John Culberson

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate very much the gentleman from Georgia filing this important legislation. I feel my day is not complete if we don't get a chance to vote to cut spending and abolish ObamaCare. We were sent here by our constituents to protect the Treasury and do everything we can to keep the government out of their lives and out of their pockets. Yet ObamaCare contains more than 20 tax increases and gives the IRS unprecedented authority to collect personal health information from more than 300 million Americans. ObamaCare requires all insurance companies to report to the IRS the name, address, identification number, and type of insurance policy purchased by every customer, along with a determination of whether or not the insurance was ``government approved.'' I'm very proud to be a co-author of Dr. Price's legislation that will prohibit the IRS from collecting our personal health care information. The IRS has proven they cannot be trusted by targeting organizations based on their political affiliation. Since the IRS has admitted this, I've heard from so many constituents who are members of patriotic organizations. They've stepped up for the first time in their lives to get involved in politics and organizations like the Texas Tea Party, the Katy Tea Party, and the King Street Patriots. For standing up as patriots and trying to do the right thing for the right reasons, they were targeted by the IRS and harassed. Today the IRS is spending 80 percent of its budget trying to implement ObamaCare, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recently testified the IRS has approximately 700 full-time staff working on ObamaCare implementation. Now the IRS wants to hire an additional 2,000 bureaucrats to continue to implement ObamaCare. I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Lynn Forney Young on her election as President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Lynn, a fourth generation DAR member, joined the Tejas Chapter in Texas in 1977 as a Junior member and throughout her thirty-six years of continuous membership has distinguished herself at every level of service in the National Society. She served her chapter in seven offices including Chapter Regent and in thirteen committee chairmanships. In addition to holding nine state chairmanships in the Texas State Society, she served as State Parliamentarian, State Recording Secretary, State Chaplain, State Vice Regent, and State Regent. She was appointed to six National Vice Chairmanships, has held three National Chairmanships including Americanism, Printing and Publications, and State Regents' Dinners, and has served on the national Investment and Personnel Committees. She attended the Volunteer Field Genealogy Course, served as a DAR Museum Correspondent Docent, and currently serves as a VAVS Deputy Representative. Lynn has attended every Continental Congress since 1980, serving as a Congressional page for eight years and on three Congressional Committees. Honored by the Texas Daughters as their State Outstanding Junior Member, State Outstanding Chapter Regent, and State Outstanding Conference Page, she is the only member in the state to be so recognized. She holds membership in the Executive Club, National Officers' Club, State Regents' and State Vice Regents' Clubs, National Chairmen's and National Vice Chairmen's Associations, Outstanding Junior Club, Heritage Club, 1890 Giving Circle, and Founders' Club. She has served on the Advisory Boards of Crossnore School and Kate Duncan Smith DAR School as well as on the Tamassee DAR School Regents' Council. Each year during Lynn's term as State Regent, Texas recorded a net gain in membership. Additionally, she encouraged, and Texas Daughters enthusiastically embraced and supported, four major projects: an exhibition of DAR Museum quilts at the International Festival in Houston, the erection of a monument at the Texas State Cemetery to the patriots of the American Revolution buried in Texas, and major financial support for the restoration of the historic Texas Governor's Mansion. Her State Regent's Project brought together the State and National Societies in a cooperative effort to produce a new membership recruitment video, ``Today's DAR,'' which celebrates the work of the chapters on the local level and highlights the variety of programs and opportunities for service that make the DAR relevant in today's society. Through the years, Lynn has been an avid supporter of the National Society Children of the American Revolution, having served as Senior Society Treasurer and President, Senior State Registrar, First Vice President, and President and Senior National Vice President of the South Central Division. Lynn received a B.S. degree from the University of Houston, worked as a Legal Secretary and Paralegal for seventeen years, was a law firm administrator and bookkeeper for three years, and currently serves as the bookkeeper for the family cattle ranch. A pillar of her church and community, Lynn served the Presbyterian Church as an Elder, Lay Minister and Clerk of the Session. She has served on the Steering Committees of both the DAR Houston Fisher House and Homes for Our Troops. She was named one of the Outstanding Young Women of Montgomery County, Texas and in 2007 received the Inspire Women Outstanding Community Leader Award. Married to Steve Young, she is the mother of one DAR daughter and one son and the loving grandmother of two grandsons. Lynn's devotion to DAR and unwavering commitment to its ideals and mission are evidenced by her many years of service. Her experience, keen sense of business, proven leadership abilities and vision, together with her beautiful style and grace, will certainly help to strengthen the organization and ensure that it will continue to grow and prosper. Please join me and the Texas Daughters of the American Revolution as we congratulate Lynn Forney Young on her recent election as the first DAR President General from the great state of Texas.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Thank you. I look forward to working with the gentleman.

