Nick Lampson

Mr. LAMPSON

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3775, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I'm pleased that the House will consider my bill today, H.R. 3775, the Industrial Energy Efficiency Research and Development Act. I first wish to thank my colleagues on the Science and Technology Committee for their support in crafting this legislation, especially Ranking Members Inglis and Hall, who worked with me on this bill which highlights the critical need for research into technologies that improve industrial energy efficiency. An expanding economy and growing population ensure that demand for energy will continue to grow, making energy conservation a key national goal. In the United States, industry is responsible for more than one- third of all energy consumed. Heavy industries such as chemical, glass and metals production, mining, petroleum, refining, and forest and paper products all require very large amounts of energy, making them particularly susceptible to high energy prices. Therefore, these and other energy-intensive U.S. industries are ideal candidates on which to focus Federal research and development efforts and apply new technologies to increase efficiency, raise productivity, reduce wastes, trim costs, and ultimately make them more competitive in a global market. I'm very familiar with the difficulties these industries face. Texas has the highest percentage of large energy-intensive industries, 8 percent of the U.S. total. Over half the energy used in Texas is consumed by the industrial sector. There is significant pressure to reduce the emissions and energy use associated with their processes, while keeping costs low enough to maintain the region's attractiveness to industry. That's a tall order when costs for natural gas, one of the primary industrial feedstocks, are among the highest in the country. The Industrial Technologies Program, ITP, at the Department of Energy, works to improve the energy intensity of U.S. industry through coordinated, cost-shared research and development. The ITP is considered one of the most effective Department of Energy programs, transferring over 170 technologies to the commercial market, improving an estimated 13,000 U.S. manufacturing plants, and saving nearly 5 quadrillion Btus of energy, or approximately $23 billion in energy since its inception. That's significant. The ITP also sponsors university-based Industrial Assessment Centers, which utilize engineering faculty and students to provide no-cost energy assessments, mostly to small and medium-sized manufacturers. These centers serve as valuable preparation for the next generation of energy and industrial engineers, training almost 250 students per year. The Industrial Technologies Program has suffered dramatic budget cuts in recent years, dropping to just one-third of the funding levels of 2001. And this reflects a dramatic and untimely shift in priorities away from industrial efficiency research and development. So H.R. 3775 authorizes and expands the Department of Energy's Industrial Technology Program through better coordination of interdepartmental research, enhancement of the industrial assessment centers program at universities, and support of more research and development of new innovations and technologies that improve the energy efficiency and environmental performance of most energy-intensive manufacturing processes. This legislation is needed to ensure continued gains in these areas through research and development that makes the U.S. industry more competitive and enhances the quality of life for American workers, their families and the communities that they serve. Again, I want to thank Mr. Inglis for working to make this a better bill. I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 3775. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Thank you for your words, Mr. Reichert. Certainly this is important. It's something that can make a significant difference to what we're doing for the world and for industry in the United States of America, to make sure that we are kept competitive. There's so many things, whether it is using waste to pelletize wood into new kinds of fuel, whether it is solar, water, any of the many things, wind, that we're doing and to encourage to make these things possible is something that is very important to me. Mr. Speaker, I will insert the following letters into the Record. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC, October 22, 2007. Hon. Bart Gordon, Chairman, Committee on Science and Technology, Washington,

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Res. 716, the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 716, a resolution to applaud the goals and activities of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The Science and Technology Committee has been a leader in the Congress supporting efforts to promote better security in cyberspace, and I am pleased to be able to help raise awareness of this crucial issue. Each year, Americans become more and more dependent on technology for their daily lives. More than 200 million people in this country use the Internet for shopping, for education, for socializing, for information gathering, for banking and entertainment. An increasing number of Internet users are children and seniors. The Internet is looking more and more like real life. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, with this growth in usage, we have also seen a startling increase in cybercrime. Bank accounts are being hacked, children are being bullied and harassed on social networking sites, and personal information is being stolen from retailers, universities, and even government agency databases. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, US-CERT, found that security threats to personally identifiable information grew 500 percent between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 to 103,000 reports. Identity theft has topped the list of complaints consumers filed with the FTC for the 7th year in a row, accounting for 36 percent, or nearly 250,000 complaints. Mr. Speaker, financial crimes are not the only issue; 32 percent of teenagers who use the Internet say they have been victims of cyberbullying. Criminals and terrorists can also use cyberattacks to affect infrastructure, potentially causing physical or economic devastation. These data breaches and other cybersecurity threats come at a huge cost to consumers and to businesses. GAO reports that 31 companies that responded to a 2006 survey said that data breaches cost an average of $1.4 million per breach. Consumers lose valuable time and energy fixing their credit and recovering lost funds. Clearly, we as a Nation must make a stronger effort at securing cyberspace. Mr. Speaker, that is why I join with my colleagues in applauding the efforts of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on improving cybersecurity for home users, for small businesses and for educational institutions. I especially want to thank Chairman Langevin, Mr. McCaul, Chairman Wu, Dr. Gingrey, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Lungren, Chairman Thompson, Mr. King, Chairman Gordon, and Mr. Hall for introducing this resolution. Their leadership during National Cyber Security Awareness Month and year round will help protect us from cybersecurity breaches in all forms. The National Cyber Security Alliance conducts public education campaigns to alert computer users to potential threats and provides guidance on best practices. They organize events for businesses, universities and the public to raise awareness of cybersecurity. This resolution draws attention to this important organization and the critical cause that they champion. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution commemorating National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I just want to encourage all of our colleagues to support this legislation. It is critically important, and I want to express my appreciation to all of the sponsors who made such a tremendous effort to bring it here to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 716) expressing the sense of Congress with respect to raising awareness and enhancing the state of computer security in the United States, and supporting the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin). (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve my time.

