John Boccieri

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Speaker, at this time I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of this bill, HR 915. I specifically support provisions in the bill which will require FAA inspectors to monitor overseas stations that repair U.S. aircraft. Over the years, U.S. airlines have steadily increased outsourcing of maintenance work performed at facilities here and abroad. According to the Department of Transportation IG, major air carriers outsourced an average of 64 percent of their maintenance expenses in 2007 compared to 37 percent in 1996. In order to uphold the highest safety standards at all FAA-certified facilities, FAA inspectors must be permitted to physically inspect foreign repair stations every two years. The FAA must hold foreign repair stations and their workers to the same safety standards as those imposed on domestic repair stations. There is simply no substitute for direct FAA oversight of work performed on U.S. aircraft. Our government should not be outsourcing safety inspections to foreign governments. Opponents of Section 303 also claim that requiring two FAA inspections per year will cause the EU to retaliate by conducting reciprocal twice-a-year inspections of EASA-certified U.S. stations. But this is a matter of public safety. The U.S. has an obligation to ensure that FAA-certified repair stations meet U.S. standards, and we cannot abrogate this responsibility based on threats of retaliation from foreign governments looking to protect their own economic interests.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Chair, the resolution seeks a GAO study on all commercial airline pilot training and certification programs in the wake of new revelations surrounding the events that led up to the Continental Connection Flight 13407 tragedy. FAA minimum pilot standards are long overdue for an overhaul. It is my hope Congress will take a comprehensive look at these standards and make necessary changes. This study will help us determine what shortcomings currently exist. The Colgan Air crash in Buffalo underscored the danger of not having fully trained pilots in the cockpit. The flying public has a reasonable expectations that pilots will have all the critical training necessary to protect their lives in the air and make in-flight adjustments based on conditions; while investigations are ongoing--it is becoming clear Colgan did not meet those expectations in the Buffalo crash. (1) Commercial pilot training and certification programs at United States air carriers, including regional and commuter air carriers; (2) The number of training hours required for pilots operating new aircraft types before assuming pilot in command duties; (3) How United States air carriers update and train pilots on new technologies in aircraft types in which they hold certifications; (4) What remedial actions are taken in cases of repeated unsatisfactory check-rides by commercial airline pilots; (5) What stall warning systems are included in-flight simulator training compared to classroom instruction; (6) The information required to be provided by pilots on their job applications and the ability of United States air carriers to verify the information provided.

