Mary Jo Kilroy

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, today our President signs the Frank-Dodd Act, the Wall Street reform bill. I was very proud to be able to serve on the Financial Services Committee and conference to help craft a bill and to stand with the people of Main Street, to stand with the regular people of our community against the special interests that have had too much power in Washington. We were able to put in place a bill that has a real watchdog with teeth, to protect our consumers and our country, to protect American savings and pensions and investments, and be on the lookout for those unscrupulous financial practices that can hurt our economy. It has a consumer protection bureau. It has an early warning system and a plan so that any future failing institution will not be bailed out at taxpayer expense. Taxpayers will no longer be on the hook or be forced to deal with something that's called too big to fail. It puts an end to TARP. It brings transparency to the market, and because of this bill Wall Street will no longer be able to act like a casino that will do such damage to our economy again.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a significant milestone for central Ohio auto manufacturers. On the morning of July 20, 2010, the ten millionth domestically-produced Honda Accord was manufactured at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant. The production center, located near Marysville, Ohio, has created thousands of jobs and brought billions of dollars in capital investments to central Ohio and the country as a whole. In its 28th year of production, the Marysville automobile plant has undergone expansion along with continuous innovation and improved efficiency. It is one of the most flexible and efficient plants in North America, achieving top quality performance. In fact, the Marysville plant ranked among the top five in North America in the 2010 Initial Quality Survey conducted by J.D. Power and Associates. The factory has evolved from its completion of 967 Accords in its first year of business to its current production capacity of 1,800 vehicles per day. Nearly all Accords sold in North America are now manufactured at the Marysville plant. The success of this plant represents the achievements of the hard-working Ohioans who run its daily operations as well as our country's continued strength as a major global manufacturer. Honda partners with 530 suppliers in the U.S. and 160 in Ohio in the production of passenger cars and light trucks. These purchases totaled $12 billion last year, with $5.5 billion in parts coming from suppliers in Ohio. The Accord has achieved considerable success in the United States, where it has remained a top-5 overall seller for the past twenty years. Numerous tests, past and present, rate the Accord as one of the world's safest and most reliable automobiles. Honda has provided key investments in our community. Central Ohioans have demonstrated their skills and work ethic and have made the Marysville Auto Plant a leader in the region and world. I am proud to recognize this accomplishment as they produce the ten millionth Honda Accord in the United States, and I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating Honda and the Marysville Auto Plant on this achievement.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call on my colleagues, and particularly my colleagues in the Senate and those Republicans, to give much needed relief to 15 million out-of-work Americans and extend unemployment compensation insurance benefits. It is unprecedented not to do so at a time of high unemployment, over 10 percent in my district. And I take strong issue with comments that the unemployed don't want to work, that they aren't looking for jobs. They do. They want to pay their bills. They want to support their families, make those utility payments, put food on their table, send their children to college. But right now I have talked to anguished, hardworking men and women who have lost jobs when their factories closed and have been looking continuously for work. It's not yet there. They are looking for these jobs, but they need this help now. It is time that we extend unemployment compensation and give these hardworking citizens the help that they need.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dennis Guest, Executive Director of the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), as he retires from a lifelong career as an affordable housing advocate. During 24 years at CMHA, Dennis supervised 250 employees administering Housing Choice Vouchers for approximately 12,500 families, distributing over $77,000,000 to rental property owners, and managing 3,147 apartments in Franklin County, Ohio. Dennis facilitated the Rebuilding Lives Initiative and fostered partnerships with the City of Columbus, Franklin County, Community Shelter Board, United Way, ADAMH Board, and other non-profit organizations to provide the best housing and supportive services to 34,000 residents. As a result of his hard work and dedication, CMHA is strategically positioned for success well into the future. Prior to this position, Dennis served as the Director of Housing Management at the San Francisco Housing Authority and the Executive Assistant at the Oakland Housing Authority. He was also a VISTA Volunteer at the Seattle Housing Authority and Assistant Public Housing Manager in Detroit, Michigan. Devoted to public service, Dennis sits on the Funders Collaborative of the Community Shelter Board, Joint Columbus