Kathleen Dahlkemper

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, today, checks will go in the mail to 189,000 seniors across Pennsylvania, including thousands in my district in Western Pennsylvania. This will help them pay for prescription drugs. These $250 checks are on the way to seniors who fell victim to the prescription drug donut hole in Medicare. The $250 checks are just the first step in reducing prescription drug prices for seniors under the new health care reform. Next year, seniors in the donut hole will get a 50 percent discount on name-brand prescription drugs and a 75 percent discount on generics. The average Pennsylvania senior will save $700 next year on prescription drugs because of the health care reform bill. This is a down payment on reducing prescription drug costs for seniors and eventually closing the donut hole altogether. I am proud that our health care reform legislation is helping seniors during this difficult time.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, when I was sworn into office in January of last year, our economy was on the verge of collapse. Thanks to decisive action in Congress, our economy is turning around. We have created half a million jobs so far in 2010. Our country is on track to create more jobs this year than we created in the entire eight years of the Bush administration. In western Pennsylvania, our strong work ethic is driving our recovery. Companies like Talisman Energy and Kold-Draft Industries are creating new jobs in my district because western Pennsylvania is a good place to do business. Things are improving, but we still have a long way to go. We must continue to invest in American businesses and the American people. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work together so we can help create jobs, support our businesses, and further our recovery.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Will the gentleman yield?

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank the gentleman. The facts are what we are talking about tonight, and I just want to quote from Business Week, April 8, 2010. This is a quote by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. ``When you take it all together, the response to the recession was massive, unprecedented, and ultimately successful.'' And that's what we are showing by the numbers here tonight. Even the Obama critics, such as Phil Swagel, Assistant Treasury Secretary for Economic Policy under George Bush, acknowledged the White House policies have been successful. ``Their economic policies, including the stimulus,'' which I like to call the recovery bill, ``have helped move the economy in the right direction.'' And so the facts are what we are showing here tonight. And I yield back.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the Congresswoman, my friend from Florida, for bringing us together tonight to talk about just the very positive signs that we're seeing in our economy, the positive signs that have really come from the policies enacted by this Congress over the past 17 months since I've come to Congress. And I wanted to kind of go back to my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire) when he was talking about the GDP numbers and this is, I think, just a great graph to show. You were talking about in 2009, the first quarter, we saw a drop, 6.4 in GDP, just over 6 points there. And that was prior to the President taking over and us just coming into our 111th Congress. And here, with the policies that we've enacted, this shows the fourth quarter of '09, almost 6 points increase. And you can definitely see the change in GDP in the final years of the Bush administration to the first year in the Obama administration and the 111th Congress, very stark numbers here showing the difference. I think one of the most exciting things that I've seen is the manufacturing increases. And you mentioned that, Mr. Altmire, the fact that we are seeing manufacturing increase in this country, the largest 10-month gain since 1997. And I think there's so many of us here who believe we've got to be making things in this country. And from western Pennsylvania, my colleague and I, and certainly from New York State and I'm sure from Florida too, we really come from a manufacturing base, and a base that hired many people and gave them a good living wage and produced great product here in this country, and we really have slipped when you look at the global economy in terms of our manufacturing base. And so to see those manufacturing numbers returning and growing stronger to me is very, very encouraging; 290,000 jobs, as was mentioned, created in April. Certainly a small portion of those from the Census, but it is estimated 231,000 of those were created in the private sector. Looking back over the 8 years of the Bush administration, only 1 million jobs were created over those 8 years. During the President Clinton 8 years, 22 million jobs were created. So far this year, we've created 500,000 jobs. One million during the Bush administration; 500,000 so far this year. Now, for all of us, losing any jobs is not good. And too many people are still out of work. But I see positive signs that really show that the policies we've enacted, particularly since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, have moved our country into a positive direction for those who have really been out there struggling. And what I think is so exciting is the can-do attitude of American businesses and the American people that, when times are tough, the American people find a way through this, and we end up being stronger, more productive, more innovative, more creative, we diversify, and we find a way to get through this. That can-do attitude that Americans have certainly has worked well, along with the policies that we've had here in Congress in this last year and a half, moving this country from losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every month to gaining hundreds of thousands of jobs. The GDP levels that were dropping significantly are now on the rise. And now I'd like to yield to my good friend, also a fellow freshman here in the Congress, Mr. Tonko.