Mike Kelly

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman, a good friend and great colleague, for bringing this RAPID Act forward because I strongly support it. I want to just reflect. Go out of these hallowed Chambers and go into the private sector, and think about going through a permitting process and think about the longer you delay, the more you have to pay. It is just that simple. You can drag these things out and drag these things out and drag these things out. And when you ask people: What is it that I have to do? I have already done everything you required me to do. It is just a little bit more. So the answer is: How long is a piece of string? We don't know. What we are doing by not getting this done, and we have talked about the number of jobs that are waiting. If we are talking about improving the economy--and these are not Republican jobs or Democrat jobs. These are American jobs. And what are we doing? American projects to help the American economy. So today to even have a debate--and this is a bipartisan effort; there is no question about it. We both feel the same way. We both know what the problems are in our country right now. We have too many people unemployed. In fact, we have too many people who have given up even looking for a job. That is the unreported number that we never reflect. But in this case we know that delaying only increases what we have to pay. And who is picking up the tab on this? It is hardworking American taxpayers. It is just not that much-maligned 1 percent that doesn't want to pay their fair share. This is every single American woman and man that is out there. It affects how they live their lives. It affects how they pay their bills. It affects the future of our economy. So I know we have to have debates, and this is not a debate that is heated, but it is about heat in a way. This week we have talked about: let's heat American homes; let's make sure that we have a sustainable path; let's make sure that we are not putting on the backs of these folks too much. There is an old saying where I come from. It is: Don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon. Gentlemen, I have got to tell you, right now, the mule is about ready to unhook himself from the wagon and say: You have asked me to pull too much for far too long. So, with Mr. Marino and what he has brought forth today, a commonsense approach to creating jobs and getting improvements in our country, not improvements for just Republicans but improvements for every single American, isn't that why we are all here? I know I represent 705,687 western Pennsylvanians. I don't know how they are registered; I don't know how they vote; I don't know how they worship; but I do know this: they sent me to Washington to represent their best interests and, in a larger sense, the State of Pennsylvania and the whole country. If we cannot agree on things like this, my goodness, where do we go from here? So I would just ask my colleagues--and this is a truly a bipartisan effort. Mr. Marino, thank you so much for what you have done. This just makes sense. And Lord, in a town where common sense is found in so few places, let's look at this and understand the uplift for the American people and for our economy.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I am a cosponsor of the Electricity Security and Affordability Act. We have heard a lot of rhetoric on the floor about what is going on, but I want you to understand something. In Pennsylvania, over 40 percent of the electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. If you go back to the election, during his candidacy the President said very clearly that if you want to continue to produce electricity using coal-powered power plants, you can, but we will bankrupt you. The only thing he didn't add to that was ``period.'' That is the war on coal. That is where we are going. When we talk about these things, and we talk about the numbers of people in our society right now, not just the middle- and the lower middle-income, but the low-income people, what are we affecting? Everything that they put in their mouth, everything they put on their backs, everything that they do to heat and light their homes. The sum total of the cost of anything is everything that goes into it. The cost of energy and using coal to get there just makes sense. Coal has done so much for this country for so many years. I am not just talking about a few people. If you do not believe this is affecting people, please come back to western Pennsylvania. Walk with me. Go into these little towns where there no longer is a coal mine open. Not only that--their towns are shut down. Now isn't that a marvelous thing to accomplish and champion and say we are doing the right thing for America? We are going to drive your energy costs up and make it impossible for you to heat and light your homes. We are going to change the cost of everything you use to raise your children. It affects the cost of everything. The sum total is made up of energy costs also. What we will do is we will raise the bar so high that it will no longer be possible for these people to operate at a profitable level and then we will back off and say, My goodness, they just couldn't meet the standard. We ask, What does the standard have to be? Just a little bit better than it is now. We say, How would we begin to measure it? Well, we haven't determined that yet. We have set standards for you, but we don't have any way of doing it. We can't get to the point where we can measure the metrics on it. I would just ask you for one thing: I want you to think about those thousands and millions of people who have forever relied on coal and the electricity that we can supply and the energy we can supply at a unit that is low enough that they can continue to live a normal life. That is all we are asking. This bill is common sense, which is so devoid in this House.