and Franklin County Housing Advisory Board, Housing Vision Council of United Way, and is President of the Assisted Housing Services Corporation. I ask my colleagues to please join me in wishing Dennis and his wife Bernadette a happy retirement after years of dedication to the affordable housing needs of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 200th anniversary of Madison Township. At this significant milestone in the township's history, we reflect on the region's roots and acknowledge the hardworking families who call Madison Township home. Madison Township, established as a part of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, predates the state of Ohio by 16 years. However, it was not until March 4, 1810, that the township was officially organized as its population reached 500. From humble roots, the township has swelled to a population of more than 22,000. Named for the United State's fourth president, James Madison, the township includes all or part of Canal Winchester, Columbus, Groveport, Obetz, Pickerington and surrounding unincorporated areas. Madison Township consists of 24 square miles of land in the southeast corner of Franklin County and rests quietly at the confluence of Blacklick Creek, Big Walnut Creek, and Alum Creek. The proud home of Robert M. Brobst Park and the Madison Township Community Center, Madison Township is the home of regular community gatherings and festivities. For two hundred years, Madison Township and its residents have played a crucial role in the growth of central Ohio and particularly of Ohio's 15th Congressional District. I am proud to represent the residents of Madison Township and recognize them as they celebrate their rich two hundred year history.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the accomplishments of Chad Bouton who on April 30, 2010, was named the Inventor of the Year for Battelle, the world's largest independent research and development organization. Battelle, with its team of researchers and inventors like Chad Bouton, helps make central Ohio a leader in cutting-edge research. Chad came to Battelle in 1997 and since then has shown his true worth to this important Columbus, Ohio nonprofit charitable trust by excelling in a variety of fields. Chad Bouton has been the primary innovator, inventor and/or principal investigator for dozens of medical device projects, from enabling paraplegics to control wheelchairs with their thoughts to providing surgeons with tools that aid in minimally invasive surgical procedures. Chad Bouton developed processing algorithms for a medical device that allows people to control computers entirely by their thoughts. He also was central to the development of a system used in minimally invasive surgical procedures that evaluates the potential spread of cancer to lymph node tissues and organs. Additionally, his research contributed to a detection system to ensure that contrast media injections into a patient do not do unwanted damage. Chad is known for his expertise in control systems, automated and robotics systems, sensor development, and signal processing of electrophysiological parameters including neurological types. He also has extensive experience in electrical and electromechanical device design methodologies and techniques and holds 15 patents with six others pending. Tangible results of Chad Bouton's success come in various forms, first and foremost that his inventions have affected the quality of life of patients around the world. He also has been the recipient of two R&D Magazine Top 100 awards and a Battelle Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards and has published nine works in scholarly journals. Chad's prowess has resulted in more than half a billion dollars worth of contract research for Battelle. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations and well-wishes to Chad, and wish him great successes in innovations of the future. With people like Chad working to use science to help mankind, Columbus, Ohio and America will continue to lead the world in compassionate research.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. That is one of the very important things it will do. It will take a look at all of the confusing documents. One of the charges that was made against one of the financial institutions in this country was that they were pushing some of their predatory lending products by having closing documents that were about as thick as a telephone book. Then they were pushing people, stating they didn't have time during the closings to actually read them: No. You've got to keep moving. You've got to keep moving. People were not really understanding what they were signing in these lengthy documents and in the fine print. This is an important financial transaction. For many people, buying a home is the biggest financial transaction they're going to make. It has to be a clear and fair document so that it's good for both parties in the transaction, so that it's a good deal for the mortgager, and so that it's a good deal for the person who is taking out that mortgage. That can only happen if it is a contract that is fair and reasonable in its terms so that people can understand what it is they're signing. It is very important for our seniors. Again, citing AARP and consumer law organizations, we know that seniors are most often the targets of that kind of predatory behavior, and that's what we have to be very careful of. Stand up with our senior bill of rights for financial security for older Americans. I yield back.