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my gratitude to the United Way of Butler County, Pennsylvania, and their partners in the labor community for their annual service program Butler County Labor Month of Caring. The Butler County United Labor Council and the Butler County Building and Construction Trades are working with the United Way to help make homes safer in Butler. Safety equipment like smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors save lives. Yet many homes, particularly those of senior citizens, don't have these devices installed and working. Every Saturday throughout the month of May in Butler County, volunteer workers will install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in homes whose residents cannot do so themselves due to age, health, or income limitations. On behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I thank the Butler County labor community and United Way for their generosity in giving the gift of safety.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 249, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Chairman, my amendment to the IMPROVE Acquisition Act of 2010 will help cut wasteful spending and ensure that taxpayer funds used for our national defense are spent responsibly and efficiently. The agencies charged with our defense have a responsibility to ensure that taxpayers get the highest return on their investment while providing for the safety of our soldiers and of our Nation. My amendment gives the Department of Defense a way to save 15 percent or more on its existing contracts for nondevelopmental items by allowing contract officers to opt for more efficient proposals as long as doing so does not breach existing contracts. This legislation furthers our commitment to fiscal responsibility in defense spending by putting performance metrics where they are needed most: on the service and other contracts that make up the majority of our defense budget. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and to support the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer congratulations to the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy of Erie, Pennsylvania, on their second straight victory at the United States Academic Decathlon. On Saturday, Collegiate Academy's nine-member Academic Decathlon team won the Division II small school title and placed sixth out of 40 schools overall at the competition in Omaha. The students showcased their knowledge in 10 subjects: music, art, language and literature, science, history, economics, essay, interview, speech, and math. Coach Colleen Holmes led these bright students to victory and helped four team members--Rachel Vandevert, Bronte Seath, Stan Tuznik, and Reeve Hunsaker--earn individual medals at the competition. Sean Carney, Ben Engel, John Luke Galla, Cullen Skinner, and Rose Heid rounded out this champion team. On behalf of the United States House of Representatives, congratulations to Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy's Academic Decathlon team on this great victory and on your future successes.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 1033, expressing the House of Representatives' support for April as National Autism Awareness Month. There are an estimated 1.5 million Americans living with autism, a developmental disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate and to interact with others. A recent report shows that autism prevalence is on the rise. It now occurs in one out of every 110 births in the United States. We need to take action to address the causes of autism now and provide support to individuals and families affected by the disorder. National Autism Awareness Month is an important advocacy tool for those affected by autism and by those affected by Asperger's to raise awareness about a similar but distinct condition. Asperger's disorder is distinctive from autism in that its symptoms are less severe. Individuals with Asperger's often possess above-average intelligence and want social interaction with other people, but their condition is an obstacle to communication. Americans with Asperger's and autism have so much to offer. With the right support to help overcome the barriers of their disorders, they can share their talents and can be productive, engaged members of our communities. I am proud to offer my support to National Autism Awareness Month, and I urge my colleagues to support not only this resolution but individuals and families affected by autism and Asperger's throughout our country.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the women of Villa Maria Academy from Erie, Pennsylvania, my hometown, for their extraordinary basketball team on their second straight PIAA Class AA State Basketball Championship. On March 26, Villa Maria sealed their state championship after defeating York Catholic High School 52-44 at Penn State University. More than 2,000 people filled the stands as the Villa Maria Victors lived up to their name. The team was led by seniors Kayla McBride, Ashley Prischak, Kaylyn Maruca, Cara Wyant, Kelly Ek, and Erica Webber, who all helped secure Villa's back-to-back State championships. Coach Scott Dibble steered this great team to victory and finished the season with a 28-2 record. As a Villa Maria alum and former basketball player, I am so proud to offer well-deserved congratulations to the Villa Victors on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives. I can't wait to see next year's three-peat.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. I just arrived back in Washington today after a few days back in the district. I actually spent a lot of time with my dairy farmers and actually many of my different members of the agriculture community. And our colleague from Vermont and those of you from California, you have many dairy farmers in your States also. And they are struggling, they are struggling. They are struggling to get the loans that they need. They've had a double whammy. They have had a decrease in milk prices that have a lot of other factors. But when they go to the banks, the banks' hands are often tied, and the banks' hands have been tied because of what happened on Wall Street. Now, we talk about financial reform protecting Main Street from really the greed and recklessness--and I don't think we use that word enough, the greed that happened on Wall Street; it's not only Main Street, it's the country road. We need to protect our farmers and our small businesses and our entrepreneurs from that greed of Wall Street. I was here, obviously, when we voted for that piece of legislation, the Wall Street reform, the Consumer Protection Act. Actually, unanimously our colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted against that bill and yet it is something that really is going to ensure the protection of our farmers and, as we said, our small business owners. I'm a small business owner. Our