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Chairman, I recognize the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Driehaus) for as much time as he may consume.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 2352, the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act. I want to thank Chairwoman Velazquez and Congressman Shuler for their vision in this landmark piece of legislation that will help restore our economy to what it has always been. My amendment does two things, Mr. Chair. It allows veterans centers to receive grants to develop specialized programs that assist unemployed veterans, reservists and surviving spouses by becoming entrepreneurs. And it requires a Veterans Development Summit to provide training for veterans centers to improve their outreach to veterans in areas of high unemployment. I strongly support the underlying bill and its creation of the Veterans Business Center program. By expanding assistance and training to veteran entrepreneurs, we can increase the number of successful small businesses and, thereby, create jobs, taking these highly skilled, highly trained individuals and helping them. Providing them with the opportunity to create jobs and create businesses is the right way to go. The purpose of my amendment is to ensure that we are targeting outreach to unemployed veterans, reservists and surviving spouses. Let's go over a few facts, Mr. Chair. While the economy continues to be tough for all Americans, it seems that young veterans are among the hardest hit. One out of nine Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are now out of work, and the total number of unemployed veterans of the two wars roughly averages about 170,000. It is about the same number as U.S. troops deployed to those wars, according to the Department of Labor. The 11.2 percent jobless rate for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan rose 4 percentage points in the past year. That's significantly higher than the corresponding 8.8 percent for nonveterans in the same age group. On the battlefield, we pledge to leave no soldier behind. As a Nation, it should be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind, and that includes making sure that every veteran has a job when they return. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOCCIERI. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Absolutely.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Congressman Ryan, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this discussion, and the zeal and the passion that you display on this House floor I remember watching a few years ago when I was serving in the legislature. Congressman Ryan and I both came up through the legislature in Ohio, and he cut his teeth earlier in the Congress. And it's an honor to be here with you today. Because we do share the same vision about what it's going to take to move our State and, more importantly, our country forward. And Congressman Ryan and I have similar backgrounds. I hail from a working-class family. My grandparents were coal miners, carpenters and steel workers. My parents were one of the first in their families to go to college, respectively, and two successful brothers, one is a pharmacist and a chemist, and the other is working in the military and working in the defense industry. I can tell you that my family is not unlike thousands, perhaps millions across this country, Congressman Ryan, who worked hard, played by the rules, punched the time clock, went to work every day, carried that lunch pail, because they believed in America, they believed in the spirit of America; that when you work hard, you play by the rules, you give back to your country and your community, that America is a place where your hopes and dreams and desires can be fulfilled. More than ever, we find that that dream of that American spirit is being challenged--challenged by some of the decisions of previous administrations, challenged by the fact that we have got to put our own house in order and move our country forward and invest in things that really matter--invest in our greatest asset, which is our people. And, as Congressman Ryan has so eloquently said many, many times on this House floor, that we have an opportunity to change the direction of this country and move it in a direction and trajectory that is going to be about prosperity and sharing the ideals and values that brought my grandparents from a country so far away to settle here on the shores of America because they believed in this experiment in democracy, and that was where hopes and dreams could be realized. Now I tell you this because in the spirit of our discussion tonight we're going to talk about some of our problems, but we're going to talk about solutions, more importantly. We're going to talk about the fact that Ohio has been hemorrhaging with manufacturing job loss. In fact, in 2008 alone, the United States itself lost 149,000 manufacturing jobs, and many of those jobs, as Congressman Ryan had said, were from Ohio. Ohio is a place where we built things. We helped build America. Some of the great thinkers of our country hailed from Ohio--innovators like Thomas Edison and a variety of astronauts like John Glenn. We had success stories across the board because we had such diversity. He comes from an Irish and Slovak background. And I have great respect for the Irish because I married one. But I have to tell you that Ohio is not unlike many States in the heartland of America that have experienced such job loss, such movement of manufacturer's jobs out of this country--and because of some of the policies that we have enacted here in Congress. Now you have spoken often and loudly about the fact that we need a manufacturing policy in this country that protects jobs, that protects innovators, and that protects people who want to build and start their own business. But what we have seen is a whole host of failed policies that have allowed our jobs to move overseas. Now I tell the American people here tonight that America cannot sustain itself by being movers of wealth. We have to produce wealth in this country. We have to build things--like we have always done. And I heard on some of our district work periods about, Why are we giving loans to the automotive industry? Well, let's be clear about this. Are we going to depend on Fiat to build our tanks and weapons that we need to defend this country if we were ever attacked? Are we going to depend on some other foreign-owned or foreign-born company to produce the things that we're going to need to defend our country? It is important that we maintain the Big Three, not only as a matter of our economic security, but our national security. And the supply lines that go into the Big Three through Ohio and into Michigan and from Pennsylvania, the heartland of our country, we have got to be the producers of wealth, not just the movers of wealth. And that is why this Congress moved to protect and defend American jobs and American security, Congressman Ryan. And I was proud to support some of those initiatives because we cannot tolerate policy that is going to make our country weaker. I hear oftentimes that if we could only just be like countries like China, or just be like countries like India. Now as an Air Force air crew and pilot, I have been over the world. It only takes one trip outside the borders of our country to understand how good we have it. We have a robust economy. We have a workforce that works hard. It is unmatched and unparalleled in the rest of the world, in my opinion. And we have a country that sustained itself throughout generations because we invested in our people--our greatest asset. But when we allow jobs to pack up and move overseas, when we allow a little bit of who we are--the identity that has created America--to slip away by allowing those jobs, and those manufacturing jobs in particular to leave our country, we are making America weaker and not stronger.