Ms. KILROY. Yes.

Ms. KILROY. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Speier. I appreciate what you had to say. My heart goes out to those seniors who have been abused by predatory lenders, by predatory practices, by scam artists, and by fraud. This is why we need to take action. As you say, the Wall Street Reform Act is going to help us to do just that--to protect seniors. When I think about what seniors need, they need, of course, personal security. They need to live in safe and livable communities. They need access to health care. With our recent health care bill, we are working to give seniors greater access to health care, to strengthen Medicare, to give greater choices in preventative medicine, with co-pays, and to close the Medicare doughnut hole. That is part of their security. Also, there is financial security so that they can live the rest of their lives secure that their money is going to be there, that their life savings aren't going to disappear because of the excesses and the risk-taking of Wall Street or that they will become victims of predatory lenders who convince them that they'll need reverse mortgages or that they'll need to take out loans on homes that are already paid for. This happened to a widow in my community. She was told that she needed to take out this loan. She didn't ask. She got cold-called by the predator and found out that she was tangled up in a financial mess that put her home in jeopardy. She is not the only one who has been in this position. We heard from the consumer law agency and also from AARP that seniors are frequently the victims of predatory lenders in this kind of practice. That's why the Consumer Protection Agency's taking a special look in protecting older Americans is so necessary. What did Wall Street and others do? What is their connection to these predatory lenders? Well, they got into this game of getting more and more mortgages, so- called Alt A, subprime and other kinds of risky mortgages, of securitizing them and then selling them as investments. Some of them, like Goldman, would even bet against those investments in some of their practices. We found out that more and more Wall Street houses were using these subprime mortgages and the sales of those as securities to get more profits for themselves. It was profitable for Wall Street, and it was profitable for Wall Street executives. Compared to seniors, take a look at what the Wall Street CEOs are getting paid. Lloyd Blankfein: $9 million a year, or $24,657 a day.

Ms. KILROY. $24,657 a day.

Ms. KILROY. The senior, $47 a day--average income--based on the $17,300 average annual income. Take a look at Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase: $16 million salary, an astounding $43,835 a day. There is John Stumpf. You mentioned Wells Fargo and their practice with the senior in your community. He receives $21.3 million, or $58,356 a day. That's incredible. That's more than some people make in a year. They were making this every single day and were putting seniors' life savings at risk. Now, many people got hurt in the Wall Street downturn, but seniors have less time to be able to reinvest and to make up that difference and to recover from what Wall Street did to Main Street. We need to work hard to make sure that seniors are protected from other kinds of scams, and we need to make sure they know, when they get somebody calling them, offering them mortgages that they didn't ask for, that that's an alarm. When they get somebody telling them that they have to act today, that's another danger sign. They need to be careful of balloon payments, of prepayment penalties and of other kinds of tricks and gimmicks that can make those loans very expensive, that can make it hard for them to get out of or that can make their money out of reach for a long time. That's why we need the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. That's why we need an office which will protect older Americans. It will make sure that those kinds of practices aren't happening and that, when seniors get financial information--and when all of us get financial information--that it will be clear and easy to understand, not with pages and pages of fine print. I was so proud of the credit card bill that we passed in our Financial Services Committee, that this body passed and which was signed into law to make credit card practices much clearer. We need to continue to work to make sure that seniors' financial security is also protected.

