Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 602, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 601, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 597, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 595, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 596, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, Congressman Sidney Yates was a true patriot in every sense of the word. He was a stalwart advocate for issues near and dear to his heart and those of the people he represented. Sid was an exemplary Member of the House Appropriations Committee and a great ``cardinal.'' As Chairman and later the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies, he single handily did more to protect the National Endowment for the Arts than any other Member in the House of Representatives. He kept the National Endowment going during the late eighties and early nineties--and the arts in America have been greatly advanced. Sid Yates will always be remembered for his calm, reasoned thinking and sensible approach to getting his points across. He managed to show kindness to every single Member of Congress, yet never lost his own strong commitment to progressive causes. He will be missed by our whole Nation.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 594, I was in my Congressional District on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 593, I was in my congressional district on official business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend a valued member of my staff here in Washington, Ms. Buffy Wicks, on her completion of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. just last Sunday, a marathon which raised millions of dollars for AIDS research. Although almost 18,000 people took part in this marathon, my wife and I were watching very carefully Buffy's accomplishment. She committed to raising at least $1,600, and did not surprise me one bit that she exceeded that goal. She is an intelligent and principled young lady who is an asset to my office and our community. Her dedication to raising money for AIDS follows her commitment to the causes of peace as a graduate student in Peace Research at the University of Oslo, to the American Civil Liberties Union, and to progressive congressional candidates. I join each and every member of my own staff in saying congratulations on a job well done. Buffy, we are proud of you.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) for bringing this resolution to us tonight. I thank his colleague and my friend, the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr. Bilbray). Our hearts and prayers are with him, as he has suffered a terrible loss in his family and cannot be here tonight. I thank my colleagues for bringing this to us. Because San Diego is the poster child for the future of California what is going on in San Diego, what happened after the deregulation to a monopoly market, will happen to the rest of California in another year or so and perhaps the rest of the Nation if we do not take heed of San Diego's crisis. The measure before us tonight is not the proper response to the crisis that we have in San Diego. It is a very weak response. If the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) was not my friend, I would say it was a meaningless response to the level of crisis that we face. The gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) introduced this resolution yesterday. Magically, it comes to the floor today. The Republican leadership, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), and the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) could have brought meaningful legislation to this floor tonight to really help us in San Diego. I introduced, for example, H.R. 5131 on September 7. I will explain that bill in a minute. But it can solve the crisis we have in San Diego. I asked the Speaker of the House to schedule this before we recessed. San Diego is panicking. San Diego faces enormous debts. We have had no response from the leadership of this House to really deal with the crisis that we face in San Diego. The gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) gave a good summary of the situation, the doubling and tripling of prices in San Diego over a 3- month period. The average small business in my district, my colleagues, in our districts in San Diego went from let us say $800 a month in May and June to $1,500 a month and then to $2,500 a month. No business can survive with these kinds of increases. A person on a fixed income had his bill or her bill go from $35 a month to $70 a month to $120 a month. No person who is on a fixed income can survive this. And literally life-and-death decisions had to be made given that situation. This was not an issue, Mr. Speaker, of supply and demand in California. We do not have enough supply for the future developments. But this crisis was brought about by manipulation of the market by wholesalers and marketers of electricity. They caused a crisis which did not have to exist. When the FERC report that is referred to in this resolution is made public on November 1, it will show that there was incredibly close to criminal manipulation of the market, withholding of capacity by the major generators, laundering electricity through Northwestern States to get a higher price in California, artificially creating a sense of dearth of supply through manipulation of the transmission capacities and on and on. And the FERC report will outline that. This was a criminal gaming of the rules that were set up in California. This was not an issue of supply and demand. And as my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), knows within those 3 or 4 months of this crisis, after deregulation occurred in San Diego and Orange counties advertise, close to $600 billion was sucked out of our economy by these marketers and generators, $6 billion. I hope I said that with a ``B.'' Over $600 million from the consumers of San Diego alone. Now, the State legislature acted on this to the limit of their ability to act. They froze retail prices. As the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) knows, they froze retail prices at 6\1/2\ cents a kilowatt hour. And that took the gun away from the head of San Diego consumers because their prices and my bill that I got was frozen at this figure. But, Mr. Speaker, that debt is mounting up for the consumers of California and San Diego. That retail price freeze was merely a deferral of the cost. The debt that individual businesses and consumers have is adding up in the so-called balancing account. Our Northern utilities in San Diego, not only San Diego Gas and Electric, which now has a mounting debt, but PG&E and Edison have debts mounting up again to almost $6 billion between them. This is an economic crisis, an