Mr. BOCCIERI. The gentleman from Ohio could not be more correct in his assertion that we have got to focus on producing things in this country. I don't know about you, Congressman Ryan, but I have heard you speak many times, eloquently at that, because we cannot have this race to the bottom. I hear many people say, If we were just like China, like India, in terms of--our standard of living is much higher than countries like China and India. Why would we ever want to have a race to the bottom? Let's embolden them and bring them up so we can have an equal transfer of goods and services and products that are going to make both of our countries stronger. That's what we need to enact in trade policies right here on this floor and make sure that our trade policies are in concert with making a manufacturing sector of our economy robust. I don't know if you know this, but two-thirds of our outsourced jobs in the United States have come from our manufacturing sector. Two- thirds. Two-thirds. We're in a dangerous position right now with respect to what we're doing with our military-industrial complex. We cannot continue to allow those manufacturing jobs to leave our country if we don't protect and defend the economic security and the national security of our country by producing things right here. I know that you have fought hard for a policy that emboldens. You know, Ohio has been bleeding factory jobs. More than 257,000 factory positions have evaporated since the beginning of 2000; 257,000 families have been handed pink slips and notices that their jobs are going to be leaving the country. I think that we have got to do a better job, Congressman Ryan. I want to work with you on this House floor to come up with real solutions; tangible solutions that are going to protect our workers and protect our national security. I know that you and I have been championing many of the things that are going to make our country stronger--research and development tax credits, making sure that we do research here in America. When I was in the State legislature with you, we talked about the fact that for every $1 that the State of Ohio spends, we can leverage $10 from the Federal Government to help spur innovation and entrepreneurialship and the intuitiveness that's going to help create and produce the minds that are going to produce the cures to cancer. They're going to produce the new energy sectors for our economy in years to come. It's this type of research, it's this type of investment that is going to make our country stronger. Now I'm a freshman Congressman. You've been here for several terms. When I was going through my orientation this year at the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy, they were telling us that only 16 percent of what we spend in this country is for investment back into the country, 16 percent. Now our 16 percent is much larger than most countries because of our economic prowess. But at the end of the day, 16 percent is far too little to sustain us for years to come. I know you've championed that at your local universities, and I'm going to talk about some of mine.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Congressman Ryan, you bring up several valid points. And the question is--and I'm sure the American people out there listening to us tonight, our 30-something group here, they're asking, So what do we do? What can we do to make certain that we are the producers of wealth and not just the movers of wealth? Well, you and I have championed legislation that is going to invest directly, as I said earlier, into our greatest asset. When we center our centers of excellence and pin them down with research and development, our universities and the great research that we're doing in Ohio is tremendous. I mean, in my district alone, the Rolls-Royce company is actually researching fuel cell technology at Stark State Community College. We also have the EPO Group that's researching plug-in hybrids. And at the Ohio State Agriculture Research and Development Center in Wayne County, they're actually researching anaerobic digesters to use as energy, compressed natural gas. They are actually selling this gas back to the grid. This is the type of research that we need to champion and hone around our centers of excellence. Not only are we going to use taxpayer dollars to create the next innovators and the great thinkers from Ohio, but we're going to help create a sustainable industry around these different types of investments. If we invest in our greatest asset, our people, we can help spur the innovation that has helped put Ohio on the map. I'm going to read a list here of some of the great innovators that have come from our State. Charles Kettering who was the inventor of the first electronic starter motor ignition system. Jim Spangler invented the portable electronic vacuum cleaner. And we all know about Thomas Alva Edison who was a prolific inventor and certainly helped with the incandescent lightbulb. Lester Pelton invented a type of free-jet water turbine and was from Vermilion. These are the type of innovators that if we invest in our higher education, in our institutions of higher learning, Congressman Ryan, we're going to have the next viable industry. And hopefully that will be a green energy industry that will blanket northeast Ohio. From Cleveland to Canton, from Canton to Youngstown, we have a triangle of success, and we have the opportunity to invest in things that are going to put our State forward.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Congressman Ryan, you can't be more correct. Can you imagine a novel idea, that this Congress is taking bold action to actually invest in America, to invest in our country, our people, our way of life? Can you imagine? How arrogant can some be who suggest that we should not do this for our people, that we should not take their money and invest back in our country? We are going to be judged by two measures. We are going to be judged by two measures in this great recession we find ourselves in, by action or inaction. And Congressman Ryan, when I was going through the orientation courses of the freshman Members, they told us that if we sat on our hands and watched thousands of jobs evaporate, more factories pack up and go overseas, that we would see unemployment in the first quarter of 2010 perhaps as high as 18 percent. Eighteen percent. So we have to take action. We have to have movement. And to invest in the things that are going to make our country stronger is not only prudent, it is necessary. After years and years of rebuilding a country that I had so many visits to, we were building roads and bridges in Iraq, building brand new hospitals and schools in Iraq, making sure that every man, woman and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage, how dare us think about the American people for once here? How dare us think about the American people? And all we hear is stiff arms and noes and enough is enough, and this country has got to be put back at the tier that we need to put and we need to set in this Congress, and that is by investing in the things that were in this recovery package. Now imagine this, the Democratic Congress of the United States House of Representatives that is controlled by the Democrats now obviously enacted the largest tax reduction in our Nation's history and the largest investment in capital in our Nation's history to make our country stronger, to make our country and our people stronger. I think that spells scores of success stories and future innovators that have helped Ohio become the great State that she is. But we can make a difference by investing and putting the parameters out there, putting the goalposts, putting the out-of-bounds markers for our market to act in a way that is responsible to its people, that is responsible to its people, and to help us forge a way on the path toward prosperity. That is what this Congress has done in just a few short months.

