Janice Hahn

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to this bill because Americans need us to focus on jobs right now, not this extreme bill that endangers the lives of women.

Ms. HAHN

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

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Chairman, today I'm offering an amendment that will preserve the critical air pollution protections for the places that they are needed most. For the people in my district, air pollution is a major health problem. The Los Angeles region always is near the top of the Nation's worst air quality rankings. Unfortunately, the people of my district don't need to read the statistics from the American Lung Association to know that there's a pollution problem in our communities. They see it in the dark soot that seeps into the homes of families living near the port in Wilmington. They see it in the labored breathing of a little girl in Lomita staying home from school because of asthma. They see it in the tears of loved ones in San Pedro burying someone lost before their time to cancer or lung disease. But the statistics are there too. In Los Angeles, 6 to 7 percent of all children have asthma--higher than the national average, and disproportionately impacting minority children. When our kids can't run around outside to exercise, when they're missing school with asthma, we're creating all sorts of other health and educational deficits. Los Angeles has recognized its air quality problems. Since the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, we've made dramatic air quality improvements. In the last decade, we've managed to reduce particulate pollution levels in Los Angeles by 40 percent. We cannot afford to go backwards. That's why I'm offering this amendment today. My amendment would ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency will keep their higher standards of clean air protections for the 10 metropolitan areas with the worst air quality. The American Lung Society lists the 10 worst regions with year-round particulate matter. They are Bakersfield-Delano in California; Los Angeles-Long Beach- Riverside in California; Visalia-Porterville in California; Phoenix- Mesa-Glendale in Arizona; Hanford-Corcoran in California; Fresno-Madera in California; Pittsburgh-New Castle in Pennsylvania; Birmingham- Hoover-Cullman in Alabama; Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana; Modesto in California; and Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg in Kentucky and Indiana. I believe that the underlying bill is a giant step backwards for those communities and for the air quality and environment of people living in this country. My amendment solely focuses on trying to continue to protect people in communities with the worst air quality standards. These communities cannot afford to have lower standards that will result in more asthma, more cancer. By protecting our public health, we will not lose jobs. It's a false premise that to create jobs we need to hurt our Nation's environment and health. For example, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were able to improve air quality and create jobs and industry. These ports are the economic engine of this country. I call them ``America's ports.'' About 44 percent of all the cargo in this country comes through those ports. A lot of people said you can't have clean air and good jobs, but let me tell you what really happened. We cut port pollution by 70 percent since 2005 without losing a single job. I'll say that again: a 70 percent reduction in pollution at the cost of zero jobs. In fact, the green industry jobs were spawned, creating more jobs. Our more vigorous environmental standards in California aren't stopping the facilities in my district from thriving. That's why I find it so upsetting that, under the banner of protecting jobs, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are moving to delay or destroy the protections that ensure our children can grow up breathing clean air. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim making our air dirtier is a way to stimulate the economy, but a peer-reviewed Cal State, Fullerton study found that dirty air in the costs residents $22 billion a year in health costs, premature deaths, lost days of work, lost days of school--$22 billion a year wasted because of dirty air. I reject the false choice between good jobs and clean air. We've already proven that they can go hand in hand with the Clean Air Action Plan at the Port of Los Angeles. I also want to add that environmental regulations are not topping the list of problems that small businesses in my community are facing. Last week, I met with over 50 small businesses, and they said they need more access to capital, not less regulation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment. By the way, I believe we should be alarmist; and I am an alarmist, and maybe that's because I'm a mother, maybe that's because I'm a grandmother, and maybe that's because I represent Los Angeles, which has some of the worst air in their country. Just last year, in California, we had 2,400 deaths because of cargo- related pollution. We're paying for the costs of people all over this country getting goods on time in their local stores. Because of cargo- related pollution, there is about 350,000 days of lost school. That is a real problem for this country. Pollution does impact our children. Pollution does impact their lives. We know even there is a million days of lost work, lost productivity in this country because of pollution-related illnesses in the workplace. I'm for this amendment because the underlying bill nullifies EPA's rules to require boilers and incinerators to reduce their emissions of toxic mercury. And this comes in the wake of a bill to nullify EPA's rules to clean up cement kilns and another bill to nullify EPA's rules to clean up power plants. Just within the last month, my colleagues on the other side have pushed legislation to let the Nation's largest sources of toxic mercury pollution off the hook for cleaning up their emissions. And they defend this policy by pointing to these industry studies about the costs of complying with these rules. One study that gets cited over and over is a study by the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners, or CIBO. This study, by the way, has been completely discredited. For example, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service examined this study and concluded: ``the base of CIBO's analysis is flawed. As a result, little credence can be placed in CIBO's estimate of job losses.'' They also cite a study by the American Forest & Paper Association concluding that the boiler rules will cost jobs. Mr. Chairman, Dr. Charles Kolstad, chair of the department of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, reviewed this analysis and said: ``If I were grading this, I would give it an F. The economics is all wrong.'' Dr. Kolstad described the methods as ``fundamentally flawed.'' And he said that, as a result, the jobs estimates were ``completely invalid.'' We know that the National Academy of Sciences and independent public health experts around the world have proven time and again that mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that harms the developing brains of infants, leading to learning disabilities, attention deficits, behavioral problems, and a range of other problems. This amendment is straightforward. It states that the bill does not stop EPA from taking action to clean up toxic air pollution from an industrial boiler or incinerator if that facility is emitting mercury or other toxic pollutants that are damaging babies' developing brains. Who can vote against this? You know, you talk about jobs. My colleague, Mrs. Miller, earlier talked about jobs and the economy and the cost of the regulations. But at what price do we have to pay for the next generation's health and quality of life? And by the way, the last I checked, adding more pollution into the air is not a jobs plan. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Ms. HAHN. I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, last week I held meetings in my district with over 50 businesses; not to talk to them, but to listen to them. I wanted to hear from small businesses themselves--what is standing in your way and what do you need to succeed. And I heard that even in the sluggish economy, these small businesses are finding opportunities. They want to hire and grow. Difficult times cannot repress the ingenuity and determination of the American small businessperson. What they do need is access to capital to seize these opportunities. They need small business loans that don't take a small mountain of paperwork to apply for. They need us to pass the American Jobs Act to give them the tools they need to innovate and grow. Congress bent over backwards to bail out Wall Street billionaires. Where's the help for the ordinary men and women working on Main Street? Congress needs to get our priorities straight. We should be fighting for small businesses that are the backbone of our economy and the foundation of our American Dream.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring a perspective as a brand new Member of Congress. Last week while I was in my district, I met with over 50 businesses who wanted to talk to me about what they felt Congress was either doing or not doing. I met with them not to talk to them, but I met with them to listen to them. And I met with very small businesses, some that had two employees, to some other businesses who were considered small but had many more employees. What they told me was this: These are tough times. They're having a tough time with our economy, but they still want to grow and they still want to hire people. We know that our small businesses in this country are the backbone of this economy. We know that they are the ones that will be hiring people. They are the ones that will be getting this economy back up and running. They're going to be part of this great recovery, but they need help from the Federal Government. I asked them: What is it that you need? What is it that will keep you in business? What is it that helps you to grow and to hire people? There was a common theme, and they told me it was their access to capital which was part of the problem they have. They believed that our small business loans took a small mountain of paperwork to apply for. They felt like the requirements for these loans were so burdensome that they were not able to access capital. And they said, if they could access this capital, they would grow. They would hire. And even in tough times, this is the American Dream. This is the American spirit. They wondered, frankly, why Congress had worked so hard to bail out the billionaires on Wall Street; and they wondered what was Congress doing to bail out the man and woman on Main Street that works so hard every day. So I told them I wanted to stay in touch with them and I would urge my colleagues to do something else that they wanted, and that was to pass the President's Jobs Act. They love parts of this Jobs Act. They loved the fact that there is a tax credit there if they hired someone who had been unemployed for 6 months or longer. They loved the idea that in this jobs bill there was a tax credit for hiring our returning veterans. They liked the fact that we even went further and said there would be a larger, I think it is a $9,000 tax credit if you hire a veteran who's been wounded, because we know when our veterans come home that they have a very difficult time reentering society. They have a difficult time, frankly, reentering their families. They have a hard time relating again to their husbands, to their wives, to their communities. This jobs bill actually speaks to the plight of the veteran. The woman veteran, by the way, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. So colleagues, I think we should continue to fight for small businesses in this country. Let's give them what they need. Let's remove the barriers that are keeping them from growing and keeping them from hiring and keeping them from being the catalyst to getting this economy back on track.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Madam Speaker, last week we passed a bill to extend funding for critical highway and transit infrastructure projects for 6 months. I don't think 6 months is long enough. We're told by businesses that they need certainty before they can invest, and the same is true for those businesses that would help us build an infrastructure that reflects the challenges of the 21st century. To give that certainty, we need to pass a long-term highway and transit funding bill now so we can create lasting jobs. In my home city of Los Angeles, we're already pursuing innovative measures like the 30/10, America Fast Forward initiative to get the infrastructure we need to stay competitive tomorrow built today. That initiative promises to create 160,000 jobs in my area alone. Just think of what that good program could do for our country as a whole. A long-term bill will put us one step closer to realizing that goal. Keeping our Nation competitive in the future requires vision and boldness in the present, and I urge my colleagues to pass a long-term surface transportation bill equal to the opportunity before us.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Julio Alvarado, who passed away on September 13, 2011, just four days short of his 85th birthday. Born in Puerto Rico in 1926, Julio Alvarado arrived in San Pedro in 1949 where he made his home and became a beloved member of the community. While in San Pedro, Julio worked on the docks at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as member of ILWU Local 13. Julio Alvarado was an immensely caring person with a large, generous heart and was always ready to help anyone in need. He will be missed dearly by all who knew him. His children and grandchildren will especially miss his baking and his homemade bread. I have had the pleasure of knowing Julio's daughter, Daisy Ybarra, for almost 20 years. For nearly two years while I served on the Los Angeles City Council, Daisy was my Community Advocate in Watts, but Daisy had been following in her father's footsteps and serving her community long before then by teaching kids to say no to gangs through GAP, the Gang Alternatives Program. Lives were saved because of the work that she did and I know that her father was very proud of her. Julio Alvarado was preceded in death by his loving wife Ana. I extend my deepest condolences to his sons, Julio, Jr., and Robert; daughters Angela, Daisy, Miriam, and Maria Luisa; his brother and sister Victor Gotay and Carmen Martinez, both of Puerto Rico; and to his three grandchildren, three great-granddaughters as well as several nieces and nephews. Though Julio is no longer with us, his legacy lives on in the lives of the loved ones he has left behind and in the community he made his home.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Madam Speaker, the American people have waited too long for this Congress to put the focus where it belongs--on creating jobs and getting the Nation back to work. Now we must boldly make up for lost time. We need a plan as serious as the challenges we face. The American Jobs Act is that plan. We will harness the industry and energy of the American people. We will give small businesses, the backbone of our economy, the incentives and assistance that they need to hire and to grow. We will put people to work building a transportation infrastructure worthy of the 21st century. We will stop teachers from being laid off and help end the outrage of our crumbling schools. The American Jobs Act is good news for veterans, construction workers, teachers, firefighters, the long-term unemployed, and good news for all Americans who can look forward to a stronger economy and a more competitive Nation. Let's work together to pass this bill and get the American people the help they need and the support they deserve.

