

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, here we go again. My conservative friends are once more trying to take away rights of American citizens that are as old as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. They're doing it by talking about taking away the rights of patients without ever mentioning the words ``patient safety.'' This issue has been with us for a long time. In fact, about 10 years ago, the highly regarded Institutes of Medicine did three studies on the issue of patient safety and the alarming cost it adds to our overall health care delivery system. The first of their studies was called ``To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.'' On this cover it says: ``First, Do No Harm.'' The study concluded that every year up to 98,000 people die in this country due to preventable medical errors. It also talked in this study about the cost of those medical errors. It estimated that the cost of failing to stop these preventable medical errors is between $17 billion and $29 billion a year. Now, if you multiply that over the 10 years of the Affordable Care Act, that means if we eliminated those errors, we would save $170 to $290 billion a year. So do we focus on patient safety and preventing medical errors? No, we focus on taking away the rights of the most severely injured. Because it's what caps on damages do, they penalize those with the most egregious injuries and those who have no earning capacity. So who are those people? They're seniors, they're children, and they are stay-at- home mothers. They're the ones most severely penalized when you take away rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. So I oppose this bill in the name of the Tea Party, not just the current Tea Party, but the original Tea Party, which was founded in opposition to taxation without representation. If you go to Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, you will see that grievance against King George listed. Right below it in the Declaration of Independence is this grievance, that he has taken away the right to trial by jury. That right was so important, ladies and gentlemen, that it was embedded in the Seventh Amendment to the Bill of Rights. It says very clearly that in suits at common law, which is what a medical negligence claim is, the jury gets to decide all questions of fact and no one else. Well, one of the most important questions of fact in a jury trial is the issue of damages. My friends are trying to take away that right from the jury--the very same people who elected us to Congress--because they apparently think that Congress knows more than the people who sent us here, those who go into jury boxes all over this country in your State and listen to the actual facts of the case before deciding what's fair, including the all-important issue of what are fair and reasonable damages. So they're talking a lot today about defensive medicine. I want to tell you about the myth of defensive medicine. Every time a health care provider submits a fee-for-services, they represent that that medical procedure or that medical test was medically necessary. If they don't make that representation, they don't get paid. Well, guess what, folks? If something is performed and billed as ``medically necessary,'' that, by definition, is not defensive medicine, because defensive medicine is when you're doing something that's not medically necessary to protect yourself from litigation. So you can't have it both ways. You can't take the money and claim you are practicing defensive medicine. We also heard about the myth of setting these caps 30 years ago and never adjusting them for inflation. They always want to talk about the California bill that was passed in the mid-seventies and impose the very same cap in this bill, $250,000. What they don't tell you is, if you adjust that cap based on the rate of medical inflation over that same period of time, the cap would now be worth almost $2 million and that, if you reduce that $250,000 cap to present value, those people in today's dollars are only getting the equivalent of $64,000, no matter how serious their injury is. That's why I oppose this legislation, and that's why people who believe in the Constitution and in the States' rights, under the 10th Amendment, to decide what their citizens will receive as justice should be outraged that this bill is on the floor today.

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Chair, during rollcall vote number 103 on Himes amdt. H.R. 3606, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Stated against:

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 81, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' personal explanation