Suzanne Bonamici

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, as we prepare to debate and vote on the continuing resolution to fund the government through December, I rise to urge that the House stay in session until we can also take up several issues that are not resolved in the legislation we will be voting on, things our constituents are struggling with every day: unemployment, adequate support for our seniors, college affordability, and climate change. These issues deserve our attention, and the toll they take on Americans is very real, both in Oregon and in districts across the country. For the millions of men and women who are still struggling to find a job, emergency unemployment insurance was their lifeline. After numerous pleas to call for a vote went unanswered, millions of Americans are now unable to fill up their gas tank or pay their rent. For some on the precipice of homelessness, this is the tipping point. These people can't move on without the support provided by unemployment insurance. So let's send a signal that we haven't abandoned them and take up a bill to extend these critical benefits. And let's not forget how many people could get back to work if we would set aside our differences and pass a long-term transportation bill and a comprehensive overhaul of our Tax Code. Enough of these policies that incentivize businesses to go overseas; we need policies that keep them bringing jobs back home. We should also think of our seniors. The Older Americans Act changed the way our seniors age in this country. It contains social and nutritional programs that help them live full, independent lives, but the act expired more than 3 years ago. Meanwhile, the number of Americans turning 60 continues to grow. I introduced a bill to reauthorize and update the Older Americans Act so seniors can age with dignity and not in poverty. However, the House has yet to consider this important bill to renew critical safety net programs like Meals on Wheels, home health care, and protection from elder abuse. My bill is closely aligned with a bipartisan compromise introduced in the Senate, and it deserves consideration. And let's not forget the millions of students who are returning to college campuses across the country this fall. The cost of college is leaving too many of them with massive debt and decades-long repayment plans. That is a drag on our economy. We need legislation that allows students to refinance their current loans--just like people can refinance a mortgage to get lower rates--and, ultimately, we must address the rising cost of college. Higher education needs to be accessible for everyone. We should not create barriers by maintaining a system in which higher education involves exorbitant student loan debt. Finally, the threat of climate change continues to loom. This too is a concern across the country and around the world, but it is particularly alarming to my coastal and agricultural portions of my district. Greenhouse gas emissions are at record highs, leading to a warming planet, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels. Farmers, fishers, and others who rely on our natural resources are already feeling the stress. We must have a serious discussion about how we can curb increasing carbon emissions. Let's make this an opportunity to develop new and innovative technologies that can reduce carbon emissions while growing and advancing our economy through the creation of clean energy jobs. Let's do it for our children and our grandchildren. Let's not wait. Yes, this continuing resolution will continue to fund the government for a short time. It will prevent another disastrous government shutdown. But it is a short-term fix that leaves numerous immediate problems unaddressed. We must do better for our constituents. They will bear the ramifications of our inaction. I urge my colleagues to set aside our differences. Let's work together to find the solutions our constituents deserve.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2495, the American Super Computing Leadership Act. This bipartisan bill would authorize an exascale computing program to promote the development of the next generation of the fastest computers in the world right here in the United States. The bill would also help ensure that we develop the software and algorithms that help us to make the best use of these computers. Exascale is often used interchangeably with ``extreme scale'' to refer to the next generation of supercomputers in general. It also refers to the computing systems that would be able to carry out a million trillion operations--that is a million trillion operations per second. That is a 1 with 18 zeros after it. Now, that is about 500 times faster than the world's fastest computers today. Developing these capabilities is vital to maintaining our leadership in a wide range of research areas. This legislation would authorize the Secretary of Energy to support research to significantly increase the computing power available to scientists from the Department of Energy, industry, universities, and other Federal agencies. I would also like to note that there is no new money being authorized here. We are simply ensuring that we are making the best use of our resources when it comes to the money that we are already investing. The capabilities made possible by these investments would enable our best and our brightest scientists to gain new insights into societal concerns, ranging from Alzheimer's disease to climate change. Other examples of both industrial and academic research that would benefit from advancing high-end computing capabilities include high- temperature superconductivity to significantly reduce energy losses in the transmission of electricity, aerodynamic modeling for aircraft and vehicle design, pharmaceutical development, and fusion plasma modeling. Finally, this legislation would also require that the Department of Energy submit a management plan, as well as regular reports to Congress that detail how the Department of Energy expects to implement this program, as well as its progress to date. With this bipartisan legislation, we will be establishing a transparent program that will allow the United States to remain a leader in high-end computing. I expect that we may well reap benefits from this effort, even beyond what I have spoken about today and beyond the advances that any of us can now imagine. I would like to take a moment to compliment the sponsors of this legislation, Mr. Hultgren from Illinois and Mr. Swalwell from California, for their efforts to craft this bipartisan bill we have before us today. I also thank Ms. Lofgren from California and, of course, Science Committee Chairman Smith for his support. