George Miller

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I find it interesting that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the Republicans, say that this is a sham. You know what? It was the law for a decade under the Clinton administration, and I guess it wasn't a sham because the first thing the Republicans did was to repeal PAYGO so that they could run up the massive deficits of the Bush years. We're asking to put this back in place because this is how we cleaned up the unsustainable deficits of the Reagan years. This is how we got, for the first time, a surplus for this country that evaporated in the Republican irresponsibility. PAYGO's not a sham. There's no more sacred cows. The fact of the matter is, you'll have to choose your priorities. Our priorities may be different, but you don't get to charge them off to the future. You're either going to pay for them, you're going to raise revenues, or you're going to cut something else. The fact is it worked and it worked and it worked and it worked and the deficit came down. And the fact of the matter is, I offered this in 1983, but it couldn't get to Congress because they thought it was too tough. Finally, under President Clinton we did it and the deficits came down, and we left you with an inheritance of $5 trillion that you squandered, you wasted. And now you want not to play by the rules. The rules are you should pay as you go.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I'll be happy to respond because those were some of the same exemptions that existed in the law, and the fact is the deficit came down. We erased the $300 billion annual deficits of the Reagan administration. We did it over time, and we left you $5 trillion that you squandered.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. It's the same law we had before.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to offer the following statement, in recognition of Patrick W. Henning upon his retirement, on behalf of myself and the following members of the California congressional delegation: Representatives Pete Stark, Howard Berman, Sam Farr, Lynn Woolsey, Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo, Henry Waxman, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNerney, Jim Costa, Barbara Lee, Grace Napolitano, Laura Richardson, Brad Sherman, Mike Honda, Linda Sanchez, Joe Baca, and other colleagues. We rise in honor of Patrick Henning, upon his retirement from public service as the director of California's Employment Development Department, EDD. With nearly 40 years of experience in the field of labor, Mr. Henning brought to his office a deep and unmatched commitment to strengthening California's workforce. Throughout his career, Mr. Henning has worked to improve the lives of California's workers--from his early days as a union organizer to his appointment to one of the state's largest Departments. Prior to joining the Employment Development Department, Mr. Henning served the California Legislature for 17 years as a key labor policy consultant--first in the Assembly, and then in the Senate's Labor and Industrial Relations Committee headed by now-Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. In the early 1980s, Mr. Henning served as California Labor Commissioner, and later as a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. As a union representative in Southern California in the 1970s, Mr. Henning helped hundreds of workers bargain for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions. Other major achievements include his tenure as chair of the state Developmental Disabilities Area Board for Los Angeles County. He also served several years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Without a doubt, California's working families have benefited from Mr. Henning's life- long contributions to the labor field. We would like to thank Mr. Henning for everything he has achieved for California's workers, and we give him our very warmest wishes for many happy years of retirement.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for all of his work on this legislation. Madam Speaker, today, Congress has the opportunity to continue the effort to rebuild the American economy. We have made significant progress since January when more than 600,000 people were losing their jobs. Last month, it was 11,000--a dramatic improvement. In fact, in November, a year ago, it was over 700,000 people who were losing their jobs. I don't know what the figure has to be before the Republicans decide they ought to help Americans keep their jobs, to find new jobs, and to get jobs so they can support their families. The fact is, every day, as to the Recovery Act, which they want to continue to lampoon and the rest of it, more and more economists and more and more fiscal analysts of the markets in this country are telling us that the Recovery Act is the reason that we have moved from a negative GDP to a positive GDP. It is the reason we have saved or created more than 1.6 million jobs. Those aren't our words. Those are the words of the people who are in the private sector who are talking about this market. What are they warning us about now? It's not just the traditional jobs. It's a question of--and this comes again from private analysts--whether or not local governments which are somewhere between $200 billion and $300 billion underwater because of the economy, because of the recession and because of their loss of receipts and revenues