Elizabeth Esty

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. ESTY. I am opposed to the bill in its current form.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 317, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment Offered by Mr. Swalwell of California

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, 6 months ago tomorrow, Newtown experienced unimaginable tragedy and unparalleled loss. That loss, the painful loss of sons and daughters, spouses, siblings, and friends, is still very raw and will always run very deep for the people of Newtown. Yet, in the face of that unimaginable tragedy on that day and on the days since, this small community that has been through so much has inspired our Nation with tremendous courage and resilience. Americans have been inspired by the sixth grade educators who gave their very lives to defend and protect their students. Americans have been inspired by the brave first responders who arrived on the scene to save others and live with the trauma of what they saw that day. Americans have been inspired by the Sandy Hook families who, despite living with the pain that one can only begin to imagine, have responded to loss not with anger or hate, but with unbelievable love, strength, and courage. They've taken their call to action to Hartford, where a comprehensive set of commonsense gun laws passed with bipartisan support. They've taken the call to action to State capitols around this country. And they've taken that call to action here in Washington, but here they've faced inexplicable political cowardice. Mr. Speaker, in the 6 months since that terrible day, since we lost 26 precious lives in Newtown, nearly 4,800 Americans have also lost their lives to gun violence. But during that same time, this House has not held a single vote on commonsense gun reform to reduce and prevent gun violence, not even enhanced criminal background checks. Forty-six Senators blocked an up-or-down vote on enhanced background checks. This is a reform that the members of the Newtown community have asked our elected leaders to support. It is a reform supported by over 90 percent of the American people, and it is shameful that we have not yet had a chance to vote. Yet, in spite of that obstruction and misinformation, these families and this community have refused to give up. On Tuesday, I was honored to again meet with several of the Newtown families as they traveled here to continue to lead the push for commonsense gun laws, and I'm honored that several members of that community of the Newtown Alliance are with us here in the gallery today. In meeting with the families, I was given pictures of their loved ones that they've been handing out to elected officials from across the country. This photo of school psychologist Mary Sherlach reads: One of six educators who, on December 14, became first responders equipped with just their lives. Can you show the same courage with your vote? On this card, we have a picture of Dylan Hockley, with these words: Honor his life. Stand with us for change. Now is the time. Here's the picture of precious Dylan Hockley. With this card, we have the photo of 6-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, who asks: What is worth doing? Mr. Speaker, these words, these faces, these lives mark the call to action for Newtown. They mark the call to action in Hartford and Aurora, Chicago, Santa Monica, and every community torn apart by gun violence. The sad truth is that this Congress has not met this call to action. This Congress has not shown the courage to pass commonsense gun reforms. But the good news is that it is not too late for this Congress to do better, and now is the time. We must do better for Mary. We must do better for Dylan. We must do better for Benjamin and for Charlotte, for Daniel and Olivia, for Josephine, for Ana and for Madeleine, for Catherine, for Chase and for Jesse, for James, for Grace and for Emilie, for Jack, for Noah and for Caroline, for Jessica, for Avielle and for Allison, for Rachel, Dawn, and Anne Marie, for Lauren and Victoria. We can and we must do better. These families cannot forget and will not give up. Neither can we.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc amendment, which includes my amendment to add the Proper Replacement of Medals and Performance Tracking, the PROMPT Act, to the underlying legislation. I want to first thank Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Smith for their leadership and cooperation. And I'd also like to thank my colleague, Dr. Joe Heck, for making the PROMPT Act a bipartisan effort aimed at improving our service to veterans, servicemembers, and their families. I drafted this legislation after working with several veterans in my district to replace medals and decorations that they've been waiting months, and sometimes years, to receive. One constituent, a Korean War veteran, has grandchildren that want to see his medals and document his service as part of the family history. He should not have to wait indefinitely for the medals he earned in service to this country. Nor should Paul Sypek, the Vietnam veteran in my district seeking to replace his Army Commendation Medal. He first had to correct a clerical error that omitted the decoration from his separation papers. More than 2 years later, he's still waiting for the replacement medal he requested. The PROMPT Act creates performance standards to ensure that requests are fulfilled in a timely and organized fashion. We can and we must do better for those who served our country with distinction. Adding the PROMPT Act to H.R. 1960 ensures that we will. I urge support for the en bloc amendment.