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my heartiest congratulations to Tech Molded Plastics Inc., a family-owned injection mold company, on being named Plastics News' Processor of the Year. Located in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Tech Molded Plastics celebrated its 40th year in business just last year. In 1973, Bill Hanaway and his wife Eva started their family business in a rented garage. Over the years, Tech Molded has expanded and diversified its business through smart investments in their people and technology. In the mid-1990s, Tech Molded erected the factory building that now houses its company headquarters. In 2011, the company expanded again by purchasing the building adjacent to it with an investment of more than $1.5 million. Today, sons Scott, Mark, and Doug still run the family business along with their mother, Eva, manufacturing precision parts for the electronics, automotive, and medical industry. Employing 120 Pennsylvanians and generating sales of $17.7 million, Tech Molded Plastics embodies the best of America's family-owned small businesses. Mr. Speaker, in light of being awarded Processor of the Year, I ask that my colleagues join with me today in recognizing Tech Molded Plastics for its national leadership in the plastics industry and for the invaluable contributions of the Hanaway family to the citizens of Meadville and Western Pennsylvania.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this act. It is really just common sense, is it not? And I think it best exemplifies how America handles crises. They adjust. They make an adjustment. This certainly could be called a heated debate because we are trying to make sure that our constituents have that ability, to heat their homes during one of the longest winters. We don't use the term ``polar vortex'' back in Pennsylvania. We just call it winter. It has been a long, long winter, and we are looking at the adjustment that would take place. It is just about transportation. It is about allowing these people that deliver this energy, this propane to these homes. In Pennsylvania, we have over 180,000 people who rely on the delivery of this product to keep their homes heated. That is not a difficult thing to understand. I think for this body to be able to just on the run--on the fly, as it were--make sure that our constituents have the ability to heat their homes, this is so fundamentally basic, and it is just common sense. So I thank the chairman for bringing this bill forward. It makes sense to everybody back where I live, as they bundle up and continue to worry about when spring is finally going to get here. We are able to release that now, change the transportation laws a bit, just so they can get there, and we are saying let's do it until May 31. Let's not do it the way we are doing it now. Chances are, by May 31, that crisis will be gone, but the ability to get propane to their homes is very critical right now. So I thank the chairman and ranking member for what they are doing. We are doing things that make sense for the American people, and every single American citizen benefits from this.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3193. I am an automobile dealer, and my family has been in the business for 63 years. CFPB is kind of interesting because what we have done now, we have absolutely abandoned the rulemaking process, and we have gone to another type of influencing people; and the relationship that car dealers have with their customers is sometimes to navigate a very difficult financial system to get their loans arranged. But no, we want to do it a different way. We want to do it with guidance. Here is the way it kind of works. It is like the policeman walking his beat and pulling out his billy club and tapping it on his hand and saying: I strongly suggest you follow my guidance. There is no oversight on this. This group of people are going to make decisions by not even consulting us, the people. We do represent the people, and I would like to think that we can come together once in a while to do what is in the best interest of the people that we represent, not a Republican issue, not a Democratic issue, but an American issue. We have to do these things. Again, strong suggestions that you follow my guidance, as opposed to letting people sit down and negotiate themselves, that is not the way the American system works. It never has, never will. It never should have happened. CFPB should have never come to the light of day.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the piece of legislation we are talking about. I think it is rather chilling that 223 years ago, our First Amendment rights were enshrined in our Bill of Rights. We have all taken the same oath. We said, to the best of our ability, we preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I am hearing now dollar signs or dollar numbers being there saying, well, we can't afford to spend this kind of money. Never before in America were we ever worried about the cost of money when it comes to defending our freedoms and liberties under our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. It has no dollar attached to it. It is basically fundamentally American. When we talk about American citizens not being able to talk that way--the First Amendment, by the way, protects us and enshrines us, 45 words in the First Amendment that protect and enshrine our rights. This is not a political issue. This is not about an ``R'' or a ``D.'' This is about a ``we.'' This is about the entire country. If we are going to sit here and say: Oh, no, this just has to do with an election--an election--really, an election?