Doug Collins

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), the chairman of the Crime Subcommittee and the bill's sponsor.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to encourage my colleagues to cosponsor legislation I have introduced to ensure that the State of Israel maintains its qualitative military edge. Israel recently celebrated its 65th anniversary of independence. Unfortunately, many of Israel's neighbors continue their relentless attacks against this Nation. While Iran pursues its nuclear program, it has launched cyber attacks against Israel. Israel is under constant danger from both conventional and unconventional weapons. However, the current statutory definition of ``qualitative military edge'' does not include the threats posed by militia activity or cyber attacks. These are very real threats against Israel and must be taken into account. H.R. 1992 updates the definition of ``qualitative military edge'' so that the asymmetric and cyber warfare are considered and would require a 2-year reporting process. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee to advance this legislation and to increase our special relationship with Israel. I appreciate the chairman of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Royce, for his support and cosponsorship. And I also would like to thank my friend from across the aisle, Mr. Schneider, for his support. Good policy knows no party line, and I look forward to working together to move forward this legislation.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 45, and I thank our leadership for bringing this legislation to the floor because contrary to popular opinion, patients' rights were the ones in jeopardy a few years ago, and that's what we're restoring. Architects of ObamaCare have said it is ``so complicated and if it isn't done right the first time, it will just simply get worse.'' By ``done right,'' they really mean that the administration simply has to write enough of the right regulations. Nearly 20,000 pages of ObamaCare-related regulations are already on the books, including 828 pages that were issued in a single day earlier this year. This tidal wave of regulations should be no surprise to anyone who bothered to read the health care bill before they voted on it. With the truth of our economic condition and the real contents of the health care bill beginning to sink in, I don't believe there's a better time to consider repealing ObamaCare than right now. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. This has been a great time tonight. It is a great time in the sense that we get to stand here and explain to the American people what they were not explained to a few years ago. It's a good time to explain to them what they were sold as being something good and something that was going to help in health care, and remember this bill says ``health care'' in its title. But the truth of the matter is it's not about health care, Mr. Speaker; it's about control. It's about who's going to control health care, who's going to control what our government is getting into and what our government should stay out of. I fully support voting this week to repeal ObamaCare and moving forward with an agenda that promotes jobs, that creates better opportunities, because you see what is happening tonight, as my good colleagues have stood here: they've talked about the problems with business; they've talked about the problems with taxes; they've talked about the broken promises. My colleague has spoken of the broken promise of keeping your own health care, of it not adding to the debt, all of which are lies, things that are not true that were not talked about on this House floor just a few years ago. So my problem is let's be honest. Let's talk about what it does do. It begins to make a regulatory framework that is amazing. It wasn't a matter if you read the bill. It didn't matter if you read the bill in 2009 because you wouldn't have known what's in it because at the end of almost every paragraph it would say, oh, by the way, we're going to let this agency promulgate the rules and regulations. You could have read every page and you'd have just known that more bureaucrats were going to tell you what health care was going to be like. Twenty thousand pages of regulations are already on the books, 828 pages in one day. We're paying a lot of folks to do a lot of regulation writing. We're paying a lot of folks to take away the basic rights that we're looking at. You see, you can make an argument this is not about health care, this is about broadening regulatory authority at HHS and at IRS. Oh, wait, IRS. Any thoughts this week about letting them be the regulators of who's paying and who's not paying in our health care system? Excuse me, we're having trouble dealing with what their job is. We don't need them in health care. We've got bigger problems here. But when broken promises come about, we have to remember--what has disturbed me the most about this whole debate tonight is we've heard about businesses; we've heard about taxes; we've heard about some broken promises; but what we've not heard about is health care. We've not really heard about health care in a doctor and patient. As a doctor told me the other day, he said, Just let me practice medicine, which is all I want to do. You see, it's time we talked about health care because this law, instead of helping those who need help, it kicks them off insurance and makes people pay more and does all of the things that it was promised not to do. Doctors are getting out, and new doctors are not going in. And you know who's lost? I can see it right now. The picture I have in my mind is those waiting in the waiting room waiting to see a doctor who need health care, and this law simply leaves them waiting. Let's don't do that. Let's repeal this law. Let's get on with the real business of this House. I appreciate the gentleman yielding me this time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I offer this amendment to ensure that any excess funds as a result of this bipartisan bill are used to reduce the annual Federal budget deficit. I am pleased that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have proposed a commonsense bill that speaks to the heart of the free-market system. The Congressional Budget Office estimates, as a result of this bill, $340 million will be returned to the Federal Government. This amendment ensures that every penny of savings will go toward deficit reduction, furthering the goal of this House to create jobs and encourage economic growth. This body has made significant strides in putting our country back on a path to fiscal prosperity. Passing a budget that will seek to balance in 10 years is no small achievement, but there is still more that we can do. This bill is just one example of savings that we can achieve by allowing innovation and private industry to do what it does best. The