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. My amendment would strike the words ``operation and maintenance'' from section 7 of the bill. This section requires the Army Corps of Engineers to approve all permits under section 404 of the Clean Water Act and section 10 of the River and Harbors Act, within 90 days of receipt of a permit application. The mandate to approve all permits would apply regardless of whether the project meets the needs of the law or not and would cover not only the initial construction of the project, but takes the unprecedented step of applying to all future operation and maintenance, in perpetuity. Not only is this unprecedented; it is unwarranted and reckless. Each time the House has debated the Keystone XL pipeline, the focus has always been on expediting the construction. This amendment does not affect or delay construction. I repeat: this amendment does not affect or delay construction of the pipeline. Whether you support the pipeline or not, section 7 goes far beyond that. It would require the Corps to grant any permit request for operation and maintenance of the pipeline for all eternity. We do not provide this special treatment to any other pipeline operator in the U.S. Domestic companies are required to go through the proper process for obtaining permits for construction, operation, and maintenance activities. Why would we treat a foreign company differently and give it a free pass through a multidecade lifespan of the pipeline? My amendment would eliminate this reckless loophole and a few others to ensure that all operations and maintenance activities on this pipeline, should it be built, are subject to the same review and mitigation requirements that the other 2.6 million miles of pipeline in the United States must meet. I urge Members to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. ESTY. I yield myself such time as I may consume. When a version of this amendment was offered in committee, the majority opposed it, claiming that the Corps permits are intended to cover both the construction and the ongoing operations and maintenance of a project. This is simply not accurate. Following the markup, I consulted with the Army Corps, which stated very clearly that ongoing operations and maintenance activities beyond the initial 5 years are not authorized under the initial permit for the construction of the project. In fact, according to the Corps, operations and maintenance activities that occur in the future beyond the initial 5 years need to be authorized under a separate permit at the time the activity takes place. In addition, any permit that is issued today by the Corps for construction or maintenance would expire in 5 years and would need to be renewed. I would like to submit for the Record a copy of the Army Corps' explanatory decision document nationwide permit 12, which describes the permitting procedures. So the language in the underlying bill would give construction and all future operations and maintenance under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act a free pass from review by requiring the Corps to approve them regardless of whether they minimize or mitigate the impacts. In addition, this amendment would eliminate another loophole to ensure that operations and maintenance activities comply with the Endangered Species Act, just like all other pipelines. Further, the amendment will strike ``maintenance'' from section 4, on judicial review, to prevent a small family farmer or a property owner from being forced to travel to a D.C. court to seek redress from future harm to their land or to their children's rights for the duration of the lifespan of this pipeline. Regardless of your views on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on my commonsense amendment to prevent new loopholes and, quite possibly, to prevent the creation of a regulatory earmark for one foreign corporation. I urge a ``yes'' vote on my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. Following is the link to the full document referred to earlier: http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/2/docs/civilworks/nwp/2012/ NWP_12_2012.pdf

Ms. ESTY. I now yield 1 minute to my colleague, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. I thank the gentlelady. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the Patients' Rights Repeal Act and the rule. Now, there's nothing wrong with working to improve the Affordable Care Act. We should work to make quality health care more affordable and more available to all Americans. But repeal is not a solution and has real and serious consequences for folks in Connecticut. Even worse, this vote is a tremendous waste of time when we have serious work to do for our constituents. Mr. Speaker, this bill is the 37th time--the 37th time--Congress is voting to repeal health care reform. Five months after the tragic attack in Newtown in my district, House Republican leaders continue to refuse to allow a single vote--a single vote--on commonsense gun legislation to reduce gun violence. Instead of voting on enhanced background checks, a reform supported by over 90 percent of the American people, Congress has now devoted 15 percent of its time to trying to repeal health care. Mr. Speaker, it's time for Congress to stop wasting time on pointless political gamesmanship and to get to work for the American people.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert my statement into the Record opposing the GOP's scandalous Mother's Day gift--more work and less pay for working moms. Happy Mother's Day.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment to H.R. 527, the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act. I would like to thank Representative Dent and Representative Higgins for working together on this bipartisan amendment. Our amendment is rather straightforward. It is about fairness and honoring contracts. At a time in our Nation's history when we are examining public-private partnerships to rebuild our infrastructure and create jobs, what kind of signal would we be sending to the private sector? What kind of certainty are we providing to the private sector that even if you have a valid contract that expires in 2015, the Federal Government will throw it out and change the rules? We can pass a bill to prevent a global helium shortage by allowing the remainder of the helium from the reserve to be sold, but we should not ignore the contracts that BLM has already signed. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bipartisan amendment.