George Miller

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), a member of the committee.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 2 minutes to Mr. Al Green of Texas. Mr. Al GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman Miller for his outstanding work in Congress and thank Mr. Chandler for sponsoring this piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman, the cost of energy is increasing. This bill will help us by saving energy. It will help us in the years to come by reducing the amount of energy that we will use. Unemployment is at 8.9 percent. This bill will put people to work in a crucial and critical area, the area of construction, because the bill is all about construction and reconstruction of some of our facilities, and more, of course. This bill is one that we all agree is needed. The need for it is undeniable. The question becomes, then, are we going to make our children a priority. That is really the question that I ask Members to consider. Will we make our children a priority? Yes, there are times when we cannot afford to do things, but there are also times when we cannot afford not to do things. This is one of those things that we cannot afford not to do. And there are times when you have done everything that you can, you have not done enough. When you have done all that you can do, you have not done enough. On occasions when you have done all that you can do and you haven't done enough, you have a duty to do all that you can. This bill does all that we can do at this time to help this generation compete in the global economy. I beg, I besiege, and I implore my colleagues to make our children a priority and support this bill.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, Members of the House, as has been stated earlier in this debate, this is a very important piece of legislation that is geared to improve the condition of school buildings all across the country, and it does so while promoting energy efficiency through green buildings and creating jobs to help stimulate our economy. I have a manager's amendment which I believe further improves the bill by providing equitable treatment of charter schools while ensuring that the school district can put all of its funds to good use; by allowing schools to give priority to projects designed to remove hazardous material like asbestos and carcinogens; by setting aside more funds for tribal and outlying areas; and finally, allowing funds to be used for water supply and building envelopes. I think these are valuable changes. I want to thank Representatives Polis, Matheson, Kirkpatrick and Pingree for their insights and leadership on these changes. Mr. Chairman, critics of this legislation have argued that it intrudes on the traditional role and responsibility of the States. But this is not about Federal versus State and local control of school construction and repair. It is about meeting the urgent needs that will help revamp this Nation's schools, improve student learning and global competitiveness, lower the costs for schools and taxpayers, and help us create jobs. I urge support of the manager's amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, the manager's amendment I would hope would pass. The discussion about what was the Polis amendment in the committee to make sure that charter schools got a fair share of this money in fact remains intact. The problem with that amendment in the committee was that new charter schools would have in fact been precluded from having access to that money since they weren't in existence and the amendment originally spoke to those charter schools in existence. As with the original amendment, this will be done in consultation with the school board. If there isn't a demonstrated need among the charter schools, the money goes back into the pot for the use of the schools. That's, in fact, how it was done in the original amendment. Mr. Polis, as the author of that amendment, has agreed to this change to make sure that we include all charter schools at that time. I urge passage of the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time and I ask for an ``aye'' vote.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote No. 223 on final passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Had I been present, I would have voted in favor of this important legislation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker and Members of the House, I rise in strong support today of this conference report for the fiscal year 2010 budget resolution. I want to commend Chairman Spratt and the members of the committee for bringing us a budget which will put America on a path toward fiscal health and a competitive future by investing in our key priorities of education, health care and energy. This budget resolution will put us on a track to a stronger, fairer 21st century economy that can benefit all Americans. It will help us rebuild our middle class and turn our looming crises--energy, health care and education--into opportunities for prosperity, and it will create a new era of accountability, honesty and transparency for taxpayers. This budget will allow us to make dramatic changes in two areas that could not be more critical to working families and our economy's recovery, and that is expanding access to affordable health care and coverage and leveraging a more competitive workforce by making college more affordable. For too long, our broken health care system has threatened both our fiscal and our medical health. Millions of Americans currently lack health care coverage, a figure that is growing daily as more workers lose their jobs and, therefore, their health care benefits. Millions of Americans who do not have coverage too often have to choose between quality and affordability, any health care at all or bankruptcy. This conference report will also give us the opportunity to give much needed relief to families who are finding it harder and harder to pay for college while losing jobs and income. Some families have done everything right--saving, working hard, giving their children a good education--only to find out that their plans have changed by the economic downturn. In this legislation, because of the reconciliation instructions, we will be able to take and recycle the money that now goes to banks for fees and commissions to the student loan program, and we will be able to use that to improve and to increase the Pell Grant scholarship program so that we'll be able to make sure that that keeps track with the cost of education. For those young people who are in the most financial need and who are fully qualified to go to college, we will be sure that they will be able to do that. That's all because of this budget resolution put together by this committee, and we should support this conference report.