underlying bill completes the privatization of the Federal Helium Reserve in a competitive market fashion, respecting hard-earned taxpayer dollars while ensuring the stability of the helium market. As we have seen in the current helium market, innovation thrives when government gets out of the way of private industry. By applying free-market principles, this bill will spur cutting-edge research, development, and production of helium while bringing transparency and responsibility to how taxpayers' dollars are spent. In my home State of Georgia, this legislation draws broad support from job creators such GE Energy, IBM, Kodak, Philips, Siemens, and Texas Instruments. I thank the gentleman from Washington and the gentleman from Massachusetts for their leadership on this issue. This legislation is a perfect example of how good policy knows no party line. With that, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. This is a commonsense amendment that will only enhance the benefits achieved by the underlying bill and by ensuring we privatize deficit reduction and effectively utilize the savings the bill creates. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chair, at this point, I'm pleased to yield 2 minutes to my friend from Georgia (Mr. Scott), the cosponsor of this amendment.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report that the Dawson County High School Junior ROTC recently earned ``gold star'' status. This honor places the Dawson County High School Junior ROTC in the top 10 percent of the Nation. This status is a reflection of each cadet's hard work and the investment of the parents, the instructors, and the community in the Junior ROTC program. As a member of the Air Force Reserve, I have great admiration for the young people involved in Junior ROTC in Georgia and throughout the United States. This important program instills the values of citizenship, service, and personal responsibility in the next generation of leaders. I anticipate great things from these young men and women in the future, and I wish the Dawson County High School Junior ROTC program continued success.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, over the past break, I had the chance to go home to the beautiful Georgia Ninth, where I'm born and raised. And one of the things that I find when I go back that is always refreshing is people seem to want to find answers. They find answers to the problems of their life. They want to know what is happening, and they do not understand inside-the-Beltway-thinking that simply adds more and more talk and more and more rhetoric. Over the past week I have sat in two committees in which the government's own inspectors have found waste, have found duplication, have found fragmentation, in which everything is going in a way in which people back home don't understand. Sometimes we come to this well and we say, People, we need to come together. Well, what we've got to understand is what we have just heard the last 2 weeks from people in our district is that they want to see action. They don't understand sequester when you've got all this money sitting out there that is being wasted and duplication in programs such as three programs to study catfish. As I said in the committee the other day, I've fished for catfish all my life. I don't understand why we need that much inspection. What we need now is action to cut the waste. We've proposed a balanced budget from the Republican perspective. We're going to continue to fight to put our fiscal house in order.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 77 on H. Con. Res. 18, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a death in the family. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' On rollcall No. 78 on H. Con. Res. 19, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a death in the family. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' On rollcall No. 79 on moving the previous question for H. Res. 122, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a death in the family. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' On rollcall No. 80 on H. Res. 122, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a death in the family. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of Georgians and folks all over our Nation who are sick and tired of the budget games in Washington. Ask almost any American what happens if someone spends substantially more money than they take in, and they'll tell you that that individual will be plagued with debt and face limited economic opportunity. But this commonsense reality seems to evade many of my friends in the other body. As evidenced by the recently proposed budget, this so- called plan increases taxes by $1 trillion, proposes $100 billion in new stimulus spending, and will never balance. This mentality is exactly what got our Nation into this fiscal mess in the first place. However, I must commend my friends for at least finally putting down a budget on paper. It took them 4 years, and their plan certainly doesn't propose any new ideas, but at least they've articulated where they stand. However, this administration remains delinquent in their duty to send a budget to Congress. The administration's budget is more than a month overdue, and news reports indicate it may come in April, if at all. They have complained that the delay is the result of Congressional debate surrounding the fiscal cliff and sequester. Someone should tell this administration that using uncertainty created by their own policies to buck their responsibility to craft a budget is unconscionable. Attacking this body's balanced budget approach, when they haven't produced their own plan, unfortunately reveals their willingness to put partisan politics ahead of our Nation's fiscal future. If this administration is truly concerned about the uncertainty, they should send to Congress a responsible balanced budget. This will put our Nation on the path to true fiscal responsibility.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate Mars, Incorporated for being recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the ``best companies to work for.'' Many folks are familiar with the Mars' delicious snacks, such as M&Ms and Snickers. In my home State of Georgia, we have come to know Mars as a great place to work through its merger with Wrigley. Since joining the Mars family in 2008, employees at the Wrigley manufacturing plant in Flowery Branch, Georgia, have benefited from being part of the Mars community. Mars employees are given wonderful opportunities for growth and advancement. As a result, the company boasts a low turnover rate. Mars' strategies have resulted in diversity that strengthens its business model by mentorship opportunities which are built into the company's structure, including a ``reverse internship'' in which a younger employee introduces an executive to social media. Like Wrigley, Mars is truly an American success story. Mars remains a family-owned company that places high value on its human capital, which it demonstrates through significant investment in its 72,000 employees. Through innovation and creativity, Wrigley continues to identify new markets and growth opportunities, such their new Alert chewing gum line. I want to congratulate the hardworking Mars workforce throughout the United States, and especially the Wrigley employees in Georgia, for building a great company. The millions of Americans who enjoy Juicy Fruit, Life Savers, and your other wonderful products wish you continued success.