Ms. KILROY. That is absolutely correct. If the gentlelady will yield, I congratulate you for taking care of your health and getting those preventative measures taken care of. Even though we don't like to do them, they are good things to do. Those kind of copays, when you think about what seniors need to pay, with the more frequent medical testing perhaps, or higher costs of prescriptions, maybe taking more prescriptions, therefore more copays on those, the senior cost of living could be higher than the cost of living index for maybe the general population. That is why it is important that they have the economic security that Representative Richardson spoke of. For seniors, it is sort of like a three-legged stool. One leg of the stool is Social Security; one leg of the stool is personal savings, which we should all be thinking about as we get older; and one leg is also maybe a private pension. Yet this economic downturn has hurt that stool in all of those areas. With more people unemployed, fewer people are paying into the Social Security system, so that hurts the system as a whole. That is why it is so good that we are focused on jobs and working on jobs, to get more people doing what they want to do and need to do to support themselves, but also being part of the Social Security system. We know that the Wall Street abuses have hurt in many cases pension funds who invested in risky products, who were sold these products by a company, say, like Lehman Brothers, who then disguised what was going on by these Repo-105 practices, just taking some of the downside that should be on their balance sheet and hiding it when the quarterly reports were due. That has hurt the pension funds that the State employees are involved in in the State of Ohio. It is making that fund take a large economic hit that somehow we have to make up for, or people will not have the same kind of pension benefits that they thought they might have. Then there is also the personal savings aspect too. We have all seen the 401(k)s have become 201(k)s, as we all know, because of the risky behavior that Wall Street engaged in, and because maybe we don't have the kind of financial literacy we should have in this country. Again, back to the Consumer Protection Agency and the agency that will protect older Americans that will focus on that, that will make sure the information is getting to people in clear terms, so that they know that when they are investing something, that the person they are investing with is looking out for their interests, for the client's interests, not just simply being selfish and selling them something that is not good for them. And it will help us by ending taxpayer- funded bailouts for Wall Street for any future damages like that. We want to make sure that we are working hard to stay on top of this thing. But as much as Congress can do, we can't do it every day the same way that an independent office of consumer protection can do, that would have that as their charge and every day be taking a watchful eye on the practices of the investment industry to make sure that these kinds of abuses aren't going on anymore.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, in central Ohio the economy is growing stronger, but we must continue to create an environment that encourages prosperity. The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act will do just that; it will close loopholes that give outsourcing a benefit and will provide jobs and tax relief for businesses and working families. For too long unscrupulous corporations have outsourced American jobs, sending them overseas, sticking American taxpayers with the bill. It's time to close that tax loophole that encourages that behavior and demand accountability. This bill also will close another tax loophole and make Wall Street fund managers pay a fair tax rate on their income, just like my central Ohio constituents do. It will make the oil companies pay for the gulf oil cleanup, not American taxpayers. And it will rebuild our crumbling infrastructure with Build America bonds. Also giving our students summer jobs, promoting research and development with a research and development tax credit. H.R. 4223, the American Jobs and Closing Loophole Act, is deserving of our support. I encourage my colleagues to vote for it.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, when I talk to people in my community, the thing that they are most concerned about are jobs and the economy. When we took office, when I was sworn in last January, we were losing jobs at an atrocious rate, over 600,000 jobs per month. Now we are seeing months of job growth and adding jobs to our economy. That's the good news. We must continue to stay on this pathway. That's why I have supported bills like the HIRE Act to help employers add more people to their businesses, and recently filed the Small Business Intermediary Lending Pilot Act so that people who are starting businesses and need smaller loans, in that gap between $35,000 and $200,000, that there can be a pilot program to set that in motion. Because when I talk to people and business people in the community, the one thing that they tell me that they really need is access to credit and access to capital. The Small Business Intermediary Lending Pilot Act will help that. And another bill that we are working on in our Financial Services Committee, putting money into community banks to make loans to business, small business, will do just that.