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of this important legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 5309, the Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2014. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for cosponsoring this bipartisan legislation with me. I also want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Mr. Smith and Ms. Johnson of Texas, for their support in moving this bill forward. I also would like to thank the hardworking staff, my personal staff, Mr. Rohrabacher's staff, and the dedicated committee staff on both sides of the aisle for their help with this bill. Finally, I would like to thank the State and local emergency management officials, coastal zone managers, and the many scientists and other experts who have contributed their ideas to the development of this bill. I have met with coastal community groups and emergency planners in my district who are working on a number of fronts to prepare their communities for earthquake and tsunami events. So much of our ability to prepare, respond, and recover from a tsunami will depend on awareness, planning, and mobilization at the local level. From the Federal agencies all the way down to local emergency managers, we all agree that adequately preparing communities across the country for the threat of natural disasters is of vital importance to the future of this country. The Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2014 is an important step toward making sure that our coastal communities are ready to face the dangers posed by tsunami threats. In 2004, the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in Southeast Asia triggered a deadly tsunami event that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people from Indonesia to the coast of Madagascar, prompting Congress to enact the Tsunami Warning and Education Act of 2006. We were reminded of the significant threat that a tsunami poses to U.S. coastal communities 3 years ago when the Tohoku earthquake near Japan created a devastating tsunami event. That tsunami resulted in the tragic loss of human life and billions of dollars of economic damage, which made it one of the costliest natural disasters we have ever seen, and its damage reached as far as the west coast of the United States-- California and Oregon, to be specific. The events in Indonesia and Japan underscore the importance of this legislation and why we must prepare and protect our coastal communities from similar events. Maritime commercial activities, vibrant tourist industries, and more than 120 million Americans are all part of the rich coastal U.S. economy, an economy that contributed close to half of the entire U.S. GDP in 2011. The commercial fishing industry alone supports about 1 million jobs, and the international trade associated with coastal and marine fisheries contributes close to $70 billion annually to the U.S. economy. Likewise, more than 13 million Americans work at our commercial ports. They help to move the more than $1 trillion worth of goods and products to the shelves of our local stores. These examples show that investing in the resiliency of coastal communities is important to the economic health of not just these regions, but to the Nation. Ensuring that these coastal communities, big and small, have the resources and knowledge necessary to protect these critical aspects from the threat of a tsunami and be prepared, should one occur, is simply good and prudent policy. Because this body collectively provides assistance when there is a natural disaster, like Superstorm Sandy, for example, planning and preparation to avoid or minimize damage and destruction is important for all of us, whether or not we represent a coastal district. Oregonians are aware of the threat that a tsunami would pose to their communities, and cities up and down the coast have responded by installing warning sirens and developing evacuation routes, but as newer warning technologies develop and more is understood about the areas that will be hit the hardest, a coordinated effort is required to update preparation and response. In Tillamook County, Oregon, for example, they recently decided that warning sirens were not the way of the future, favoring the use of warning residents through social media and by phone instead. Seaside, a small coastal town in my district, has been identified as the most vulnerable community to tsunami on the Oregon coast. In Seaside, local leaders and organizations are proactively educating residents and visitors about tsunami evacuation routes, storage supply locations, and emergency communication systems. At the Federal level, we can help these communities understand the risks and seriousness of the threats they face and work with them to be prepared, which is why I sponsored this bill, along with my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher). H.R. 5309 will update and reauthorize the Tsunami Warning and Education Act and will help to ensure that local and regional decisionmakers have the tools and information they need to develop mitigation and response plans to this ever-present threat and to communicate these plans to the public in an effective and efficient manner. For distant tsunami events, this legislation will advance research efforts related to improving tsunami forecasting, protection, and notification which could mean extra minutes for emergency responders on the ground and translate into lives saved and tragedies avoided, and it adds ports and harbor operations as entities to be safeguarded by tsunami