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation and I thank the gentleman from Indiana for his continued leadership on this issue.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman in bringing this forward and the comments that have been had. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this legislation because I believe the American people have had enough hypocrisy. This is not about Federal workers. This is about financial reality. This is what we've got to look at right now. What I have told my staff, and I have told many in our district too many times that we cannot let the emotion of the moment miss the honesty of the moment. Last month, many Americans saw their own paychecks decrease as a result of a payroll tax increase. While average Americans were feeling the effects of this tax increase at home, the President was pushing through a pay raise for Federal employees and, yes, including Members of Congress. There are hardworking men and women in my district who are struggling to make ends meet. They would love a raise, but, unlike the administration, they don't have the power to unilaterally take taxpayer dollars and increase their own paycheck. Instead, they have sacrificed, made cuts, and they've gotten rid of the extras in their daily lives and found ways to live within their means. They have done these things using a process that the President could learn from. Families across the State of Georgia and across the Nation sit down and decide their priorities, and they make tough decisions on how to spend their money. I cannot support the government taking on more debt to give raises to Members of Congress and the Federal employees at this time. I submitted an amendment on this to Rules Committee extending this pay freeze through the end of next year. I'm glad to see my friend from across the aisle from Massachusetts would agree with me on that, because I believe we need to resolve this issue and move forward with serious reforms to address our Nation's fiscal crisis. Just as millions of Americans have done for their entire lives, Washington needs to learn to make do. America does not need pay raises for bureaucrats. They need real leadership. They need real reform and a real commitment to putting our country back on a path of prosperity. American taxpayers deserve no less.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate my hometown--the city of Gainesville, Georgia--for its leadership in creating and sustaining jobs despite the economic challenges facing our Nation. A new Milken Institute study ranked Gainesville as the best- performing small city in Georgia last year. The study found that 24 new and expanded industries created 1,200 jobs, retained 742 existing jobs, and generated $164 million in capital investment for Gainesville and Hall County in 2012. This performance puts Gainesville in the top 10 small cities for job growth in the U.S. I am proud that Gainesville continues to be a leader in economic development. Gainesville was ranked sixth in job growth nationwide from 2010 to 2011 and was ranked second in job growth from 2011 to 2012. From food and auto services to manufacturing and retail, more businesses are calling Gainesville home, which means more job opportunities for Georgians. I commend the leadership of Gainesville and Hall County for creating an environment where businesses can thrive, and I look forward to their continued success. I hope that other cities across the Nation, as well as Congress, will look to Gainesville as an example of how job creation can be achieved even in a difficult economic climate.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to encourage this body to support our Nation's vital manufacturing sector by reducing burdensome regulations. Nearly 12 million Americans--almost 10 percent of the workforce--are employed directly in manufacturing. During last week's district work period, I had the opportunity to visit part of that workforce at the Tenneco facility in Hartwell, as well as the SKF Industries plant in Flowery Branch. I'm proud of the topnotch work being done by Georgia manufacturers. Companies like SKF have been recognized for the high level of investment the company places in employees. Last month, the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce awarded SKF for its employee recognition efforts. Manufacturing provides a great opportunity for folks, including those in Hartwell and Flowery Branch, to work hard and earn a good living so they can provide for their families. We cannot let their livelihood be threatened by out-of-control Federal regulations. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to promote a reasonable regulatory framework that will help manufacturing and our entire economy to thrive.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of this amendment because in the 60 seconds that I speak before this body, the Federal Government will spend $7 million. Madam Chair, in the 60 seconds I speak before this body, the Federal Government will borrow $3 million. Madam Chair, I rise in support of this amendment because in Washington political will has replaced principled leadership, and our economy is paying the price. These discussions over spending cuts and fiscal priorities can be difficult. Telling the President that he has failed to lead can make my friends on the other side of the aisle uncomfortable, but we cannot let the emotion of the moment override the honesty of the moment. Sustainable debt is a myth. The number of people in Federal programs has grown faster than the U.S. population, and continuing to grow our Federal debt is like driving with the emergency brake on--it will not get us where we want to go and do significant damage in the process. The more government borrows, the more interest it pays. Last year, the U.S. spent $220 billion in net interest on its debt, and this number will only continue to grow unless serious reforms are made. This is a commonsense amendment that our constituents deserve to see passed. This amendment forces Washington to confront the very same reality that American taxpayers face every day: you cannot spend more than you earn. I support this amendment and the underlying bill, and thank the gentleman from Indiana and my colleague from Georgia for their leadership.