company every year depends on that line of credit from our community bank. And we have a very good relationship, as our colleague from Vermont talked about, that relationship that our community banks, our hometown banks, they're doing the job that we expect them to do, but on Wall Street it was different. And then they get the bailouts. And these figures on your graph right there are fairly shocking in terms of Wall Street paying billions when my farmers are getting up at 4:30 in the morning to milk cows knowing that they're actually losing money every day. They are just trying to find a way to stay afloat, and yet these other individuals on Wall Street are making billions. So what we need to do is enforce rules that will keep these big banks from making bad decisions and really betting against our country, betting against individuals, betting against homeowners in our country, and ensure that taxpayers never again have to pay for these bailouts for these financial institutions that were really too big to fail and we had to do what we had to do to keep them solvent and to keep our financial system rolling. But the future is what we're looking at here. So we've got, as you've got up there now, the Wall Street squeeze, these small businesses who are still struggling, as has been already mentioned, to find those loans to, first of all, keep their businesses afloat, whether it's a farmer or manufacturer or someone who owns a retail store, or whether to add on; maybe they want to increase their business right now but they can't find that loan. This all goes back to what happened on Wall Street, a system that really benefited the special interests, the lobbyists, and the big banks on Wall Street. I was very proud to vote for that piece of legislation. We need to get that piece of legislation voted on in the other body and get it out so that we can protect those in Pennsylvania's Third District, those in California, Vermont, and across this country who are just out there working hard every day trying to make a living, trying to provide for their families. So financial accountability, that's what we are looking for here. And I appreciate the gentleman bringing this forward tonight.

Ms. DAHLKEMPER

Ms. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, Tax Day is tomorrow, and thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act middle class families in western Pennsylvania and throughout the country are seeing big tax returns this year. The Recovery Act provided tax cuts for 99 percent of working Pennsylvanians and resulted in a 10 percent increase in the average tax refund this year. That's a big help to families in my district who are working hard to pay their bills. The Recovery Act extended the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, and college tax credits for families and students. First-time homebuyers benefit from a tax credit of up to $8,000, and businesses can write off new equipment purchases and increase bonus depreciation. Americans are saving an estimated $222 billion in taxes this year thanks to the Recovery Act. I am proud that through the work we have been doing here in Congress we have lowered the tax burden for my hardworking constituents.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank the gentleman; and I want to thank the leadership for allowing myself and my colleagues, Mr. Lipinski and Mr. Kanjorski, to bring forward this very important but very sad resolution. It is with a very heavy heart today that I rise to offer House Resolution 1246 expressing sympathy to the people of Poland in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash that killed the country's President, First Lady, and 94 others on April 10, 2010. President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, Poland's army chief, navy chief commander, governor of the Polish central bank, other lawmakers, aides, and state officials were lost when their plane crashed in Western Russia. The delegation was traveling to a memorial service to honor 22,000 Polish officers killed in Russia's Katyn forest by the Soviet secret police in 1940. We offer our condolences and sympathy to the Polish people and Polish Americans as we mourn the loss of President Kaczynski, his wife, and other great leaders lost in this tragedy. President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman and leader in the Solidarity movement. He will be long remembered for his commitment to freedom, democracy, and human dignity. Today, we stand in solidarity with more than 38 millions Poles in Poland and 9 million Americans of Polish descent now residing in the United States, including more than 14,000 Polish Americans in my hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. Polish Americans have made great contributions to our Nation's livelihood and culture, and we are grateful for their presence in the United States. Our hearts go out to our Polish brothers and sisters across the globe who share in this horrible loss. In this time of mourning, let us remember the words of St. Peter, ``And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.'' I urge my colleagues to stand in solidarity with Poland and support our resolution.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Madam Speaker, the new health care reform legislation will strengthen Medicare for the 118,000 beneficiaries in my district and for 45 million individuals across this country. Seniors in Medicare will receive free preventative care under this new reform and no copays for preventative services. Every year, almost 13,000 seniors in my district are forced to pay the full cost of their prescription drugs because of the Medicare part D doughnut hole. Under the new reform, they will receive a $250 rebate to pay for these prescriptions this year, and the doughnut hole will completely close by 2020. The new health care reform strengthens Medicare and ensures that our seniors get the quality, affordable care they deserve.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this health care legislation.