forecasting capabilities. This bill will also support research needed to improve our understanding of local tsunami events. A local tsunami, one that is generated just off the coast, has a travel time of about 30 minutes or less. That is the kind of tsunami most likely to have widespread and devastating impacts on the U.S. coast and on the Caribbean. In Oregon, we know that a catastrophic Cascadia earthquake and tsunami will occur someday. Although no one can predict the next time the Cascadia fault will rupture, we can and must prepare. At a recent Coastal Caucus event in Florence, Oregon, State-elected officials, tribal governments, community leaders, and business owners attended a panel discussion that focused on the threat posed by tsunami and how we are updating our response plans to reflect new understandings of subduction zone tsunami events. One thing everyone on the panel agreed on: it is not a matter of if, but when. We have already learned a lot about how to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to tsunamis. I have no doubt that the progress we have made through NOAA's efforts under the Tsunami Warning and Education Act has enhanced the safety of our communities and will save lives, and this good work must be continued. The coastlines of the United States already play an integral role in the economic prosperity of this country, and we must strengthen their preparedness and resiliency, so they can continue to play that role going forward. In this bipartisan bill, we recognize the need for continued protection of our coastal communities from the impacts of tsunami. In closing, I want to say that September is National Preparedness Month. It is a reminder to everyone to make disaster preparedness a priority. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I hope we can further this discussion and continue to find ways to build America's resiliency to tsunami and other natural disasters. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, the economy is rebounding, but many of our constituents are still feeling the effects of the recession. Millions of people are still unemployed after losing jobs that never came back during the recovery. The recently passed Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a step that will help prepare Americans for in-demand jobs based on the needs of local businesses, resulting in a more skilled workforce and greater business productivity. But our failure to fully embrace and address this challenge is unacceptable. So today I rise to highlight the importance of investing in the true engine of our economy, the American worker. We have a great opportunity to build the middle class with a jump- start agenda that focuses on American workers. This agenda incentivizes U.S. job creation, increases infrastructure investments, and raises the minimum wage, all of which will help workers find quality, stable employment. We still have a lot of work to do to rebuild our economy, but investing in American workers is the right path forward.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, 40 years ago today President Nixon signed the law creating the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) as a private, nonprofit corporation to support civil legal aid organizations all across the country. Since that time LSC has become a critical and integral vehicle through which federal funds are distributed to 134 local legal aid programs, with nearly 800 offices serving every congressional district. LSC is tasked by Congress to ensure equal access to justice for those Americans who otherwise would be unable to afford to enforce their rights through our legal system. It serves people with the most critical legal needs--food, shelter, medical care, income maintenance, and physical safety. It makes a real difference for low-income and elderly Oregonians and Americans. I was proud to work at legal aid early in my career and I'll never forget the people I was able to help. They desperately needed an attorney when they could little afford one. I want to emphasize that they were not low income by choice--most had unexpected medical bills, had lost a job, or lost a spouse. Unfortunately, Congress is not living up to its obligation. LSC- funded attorneys still turn away more than 50 percent of eligible clients because of a lack of resources. It is unacceptable to leave people out on their own to navigate a complicated and already strained legal system, or else suffer continued injustice. We must do better. I congratulate LSC on its 40th anniversary, and commend all the hard working legal aid attorneys and staff who get so little recognition for such important work.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Sinema), a champion for access to higher education.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bishop), a colleague from the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise today in support of the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. I would like to start by thanking Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and Congressman Guthrie for their leadership on this bill, which will improve the financial counseling that millions of student loan borrowers receive. I am pleased that Members are coming together to take a meaningful step toward protecting student loan borrowers. I also want to thank the Committee on Education and Workforce staff on both sides of the aisle for their hard work to include Members' shared priorities in a bill that has earned tremendous bipartisan support. The need for enhanced financial counseling for students is clear. More than 40 million Americans are carrying more than $1.2 trillion in student loan debt, and default rates are climbing. At the same time there is evidence that student loan debt is a drag on the broader economy. Borrowers struggling with debt may delay purchasing a new car, a home, or new appliances. They may be unable to access capital to start a business, or they may put off saving for retirement. Of course, the solution to the mounting burden of student loan debt will require a number of changes. We will need to address rising