Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, Democrats are the ones with no new ideas. They always turn to their worn-out idea of tax, tax, tax. The American people don't want a national energy tax; they want energy independence. The House Republican plan is the comprehensive energy solution this country desperately needs. House Republicans recognize that as gas prices and home utility bills rise, American families are dealt a greater economic hardship. The Democrats' answer to the worst recession in decades is a national energy tax that will lead to higher energy prices and further job losses. Thousands of dollars in extra energy costs and millions of jobs lost is a high price to pay for an energy plan that will do little to clean up our environment. The American people deserve better. The American Energy Act introduced by Republicans is an all-of-the-above plan that will provide independence, more jobs here at home, and a cleaner environment. The American people don't want a national energy tax. They want energy independence. The House Republican plan is the comprehensive energy solution this country desperately needs.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. I yield myself 3\1/2\ minutes. I appreciate my colleague yielding time and, like my colleague from Colorado, I feel extremely fortunate to live where I live in my district--I think the most beautiful area of this country. But, Madam Speaker, the underlying bill we have here today, the Interior Appropriations Act, that most of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle are being denied the ability to offer amendments to, is filled with wasteful spending. The bill itself is a 17 percent overall increase in funding from last year's bill, and most programs are increased not only above the 2009 levels, but also above the levels the President requested. This does not reflect the hard economic times our country and our constituents are experiencing right now and is instead spending borrowed money that we do not have. This bill contains an astounding 38 percent increase in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. When combined with stimulus funding approved earlier this Congress, which I did not support, the EPA will receive more than $25 billion in a single calendar year, which is the equivalent of three-quarters of the entire Interior Appropriations Act we have before us. This kind of excessive spending does not reflect but it mocks the economic challenges our constituents are experiencing. The money that Speaker Pelosi and the Obama administration want to spend today is all borrowed money. We do not have this money. Our constituents do not have this money. And the Federal Government does not have this money. The Democrat leaders have made the irresponsible decision to borrow in order to spend it at their whim. This bill will increase the deficit even more by borrowing and spending money we don't have. We can no longer blame the deficit and economic difficulties today on the previous administration because the Democrat leaders are continuing to dig America into a bigger and bigger hole with more reckless spending. This borrowed money is all being spent by Speaker Pelosi and the Obama administration and, as a result, the unemployment rate continues to rise and the deficit continues to rise also. This bill contains also several hundred earmarks. The earmark system is flawed. And we know that even some of the earmarks in this bill have had questions raised about them. This legislation contains several giveaways for and preferential treatment to green companies in order to promote the green climate. This bill applies Davis-Bacon, which will create wasteful spending that we do not need to have. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this rule in order to allow this body to appropriately and adequately offer their ideas and engage in the debate that our constituents deserve. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. I will now yield 5 minutes to my colleague from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Ms. FOXX. I now yield 3 minutes to our distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop).

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I think it's important to point out to the American people that there are only 60 members on the Appropriations Committee, which means that only 60 out of 435 Members in this body had the opportunity to amend the bill that's under consideration here. If we had an open rule, every Member would have had that opportunity. I'd also like to mention that my colleague from Colorado said, Only one Democrat amendment was accepted and 12 Republican amendments. But that reinforces the point that even Members of his own party were turned away from offering amendments, and that isn't right. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield now 2 minutes to our distinguished colleague from California (Mr. Nunes).

