Lincoln Diaz-Balart

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier). (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Royce).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Ms. Pingree, for yielding the time and I yield myself such time as I may consume. What concerns me about this scandalous AIG bonus issue is that the Obama administration was asleep at the wheel. Two weeks ago, the President's press secretary was asked, is the administration confident that it knows what happened to the tens of billions of dollars given to AIG? The response from the President's press secretary was, ``It is confident.'' Yesterday, we learned that the Obama administration asked the Senate Banking Committee chairman, Mr. Dodd, to insert a provision in last month's so-called economic stimulus legislation that had the effect of authorizing AIG's bonuses. First, that gentleman who I just referred to said that he didn't know how the bonus authorization had made it into the legislation, but the next day he said yes, he authorized it after being asked to do so by the Obama administration. Was the administration complicit? I think this is an issue that Congress needs to investigate. Yesterday, I made a motion on this floor that would have allowed debate on H.R. 1577, a bill introduced by my colleague, Representative Paulsen, and the rest of the Republican freshmen, to deal with the AIG bonus scandal. My motion was defeated, but it garnered bipartisan support. Every Republican voted for it, and so did eight Democrats on what is a procedural motion--very interesting. Although the motion failed, I am pleased that it attracted the attention of the majority leadership and they finally decided to take action on this scandal. So, here we are today. Although I support the bills we will consider today, I find it quite unfortunate the way in which the majority leadership has decided to handle this scandal. The heavy-handed process they are using will block all Members of this House from offering amendments. It will also block every procedural right the minority has to shape legislation, including the motion to recommit. It will even limit debate on this important issue to a total of 40 minutes. Why is the majority refusing Members to participate in the legislative process, Mr. Speaker? This is an issue that Members on both sides of the aisle feel outrage about, so why not allow Members to participate? Is it because the majority is afraid of the minority's thoughtful ideas? Actually, as Congress debated the so-called stimulus bill, it was the Republicans--the thoughtful opposition--who advocated for transparency and accountability, but again, the majority blocked effort after effort by the minority to participate in the legislative process. That is unfortunate. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. At this time it is my privilege, Mr. Speaker, to yield an additional 2 minutes to Dr. Foxx of North Carolina.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I'm ready.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend from California (Ms. Matsui) for the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. It can sometimes seem that we are surrounded by news of selfishness and greed. I think, very appropriately, and I will discuss this later, the American people are outraged by an example of really cynicism intertwined with greed in this AIG example. More about that later. However, those individuals, those few individuals, those cynics who utilized taxpayer dollars to give out bonuses for AIG, those really few individuals, Mr. Speaker, when you think about it in comparison to the myriad of individuals who really commit themselves to the service of others through volunteerism, those who serve are a beacon of compassion and hope for us all. Community service is one of the most gratifying, rewarding, fulfilling ways people can spend their time and their efforts. Community service has always been a vital pillar of American society. It's one of the things that distinguishes the United States and exalts the American people. Volunteers all over the United States dedicate millions of hours to their contemporaries in the hope of making people's lives better. Through their selfless work, volunteers help improve the lives of millions of Americans. In 1993, the Congress, with my support, passed legislation creating AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service to administer and coordinate Federal service community programs. Since then, almost 500,000 Americans have served with thousands of not-for-profit organizations, public agencies and faith-based organizations nationwide. These citizens tackle many unmet needs in our communities. They provide for our youth through tutoring, mentoring, and after-school programs. They provide for the disadvantaged by building homes for the needy and reaching out to misguided youth. They conduct neighborhood patrols; they care for our environment; respond to disasters, engage citizens in public, health, safety, and emergency preparedness services. And they support those who have served and continue to serve our Nation in the Armed Forces by meeting the needs of our Nation's veterans, active duty servicemembers, and their families. They do, oftentimes, exemplary work. The underlying legislation, known as the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, referred to as the GIVE Act because of its initials, will reauthorize the national service programs administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. This reauthorization sets the goal to recruit 250,000 volunteers for AmeriCorps by 2014. It will also create service opportunities for middle school and high school students through the Summer of Service program. The legislation emphasizes the critical role of service in meeting the national priorities of emergency and disaster preparedness, and it will help improve program integrity. I am pleased that the