tuition, and we will need to do a better job of granting existing borrowers access to affordable repayment plans. But we also must help current and future students understand their rights and obligations as borrowers. And we need to help them forecast their obligations in the years after college so they can make informed decisions now and for the future. One of the frustrations I hear frequently from former students is that they didn't understand the jumble of terms and products in the student loan market when they were borrowing. Many didn't ask questions until after they left college. What kind of loans did they borrow? When will they need to begin repayment? What will their monthly payments be, and what repayment plans will be available? That is why I am especially pleased that H.R. 4984 goes beyond entrance counseling for new borrowers and requires annual counseling for all student loan borrowers. Under this bill, students, whether they are sophomores or seniors, will have information about how much they have borrowed, what they are expected to borrow to complete their education, how their loans will accrue interest, and what they can expect their monthly payments to be when they leave college. They will be better able to see their road to repayment. Importantly, providing annual counseling means that borrowers who don't graduate will still receive information about what to expect when they leave school and enter repayment. Borrowers will have more clarity on their monthly payments under two repayment plans: income-based repayment and the standard 10-year option. Streamlining this information will simplify the repayment process. Borrowers will be reminded each year that they don't have to borrow the full amount made available, and they should consider grants, work study, and Federal loans before turning to private lenders. Unlike current practice, borrowers will receive financial counseling before signing their master promissory note, and they will be reminded that they can repay interest before it capitalizes. H.R. 4984 will provide for the first time important disclosures to parents who borrow for their children. Parent borrowers of student loans will be given virtually the same information about their loans as students receive. And the bill will extend counseling to Pell grant recipients so that they understand the limits on eligibility for Pell grants, and the circumstances in which they would be asked to repay their grants. Finally, this bill delivers enhanced student loan information in consumer-tested formats to check for student understanding. It will ensure that we provide personalized borrower information that the borrowers understand. Madam Chair, there is another reason why this bill is so important right now. Recent consumer complaints suggest that some debt settlement companies are using predatory practices to target student loan borrowers. These firms target low-income and minority borrowers, but also Americans giving back through public service careers, like firefighting, teaching, and law enforcement. These firms are reportedly charging thousands of dollars to enroll borrowers in Federal income- based repayment programs, a program that borrowers can enroll in for free. Until we can address these predatory practices directly, this bill will go a long way to ensuring that students fully understand their eligibility for income-based repayment. In short, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act will help Pell grant recipients and student loan borrowers. It will help the borrowers anticipate their monthly payments and plan their road to repayment. This will make a real positive difference, and I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4984. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I thank Mr. Kilmer for yielding. I rise in support of the Kilmer-Hinojosa-Bachus-Petri-Tsongas amendment. This amendment will ensure that students are aware of important consumer information tools of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission created by the Treasury. We know that students often lack basic financial literacy, which makes it hard for them to make thoughtful decisions on complex financial products. Financial institutions may be providing information that is designed to steer young people into accounts that may not be best for them. Providing important consumer information in an unbiased way can increase financial literacy of students and may help reduce college costs. That is exactly what this amendment accomplishes. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment so students can be equipped with better and more comprehensive financial literacy tools.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, the manager's amendment, which I support and encourage my colleagues to support, helps bolster counseling for first-time borrowers, so that they are fully aware of the financing they may be required to use over their entire college education. The manager's amendment also ensures that students needing to borrow a student loan receive counseling before they sign the master promissory note. I am also pleased that this manager's amendment includes my proposal for the Department of Education to do a comprehensive, longitudinal study on the impact and effectiveness of current student loan counseling practices, so we know what actually works. We owe it to student loan borrowers and higher education institutions to find out if the counseling requirements affect borrowers' understanding and their decisions. In particular, we need to know if the programs we create in Congress improve outcomes for students. Will enhanced financial counseling help more students earn degrees, borrow less, and successfully enter repayment? We need to know if these outcomes benefit equally students of different races, ethnicities, genders, and income levels. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bipartisan manager's amendment, so that students can have more and better and high-quality information about their student loans. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment, but I do not oppose the amendment.