can create a wave of unemployment that will swamp the good news that is taking place and the news that we hope will get better and that we think will get better. It can overwhelm the positive job numbers that we are starting to see, and it can create that kind of problem. It also means that, once again, we can see--and what this legislation prevents--is that wave of layoffs in teachers, in firefighters, in police, and in first responders because we know that that's about keeping our communities healthy and safe. It's about making sure that our kids do not become the victims of this economy because of the layoffs, the shorter school days, the larger classes that are taking place, and the shorter school years. The States are going to struggle with this. We know from the private sector, if you look around at what has taken place in this recession, that the leaders in the private sector decided, in this kind of economy, this is when you want to invest in your future. That is what we are doing. We are investing in the future of our children and of our young people going to college. We are creating additional slots so they can get into community colleges, so that they can get job training, and so that they can have teachers and decent class sizes. That is what this legislation is about. It's about trying to create job opportunities, and it's about holding onto job opportunities for American families. It's also to make sure that their children do not lose a year of educational opportunity and so that they do not slide back from the progress that we're seeing. All across this country, as the test scores are getting better and as proficiency is getting better among fourth graders and eighth graders, that is the progress that we have made. This recession could wreck it all, and we've seen it all across the country. Rio Vista, Texas, laid off 15 percent of its teachers. Dearborn, Michigan, just approved 200 teacher layoffs. The LA Unified School District laid off 2,000 teachers and maybe another 1,500 teachers next year. You can stop that from happening. You can stop that from happening by voting for this legislation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. This is about our future. This is about a jobs program that is paid for. This is about taking the money that was dedicated to working on Wall Street and making sure that it works for Main Street. This is your opportunity so that you can go home and say that you did everything you could to try to maintain the positive direction that the economy is starting to indicate, but we are not there yet. Again, if you listen to the analysts, it can be overwhelmed by the loss of jobs and by the wave of unemployment that could take place at State and local governments, and our children's educational opportunities can be overwhelmed. Mr. Oberstar laid out the infrastructure piece that is so important in terms of the investment, not only in jobs, but in terms of the investment in the future of this country in highways and transit. This is about human capital. This is about whether or not we can retain first responders, teachers and whether or not we can retain the growth, economic proficiency, and achievement that our children are getting in school today. Let's not lose that because, through no fault of their own, the recession whacked their teachers, whacked their classrooms, whacked their school districts, and then all of a sudden, those opportunities were gone. We should not let that happen. We can vote against its happening today. We can vote for a jobs bill that works on Main Street.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent for medial reasons today, and missed recorded votes on the House floor. Had I been present, I would have voted in the following manner: ``Yes'' on rollcall No. 902 on ordering the previous question; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 903 on agreeing to the resolution; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 904 on Passage of the Reserve Officers Association Modernization Act of 2009; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 905 on Passage of H.R. 2781; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 906 on Passage of H. Con. Res. 212; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 907 on the Motion to Table the Appeal of the Ruling of the Chair; ``no'' on rollcall No. 908 on the Motion to Recommit H.R. 3961; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 909 on Passage of H.R. 3961 the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009; and ``yes'' on rollcall No. 910 on Passage of H.R. 1834, the Native American Business Development Enhancement Act of 2009