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, legislation that will create jobs, strengthen our commitment to innovative research, and invest in education to keep our country competitive in the global economy. Over the last century, America has been the leader in technological and scientific innovation. However, other nations are making investments in their own research capabilities, and we must rise to meet the challenge and insure that we remain the world's leader in innovation and learning while revitalizing our economy and creating jobs in our community. I am part of the Congressional Competitiveness Task Force, and I also hold hearings on this issue in my own community and recently had the opportunity to meet with executives from the Silicon Valley. They tell me that innovation and research and development is necessary to get America moving again and our economy and keep America the leader in technological and scientific innovation. The America COMPETES Act will create jobs by strengthening our manufacturing sector. It guarantees loans to small- and medium-sized manufacturers that create innovative products, supports research for transformative advances in manufacturing, and supports the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program so it can continue to meet the needs and challenges of manufacturers today. The America COMPETES Act also makes investments in clean energy technologies that will help create jobs and secure our long-term economic growth. As China, Brazil, and other countries make huge investments in this growing industry, we must ensure that our country does not lose its competitive edge and fall behind in its technological capabilities. The America COMPETES Act reauthorizes the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy to support high-risk, high-reward energy technology research and establishes Energy Innovation Hubs to support collaborative research and development of advanced energy technology. Building a workforce that would be competitive in the world global marketplace also requires investments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education at all levels of our education system. The America COMPETES Act updates the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to help train secondary teachers to teach STEM in high-needs schools, provides grants to encourage students to major in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, and establishes fellowships for graduates in these fields to lead the way in education research in these areas. The America COMPETES Act will strengthen diversity for science, technology, engineering, and math students, increasing the participation of women and minorities in the classroom and the workforce. And it increases funding for research reauthorized by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the largest supporter of physical science research in our country, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Technology, with the intent of doubling funding they receive over the next 10 years. The research they support will create the innovative technologies of the future and drive students to become the scientists and engineers our country needs. Chad Bouton, recently named Inventor of the Year by Battelle in my district, is a shining example of this. His work on processing algorithms makes a product called Cyberkinetic Braingate possible, a medical device that allows people to control computers by their thoughts. This has incredible implications for paraplegics who are confined to their wheelchairs, for veterans in need of realistic, functional prosthetics. This is the kind of research we need that not only leads to incredible innovations, but will inspire students with the possibilities of what they can achieve as scientists and researchers themselves. We have a key opportunity as the economic recovery takes hold to make essential investments that will keep our Nation competitive and secure its long-term economic growth. The America COMPETES Act is supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Ohio Business Roundtable, Ohio State University, and hundreds of businesses, professional societies, and institutions of higher learning across the country. I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues, tomorrow when it comes for a vote, to support the America COMPETES Act.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Kottil Rammohan for nearly three decades of providing care to patients and conducting ground-breaking research in central Ohio. Dr. Rammohan, who is retiring from Ohio State University this year, has touched the lives of countless patients and people throughout the world living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or other neurological disorders. As a faculty member in the neurology department at OSU, Dr. Rammohan's dedication to MS research has led to numerous advancements in his field. One of his achievements was discovering a breakthrough in treating fatigue, a symptom that plagues many of those living MS. His discoveries help improve the quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who live with this disorder. Outside of OSU, Dr. Rammohan has been active in several medical organizations including the MS section of the American Academy of Neurology and the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers. He also has served as the acting chair of the Buckeye Chapter Clinical Advisory Committee and the national Clinical Care Committee for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. His valuable contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society have earned him recognition in its Volunteer Hall of Fame. Dr. Rammohan, who has been repeatedly recognized as one of America's Best Doctors, has been asset to our community for decades. On behalf of all Americans living with MS, I am happy to congratulate and thank Dr. Rammohan for his distinguished career in the field of neurology and for his lifelong devotion to helping others.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. I think it's really important when you take a look at what went on in Wall Street after Bear Stearns collapsed. The SEC and the New York Fed went into these major Wall Street investment houses and were there trying to look things over but either didn't have the statutory authority or the expertise to really take a look at these mortgage instruments or really take the kind of action that would have protected consumers, and even not waited until you got to a situation with Bear Stearns but had gone in there much earlier and looked at it from the eyes of the consumer. Not how it's doing for Wall Street traders but what is its impact on consumers, the subprime mortgage solicitations and all the things that went on around this. It's so important, I think, that we do have a Consumer Protection Agency as part of Wall Street reform.