--we cannot allow the voice of the people not to be heard in our town squares. When they need to speak out, they need to know that they can speak out without being threatened or without being worried about what is going to happen to them. This is so basically who we are as Americans. It has nothing to do with Republicans and Democrats, Independents and Libertarians. It has to do with who we are. If we cannot see that and we turn this into a political agenda and talking points, then, my gosh, how far we have fallen from what the Founders intended at the very beginning. We cannot have this debate in seriousness and say we are spending too much money to protect the rights of our American citizens. That is absolutely foolish. I am very, very strong on the protection of what we are talking about. H.R. 3865 reconfirms what the American people need to know. They can speak out on anything, anytime, anywhere they want, without having to be worried about anybody interfering with it, especially a government. This is a government that serves the people; this is not a people that serve our government. And to think that we have to have a piece of legislation in addition to our First Amendment rights on the floor is absolutely so different than what we think. Again, the voice of the American people has got to be heard. I don't care--conservative, liberal, I don't care where you are coming from. You have the right to speak out anytime you want.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 51, the Grijalva Amendment No. 1, I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Labrador

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 357, the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act of 2013, a bill introduced by my friend, Representative Jeff Miller, chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I wish to highlight section 13, which includes H.R. 1792, the Infectious Disease Reporting Act, a bill introduced by my friend, Representative Mike Coffman, chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The Infectious Disease Reporting Act is a bill that I am proud to cosponsor. This commonsense provision is necessary to respond to infectious disease issues at VA facilities nationwide, including the deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease at the Pittsburgh VA in 2011 and 2012 that killed at least five of our veterans and sickened as many as 22. This facility became ground zero for the Veterans' Affairs Committee's investigation, which found gross mismanagement by the Pittsburgh VA in response to the 2011 outbreak. This is particularly troubling to me as there are many veterans in my district who rely on the Pittsburgh VA for their health care. Currently, the VA facilities are not required by law to report infectious disease at VA facilities to State and local health officials, even though the VA is one of the Nation's largest health providers; yet, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center--it is only a few hundred feet away--is required to do this.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. This inconsistency makes absolutely no sense and leaves the VA off the hook. In other words, this bill holds VA facilities accountable to the same standards as other medical facilities located in the same State. This just makes sense. Now, our veterans, who have sacrificed so much, deserve far better. This bill is a step in the right direction to ensure that veterans receive safe, high quality health care at the VA. I urge strong support of H.R. 357.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, this is appalling that we are even at this point in talking about this providing health care for women. I am really shocked. If we are not providing the best possible medical help for expectant mothers and their unborn child, that is not the issue. This country has always been the champion of life around the world, protecting human rights. We have always showed up at every single encounter, whenever people were being treated in a way that we thought was not right. We worry about Syria and the fact that they are losing their citizens, that Assad is killing their citizens. Yet, since 1973, we have aborted 56 million unborn children, 56 million unborn children. And today we are having a discussion on H.R. 7, where the only thing the American taxpayers are saying, we know, by law, a woman can make that choice, but we also know that taxpayers don't want to fund it. It is appalling that we have to have this type of a discussion in the United States of America when you know how we feel in our hearts and in our souls. You know how people feel about this. I want you to think about those 56 million unborn children who could have made a huge difference in this world. It is absolutely appalling to sit in this great room where so many great debates over the protection of human rights and freedom and liberty have taken placer and to be having this discussion. This has nothing to do with us cutting back on women's health care. It has to do with taxpayers not wanting to fund an abortion. This is what we are talking about. Please--and as the gentleman just said--is it about the next election? Really? Have we reduced ourselves to only winning elections and not winning on behalf of people's rights? These are human rights. I appreciate the time to come to speak. Madam Speaker, I have got to tell you, this is one of the most disturbing things that we face in the country today, and I want our people to think about this: 56 million children have been aborted. If we can't wake up and smell the roses on this, then shame on us.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank my good friend and fellow Representative from Pennsylvania, Lou Barletta, for introducing this legislation that is so vital to the safety of millions of people across our state and our country. Merriam-Webster defines a volunteer as ``a person who does work without getting paid to do it.'' It defines an employee as ``a person who works for another person or company for wages or salary.'' Yet the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), defying these clear definitions and common sense, considers volunteer firefighters to be employees and has not clarified whether or not they are subject to the employer mandate under President Obama's health care law. In Butler Township, back home in Western Pennsylvania, more than 17,000 people rely on approximately 130 volunteer firefighters to keep that community safe. Ed Kirkwood, the manager of Butler Township, has stated that by his calculations, taxes in Butler Township would have to be more than doubled to comply with the federal mandate and maintain all of Butler's volunteer firefighters. I've spoken time and again about how the unintended consequences of the president's health care law will hurt Americans. In this particular instance, it threatens to bankrupt communities and endanger the public all because the IRS doesn't know the meaning of what it is to be a volunteer firefighter. This is unacceptable. It must be changed, and Mr. Barletta's bill, H.R. 3685--the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act--will do just that. I give my emphatic support to this bill and ask that the IRS correct its definition of volunteerism before Pennsylvania communities which rely on these heroes have to pay for its lack of common sense.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am actually a new car dealer and have been a new car dealer for many, many years, since 1970, at a store my dad started in 1953 after coming back from the war. So I have got to tell you, it used to be so easy to deliver a car to a customer, and the excitement about getting that new car was just one of the biggest things a family could do. They would come into the showroom, and they were so excited about taking delivery of a new car, being able to drive off that lot, drive around America, do whatever they wanted to do. And the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Peters) referred to dealers in the community. I can tell you, if you really want to know the significance of new car dealers, go to any town anywhere in this country and look at the outfield fence where Little Leagues play. Open up any program to any high school performance and see who the sponsors are. Look at any of the fundraising opportunities that take place in each community, and you will find that it is the automobile dealers who are there first and foremost and are always there. That is just what we do. In addition to providing good transportation, we support our communities. We hire people. We allow people to work in our communities. They do great things in our communities. Now, when we talk about H.R. 724, the question becomes then, Why do we continue to layer time after time, paper after paper on somebody just trying to take delivery of a new car? In a recent survey, the number one thing that consumers don't like about buying a car is the paperwork. It is endless. When I first started in 1969 selling cars, all you had to do was sign the retail order form and sign the temporary registration and send it in. Well, now we have volumes of papers that must be signed. They not only have to sign that they agree to something; they have to sign that they agree not to do something, and that it was offered to somebody else and to them also. So this full declaration has gotten crazy. And when it comes to the Clean Air Act, I can take anybody out in the lot. In fact, we can go out in the street right now. Open the hood of your car. There is a sticker underneath that says exactly what that vehicle performs like, and how does it meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act. It is there. On the manufacturer's statement of origin, when customers take delivery of a car, they sign that certificate.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. This just makes so much sense. At a time when America looks at this institution and says why don't you just work together to get rid of some of this overregulation, this overburdensome, adding cost to almost everything that we do, we can do it. I appreciate what Mr. Latta has done and what Mr. Peters has done. There are over 105 of us that sit right here in this room that agree it needs to be done right now. So let's not hold that up. Let's make sure that we simplify it and make it easier for people to go ahead and take delivery of their new car. It takes away cost, and adds that money which we don't spend back into the communities. It could go back into building our businesses. It could go back into rebuilding America.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 3350. This is a piece of legislation that protects the people, not a political party, not politicians, not Presidents who don't keep promises. This is a letter I got from Melissa and Riley from Hermitage, Pennsylvania. Riley is a college student paying for her own education. She is working part time at minimum wage in a local grocery store, paying for what she calls an affordable $70 per month for her health care coverage. Because of the Affordable Care Act, her hours at the store have been cut back, and now, to add insult to injury, she has been notified by the insurance provider that because of ObamaCare, she will be canceled after another year and that she is going to be forced to choose a plan that costs triple what she is paying now. Riley's mom, Melissa, also sent a letter to our office, a letter of desperation stating that her health insurance provider, the one she has always relied on, has now informed her that she will no longer be covered after November 25. In her letter to our office, Melissa writes: When my daughter or I purchase our own health care in an attempt to be self-sufficient in this country, we are penalized, not rewarded. Mr. President, keep your promise. I can't believe for 3 years we have told people you can keep these policies, you don't have to worry about it, period. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, period. Now we find out that it was all just talk, and that is what this country is fed up with. They are tired of the talk that comes out of Washington. They want to have people start representing them. That is what we are here to do. Both sides of the aisle, ladies and gentlemen, both sides of the aisle. It is time to stop the spin. I really feel sorry for the people who sit in the gallery here. We need to put seatbelts in. This room is spinning so fast sometimes, it is hard for them to walk straight when they walk out of here. I tell you what. Our party will continue to commit ourselves to doing what is right for the American people.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, sometimes the truth hurts, and for a quarter of a million Pennsylvanians, the truth really hurts because they are losing their health care plans. Mike McKean and his father own and operate Titan Tool Company. It is a small business in Fairview, Pennsylvania, that their family has run since 1920. In his letter to our office, Michael wrote: My dad has always prided himself of offering 100 percent health care coverage for every single one of our associates. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. However, under ObamaCare, their yearly premium will rise 113.9 percent, taking the cost from $120,000 to $227,000. One of his employees will see her monthly premium go from just over $300 to $940. That is a 249 percent increase. In Michael's words: This type of increase is too much for the company to weather. Next year, for the first time in decades, my father and my family are forced to drop insurance coverage for our employees. He also added: Being the generous and concerned person my father is, he said he would give each employee this year's cost of premiums to offset the rise in costs, but beyond that, he cannot afford to do any more. This means that, next December, we will all have to pay enormous increases out of our pocket for poorer coverage. That happens to be the truth, and not one that they have to go back on later on.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. First, I do want to thank the chairman, the ranking member, and also Representative McCollum. Mr. Chairman, our amendment is on the Asian carp. It is a very invasive species that really has a devastating effect on the Upper Mississippi River and the Ohio River Basin. This is a fish that can grow to 70 to 100 pounds. It is a voracious fish that is highly invasive. It can potentially destroy a $7 billion commercial fishing business industry in the Great Lakes. It also would have a devastating effect on commercial boaters, recreational boaters, and sportsmen. Again, I want you to understand that the nature of this fish is incredible. Anytime the surface of the water is disturbed, it leaps out of the water. As I said, it can be 70 to 100 pounds. I know that many of us do boating in the summertime and have little children that boat with us. This is a fish that is so aggressive and so voracious that it can eat sometimes up to four times its own weight. What does this fish do? It eats everything that other fish eat. If we allow this to come forward, it can be devastating. This is a great example. I watched the last 3 weeks as both sides tried to get to some type of agreement, and couldn't get there. This is a bipartisan effort, a collective effort, collaborative effort, that allows both the States and the Federal agencies to work together on a solution to a problem that has been in existence and will continue to be in existence until we stop it. So I want to again thank Chairman Shuster, Ranking Member Rahall, and especially Ms. McCollum as we work together on this piece of legislation. I think it will have a great effect on our ability to keep the Great Lakes, the Upper Mississippi River, and the Ohio River Basin safe.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago, I was elected-- and so were a lot of my classmates--in what we termed a very fair election. I think the issue that we all need to be concerned about right now is that it is truly unique in America that everybody is treated fairly. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is; it doesn't matter how you worship; it doesn't matter if you even worship or don't worship--you are treated fairly. The President has said many times that this is a country in which everybody deserves a fair shot, in which everybody deserves a fair opportunity to rise to whatever level he can. Every single American deserves to be treated fairly. I hear that term. I hear it batted back and forth. So what is the real definition of ``fair''? I went to Webster's Dictionary. It says ``fair'' is treating people in a way that does not favor some over others. It does not treat one person in a favorable way over somebody else. That is truly, uniquely American because there are very few places in the world where everybody does get treated fairly. When I look at the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, I ask myself: Is this really fair? If you look at this definition, it goes farther down and gives the antonym, or the opposite meaning. I would say that, if you were to look at what is not fair, the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, would be one of those things that would be the direct opposite of what fair is. Is it fair to give 1,200 waivers to some and not to others? Is it fair to say to employers, do you know what, this is a very complicated law, and it has grown so complicated that you need another year to give you a fair chance to understand what's in it, so we're going to give you a year's delay. Now, if you're an individual, no, you're not given that. So my question is: Is it fair? Is it fair to give one group something and the individual not? I don't know. I don't know that that meets anybody's definition of what fair is. Also, I heard Secretary of Health and Human Services Sebelius asked that very same question by a journalist: So, Secretary Sebelius, is it fair to go ahead and give employers 1 year to figure it out because it's so hard to understand that it's not really fair to put that kind of pressure on them; yet, with the individuals, they have to do it today? She says: No, no, no. They can opt out if they're not ready to do that. Now, you have to pay a fine if you want to opt out. You have to pay a fine if you don't want to participate at all. You are held to a different set of standards than another group, so I don't know how that fits under the definition of fair. We can talk about this and go back and forth all day long, but this is a gift. This Affordable Care Act--this ObamaCare--is a gift that keeps giving. It's a law that, while it's giving, it's also taking. It is driving our debt to an unbelievable level. The President says it's going to reduce our debt over the long run. The truth of the matter is in 10 years it adds $1.8 trillion, and that's a pretty fairly heavy debt for the people to absorb. Now, back home--and I don't know if this lady is a Republican or a Democrat--Melissa had written to me from Hermitage, Pennsylvania. I want you to understand how this is. This is an individual. She has two degrees, one in criminal justice and one in teaching, but she couldn't get a job, so she started her own business. She says: No government loans, no bank loans, no investors, and I have grown the business over the past handful of years. I received a letter from my insurance provider, Aetna, and according to my letter, no longer am I going to be covered after November 25. I operate a small business, a successful business in this economy. Now she talks about her daughter, Riley: Riley is a young girl who is working her way through school as a part-time cashier at a local grocery store. She makes minimum wage, and she is paying for her own health care benefits. She got a letter, saying, Do you know what, your policy that you have now is going to go from $70 a month, and it's going to triple. It is going to put a heavy weight on her in order for her to stay covered. So we talk about fair, and we talk about what's fair to everybody-- not just to a few but to everybody. My friends get up, and they rail about what we are not doing, about how we are not treating the law fairly. The law is not treating us fairly. Sadly, we are in a time when Americans don't expect an awful lot out of Washington. In fact, it's fair to say they don't expect hardly anything out of Washington, but they do expect to be treated fairly. So I would say to everybody: Please, let's treat everybody the same. This is America. That's what makes us unique, and that's what makes us special.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman. Madam Speaker, the word ``hypocrisy'' has been thrown around a lot tonight. I got to Congress about 3 years ago, and my understanding was if you were Republican, you hated women, infants, children, veterans, and seniors. This week, we have tried to address the problems of women, infants, children, veterans, and seniors. For some reason, our colleagues can't understand that because they say, You are using these people as political pawns. And the hypocrisy of it is they no longer can stand up when they say that they defend these folks because they have turned their backs on them this week; and instead of helping them, they have turned a cold shoulder. When I was a child growing up, I used to make a list every night when it came close to Christmas of everything that I wanted, and I'd wake up Christmas morning and I never got everything I wanted, but boy, was I glad for everything I got. If you're telling me tonight that you are turning your back on the same people that you say only your party defends, that is the height of hypocrisy. It's totally uncalled for on this floor.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my staff, especially Mr. Isaac Fong, for his dedication and hard work on the issue of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, in the United States, a child is diagnosed with cancer every 36 minutes. Cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under 15. Now, each September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I would just like to point out there is a program by Hyundai Motor America and Hyundai dealers. We have raised over $72 million in the fight against pediatric cancer. We have been able to turn back the clock, and at this time we can say that almost 85 percent of children diagnosed with this dreaded disease survive. So it is with great pride that I'm here this evening. I would also like to point out that this past July, Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded a $75,000 grant to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh, which will help Dr. J. Anthony Graves continue his cancer therapies to treat children from the Third District of Pennsylvania and beyond.