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, H.R. 4984, the Empowering Students Through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act, will give student loan borrowers a much better understanding of their road to repayment. It does this by helping students track the amount they borrowed, predict monthly payments, and access affordable repayment plans. As I mentioned, this bill is not a cure-all for the problems student loan borrowers face, which include rising tuition and opaque servicing contracts, but the bill serves a very important purpose, and it is especially important because of the cost of college and the challenges of managing student debt. Greater transparency about what it means to borrow student loans will help students anticipate their obligations and advocate for their rights as borrowers, and perhaps greater transparency will elevate the conversation about the underlying need to address college costs. Again, I want to thank Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and Representative Guthrie for their bipartisan effort on this important bill. It has been delightful to work with them. I look forward to more bipartisanship in the Education and the Workforce Committee. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4984, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Bishop).

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4719. The bill before us today includes policies that enjoy broad bipartisan support, and have been passed by this body before with Members from both sides speaking out in favor. Unfortunately, the manner in which they are being presented to us today leads me to oppose this bill. As we debate this legislation, many of our constituents cannot climb out of long-term unemployment. Our inaction on extending the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program means they will not have access to benefits that support their efforts to search for a new job. The Senate has passed legislation to extend the EUC program, but in the House we have been told that the cost of the legislation must be offset. Today, however, we are being asked to support a bill that will add $16.2 billion to the federal deficit over the next ten years that is not offset. This is a double standard that is unfair to our constituents and does a disservice to the policies we are considering extending here today. In January 2013, I voted to support a legislative package that extended these three expired provisions: the conservation tax incentive, the IRA contribution provision, and the food inventory donation incentive. The American Taxpayer Relief Act extended these provisions for two years, as did the motion to recommit this bill, which was offered by our colleague from Maryland, Mr. Van Hollen. I was glad to support these provisions in 2013, and in the motion to recommit this bill, because policies to promote charitable giving can help bolster the social safety net that has remained stretched by the lingering effects of the recession. But to attempt to reinforce the safety net in this one area by undermining it in another and refusing to extend EUC is a choice that I am not willing to make. I look forward to considering these provisions under different circumstances, and for standing up for the importance of charitable giving. This is, unfortunately, not a bill that I can support, and I urge my colleagues to oppose.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Highway and Transportation Funding Act. There are few issues that have united such a diverse group of constituents as the need to maintain funding for federal transportation programs. Construction projects serve as a strong form of economic stimulus not just in Oregon, but across the country. From the workers who build our roads to the companies who use them to transport their goods, many of our constituents have emphasized their concern about the pending depletion of the Highway Trust Fund. Those constituents are frustrated and don't understand why Congress can't act to support such a clear national priority as the need for safe and reliable transportation infrastructure. Although I do plan to support the Highway and Transportation Funding Act, this 8-month fix is far too short. We must develop a long-term solution to the fund's insolvency. I, and many like me in Congress, voted to support today's short-term legislation because it protects funding for current construction projects and current jobs. But we do so knowing that more comprehensive, substantive action is needed to ensure that projects in 2015 and beyond are not in jeopardy. In Oregon, we recently received notice from the state's Department of Transportation that eliminating funding in 2015 would cost our state roughly $470 million in transportation funding and would reduce the construction workforce by an estimated 4,700 jobs. Passing a temporary fix to the Highway Trust Fund creates uncertainty among states, local governments, and contractors, all of whom may be less likely to take on new projects and in turn less likely to hire workers. Not only does the uncertainty hurt our constituents who work in the industry and the long-term transportation planning undertaken by state and local governments, it also hurts our economic competitiveness. When groups like the America Society of Civil Engineers give our infrastructure a near failing grade of D+, as they did in their 2013 scorecard, companies considering relocating their business operations to the United States may think twice. This is an unacceptable situation. With an economy still working to regain its full strength, another short-term fix is an economic risk we should not take. Millions of people rely on our roads, bridges, and ground transportation to get to work and transport goods. Businesses in Oregon increasingly raise concerns about the ability of our freight infrastructure to support the high volume of goods they are transporting to market. This legislation represents the bare minimum we can do. Our constituents deserve a more comprehensive, long-term solution so that our infrastructure can support a growing and thriving economy. Therefore, I will vote yes on this legislation with caution, and I urge my colleagues to take a long-term look at the need to stabilize our transportation funding source.