Ms. HAHN

Ms. HAHN. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker, Leader Pelosi, and honored Members. It is wonderful to be here today representing the 36th Congressional District in California. I am honored and thankful for this incredible opportunity to serve here in the United States House of Representatives. I am humbled to be the first Los Angeles City councilmember elected to Congress since Ed Roybal almost 50 years ago. I was born into public service. My dad, Kenny, represented the people of Los Angeles for 46 years. My brother, Jim, served as mayor, and is now a superior court judge. Our dad taught us that serving others is more than a job--it's a calling. It requires honesty, hard work and, most of all, the courage to do the right thing. In 1961, a young and controversial civil rights leader named Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Los Angeles for his very first visit, and not a single elected official wanted to greet or welcome him except for one--my father. That's where I got my political courage. We know that Americans are counting on us now more than ever to solve their problems, and working together with courage and in good faith, I believe we can and we will. This past week, I experienced a wonderful victory but also a profound loss. My dear, sweet mother passed away unexpectedly the day before the election. She was the driving force behind our family, and this is the first accomplishment I've ever had and not been able to share with her. She was looking forward to seeing this day, and I know both she and my father are looking down today, smiling. And for that, I want to thank everyone who made this possible. Thank you to my children--Katy, Danny and Mark; my son-in-law, John; my five beautiful grandchildren, three of whom are here today--McKenna, Brooklyn and Josiah; and thank you to Leader Pelosi, Democratic Whip Hoyer and the California delegation. I want to thank my good friend Jane Harman for her years of service to this Congress and to this Nation and to the people of the 36th District; and when she stepped down, I told her to leave the initials on the door. Thanks to my campaign staff and volunteers and the voters. I will work every day, with every bit of strength that I have, to serve you. I look forward to working with each and every one of you and in getting to know each and every one of you. Thank you. God bless you, and God bless our beautiful country.