Jay Inslee

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. INSLEE. I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I want to put in a good word for my comrade in arms, Todd Tiahrt. He isn't with us right at the moment, but he did great work on this--he has had a great career--as well as Mr. Larsen. A couple of closing comments. I come from a Boeing family. My uncle's cousins have worked with Boeing products from the 707, to the 737, to the 727, to the 747. Now they hope to work on the 767 tanker product. So this is a hometown team issue for me, but it is an international issue as to whether or not we are going to have rules when we compete with our friends across the pond, and we are happy to compete no matter what team we are on. This simply insists that America will follow the rules in a fair competition. It is the right thing to do. So, in that regard, Madam Speaker, I will note that sometimes Congress reserves the best in its legislation and the best in its speakers pro tem for the last, and I think that this is the best in both ways. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. INSLEE. I just wanted to address Mr. Miller's concern, wanted to advise him that we have been in discussions for the last several days with the current minority staff on the committee, who have all been well-advised about our intention to bring this in one way or another, either by UC or suspension, to the floor, and we've appreciated their cooperation in doing that. I also want to advise Mr. Miller that this is exactly the same language we did vote for, including the gentleman from Florida, in its previous incarnation in the Defense authorization bill. I hope that I can say this is a fairly noncontroversial issue in the House, and we hope that when the light of public interest is shone on the Senate that they will act on this as well on behalf of America. Madam Speaker, I would reserve my time unless the gentleman has no further speakers.

Mr. INSLEE. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently commented at the 2010 Energy Security Forum that ``[the Department of Defense] is using 300,000 barrels of oil every day. The energy use per soldier creeps up every year. And our number-one import into Afghanistan is fossil fuel.'' Admiral Mullen understands how critical an energy supply is to a combat troop; but how safe are our troops if this oil comes from overseas? Our defense sector should adopt more sustainable fuels, which can be produced here in the United States; for the security of our troops. As an initial step forward, the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Maybus, outlined five formal energy goals to lead the Navy toward a more energy secure fleet: 1. Evaluation of energy factors will be mandatory when awarding Department of the Navy contracts for systems and buildings. 2. Department of the Navy (DoN) will demonstrate a Green Strike Group in local operations by 2012 and sail it by 2016. 3. By 2015, DoN will reduce petroleum use in the commercial fleet by 50 percent. 4. By 2020, DoN will produce at least 50 percent of shore-based energy requirements from alternative sources; 50 percent of Navy and Marine Corps installations will be net-zero. 5. By 2020, 50 percent of total energy consumption will come from alternative sources. To ultimately realize these goals we need to dramatically scale up advanced biofuel production in the U.S. One way to help scale this nascent industry is to allow government entities to engage in longer term contracts with fuel producers. These longer term contracts will provide additional market certainty and will ultimately help unlock private investment for construction and development of large advanced biofuel refineries. That is why I introduced the Domestic Fuel for Enhancing National Security (D-FENS) Act 2010. This bill extends the multi-year contracting authority for advanced biofuels from 5 years to 15 years. In the great state of Washington, interests from the private sector, universities, and major airports are already working to bring the first generation of biofuels to the market, and their efforts can be greatly enhanced by this legislation. These fuels are based on plants such as camelina, jatropha, and even algae; plants that can be grown right in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to being able to grow these feedstocks in our own backyard, research on the next generation of biofuels is also creating jobs at our highly regarded research institutions. These efforts will make sure that the U.S. secures its competitive edge in this field. In closing, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill, and hope that we can work together to move it toward passage as soon as possible.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Chairman, I came to peace with my decision on this bill this weekend when I was holding my 2-year-old grandson, Brody, who was checking out the Christmas tree. I became focused on the real question before us: Is it right to put $858 billion of debt on that kid's shoulders? The answer is ``no'' for three reasons. First, this bill represents an old and unsuccessful experiment in supply-side economics. It has failed time and time again. In 2001, it was going to create jobs. It didn't create a single net job. Most of us remember when the first President Bush called this type of scheme ``voodoo economics.'' Do you remember that? Well, this is deja vu voodoo economics, and we have no interest in erecting a fiscal monument to the failed policies of George Bush. Second, let's be honest about what this deal is--a bipartisan deal gone bad. It's a case where both sides handed out candy to their favorite constituencies, put