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud), my friend and cosponsor of the amendment.

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I rise today because of the power and potential of water and in support of an amendment that I am pleased to offer with my two colleagues from Maine, Congressman Michaud and Congresswoman Pingree. Mr. Chairman, our amendment would increase funding to the Department of Energy's Water Power Program by just $9 million, a small price tag that will yield a huge return on investment. This increase is offset by an equal amount from the Departmental administration account. The modest increase that we are proposing will support hydropower and also the development of innovative hydropower technologies, along with marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies. Development of these new technologies can offer the United States a chance to lead the world in an emerging area of abundant renewable energy. Marine and hydrokinetic energy--in particular, energy from waves, currents, and tides which, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania just recognized, unlike the Sun and wind, do not stop--is an exciting frontier in the renewable energy sector. Currently, Oregon State University and the University of Washington are using Federal funding from the Water Power Program to develop the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, a center that will provide visionary entrepreneurs a domestic location to test wave energy devices, along with other technology, rather than traveling to Scotland to use the European test center. Without continued Federal investment, Europe will remain the leader. When fully developed, wave and tidal energy systems could generate a significant amount of total energy used in the United States. As Congress promotes technologies that can help lower our constituents' energy bills, we must embrace new and innovative solutions, like marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy. With this modest increase, the Water Power Program can do that while continuing to support a Federal investment in conventional hydropower technology. Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the bipartisan Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. This bill shows that we can work together to adopt policies that will put our constituents back to work, give them opportunity, and keep our economy on the road to recovery. One of the first bills I introduced in Congress was the WISE Investment Act that was designed to address the skills gap challenge by matching local businesses with workforce boards and community colleges to train our out-of-work constituents for in-demand occupations. Although I was disappointed that that act was not included within this bill, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the bill does take steps to ensure that local businesses have a role in job training by including an important focus on sector partnerships. Madam Speaker, this bill represents a strong step forward for our Nation's unemployed and for our economy. I commend Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and my colleagues on the committee for their work to bring this bill to the floor, and I urge its adoption.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a cosponsor from H.R. 809.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my opposition to the process that has brought the bills under consideration before us today. Once again, my colleagues and I find ourselves in the difficult position of opposing the extension of tax provisions that are worthy of support, and long overdue for consideration. The Section 179 provisions that allow for businesses to expense the cost of certain asset purchases, and the tax treatment of S corporations that allows them to pay a reduced ``built-in gains'' tax, have long helped our small businesses thrive. I was pleased to vote for them as part of a bill to avert the fiscal cliff in January 2013. But because of inaction by the House on tax reform, these provisions were allowed to expire at the end of last year. Now, we are being given a choice: extend these provisions permanently without paying for them, and without also extending the many other important provisions that have expired, or don't extend them at all. More than three million Americans have lost access to emergency unemployment insurance. Despite the Senate passing legislation to extend unemployment benefits, the House has refused to join in this important, bipartisan effort to help our hardest-hit constituents. Our colleagues in the majority insist that an extension of the emergency unemployment insurance program be fully paid for, but now are putting forward costly permanent legislation that will add $75 billion to the deficit. Of course small businesses are worthy of