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to observe April 28 as Workers' Memorial Day. Every year on this date, remembrances are held around the world to honor men and women who have lost their lives or were injured in the workplace. In Connecticut, the CT AFL-CIO will hold a ceremony at our State Capitol Building and then lay wreathes in Bushnell Park at the Workers Memorial. Workplace fatalities and injuries have decreased over the years, but even one worker not going home at the end of their shift is one too many. On average across our nation, 13 workers die on the job each day. According to the Connecticut Department of Labor, about 40 workers in our state lose their lives each year due to workplace injuries. Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the tragic and avoidable accident in Bridgeport at L'Ambience Plaza. We will always remember the 28 construction workers who did not return home to their families and loved ones that sad day. And we will never forget December 14, 2012 when an unconscionable horror happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. This unimaginable tragedy took the lives of six educators who gave their lives to protect their students. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join together in recognizing Workers' Memorial Day.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House as the Representative for Newtown. Over the last 4 months, I've had the honor of getting to know many families in Newtown. These parents live with grief so deep that any mother or father can only begin to imagine. I was honored to join these families, Governor Malloy, and members of both parties as a bipartisan gun violence prevention law was signed into law in Connecticut. Connecticut has shown that Democrats and Republicans can work together, that a special interest and their small minority cannot stand in the way of common sense and doing the right thing. Yesterday was a shameful day. I'm outraged that 46 Senators prevented a compromise to reduce gun violence which 92 percent of the American people support. Forty-six Senators ignored the voices of the courageous Newtown families, who have paid the ultimate price of political inaction. I join the message of the Sandy Hook Promise and Mark Barden, who lost his son, Daniel, in the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. Our hearts are broken. Our spirits are not.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 756, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2013--legislation that I'm proud to cosponsor, which will both enhance our national security and help boost our economy. Cybersecurity is increasingly essential to our national defense and to our economic security in the 21st century. As the Internet and other communication networks have grown and become more sophisticated, so have the threats from individual hackers, criminal syndicates, and even other governments. It's critical that we take steps today to encourage and better coordinate the research and development of cybersecurity technology on a national scale. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act will help ensure that our country is prepared to face the security threats of the 21st century, that our businesses have the IT protections they need to compete on a global scale. I am proud that we're making critical investments in science and IT education for our young people and our educational institutions. By authorizing grants and prioritizing research areas with the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, this legislation will help boost workforce development. In Connecticut, home to high-tech manufacturing and top-quality universities and technical schools, these workforce investments are essential to our economic future. Mr. Speaker, for the sake of our nation's security, for the sake of our businesses, for the sake of our economy, I urge a yes vote on this bill.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate America's great friend and ally, Israel, and the people of Israel, on the 65th anniversary of their independence. Mr. Speaker, as a student, in the 1980's, I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Israel. I learned a lot from that journey. There are few places I have been to in my life as vibrant and dynamic as that nation. I was impressed, as I think most visitors are, by the great optimism and resilience of the Israeli people--optimism and resilience that they showed even during a time of extreme uncertainty. And I was also struck by how small, and how vulnerable, Israel is geographically. On a clear day, you can stand on top of the Golan Heights and see from one end of the country to another. Right before your eyes, you can see the fragility of the country's security--whose defense is a great credit to the Israeli people. Right before your eyes, you see a strong, but geographically small country, a country not protected by oceans, a country with many hostile neighbors, a country that has been bravely defending itself from terrorist and military attacks repeatedly since its independence. My visit to Israel dramatically increased my appreciation for Israel and helped define my own views about the importance of their security and our nation's special relationship with Israel. Our shared national interests and our shared values of democracy, peace, and liberty have defined that relationship for 65 years now and will continue to define that relationship into the future. I'm proud to join my colleagues of both parties in expressing a renewed commitment to that special relationship and to Israel's security, in honoring Israel's history, in expressing our best wishes for Israel's continued accomplishments, and in offering our congratulations to the Israeli people on this significant anniversary. Congratulations to our dear friends in Israel on the 65th anniversary of your nation's independence.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Thank you so much, Congressman Thompson, for organizing this Special Order and for your incredible leadership on these important issues that the country deserves to have a voice and deserves to have a vote. And I wanted to thank Congressman Cummings and Congresswoman Maloney for your important leadership on this very important issue that is truly a remarkable hole in the law that I think most people had no idea. These are the holes that we saw yesterday, because the holes in the law are allowing holes in the hearts of the families of America. Holes like this, shot with assault weapons, to brave firefighters who were responding to a fire on Christmas Eve, that's what this really means. This is a 19-year-old young man following in his family's footsteps and his lifelong dream to be a firefighter and instead was met with this, and that ended his life--a man who never should have had those guns. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of welcoming to Washington Team 26, a group of 26 cyclists from the town of Newtown, Connecticut, in my district, who rode to Washington in support of commonsense legislation to reduce and prevent gun violence. The Sandy Hook ride to Washington was a successful event. It was also emblematic of what we're seeing across the country in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown. Americans have been touched by the strength and love of the families and the people in Newtown in a way we have not seen in this country before. I can assure you, the Connecticut effect is not going away anytime soon because the American people are stepping up and making their voices heard for commonsense, reasonable regulations and laws to reduce and prevent gun violence. For far too long, for far too long, communities across this country, like West Webster, New York, and like Newtown, Connecticut, have paid for the price of inaction here in Congress. We cannot keep losing precious children and courageous police officers and brave first responders and many other innocent lives because we have allowed, and we are allowing, guns to be put into the hands of people who do not have permission and do not have the right to have them. It is shocking and it is wrong that we do not have vigorous Federal laws making straw purchasing and trafficking in guns a Federal crime. We've learned today, and we learned yesterday in our hearing, that it is against the law to traffic in drugs, it is against the law to traffic in tainted food, but it is not against our Federal laws to traffic in illegal weapons in this country, and that is wrong and we need to fix it. That's the reason that the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act has bipartisan support in the House. That is the same reason that this measure has the strong support and backing and urging and pleading of the hardworking law enforcement officers in my State who are dealing with the consequences of illegal drugs, including the leadership of Connecticut Attorney General and my friend George Jepsen. There's a reason that law enforcement officials and groups around the country have been asking for us to pass this law. Few policies reflect commonsense, like keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals. If we are going to accomplish that goal, we must address this gaping hole with the lack of Federal laws punishing gun trafficking and straw purchasing. Now is the time to act. We have a real opportunity to enact and to fix this hole in the law and to prevent holes in the hearts of the American people. I'm very proud to be a cosponsor of the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act and the Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement Act to do just that. For the families of Newtown, for families across this great country who are affected by gun violence, for children and for police officers and first responders everywhere who put their lives on the line for us every day, and for all those whose lives are at risk today because of illegal guns, let's meet the call of the American people to strengthen the penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchasing. I urge my colleagues to support this very laudable legislation, and I urge members of the public to urge their Representatives to stand up for safety for our first responders for our communities. I thank my good friend, the gentleman from California, for yielding.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, in Connecticut last week, I heard a lot of different fears from people in my district about sequestration. Almost everyone is worried about the economy. Small business owners and manufacturers in Torrington and Waterbury are worried about staying above water. Parents in Danbury are worried about their children's education. Social service providers in New Britain and Meriden are worried about losing funding to help seniors who need meal assistance and to help families who need housing assistance. People everywhere are worried about keeping their jobs. And there's a question in common. With this imminent, self-inflicted threat to people's jobs and people's livelihoods, why isn't Congress doing anything about it? Why, at the very least, are we not voting on a balanced alternative? Our constituents deserve more than an answer to that question, they deserve action. There is no reason businesses and families in Connecticut, or in any state, should be facing this catastrophe. It is entirely of our own doing but it's the folks back home that suffer the consequences. I ask unanimous consent that the House now take up H.R. 699, the Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act, introduced by Mr. Van Hollen to replace the sequestration with commonsense, cost-cutting policies--repealing subsidies for big oil and big gas, refocusing subsidies for big agriculture, and enacting a ``Buffet Rule'' so that the wealthiest are paying their fair share. We should be allowed to vote on this bill, and we should vote to remove this threat to the well-being of folks in all of our districts who have worked so hard to get by and to bring our country back from recession.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I want to state that on February 15, I missed several rollcall votes due to the Citizens Medal ceremony honoring the following constituents, Rachel Davino, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Victoria Soto, Mary Sherlach, and Dawn Hochsprung. These six extraordinarily talented and courageous teachers and administrators dedicated their lives to education and to the children of Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. When unimaginable tragedy struck, they gave their lives protecting those same children. As a community, Newtown will always feel their loss. As a country, we will always look to their courage. Had I been present I would have voted: I. Nay--H. Con. Res. 15--Adjournment Resolution: I would have voted ``nay'' as the House should stay in session and work to find a reasonable alternative to the irrational, across-the-board spending cuts in the pending sequester. 