Mr. CULBERSON. Thank you, Judge Poe. Of course, I will continue to work with you and the committee, as I always have. I'll continue to support the will of the voters, as I have always supported Federal funding for those rail lines. It's been approved by the voters. And I look forward to continuing to work with you and my colleagues with the eastern area, as I have with Congressmen Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee, to support those lines in their districts that were on the ballot and were approved by voters.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I urge the House to adopt the amendment and support Chairman Kline's underlying bill and move for passage. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Actually, the money will continue to flow to the States as it does today. The State law already sets up a mechanism for the money to flow through the States to local school districts. So that money will continue to flow. Also, under the language of my amendment, the Federal Government has an unshakeable obligation to ensure equal protection and due process. So that 14th Amendment obligation on the Federal Government is undiminished and is expressly reaffirmed in my amendment so that there will be no discrimination nor imposition on every American's right to equal protection and due process. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I'd point out that the amendment, in fact, upholds our system of dual sovereignty and ensures local control over local dollars, and the legislatures will actually be able to conduct this vote as a part of their regular legislative proceedings during their annual budget vote. As it says in the language itself, the vote will be taken by the State legislatures as a part of their budget vote. This is a vote they take as a part of their regular legislative session. It's no additional burden on the States. We are simply ensuring transparency and ensuring that the legislatures fully understand the implications of accepting the Federal dollars. Those dollars, for example, that Texas rejects, we want to make sure go toward deficit reduction and paying down the national debt. It will be no additional burden on the states. In fact, this amendment will reaffirm and restore our Constitution system of dual sovereignty where the States retain a residuary and viable sovereignty over those issues that deal exclusively with the citizens of their own State. I want to thank Chairman Kline again for his support and urge Members to adopt this amendment and the underlying bill. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. My amendment will restore state sovereignty over public education and restore parental rights over the education of their children by restoring the State legislature's power to accept or reject Federal education grant dollars. I've worked closely with the committee to ensure that this amendment supports the goals of local control and flexibility as promoted by H.R. 5, and I sincerely appreciate Chairman Kline's support of this important amendment, as well as his continued leadership to improve our Nation's education system. State legislatures, Mr. Chairman, should have the ability to make an informed decision regarding Federal grant dollars just as a patient consents to a medical procedure after a doctor explains the risks and benefits. I'm grateful for RSC Tenth Amendment Task Force Chairman Rob Bishop's support and co-authorship of legislation we filed in this regard and the support of the National Taxpayers Union and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste because my amendment will actually ensure that if State legislatures reject the grant dollars, they will be dedicated to reducing the deficit and paying off our outstanding national debt. Finally, it should be noted that the Congressional Budget Office indicates that my amendment will have no impact on directed spending. I want to thank Chairman Kline again for his support and urge my colleagues to support both my amendment and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Chair, I hope to provide some clarity to this by quoting directly from the guidance that the agency has given us. Now, it's important to remember that this is guidance, not a rule. The Obama administration, President Obama has repeatedly and proudly said that if Congress won't act, he will. Last week he said he was going to stand up and, through executive order, do all that he can to try to bring carbon emissions under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and try to restrict CO2 by executive order. Here the Obama administration is doing what the law says it can't do, and that is expand the jurisdiction of the EPA and the Army Corps by guidance, not by using a rule. The law says they have to issue a rule, get public input, have hearings. Here they simply got a bunch of their lawyers together and issued guidance to their agencies around the country. And to quote directly from the guidance, the Obama administration directs: The agencies to interpret waters in the region to be the watershed boundary defined by the geographic area that drains to the nearest downstream traditional navigable water or interstate water through a single point of entry. The geographic boundary, every stream, every rivulet, no matter how vertical it is, the Supreme Court and the statute said the EPA is limited to regulating navigable waters. The way this reads, literally, the EPA and the Army Corps now, through this guidance, have the authority to regulate every single stream of water that drains in the geographic area, in the watershed boundary, that drains to the nearest traditional navigable water. That is an incredible expansion of Federal power. As the gentleman from Idaho quite correctly said, this was done outside of the normal rulemaking process because the Obama administration knew that the public would overwhelmingly disapprove of this, that the Congress would disapprove of this, that this goes beyond what the Supreme Court intended, that this goes beyond what the law allows, so they did it through the back door using lawyers and bureaucrats to write a 33-page document that you literally have to go to the back end of to learn that they are attempting to exercise jurisdiction over every stream of water in the geographic area that drains to the nearest navigable waterway. That's why Chairman Frelinghuysen and Chairman Rogers included this language to cut off funding for the implementation of this rule, because we've discovered that the Obama administration will do whatever they want, regardless of the Constitution. They ignore subpoenas. They ignore congressional hearings. They ignore letters from Congress. They ignore everything except when you cut off the money. That's the only way to make the Obama administration follow the law. Vote against this amendment to ensure that the Obama administration follows the law and that we protect private property rights and keep the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers off of people's private property across America. I urge Members to oppose the gentleman's amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, my amendment No. 66 in the bill is very straightforward. The Medal of Honor is our Nation's highest award, given only to those soldiers who have performed personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. The medal has been made of brass. My amendment today would ensure that from this day forward, the Medal of Honor be made of gold. It's the least we can do for our bravest soldiers who have earned America's highest award, and I would move passage.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. I urge Members to defeat this motion to recommit and vote ``no.'' I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Our third-highest priority in the Constitution is to provide for the common defense. This bill, more than any other, has been done in a bipartisan way; this bill more than any other is vitally important to the peace of mind, to the quality of life of our men and women in uniform when they're on Active Duty standing on the walls of Rome defending our freedom and protecting us and putting themselves in harm's way, and the peace of mind and comfort of their families back in the United States and around the world where they're deployed, and when they become veterans and move into the veterans system. We in this subcommittee, more than any other in the House, have been bipartisan, arm-in-arm, doing everything in our power to help ensure that no man or woman wearing the uniform of the United States should ever worry for one moment about the quality of their life, about the quality of their health care. We think of ourselves as the peace-of- mind committee for the men and women in uniform defending the United States. There's been no more bipartisan bill than this one, there's been no more open bill than this one, there's been no more open process for amendment than the appropriations process. It is possible, in fact, for you to walk down here on the floor and with a yellow notepad and a pen write an amendment and walk down and hand it to the Clerk at any point during the debate on this bill and have it considered by the House. Yet we got this amendment 3 minutes and 45 seconds before the debate began. It reflects so poorly on the House of Representatives for the minority to present an amendment that we would have happily worked with you on to have accomplished in a bill in an amendment form had you just brought it down to the floor. In fact, we have given the Veterans Affairs Secretary everything that he's asked for. The Veterans Administration has been given massive increases in funding to handle the claims backlog. In fact, Congressman Kingston of Georgia just offered an amendment, which the House has approved, which will cut the salary of the senior leadership of the VA by 25 percent if they don't meet their own deadlines on reducing the backlog. The United States Congress has literally done everything. We've given them every dollar, everything they have possibly asked for. We've offered you every opportunity to just walk down here and amend the bill, yet you give it to us 3 minutes and 45 seconds before the debate begins. This ought to be exhibit A of why we need a rule in the House that all amendments ought to be published at least 24 hours in advance on the Internet, especially a motion to recommit as embarrassing, frankly, as this one. I am happy to yield my time to the chairman of the Veterans Committee, Mr. Miller.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to the motion to recommit.