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the great icons of modern environmentalism, Thomas J. Graff, who passed away last week at the age of 65. Tom Graff founded Environmental Defense Fund's California office in 1971, and over the ensuing decades, he built a record of accomplishment that includes landmark reforms to the way we use water and energy. It was my great honor and pleasure to have worked with Tom for many years, and my staff and I often relied on his counsel and insights. His ability to think strategically about policy and politics was unmatched, and there are very few facets of California environmental policy over the last four decades that did not feel Tom's influence. Tom Graff's negotiating prowess and his wisdom were critical to the passage of legislation that I authored in 1992 to protect the Bay-Delta of California: the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. And his work on California energy policy since the 1970's helped lead to the state's pioneering global warming bill, AB 32, signed into law in 2006. Over his remarkable career, Tom Graff did an enormous amount of good for his fellow Californians--and for the planet and all its inhabitants. But Tom's unique legacy may be the partnerships and friendships that he formed on the way to his many accomplishments. Tom was always able to find a way to work together with those on the other side of the table, and even though his communications skills were incomparable, he knew that long-term solutions were always more important than soundbites. In closing, I want to express my deep condolences to Tom's loving family, to his colleagues at EDF, and all of those who knew and worked with him--his passing leaves an incredible void. We will miss his insights, his creativity, his unmatched ability to find solutions, and most of all, his warmth and good humor. I am submitting for the record several articles remembering Tom's life, and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the life and legacy of a great friend and environmental champion, Thomas J. Graff. [From the Sacramento Bee, Nov. 15, 2009] A Water Warrior Who Won Respect From All Sides (By Stuart Leavenworth) A lion of California's environmental movement died Thursday. Tom Graff, who helped lead the 1980s fight against the peripheral canal and blocked the East Bay from diverting water from the American River, finally succumbed to the cancer that snuck up on him two years ago. I feel fortunate to have known Graff for as long as I did. When I returned to California a decade ago, Graff was one of many people who helped school me on my home state and its Byzantine water politics. Graff, a Harvard-educated lawyer with a degree from the London School of Economics, was not a native Californian. (He was born in Honduras, the son of Jewish parents who had fled Nazi Germany). But he knew more about my home state than almost anyone you could imagine. I soon learned that Graff was a hero for Sacramento residents who care about the American River. In 1971, he founded the California office of the Environmental Defense Fund in an attic in Berkeley. When the East Bay Municipal Utility District attempted to tap water from the American River, Graff was asked by local residents to file a lawsuit. After 17 years, they eventually triumphed, prompting EBMUD to reach a 2001 settlement with Sacramento County on a joint water-withdrawal project further downstream, on the Sacramento River. He also helped pass California's climate legislation, AB 32, and spark a campaign to restore Hetch Hetchy, the valley in Yosemite National Park that is submerged by San Francisco's water supply. Graff will be known for battles he won and lost, but he never was just a ``stopper.'' Throughout his career, he advised his peers to go beyond mere obstruction. He wanted the environmental movement to understand the circumstances that led to projects they might oppose, and offer reasonable solutions. His lifelong crusade was for rational (i.e. market-based) uses of water. By trading water, he argued, water districts could collectively cope with shortages without building new dams. While this idea was anathema to many environmentalists (those who see markets as evil), it sparked a needed debate in California on the essential value of water and the waste that can occur when it is priced cheaply. I spent a day with Graff last April at his home in the East Bay, after it was clear his cancer couldn't be cured. His voice was barely audible, yet he still exuded the good spirit and humor that drew people to him throughout his career. Graff and I spent most of the afternoon talking about California politics, the general dysfunction at the Capitol and new plans for a canal to divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We had lunch at Zackary's Pizza in Oakland, where he impressed me with his appetite. Graff helped kill the peripheral canal project at the ballot box in 1982, going head-to-head with some of his fellow environmentalists and then-Gov. Jerry Brown. At the time, Graff wasn't convinced that the canal would be operated properly, with adequate safeguards for the Delta and its upstream tributaries. When I talked to him in April, Graff seemed to have turned a page on that old fight. ``We'd be willing to go there, to a canal outcome,'' he told me. ``But we would want to know as much of the terms as possible.'' In particular, Graff said, he'd want to know key details of how water would be conveyed in such a facility, in wet periods and dry ones. There would have to be long-term assurances built into the project's operations so that a change in the governor's office didn't spell doom for the Delta and upstream water users. We exchanged e-mails and phone calls, but I didn't get a chance to spend time with Graff after that long afternoon. So I have no idea where he stood on the legislative water package the governor finished signing the day that he died. My guess is that Graff, with his expertise in economics, would be distraught the state is seeking to borrow $11.1 billion from taxpayers for various water projects, including new dams. As he told me in April, such projects should be largely paid ``by water users, instead of taxpayers.'' On the other hand, I know that Graff would be proud of a little-noticed