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I agree with his decision to accept this amendment. I just want to say that it's not as easy as my colleague from California has suggested. This is a long, statewide water system that serves many different interests. You can turn on the pumps as he says. The pumps are on. You can send more water to the central valley and move the unemployment to the farmers in the delta region, to the farmworkers in the delta region. We've already unemployed thousands of fishermen, thousands of shoreside businesses. We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster relief because this system does not have enough water in it. In fact, what has happened over the last several years is more water was taken illegally from the northern areas. He says that the Secretary announced nothing to help the people in the central valley. Finally, after years of discussion, we were able to fund the in-delta barriers that we think will release additional water, protect the fish, and allow us to use the delta more efficiently. Finally, after years of discussion, we put the money into the removal of the dam in Mr. Herger's district that will benefit downstream users. Finally, after many, many years of asking for water recycling, water reuse, $126 million was put in for the cities in Southern California so they can start the process of recycling, reusing water and taking the pressure off the central valley farmers, taking the pressure off of the delta areas. That's the kind of coordinated activity that has finally begun under the Obama administration. It simply didn't happen under the previous administration. There were no new water recycling projects of any significance. There was a fooling around with the science. We've lost months during this drought of going back and trying to redo the science. We saw what happened when Klamath decided he knew more about the science than the people on the Klamath River and the fish and wildlife agencies. We had the largest salmon kill in the history of the West Coast, and you ended up spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help out farmers, to help out fishermen, to help out small businesses all over Northern California, Oregon and Washington. We will accept this amendment, but we won't accept the recitation of history.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleague Congresswoman Ellen O. Tauscher, to recognize Richard L. Talbott, Regional Manager for the Readjustment Counseling Service, Pacific Western Region within the Department of Veteran's Affairs, and congratulate him as he approaches his retirement this June and thank him for his outstanding service to our nation's military veterans. Dick served our country with honor as a member of the US Army, 9th Infantry Division and from 1968 to 1969 fought in Vietnam. Following his release from active duty, Dick began his VA career. He first joined the San Diego VA Medical Center, Psychology Department and in 1988 he became a counselor at the Escondido Vet Center. Dick was soon promoted to the position of Team Leader, a position he held from 1990 through 1993. It was during this period that Dick also served as the Executive Director and CEO of the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego (VVSD), and co- authored a ``how to'' manual on Stand Down for homeless veterans. It was largely due to Dick's tireless efforts and his keen sense of purpose that the program was deemed a huge success, as he more than doubled the residential services capacity for homeless veterans and was the primary negotiator in securing nearly $2 million for expanded homeless veteran services related to the base closure process in San Diego. The Stand Down as developed in San Diego, has been replicated by agencies across our country and is considered by experts in the field, a stellar program for providing a wide range of services to our homeless and at risk veterans. It was at this time that Dick also took on the responsibilities of Regional Manager for the Readjustment Counseling Service. Since assuming this position, he has been responsible for the oversight and operation of thirty-two highly successful Vet Centers throughout California, Hawaii, Oregon, and the Territory of Guam. Madam Speaker. we invite our colleagues to join us in also thanking Dick's wife Maureen, his daughter Megan and son Michael for the sacrifices they have undoubtedly made during the span of his career. We join today with his family, colleagues, friends, and most importantly with the men and women of our veteran communities across the nation who have benefited most from his work, in recognizing, celebrating and sincerely thanking Richard L. Talbott for a remarkable career.