Darrell Issa

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the City of Perris, California and congratulate them on the occasion of their Centennial Celebration for 100 years of cityhood. This unique farming town has grown remarkably over the past century. Founded in 1911 in Riverside County, the City of Perris has flourished as a vibrant and growing community that is rich with culture and history. With fewer than 500 people in the early 1900s, today it is home to more than 50,000 Californians and growing. Perris was built at the connector of The California Southern Railroad which ran from Barstow to San Diego. Perris has taken great pride in maintaining its heritage by renovating and reopening the Santa Fe railway station in 2009 as home to the Orange Empire Railway Museum building. Its city has also become an internationally recognized epicenter for world class skydivers to test the limits of their sport. Lake Perris is a natural wonderland where people celebrate a national icon through the Bald Eagle Count Project. I commend the City's history of leaders and am honored to represent this community. As they gather to honor the past, celebrate the present and embrace the future, I applaud the City of Perris and its renowned heritage. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the House recognize the City of Perris on the occasion of its Centennial Celebration.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the distinguished tenure of Ms. Julie Meier Wright on the occasion of her retirement as President and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Prior to her work with the EDC, Ms. Wright served as California's first Secretary of Trade and Commerce. Under her management, Ms. Wright built a new Agency to expand the state's international role and presence, including opening five new overseas offices. Ms. Wright's service as President of the EDC has been the capstone of a notable career. For 13 years, she has served as an economic booster, marketing the San Diego region as the world's foremost job creation location celebrating a highly-skilled workforce, innovation climate, and quality of life. In her work, Ms. Wright championed the Partnership for a New Economy, an initiative which spurred the creation of High Tech High, a school designed to prepare students for technology and life sciences careers along with the Rady School of Management at UCSD, which educates global leaders for innovation. As a strong advocate for the economy of California, Ms. Wright has been a visionary that has undoubtedly helped shape San Diego to become a leader in so many industries. Among her many commendations, Ms. Wright has been named the nation's Outstanding Secretary of Commerce by the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the California Leader of the Year by Leadership California. Her manifest of remarkable achievements includes receiving the Junior Achievement's San Diego Hall of Fame Lifetime Laureate Award, the San Diego Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business Award, the ``Women of Distinction'' award from Soroptimist International and she was named in ``Women Who Move the City'' by San Diego Magazine. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues please join me in recognizing the tenure of Ms. Julie Meier Wright as she retires as President of the San Diego Regional EDC.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the honorable public service of Keith Lewinger as he retires as General Manager of the Fallbrook Public Utilities District (PUD) of California. After graduating from the University of Cornell in the early 70's, Mr. Lewinger worked for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, the Irvine Ranch Water District, and the Otay Water District. Mr. Lewinger proceeded as General Manager for ten years at Otay which is one of the largest water districts in San Diego County. In 1999 Mr. Lewinger joined the team at the Fallbrook PUD which contains approximately 8,000 water and 4,000 sewer connections. After 12 years of committed leadership, Mr. Lewinger has established a solid foundation for the Fallbrook PUD and has been instrumental in the area's resource management efforts. Previously a member of the Governor's Recycled Water Task Force, Mr. Lewinger also represents the San Diego County Water Authority on the Metropolitan Water District Board of Southern California. Additionally, he serves on the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA's) Board of Directors as Vice-Chair of Region 10, has been Chairman of ACWA's Water Reclamation and Reuse Committee, a member of the California and National Boards of Directors of the WateReuse Association including President of the California Section of the WateReuse Association, and a member of the American Water Works Association's (AWWA's) Water Reuse Committee. It is an honor to recognize Mr. Lewinger on the occasion of his retirement after nearly three decades of contributions to the resources community. Mr. Speaker, I ask you to please join me in recognizing Mr. Keith Lewinger's dedicated service to the Fallbrook Public Utilities District and the state of California.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the remarkable achievements and honorable military service of Captain Robert J. Hillery in the United States Marine Corps. I offer Captain Hillery my sincerest thanks for his eight years of dedicated service in protecting our nation and safeguarding its future. The son of a fellow Marine, beginning his military career at the U.S. Naval Academy, Captain Hillery graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduating, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May of 2003. Following The Basic School and Logistics Officer Course, Captain Hillery was assigned to Truck Company, HQBN, 1st Marine Division in July of 2004. During this tour, he served as the H&S Platoon Commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II-2 at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi. He and his platoon conducted hundreds of critical resupply convoys throughout the Al Anbar Province. Upon returning home from this deployment, he was re-assigned as the 3rd Platoon Commander and deployed again during OIF III-2 in Haditha while being attached to 3rd Battalion 1st Marines. Following his second deployment, Captain Hillery served as the Commander of the Remain Behind Element and Company Executive Officer for Truck Company. In June of 2007, he transferred to Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), San Diego where he served as the Assistant Operations Officer for three months, Range Company Executive Officer for nine months, and H&S Company Commander for 25 months. Among his many achievements, Captain Hillery's personal decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal with Gold Star and Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal. Furthermore, I applaud his efforts to use his passion for distance running to raise $43,000 for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. Having completed 3 ultra marathons, 25 marathons, 18 half marathons, 2 Ultraman triathlons, 3 Ironman distance triathlons including the world championship in Kona, HI, in 2009, along with numerous shorter distance races--there is no question that Captain Hillery's triumphs are nothing short of remarkable. Accordingly, in August of 2010, Captain Hillery was selected for the distinguished recognition of Marine Corps Athlete of the Year. I offer Captain Hillery my congratulations for his accomplishments and sincere gratitude for his military service. Mr. Speaker, I ask you to please join me in honoring all the brave men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces, and the admirable achievements of Captain Robert Hillery.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the dispensing of the reading, and I reserve a point of order against the motion.