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, our colleague from California made an impassioned plea in the Rules Committee and again here on the floor today, and I have to ask the question: The Secretary of the Interior has been there to see the situation in the San Joaquin Valley. What more does he need to see? What is it going to take to take action to turn this water back on? How much more damage needs to occur before the Obama administration needs to take action or will take action on the needs there? As a person who grew up without water, I am very, very sensitive to this issue, and I know what a devastating thing it can be not to have water. Madam Speaker, I would now like to yield 3 minutes to my colleague from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I love our national parks. My husband and I visit them whenever possible because we believe that they are crown jewels in our environment in this country. But by putting this and future generations further into debt, we are making it less likely that the population of this country is going to be able to visit these wonderful national parks. I offered an amendment yesterday in the Rules Committee that was intended to save taxpayer money that was also not made in order; so we will not be debating it on the floor of the House today, much to my disappointment and all of our constituents' detriment. My amendment was a commonsense amendment to H.R. 2996, the fiscal year 2010 Interior Appropriations Act. It would save taxpayers $10 million by eliminating proposed funding for local climate change grants. During a time when families across America are making sacrifices in order to keep food on their tables, Congress should be finding ways to reduce unnecessary spending. My amendment would have taken a small step in the right direction by removing $10 million in taxpayer funds for local groups to come up with ambiguous projects to counter climate change. The Federal Government has increasingly entrenched the American people in trillions of dollars of debt. It is irresponsible and negligent to continue spending Federal taxpayer funds on frivolous projects that should be funded locally such as the one that I tried to take the money from. Unfortunately, in blocking debate on my amendment, the majority did not side with the taxpayers to eliminate this wasteful grant project. Instead, the majority has worked to frivolously and unnecessarily spend the public's money without listening to any of their input or ideas. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, as my colleagues have spoken so eloquently before me about the process by which this rule has been brought to the floor by the majority, I want to talk again about what's wrong with this closed process. Never before in the history of this Congress have we seen this kind of action by the majority party. As my colleagues have expressed during today's debate on this rule, as well as the past two appropriations debates, bringing appropriations bills to the floor under a closed rule is unprecedented. It's very important that the American people understand that. It does an injustice to both Democrats and Republicans who want to have the opportunity to offer amendments and participate in debate with their colleagues over pressing issues of our time. By choosing to operate in this way, the majority has cut off the minority and their own Democrat colleagues from having any input in the legislative process. By choosing to stifle debate, the Democrats in charge have denied their colleagues on both sides of the aisle the ability to do the job that they have been elected to do. That job is to offer ideas that represent and serve their constituents. The Democrats are denying Members the ability to offer improvements to legislation, and this is an injustice to our colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Article I, section 9 of the Constitution places the responsibility to spend the people's money in our hands as Members of Congress. This is a great responsibility given only to this congressional body with the expectation that we will engage in rigorous debate over how to best appropriate taxpayer funds. However, the majority has chosen to refuse Members any participation in this decisionmaking and instead has anointed itself as the sole appropriators in this legislative body. The Democrats in charge are limiting what ideas can be debated on the floor and what constituents can be adequately represented in this House. Our constituents in both Republican districts and Democrat districts are struggling to make ends meet, are facing unemployment, and yet are simultaneously being shut out of participating in a debate of how their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being spent by the Federal Government. Why is the majority blocking debate on such an important legislation? Are they afraid of debate? Are they protecting their Members from tough votes? Are they afraid of the democratic process? After promising to make this Congress the most open and honest in history, Speaker Pelosi has time and time again worked to shut out both Republicans and Democrats from participating in debate and taking part in the legislative process. And I would like to give one quote from the Speaker when she was trying desperately to take control of this House. This is her quote: ``Bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate, consisting of a full amendment process that grants the minority the right to offer its alternatives, including a substitute.'' This is exactly the opposite of what the Speaker is doing. Why is she going back on her word? Is she afraid that the American people will disagree with her? Is she keeping other Democrats from having to make tough decisions on difficult votes? Is she afraid of democracy, the very principle upon which our country was