committee, the Committee on Education and Labor, worked in a bipartisan manner to reauthorize this program and to include provisions that will make the programs more effective and efficient, responding to State and local needs with performance orientation. It goes to show, Mr. Speaker, that when there is a willingness to work together and to negotiate, we can bring forth good pieces of legislation with bipartisan support. I know the majority is trumpeting this rule with which we bring this underlying legislation to the floor because it will allow Members to debate all of the amendments that were submitted to the Rules Committee by Republicans. And that's appropriate. Nevertheless, I remind my colleagues the majority does this when the underlying legislation is uncontroversial. Even though the majority promised to be the most open Congress in history, if the majority is so proud of this rule, then they should allow a more open process when controversial bills come before the floor as well. I urge Americans everywhere, regardless of whether they take part in AmeriCorps, to volunteer and give back to their communities. The rewards are extraordinary to both the volunteer and to the community. As Winston Churchill said, ``We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.'' I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, first yielding myself such time as I may consume, I'm very happy that we have gotten the message to the majority leadership and that they have set a Rules meeting, we have just been informed, for 3 p.m. to address this issue. It shows that the rules protect the minority and that the minority can bring issues of great importance to the American people and get the attention of the majority. So I'm glad that the majority will be addressing this at 3. But we don't have to wait until 3. It is 11:30. We can address it now. And then after we address it--we are not saying that we won't pass the GIVE Act. But let's address at 11:30, not at 3 in the Rules Committee, this issue that is of great importance to the American people. I yield 2 minutes to my friend, Dr. Foxx, from North Carolina.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the rule before us brings to the floor the GIVE Act, which is a bill to reauthorize the National Service programs. And the majority on our side supports that. I support that legislation. It is a good piece of legislation. It has the support of the ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee, and we are in support of the underlying legislation. What we are saying, though, is that--and by the way, I reiterate that I'm pleased that we have caught the attention of the majority leadership and that they have convened a rules meeting for 3 p.m. to deal with the issue of AIG, the outrage of the AIG bonuses. At a time when the Federal Government is propping up AIG with over $170 billion in taxpayer funds, it is unconscionable that AIG is giving its executives bonuses, some of them which are over $1 million. That is why today I will be asking for a ``no'' vote on the previous question. We don't have to wait until a rules meeting and then who knows when they will bring to the floor--if they do--legislation. We don't know what it will say. What I'm saying is that right now we can amend this rule and allow the House to consider H.R. 1577, a bill by my colleagues, Representatives Paulsen and Lance, that will require that the Treasury Department implement a plan within the next 2 weeks to recoup the AIG bonuses. And in order to prevent another bonus controversy, the bill will require that any future bonus payments from TARP funds be approved by the Treasury Department in writing, including any contractual bonus obligations. Now, Mr. Speaker, Americans are rightfully upset over the use of taxpayer funds to give executives million-dollar bonuses. They expect the administration will keep a watchful eye on the proper use of bailout funds. Just 2 weeks ago, the President's spokesman said that they were confident that they knew how every dime was being spent at AIG. Well, obviously, Mr. Speaker, that doesn't seem to be the case. That is the reason that I am calling for Members of this House to vote ``no'' on the previous question. The Paulsen-Lance legislation is just another example of how the responsible and vigilant opposition, the Republicans, we are working to provide transparency and oversight of taxpayer funds in the TARP program. We must demand that the administration provide proper accounting of TARP funds. Americans deserve to know how their tax dollars are being utilized. Now, if Members support transparency and oversight of taxpayer funds in the TARP program, then they should vote ``no'' on the previous question. Now, our friends on the other side of the aisle said they have discovered the issue, and they are calling a rules meeting at 3 p.m. to deal with it. We don't know what they are going to be bringing forward. But we have brought forward legislation. Our colleagues have filed legislation, Representatives Paulsen and Lance, to deal with this issue today and to require the Treasury Department to recoup those unconscionable bonuses within 2 weeks. And we should vote on it today. So I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and to make a statement: Enough is enough. Enough of these bailouts so that millionaires can become billionaires and billionaires can give their cronies bonuses with taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough. And we can vote on it right now, Mr. Speaker. By the way, we will vote on the amendment on the legislation with regard to volunteerism. This does not negate that. But before, we must and we should address the issue of the unconscionable bonuses by defeating the previous question. I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and extraneous materials immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to a brilliant new Member of this House who is already leaving a mark on Congress by facing the important issues of our day, Mr. Paulsen of Minnesota.