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. 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 on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, which Secretary Kerry signed today at a U.N. ceremony on behalf of the United States. My opposition and my colleagues' opposition is not a Republican agenda. It is the defense of all Americans' right as enshrined in our Constitution and in our Bill of Rights. The Obama administration's participation in the Arms Trade Treaty has left a trail of broken promises, and all in the form of ``red lines'' this administration has laid out and later abandoned. I'd like to talk about a few of them right now. Mr. Speaker, I will submit into the Record the State Department's Web page listing ``Key U.S. Redlines'' for the ATT. Key U.S. Redlines The Second Amendment to the Constitution must be upheld. There will be no restrictions on civilian possession or trade of firearms otherwise permitted by law or protected by the U.S. Constitution. There will be no dilution or diminishing of sovereign control over issues involving the private acquisition, ownership, or possession of firearms, which must remain matters of domestic law. The U.S. will oppose provisions inconsistent with existing U.S. law or that would unduly interfere with our ability to import, export, or transfer arms in support of our, national security and foreign policy interests. The international arms trade is a legitimate commercial activity, and otherwise lawful commercial trade in arms must not be unduly hindered. There will be no requirement for reporting on or marking and tracing of ammunition or explosives. There will be no lowering of current international standards. Existing nonproliferation and export control regimes must not be undermined. The ATT negotiations must have consensus decision making to allow us to protect U.S. equities. There will be no mandate for an international body to enforce an ATT.

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Now, one of those red lines says: ``The Second Amendment to the Constitution must be upheld.'' But the Treaty contains only a weak, nonbinding reference to civilian ownership and fails to uphold the fundamental, individual right to keep and to bear arms that is enshrined in our Second Amendment. Furthermore, the Treaty encourages nations to collect the identities of owners of imported firearms. It creates the core of a national gun registry. This violates existing U.S. law. But it doesn't stop there. The Arms Trade Treaty requires nations to report the data they collect to the United Nations. If this data contains information on individual owners, it would constitute a serious, dangerous privacy violation. Now, it sounds like this administration doesn't take this Second Amendment red line very seriously. Another red line says: ``The ATT negotiations must have consensus decisionmaking to allow us to protect U.S. equities.'' Now, in the U.N., ``consensus'' means unanimity--all members on board in totality. But when that failed, the Obama administration supported the ATT's adoption by a simple majority rule vote in the United Nations General Assembly. The administration broke its own most important red line. Now, the U.S. regularly demands that negotiations be conducted by consensus to protect our interests and our sovereignty, which is critical when the U.S. is in the minority or when we are standing alone at the U.N. Now, by breaking their own red line, this administration has seriously reduced U.S. credibility because other countries now know that if they push hard enough, America will accept a majority rule vote. In February 2010, Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher stated if the whole world does not sign on, then the ATT is ``less than useless.'' A number of key nation-states--including such stalwarts of freedom and liberty as Russia, China, and others like India, Indonesia, Iran and North Korea, among many others--do not support the Arms Trade Treaty. Therefore, the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty is less than useless. Is the ATT less than useless, or is consensus just another red line that the Obama administration doesn't take very seriously. Today, Secretary Kerry said: ``This treaty will not diminish anyone's freedom.'' Here is yet but another promise. Do we really think it's credible? Last month, the Obama administration took executive action to ban the import of Korean War-era, vintage, collectible M-1 Garand rifles on spurious public safety grounds. These are collectors' items. This shows how this administration's action can be used to choke off firearms imports. The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty will only encourage more mischief. It only holds the good accountable and let's the bad do what they want. In the real world, promises do matter. We have made strategic, moral, and legal commitments to provide arms to key allies such as the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the State of Israel. What do these promises really mean to President Obama? And what message does the ATT send to our allies? And they wonder: Is America really there for us when we need them, or is this just more talk, more empty words? The American people have had enough of the Obama administration's broken promises and phony, nonexistent red lines on ATT. I urge my colleagues to join together to oppose the ATT. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend from Oregon (Mr. Walden).

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I now yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).