the candy together in one pile of $858 billion of deficit spending and said, We will sober up, just not today. We've got to have time to eat our spinach, not just our candy. Stop kicking this can down the road. True bipartisanship will happen when both parties confront fiscal reality and become responsible. Third, we have to face the music as to what this deal is. It's just another case of using an overextended credit card. We cannot build an economy based on consumer credit card spending, which is what got us in the hole in the first place. This deal does not educate one kid; it does not build one bridge; it does not lead to the production of one innovative company. It doesn't build America. It just builds American debt. So let's learn from our past. Let's put away the credit card. Let's get an unemployment extension the old-fashioned way. Let's have more jobs and less debt. Let's defeat this bill.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, our cab driver the other day said he served in the last segregated African American unit during the Korean War. He told me there were five guys in his unit who were gay, and he thought those guys were the best because all five of those gay soldiers were on the boxing team of his unit, and they beat the stuffing out of anybody they fought. That's who we need right now with those .50 calibers and on our bridges and in our cockpits--the best fighters America can produce. Right now, in warfare, we cannot afford the luxury of discrimination. Put those Americans to work fighting for freedom. We need them.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I rise to alert my colleagues to a very important job creation issue that resides potentially in the defense authorization bill that may come to the floor. We have the opportunity to do something right for the American worker and the American taxpayer by insisting that in the competition for the new Air Force tanker that we take into consideration the illegal subsidies that have benefited so extraordinarily the Airbus competitor for the tanker contract. It is absolutely imperative that at this moment when we are struggling to create jobs in this country that we take into consideration in this competition the fact that our competitors in Europe have received over $5 billion of illegal subsidies, and we have to insist the Pentagon take that into consideration. For those that share my view, I hope you will join me in a letter to make sure that an amendment we passed will become part of the defense authorization bill. It is the only way to make sure that we keep these jobs in America and build a U.S. Air Force tanker.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, George Washington said something which I thought was appropriate to the Cobell settlement. He said, ``The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government.'' Today, that is what we are administering--some justice for the 50,000 individual Native Americans and more than 100 tribes across this country. We have known, in no uncertain terms, that there has been an injustice to thousands of these Americans for decades, and we have struggled mightily to find the right resolution of that, and we have found a settlement that, in fact, achieves that. The point I want to make about this is we know how important this has been to Native Americans. We know of their attachment to the land and of the abuses they have suffered at the hands of their government. Conservatives should like the fact that we are forcing a government that acted inappropriately to pay for the damage it did to their citizens as this is not just justice for Native Americans. A justice for any is a justice for all, and justice for Native Americans today is justice for all Americans. We all ought to feel proud that we are taking a step forward to make this a more just Nation.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, all members of this body and indeed all Americans are united in the high esteem we have for the men and women of our Armed Forces who have given their lives in service to our country. A constituent of mine provides a grand example in this regard. Mr. Michael Reagan, a portrait artist residing in Edmonds, Washington, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, and a member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars, has committed himself to providing surviving families with hand-drawn portraits of every man or woman killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, Mr. Reagan has completed over 2,400 portraits of servicemembers. These portraits make a difference. A wife of a fallen Marine wrote to Mr. Reagan, ``I sit in the living room every day looking at the portrait you drew . . . It just brings me a little bit of peace because I feel like he's right there with me.'' In honoring the dead and comforting the living, Mr. Reagan helps the families to hold their loved ones in their hearts forever and helps assure that our Nation will never forget the service they gave and the sacrifice they made. I believe we should reflect on Mr. Reagan's contribution and ask ourselves how we, too can continue to honor the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I urge our Republican colleagues to join us in doing the right thing for working families in this difficult time on unemployment. I've heard them say, well, we just can't afford this. Well, that's a little interesting to me when they say we can afford to blow a $700 billion hole in the Federal deficit by giving away tax cuts to millionaires. We Democrats stand for working middle class folks to give them middle class tax relief but not grow the Federal deficit another $700 billion. Now what is going on here is a hostage-taking situation, because the Republicans are holding the middle class hostage by not allowing 100 percent of Americans to have tax relief just so their friends who might be hedge fund managers or otherwise can get additional tax relief on top of it. Well, here is what we should say: Americans do not negotiate with hostage-takers. We ought to have the right economic policy. And I'll tell you what: We are not going to allow the trickle-down economics of George Bush to be foisted on America anymore.