Mr. BOCCIERI. I have to tell you, Congressman Ryan, after being in the Air Force 15 years and flying our wounded soldiers in and out of Baghdad, and whether we agree with this war or not, we have to give every degree of respect to the men and women who serve in uniform because they fought in Iraq and Afghanistan only because our country asked them to. As far as I am concerned, when they come back, when their boots hit the ground here in America, they should not have one hospital bill, any expenses that are required to go to college, get a degree and advance themselves. We should be investing in them and rewarding them for the sacrifice that they have made for our country. Let me tell you about a soldier who was in my State legislative district when I was serving in the State House. He was injured with an IED and will be disfigured for the rest of his life. A piece of shrapnel hit him in the jaw, and he had surgeries at Walter Reed to try to put his face back together. After he was discharged with a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and let go back into the civilian world. Two weeks after discharge from the military, his jaw broke again. This 22-year- old soldier with a young child had $15,000 in medical expenses that he couldn't weed through the VA to get paid to make sure that he could put bread on the table for his family. A soldier like that who almost gave everything for this country should not have to pay for his bills for injuries that he sustained while overseas. It took swift action by this Congress in the last 2 years to make certain that our soldiers were not forgotten. And the Wounded Warriors Program that we have right now that acknowledges the sacrifice, the great sacrifice of those men and women, we cannot forget and we should never forget. As long as I am a Congressman and have the ability to speak publicly about this, we will champion those soldiers and tell them what we are doing to put their lives back in order and to invest in them.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Let's make no question that we want to show, and I am a 30-something here on the floor of the House of Representatives telling you and the American people that we will recover. We will recover. We will grow out of this recession, and we will be stronger for it at the end of the day. And for those who suggest that we are spending a lot of money in this great recession that we find ourselves in, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, in 1946 when the United States came out of the Great Depression and World War II, the government was spending more and borrowing more than the economy could produce, spending more and borrowing more than the economy could produce as a percentage of GDP and what the government debt was. Right now we are at about 50 percent of what the economy can produce. And once we start growing this economy again, investing in the things that are going to make our country and our people stronger, we will see the difference. We will see the investments realized. We will see the tangible results coming back to us as we have a stronger workforce, a workforce that can critically think, multitask, problem solve, and be competitive with the Indias and Chinas of the world that have already begun investing in their workforce. And I will tell you that the gentleman from Ohio is correct in his assumption that by making these strategic investments in our country, in our people, and in our way of life, we're going to be the producers of wealth once again, not just the movers of wealth. Investing in green energy, investing in the things that are going to transform our economy so that we have diversity. Can you imagine rolling into the gas station one day and having a choice between using traditional gasoline, biomass, ethanol, maybe even plug in our electric hybrid, or drive by the gas station altogether because we have a fuel cell that was researched right here in the 16th Congressional District of Ohio that allows you to get 100 miles to a gallon? Can you imagine how that would be transformational for our economy? These investments that we have in the American recovery package and the stimulus package are going to be what are going to make the difference and transcend our economy for years to come. And I say that in confidence as a 30-something. And I want you to know that these challenges that confront all of us as leaders are not Democrat or Republican challenges but American challenges, and we will recover with prudent investment.

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Madam Speaker, the American people have asked this Congress for solutions to act quickly in a bipartisan fashion and to get our economy moving again. As a freshman Member, I'm happy to report that I have teamed up with a Republican colleague from Buffalo, New York, Chris Lee, to get our economy moving again. We know how many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the Midwest. So our bill would help empower the vision and innovation that has made this country so great by providing incentives for companies in America to do research and developments right here and give them a bonus if they are going to conduct those research and developments right here in America. We have an opportunity to move this economy forward. We need to become not the movers of wealth but the producers of wealth. If we produce things here in America, we can make America continue on its path towards greatness.