Ms. KILROY. I hear from so many of my constituents, people in business, people who are developers, that the ability to obtain capital and then to expand their business, to hire more people, just isn't there. They are not being able to get the loans. It is really important to get that moving again so we can get our Main Street economy, our real economy, going again. Too much of the money is somewhere else in the pipeline. We need to get it out there to Main Street. I know several of us are working on a number of bills and issues to help expand Small Business Administration loans and others, but we need to get the banks in a position where they are doing the kind of lending that helps small business and mortgages that make sense, because there is the right kind of documentation, down payment, and other finances are in order.

Ms. KILROY. Thank you very much for yielding. I am pleased to join my colleagues on the floor this evening. And, of course, I work with Congresswoman Speier on the Financial Services Committee. And she very aptly talked about what was going on at Goldman and the effect that it has had on our economy. But this is not a case of just one bad company. We, unfortunately, had a culture all across Wall Street that allowed things like this to happen. And recently I asked Chairman Frank if we could take a look at some of the practices of Lehman Brothers. And we did. We had a hearing on Lehman Brothers. We both participated in that hearing. Because Lehman Brothers gambled with the hard-earned money, the pension funds of countless Americans. Certainly people from Ohio, people from California's pensions, people from Colorado's pensions had been invested in Lehman products, and Lehman Brothers did not tell those investors or other investors that they were so over-leveraged that their financial picture was pretty bleak. Instead, they tried to disguise what was really going on at Lehman by this tricky accounting practice where they moved some of the problems off the balance sheet at the time when their quarterly report was due. If you look at the quarterly report, you would not get the real story from Lehman because of this practice called Repo 105. They did this very deliberately. And they had become, like Goldman, very leveraged into the subprime mortgage market, the Alt-A mortgage market, and even came up with this product called an Alt-B. And Lehman Brothers, which is an investment house, did not have the same level of regulation that, say, a community bank in one of our localities would have if they were engaging in mortgage practices. Nobody was watching them. The SEC wasn't watching enough, and investors and advisors who maybe would be sophisticated investors who could look at a balance sheet, they weren't getting the right picture either because of this on- and off-balance sheet practice of disguising the true financial picture. When Lehman did this, when they gambled in the subprime market, when they increased, bought more, bought more, bought more to try to make up for the losses and tried to hide what was really going on, they hurt not just the sophisticated investor; they hurt hardworking Americans. I asked for some public records. One of our pension funds told us that they took an actual loss of over $100 million as a result of this between December of 2007 and September of 2008. Over $100 million. That's just one. I'm getting information from the other public pension funds in Ohio. And this isn't right that they are allowed to gamble and not listen to the alarms that were sounded in their own company by the risk managers or the fixed asset manager. Instead, those people who were trying to tell the truth were forced out. And it's that same story: Everything's just fine, don't look over here at what's on the off-balance sheet accounting tricks and give a different picture to the world. We need to hold the Lehman Brothers and the Goldmans to account, and it is time to really talk about real financial reform, real Wall Street reform so that they are not allowed to hurt hardworking Americans and put their life savings in jeopardy again.

Ms. KILROY. If the gentleman will yield, I agree that we really need to have strong regulation of derivatives and, of course, make them much more transparent. But the point you have made just now about the Wall Street pay is interesting. One of the things that I think infuriates people is when they see they are being hurt, jobs have been lost, shops have closed up, and yet they see the people that are responsible for taking our economy to the brink of disaster are getting that kind of a reward. Also we need to see the corporate boards and the corporate shareholders take some more responsibility for what their corporations are doing. I think some of them want to do that. One of the things I would like to see happen is that shareholders get some kind of a say, some kind of an up-or-down vote on this kind of compensation. And not only do they get to vote, but I think when you have shareholders that may be hedge funds or pension funds or mutual funds, that they need to disclose also how their proxies are being exercised in these decisions about pay.

Ms. KILROY. You're correct that things are improving and also correct that we're not out of the woods yet. The Recovery Act in Ohio, as in your State, helped keep teachers; police cadets were able to get another class going in the city of Columbus, Ohio; keep firefighters on the job, keep teachers teaching in schools. We also put money in the pockets of hardworking Americans with the biggest tax cut in our history to make sure that middle-class families benefited from that Recovery Act. People who were unemployed or on food stamps also got a raise--not the kind of raise that Wall Street gets, but they got a raise. We know that that money goes directly back into the local economies. That helps build that path to economic recovery. We'll continue to focus on jobs, on our economy, and on holding Wall Street accountable, and passing a strong Wall Street regulation bill. I look forward to working with you on that.

