Gerald Connolly

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Chairman, this congressional session is not even a year old and the Republican leadership has already tried to pass more than 125 anti-environmental bills, amendments, and riders. They started by attacking public health standards to reduce carbon dioxide pollution on the premise that we should trust oil-funded soothsayers over climatologists and reject the overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is already occurring and threatens our environment and public health. When the Republicans attacked greenhouse gas standards, they claimed that they, nonetheless, supported Clean Air Act standards to reduce toxic pollutants like mercury. After all, it was a Republican President who signed this legislation creating the Environmental Protection Agency more than 40 years ago. A Republican President signed the Clean Air Act of 1970, which established the process that the EPA is using today to reduce toxic pollution, including mercury and dioxin. A Republican President signed the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 establishing--steel yourself--a cap-and-trade program to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution. That Clean Air Act bill of 1990 also accelerated reductions of other toxic pollutants because Congress believed that the EPA was not moving quickly enough to reduce toxic pollution. All of these major clean air bills were passed by Democratic Congresses with Republican Presidents. While it may seem unbelievable in today's political climate, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when environmental protection had bipartisan support. As a result of the bipartisan effort to protect the environment, our economy grew while air pollution levels fell and public health improved. Air quality here in Washington, D.C., in Los Angeles, and other major cities is healthier today than it was in 1970 thanks to the Clean Air Act. Our automobiles no longer emit unlimited quantities of asthma and lung cancer-causing pollution, or lead. Our power plants now have scrubbers to reduce the sulfur dioxide pollution that caused acid rain and poisoned rivers and streams throughout the United States before 1990. Mercury pollution has fallen 80 percent thanks to that act. Thanks to these improvements in air quality, the Clean Air Act saves approximately 160,000 lives a year by preventing deaths otherwise caused by pollution. When this new Republican Congress attacked greenhouse gas regulations, they claimed that they would not reverse the improvements that the Clean Air Act has made in reducing toxic pollution. Of course, their attempt to block greenhouse gas pollution standards was only the opening salvo. This Republican House has passed dozens of bills and amendments effectively repealing the Clean Air Act by blocking regulation of soot, smog, and dioxin. Their assault on the Clean Air Act is so comprehensive that they have passed regulation to deregulate multiple kinds of soot. Today, we'll vote on a bill to deregulate mercury and other toxic pollution from cement factories. This bill would not only deregulate mercury pollution from cement factories, it would also block the EPA public health standards for other deadly pollutants such as the particulate pollution that scars lung tissue and causes cancer and emphysema. Blocking public health standards for cement kilns will increase net costs for American taxpayers by $6.3 billion to $17.6 billion every year by increasing the incidence of heart attacks, lung cancer, asthma attacks, and developmental disabilities in children. They claim that these antipublic health bills would create jobs. The fact is that while the Clean Air Act has reduced dangerous air pollution for the last 40 years, saving 160,000 lives last year alone, America's economy doubled in size. It didn't shrink, the sky didn't fall, and the worst predictions of our friends on the other side, not one of them came true. I have introduced two amendments to H.R. 2681. I'm only going to move this one, Madam Chairman. This will clarify that the provisions in this bill will not go into effect if it causes respiratory illness, cardiac disease, other diseases, or death. This amendment would apply throughout the country, ensuring that rural, suburban, and urban Americans would be protected equally from reckless provisions in the underlying bill. My amendment says, ``The administrator shall not delay actions to reduce emissions from any cement kiln if such emission is causing respiratory and cardiovascular illness and death, including cases of heart attacks, asthma attacks, and bronchitis.'' This ensures that if H.R. 2681 passes, God help us, we will not be increasing the rate of respiratory disease or sending more children to the hospital with asthma attacks. Since members of the majority claim to be equally concerned about the health of our constituents, I wanted to give them an opportunity to prove it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. My colleague, whom I respect, said that we're losing jobs because of this onerous regulation. I'm just wondering if my colleague has any data on how many jobs were lost in the last 40 years due to the Clean Air Act--net.