2. Aye--Final Passage of H.R. 273: I would have voted ``aye'' to prevent a pay increase for Members of Congress in 2013 and am an original cosponsor of a bill to prevent a pay increase for Members of Congress for the entire 113th Congress. In these tough economic times and until the budget is balanced, it's not fair for Members of Congress to receive any form of pay increase when others are asked to cut their budgets. 3. Aye--Final Passage of H. Res. 65: Condemning the Government of North Korea for its flagrant and repeated violations of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, for its repeated provocations that threaten international peace and stability, and for its February 12, 2013 test of a nuclear device.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Last week, I organized leaders from across Connecticut in small business, labor, government, health care, and social services to hear from them about the impact of sequestration. My constituents were pleased to also brief our House Democratic whip, Steny Hoyer, at a roundtable in Farmington. The consequences of across-the-board cuts are frightening to say the least. People are scared, and people are extremely frustrated with Congress--and justifiably so. In central and northwest Connecticut--and I know the same holds true across the country--manufacturers, small businesses, and working- and middle class families are doing things right. Having struggled through a tough economy, manufacturers like Ward Leonard in Thomaston and Marion Manufacturing in my hometown of Cheshire have been innovating and making strides. Mr. Speaker, people are hopeful that we are finally on the verge of better days, but somehow Congress has missed every opportunity to avoid this very avoidable sequester, which would not only squander opportunities but would outright devastate our economy and hurt small businesses and families across the country. At our roundtable, JoAnn Ryan, president of northwest Connecticut's Chamber of Commerce, said that local small business owners see ``pockets of opportunity,'' but they have ``no confidence whatsoever because of the inability of government to cooperate.'' My friend John Harrity, president of the Connecticut State Council of Machinists, put it perfectly when he said that, after all the progress our manufacturers have made, ``to lose all that momentum just defies common sense.'' That's not to mention what I heard from folks across the district about the devastating and reckless impact sequestration would have on social services, our seniors, and our children's education at every level. Let's not forget that folks in Connecticut and across the Northeast are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy and recent winter storms. Our constituents have had to wait far too long for emergency recovery funds, and they're still recovering and are trying to rebuild their lives, to rebuild their homes and their businesses. Mr. Speaker, according to George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, sequestration will directly and indirectly cost Connecticut almost 42,000 jobs. We need to remember that this isn't just a number. It's people's livelihoods, and it's their lives. Letting the sequester happen will hurt Head Start students and their teachers in Danbury and New Britain, seniors in Meriden who rely on Meals on Wheels for their daily nutrition, manufacturers like Ansonia Copper & Brass in Waterbury, and small businesses throughout Torrington and the northwest corner, and employees and owners who are working hard to achieve the American Dream for themselves and to bring back the American economy. What's maybe most troubling is that there is no reason businesses and families in Connecticut, or in any State, should be facing this catastrophe. It is entirely self-inflicted and avoidable if our colleagues would let us vote on an alternative. It's the result of a reckless game of chicken. Avoiding it is actually very simple, and the lack of urgency the House GOP leadership has shown in addressing this impending deadline is astounding. Mr. Speaker, we can and should vote to remove this self-inflicted threat. We can and should remove the sequester. We already have a balanced replacement. Representative Van Hollen's Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act would replace the sequester with commonsense, cost- cutting policies--repealing subsidies for Big Oil and Big Gas, refocusing subsidies for Big Agriculture and enacting a Buffett rule so that the wealthiest are paying their fair share. We should be allowed to vote on this bill. Folks in Connecticut and across the country can't afford this gamesmanship. They need us to act. They need us to do our jobs so that they can keep doing theirs.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. I would like to thank the gentlelady from California for organizing this Special Order hour, and I want to thank you for your longtime leadership on the gun violence prevention issue; and to our friend and colleague Congresswoman McCarthy, for your tireless effort, sadly over decades now, to ensure that this Congress takes action to keep our communities safer. Last night in this Chamber, people affected by gun violence, including a number of families and officials and first responders from Newtown, were here in this Chamber. I have the honor of representing this small, brave town that now finds itself at the center of this national debate. And, folks, they are the face. They are paying the price of our political inaction. Among the people here last night was a courageous educator by the name of Natalie Hammond. Natalie was the lead teacher at the Sandy Hook school that day, and she was in the hall trying to stop that madman, and her colleagues on either side were killed and she was seriously injured. She got out of physical therapy and came out publicly for the first time to be here last night to put a human face on the cost of inaction. These