part of policy package--one that requires the state to assess the needs of the Delta as a public trust resource. Graff had sought this assessment for years, especially as various fish species of the Delta went into deep decline. The new law means that, before any new studies are launched on a canal or other alternatives, the state must evaluate how much water the Delta ecosystem needs in various years and in various climate scenarios. Those needs, for the first time, will then become part of an overall management system for the Delta, its ecosystem and its various communities. As for the canal itself, Graff would likely want to reserve judgment on the project until he could closely examine its details. How would it be designed, operated and financed? He'd pay close attention to the new Delta Stewardship Council that the new law creates. Appointees to this council could determine if the public trust needs of the Delta are married with the operational details of a canal, or some other form of conveyance to move Delta water to the south. While Graff's views on the water package are intriguing to speculate about, his views on life are more important. In his final years and months, at age 65, Graff displayed more courage than anyone I've known with a terminal disease. He was never bitter, and always encouraging. He stayed in touch with friends, devoted himself to his family and managed to keep track of his life's work. You'll probably hear more in the weeks ahead about Graff's legacy--both from old friends and adversaries. He died having the respect of both. In the world of California water, that's an achievement in itself.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman so much for his contribution to this legislation, to the debate in this House, and to the role he has played in informing our Members and the public about this bill. I want to begin by giving thanks, Madam Speaker, particularly on my committee, I want to thank the staff that have worked so terribly hard, Michele Varnhagen, Megan O'Reilly, Jody Calemine, Aaron Albright, Meredith Regine, and Rachel Racusen, who have all supported this tremendous team and the professional staff of the Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce, and certainly to my colleagues, Chairman Rangel and Chairman Waxman, and to our subcommittee chairmen, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Pallone and Mr. Stark. It has truly been an honor to have been involved in this debate and sit in the same room with the dean of our House, John Dingell, and to be able to craft this legislation. It is an honor I will remember the rest of my life, and I thank the Democratic leadership for giving us the space to bring President Obama's bill to this House so we can pass it and change America. And I want to thank Speaker Pelosi. Without her leadership, her tenacity and her passion, we would simply not be here today. We are about to make history, and the reason we are about to make history is because many of us have so much confidence in the great things that America is capable of achieving. America has been challenged throughout its history to achieve great things on behalf of Americans, on behalf of the world community. We have risen to that challenge. But throughout that history, one challenge has eluded us: the challenge to come and to finally provide access to affordable health care for all of our citizens, for all Americans, to provide them the kind of security that they would know with this legislation, to provide them the understanding that never again will they live in fear that they will be without health care, for whatever circumstances take place in their lives. And every Member in this Chamber on both sides of the aisle have encountered our constituents over our public careers as they have told us terrible stories, dramatic stories, painful stories, sad stories, about how their family has been crushed, or their friends or their neighbors that they care about or work with, by circumstances beyond their control. How, when one circumstance leads to another, how in America today when the layoff notice comes, you are also on notice that you will lose your insurance. Your world is turned upside down immediately. You struggle to find employment or retraining. You struggle to refigure your family's finances. And you know if your children are sick, they won't be able to go to the doctor--you won't be able to afford it. If your spouse is in the middle of treatment, that treatment can be curtailed, no matter what the illness, no matter how important the treatment is. It can go in a flash. We cannot continue to ask American families to continue to live on that edge of uncertainty, of insecurity, of the possibility of fiscal ruin. A small event, because of the lack of health care, can explode into the life of a family, into the life of a community when it happens over and over and over again. But this legislation says that's not going to happen again in our future. We are going to become the architects and the builders of a system that will provide care to these people, will provide services to these people, will provide security for these people so that these American families can go to work with confidence. They can buy a home with confidence. They can think about their kids' education with confidence, and know it will not be all wiped out in a flash because their insurance was canceled.