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Promotion Act of 2010, a bill to promote the development of renewable energy from our oceans and rivers, using the tides, currents, waves and even the thermal properties of our oceans to generate electricity. I also want to acknowledge the work of Chairman Brian Baird, my friend and Washington state colleague, who joins me in introducing this important legislation. This bill will bolster research and development in marine renewable energy, to ensure the industry overcomes existing barriers to deployment so that our ocean and tidal currents can deliver power to homes and businesses in American communities. Improved federal research programs are key to meeting our long-term energy security and climate mitigation goals, and creating American jobs in the marine hydrokinetic industry. A study by University of Washington, Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute, and Electric Power Research Institute that was published in HydroReview stated that marine renewable resources could yield 51,000 MW of power--equivalent to 34 conventional coal-fired power plants. Yet at this time, our nation's commitment to this technology lags behind countries in Europe and Asia. In Washington state, the private sector, universities, research institutions and public utilities are already working to bring affordable, reliable and abundant electricity to major urban load centers located near Puget Sound. But these, and similar efforts across the country, need national support in order to truly realize the benefits of commercial-scale marine hydrokinetic projects in the United States. This bill will expand the renewable energy research and development program at the U.S. Department of Energy, so that Americans do not lose out on the global race to create and manufacture marine renewable energy technologies. To do so, the bill creates a competitive demonstration grant program to test technologies, devices and systems at a variety of scales to facilitate commercial application. The environmental research program established in this bill will also help us best monitor the environmental impacts of these projects, to help disseminate information on ways to identify and avoid any negative environmental impacts to protect our marine environment. Additionally, the bill will expand a Department of Energy research program to set up MHK test facilities in the United States, which are critical in our efforts to demonstrate a wide range of technologies, and evaluate the technical viability of each new and emerging type of technology at different scales. In closing, I also want to thank the expert staff on the Science and Technology Subcommittee on Energy and Environment for their extensive knowledge of this issue and hard work. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill, and hope that we can work together to move it towards passage as soon as possible.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 3397) to amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide for take-back disposal of controlled substances in certain instances, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 3397, as amended, the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010. This bill is our effort to respond to the very rapidly rising rate of prescription drug abuse in our country where 2,500 teens a day are using prescription drugs illegally for the first time. And this bill will help, we think, significantly in helping remove prescription drugs from the illicit drug pipeline by giving citizens an ability to get rid of their drugs, their prescription drugs, in a legal fashion so that communities can fashion a way to create drug take-back programs so citizens can get rid of their unnecessary and no longer useful prescription drugs. The House has previously passed a version. We have made some improvements to the bill after it went through the Senate. I just want to note some of those improvements. Today, when people do not have ready access to drug disposal programs, they often flush them down, and drugs ultimately end up in the waterways. In order to ensure that the drug take-back programs that we fashion under this bill are environmentally sound, it's important that the Attorney General consider the environmental impacts of take- back programs and work with the Environmental Protection Agency and communities on appropriate ways to dispose of the collected substance in an environmentally sound manner. We also have provided ways to make sure communities are engaged in designing these programs so that they meet the individual needs of specific communities. I want to thank all the people who have worked on this bipartisan legislation, particularly Representative Stupak who is ending his congressional career having done some great work in this regard. With that, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak).

Mr. INSLEE. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. INSLEE. I just want to thank Senators Klobuchar and Cornyn for their work on this and say this is a good bipartisan effort. We are not done on this, as Mr. Buyer pointed out, but this is a good start. I urge passage.