Ms. KILROY. I absolutely agree with you. I voted for the House bill. I supported the House bill. I would welcome an even stronger bill in the Senate if they would pass something along those lines to make sure that the excesses of Wall Street are reined in, that there is appropriate regulation, that these exotic products don't bring our economy down again, that there is accountability, and if somebody, some big house gets in economic difficulty, that it is not in the position where the government and the taxpayers have to rush in and bail them out. We need to make very clear that there is not going to be a taxpayer- funded bailout, and that there needs to be the kind of resolution authority or some kind of orderly method to protect the rest of the economy from a company that has gotten into trouble.

Ms. KILROY. We do have more work to do.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1116, which expresses support for the goals and ideals of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. I want to thank my friend and colleague Representative Barbara Lee for introducing this resolution, which brings attention to a disease that affects an estimated 400,000 people living in the United States. Because I was diagnosed with MS in 2003, I know the importance of research into treatments and a cure for the disease. I support additional funding for research regarding MS, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders. MS is a serious disease, but I am lucky to have insurance that pays for most of the cost of the expensive drugs that slow its progression and help prevent disability. However, many people diagnosed with MS often find their necessary medications financially out of reach. The 111th Congress has taken historic action to make health care affordable and accessible, to end discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions, and to help people control and live well with chronic illness--keeping them out of wheelchairs or nursing homes. However, we must continue to work on behalf of our constituents who every day are dealing with serious health conditions. I am pleased that included in the health insurance reform law recently signed by the president is the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. The CLASS Act will create an insurance program for the 10 million adults with disabilities in America to help them obtain the services and supports they need to stay functional, independent, and active in their community. It is a disgrace that millions of Americans with disabilities are forced to live a life of poverty just so they can qualify for long-term benefits offered by Medicaid. The CLASS Act will allow people with disabilities to remain functional and independent while giving them an opportunity to receive an education, maintain a job, or join a community group. I also want to acknowledge the work of the National MS Society, which works tirelessly on behalf of persons living with MS. Just this past weekend I participated in the Columbus MS Walk with my many friends in the Ohio Buckeye Chapter. This walk was just one of many across the country to raise money for research into MS. Madam Speaker, I look forward to the day when the world is free of MS. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in finding the causes, improving the treatments while lowering their costs, and fighting for a cure for MS and other diseases, so that all Americans can live fully active and healthy lives.

Ms. KILROY

Ms. KILROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor The Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State University for fifty years of leadership in polar and alpine research. My staff and I had the pleasure of visiting this innovative research center on the campus of The Ohio State University where we met with Director Ellen Mosley- Thompson and Dr. Lonnie Thompson and saw some of their pioneering research first hand. We visited interactive classrooms, the cold lab, and cold storage facility, which houses the research center's impressive collection of ice cores. Founded in 1960 as the Institute for Polar Studies, The Byrd Polar Research Center focuses on the history and evolution of global climate systems and the role of cold regions in climate change. In 1987 the facility was renamed for famous American Polar Explorer, Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The Research Center now includes eight research groups, a library, an archival program, and the U.S. Polar Rock Repository. Undergraduate and graduate students at The Ohio State University are able to participate in and learn from this cutting edge facility that organizes expeditions around the world. To reconstruct past climate trends The Byrd Polar Research Center uses a variety of methods, including the study of chemical records preserved in ice cores collected from glaciers in Greenland, Asia, North and South America, and Antarctica. Our planet is in peril and during this critical time The Byrd Polar Research Center has advanced our knowledge of how cold regions play a role in our Earth's changes. The phenomenon of climate change has been well documented in the scientific community by groups like The Byrd Polar Research Center. Climate change demands immediate attention and action; for fifty years The Byrd Polar Research Center has contributed to our understanding of climate change and our ability to mitigate and adapt to its effects. The Byrd Polar Research Center strives to improve our understanding of the environment and the changes that are occurring to it and provides central Ohioans with a world-class education and research facility. I am proud to recognize and honor The Byrd Polar Research Center and its hard working staff for fifty years of dedication to the advancement of scientific understanding of the world around us.