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BOCCIERI. Thank you. Congressman, you bring up several good points. And let's make sure that we have full disclosure here and big- picture stuff. You know, the government shouldn't be so immersed in the market. But we set the goalpost, we set the out-of-bounds markers, and within the parameters of that we should allow the free market to work. But what was happening in that free market for the last 10 years? We had hedge fund operators betting on the price of fuel going up; we had folks who were investing and betting on the price of food going up--supermarket, you go into a supermarket, you see prices rising--and we had hedge funds that were betting that people would not be able to pay their mortgage. Now, this was a recipe for disaster. Congressman Grayson, you bring up valid points: Why was there no enforcement? Why were there no referees enforcing the out-of-bounds markers or the goalposts? Why were we not enforcing this? And why were we allowing families to lose their homes, lose the American Dream? And this notion that we don't have enough regulation, we don't have enforcement of the regulations is what is happening. And what we are finding is that families across this country are struggling because of that lack of enforcement. Let me give you one example of a family in Ohio. Just last month, the RealtyTrac rated Stark County, the largest county in the 16th Congressional District, one of the counties in my district, among the worst in the Nation in foreclosure rates. The Canton-Massillon metropolitan area ranks near the top of that list: 6,400 foreclosures last year. One of those homeowners was Willie Campbell. I met Ms. Campbell a couple weeks ago at a roundtable I put together back home to discuss these home foreclosure issues and find out how we could find some valuable solutions. Ms. Campbell was falling behind on her mortgage payments on her three-bedroom home in Stark County. She wanted to do the right thing. She wanted to remedy the problem. She is a good American. She called an 800 number listed on a TV commercial that promised to help her. Well, it didn't. In fact, it was a scam. They took money out of her bank account for 5 months. Ms. Campbell turned to a community development organization for help. Through mediation, she received help to lower her monthly payments from more than $850 to a little more than $620. She was able to cut her interest rate from 9 to 5.6 percent. What's more is that community organizations like the one that she sought help from were able to negotiate a 3-month grace period so her mortgage payments would not be late and so that she could catch up on her bills. Now, while Ms. Campbell was eventually able to find the help that she needed, more than 4,400 Stark County homeowners who filed for foreclosure last year were not so lucky. And what are those statistics, as Congressman Driehaus suggested and Congresswoman Kilroy from Ohio suggested? Ohio ranks at the top five States nationwide for the highest home foreclosure rates. We have found nationwide that home values have dropped 18 percent. Nearly one in five homeowners owes more than their home is worth. And each foreclosed property, as Congressman Driehaus suggested, reduces the property value of neighbors by 9 percent. We can do better. We have got to enforce the regulations. And that is why this Congress acted to make sure that we have enforcement of the regulations that are out there so that these fly-by-night lenders and folks who are willing to sign on the other end of the table are brought into check and that we have some balance.

Mr. BOCCIERI. I thank the gentleman from Ohio and greater Cincinnati area who has done extraordinary work in the Ohio legislature to try and remedy the situation where we find so many families struggling and so many families trying to live the American Dream of owning their own home and having a job to pay for their mortgage. Mr. Speaker, what we have found over the last several years is that the housing crisis is at the epicenter of the economic downturn that we are experiencing in this country. Make no mistake, today's great recession is rooted right here in the housing crisis that we find so many families plagued with, and especially across Ohio. But the irony here is that the success of our communities actually begins at home. Now, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Driehaus) and I know, after studying this issue for a long time, we worked on the predatory lending bill that passed through the State legislature in Ohio, and he is assigned to the Financial Services Committee here in the Congress, to try to remedy this situation for average families back home in Ohio. Now let's talk about those average families. We hail from the Buckeye State. Buckeyes. Bob and Betty Buckeye go to the local community bank. They take out a mortgage to live to that dream of American homeownership. They take out a mortgage. They go to work. They punch a time clock and play by the rules. Maybe they put their kid in college. That bank sells their mortgage three, four, five times down the road. I don't know, Mr. Speaker, maybe that violates the spirit of the Truth in Lending Act. What happens is after this mortgage is sold three, four, five times, they have no idea who owns it. And they send their mortgage off every month because they get the bill in. And what happens? Bob and Betty Buckeye begin to feel the economic pinch. They begin to see that the job market is starting to erode. All of a sudden, Bob loses his job and can't make his home mortgage payment. So what does he do? He goes down to the local bank where he took out the loan and says, ``Mr. Lender, give me a couple of extra days. I need a couple of extra days just to make this mortgage payment.'' He says, ``Well, Mr. Buckeye, we don't own your mortgage anymore.'' He says, ``Well, who owns it? I took the loan out from you.'' What happens is that many, many of our constituents are finding that their home mortgage from Ohio is now off in California or Texas or some other State, and we don't have the opportunity to work with our local community banks to renegotiate this or have that extra month or 2 months. Automatically these things go into foreclosure. You've seen this in Ohio.