economic recession hanging in the balance if we do not act here in this body and at the national level. A crisis was created by deregulation to a monopoly situation, $6 billion being sucked from our economy. And how do we respond? How does this body respond? The Republican majority gives what kind of resolution? That we will get a report 5 days earlier than FERC said it was going to come out. They issued a finding in the last couple of days. That said they will issue the report November 1. I would like to see that earlier. I would like to see it today. I will vote for the resolution, but that does nothing for San Diego consumers. That does nothing for the California economy. What we need and what H.R. 5131 does is a roll-back of wholesale prices to their prederegulation levels in the Western market and refunds to the consumers in California. That I will tell my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), is the only solution to San Diego and California's problem. We must go after the folks who took our money away, and that is the wholesale generators and marketers. They, illegally in my opinion, in the opinion of the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) raised their prices to an unjust level, five, six, seven times what was the previous price. They charged what the market could bear. And now their earnings report have just come out, Mr. Speaker, the earnings report of the major generators in this country who provide the western market, and they have reported 200, 300 percent or more profit increase over the year before. That is unconscionable. They have taken away our businesses, they have taken away our future, they threaten our whole economy. And yet the majority motion on the floor is give us a report a few days earlier. What this Congress should do, I say to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), is to put H.R. 5131 on the floor tomorrow. You have the power to do it. You showed you can take a resolution and put it on the floor within a day. Let us go after those who have caused this enormous panic and frightening situation in San Diego. Let us instruct FERC to roll back the wholesale prices in the western market and refund that overcharge to consumers. That is what this House ought to do. That is what our Federal regulatory commission ought to do. San Diegans and Californians are holding our breath to see what the Federal Government will do. We have another day, 2 days, 3 days, we do not know yet, in this session of Congress. I ask the majority, I ask the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), I ask the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) to bring us a real motion, a real resolution to solve this problem. Let us really help San Diego and not embark on this weak and meaningless response. I thank my colleagues. I really do thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) for spotlighting San Diego's situation. If the rest of California and the rest of the country deregulates through this monopoly situation under the rules that we had, the rest of the country is going to face the same panic and economic crisis that is brewing in California. The majority party can help San Diego now. Let us do it tomorrow.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the major utilities in our State which are major economic forces have appealed to the Public Utilities Commission of California, have appealed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to give them some relief because their debts are mounting and their bond ratings have gone down. If any one of those utilities goes under, the gentleman knows the domino effect on California. I cannot overstate the crisis for my city, my State or my Nation. Yet we are not doing anything in the waning days of this session. We should have the hearings. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) and his Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the Committee on Commerce did come to San Diego, and we are very grateful for that. They had findings at that hearing. They heard San Diegans testify all day. They heard the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They had enough to go on to have hearings on my bill or any other bill that anybody thought would solve the problem. By the way, I am joined in my bill by the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray). Also the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) have expressed support. We do have time to act when you want to. The majority should put our bills on the floor now.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out one more factor in all this before I conclude and, that is, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has claimed both in public and in private conversations they do not have the authority to roll back wholesale prices retroactively. My legislation, cosponsored by the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), gives them that authority to roll back prices retroactively. That is the only thing that can save San Diego and the rest of California from its mounting debt which has now reached $6 billion as I pointed out. We must go after those who have gouged us with these prices. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that although the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) are saying that the bureaucracy is dragging its feet, actually FERC has acted with incredible speed in this investigation. It is the Congress that is dragging its feet. What San Diego wants to see from this Congress before it adjourns is some meaningful action to stop the mounting debt that threatens big and small business alike and threatens the very income of all of our residents. San Diego is watching this Congress. What San Diego sees, because the majority party will not schedule any meaningful legislation to be voted on, is Congress dragging its feet. That is the issue, Mr. Speaker, that we must address. California is waiting. San Diego is waiting. This Congress should act before we adjourn.

Mr. FILNER. As the gentleman pointed out, I introduced H.R. 5131 a month and a half ago. That was plenty of time, given the crisis that San Diego has, for this Congress to go through hearings, to go through anything they want. We have had bills put on this floor in the last couple of days that nobody has ever seen before, incredibly complicated tax business and appropriations bills that nobody had ever seen. The resolution of the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) did not have the light of day until yesterday and here it is on the floor today. So you can act when you want to. We have had a month and a half to act. I will tell the gentleman that the crisis in San Diego mounts every day. People are going out of business as they face the mounting debt.