Mr. INSLEE. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, today is Taste Washington Day, when more than sixty local schools and fifty local farms in my home state team up to celebrate Washington-grown produce and teach kids about healthy eating habits by featuring locally-sourced meals in the school cafeterias. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Farm-to-School Program and the Washington School Nutrition Association (WSNA) have partnered with local schools to feature Washington-grown foods in their school meals. From fresh-dug potatoes in potato salad to just-picked lettuces in fresh salads, this state-wide event is a great opportunity for students, teachers, and parents to consider where their food comes from, how it is produced and the benefits of a healthy diet. Washington state is one of the most productive growing regions in the world. Our $38 billion agricultural industry is one of the cornerstones of our state's economy and supports over 160,000 jobs. If the Midwest is our nation's breadbasket and California our salad bowl, then I submit that Washington is our nation's fruit stand. We may be famous for our apples, which constitute 59 percent of U.S. production, but we also rank first in our nation's production of sweet cherries, red raspberries, hops, and pears. Our rich soils, unique climate and hard- working growers produce a wide array of agricultural products like wheat, potatoes and wine grapes for local, regional, national and global markets. Our geographic location and deep-water ports make us well positioned for global trade. Nearly $14.8 billion in food and agricultural products were exported through Washington ports in 2008, the third largest total in the U.S. Our agricultural bounty supports a $13 billion food processing industry that employs thousands of Washingtonians. Washington is the leading U.S. producer of apple juice and a leading producer of grape and berry juices. It also has a vibrant and growing wine industry and is the second largest wine producer in the nation with over 600 wineries. We have a strong and productive food and agriculture industry that feeds and employs people in every single county in Washington. Agriculture has been and will continue to be a strong part of our state's economic and cultural identity. Taste Washington Day offers our kids a chance to establish a deeper connection and develop a better understanding of our state's food system, from farm to fork and each step in between. The more opportunities our children have to learn about the people, time, effort and resources necessary to turn a seed into a crop, the more they will appreciate the food on their plates. As the next generation, it will be up to them to continue our state's agricultural heritage and history. The valuable and delicious lessons learned through events such as Taste Washington Day will help them carry on our state's proud traditions. Nutrition is another key element of Taste Washington Day. Right now, Americans are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. For the sake of our nation's health, we need to find ways to instill healthy eating habits in our children, including eating more fruits and vegetables. The more exposure kids get to fresh, healthy foods, the more they will choose them. Pilot programs in Washington state schools that promote salad bars and healthy choices have shown us that given options, kids will choose fruits and vegetables over prepackaged, processed items. The Washington School Nutrition Association helped school districts put together the menus for today's event, showcasing local produce in healthy menu items, a win for local farms and local kids. Taste Washington Day shows kids that the healthy choice can also be a tasty choice. I encourage my colleagues to take a look at the relationships Washington schools and farms are building and lessons they are teaching on Taste Washington Day and explore ways they can support such efforts in their own districts.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, currently, the aviation industry does not have a commercially available low-carbon fuel option nor is there a statutory requirement (like the Renewable Fuel Standard for transportation fuels or tax incentives to help bring one to market. However, low-carbon, renewable aviation biofuels have been successfully tested in flights of both military as well as civilian aircraft. Unfortunately, the volatility of jet fuel prices makes it difficult for renewable jet fuel to compete with lower-cost petroleum-based fuel and attract the investment necessary to build commercial-scale refineries. I rise today to introduce the Clean, Renewable Jet Fuel Act of 2010. This bill will establish a responsible loan program that will allow biofuel producers to climb over the economic hurdles associated with commercializing their product. The commercialization of these products will not only create jobs at these facilities it will also create jobs throughout the aviation and agriculture industry. Additionally, the fuels that will be produced will also enhance our Nation's energy security as all of the feedstocks used to make these biofuels can be grown on U.S. soil. Recently, the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, made the research development, and increased use of alternative fuels a priority for the Department of the Navy. These biofuels also offer a range of attractive technological and environmental aspects that will introduce efficiencies into our aviation sector that cannot be realized with current petroleum-based fuel sources. In the great state of Washington, interests from the private sector, universities, and major airports are already working to bring the first generation of aviation biofuels to the market, and their efforts can be greatly enhanced by this legislation. These fuels are based on plants such as camelina, jatropha, and even algae; plants that can be grown right in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to being able to grow these feedstocks in our own backyard, research on the next generation of biofuels is also creating jobs at our highly regarded research institutions. These efforts will make sure that the U.S. secures its competitive edge in this field. In closing, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill, and hope that we can work together to move it towards passage as soon as possible.