founded? Madam Speaker, it's very concerning to me that the Democrats in charge have chosen to silence the minority yet again. In doing so, they have chosen to keep the millions of constituents the minority represents from having a voice on the floor of the people's House. Several of my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, offered amendments to the Rules Committee, amendments which were arbitrarily not made in order by the majority. These amendments included asserting Second Amendment rights on Federal lands, protecting private property rights, preventing excessive regulation of greenhouse gases, eliminating excessive earmark spending across the Nation, increasing our ability to produce energy domestically, and cutting unnecessary funds in order to save our constituents money. The list goes on and on, but these amendments will not be heard on this floor because, for some reason, the majority is afraid of allowing debate on these topics. And we fear it's going to get even worse because they are working very hard to bring to the floor a bill on climate change. They stopped calling it global warming and now are calling it climate change. This bill, H.R. 2454, is a $646 billion tax that will hit every American family, small business and family farm. Speaker Pelosi's answer to the country's worst recession in decades is a national energy tax that will lead to higher taxes and more job losses for rural America and small businesses. It will shift jobs to China and India. The bill will result in an enormous loss of jobs that would ensue when U.S. industries are unable to absorb the cost of the national energy tax and other provisions, like sending jobs overseas. There is little debate that the tax would outsource millions of manufacturing jobs to countries such as China and India. According to the independent Charles River Associates International, H.R. 2454 would result in a net reduction in U.S. employment of 2.3 million to 2.7 million jobs each year of the policy through 2030. Higher gas prices. The American Petroleum Institute reports that the cost impacts of H.R. 2454 could be as much as 77 cents per gallon for gasoline, 83 cents per gallon of jet fuel, and 88 cents for diesel fuel. The Heritage Foundation has estimated that as a result of these increased prices, the average household will cut consumption of gasoline by 15 percent, but forcing a family of four to pay at least $600 more in 2012. It's going to be a huge impact. It's also going to unfairly target rural America. Rural residents spend 58 percent more on fuel and travel 25 percent farther to get to work than Americans living in urban areas. Farm income would drop as a result of H.R. 2454, according to a Heritage Foundation study, $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in 2024, and over $50 billion in 2035; decreases of 28 percent, 60 percent, and 94 percent, respectively. More importantly, 25 percent of U.S. farm cash receipts come from agricultural imports. U.S. farmers would be at a severe disadvantage compared to farmers and nations which do not have a cap-and-tax system and correspondingly high input costs. Over 100 State and agricultural groups oppose the cap-and-tax bill. Madam Speaker, what it appears is happening here in this House is nothing less than a tremendous power grab and an attempt to control every aspect of our lives. With that, Madam Speaker, I would like to yield 3 minutes to our colleague from the State of Washington (Mr. Hastings).

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, my colleague from Colorado a moment ago said this bill is going to create jobs. I love that old saying, ``Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'' I wonder if this bill is going to create jobs like the stimulus package has created jobs since our unemployment has gone up significantly since the stimulus package was passed. I would also like to point out that Spain, which counted on having so many jobs from green issues, has the highest unemployment rate in Europe right now. Madam Speaker, I am going to urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that I can amend the rule to allow all Members of Congress the opportunity to offer his or her amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill under an open rule. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the amendment and extraneous material be placed in the Record prior to the vote on the previous question.

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 105th anniversary of Alleghany County, North Carolina. Alleghany County was created by an act of the North Carolina legislature in 1859. The county sits astride the Appalachian Mountains and the North Carolina High Country and boasts some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in North Carolina. Since its creation in 1859, Alleghany County has been called home by countless hard-working North Carolinians, from farmers to small business owners who know the value of a hard day's work. One of Alleghany's most notable native sons, Robert Doughton, served here in the House of Representatives for 42 years, from 1911 to 1953. Congressman Doughton was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee for 18 of his 42 years in Congress. He also played a decisive role in creating the Blue Ridge Parkway, which we all know as one of the most beautiful scenic roads in America. Today, Alleghany hosts the 6,000 acre Doughton Park named in his honor and known for its excellent wildlife viewing. The Blue Ridge Parkway itself also cuts a scenic path through Alleghany County, just a stone's throw from the county seat, the town of Sparta. Alleghany County is a place of unique beauty and character, right off the beaten path. From the pristine waters of the New River to the distinct sounds of its local Blue Grass musical heritage, it is a one- of-a-kind