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, how many different jobs could be created if America just had more snakes? venom specialists? animal control? mongoose peddler? I only ask because, in the face of stagnating job growth, Republican leadership in the House Oversight Subcommittee actually recommended relaxing restrictions on exotic snake sales to create jobs. Apparently, in the face of ongoing unemployment, the one job Republicans feel confident they can create is snake oil salesman. In contrast, President Obama's jobs proposal takes a page out of a former Republican playbook, most notably that of Dwight D. Eisenhower, supporting policies that put Americans back to work. It includes infrastructure investments to build and repair schools, roadways, bridges, creating construction jobs. The President's proposal cuts business taxes to incentivize hiring in the private sector, and it cuts payroll taxes for every current worker to spur economic demand. These bipartisan policies have been successful in the past. The American people need real jobs, Mr. Speaker, not snake charmers, and I ask that my colleagues support real proposals like the American Jobs Act.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. To conclude on this matter, I have enormous respect for my colleague on the other side; but to oppose a simple study to require that we look at the benefits of clean energy technology, I find that very troubling. That resistance, sadly, is going to impede American growth and competitiveness and is actually going to cost us jobs. There is no question that in the coal industry, in particular, we've kind of reached a plateau. In fact, in Kentucky, we've lost a lot of jobs relative to, say, 30 years ago; whereas, as my colleague from Massachusetts pointed out last night, in wind energy, just in the last 4 years, we're up to 80,000 jobs. It's a fast-growing, lucrative part of our economy. It's clean, and it actually concretely helps create jobs. That's a worthwhile thing to study if not to invest in, and I regret the fact that the manager on the other side finds even a study something to be resisted. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, Deutsche Bank, the biggest bank in Europe, recently issued a report on global clean energy investment opportunities in which it stated, ``Countries with more TLC, transparency, longevity, and certainty, in their climate policy frameworks will attract more investment and build new clean industries, technologies, and jobs faster than their policy-lagging counterparts.'' The TRAIN Act is one more step in the wrong direction by the same Republican House which has held over 110 anti-environmental votes. This unprecedented assault on the environment has devastating consequences for our economy. As the Deutsche Bank report said, ``Germany and China have emerged as global leaders in low carbon technologies and investment. The net effect is that while Congress stumbles, the U.S. stands to fall behind.'' This investor report, from Europe's largest bank, identified several policy failures that are impeding job growth here at home. First, Congress has not established a carbon reduction target, or required polluters to pay for the cost of greenhouse gas pollution. Congress does not have a national renewable standard or even an energy efficient standard. The Deutsche Bank report notes that the lack of these regulations and incentives has actually forced investors to make investments elsewhere, including in China and other countries, rather than here at home in America. As a result, we have lost solar and other advanced technology market share to our competitors. My simple amendment to the TRAIN Act establishes a simple process to identify ``policies that should be adopted and implemented by the United States to provide domestic job growth, and to ensure that our Nation is internationally competitive in the $5 trillion global energy industry for clean energy technology, development, and manufacturing.'' Business leaders have urged Congress to adopt both a regulatory framework and a system of incentives to spur clean energy job creation. In addition to the regulation the Deutsche Bank identified as supporting investment, American entrepreneurs have called on Congress to expand public financing for clean energy. This month members of the American Energy Innovation Council visited Capitol Hill to express their strong support for just that concept. This group included venture capitalist John Doerr, former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, and Bill Gates of Microsoft. The American Energy Innovation Council recently issued a report which stated, ``As business leaders, we feel that America's current energy system is deficient in ways that cause serious harm to our economy, our national security, and our environment. To correct these deficiencies, we must make a serious commitment to modernizing our energy system with cleaner and more efficient technologies.'' This Republican House is an anchor that's dragging down the American economy. It's continued obsession with austerity and opposition to any economic recovery programs, including clean energy, mean that America falls behind while China surges ahead. We cannot afford to let China and Germany dominate industries such as clean technology. My simple amendment will establish a process to start restoring American leadership in this important sector for economic growth. Rather than repealing commonsense public health standards, we ought to be focused on measures like my amendment, which support high-tech job growth. I ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Will the gentleman yield for a question?

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I would inquire as to what would be the comparable number for oil and gas and coal in the United States. You talk about the growth trend; but in absolute numbers, is it not true that actually the fossil fuels industry gets $70 billion a year?