people, as the gentlelady from California suggested, as The New York Times and others have suggested, are so courageous. And they have one question for us: What are we going to do? What is this country going to do to address this epidemic? The President spoke eloquently, yet very directly, last night about how we must do better as a country. As he said, the families of Newtown deserve a vote. He is right. Commonsense measures that respect Second Amendment rights, like universal criminal background checks, a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, and restrictions on high-capacity magazines should, at the very least, be voted on in this Chamber and in the Senate. The voices of the American people should be heard in this Congress. It's up to us. It's up to us, as elected leaders, to see that these families, that every family touched by gun violence has a vote. Lynn and Chris McDonnell, the parents of Grace McDonnell, were here in the Chambers last night, as witness to their daughter, who loved pink, who did a beautiful painting, which they gave to the President of the United States. The McDonnells asked me this morning, they said, you know, Elizabeth, what more can we do to ensure that Congress acts? And I was astounded by the question. To think that this grieving family, what more could they do? It's, what more must we do? They are doing everything they can to make sure that every Member of Congress understands not only their loss--their loss is America's loss, because every child that was murdered, every life lost on the city streets of our country is a loss that ripples throughout families and communities, lives. We will never know what these people could have done, could have contributed to our society, and it is an enormous hole in the fabric of our country. The price of inaction is too high. The price of inaction is being paid every day by grieving parents like Lynn and Chris McDonnell. So I want to thank, again, the gentlelady from California for all you're doing to ensure that we do the right thing here today, that we continue the discussion of this critical issue, that we do not lose our will to take action, and that we do bring about real change to save lives in our communities across this country. The parents, the families, the children of Newtown deserve no less than our best efforts. We must act. Thank you very much.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Thank you, Congressman Lujan. And I'd like to thank Chairman Whitfield for his leadership on this important issue and for bringing this bill to the floor so quickly this year. I rise as the proud sponsor of the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act. This bill, as the chairman so aptly described, would provide FERC limited authority to license the Town of Canton, in my district, to operate two small and dormant dams for hydroelectric power. The Upper and Lower Collinsville dams on the Farmington River were first built in the 18th and 19th centuries to power an ax manufacturer. While this business closed in the 1960s, the dams have remained and are a lasting symbol of the Farmington Valley's very proud manufacturing history. And just as our communities have been reinvented over the years, we now have the opportunity to reinvent a dormant dam into a dam producing local, clean energy. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, under the authority of this bill, permits both dams to generate hydropower, the dams could produce nearly 2 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 1,500 homes, which I'll note, parenthetically, with 3 feet of snow in the last week, were much in demand, that additional power. Licenses for this purpose had previously been issued, and this bill would allow the reinstatement of the inactive FERC licenses. Now, as with any dam on any river, there are legitimate concerns about the river and the ecosystem's health. The Upper and Lower Collinsville dams already exist, and our legislation addresses many concerns to fully protect the river's health by requiring FERC to complete an updated analysis of the environmental impact of the projects and seek additional public comment before taking action. Now, this project started long before I was elected to Congress, and I'm proud to continue the work on this bill. Just a few months ago, this body passed the exact same language offered by then-Congressman Chris Murphy, Connecticut's new Senator. He's been a longtime champion on this issue, and I'm grateful for his and First Selectman of Canton Richard Barlow's work spearheading these efforts back home. I would also like to mention another longtime supporter of this project, Art Fournier. Sadly, Art passed away this past July. But during one of the occasions I had the opportunity to discuss issues with him and gain from his lifetime of experiences, he brought up this bill to enforce upon me how important it was. He was committed to public service and to ensuring that the world was a better place for the next generation. His commitment to public service was evident from his service on many boards and commissions in the town of Canton, including on the Hydro Power Advisory Commission. Another strong advocate for this project also, sadly, died this summer, Mark Quattro. Mark, too, made us aware of the importance of this project for the little town of Canton, and he was deeply committed to the community and served on many town organizations, including the chamber of commerce. It would be a fitting tribute to honor these two fine citizens of Canton, Art Fournier and Mark Quattro, by passing this bill today. I'd like to thank, again, Chairman Whitfield, as well as Chairman Upton and Ranking Members Waxman and Rush and their staffs for bringing the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act to the floor today for a vote. This project has a long history of bipartisan support at the local level, and I'm proud to be working with my colleagues across the aisle to empower local communities to utilize existing resources to create locally produced clean, renewable power. I respectfully urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. ESTY

Ms. ESTY. Amendment VII: ``In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.''