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. That is what this legislation is about. We can talk about all of the internal merits and the back and forth. But at the end of the day, for the first time in our history, we deliver to all Americans the security that their family will have an opportunity to continue on a stable financial track and that they can make the kinds of plans that we want to make for our children, our grandchildren, that their neighbors might be able to make. But in America today, because of the absence of this policy, because of the absence of a comprehensive health care bill that provides universal access, because of the failure of a bill that will help families that are struggling to meet the demand to pay the premiums, because of that failure, as The Wall Street Journal said, we pay a huge price in innovation because people know they will be penalized if they start a new business, if they take an idea and try to take it to fruition, if they switch jobs for a better opportunity maybe career- wise but that doesn't have insurance, if they want to go to work for a start-up where they can't provide insurance. Let's give America for the first time health care security for their families, their friends, their kids, and their neighbors. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this historic legislation to fix our broken health insurance system and finally bring affordable health coverage to every American. We are truly on the verge of making history. Never before has the House or Senate approved a bill to guarantee every American access to affordable health care. Never. Not that we haven't tried. The fight to reform this Nation's health care system has spanned nearly 100 years, across generations and many great leaders, from Teddy Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy to President Clinton to my own personal hero, Ted Kennedy. But time and again these efforts were stymied by special interests. The need for reform is dire. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing insurance each month. At least 36 million Americans have no coverage at all--including nearly 50,000 people in my district in Northern California. Over half of all personal bankruptcies are due to a medical incident. Businesses are choking on bloated health care costs. Innovation is being stifled. Our competitiveness is undermined. But this year is different. This time is different. The American people literally cannot afford to wait any longer, and today we will cast a history-making vote to guarantee all Americans access to quality, affordable health insurance. We must not fail again. An unprecedented effort by the House led us to this milestone. Three committees and our diverse Caucus worked together in an extensive and coordinated fashion, with one purpose--to fulfill a decades-old and yet still urgent promise. We engaged the public in one of the most transparent debates of federal legislation in history, including over 2,000 events across the U.S. since July alone. The result is a bill that reflects what we have heard from workers and families, from small business owners and economists, from seniors and college students, from doctors and nurses. The Affordable Health Care for America Act will directly meet the needs of Americans and the goals that President Obama set for reform: It lowers costs for families and businesses, Protects people's choices of doctors and health plans, reduces the deficit, and Ensures access to quality, affordable health insurance for all Americans. For the first time in U.S. history, all uninsured Americans will be able to purchase quality, affordable coverage through a new Health Insurance Exchange, where they will be able to choose from a menu of options: a public health insurance option or several private plans. And for those that already have insurance, our bill will grant them the security of knowing that their coverage will always be there. Never again will Americans worry about losing their health care if they change or lose their job. Never again will someone be denied health care coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Never again will a patient have to worry about their insurance company rescinding their policy when they need coverage the most. Never again will a small business owner have to worry about unpredictable and unaffordable premiums. Our bill, H.R. 3962, will end the many injustices that workers, families, and businesses face in today's system. It will finally make health insurance work for consumers--not insurance CEOs. Let me be specific about what our reforms will mean for the American people: No more co-pays or deductibles for preventative care; No more rates increases because of a pre-existing condition, gender, or occupation; An annual cap on out-of-pocket expenses; Guaranteed affordable dental, hearing and vision care for children; Lower prescription drug costs for seniors; Young people will be able to stay on their parents' insurance through their 27th birthday; and A ban on lifetime caps on what insurance companies will pay, so patients will never again be one treatment away from medical bankruptcy. As I mentioned earlier, this legislation meets our commitment to fiscal responsibility. Every piece of this bill is fully paid for through a combination of revenue raised by placing a surcharge on the wealthiest Americans and savings generated by making Medicare and Medicaid more efficient. These reforms will strengthen Medicare for seniors and shift our system's focus from