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments and with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to, and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

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

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of the gentleman's amendment. It is just common sense that the free market and competitive open bidding process is going to result in a savings to taxpayers. Davis- Bacon artificially drives up the cost to taxpayers at a time when we simply cannot afford it. With record debt, record deficit and at a time when all of us as stewards of the Treasury need to do everything we can to protect our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars, I strongly support the gentleman from Iowa's amendment, which is to make sure that we have a competitive bidding process in which the lowest price and, obviously, free market wages in this environment in the 21st century are going to be fair wages with good compensation and good benefits. We truly don't need to pay higher wages in an era of record debt and deficit. I would, Madam Chairman, like to yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mr. CULBERSON. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I would rise in support of the gentleman's amendment. I share his concerns; and that's why, in section 227 of our bill, we included language that's very similar. And I look forward to supporting the gentleman's amendment and working with him in conference to make sure there's no duplication. The committee is also concerned about increases in costs beyond that originally specified on the project, and that's why we included the section and why I welcome the gentleman's amendment and urge its adoption. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I just want to express my support for the gentleman's amendment and urge its adoption by the House. I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I want to express my support for this amendment. I share the gentleman's intense frustration with the VA for their failure to meet their own guidelines and their own deadlines for eliminating the backlog, and I urge adoption of the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.