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I would inquire of the Chair how much time is left on this side.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, here they go again--House Republicans are driving America once more to the brink. They took us to the edge of a shutdown in April. They shoved us to the precipice of America's first ever default in August. And now after their similar attempt failed yesterday, House Republicans are again playing politics with the American economy, and American families. Hurricane Irene leveled homes end businesses in the Northeast. An earthquake destroyed businesses in Mineral, Virginia. In my district, Tropical Storm Lee left hundreds of families homeless and damaged dozens of small businesses. And yet in this Continuing Resolution, House Republicans state they will only help those in extremis if we gut the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program--a successful program that spurs Amerian innovation and creates American jobs. In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the retention of this important program stating it ``promotes manufacturing in the U.S. and is an important component.'' Americans don't need brinkmanship; they need predictability and security. This Continuing Resolution gives them neither. I would urge my colleagues to reject it in favor of one that protects Americans.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I thank my good friend and the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Mr. Chairman, this bill is extraordinary even for the most anti- environmental House of Representatives in American history. The Republican leadership has attempted already to pass over 110 anti- environmental bills, amendments, and riders. But the TRAIN Act would be one of the most destructive for America's environment and our public health. It appears that the Republican leadership took every anti- environmental bill, rider, amendment, and nighttime fantasy of the Koch brothers and wrapped it into a single legislative package called the TRAIN Act. This bill would block clean air, public health standards for mercury, dioxin, smog, soot, and other toxic pollutants. We're supposed to believe no, no, no, all we're doing is just delaying and studying. Twenty-one years is a long time to study. And if you have a loved one whose health is at stake, that delay can be life threatening. By increasing the incidence of emphysema, lung cancer, asthma, and cardiac diseases, this bill will kill 25,000 Americans every year-- nearly as many as are killed in highway accidents. Just one standard this bill would repeal, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, would have significant ramifications for my district and for the National Capital Region from which I come. The wind transport of power plant and other harmful emissions from polluters to the west in our community is one of the reasons the Capital Region is listed as a non- attainment area for air quality. But we have to clean it up. The preponderance of harmful ground level ozone threatens seniors, asthmatics, and those with respiratory conditions--not to mention the fact that it threatens our eligibility for long-term transportation funding. Monitoring and responsibly regulating cross-State air pollution here and in other regions would save, not cost, save $280 billion a year in health care costs. But not if the Republicans pass this bill. But of course they don't want you to look at the other side of the ledger. There are benefits to be had by implementing the EPA standards rather than delaying them, $280 billion worth, but they don't want you to know that. They don't want to talk about that. I was proud to work with a number of my colleagues to lead a group letter signed by 60 Members of this body reaffirming our support for the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. This public health standard is critical for economic and human health in our region. That rule is just one example among many successful public health standards established under the Clean Air Act. Since its inception in 1970, the Clean Air Act has produced economic benefits that far outweigh the cost of compliance by as much as 8 to 1. The Small Business Majority credits the Clean Air Act with widespread economic benefits, both across urban and rural communities, improving public and worker health, and creating jobs, millions of them. Each year, the Clean Air Act prevents 22,000 hospital visits which would otherwise be caused by pollution-induced respiratory diseases, 67,000 chronic asthma and bronchitis attacks, and saves over $110 billion in health care costs. The TRAIN Act would block nearly every major public health standard being implemented by the Clean Air Act. I heard my colleague and friend, Mr. Griffith from Virginia, talk about a letter he read in a local newspaper in Charles County, Virginia. This couple purportedly couldn't understand why bureaucrats who were sitting on their rear ends somehow come up with these fantastical regulations that are just burdensome and serve no purpose. Perhaps if that couple had sat with a child in a hospital room, fighting for his or her breath, they'd understand why we need these regulations and why those professionals at EPA are doing their job to protect public health. Perhaps if they had seen a loved one or a spouse hooked up to tubes, fighting for her life because she's severely asthmatic, they'd understand why we need these standards. Perhaps if they understood a friend had COPD and has to walk around now all the time with oxygen in a mask to function and be mobile, they'd better understand the life-and-death struggle of people who live in areas affected by dirty, polluted air and would better respect why the EPA is protecting our health--even if that couple in Charles County doesn't understand. I urge opposition to this bill.