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend to my colleagues an article in the Martinez News Gazette, my hometown paper, that beautifully captures the wonderful contributions that Hulet Hornbeck has made to the environment and open space in our portion of the East Bay of San Francisco. The article is entitled, ``Life, Love and the Great Outdoors,'' dated February 28-March 1, 2009. I have known Hulet for many, many years and I have always admired him as a great leader and an avid defender of the environment. He understood many years ago just how important it is to protect open space for generations to come. He has been a leader in our community in acquiring lands for public use and creating magnificent recreational and open space opportunities for young and old alike. We owe a debt of gratitude to Hulet for his lifelong work and I am proud to be able to rise today to publicly thank Hulet for his vision and for his tireless efforts on behalf of our community. [From the Martinez News-Gazette, Feb. 28-March 1, 2009] Life, Love and the Great Outdoors Hulet Hornbeck was instrumental in expanding East Bay Regional Parks, the largest park agency in the Nation (By Greta Mart) At his serene, wooded home in Muir Oaks, Hulet Hornbeck looks out at the horse pastures and wildflower-blanketed hills and savors the sound of silence. ``It's the sound of wind, of birds, or simply the trees rustling, I love it,'' Hornbeck said, standing on his wooden deck that hugs his one-story house, in which comforting silence permeates. Inside a fire burns quietly in a large stone hearth; non-fiction books are stacked three feet high and four feet deep on the grand piano, oriental rugs dot the hardwood floor, and 50 years of treasures, travel mementos and memories decorate the walls. In October he will turn 90. A lifetime of adventure, good works and good luck has kept him spry, handsome and spirited. He is one more Martinez resident--one you might see at the store or on Main Street--who holds in his heart an extraordinary character, and if you enjoy the plentiful open space and parkland around the area, you would understand how important his efforts are to you today. On Thursday he regaled this reporter with an abridged life story. Born in New Jersey in 1919, Hornbeck spent his first decade in Detroit, until his father abandoned the family at the start of the Great Depression. His mother moved him and his younger sister back to New Jersey to be closer to her two sisters, who provided ``some degree of comfort,'' said Hornbeck. There, in a suburb of Newark, he shared a bed with a cousin and his sister went to a friend's house while his mother went to work in a factory. During his teenage years, Hornbeck's mother worked her way up the socioeconomic ladder, segueing into sales and earning enough to move the family into a four-story walkup in Bloomfield. ``I liked it, because we could finally live together, and I got good exercise going up and down the stairs,'' said Hornbeck. ``My mother was quite liberal with me, never telling me that I couldn't do something. If I said I wanted to sleep on the roof, she said okay, but tie a rope around your ankle so you don't sleepwalk off.'' Falling in love with the great outdoors He was befriended by a local Boy Scout troupe leader, and soon was accompanying groups on camping trips in the Ramapo Mountains. Hornbeck's mother and aunts liked to hike, and with little money and no car, hiking was a frequent form of entertaining excursions for the family. There was still a great deal of open space and nature in New Jersey in the 1930s, said Hornbeck, before the freeways and industrialization obliterated the landscape. When his mother purchased a used car, the family took its first vacation, down to Cape May in the southern tip of New Jersey. There they stayed in a boardinghouse, and Hornbeck, at age 17, was so impressed with this new environment he asked his mother if he could stay on there for the summer. She told him to go to the hotel across the street and ask for a job. ``I asked the guy if I could wash dishes, and he made me a bus boy. At that time there weren't a lot of restaurants and such, the hotel fed three meals a day to a lot of people, it was a big dinning hall with the girl waitresses lined up against one wall and the boys on the other,'' Hornbeck. ``There was a separate smaller dinning room, where a big family would sit for meals, curtained off from the main hall. They had their own waitresses and bus boys. My boss told me it was the Ambassador to Great Britain and his family.'' The U.S. Ambassador to England at the time was Joseph Kennedy and the children Hornbeck watched meal after meal were Robert, Teddy, Rosemary and the four youngest siblings of JFK. JFK wasn't there, as he was already in his 20s at that point and was studying at Harvard. ``I remember saying to my coworkers, you watch, those kids are going to be something else,'' said Hornbeck. A small inheritance from a Unitarian Universalist minister, a suitor of his mother's, then sent Hornbeck to prep school at the Newark Academy. ``He had asked my mother to marry him, but then he died, so for $50 a month, I got a whole different viewpoint and knowledge for two years,'' said Hornbeck. ``It opened my eyes. After that I hitchhiked to Maine with a friend and we slept in the woods. I got cleaned up in a gas station and went to the registrar of the University of Maine and asked if I could attend. He was impressed that we had come all that way and he said, you're in, just like that.'' His time in Maine was spent studying Forestry and luxuriating in the great outdoors, spending school breaks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. World War II But the looming clouds of war were gathering and Hornbeck, after his sophomore year, told his friends and family there would be a war in Europe, and he was going to join the military. ``I told them I wanted to be trained by the time it started, and that I wanted to fight in the air, not ground,'' said Hornbeck. ``I joined the Army Air Corps, and was sent to cadet school. They saw pretty quickly that I didn't have good eye/hand coordination, and that I liked mathematics, so they made me a navigator.'' Pan American Airlines operated one of the few aerial navigation schools at the time, in Coral Gables, Florida, and Hornbeck studied there until November of 1941, when the Air Corps shipped half of his class to Salt Lake City. There his platoon was, introduced to the brand-new B 17 ``Flying Fortress'' bombers they would soon be flying in the Pacific Theater. On December 6, Hornbeck was at Hamilton Field in San Francisco, ready to ship out to the Philippians, with a stop in Honolulu, the next day. ``I was still in my blue cadet's uniform, and right before take-off we heard, `you can't go,'' something has happened,'' said Hornbeck. ``Well, we took off that night I steered us all the way to Hawaii using the compass and drift meter, getting a fix on the stars, and suddenly we were right off of Diamond Head [on the island of Oahu].'' Soon he was part of the famed Reconnaissance Squadrons that plied the South Pacific for the next three years, serving as the eyes of General McCarthy and Fleet Admiral Nimitz, and using his navigation skills to locate the Japanese naval fleet in the vast ocean waters. After the war Hornbeck returned to the States to earn a law degree at Rutger's University courtesy of the G.I. Bill. ``While we were in the South Pacific, I asked a buddy, where's a good Western town to go live when this is over. He said Boise, Idaho,'' said Hornbeck. ``Sure enough, I got myself to Boise and met Mary-Lynn.'' The two were married for 50 years until Mary-Lynn's death twelve years ago. Moving to Martinez The pair first lived in New York City, and soon Hornbeck requested a transfer to San Francisco. They rented a house in Pleasant Hill, until Mary-Lynn found their home in Muir Oaks. ``She said, you don't even have to come look at it, it was built for you,'' said Hornbeck. Mary-Lynn attended DVC, and then U.C. Berkeley, while raising their two children, Jane and Lawrence, and teaching fourth grade at John Muir Elementary for 20 years. ``It took her several years to get her degree, because she only went to classes at night or on the weekends, she never attended a full semester. When she was finally finished, she said I'm too embarrassed to go get my diploma, so I went to get it for her,'' said Hornbeck. Meanwhile, Hornbeck was working at a large insurance firm in San Francisco, but it was ``not what I was cut out to do,'' and on the side he had started a group of nature enthusiasts called the Contra Costa Park Council. Brush with death In 1965, a doctor's visit revealed melanoma tumor. The doctor gave him five years to live and encouraged him to start pursuing his dreams. ``I went to Bill Mott of the East Bay Regional Park District, and said, I want to work for you,'' Hornbeck said. ``Timing is so significant.'' According to the East Bay Regional Parks District's history section of its Web site, ``In 1962, William Penn Mott, Jr. became the District's next General Manager. Mott's first order of business at the Park District was to reorganize and plan for the future. He brought new life to every aspect of the District's operation by restructuring, and bringing in talented professionals like Richard Trudeau, Chief of Public Information and Hulet Hornbeck, Chief of Land Acquisition who both would serve as leaders in the park and trail movement during the next 40-years. Mott's enthusiastic vision of a grand system of hilltop and shoreline parks would require additional stable funding, and he moved quickly to increase District revenues. The Forward 1964-1969 Plan was developed by Mott and his staff in 1963 to identify the Park projects that were needed to serve all East Bay residents, even those outside of the District's boundary. In 1962, residents in Contra Costa County had turned down a funding measure for county parks; so park supporters began pushing for annexation to the Regional Park District. In 1964, voters in West and Central Contra Costa County approved annexation to the District, and Kennedy Grove and Briones were soon developed and opened as the first Regional Parks entirely within Contra Costa County.'' Hornbeck said the District didn't have a single square acre of parkland when he started, but by the time he retired in 1985, 64,000 acres were purchased and incorporated into the park system, including much of Briones and the Franklin Hills. ``Now it's over 100,000 acres, and thanks to the recent passage of Measure WW, it will keep growing. As a special district, we had the power of eminent domain, but we never used it as a threat, and we always paid fair market value,'' said Hornbeck. ``We had the support of all the key developers in the area, who knew the value of balancing people with open space, and we always worked with justice and integrity. The public supported us.'' Hornbeck said Senator John Nejedly was instrumental in securing legislation that expanded the District's ability to create a trail system. The Hulet Hornbeck trail in the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline was dedicated in 2005. ``Hulet is credited with overseeing the acquisition of 49,000 acres of parkland, expanding the District's land holdings from eight parks (13,000 acres) to 46 parks (62,000 acres) thus securing the unique position that the East Bay Regional Park District still enjoys today as being the largest regional park agency in the nation,'' according to the nonprofit American Trails organization.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from North Carolina for posing these questions, and I know that we will be able to work together as my committee and this Congress consider proposals to reform the Federal student loan program. Access to Federal financing for higher education is a top priority. As you know, last year, we passed a stopgap measure to ensure that students and their families continued to have access to Federal student loans even in this economic climate. This stopgap measure was never intended to be a permanent solution, and we need to look at reforms to make sure that we have a reliable, efficient and sustainable program. I expect that there will be a role for private lenders in the future of the student loan program. Private lenders, for example, have played a significant role in ensuring high standards for servicing, and future reforms must harness this expertise. Also, let's not forget