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, we have a good bill here, a bipartisan bill, to help us move forward to reduce the rate of abuse of prescription drugs. Three years ago, local agencies and community leaders came to my office and told us we had this problem because prescription drug overdoses are rising rapidly, and there is really no way to dispose of legitimate prescription drugs in a legal, easy-to-use fashion under our current laws. So for 3 years now we have been working in a bipartisan fashion to come up with a solution, and I am very happy to say that with the strong support of 55 national and regional organizations and the leadership of Chairman Waxman and Representatives Stupak, Moran and Smith, we have found a solution that does protect the public and the environment from harmful drugs. You know, prescription drug abuse really is a growing epidemic. Back in my home State of Washington prescription drug overdoses have now surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death for people ages 35 to 54. Washington has the sixth highest rate in the Nation of prescription drug abuse among 12-to 17-year-olds; and, unfortunately, today's medicine cabinets have become tomorrow's drug dealers' storage sites. Kids are abusing leftover prescription drugs and getting addicted or, in the worst cases, dying. Just yesterday, nine middle school children in Bremerton, Washington, were hospitalized after popping prescription pills that one student brought to school from home. So in Washington State, local agencies and community groups like Group Health and Bartell Drugs have tackled this problem head-on and have developed successful pilot safe drug disposal programs. These brick and mortar drop-off locations and mail-back programs give communities of all sizes an easy disposable system to dispose of unneeded drugs. But these programs have gone as far as they can, and right now they face the legal walls to grow these programs to make them more effective and easier for our communities to use. So, we now have a commonsense solution, which is this bill, and we need to make sure these programs are put in place for all prescription drugs to keep these powerful substances off the streets and out of our drinking water. This legislation will solve those problems. I want to note one success of this bill. Bart Stupak and others have been really great leaders in designing a program that would be flexible and easy for communities to use. We wanted to make sure that we got communities to design their programs so that they would have a multiple suite of different systems to use on how to run these programs. I want to congratulate Bart and others in helping us fashion this. And with that, I urge our support for H.R. 5809.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I was reminded again last night why our effort to help small businesses makes sense. I was at the Alliance to Save Energy and I gave an award called the Andromeda Award to a company called O-Power. It is a small company that has developed a way to help Americans save energy, and they have been spectacularly successful. They found a way, if you share information about what your neighbors are doing, you can reduce your energy costs dramatically. This company is growing rapidly and doing well, but these small companies need access to capital, and we are proposing plans to make sure that they can get access to capital in our efforts to increase small business lending. If we do that, these small businesses are going to thrive. We've got to get out of the gate to compete with China when it comes to clean energy and efficiency. If we pass these bills, we will. Let's keep going with small business lending.

Mr. INSLEE

Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, the students now are at the beach and at the swimming holes, and they're not thinking about their education. But we are. And we're seeing good things. I was at the Everett School District, where they're getting 90 percent graduation rates because they're doing some good things. But we're going to have almost 3,000 teachers laid off if we don't pass this bill, in the State of Washington. That is just flat wrong. Now, what is the debate here? The debate is that one side of the aisle believes it is more important to preserve billions of dollars of tax loopholes so that corporations can hide their money in the Bahamas and other places. They think those billions of dollars for those corporate loopholes is simply more important than almost 3,000 teachers in classrooms in the State of Washington. We disagree. The kids aren't thinking about it, but we are. And let's be clear what the decision is today. One side of the aisle's going to be giving billions of dollars for corporate loopholes, and one side of the aisle's going to be taking care of kids. They don't want to give a dime to kids, but billions for corporate loopholes. Pass this bill.