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Mr. Speaker, I look forward tonight in this next hour to discuss the Democratic small business agenda, one that I believe will really help to bring our country further out of the recession that we are now climbing out of. I am glad that some of my colleagues are able to join me tonight as we talk about this agenda going forward. As our country struggles to overcome the effects of the financial crisis and economic recession, we must look for innovative ways to help create new jobs and foster private sector growth. We must act aggressively to counter the job losses of the past 2 years. And those job losses have been great. More than 8 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in late 2007. Our Nation's unemployment rate is near 10 percent, and in many areas well above 10 percent. Job losses are on the decline, which is good news amidst so many months of recession, but we still have a very long way to go. The number of long-term unemployed individuals in the United States is extremely high, totaling 6.1 million people as of last month. That is 6.1 million people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. That is nearly 7 months of unemployment. And approximately 2.5 million people are considered marginally attached to the labor force, meaning they want work, but because the job market is so uninviting they have not looked for work in the last 4 weeks. One of our Nation's greatest historical strengths has always been our optimism. But when faced with a long-term, gradual recovery, as we are today, it is understandable that patience wanes and it becomes difficult to retain the optimism that has served us so well in the past. That is why we must act aggressively and decisively to help our private sector grow and create jobs. I believe the best place to start is the area of our economy that has the greatest record of success in creating jobs, and that is our small business sector. As a former small business owner--my husband is still running the business--I have seen firsthand the power of small businesses in our communities. A grocery store can transform an urban landscape, improve the health and lower crime in neighborhoods that others may have thought was a lost cause. A retail store or restaurant can energize a community by drawing patrons to lesser traveled areas. A small business can turn an empty street into a destination for customers and tourists. Manufacturers and producers can create hubs of commerce and employment when the jobs they create directly beget indirect jobs. Manufacturers need supplies and equipment to create their products, and their workers need a place to eat lunch and to shop. When small businesses grow and prosper, their communities reap the benefits. Small businesses are the engine of economic growth and job creation in the United States, and they've been for years. Over the last 15 years, small businesses have created over 65 percent of the Nation's new jobs, approximately 14.5 million jobs. Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms. That means less than 1 percent of our employers are big corporations. Small businesses are the starting point for economic success. The small businesses of today are the success stories of tomorrow. It's small businesses that create the technologies that profoundly affect our lives and our culture--medical devices that regulate heartbeats, software that allows us to connect with people across the globe, products that rid our ground water of arsenic. These are just a few of the examples of innovations of small businesses. The American entrepreneurial spirit will help drive our economy out of recession, creating jobs in innovation along the way. That is why we must do all we can to help businesses, small businesses, grow and prosper. I would now like to yield to my good friend, Mr. Tonko from New York.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I think the gentleman makes a great point. As you talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, I think the part of that bill that we maybe fail to get the message out there about is the reinvestment side. In the beginning, we were trying to help those who were hurting most, those who needed extension of unemployment or needed help with COBRA. But now we see many of our small businesses are actually involved in the reinvestment side as we're actually reinvesting in our economy. One of the exciting things I got to see was a new biomass heating unit for three different businesses. One is a school district-owned business, one is a recreation center, and one is a career center in one of my communities. And I asked them about the project, $3.2 million project, $500,000 of that coming from the Reinvestment Act. And I asked them how important that money was to them, and they said that was what they needed to get over the hump. This is going to create new jobs in our region on the construction side, and then jobs beyond that. But our small businesses will be involved in putting this whole new system in, and it's going to actually save a lot of money for these three organizations in the long run and take us, as you say, to a cleaner economy as we go forward. So there certainly are some very exciting things. Our agenda really started with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And it is what has taken us out of the recession. And one of the things we need to talk about is the aggressive agenda that we have, as Democrats, for small businesses, to give them the support they need to create jobs and speed the recovery. And one of those is access to capital. I'm sure we all travel around our districts and hear from our small businesses that they can't get the capital they need. They want to grow their business. They see positive signs, and we need to be there. And our agenda, I think, is going to take them there. For every small business, they need capital to grow, and this is really the first piece of the puzzle. But the tight credit has limited their capacity. So we need to provide alternate means for small businesses to access capital to grow, and that's why we have a couple of different pieces of legislation. One I have introduced, which is the Express Loans Improvement Act, H.R. 4598, to increase the availability and the utility of SBA express loans, a vital source of working capital for small businesses. And so I would certainly like to thank people who've come on that bill. And I want to thank particularly Congresswoman Bean because she helped to introduce that legislation with me. There are a number of other loans programs through the SBA that we're working to improve for our small businesses that will help them access the capital that will help them to grow. Right now, I would like to yield to one of our newest Members from California, certainly a very welcome addition to our Democratic caucus and to Congress as a whole.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank my friend from California. Now I would like to yield to my friend from Michigan (Mr. Peters).