Mr. ISSA. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, as it says in the Constitution, to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over the District, and that is what we are doing. It gives me great pleasure to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the whip of the House.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, isn't it true that the House rules prohibit direct accusations about the intent or the personal features of somebody or, in fact, whether or not they have nerve?

Mr. ISSA. And I am not going to take down the gentlelady's words because it is too short a period of time.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, a point of order.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, we should bear in mind that home rule is not the right of the District of Columbia to rule people's private homes and how they make their choices for their children. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Duncan).

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 5 minutes to my distinguished colleague from Indiana (Mr. Pence).

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I will be brief. We spent an hour and 40 minutes discussing the bill and the amendment, and at least the delegate from the District of Columbia attempted to move these dollars all to the public school system. This bill, in fact, not only denies the children who are in these programs today, some of them side by side with the President's children; but, in fact, it cuts funding for public education. Under this motion to recommit, the funding for public education on a yearly basis would go from $40 million to $20 million. There would be less money in the public school system, in addition to being no money for Opportunity Scholarships. I oppose the motion to recommit and urge the support of the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. ISSA. I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. ISSA. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mr. ISSA. I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, maybe we should lighten up just a little here. Yogi Berra apparently said, ``Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded,'' when referring to a restaurant that had long lines to get in. Mr. Speaker, we are finding a way to say a program isn't good because it has long lines waiting to get in. And, oddly enough, when it comes to the charter public schools that have been lauded on a wide basis here, they too have no free rights to automatically go and they have lines. Perhaps what we should be asking is, on a bipartisan basis: What could we do to reduce the lines to both to provide that opportunity to all the children in the District of Columbia? I will say one thing in maybe a Yogi Berra-type way. If the Democrats will come halfway to the center of the aisle to talk about how we can hit a reasonable number for spending, I will put everything on the table, at least as to my vote, to meet them the other half. But we can't simply say all cuts are bad and have no alternatives, all programs are so needy they can't be cut, and then complain even when we preserve a program. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, in closing, we won't fund failure from this side of the dais. Yes, we're giving additional money to the failed public schools. Yes, we're giving additional money to a chartered public school system that tries valiantly to help those children trapped in those failed public schools. And, yes, we are going to make a continued small investment in children having an opportunity to find other alternatives, just as we do when children a little older get to go to Georgetown or Catholic University with Pell Grants that in fact go to these parochial colleges. Elections have consequences. The majority a year ago had planned on simply giving it all to union schools, to government schools, because the party of government was in charge. Mr. Speaker, the election made a difference. We consider ourselves--and we try valiantly on this side of the aisle--to be the party of the people. And we believe that the small amount of money to empower people and parents to do something they choose, and they stand in lines--in lotteries, as the other side has said--to escape those schools and to have an opportunity for these scholarships, we believe they have spoken loud and clear. And although the Delegate will talk about elections and home rule, she ignores those long lines to get out of failed public schools. She ignores the hearings we had in which people came and said, Please don't take our scholarships. And, Mr. Speaker, she even ignores her own party, and she ignores what is in her own amendment. Mr. Speaker, her amendment would leave 216 special cases that were denied still in for this year. Her amendment would leave in, the same as the Democrats did when they closed out the previous bill, it would leave those already in school in private schools getting additional funding every year. And there's a reason. President Obama's children were not going to watch their schoolmates be thrown out because a successful program that allowed them to be side by side as peers rather than relegated to a failed school was going to be stopped. So all we're doing is keeping a program of hope alive for the District of Columbia. And I have never been so insulted to be told that if we give money, we're bad; and if we don't give money every place the other side wants it, we're bad. We're trying to give the best we can to parental choice to failed school districts. With that, I urge the defeat of this amendment, that does nothing but retain the public school status quo that has failed, and the passage of the underlying bill.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Walsh).