quantity of health procedures to quality of care and producing healthier outcomes for patients. The Congressional Budget Office reports that our bill will reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next decade and slow the growth of health spending, leading 11 chief health care economists to declare our legislation ``vital to the Nation's fiscal and economic future.'' As with previous efforts to reform health care, this bill received an enormous amount of public scrutiny. In the last few months, opponents of health reform have conjured up every falsehood imaginable about this bill in an effort to scare the American people and once again try to stymie reform. But as I said, I believe that this year is different. Our legislation has been tested in public and the momentum continues to grow in support of the bill. The American people have seen through the lies and distortions. And they are not fooled by the hoax of an 11th hour Republican bill that is nothing more than a cruel rebuke to the needs of the American people. Their bill would do nothing but maintain the status quo and guarantee insurance profits at the expense of tens of millions of hard working Americans. The public understands the true meaning of our bill. They know it will cover 96 percent of Americans. They know that, under our bill, if they lose their job they will continue to have health coverage for their children, spouses and families. They know that this bill means that if they have cancer, the insurance company can no longer pull the rug out from under them while they're in the middle of treatment. They know that this bill will protect them, through any economic cycle. Nearly 50 years ago, as he was fighting to expand health care benefits, President Kennedy said, All of the great revolutionary movements of the Franklin Roosevelt Administration we now take for granted. But I refuse to see us live on the accomplishments of another generation. I refuse to see this country and all of us shrink from the struggles which are our responsibility in our times. We must not shrink from the struggle for health reform, which is our responsibility in our time. This is our moment to revolutionize health care in this country. We have arrived at this historic moment thanks to the hard work of so many people. I would like to thank my good friends and colleagues, Chairman Rangel and Chairman Waxman, and our three subcommittee chairs, Rob Andrews, Frank Pallone and Pete Stark, and especially Dean Dingell. We could not have had better teammates in this journey. I would also like to thank the Democratic Leadership, our Speaker, Ms. Pelosi, the Majority Leader, Mr. Hoyer, our Whip, Mr. Clyburn, and all the members of leadership for the countless hours they spent working with the committee chairs to arrive at this point today. And of course we could not have completed the work on this bill without the work of our incredibly talented staff, who worked long nights and weekends for months on end. They are the unsung heroes of this process, and I know all our colleagues join me in thanking them for their extraordinary work. From my staff I would like to thank Mark Zuckerman, Alex Nock, Danny Weiss, Michele Varnhagen, Megan O'Reilly, Jody Calemine, Tico Almeida, Meredith Regine, James Schroll, Rachel Racusen, Aaron Albright, Amy Peake, Courtney Rochelle, and Mike Kruger. Finally, I'd like to pay tribute to my mentor and friend, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Health care was the cause of Ted's lifetime. Our effort would have been impossible had he not carried the torch of justice and equality for all those years. I know I am not alone when I say that I sincerely wish Ted Kennedy could be with us today to see his dream of quality, affordable health care for all become a reality. Madam Speaker, this is the most important bill I have ever worked on during my many years of service in Congress. I could not be prouder to have helped to write this bill, to encourage each of my colleagues to support it, and to cast my vote in favor of the Affordable Health Care for America Act. We stand at the doorstep of history. Let us go in.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. If I could inquire of the Chair as to how much time is remaining on both sides.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Carnahan).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Schauer).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to our new Member from New York (Mr. Owens).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. As he has already acknowledged, when he was Chair and he went to conference many times, he could not guarantee anything. You will take into this House, if that amendment should pass, that will be an expression of this House on that subject, on that amendment. We will take that with the full dignity of that vote into that conference committee. Mr. Boehner, if you can speak for the Senate--nobody else has been able to.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I will not guarantee that. You know the nature of the conference committee.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to our new Member to the Congress from California, Congressman Garamendi.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Ms. Edwards).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr). (Mr. FARR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request. (Mr. OLVER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)