Mr. LAMPSON

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 225) honoring the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age, and the ensuing 50 years of productive and peaceful space activities.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, and to include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 225, the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the space age arrived with a roar of the Soviet launch of Sputnik, which propelled our Nation, the leader of the free world, into a space race. We recognized we faced a challenge, and we responded. We made smart investments in our people and in knowledge acquisition to enable us to compete technologically. Specifically, we invested in what we now call STEM education, and we invested in science and engineering research. Those investments brought us preeminence in a new area of endeavor, and they inspired a generation of engineers and scientists. And just 12 years later, two Americans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, stood on the surface of the Moon. The competition with the Soviet Union on a world stage is what drove us initially, but it was strongly coupled with America's innate yearning to explore and discover. America was settled by people who already had lives elsewhere, but who wanted something more. They wanted to find out what was over the horizon. They wanted to determine if there was a better way. We are here today, we are the beneficiaries of that restless energy and that hard work. An array of spacecraft high above works for us. Satellites monitor weather and climate, forest fires, pollution, the growth of cities, and even the shrinking of ice mass. They augment our infrastructure by providing positioning information, and television, radio, telephone and e-mail communications. They help our Nation remain secure. And they serve our restless need to always know more as they go on missions for us throughout the solar system and, soon, even beyond that boundary. Every day people benefit: farmers, surveyors, pilots and sailors, and even moms using GPS to get the kids to soccer practice. For all of our relatively small investment, we get a lot back. That investment is a start-up payment that calls forth the strength of American entrepreneurship and taps America's restless energy. Today we must not sit back, content with these benefits that we owe the previous generation. It is not American in nature to do so. Congress recognizes that our Nation again faces a challenge. This time our adversaries are economic. In the space race we demonstrated the winning strategy and we need to maintain that commitment to a strong national space program. That includes human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, including missions to the Moon and beyond because rising to that challenge will bring out the best of us as a people. In addition, we must renew America's investment in STEM education, in science and engineering research. Congress got this under way with the recently enacted America COMPETES Act, and Congress will need to provide sustained support if we are going to maintain American technical superiority and if we are going to again inspire the world with our accomplishments. I want to thank Chairman Gordon for his leadership in introducing this legislation. I also want to thank Representatives Mark Udall from Colorado and Ralph Hall from Texas and Tom Feeney from Florida who have joined me as original cosponsors of this legislation. We want to honor this historic anniversary by offering this concurrent resolution. I would like to close by quoting a few lines and key phrases, namely: ``Now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives, that the Congress honors the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the space age; recognizes the value of investing in America's space program; and declares it to be in America's interest to continue to advance knowledge and improve life on Earth through a sustained national commitment to space exploration in all its forms, led by a new generation of well-educated scientists, engineers and explorers.'' Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers and I thank the gentleman from Florida. I thank him for his comments, they were excellent, and certainly want to commend all of us who worked on this particular piece of legislation. You know, in a thousand years, people aren't going to remember whether it was Sputnik or whether it was the United States or Russia or any other country that entered us into this space race that took us into a new age. So I'm very proud to be a part of offering this, and I thank the gentleman for working with me on it.

Mr. LAMPSON

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 736) honoring the 60th anniversary of the aeronautics research accomplishments embodied in ``the breaking of the sound barrier''.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Res. 736, the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I stand in strong support of this resolution honoring the 60th anniversary of the breaking of the sound barrier, and I want to compliment Mr. Rohrabacher for introducing it. Last Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of Captain Charles ``Chuck'' Yeager's historic achievement that led to the first piloted flight at supersonic speeds. As an airplane approaches the speed of sound, shock waves build up, creating increased drag, loss of lift and loss of control. Airplanes had previously broken up under these conditions, and brave pilots died. We now know that the passage from subsonic to supersonic speeds is accompanied by some unusual phenomena which lie in the realm of nonlinear mechanical events, events involving some degree of chaos. America's bright engineers and brave pilots were not deterred. They were drawn to the challenge of bursting through this obstacle to learn what lies on the other side, where no human had ever been. On October 14, 1947, Captain Yeager, sitting on four rocket engines, blasted through that invisible barrier. Folks on the ground heard the sonic boom, and they knew that he had made it. His successful test flight freed humankind to travel faster and faster by providing data that enabled the mapping of a path to a supersonic future. This success required all of the ingredients of successful innovation: technical competence, teamwork, a spirit of optimism and adventure that accepts risk taking. World War II fighter pilot Captain Chuck Yeager was recognized as the man for this job. The X-1 was a joint project of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NACA, the Air Force, and Bell Aircraft, with the turbo-pump-equipped rocket made by Reaction Motors, Incorporated. It has been described as a bullet with wings on it, just 31 feet long and a 28-foot wingspan. It's on display less than a mile from here over at the Air and Space Museum, surrounded by many other great achievements of NACA and its successor, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The X-1 and subsequent aerospace achievements have kept us where the action is and kept us technologically competitive. We want to stay in this game for the next 60 years, and so I will continue to work to keep America technologically competitive in aerospace and in all other areas of innovation. And with this resolution, I pay my respects to Chuck Yeager and to the many men and women of America's great aerospace tradition. I thus want to voice my support for this resolution, and I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers. I'll just say that we commend Chuck Yeager for his bravery and for the work that he did to give us an opportunity to change the world, and we are quite excited about what transpired since that time and looking forward to what's going to happen in the future. With that, Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of our colleagues to enthusiastically support this resolution.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution now under consideration.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 222 which honors the 90th anniversary of NASA Langley Research Center. House Concurrent Resolution 222 was introduced by the late Representative Jo Ann Davis. Her four terms in Congress were characterized by hard work and dedication, and I am sorry that she can't be here today to take part in these proceedings. NASA Langley is a special place. Institutions come and go in our society. You have got to be impressed with an enterprise that has delivered so reliably over the past nine decades. Located not very far from here in coastal Virginia, Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was the Nation's first government aeronautics laboratory. If I were to list all of Langley's diverse accomplishments, we would be here until midnight. Langley research teams earned many Collier Trophies over the years, an award bestowed each year for the top contribution to American aviation. Their wind tunnel expertise brought benefits to American aviation era after era. Their first Collier Trophy was one for engine cowling research, which brought immediate large benefit to the aviation industry, resulting in greater speed of travel and enormous cost savings. Later, Langley built the world's first full- scale tunnel. The Harrier Vertical Takeoff and Landfighter; the F-16; American's supersonic transport, SST; the space shuttle; and the lunar landing test vehicle have all been evaluated in this facility, which is still in use. The science of aviation developed rapidly, with Langley often leading the charge. No ivory tower, Langley has been so effective because of its continual interactions with the aviation community. Our military aircraft, which have turned the tide again and again, did so with capabilities developed at Langley. Their aeronautics test and analysis capabilities brought American aviation and aerospace to world preeminence and maintained that standing. This is a great success story. Today, the aeronautics and aviation- related industries are responsible for 11 million U.S. jobs and are America's largest source of exports. Americans rely upon the aviation industry's safe and reliable transport of people and products. In our country, aviation and aerospace account for 5.4 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product. Add in aviation-related industries, and it is 9 percent. Investments in core technologies such as aeronautics pay off. Langley is also responsible for basic aeronautics research in support of the Next Generation Air and Traffic Control System, NextGen, which we are so anxious to have put into effect. Langley leads initiatives in aviation safety and in quiet aircraft technologies. The aerospace industry has changed rapidly, with Langley often leading the way. Langley staff work closely with Bell Aircraft Corporation and the Air Force in the design of the X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier. Langley has been an important part of each U.S. space program, from Project Mercury through the space shuttle and the space station programs. It was a small group from Langley that determined the lunar orbit rendezvous strategy for sending Apollo to the Moon. Today, as one of NASA's 10 field centers, Langley NASA is an important part of the vision for space exploration. Langley is helping to develop a replacement for the space shuttle, evaluating conceptual designs and wind tunnels at speeds in excess of 5,000 miles an hour. Langley has partnered with researchers around the world to study Earth from space. The clouds in the Earth's radiant energy system, or CERES, breaks ground in data accuracy. And NASA researchers at Langley are busy studying atmospheres on other planets in support of future exploration activities. So, Mr. Speaker, with this resolution Congress congratulates and commends the men and women of NASA Langley Research Center for their accomplishments and role in inspiring American people. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 222) commending NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia on the celebration of its 90th anniversary on October 26 and 27, 2007.