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I thank my friend from Indiana. It's good to be here, and it's good to get started on what we've been sent here to do. I think that's the great thing about us coming together tonight and sharing, from a freshman perspective, our first few days in which we've been thrown into a Congress that really, I don't believe, any have experienced before. There have been tough challenges, but I think this is going to be an interesting time for us all. I appreciate us getting together tonight as we go forward. Mr. Speaker, I come from the great Georgia Ninth. The northeast Georgia district is full of mountain values and common sense. When we look at the district, as I traveled around for almost 18 months, what I kept hearing from people all along is that they wanted their life to look ahead to something of a brighter future. I think right now, from an economic perspective, when we look at what's going on, that is what they are most concerned about. They're looking at what they have at the national level and they're looking at our debt, they're looking at our economic and our budget issues and they're saying, How is this effective? How is this going to be better for my kids and my grandkids? I thought to myself as I was traveling around and I began--when I ran, I told my constituents, I run for three reasons, and they were Jordan, Copelan, and Cameron. They're my three children. I told them that they represent not only my three kids and their future, but they represented the kids and the grandkids of the district and the nieces and nephews of those that everybody in my district lived with and cared for, because it is their future that we're dealing with here. It's their future. When we talk about the economics and when we talk about the problem we're in, this is the area in which we have got to work as a Congress. We cannot shirk the duty. We cannot pass it along. They expect us to act, and they expect us to act in a way in which, as we look forward, actually makes a difference in their lives. President Obama recently told our Speaker that he doesn't believe we have a debt problem. We're $16 trillion in the hole, and our out-of- touch Commander in Chief doesn't think we have a serious problem on our hands. As my friend from North Carolina just stated--I want to go with the entire quote, and this is what was said: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. ``Leadership'' means the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit. As we look at this issue, it really amazes me because I want to focus not on this debt issue but on basically what it says here. It says: America has a debt problem, and it's a failure of leadership. If it were a failure of leadership back in 2006, it must be a catastrophic nightmare at this point because all we've done is increase it. We've got to do better. We're borrowing almost half of every dollar we spend. If we don't provide serious measures to take care of it, we will leave our country in an absolute debacle for our kids and grandchildren, and that's simply not a price I'm willing to pay. Our President just recently talked about not only a debt problem but that he doesn't believe we have a spending problem. I thought to myself that we don't have a spending problem; yet one of our colleagues, Representative Lankford, stated just the other day that in 2012 we'll have the third highest revenue year ever in the Federal Government, and yet we're still discussing the fact that we don't have a spending problem. I'm sorry, Mr. President, this is not leadership. This is failure. We cannot continue to give the President and those on the other side of the aisle a blank check. Any discussion of raising the debt ceiling must also include an examination of serious reforms that need to be made to entitlement and discretionary spending. On January 2, 2013, President Obama stated that we cannot continue to cut our way to prosperity. Mr. President, on the contrary, we cannot tax and spend our way to prosperity either. I think tonight we're starting what, I hope, will become a regular occurrence for this freshman class, my friend from Indiana. As we look at it, it's what I believe we have to do, and I believe it's about telling our story and about telling why conservative principles matter and how conservative principles, when we explain how we can get debt off their backs and spending under control, mean freedom for their kids to have a better future so that they can go to college and so that they can start that new business and employ other people. I believe America's greatest gift was found in the free enterprise system, and that's what we can encourage by getting our own fiscal house in order here tonight. This is the time for us to come together, and I'm so pleased to stand with you and with the other freshmen here tonight. We're here to work, and we're here to make some hard choices and to realize this is all in America's best interests. I appreciate your letting me be a part of this tonight. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore