Jo Ann Emerson

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. On behalf of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and myself, we are very proud to announce that the Women's Bipartisan Congressional Softball Team beat the Washington Female Press Corps in our recent softball game by a score of 5-4. In the spirit of our U.S. Women's Soccer team which won today and are on their way to the final in the World Cup--we probably aren't quite in that category. But for us this was the World Cup, and we are very proud and we want to thank everybody for the great support that you gave to us. I would be remiss if I didn't explain how we won. In the bottom of the seventh inning, because we only play seven innings, with the score tied 4-4, Laura Richardson and Linda Sanchez were both walked because the other team was afraid of them hitting, and then Debbie gets up and she hits a single. And were it not for the fact that Linda Sanchez ran around the bases, collided with the catcher, and slid in on her stomach at home, we would not have won. But we did. Thank you, Linda Sanchez. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mrs. EMERSON. I yield back the balance of my time. Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mrs. Capito

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Chairman, I deeply respect my colleagues coming here and raising the subject of increased funds in this bill for the Corps of Engineers. I also want to thank Mr. Frelinghuysen and Mr. Visclosky for understanding this very important need. That money, in construction accounts and the Mississippi River and Tributaries account, will go to address an immediate need to repair and rebuild flood protection so that the victims of the historic flooding all up and down the Mississippi River and the Missouri River can recover from the terrible losses they have suffered. It's not just the people in the southern Missouri district I represent who need help; it's also people in Louisiana, in Iowa, in North Dakota, in Kentucky, in Mississippi, Illinois and a host of other States. Throughout the country, people who rely on flood protection to shelter their homes, their schools, their churches, and their workplaces have seen their lives and their livelihoods totally disrupted. In one Missouri county alone, the economic losses from flooding are estimated at over $300 million. In the entire MR&T, the total exceeds 4 billion. Without the certainty of future repairs to the levee systems that protect them, these Americans will remain at risk. They will be unable to rebuild. They'll find it difficult to get insurance. They'll watch their family businesses slip away with the receding floodwaters. Long after the disaster, there will be many, many personal disasters--even if it never rains another drop. I know that some of our colleagues have raised concerns that this funding will come at a cost to future years of high-speed rail development. I greatly appreciate the desire to retain the promise of funding for those projects, but I must ask them to weigh the immediate need for flood protection against the future need for high-speed rail. If these repairs aren't completed by next spring, a flood protection system that barely holds against the record flood of 2011 will be in extreme danger in 2012. The Corps would not have the same tools at its disposal to avert flooding in many parts of the country, including major urban areas along the river, like Memphis, Tennessee, just for example. The funds in this bill respond to an unanticipated disaster of enormous magnitude. Failure to fund the effort to reset the levee system nationwide is an unnecessary risk with widespread economic and public safety implications. I urge my colleagues to recognize the certainty this funding provides to distressed families all over the country, and I ask them to support a responsible arrangement to fund the Corps of Engineers during a very difficult budgetary climate for the Congress and the Nation. In closing, I'm very, very grateful for the support of Chairman Frelinghuysen for this funding increase.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to have an announcement that's not quite as exciting as that which we've just been watching. However, this is the Congressional Women's Softball Team, and Joe Baca is an honorary member of the team. He is one of our coaches. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and I, who are the cocaptains, wanted to, number one, tell you all that we will be playing the Washington news media tonight at 7 o'clock at Watkins Recreation Park up at 12th and D Streets Southeast. We invite everybody to come and cheer us on. We are going to win this year. We're good. Probably more than anything else, this has been a wonderful opportunity for us to really bond as friends and as colleagues, not in any partisan way. And we're just very excited and happy that we're playing tonight. We need all of your support. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mrs. EMERSON. I have been sitting back listening to all of the discussion here on a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and it has been near and dear to our family since the very first time my late husband came back from Ethiopia having sobbed, as he told me, a story about a child from Ethiopia who died in his arms. Now, I will say that there's been an awful lot of rhetoric on this, and I think that the chairman, in spite of the fact that I don't like the number, I don't like the numbers that we've been given, the chairman, who also has traveled to Africa and has seen up close and personal how these programs really do make a difference for those of us who live here in the United States, how important these programs are for our national security, as Mr. McGovern said and Mr. Dicks, and also how important it is that America, which is still the richest country in the world in spite of our financial difficulties, has respect and wants to help others because we ourselves have been so well blessed. So I rise in opposition to this amendment, and I want to thank my colleagues from the other side and thank Mr. Kingston as well and hope that as we proceed through the process that we might be able to find some common ground, perhaps get a little bit more assistance for these vital programs, but let's try to keep our emotions down a little bit because everybody feels very strongly, but yet our common goal is to lift this country up, and by helping others, we do that. I yield back the balance of time.

Mrs. EMERSON. I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chairman.

Mrs. EMERSON. I'm not going to take the entire 5 minutes. I do want to say a couple of things. Number one, I totally associate myself with the remarks of my colleague from Massachusetts, and it is quite true that taking away the program funding would, in fact, literally take food out of the mouths of 5 million hungry, hungry children. I also want to add, because I know that people probably don't understand this if you haven't been working with this program, is that countries actually graduate from this program. This is not an ongoing effort in every single country, whether Colombia might have graduated, Nicaragua, and other countries. But, you know, with so many threats against our Nation, I just think it's important to share America's bounty with hungry children in other places and in critical places around the world so that we can help America feed their hungry bodies out of goodness. And it really is something that the entire Defense Department--you ask any Army officer or any member of the armed services, when they are in areas where these children's lives are being changed by a bowl of mush, as Mr. McGovern said, it makes a huge difference. It makes them able to go to school. It makes little girls have the only opportunity they will ever get for any kind of education, and it is absolutely ridiculous that people don't understand how important this is for the security of our country. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mrs. EMERSON. And if I could reclaim my time, the countries actually take this program over. This is a jump-start and one that, you know, for no other reason, little girls would never go to school. And to me, it's just shocking. We take these things for granted in this country. But it sets a very, very good example and gives these children and their families an opportunity to do more for themselves with just a wee bit of help from us.

Mrs. EMERSON. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mrs. EMERSON. And we should be. Elizabeth Dole took over for Bob after he left the Senate. And this was a very important issue for her, but it has always been one that is bipartisan and one that helps lift other people up because we really do have so much here. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, and 298, I am not recorded because I was absent due to a natural disaster in Southern Missouri. Had I been present the week of May 2nd, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall Nos. 278, 279, 280, 285, 286, 290, 292, 293, 294, and 298. I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall Nos. 281, 282, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289, 291, 295, 296, and 297.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the celebration of Antique Tractor Preservation Day in West Plains, Missouri. West Plains, Missouri represents a growing community that is creating a new tradition for tractor enthusiasts across the country. Antique tractors and farm machinery serve as a reminder of a key part of our nation's agricultural heritage. Antique Tractor Preservation Day provides an opportunity to display these tractors in a venue where enthusiasts can share their stories with one another. Enthusiasts who share this common interest can share their passions for buying and restoring Antique Tractors. Antique Tractor Preservation Day also provides others, who might not be enthusiasts, an opportunity to learn more about agricultural history and to better understand and appreciate the significant advancements American agriculture has made over the last century. It is important to carry on this legacy by preserving our antique tractors for generations into the future. Mr. Speaker, I commend Michael Hinton and the West Plains community for their work in creating an opportunity for enthusiasts to come together and to celebrate this proud heritage and rich history.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Madam Speaker, when I took hold of the gavel of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, I took to heart the responsibility to reduce Federal spending on behalf of future generations of Americans. The Financial Services section of this act provides a total of $22 billion, a $2.4 billion or 10 percent reduction from fiscal year 2010 levels, and a reduction of $3.4 billion, or 14 percent, from the President's fiscal year 2011 request. Deciding how and where to apply these reductions was challenging but necessary. Our propensity to spend now and repay later with interest has already saddled our children and grandchildren with $14 trillion of debt. As such, the funding in this act is directed at high priority programs such as court security, counterterrorism, drug control task forces, and small business assistance. Funding for new construction by the General Services Administration is dramatically reduced to gain control over the management and operation of the Federal building inventory. Other programs are selectively reduced, including programs within the Executive Office of the President and the Treasury Department because these two agencies should be the model of efficiency and economy for the rest of the executive branch. The act measurably improves oversight and accountability of the executive branch by requiring a new annual GAO study of all financial services regulations, including the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau; a new GAO study on the usefulness and accuracy of the Consumer Product Safety Commission's flawed consumer complaint database; and the elimination of four executive branch czars who are not confirmed by the Senate and, therefore, not accountable to the people. The act also includes $77.7 million for school improvement in the District of Columbia, including a $2.3 million increase for Opportunity Scholarships. This funding, along with the Speaker's language to reauthorize the program, will increase educational opportunities for low-income students in the Nation's capital. This effort represents an important starting point for our committee and our Congress, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. I hope we can achieve that first goal this week so we can move onto the next order of business, y'all, serving the people we represent through the budget process, and making the difficult decisions to curtail spending we can't afford. We shouldn't borrow, and we sure don't want our children and our grandchildren to pay the bill when it comes due.

Mrs. EMERSON. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, and really want to express, I believe the opinion of all of us, that we do not want the Federal Government to shut down because doing so means abrogating our responsibility to serve the American people from both the legislative and executive branches. We have all talked about how a shutdown also means our men and women in uniform will face the uncertainty of serving without pay. Your phones must be ringing like mine are, because we are hearing from so many military families whom we represent. They are facing uncertainty on top of uncertainty, posted overseas or with a family member away on active duty in harm's way. They are just trying to keep their households intact. And the President would veto such a piece of legislation? So this measure achieves two important goals. It ensures our military operations and the pay of our military members are uninterrupted, and it provides us another week to continue negotiations. No one in this Congress should mistake this for easy work, because it isn't. We are attempting to reduce discretionary spending from historic heights, control the growth in the scope of government, and give our children a future where the necessary functions we enjoy today exist for them tomorrow. We are also attempting to endow them with a future in which they can enjoy low taxes, keep more of what they earn, and invest in new ideas and opportunities, those things that have made our Nation great. The negotiators and staff members on both sides of this effort are working late hours, weekends; and I am convinced we all want to get this right. But it would be more helpful if we could agree to work and find consensus instead of ripping apart a 1-week bill that funds our troops. I am not the only one to notice that we began the budget process for 2012 this week at the very moment when we are trying to resolve our responsibilities for 2011.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding citizen of my district. Wilma Buffington Bedell Ball is a cherished resident of Van Buren, Missouri and the State of Missouri. She was born in Great Falls, Montana, on January 5, 1917, and moved to Missouri where she grew up on a farm between Van Buren and Doniphan, Missouri along the Current River. After her education in a one-room schoolhouse in the Ozarks and graduation from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, she returned and taught students in that same one-room schoolhouse for three years. After some time away from Missouri, Wilma and her husband, Kelly Ball, returned to Southeast Missouri where she served in the Poplar Bluff School System from 1962 to 1969. There, she discovered her true calling of caring for Missouri's senior citizens. She became a licensed nursing home administrator in 1969 and served as administrator for the Clarks Mountain Nursing Home in Piedmont until 1985. Then, she began working at the Riverways Manor in Van Buren where she still works full-time today. At 94 she is the oldest active nursing home administrator in the United States. Wilma serves our community not only at work, she goes above and beyond through her affiliations with the Methodist Church, Women's Society of Christian Service, Business and Professional Women's Club, Missouri State Teachers Association, and the Missouri Healthcare Association. Even with all of these activities in her life, her number one priority is her family. She has four sons and daughters-in-law, ten grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. Wilma Buffington Bedell Ball embodies what it means to be a great southeast Missourian. Today we recognize her for her service to our community.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Sgt. Dale Moreland of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Sgt. Moreland has served our state for 32 years in law enforcement. He daily put his life on the line to protect Missouri's citizens and to keep our roads safe as a public affairs officer. Like many states, Missouri is blessed by patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve our communities by keeping them safe. Sgt. Moreland is an example of how this spirit of service is alive and well in the Congressional District I represent. By remaining an active part of our southern Missouri community, he will surely inspire others to find ways to contribute their time and talent to our communities, state and nation. The example he sets, especially for young people, is a great part of the long tradition in our country by which the desire and capability to serve remains strong and unbroken through the generations of Missourians who call our state home. Words cannot adequately express how appreciative I am for his service. He has devoted much of his life to protecting the public and enforcing the laws of our state. Thank you Sgt. Moreland for your service and we wish you the best of luck in your retirement! Enjoy!

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to congratulate the Missouri State University--West Plains Men's Basketball team for playing their best season in Grizzly athletic history. The Grizzlies won the Region 16 regular season competition with a perfect 10-0 record. The team then proceeded to win the NJCAA Postseason Tournament and the NJCAA District 4 Championship. The Grizzlies played in the spotlight of the NJCAA as they ranked #1 in the National Poll for five consecutive weeks. Coach Yancey Walker demonstrated outstanding leadership while serving as the head basketball coach for the past three years. This year he was publicly recognized when he was selected as NJCAA Region 16 Coach of the Year and NJCAA District 4 Coach of the Year. This outstanding season would not have been possible without the support of fans and campus leaders such as Chancellor Drew Bennett who works diligently to show his support of these student-athletes both on the court and in the classroom. The coaches and players of the MSU-WP team exemplify the highest virtues of the community: teamwork, loyalty, sportsmanship, and dedication. Once again, congratulations Grizzlies, we are very proud of you. We look forward to cheering you on through another great season next year.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. I urge opposition to this amendment, as well- intentioned as it may be, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. EMERSON

Mrs. EMERSON. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mrs. EMERSON. Madam Chair, I yield myself 2 minutes. Madam Chair, this amendment will prevent the appropriation of any funds in this act to implement or enforce the provisions within the health spending law that require the IRS to verify that individuals have health care coverage and impose penalties on those who don't comply. The fate of this mandate in the courts is uncertain, but we know that it already has been ruled upon by the American people. They don't want and shouldn't suffer a mandate from government to engage in specific economic activity. As a matter of fact, my own State of Missouri passed a ballot initiative last August by a vote of 71 percent not to enforce the individual mandate. This is the bright lights example of what's wrong with the health care law. It compels Americans to give up their freedoms, to render their choices, and part with their hard-earned money to support a system of health care designed by and run by the Federal Government through a maze of boards, committees, and bureaucrats. No Americans should be forced to buy or purchase health insurance they neither want nor can afford, and the Federal Government has never based the purchase of a good or service as a condition of being a law- abiding citizen. The American people need some form of protection that the IRS will not begin to aggressively implement the individual mandate, and this measure ensures that it won't be implemented prior to the end of fiscal year 2011. States, including my own, small businesses across the country, and individuals of their own volition deserve the chance to speak on this important matter in the courts before the law adds extraordinary new burdens to the fiscal responsibility of the State governments, forces small businesses to fire employees they value, and compels individuals to spend money they would rather save. For all these disconcerting reasons, I urge you to support this crucial amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. EMERSON. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. EMERSON. At this time, Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).

Mrs. EMERSON. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.