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank my friend from Michigan who I know is just out there every day fighting for jobs in Michigan and fighting for this country to make sure that we have a robust and strategic plan going forward. And many of your pieces of legislation that you have brought forward will do that. I'm really glad you brought up MEP, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which I'm also a big fan of. I think that we need to make sure it is funded and funded in a way that our communities don't lose the funding if their States don't have the money. So I'm glad that you're working on that, and I appreciate your work in that area. I'm also glad you brought up the Recovery Act tax relief. Again, there are so many parts about the Recovery Act that we don't talk about enough, and it gets stuck as ``stimulus bill.'' I really like the ``Recovery Act'' name better. We need to talk about that recovery and reinvestment side, the tax relief that came to individuals, but the tax relief that came to small businesses to allow them to reinvest into their businesses continues on. And I think that is important not to forget those pieces. I'm going to yield again to my friend from New York.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I'm sure as the gentleman goes around his district, as my other colleagues do, and visits our small businesses, we see the innovation. It is exciting to go visit those small businesses in our region who are really doing some very amazing and innovative work. Again, we have a robust and strategic agenda, the Democrats. And we have got to continue to work on this as we want to continue to help our small businesses. I think we have got a lot of good pieces in place and, as Mr. Peters brought up, even more things that we are bringing forward. I would like to yield again to the gentleman from California.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. Another piece of the legislation that we have passed through the House and the Senate, I believe, is taking it up tomorrow, is the HIRE Act, or the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, which includes tax cuts, again, for small businesses to invest, expand and hire more workers. It also takes on unemployment directly creating a payroll tax holiday for businesses that hire unemployed workers to create, we hope, some 300,000 jobs in our country and an income tax credit of $100,000 for businesses that retain those employees. These tax cuts and credits are going to help our small businesses grow and push our unemployment rate down. As I said, the Senate is considering this, I believe, tomorrow. So we will look forward to the Senate's passing that legislation and again getting that out to help our small businesses throughout this community. As a consequence of our recession, small businesses are hesitant to invest in expansion in the current economic climate. So to encourage those investments, we must continue to offer those tax incentives to give our small businesses the comfort they need to have to move forward and to grow their businesses, and, again, going back to making sure access to capital is there, the tax incentives, the MEP programs, even as our colleague from California talked about, the education facilities and making sure that there is a connection between our small businesses and our education institutes. So that is an important piece that we can't forget about. There needs to be that good connection. I think many of our pieces of legislation are working to make sure that connection is there that wasn't always there. Sometimes there is a disconnect between what happens in the university setting and research and what happens in our manufacturing facilities. And I think we have worked really hard in some of our legislation, and we will again in our America Competes legislation that we are bringing now through the Science and Tech Committee that many of us sit on, we will be working to make sure that that connection is there. So it is another important piece.

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank the gentleman from California, who I know is very passionate about these issues. And we really appreciate your joining us tonight and being part of this discussion. I have said for years that a strong economy really begins with a strong education system. We have got to have our students ready. STEM education, all the different aspects of education need to be there to make a strong student base that will then go on and be our next innovators and our next scientists and our next artists, because we need all those different aspects of our culture. We have been joined by another member of our freshman class, from Florida. So representing the southern part of our country, I would like to now yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Kosmas).

Mrs. DAHLKEMPER. I thank my friend from Florida for joining us. And one of the, I think, encouraging things that I have seen, we are all new Members here, but many of the new Members who came in in 2009 and also that came in in 2007 were small business owners at one point in their life and understand the issues that small businesses have to deal with. That actually gives great comfort to my small business owners back home when I tell them that we have actually started this Small Business Owners Caucus to talk about the issues from the small business owner perspective as we deal with legislation. And I think it is just important for people to understand the issues are different for small businesses than large businesses, and our agenda, the things that we have been talking about tonight, I think, bring forward the fact that we realize that and we are taking many steps here within our Democratic agenda to address those small business issues.