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure at this time to yield 5 minutes to a distinguished colleague from the Rules Committee, who has brought to our committee great wisdom and tenacity, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 968. My name was added in error.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank all of our colleagues who have taken to the floor to speak about this underlying legislation, which is important. Again, I want to thank Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica for their hard work in bringing forward this legislation and allowing the House to consider it today. I see that it's Thursday and the House has been waiting all week to get to this legislation, so I commend the majority for finally bringing the legislation to the floor on Thursday. Having seen the reiteration of bipartisan support for the underlying legislation, I do so again, and once again I thank all our colleagues that have come to speak on the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I yield the gentlewoman an additional minute.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Arcuri), for the time, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. American taxpayers have invested billions of dollars in our sewage treatment infrastructure resulting in decades of progress in reducing water-borne illness from contaminated drinking water. By the way, Mr. Speaker, if you look at the history of the 20th century, the single factor that contributed most to public health in the United States, and in the developed world generally, was the development, the spreading, if you will, throughout society of the ability of people to have access to clean water, clean drinking water. And so what we're dealing with today is perhaps more important than at first glance, it seems. Now, unfortunately, whenever there has been, for example, an accidental breach in sewage treatment facilities, we see the repercussions of polluted water to public health, to our communities, and also to important industries such as tourism. That is why it is sound economic and environmental policy to invest in effective sewage treatment that ensures that the United States continues to have a healthy and vibrant aquatic ecosystem and clean water. But the cost for these systems is expensive. In south Florida, the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department evaluated its wastewater needs through the year 2020 and determined that in order to maintain adequate transmission systems capability, treatment, disposal and the prevention of sanitary sewer overflows, that department alone in south Florida would have to spend over $2 billion. The cause of many sanitary sewer overflow events is that the infrastructure is failing due to structural deterioration and corrosion. So Federal funding, such as is provided in the Water Quality Investment Act of 2009, will give additional assistance to proactively identify the infrastructure requiring replacement prior to failure. Included in the underlying bill is $13.8 billion in Federal grants over 5 years to capitalize the Clean Water State Revolving Funds for the construction of publicly owned wastewater treatment works and other wastewater infrastructure. And it provides low-interest loans to communities for wastewater infrastructure. These grants will encourage communities to consider alternative and innovative processes, materials, and technologies that maximize the potential for efficient water use, reuse, and conservation. I would like to thank Chairman Oberstar and Ranking Member Mica for their hard work on this important bill that will help to keep our water safe and healthy and will also keep our ecosystem clean of wastewater. Mr. Speaker, as you know, the underlying legislation consolidates five bills that passed the House in the 110th Congress. In the 110th Congress, the House considered two of these bills under modified rules. The majority set a precedent, thus, that these bills should be considered under at least modified open rules. Modified open rules allow Members in the House to debate and consider all amendments that are preprinted in the Congressional Record. So why not do the same today? Those two bills, even with a modified open rule, easily passed the House. So is the majority so afraid of debate that, even on a noncontroversial bill like this, they feel they must restrict debate? It's a shame. It is unfortunate that the majority continues to backpedal on the open debate precedent--even that they themselves set. Yet, considering the way the majority has run this House in the last Congress and in this Congress, it's not a surprise; it is just the way the majority conducts business. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Thank you. I hope my friend did understand that I praised the underlying legislation.

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from Michigan (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida

Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of the FY 2009 Omnibus. Commerce, Justice, Science Requesting Member: Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart Bill Number: FY 2009 Omnibus Account: Department of Justice, Byrne Discretionary Grants account Legal Name of Requesting Entity: National Police Athletic/Activities League Address of Requesting Entity: 658 West Indiantown Road, Suite #201, Jupiter, FL 33458 Description of Request: I have secured $400,000 to develop and maintain a national youth crime prevention that promotes interaction and trust between law enforcement officers and youth. Primary focus on underserved communities where there are high incidences of youth crime. Funding will also be used towards the creation of pilot program to address gang related crime in several states; including FL, MD, NJ, OH, CA, PA and TX.