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I thank my good friend from Michigan for yielding. Let me take this opportunity to thank the 174 Republican Members of this House who voted with us in a bipartisan fashion just last month to avert the first Federal default in the Nation's history. It may not have been an easy vote for some, but it was the right thing to do to prevent a catastrophe that would have certainly shaken further our fragile economic recovery. Today's vote is no different. I urge my colleagues to not give in to the political gamesmanship that Standard & Poor's cited as the very reason for its bleak downgrading of the United States' credit rating. We must reaffirm our commitment that America will meet its obligations, and we don't want to find ourselves politically explaining how we voted for it before we voted against it. Make no mistake that voting in favor of this resolution will, in fact, lead to the very default we voted to avoid with the Budget Control Act. You cannot now be for default after having just voted against it. We must reject this resolution and move on to the real challenge of working with a bipartisan supercommittee to restore fiscal responsibility, revive our economy and, most importantly, re-instill confidence in the American citizen and the American business community.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for their efforts to pass this clean extension of both our surface and air transportation programs. Working in a bipartisan fashion, we can avoid the previous clashes and political theatrics that forced 4,000 FAA employees and more than 70,000 construction workers off the job for two weeks without pay. Our nation's transportation infrastructure is the backbone of our economy, and we must ensure our ability to move people and goods if we are to grow the economy and create jobs. I know the Chairman and Ranking Member share my disappointment that we are not yet providing back pay for those FAA employees who were furloughed. As you know, I am a cosponsor of Congressman LoBiondo's bipartisan legislation to make those employees whole. They were innocent victims of our inaction, and we should restore those lost wages immediately.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Hal Strickland for receiving the National Voluntary Service Award from the National Recreation and Park Association. This prestigious award is given to volunteers who work to improve recreation, parks and conservation programs in our communities. With more than three decades of volunteer service with local youth and parks organizations, Mr. Strickland has left a profound and lasting imprint on my community of Fairfax County, Va. In addition to his career as a civil engineer for the U.S. Forest Service, Mr. Strickland served 14 years on the Fairfax County Athletic Council, including two as chairman. He founded the Chantilly Youth Association, and spent 25 years as president of the community sports league. He served as president of the Greenbriar Civic Association, and for the past 20 years, he has served on the Fairfax County Park Authority Board, where he has served as chairman six times. He has said that he is most proud of his work on Fairfax County's successful synthetic turf field program. I was proud to partner with Mr. Strickland to launch that effort during my tenure as Chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors. It played a vital component of our anti-gang initiative by providing young people with more year-round outdoor activities. This community collaboration also has expanded field opportunities for Fairfax's many sports leagues. The program now has more than two dozen synthetic fields across the county. He is also known for his work of preserving green spaces in Centreville and Chantilly, despite the areas' rapid growth. This green space resembles the historic beginnings of the area, when it was a collection of gentlemen horse farms. He has truly influenced the quality of life in Fairfax through his accomplishments. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in commending Hal Strickland for receiving the National Voluntary Service Award and thanking him for his years of service in our community. Through his dedicated service, we are preserving our history through green spaces and making recreational activities more accessible to all for generations to come.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, America needs jobs, and it's time we focused on proven policies rather than political rhetoric and posturing. We need a real jobs program that builds on actual successes. The President tonight will be putting forward his job creation proposal. Unfortunately, some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have already decided that they are not even going to come and respect the President's joint appearance tonight. Talk about closed minds. According to reports, he will call for infrastructure investments and middle class tax relief through an extension of the payroll tax cut, policies we know can create jobs. I look forward to working with the President and those who are willing to work with us on the other side to jump-start our economy and create American jobs. To that end, I have introduced two bills to incentivize private sector job creation. They include tax cuts and private sector tax incentives, ideas that work, ideas that Republicans traditionally have supported. I introduced H.R. 11 to extend the successful Build America Bonds program to leverage private sector investment to facilitate needed infrastructure improvements. Repairing bridges, building hospitals, renovating schools create jobs now. During the last 2 years under the Build America Bonds program, for every Federal dollar we invested, we leveraged $41 of private sector support for more than 2,000 projects in every State and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Build America Bonds is the kind of public-private partnership that Republicans generally support, and we know from the Recovery Act that they create jobs. I have also introduced legislation to expand the tax deduction for business startups. Lending and venture capital investments in small businesses, especially startups, continue to lag significantly behind traditional levels. Extending this tax deduction for startup expenses gives entrepreneurs greater certainty for their financial planning and greater incentives to start