place found only in the great State of North Carolina. The people here are friendly and welcoming, good-natured and full of common sense. I am proud to represent them in Congress and proud to join them in celebrating the 105th anniversary of this fine county. Controlling Runaway Federal Spending Madam Speaker, I would also like to speak briefly this morning about the runaway Federal spending that we are seeing occurring in this Congress. Here are the facts on spending from this year: A $2 trillion deficit for FY 2009; The second tranche of the TARP allowed to be spent, $350 billion; The stimulus package, H.R. 1, $787 billion, but over $1 trillion with debt costs; The omnibus appropriations bill, $409 billion. President Obama's budget increased total spending to $4 trillion in 2009, or 28 percent of GDP, the highest Federal spending as a percentage of GDP since World War II. Federal spending is out of control. Republicans in the last week or so have offered many, many amendments, most of which were designed to cut Federal spending. However, the Democrats don't want to hear those amendments. They say they would take too much time. Apparently, the Democrats can't spend the people's money fast enough. Republicans believe Congress has the time to practice fiscal discipline. Republicans are going to stand up for the American people and fight runaway Federal spending. True Facts on the State of Health Care in America Madam Speaker, the other issue that needs to be addressed is the misleading comments made almost every day on this floor about the uninsured in this country. We hear over and over and over again a figure that 47 million Americans don't have health care. That is not true. First of all, the number of people who are uninsured in this country is only 45.7 million: 9\1/2\ million of them are illegal aliens; 12 million of them are eligible for public programs, but they choose not to participate; 7.3 million have incomes of $84,000 a year and choose not to purchase insurance; and those only temporarily uninsured, 9.1 million. That brings us to 7.8 million who are American citizens, lower income and long-term uninsured. We have to continue to correct the misleading numbers given on this floor every day by our colleagues across the aisle, and we are going to continue to do that.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, this week the world heard the cry of millions of Iranians who seek the right to a free and fair election. In response, Americans from all walks of life have taken up the cause of liberty for Iranians who crave real freedom and not sham elections. ``I am proud to join the United States Congress to stand with freedom-loving people everywhere in support of the people of Iran and to call for an end to the brutal and violent suppression of peaceful protesters. We will not stand by in silence and watch the forces of radicalism attempt to squelch the public outcry in Iran against last week's election irregularities. ``The Middle East is ready for another real democracy, a nation where the voices of every citizen are heard and where the government works for the people and not against the people. Over the past few years the bellicose regime in Tehran has spewed an endless line of anti-Western vitriol and insists on threatening the existence of the state of Israel--one of the few beacons of real freedom in the Middle East. It is now obvious that the average Iranian has grown weary with their authoritarian leadership. ``The ongoing crackdown on free expression and the rights of journalists along with the censoring of communication with the outside world has simply shown the true colors of the dark Iranian regime desperately trying to hold its grip on power. The people of Iran deserve better. They deserve freedom. And today the House of Representatives has given voice to their historic plea in the hallowed halls of Congress.''

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, we do need to fund adequately our offices; the Capitol Police, for whom I have the greatest respect; and the Library of Congress, a real jewel for our country. As my colleague from Nevada said, American families are hurting, and we have been increasing spending by 16 percent in this area over the past 2 years. Here are the problems that we are facing in this country right now, which the American people are beginning to truly understand. We will have a $2 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2009. The second tranche of the TARP was allowed to be spent, which was $350 billion. The stimulus package, which was H.R. 1, was $787 billion, which was really over $1 trillion with the debt cost. There was the omnibus bill, which was $409 billion. That was the bill that funded appropriations for this year, which the Democrats said they couldn't pass last year in individual appropriations bills even though they were in charge of the Congress. The budget increased total spending to $4 trillion in 2009, or 28 percent of the GDP, the highest Federal spending as a percentage of the GDP since World War II. Now we have this additional increase which they're asking for. Federal spending is out of control. We have got to put a stop to this somewhere. The day before yesterday, Republicans offered 94 amendments in the Rules Committee, which were designed to cut Federal spending, but we couldn't deal with that. The Democrats cut off debate because they said it was going to take too much time to deal with this. Apparently, Democrats can't spend the American people's money fast enough. Republicans think it's time that Congress started practicing fiscal discipline. This is a good place to start. I would now like to yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from Iowa, Mr. King.