Mr. BOCCIERI. So, Representative Driehaus, let me get this straight. Those constituents of ours, Bob and Betty Buckeye, that get those flyers in the mail saying they can get a free vacation if they refinanced their house, they can send some money to their kids who are in college, those are predatory in nature, am I right, because there's no skin in the game? They're asking constituents to sign away for 30 years or 15 years on a mortgage.

Mr. BOCCIERI. Thank you, Representative Driehaus. Congressman Himes brings up a very, very valid point. When Bob and Betty Buckeye go to that local community bank, they sign for a 30-year mortgage, a 15-year mortgage, and they are expecting that their job is going to remain intact, that they're going to be able to make those mortgage payments. But what we found with the transactions across the market is that those mortgages were sold three, four, five times, and guess what. They wound up in some investment bank on Wall Street, and then we had hedge funds betting on people failing to pay their mortgage. So this legislation and the action that the Congress is taking is making sure that Wall Street is put on notice to make sure that you're not going to bet on people failing, Americans failing. America is much better than that. We are more than that. We're not failures. We have a success story that is unmatched around this world. And when you talk about 6,400 forecloses in my district alone, the largest county in my district ranking number one in a State that ranks number five in the country, 6 million people across this country have lost their homes, these aren't just real numbers. These are real people. These are real people.

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. They are fighting for us; now we have to fight for them. Every day, thousands of brave Americans are asked to leave the comfort and safety of their homes and families to fight for our freedom abroad. Oftentimes, those soldiers leave behind families who are surviving on credit cards to put food on the table or to clothe their kids as they send them off to school. Some of those brave soldiers are deployed to the Middle East and then they are deployed to a forward-operating base. As a C-130 pilot, I delivered mail to those austere and sometimes remote locations. No, our soldiers in the battle every day don't have time to affix a stamp and send off a bill or a statement, their credit card bills, back to America. But while those soldiers are dodging bullets and IEDs and RPGs, they shouldn't be concerned about whether they sent their Visa bill on time. Frankly, they are under enough pressure. I know the stresses of a battlefield, and our soldiers shouldn't have to fight the credit card companies when they return because they were defending our country when their bill was due. So I ask you, we've heard a lot about how this bill and amendments could create unintended consequences. Are we going to allow our soldiers and our brave men and women serving in our Nation's uniform to be victims of unintended consequences because they are overseas fighting? The industry should be proud to stand by the soldiers and veterans who defend their ability to operate in a safe and secure environment led by a freely elected government. The industry should be willing to take the extra step, go the extra mile to show leniency to the military members who put their lives on the line.

Mr. BOCCIERI

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

Mr. BOCCIERI

Mr. BOCCIERI. ``Johnny, what have you done?'' I remember my mom asking me that as a young boy, ``What have you done?'' Well, she asked me this weekend, ``Johnny, what have you done to help middle class families? What are you doing in Congress to put the middle class first for a change?'' And I said, Mom, some great things are happening in Washington, D.C. Can you imagine this? The Democratic Party is about to enact the largest tax reduction in our country's history for middle class families. Imagine that. Can you imagine that Democrats are going to cut the budget in half, by two-thirds by 2013? And can you believe that we are finally going to have an honest accounting for all the mess that we have inherited over the last decade, the mess that includes bailing out banks, bailing out Freddie and Fannie, and also dishonest war funding, money that should be included in the budget but yet we were not strong enough to put that in the President's budget? Can you believe that the Bush tax reduction was for the wealthiest Americans, and that our tax reduction is going to be for middle class families? Madam Speaker, this House is in order. And we are investing in America. We are investing in our country and in our jobs. Do you remember in 2004, when President Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, flew to Iraq with one of many billion dollar checks in hand to make sure that every man, woman, and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage? And all we hear now from our opponents on the other side is that Americans don't deserve health care.