that, no matter what reforms are enacted, there is over $500 billion outstanding in loan volume in the current FFEL program that will need to be serviced as borrowers repay their loans. My staff and I have met with a number of private lenders, and we will continue to do so as we move forward. I look forward to continuing this dialogue with the gentleman from Florida and with the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Thank you, Mr. Scott. And I want to thank you, and I want to thank the budget chairman, John Spratt, and all of the members of this committee for this budget. This budget does what business leaders have come to Washington year after year over the last 8 years during the Bush administration and asked us to provide resources for a quality education in K-12 to provide the resources so our children will graduate from high school prepared to go on to college, prepared to go into careers, prepared to go into the job market in a globalized world; but they failed to do that for 8 years. Now we finally have a budget that gives us the resources so that we can provide that quality education, so we can invest in teachers, we can invest in the professional development of those teachers, we can provide the resources and the technology that our classrooms across this country scream out for on behalf of our children, so that they can participate in the technology advances in our society. We also make sure that when they graduate from college, that the college will be more affordable than anytime in history because of the actions of this Congress last year and the actions of this budget. Since last year, we increased the Pell scholarship by over $1,500. We cut the interest on need-based Federal student loans in half. We enacted loan forgiveness so people can follow their careers and their desires whether they want to be a teacher or a firefighter or a public prosecutor or a public defender or a public health nurse. They have the opportunity to be able to do that because of the loan forgiveness that has been provided. And this year, because of the changes that the President is asking for, the direct loan program will be able to provide tens of billions of additional dollars to make sure that people can afford college at this time when it's most necessary that they receive a college education to compete in this globalized economy. And I want to thank the Budget Committee for making this budget available so we can vote ``aye'' on this budget tomorrow.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 296, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 1388) to reauthorize the reform of the national service laws, with the Senate amendments thereto, and I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the matter under consideration.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to vote on a bill that proudly bears the name of a champion and true advocate of national service. The bill is aptly named the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and will provide the most significant expansion of national service since Senator Kennedy's brother, President John F. Kennedy, issued his call to serve almost 50 years ago. This bipartisan legislation is needed now more than ever. It will give Americans of all ages, from middle school students through retirement, the chance to be part of the solution to our greatest challenges--health care, education, and energy--and help us emerge from this crisis stronger. It will put Americans to work in their communities--in classrooms and churches and homeless shelters, and beyond. It will help Americans engage in projects that matter--feeding the hungry, helping seniors live independently, cleaning up trails and building bridges, and providing for the infrastructure of this country and our public lands. History has shown that in times of crisis, Americans turn to service and volunteering for healing, for rebuilding, and for hope. The spirit of generosity in the American people is one of the greatest assets of our Nation. We see this every single day. In the past week, North and South Dakota have been in a state of emergency, with communities facing severe flooding as the snow melts. As they have in so many other times of disaster, Americans showed up to help. Officials estimate that there are tens of thousands of volunteers who have already been on the ground for days, lining the shores of the river with over 1.5 million sandbags to help stop the flooding. In Fargo, a city with a population of 90,000, 80,000 volunteers showed up to help. They've driven through treacherous conditions from Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and beyond, ready to serve and ready to help. Today, we are acting to help them. This bill recognizes that service is an American value. It builds upon what Americans are already doing in their communities and across the country. We all know the urgency of this crisis--workers are losing their jobs, families are losing their income, our public infrastructure is crumbling. Communities are losing revenues and vital services. Our public needs are growing while our resources for meeting them are disappearing. This bill will help meet some of those very urgent needs. President Obama has recognized this. He has made national service a top priority, in part because he knows it can help meet his three key priorities: Health care, energy, and education. He has asked us to usher in a new era of service, to launch a 21st century generation of volunteers and to structure a new economy for the future and sustainable growth. He knows that volunteers play many roles. They can teach in our classrooms, they can green our communities and our schools, they can rebuild and weatherize our homes, help the uninsured find treatment in health clinics, and more. All the while, they learn valuable skills that will help them in schools and jobs throughout their lives. Just 2 weeks ago on the steps of the Capitol I was lucky enough to meet retired Army Captain Scott