Adam Kinzinger

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to just say before I actually get started, we just saw the space shuttle fly over on the back of a 747, and I salute the end of an amazing era in space exploration, and I look forward to the next day of NASA being able to talk about space exploration and how we're going to get out there so we won't have to rely on Russians to get to space to continue to do what I think is a very important role of the Federal Government. I was in Houston--I actually went through the NASA center there about 3 or 4 days ago--but I was in Houston for military duty. I am a pilot in the Air National Guard. I fly an airplane called a RC 26, which is a reconnaissance plane. I did 9 days of duty. And what we did is we were in Texas flying missions on the border of Mexico in order to help the Border Patrol secure that border, to ensure that those people that want to come in here come in here legally and, just as importantly, if not more importantly, to ensure that the drug trade is not being brought into our country, to reduce the amount of drugs being brought in from Mexico, as well as to ensure that terrorists are not making their way through the border by sneaking in through that border of Mexico. Now, before I went, I expected to see a border that was basically secure because that's what I've been hearing from the administration, that the border is basically secure. Yeah, there are examples of people coming across outside of that but, for the most part, it's pretty good to go. Well, what I saw was something completely different. I'm going to tell you just a quick story about somebody who's on the border every day trying to protect this country against drugs and against terrorism coming through that border. This guy is a Border Patrol agent affectionately known as Uzi. Uzi is a former marine. He was a marine for about 5 years, started a small business when he got out of the Marine Corps, and made the decision that, you know what, he wants to go continue to serve and protect his country. Now, I flew missions with Uzi. He was on board my aircraft as we went down and we assisted Border Patrol. And the one thing Uzi said to me is, Congressman, look, we're out here every day in the heat and the sweltering sun trying to continue to protect this country. Make sure you give us what we need here. And when you hear the stories about how hamstrung they are from actually enforcing the border, and how there are many tools available to them that they're not allowed to use, it's actually pretty sad. Now, look. We want to be a Nation of immigration. We want to be a Nation of legal immigration. But one thing we don't want to be is a Nation that wakes up one day and finds out that there was another terrorist attack in a major United States city and that, potentially, that weapon of mass destruction or those terrorists actually came in through an unsecure border with Mexico. I went down there really believing that there was a fence along the line, and I saw nothing of the kind in southern Texas. Let's tell the American people the truth. The truth is, we want to be a Nation that respects immigration because most of us here actually are immigrants removed ourselves, but we want to be a Nation that has a legal process to do it. When we have an open border, we're encouraging people to go around that legal process, and we're opening ourselves up to attack. Let's stand together. Let's say to respect the immigration and the immigrant history of this country, but let's do it in a legal way. My eyes were opened, as I did military duty on the border, to the fact that we have a long way to go. This can be a bipartisan issue--it doesn't need to be Republican versus Democrat--but it needs to be something that we actually finally do, and we stand together and we say we'll be a Nation that is safe once and for all.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, last week, the North Korean regime sent a clear message of defiance to the world community. Rather than work toward a peaceful agreement, North Korea would prefer its people starve in order to pursue its nuclear ambitions. The failure of the long-range missile test undermines the credibility of the North's new leadership and requires the United States to stand firm in support of stronger penalties. North Korea has one ally in the region that has the power to force them to negotiate in good faith. It's time China stepped up and realized that its economic success is dependent on peace in the region and around the world. With China's rise comes responsibility. I encourage China to use this opportunity to force the North Korean regime to abandon its nuclear missile program and support the welfare of its people; and I encourage the United States to continue a strong posture, peace through strength, in the hopes that someday strength makes war obsolete.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Our Nation is currently standing at a critical crossroads. Should Washington weigh deeper into the red or should we continue cutting spending and get our Nation on the track towards fiscal solvency under the House Republican budget, which cuts more than $5 trillion while preventing the President's tax increases? In addition to paving the way for our Nation to get back on track towards economic security and prosperity, the Republican budget also puts forward bipartisan solutions to save and strengthen Medicare for current seniors and for our children and grandchildren. Under our current trajectory, Medicare will be bankrupt in just a decade. This plan preserves current Medicare plans for those in and nearing retirement while offering guaranteed coverage options for future seniors, including those with preexisting conditions or tough health histories. It is financed by a premium support payment which would provide more assistance to low-income and less healthy seniors. The Medicare plans will compete against one another, which ultimately will create lower costs and a better quality of care. The budget refuels our economy to create an environment for businesses to grow jobs with fundamental tax reform, protects the security of health and retirement plans, and begins to reduce our deficit now to leave our children with a country free from debt.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the time to speak on this very important piece of legislation. Having the opportunity to help lead the effort in committee and now on the House floor to get FCC process reform passed is something I am passionate about because I feel that this legislation will make great strides towards improving the predictability, efficiency, and transparency of the FCC and its operations. A common theme I've witnessed throughout my time here in Congress is that of bureaucrats coming up with solutions in search of problems. In terms of the FCC in particular, I feel that they sometimes do so without following a standard set of procedures, statutory law, or regulatory guidelines. I believe this can be seen in some of the recent mergers in which certain concessions have been extracted from the concerned parties in order to push the wills of those at the Commission. This is not the way to run what should be an open and transparent rulemaking process. Government transparency is a major key to gaining the trust of the public, and this legislation will put into place some really commonsense reforms. Key among those is telling the FCC that they must publish the specific text of the proposed rules for all to see before the adoption of those rules. They must also allow enough time for the public to comment on those proposed rules so that their voices can also be heard. I have seen that Chairman Genachowski has made some very good progress in implementing much of what is in this legislation, but the fact of the matter is that many of those efforts are done at his discretion and are no longer in place when he leaves. Statutory and regulatory authority should be what moves the decisionmaking process of the FCC, and I believe the efforts of this bill will put the FCC in line with the intent of Congress.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman bringing the amendment forward. I rise in opposition to it today because in essence what it does is implements a study on the idea of these reforms. These reforms, again, are very basic. This just says, hey, a lot of these are already in place. It opens up the process to the American public. We believe in an open transparent government, an open and transparent system. This puts a study on the bill that simply has no timeline to it. Let me give you a quick example. The FCC is already behind on completing its reports. It didn't finish its satellite competition report for 2008 until 2011 and still hasn't finished the 2010 report on media ownership. So let's just be very honest with this. This is an attempt to kill this bill. This is an attempt to put a study on it that has no time line and simply allows the FCC to indefinitely delay the reforms that I think, frankly, the American people are demanding of Congress, demanding of Washington, which is to just open up government, let us know what's going on, be transparent. That's basic. That's what we stand for. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I was unable to cast my vote on H.R. 886, which would request Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Marshal Service. Had I been able to, I would have cast an ``aye'' vote in favor of the legislation.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Madam Chair, on March 22, 2012, I was unavoidably detained because fog delayed my return flight from Illinois and I was unable to cast a vote on H.R. 5, the Protecting Access to Healthcare Act. Had I been able to I would have cast an ``aye'' vote in favor of final passage of this legislation. I would also have cast an ``aye'' vote in favor of Amendment No. 1 by Representative Woodall; a ``no'' vote against Amendment No. 2 by Representative Bonamici; and an ``aye'' vote in favor of Amendment No. 6 by Representative Stearns.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately I was unable to have my vote in the House recorded on H.R. 665 the Excess Federal Building and Property Disposal Act of 2011. If present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Additionally, on final passage of H.R. 2087, legislation to remove restrictions from a parcel of land situated in the Atlantic District, Accomack County, Virginia, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I was unable to cast my vote on H.R. 3992, the E 2 Nonimmigrant Visas for Israeli Nationals. Had I been able to I would have cast an ``aye'' vote in favor of the legislation.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to rise today in celebration of the Kankakee County Farm Bureau, which is set to celebrate its 100th Annual meeting on March 15, 2012. This exemplary organization was created during a public meeting at the Kankakee County Courthouse on May 29, 1912 and continues to enrich our community today. Since its formation, the Kankakee County Farm Bureau has pursued a mission to ``Improve the economic well-being of agriculture and enrich the quality of farm family life.'' I am proud to say that the Kankakee County Farm Bureau has more than met these goals throughout its many years of service. For the past 100 years the Kankakee County Farm Bureau has been working for our agriculture community to improve efficiency, profitability, safety, and quality of life. Today, a number of directors throughout the county maintain that course, and I congratulate and thank each of those members for recognizing the freedom, dignity and equal opportunity afforded to all individuals throughout our area. Those directors include: District 1: Rockville Township, Jon Whitten; Manteno Township, Greg St. Aubin District 2: Sumner Township, Gene Rademacher; Yellowhead Township, Keith Mussman, President District 3: Essex Township, Marty Joyce; Salina Township, Patrick Joyce District 4: Bourbonnais Township, Gary Paarlberg; Limestone Township, Mark Tanner District 5: Norton Township, Patrick Koerner; Pilot Township, Sterling Bouchard District 6: Kankakee Township, Steve Benoit; Otto Township, Bret Perreault District 7: Aroma Township, Mike Bourgeois; Saint Anne Township, Duane Oosterhoff District 8: Ganeer Township, Kevin Yohnka, Vice President; Momence Township, Paula Karlock, Secretary-Treasurer; and Pembroke Township, Brian Dandurand Once again, I am humbled to have the opportunity to congratulate the Kankakee County Farm Bureau for reaching its centennial milestone. The farm bureau truly is an extraordinary group, serving our community in every facet of life.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, you know, when we look at what are some of the most important issues facing our country today, obviously economy comes very first. Next, we talk about energy, we talk about spending, and we talk about national security, all very important. You know, one nexus between economy and national defense is energy and our lack of energy here at home. Yesterday, the President's own Jobs Council called for an ``all-in approach'' to energy policy that includes expanded oil and gas drilling as well as expediting energy projects like pipelines. The report stated: ``The Council recognizes the important safety and environmental concerns surrounding these types of projects, but now more than ever, the jobs and economic and energy security benefits of these energy projects require us to tackle the issues head-on and to expeditiously, though cautiously, move forward on projects that can support hundreds of thousands of jobs.'' The Keystone XL pipeline does just that. This pipeline would directly create 20,000 American jobs in manufacturing and construction and 118,000 total jobs. In addition, we would see 830,000 barrels of safe and secure oil each day from our friends to the north, which means we'll need less oil from countries we can no longer rely on and are not friendly to the interests of the United States. Caterpillar, a leading manufacturer from my home State, supports securing stable and affordable energy from a North American ally through the Keystone XL pipeline and urges approval of this pipeline. Daniel Macholan, the Global Pipeline general manager for Caterpillar, said: ``Considering the economic and energy security benefits of these vital resources, we should continue to expand America's access to safe, affordable energy to help ensure improved domestic and global energy security and stable prices for consumers. Pipelines are a critical part of our energy infrastructure, and additional pipeline capacity will help consumers and businesses throughout the United States.'' There's a lot of talk of the need for bipartisanship today. There's a lot of talk for the need to unite different factions of people into one common goal for our country. And I agree that when you look at this project, the Keystone pipeline, it has bipartisan support. There were Democrats that supported this bill as well as Republicans and something that I believe we should move forward on as a country. Manufacturers and union organizations are united alike in supporting this project. Last summer, the State Department announced that this extension had passed extensive environmental reviews, but President Obama has already stalled for more than 26 days to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. The fact is that somebody will benefit from oil out of Alberta, Canada. If it's not the United States, it will be China--unless we take immediate action to expand the Keystone XL pipeline--and it will be American businesses and consumers who will suffer the consequences from our inaction. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm an Air Force pilot. I've been overseas. I've fought in these wars. And I can tell you, as much as I think we're doing the right thing, one thing we can do is to reduce our reliance on foreign oil so that when Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz, it means nothing to the energy security of this country and just simply leaves it to what that's going to mean for them. I strongly urge President Obama to immediately support this job- creating, bipartisan project. The time to act is now.

Mr. KINZINGER

Mr. KINZINGER. Madam Speaker, you know, I'm a military pilot, and I've been overseas and executed this Nation's wars. And I'll tell you, one of the things I've seen firsthand is that the biggest threat to our national security is our national debt. This debt ceiling increase is a symptom of overspending that has consumed Washington for far too long. President Obama's request for a $1.2 trillion increase in the debt limit points to the serious fiscal challenges we have found ourselves in due to decades of irresponsible and reckless spending. For decades, Members of Congress who continue to serve, voted to simply raise the debt ceiling without ever offering a plan to stop the bleeding. It wasn't until the new House majority arrived with my freshman class when we turned the focus of conversation from how much more to spend to how much we can cut, and we turned the conversation to how to cut spending in Washington, D.C. We demanded that Washington stop doing business as usual and include spending cuts greater than the amounts raised. In June, I told President Obama head on in the weekly address that under no circumstances will Republicans support irresponsible legislation which increases the Federal Government's credit limit without any spending cuts or budgetary reforms. It's high time that we cut up the government's credit cards and draw a hard line to stop the government from overspending, which is hampering our economy's ability to grow and thrive. Currently, every man, woman, and child has a share of the public debt that exceeds $46,000 a piece. Unemployment rates are through the roof, and the irresponsible spending habits of prior Congresses and administrations have racked up trillions in national debt. The culture of Washington must be reformed from the ground up. The future of our Nation depends on it.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Silver Cross Hospital, which is located in my district, for expanding its facilities to New Lenox, IL. In this new facility, the wonderful caregivers of Silver Cross will be better able to serve the many residents of Will County. Each and every day, healthcare professionals across the country provide life saving and sustaining help to those most in need. The professionals at Silver Cross exemplify the best qualities we have come to expect from our healthcare professionals. Their distinguished history provides a tremendous example for others to follow. I would like to highlight just a couple of their accolades as they continue construction of their new state-of-the-art 289-bed hospital. First, Silver Cross Hospital has been named a 100 Top Hospital Award recipient for seven consecutive years by Thomson Reuters Healthcare, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the quality and cost of healthcare. Only four hospitals in the nation have won the award for the last seven consecutive years. Secondly, new programs including an enhanced partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and University of Chicago Medical Center will bring new services to patients and improve the health of the community. It is a true pleasure to represent Silver Cross Hospital. This new facility will allow the Silver Cross family to better fulfill their vision, which is ``We, the Silver Cross Family, are committed to our culture of excellence, and will deliver an unrivaled healthcare experience for our patients, their families and the community.''

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry). And listening to the words of the gentleman from Oklahoma, very well spoken. You know, I often ask what are the top issues, what are the top things Americans are concerned with right now? Obviously, number one is jobs. Number two is jobs and economy. I hear people talk a lot about energy in the 11th District of Illinois. So we have jobs, economy, energy, and I also hear some people talk about their concern with national defense. You know, amazingly to me, when you look at those issues of concern-- jobs, energy, national defense--there's one thing we can do which is going to address all of those concerns and it would address them now, and that is the Keystone pipeline. I actually sent a letter the other day, Mr. Speaker, to my colleague in Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin. He is the whip over in the Senate. And I asked him and I asked the Senate to just, you know what, let's just have an up-or-down vote, basically, on this Keystone pipeline. Let's stop the parliamentary parlor tricks and the smoke and mirrors and just have a vote, ``yes'' or ``no,'' on the Keystone pipeline. You know, the interesting thing is they're not going to do it right now because they're afraid it might pass, because I think it would. The American people desperately need jobs. So let me ask you specifically, What does this mean for the Midwest? For the Midwest, we're talking about 20,000 construction jobs. We're talking for the country about 800,000 barrels of oil a day from our friends to the north. And that means less oil from places like the Middle East, Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria; and $5.2 billion in new property taxes to State and local governments that are basically bankrupt today. And how much does this cost the taxpayer? Any guess? The answer is zero. This is free. In fact, it saves the taxpayer a lot of money because ultimately fuel is going to be more secure. Middle class families are now on notice that the President and Harry Reid want to reject a payroll tax extension linked to job-creating, private sector construction projects. We passed a payroll tax cut extension just a couple of days ago in this House. We found a way to pay for it so that we're not robbing the Social Security fund. And we also were talking about the real job-creation opportunity that we have in the Keystone pipeline. And amazingly, the President said no, probably because he wants to assuage his base. But when you look at it, 18 to 24 months is what it takes, on average, to approve a project like this; that's 1\1/2\ years to 2 years. That's a long time. This process is upwards of 39 months now, and the thing we hear from the administration is we need another year to make sure we do this correctly. I mean, are we in an era in this country where it takes 4 or 5 years, 10 years to approve projects? And then we wonder why we're not able to keep on the front lines of innovation and the front lines of energy production and security. This is an example of that. Ladies and gentlemen, I strongly believe in national security and the national defense of this country. And the best way we can do that is to have energy security here at home. Production of our own energy is great. We have to do that. That has to be the priority. But in the meantime, I'd sure rather have 800,000 barrels a day coming from Canada into here than having to import that much oil from places in the Middle East that don't like us. This makes sense. So we talked about getting people back to work. This is a shot in the arm right now; it's a shot in the arm today. This has bipartisan support. This isn't a Republican thing; this isn't a Democrat thing. Frankly, this is a bipartisan American jobs act, this Keystone pipeline, but politics has infected this process. So all I would ask is for Senator Durbin, in this letter I sent him, or Senator Harry Reid, please just bring the Keystone pipeline up for a vote. Let's extend the payroll tax cut and make sure that we're paying for it and not taking away from Social Security. These are all very good opportunities to get America back to work. With that, I want to say thank you to the gentleman from Nebraska for the opportunity to talk about this very important jobs-creation opportunity for the American people.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. I thank my colleague from Illinois. I just want to say thank you for your leadership on this issue, among many other things. This is an issue that is very important. It is important not just for the country. It is important for my State, and it's important for my district. The 11th District of Illinois is kind of north central Illinois. It's a beautiful place. Come spend money there sometime. But we have three nuclear power plants there. In fact, at each nuclear power plant of course there is stored nuclear waste on site. And then we also have an area that was intended to be early on, the original site of what was going to be nuclear reprocessing in this country, and now it is really just a pool with stored nuclear waste in it. So in one district--I think there's 131 locations across the country where we are storing this nuclear waste, and in my district alone we have four of those. So this is an issue that is very important not just to the people of Illinois, the people of the 11th District, but mainly to the people of this country. I mean, Yucca Mountain, the fund was created for this sole purpose of finding a place, a safe place, a safe alternative to store nuclear waste. Now, going back to the very beginning part of the debate as to why do we need nuclear power, I think we have addressed that. I think most Americans are on board with the understanding that it is good, clean power. It provides a lot of great jobs. I have toured some of the plants in my district, and I can tell you they are good, high-paying American jobs. They take us on that road to energy independence. So understanding then that we need nuclear power and understanding that nuclear power plays an important role, we have to talk about the unfortunate side of it, which is the storage. Yucca Mountain has been, or was being, created until it was zeroed out for the purpose of storing all of this waste; and it just makes sense. You know, regardless of whether we build the nuclear reactors or reprocess them, we have to store this somewhere. Now here's the question, though. If Yucca Mountain is technologically unable to store this fuel, then I would think the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, needs to come out and tell us it's technologically insufficient and show us why. But they're not doing that because the truth is technologically it's almost perfect, as far as something like this would go. But the chairman of the NRC has turned this into not necessarily what's the right thing to do for the industry, what's the right thing to do for the country, but what's the political thing to do, and turned the commission into a political commission. When you talk about this and when you talk about the safety of our country, I think for something very basic like this, and I think it is very evident, I think we should take politics out of that. And I would think all of my colleagues joining me today would agree this doesn't need to be a political issue. We need to have the NRC free of the political manipulations; and only President Obama, frankly, can determine the fate of the chairman. I hope he takes that into account. I hope he takes into account what's the right thing to do for this country in the long run. So we have great jobs here. We have a need for nuclear power. Let's just complete the puzzle, and let's put this stuff at Yucca Mountain.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Look, if you pay for any kind of nuclear power, ratepayers pay for this fund.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. Sure. And paying for a long time. Let me add, for every year we delay opening--Yucca Mountain is not going away; it doesn't disappear off the face of the Earth--for every year we delay, it's costing us half a billion dollars more than what it's ultimately going to cost. So my constituents, your constituents, anybody who uses any aspect of nuclear power, which is almost everybody, has been paying for this. This isn't some giant expenditure we're going to have to make out of the general fund when we don't have any money. This is already being funded. It's already being paid for. It only makes sense. I think the colleagues that are joining me here today will say the same thing: this just makes sense.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. If my colleague wouldn't mind, and you mentioned it just a few minutes ago, this idea passed this body with a large majority. That to me seems like this is the will of the American people. It's not just some agenda or some crazy pie-in-the-sky idea. This is the will of the American people, and it's the responsibility of us to ensure that we're being safe. I mean, it just seems very basic to me, and so I'm having a hard time figuring out how and why politics has come into play on this. I think this is a debate we solved decades ago. But nonetheless, out in Washington, D.C., nothing surprises me in the 10 months I've been out here.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. If I can just say quickly on that point, Aby Mohseni, acting director for licensing and inspections at the NRC, made this remark: ``Some senior managers contributed to the manipulation of the budget process and information to apparently make sure that the Yucca Mountain project would be left unfunded even if the license application was still before the NRC. We were unprepared for the political pressures and manipulations of our scientific and licensing processes that would come with the appointment of Chairman Jaczko in 2009.''

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. If the gentleman would grant me just a moment. When you said there's a mountain in the desert, or there's I think 131 locations as it exists today, I can tell you I have four of those locations in the 11th District in Illinois. I believe nuclear power is safe, effective, cheap, efficient. But right now there's four nuclear storage waste facilities in the district. That's by the Midewin Tallgrass Prairie. That's by populated areas and towns. There are a lot of big issues going on in Washington, and this probably isn't at the top of people's priorities, but I would encourage anybody that's watching us right now who sees their senator's name on that board you had up earlier and says, Hey, my senator is a ``yea,'' call and say, Thank you. Encourage that senator if they're unsure. If they have the three yellow question marks, probably call that senator and say, Hey, I really would like to get you onboard with safe nuclear storage. And if they're a ``nay,'' please call them twice. Because we react to what we hear. And if the American people want safe storage-- and I know they do--then this is the right alternative.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. There has been a lot of talk lately about Afghanistan. You hear it every day. You heard it just a little bit ago about why are we in Afghanistan? What are we fighting for? Isn't it time to go home? I've got to tell you the easy thing to do is to stand up and say let's just declare victory and let's leave, and then whatever happens after we're gone, that's not our fault anymore. It's not our problem. That's the easy thing to do. You know, the America I grew up in and continue to grow in and live in is not the country that always picks the easy thing. The thing about the American DNA is, I believe we do typically the right thing. Now, let me tell you, I'm still a pilot in the military. I still fly for the Air National Guard, and I've had the privilege and honor of serving overseas with my fellow men and women in uniform. Although most of my experience was in Iraq, I remember in Iraq a time when Members of this House stood up and said that the war in Iraq is lost, that there is no way to win, and it's time to just come home. And we see today that now the American troops are coming home from Iraq but under a condition of victory. And while I have concerns about that timetable for withdrawal, I think anybody would agree that that's better than had we just in 2006 and 2007 folded up and taken the easy way. So let me ask my fellow Members of Congress and let me ask the American people, what is it we're fighting for in Afghanistan? I have here a very disturbing but a very appropriate picture of what it is that we're fighting for. The young girl you see on the top, her name is BiBi. BiBi is 17 years old. When BiBi was 12 years old, she was sold to somebody basically as a slave as a result of a member of her family committing a crime and selling her as reparations for that crime. For 5 years she was beaten by her husband until one day she decided to run away to seek freedom. Well, she was caught. Her husband caught her, drug her back to his house, and the Taliban, as a way to enact justice, forced him, with his brother holding her down, forced him to cut off her nose and to cut off her ears. She then proceeded to basically crawl to her uncle's house, and her uncle ignored her. And somebody finally called the hospital, and they said go to an American forward-operating base. They'll take care of you. You hear the stories of the major who took care of her talking about how she showed up and talking about the fright that she had in her eyes. I took a trip to Afghanistan recently and saw a village where I saw a man who was standing on a berm with an AK-47. And I talked to him through a translator, and he informed me that not 2 days ago his daughter fell into a well and drowned. But yet he still believes that his village needs protecting. And he could be sitting at home mourning the loss of his daughter, and I'm sure he mourned the loss, but he was standing out defending his village because he wants what Americans want, what anybody around the world wants. They want security. They want to be able to raise their family. BiBi just wants to live her life without being beaten and sold into slavery. Today, because of the American presence in Afghanistan and that of our coalition partners, you see the picture at the bottom of this, the best part of this picture, and that is girls in school learning to read and write, learning that there is a world out there, learning that despite where they were raised and born, they, too, can have some of the freedoms and some of the privileges that folks in the rest of the world and especially in the United States have. So let me say this. It is so easy to stand up and say this is not worth it. But I'm going to tell you the second verse of the Star Spangled Banner has a line that says ``Oh conquer we must, when our cause it is just.'' Ladies and gentlemen, what we're doing in Afghanistan is not extending an empire. It's bringing freedom to millions of people, taking out jihadists that would kill people simply because you believe differently than them, and we are standing up for freedom around the globe. The greatest disinfectant to terrorism is freedom. Ladies and gentlemen, the fight in Afghanistan, though difficult, is worth it, and I come in today and stand up and say ``God bless you'' to those that have gone over there and put on the uniform, and I say ``thank you'' for your service to your country. The fight is worth it.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. The right to keep and bear arms is a real simple phrase. Some people have only negative thoughts. When the words ``gun'' or ``firearm'' are heard, thoughts immediately turn to criminals; but that's the problem because the debate we're having today isn't about criminals. It's about the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms for self-defense. Look, Illinois is the only State without concealed-carry, but I'd argue we already have concealed-carry. There are people that are killed in Chicago very often by guns that are already concealed but not concealed by law-abiding citizens. Illinois is the only State that doesn't allow any form of it legally. I want H.R. 822 to be a clear sign to the Governor of Illinois that now is the time to join the rest of the country in allowing citizens the right to conceal a firearm on their person. We hear so much about if we allow people to carry guns, more people are going to be killed. But that flies in the face of statistics. After 2008, there was a record number of guns purchased, but we saw crime drop almost everywhere, bar none. My point is that law-abiding citizens in this country are not the problem. Illinois needs to join the rest of the country in supporting conceal-carry for its citizens. And I believe that this is a sign that it's time to do so now.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. I thank the gentleman from Colorado. You know what's amazing about those forgotten 15? You know how much they cost? Nothing. I mean, isn't that great? When you think about it, we're talking about something out of Washington, D.C. that doesn't cost anything and is actually going to do something. I mean, how often does that happen? Well, if you look, a couple of years prior--or actually I guess a year ago 4 years prior--everything that came out of here cost a lot of money. The President's own stimulus bill, as was mentioned earlier, when they said unemployment will never go above 8 percent if we pass this, in fact it has never gone below 8 percent since it was passed; and that cost almost $1 trillion added onto our debt. And I actually remember once I was doing an interview and there was a fellow Congresswoman from the other side, there was a Democrat that said, well, you know, the problem with the first stimulus is it wasn't large enough. That's why it didn't work, it wasn't large enough. Okay. I disagreed, but for a moment of time let's say that's accurate; let's say it wasn't large enough. So why would you do a stimulus that's half as large as the original one? Truthfully, to be honest with you guys, I think that the President has no intention of his jobs plan, his Stimulus II passing the House of Representatives. In fact, I think if we actually voted on it and passed it tomorrow, there would be some panic in the administration because they know that it's not going to be a job-creation plan; they know it's just a political thing to talk about. This is a real job-creation plan right here, the bills that we have over in the Senate. And it's time that today we just--I mean, look, Senator Reid, take up the bills, vote them down if you want to vote them down, but give the American people a voice. They can't have a voice when they sit on your desk. You don't have a voice when they sit on your desk. We don't need another $450 billion added onto our debt. What we need is to pass these bills and this plan. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois. What's amazing to me is we've conditioned--I mean Republicans and Democrats, not ``we.'' We've only been here less than a year. But the American people have been so conditioned to believe that if there is any difficulty, the answer is a giant government expenditure package, a giant bill with a lot of money spent. We've been conditioned to believe that. So if the economy is bad, it obviously is because the government is not spending enough. Well, that's not true. The reality is we built this country--and this is what I hear from people--we built this country based on people just having an idea and going out and getting it done. That's what we're talking about, that idea.