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida for yielding time for us to discuss the rule. I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have a situation here that partly was demonstrated yesterday in terms of the Republican concern on how we are going to do business in the House. Yesterday the Democrats made in order only one amendment which had been offered to this rule. Twenty total amendments were submitted, 14 by Republicans, four by Democrats, and two that were bipartisan. Two years ago, they made three of 23 amendments in order, which is three times as many as now. Last year we didn't even consider appropriations bills on the floor, so maybe an argument could be made that that was even worse. And even though the Democrats were in charge last year, they blame Republicans for the fact that we couldn't deal with the appropriations bills on the floor and the fact that there was a Republican President. But, in 2006, the last year Republicans were in the majority, we made all seven amendments submitted to the Rules Committee in order. That's the way it should be. We should be debating these bills on the floor. Earlier, our colleague from Michigan implied that requiring debate and voting on issues before the House is dysfunctional. It is exactly what the people of this country have sent us here for. They want us to take positions on these issues and not hide behind them. We keep wondering what the Democrats are afraid of. Why do they not want amendments on the floor? They have a majority, a fairly large majority, but they refuse to debate these issues. I would now like to yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from Nevada, Mr. Heller.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that I have been told that when he was ranking member, Mr. Obey would never agree to a time agreement before a consideration of a bill. Now, Mr. Speaker, we are nearing the end of the time of debate on this rule. I think we have had some very important issues brought forward by my distinguished colleagues who have come to share this debate this morning. This is a bad rule because it does not allow for amendments to be offered on the floor for people to work their will here. I do want to correct a couple of things that were said earlier this morning by my colleagues in terms of uninsured Americans. I think we have to do this every single time it's brought up. My distinguished colleague from Florida said this earlier: there are 47 million uninsured Americans. There are not. Despite those claims-- and I am quoting from ``Crisis of the Uninsured: 2008'' by the National Center for Policy Analysis--we have 12 million illegal aliens here. We have 14 million uninsured adults and children who are qualified for programs but have not enrolled. We have 18 million people who are uninsured who live in households with annual incomes above $50,000 who could afford it. We have 18 million who are uninsured, but most of them are healthy and don't need it. Eighty-five percent of U.S. residents are privately insured and enrolled in a government health program. Therefore, 95 percent of U.S. residents have health coverage or access to it, and the remaining 5 percent live in households that earn less than $50,000 annually. That is about 7 million people. I am getting so tired of hearing these misstatements made all the time. It's day after day after day that we keep getting these figures put out that are wrong. But let's go back to this bill and to what's in this bill that we find really egregious. I am going to urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and ``no'' on the bill because we have in here $9 million for the Open World Leadership Center Trust Fund. That's just one of the items that's in here that we don't need to be funding. It would be great to be able to have better relations with young people in other countries who come here; but, again, the American people are hurting. The Republicans are on the side of the American people who are hurting here. We want to slow down the spending. There is a statement that came out yesterday about the difficulty we're having in selling bonds and the amount that we're selling. We are going into debt greater and greater in this country, and yet the Democrats seem to see no end to spending. They can't spend the American people's money fast enough. There is money in here to do studies on demonstration projects to save energy. You know what? I look around this place every night; we can save lots of money on energy by just turning out the lights. The lights are left on all over the Capitol complex. We don't need to spend millions of dollars on studying what we can do to save energy. Just use common sense and cut down on the use of the energy that we have now. We're going to be wasting a huge amount of money. Yesterday, the Treasury announced a record $104 billion worth of bond auctions for next week, part of its Herculean efforts to finance the rescue of the world's largest economy. This was in the news today. It will exceed the previous record of $101 billion set in auctions that took place in the last week of April. We are spending our country more and more into debt. And why are we pushing things through? Why are we not allowing amendments? Because the chairman of the Appropriations Committee says we have to stick to his timetable. And yet, since the beginning of May, what have we dealt with here? We've had over 101 suspension bills, things like recognizing the Winston Churchill Memorial Library in Fulton, Missouri, as American's National Churchill Museum. Really important work----

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I would yield 1 minute to the distinguished ranking member from California, Mr. Dreier.

Ms. FOXX. I now would like to yield 5 minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the Rules Committee, Mr. Dreier from California. (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. FOXX. We do have additional speakers.