creating jobs. These tax cuts and small business startups will enable the private sector to do what it does best--create jobs. Make no mistake: The challenge is daunting. The Great Recession was the worst economic collapse in 80 years. At its height, America was losing 700,000 jobs a month; so Democrats in the last Congress took action. We passed the Recovery Act, which cut taxes for 95 percent of all Americans and increased infrastructure investment, saving and creating hundreds of thousands of construction jobs. We provided educational support to train a more highly skilled workforce. We enacted a hiring tax credit to spur private sector hiring of recently laid off workers, and we saw results. After months of horrific job losses, America began more than 1 year of monthly private sector net job growth, peaking earlier this year with 3 straight months of more than 200,000 private sector jobs created. In fact, in the last 18 months, we created 2.4 million private sector jobs. The public sector, however, has lost jobs every single month this year. Isn't this the result for which the Republicans actually advocated? Didn't they tell us that cutting government will free up the private sector? Then why did we have just 17,000 private sector jobs created in August? In fact, the job results this August, with the Republican economic plan in action, continued cutting and zero net jobs created. It's time we acknowledge that the Republican ``cut to create'' philosophy cuts the job market and creates only uncertainty. The choice is simple: Politics versus job creation. We're all going to be listening with great attention tonight to the President, and I hope all of us attend.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Arianna McQuillen, of Fairfax Station, on her selection as a Buick and General Motors Foundation Scholarship Recipient. She has been identified as one of 100 outstanding students from across the United States to receive up to $25,000 in a renewable scholarship. She plans to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology and specialize in robotics. Arianna is very involved in our community, working on projects such as cleaning the Occoquan watershed, planting trees, preparing care packages for soldiers abroad and tutoring young students. Her academic record is proof that she is a high-achieving student. She studied at Lake Braddock Secondary School, where her interests varied from math and science to art and the environment. She has won many awards in areas ranging from debate to art. She is a National Merit Scholar, a 2010 Beat the Odds Scholarship Recipient, an Advanced Placement Scholar, and a National Achievement Semi-Finalist. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Arianna McQuillen's remarkable achievements and wishing her continued success as she pursues her degree at MIT.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had no idea that my pending remarks would lead to such a wellspring of apparent support. I would point out, Mr. Speaker, that in the last rejoinder between the gentleman from New Jersey and the gentleman from California, spending cuts at this level are not going to create any jobs. The idea that spending cuts and deficit reduction will lead to unprecedented economic prosperity is absolutely a false economic premise. Getting control of our fiscal house to make sure that we make productive investments and create jobs will create jobs. With respect to the proposal underlying this rule, Mr. Speaker, there's plenty for members of both parties to find objectionable, and they might be right, but the choice before us is not that between this proposal and some platonic ideal. It is between this proposal and catastrophic default tomorrow. Unlike the cynical bill this Chamber passed on a party-line vote last week, this bill commits America to meeting its obligations for the longer term, it leaves all options on the table, including revenue for the bipartisan committee this fall to further reduce the deficit, and having triggers, painful for both parties, adds real accountability and strict enforcement. The American people understand we need a balance to restore fiscal responsibility and grow our economy. Recent GDP and manufacturing numbers are painful reminders, Mr. Speaker, of the fragility of our economy and its recovery, and the actions of House Republicans, sadly, have only exacerbated that by pulling back on key investments in infrastructure and innovation. It's time to end the reckless game of chicken being waged here in this House. I commend President Obama and other leadership for leading the adult conversation to bring about this compromise. It is now time for us to do the responsible thing and bring to heel the wolf at the door.

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I thank the gentlelady, my good friend from New York. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. CONNOLLY

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

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, as the debate on avoiding a devastating default has progressed over the last several months, we've heard from many House Republicans that ``compromise'' is a dirty word. But the voices we should be listening to are those of the American people. What they've said has been loud and clear. According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 53 percent of Independents and Republicans want Republican leaders to compromise. According to the ABC/Washington Post poll, 77 percent of all Americans think the Republican leadership has not been willing to compromise. According to the Quinnipiac University poll, 67 percent of Americans believe the debt ceiling compromise should be a balance between spending cuts and revenue--yes, revenue. According to the Gallup Poll, 57 percent of Republicans want a compromise plan--that's Republicans. And according to the CBS News poll, 78 percent of Republicans would rather have an agreement that they don't fully support than allow the country to default. Mr. Speaker, it's long past time we started listening to the American people and reach a compromise to avoid a national default.