support from this Congress, but not at the expense of those who are still unable to find work. I fully support the motion to recommit, which extends these important provisions for another two years. This will give our businesses the tax relief they deserve, while allowing us to engage in a broader conversation on tax reform that our constituents have demanded. In May, we considered a similarly misguided effort to extend the Research and Development Tax Credit permanently and without an offset. I expressed frustration that by extending this tax credit while not acting on others, we appear more concerned with the needs of the business community than with those of working families when we should be concerned about both. The credits we are considering today should be extended, yes, but so should important provisions such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the Production Tax Credit for renewable energy projects. The House must be mindful of its commitment to help all Americans, and we should consider a slate of tax extenders that will benefit all of our constituents. For this reason, I oppose the bills before us today, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Ms. BONAMICI

Ms. BONAMICI. I thank the ranking member of the Science Committee for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation, and I am glad the House is considering it today. I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey), for his willingness to work with me on an amendment to S. 1254 that was adopted in committee and made some modifications to the legislation we are considering today. I would also like to thank the full committee chairman, Mr. Smith, and our ranking member, Ms. Johnson, for supporting us as we developed the amendment and moved the bill forward. This was truly a team effort, and our constituents are well served by this collaboration. I want to join Mr. Posey, also, in thanking our staff on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this bill. Authorization for the programs under the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Act expired in 2012, so this reauthorization is long overdue. The rapid overproduction of algae can have devastating effects on aquatic plants and animals, as well as on human health. For coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems and communities that depend on fishing and tourism to sustain their economies, the effect of algae blooms is a threat to their livelihood. The cost of these blooms has been estimated to be close to $82 million each year, a significant hit to the economy in areas that are still struggling to recover. This issue was first brought to my attention by Oregon State University scientists and the crab industry in Oregon, where business was struggling when Dungeness crabs were dying because of low oxygen levels in the water, a hypoxic event caused by algal blooms. I do want to stress, however, that the effect of these blooms is not only felt in coastal communities. Last year, in my home State of Oregon, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs experiencing hypoxic events were closed to protect public health for a combined total of more than 700 days. Research has helped advance our understanding of and response to harmful algal blooms, but we need to continue to invest in this research. The frequency and duration of these events and subsequent hypoxic conditions are on the rise, and our constituents need us to act. In order to equip ourselves with the tools we need to manage these events and reduce the environmental and economic damage they cause, we need to better understand how and why algal blooms occur and how they respond to a changing environment. The bill before us today directs NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to develop and implement a national strategy that takes a regional approach to helping communities understand, predict, and mitigate harmful algal bloom and hypoxic events. It will not only improve coordination, but also assess the program's activities to ensure that we are prepared for these events and are able to respond in an effective and efficient manner. This will become increasingly important as coastal populations increase and changes in the environment, such as warmer water temperatures, have the potential to alter the growth, toxicity, and geographic distribution of algal blooms. The stakeholder community has been calling for the reauthorization of this critical program, and they are eager to see NOAA continue its work on this important issue. The amendment that Mr. Posey and I included responds to a number of suggestions offered by our colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee, which has joint jurisdiction over these programs; and the amendment clarifies that the bill does not establish any new programs or regulatory authority. The amendment also ensures that State and local governments, along with other stakeholder groups, are involved in efforts to reduce harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. Because freshwater ecosystems are also susceptible to HABs, the amendment makes certain that the plan also addresses harmful algal blooms and hypoxia events in the Great Lakes in a cost-effective and technically feasible manner. NOAA researchers and the academic community have established a strong partnership to lead this effort, and I applaud their work. Now, Congress needs to reauthorize these important programs, so that work can continue; and this bill accomplishes that goal. I urge our colleagues to support this legislation.