Mr. FILNER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) said, this is simply a resolution, a sense of the Congress. It does absolutely nothing for the citizens of San Diego.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and many other Members in this body. He has spent hours and hours learning about the issues in other parts of the country and my part of the world. In San Diego, California, I know how much time he has spent. He has asked his staff to make sure they understand the problem. He had legitimate questions and concerns, but he ended up fighting with us and for us to achieve this goal. And I thank him from the bottom of my heart. Mr. Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the distinguished ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. (Mr. OBERSTAR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for doing such a fine job in bringing us this conference report. I would like to speak on one part of this conference report, a part that is a win-win- win solution for the people in San Diego, California, and all those areas which border the country of Mexico. We have been dealing with the problem of Mexican sewage flowing into our area for many decades. The gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and I introduced the legislation that has the provisions in this conference report. What we intended to do, Mr. Speaker, is to provide a comprehensive solution to the problem of Mexican sewage flowing into the United States in our waters. We have a unique problem, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and I. I want to thank him for working so closely with me and for our staffs that worked so closely together. I do not think any other two Members of Congress can say that we have raw sewage flowing through our districts from another country onto our beaches and onto our riverbeds. And we, I know, jointly thank the chairman of our committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster); the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar); and their staffs, especially Ken Kopocis, Ryan Sieger, and David Heinsfeld because they worked very hard through some problems that we had between us and with the Senate. But once everyone realized the magnitude of the problem and, if I may say so, the historic opportunity to provide a comprehensive solution to it, these fine staff members and our leadership fought diligently to craft legislation on which all parties could agree. And the people of southern San Diego owe a great deal to the chairman and the ranking member, and I want to thank them so much on their behalf for their support. We will advance, through this legislation, a common sense solution to the problem of international sewage, the treatment of Mexican sewage in Mexico. Before the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and I introduced our legislation, plans called for treating less than half of the sewage that fouls our beaches and estuaries. It has taken bureaucracies 10 years to prepare a secondary treatment farm of the International Wastewater Treatment Plant. In that time, the sewage flows have more than doubled. Yet, the plans have persisted for a so-called solution that will really not solve the problem but will only take us back 10 years ago. This legislation seizes the momentum for solving the problem and fixes the problem now and comprehensively. My colleague from San Diego and I have been working, are working on this problem combined for probably 35 to 40 years. When we started this, 25 million gallons a day of sewage from Mexico needed to be treated to protect our water and land. Now it has reached 55 to 75 million gallons of sewage. Our residents and particularly our children need to be protected from this public health nightmare. Private investors have come forward with an innovative public-private partnership to treat all of the sewage and treat it in Mexico. Mexico has generated the sewage and under a treaty has the right to the treated water. So it makes the most sense not only to treat the sewage that we have now but to treat it where it is generated and can be reused by that country's agricultural and industrial interest. This is a win for the U.S. environment. It is a win for our children's health. It is a win for international relations and a win for recycling a precious resource. So I urge support for this comprehensive solution. It is an innovative way to approach the issue. It is a long-standing health and environmental problem. And it most certainly has its own very needed place in the Estuaries and Clean Water Act of 2000. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown), a great member of our committee and a great advocate for the people of Florida.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Thurman), my good friend.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen). (Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, again I want to thank the chairman and his staff, particularly Carrie Jelsma, was very helpful to us and worked so hard; the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and his staff, they worked overtime to help the people I know in my area; and I am sure throughout the Nation. I want to thank the staff of the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), Dave Schroeder, and my own staff member, Mary Niez, who worked tirelessly on this bill. Mr. Speaker, thanks from many parts of the Nation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues from the California delegation in congratulating Congressman Ron Packard on his retirement after serving the people of Southern California for over 20 years. I would like to take a moment to honor him and his record of service to California and the United States. Congressman Packard began his long career of public service as a trustee of the Carlsbad Unified School District. After serving on the Carlsbad City Council, and later as Mayor of Carlsbad, Ron was elected to the House of Representatives from California's 48th District. In his first election to the House, he was only the fourth successful write-in candidate in U.S. history. The citizens of Orange County, San Diego County and Riverside County, who placed his name on that first ballot, returned Ron Packard to the House eight more times. I join the other members of the San Diego delegation in recognizing that the people of his district, of Southern California, and of the United States have been well served by his exemplary career. As Chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee on Appropriations, Chairman of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, and Chairman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, Ron Packard was a model of bipartisan leadership. He always worked with Members on both sides of the aisle in a fair and balanced manner to bring important legislation to a successful conclusion. He represents how one can be a friendly and helpful person even to those, like myself, with whom he disagreed on most policy issues. Ron, as you look toward the future and a well-deserved retirement, the people of Southern California and your colleagues from the California delegation thank you for your fine example and wish you and your wife, Jeanne, the best of luck.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 540, I had to return to my Congressional District on official business and missed this vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, because of official business in my congressional district, I missed the legislative sessions of June 22 and June 23, 2000. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: Rollcall No. 311--``no''; No. 312--``no''; No. 313--``no''; No. 314-- ``no''; No. 315--``yes''; No. 316--``no''; No. 317--``yes''; No. 318-- ``yes''; No. 319--``yes''; No. 320--``yes''; and No. 321--``no'';

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on May 3, 2000, I inadvertently missed rollcall vote No. 136. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''