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

Mr. ISSA. No, I do not.

Mr. ISSA. I yield myself such time as I may consume. You know, there has been a lot of talk about H.R. 1, and I think that's a bigger picture than what we're looking at here today; but it should be considered. Republicans offered on this floor, and passed without the support for the most part of the other party, a continuing resolution. We have been responsible in trying to fund the government, and we tried to fund the government at over 90-some percent of what it would have been funded had the majority not changed and certainly at or above 2008 levels. But that bill died in the Senate. Everything seems to have died in the Senate. And yet it can be demagogued as though we've cut, but you can't cut what you haven't done and you can't cut what you haven't offered an alternative for. We cut what was already on the book: $75 million to $60 million. We did decide, the Speaker's leadership, that we were going to keep this program which we believe works. At $20 million, it's just a fairly large pilot program. As one of the speakers on the Democratic side so aptly said, you have to win the lottery, there aren't enough slots. You're right, there aren't enough opportunities for the District of Columbia. But unlike what the gentlelady, the Delegate from the District of Columbia said, we don't have an authority to go out and do this as a national referendum; but more importantly, we don't have the money. This is more a matter of showing the benefit to States which may or may not choose and giving an opportunity to one of the worst school systems, most failed school systems in the Nation. Students in the District of Columbia in math and science and reading are typically 51st when compared to the 50 States. This is, in fact, a difficult area if you happen to be a student in this District. If you're like the President's family or his predecessor or his predecessor or his predecessor, if they have school-age children, they don't go to public school. They go to private school. That's pretty well-known. But private school offers opportunities and it offers choice; and, Mr. Speaker, this $20 million per year of special funding for Opportunity Scholarships is all we're talking about today. One of the speakers, rightfully so, called it $100 million over 5 years. The Delegate from the District of Columbia called it $300 million, but she was forgetting the other $200 million goes right where she wants it to go. The only thing we're debating is over 5 years will $100 million go to Opportunity Scholarships that don't basically go to union schoolteachers that are failing the students in a system that is failing. We just lost the head of education here, Ms. Rhee; and, in fact, part of the reason she left was she saw a new administration that didn't seem to live up to the high expectations that the previous one did. That's a local matter. That's local control and local rule. We're not preempting that. They have a right to fail, and they are failing; but Congress has a right to at least intervene. And in closing, what I want the Speaker to understand and America to understand is in 1996, when chartered public schools were authorized in the District, it was authorized by my predecessor on the Republican side, Mr. Davis. He got it in and got it funded, and he got it made law over the objection at that time of the people of the District. We've looked through our records and can find no broad support for this mandate. The District did not do chartered public schools on their own. They did it with an act of Congress, with help. I believe they should take the same suggestion. If they want to choose to disagree with the conservative extreme Washington Post, so be it, but I think they have to begin to look at themselves more deeply, at those that they actually represent, those who voted for them but did not vote to have this money rejected. I urge strong support for this bill, for this opportunity for the few who win the lottery.

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

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. ISSA. I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Gowdy), the subcommittee chairman who has worked so hard on this issue and who truly does understand the gentlelady's passion, if not her accuracy.