Quilty, who proudly served our country in Iraq. He told us that the Service had saved his life twice--the first while in Iraq when he suffered an explosion and lost his right arm and right leg. His fellow soldiers carried him to safety and saved his life. The second time was during his recovery at a military medical center where he relearned how to walk and how to continue on with his life. As he says, his body was shattered but his eagerness to serve remained unshaken. Service is Captain Scott Quilty. Service is the volunteers in North Dakota and South Dakota. Service is the Americans who volunteered after 9/11, after Katrina, after Rita, and the fires and the earthquakes and the floods of California. It is the church groups, the retired, the college students, and displaced workers all coming together to respond to the need in this country, no matter what their personal plight is. Service is giving without looking back. It's the American community. It dots our entire landscape. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is just what this country needs at this pivotal moment in our history. Just like any volunteer who can't do it alone, this bill could not have happened without the tireless efforts of our staff. With that, I would like to thank Denise Forte, Alex Ceja, Sarah Dyson, Stephanie Moore, Kim Zarish-Becknell, Margaret Young, Adrienne Dunbar, Fred Jones, Rachel Racuhson, Melissa Salmanowitz, and Jessica Kahawneck, and all the people from Mr. McKeon's staff. I want to thank Amy Jones, Susan Ross, Rob Borden, and James Berjeron. I also want to thank Mr. McKeon for all of his support as the senior Republican on this committee. This has been an effort that we've worked on over the last couple of years in a bipartisan fashion. I would also like to thank Frank Trinity, the General Counsel at the Corporation for National Service, and the staff of Senator Kennedy, Senator Hatch, and Senator Enzi. I am so proud that this bill has already received overwhelming bipartisan support in this Chamber and in the Senate. It's because we all recognize that it isn't a Republican or Democratic issue, it's not a black or white or gray or blue or red issue. It's an American issue. I urge my colleagues to stand with me on the right side of history and support this legislation. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act establishes four new corps, including the Clean Energy Corps, to address key needs in low-income communities. The goal of the Clean Energy Corps is to encourage energy efficiency and conservation through activities such as building energy- efficient housing units in low-income communities; providing clean energy-related services designed to meet the needs of rural communities; and working with schools and youth programs to educate students and youth about ways to reduce home energy use and improve the environment. The Clean Energy Corps also builds upon Congress' commitment to supporting America's National Parks. The bill allows for projects carried out in partnership with the National Park Service and supports projects to renew and rehabilitate national parks, like the Presidio Trust in San Francisco. Presidio is a former military base that is now a national park and has long been a site for public and community service. The Serve America Act recognizes that national parks, like the Presidio Trust, provide opportunities to not only inspire individuals through community service, but also to preserve natural treasures. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Loebsack), a member of the committee.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield myself the remainder of my time. I want to again thank all of those who participated in the drafting, the support, the writing and the negotiations for this act. As my colleagues have said on both sides of the aisle, this is a very important piece of legislation. It is about American values. It is about the spirit of this country. It is about our communities. And it is going to provide, with the expansion that is provided for in this legislation and supported by this administration, it is going to provide a continuum of opportunities to volunteer, to participate in community activities, to support our communities and to help those in need in so many different situations. It is going to provide them that opportunity from middle school all the way to retirement and after retirement where we are encouraging the alumni, people who participated in AmeriCorps in the past and now have picked up a lifetime of skills, talents and experience that they can, once again, turn back into service for America. It is going to provide an opportunity for young people to not only help those in our communities but to be able to explore the career opportunities in clean energy, in green jobs, in health care, in teaching, in mentoring and social services and all of the various occupations that are available in our community where additional assistance and volunteerism has been a tradition but also needs to be expanded. So we think this is a very rich expansion of the American values, of the volunteer system in the country. It is as old as the country, and it is as new as the future, as occupations change and opportunities change within our economy. I want to thank Carolyn McCarthy for her leadership in offering this legislation and to all of those who have supported it. Finally, I just once again would like to say how proud I am that this legislation is named for Edward Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, not only Senator Kennedy but a family name that screams out ``service'' across this country, across generations, for the benefit, so many times over and over again, of the citizens of America. I'm very proud to have participated in the legislative shepherding of this legislation. And I hope that all of our colleagues will join us on both sides of the aisle in support of this legislation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield back the balance of my time.