George Miller

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. These are air cylinders that are readily available. These are not the individual-sized packs that we deal with here in terms of inspections that didn't work in the Sago Mine. Canisters of air are readily available all throughout American society. We just say you should put some in the mines so people can use them. Then let me just say the question that is raised here, currently the law allows for employer and employee involvement in safety issues. Many, many organizations and businesses have these committees. But we want those committees to remain independent. This suggests that somehow the employer should select those employees to engage in those discussions. We think that the workers ought to be able to do that and do it independently so that, in fact, they can have a true discussion about the conditions and the safety of the mines and not be establishing unilateral committees to make those determinations. The fact of the matter is, where people have these employer-employee safety committees, very often the efficiency of the mines improves, the productivity of the mines improves and the safety improves, and we think that that is the model that ought to be continued. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia, Mr. Rahall.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise to reiterate my strong opposition to this legislation. I believe that it does eliminate most of the very important provisions in the underlying bill and the manager's amendment to ensure that we increase the margins of safety for miners and for their families. We should not give up that opportunity to this substitute, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Wilson/Kline amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, over this weekend we were treated to a very sad and disturbing story in the Washington Post about drug use in the mining community in Virginia and other States, about miners who have been crushed by equipment in the mines, who have been crushed in roof falls in the mine, who had been run over by other equipment in the mine, whose bodies were wracked with pain, who got addicted to painkillers, to OxyContin, to other drugs such as that, prescription drugs, and then were struggling with their addiction. There was also the story of a miner who got up every night at midnight, fixed himself a quick meal, and drove 135 miles round trip before he went to work so he could get his methadone treatment at the clinic and get on his job, and do that with the knowledge of his employer, struggling with his addiction, struggling to stay employed. In this bill, we had the opportunity to address this situation. Rick Boucher, our colleague, addressed it by authorizing with almost unanimous support $10 million for treatment and to work with these miners, that the Secretary can use. We have suggested an amendment in the manager's amendment, which you voted for, which says that the Secretary will spend 6 months to work with the industry, to work with the miners, to work with the States. Virginia has a program. Kentucky has a program. West Virginia does not. Pennsylvania apparently does not. Indiana does not. Illinois does not. The Secretary will work with them to see how they're doing it, the best way to do it, and at the end of that 6 months, after those consultations, after her study, to impose a drug program with drug testing and treatment and rehabilitation. How is that different than what is being offered here by my colleagues on the other side? They impose drug testing, and then they impose a blacklist for those who test positive. You want to talk about baseball? You're being a hell of a lot harder on hardworking miners in this country than you are on the baseball stars because they use drugs, and they go to work every day and nobody says anything. But a miner who's been crushed on the job, who's trying to provide for their families, tests positive, we don't know if it's a false positive. They don't make allowances for false positives. He gets on the blacklist and he may never work again. Rick Boucher had a better idea. Our committee had a better idea. Have the Secretary work with the States and the companies and the mining industries and the miners and the unions and say how can we best do this because I'm going to do it. So what's the best way for us to do this. So many of you from both sides of the aisle during the consideration of this bill have said to me one thing over and over again: Will you work with the companies? Will you work with the companies? Now, along comes drug testing, nobody says work with the companies. Nobody says work with the unions. Nobody says work with the community health facilities. They just say test them and list them. What the hell kind of thing is that to do to hardworking people in one of the most dangerous industries? We've had spouses come to this committee and talk about the fear in their spouses at night when they come home from work and before they leave, the fear that these miners have of going into that workplace. In that article, one of the miners said he takes drugs and he used to drink because he's fighting, he hates the job. Some of them love the job in that article. They said, This is my life, mining. Digging coal is what I do best, but my legs have been crushed, my arm has been crushed. Let's give them testing. Let's give them treatment, and let's give them some understanding of the kind of industry that they're in. We benefit, we burn the coal, we run the economy, and these families live in fear. This is a very good bill. This is a very good bill. We should not suggest for a moment that because there is no link between the tragedies of the mining accidents last year and the year before, that drugs were involved at all. We have a nutty owner in Utah, but we're not going to test him. We're not going to test that owner, who is running around giving all these false reasons to these poor victims and their families as to what happened. So yes, you can talk about baseball. But at the end of the day, those baseball players, just as they did last season and next season, they'll be playing. And they'll get a warning, and they'll get treatment. And they'll get a second warning, and they'll get treatment. These guys get a test and a list. It's unfair. It's outrageous. And you should not support it.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the chairman for yielding me this time, and I want to join with my colleagues in thanking him so much for all of his leadership on this legislation, his knowledge of the subject matter, and his ability to work out the intricacies in what may be the longest-standing battle in the Congress, and that is on fuel economies. But he has put together a standard that will work for the consumers, it will for the environment, it will work for the auto industry, and it will work for the people who work in that industry. And, Mr. Dingell, I want to thank you for that. I also want to join in thanking the Speaker of the House of Representatives for making this her most important priority for this legislation, to give us an opportunity, this Congress and the American public, to break with the past, to break with the stranglehold of the old way of thinking both about our transportation sector and about our energy sector, to introduce into that sector the competition of alternative energy sources, of renewable energy sources, of efficient automobiles that will change America dramatically. Whereas, we know, with this legislation, many have said it, by 2030 it will save almost 4 million barrels a day. That is almost the equivalent of the output of this entire Nation. You can keep thinking that you can produce your way out of this problem, but it has shown that we can't. We continue to become more and more reliant on questionable sources of energy, and yet this legislation itself will produce, just the automobile standards will produce half of what we import from the Persian Gulf. This changes that dramatically. You can find oil in conservation. You can find oil in Detroit. Or you can find it in the Persian Gulf. We chose to go in the smart direction, to think about conservation, not only its impact on energy, but on the environment and on the pocketbook of the American public. Four million barrels of oil a day saved by 2030, five times the output of the Alaska pipeline today, five times. It is like finding money in the street and oil in the street. It doesn't mean we won't continue to produce, but it means we are going to be very smart about oil production in this country and about the use of energy on behalf of this Nation. I also wanted to mention that we address the jobs that are going to be created by this commitment to renewables, this commitment to alternative energy sources, whether it is in nuclear, whether it is in coal, whether it is in the automobile industry or in the renewables sources, and that was the green jobs bill to provide training and expertise for people in solar panel manufacturing, construction work, and renewable energy and initiatives. Those are very important. Those were reported out of the Committee on Education and Labor and were championed by Congresswoman Hilda Solis and by Congressman John Tierney on that legislation. This legislation has a potential to create millions of new jobs in new industries of the future in every geographical sector of America, not just confined to the old centers of manufacturing, but all across this country for new high-skilled jobs for the future.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, and I thank Congresswoman Barbara Lee for all of her work, as well as everyone on the committee, for bringing this bill to the floor of the Congress today. I rise in support of this bill to authorize State and local governments to divest assets in companies that conduct business operations in Sudan, as well as to prohibit United States Government contracts with any such companies. Several years ago I traveled with a bipartisan Congressional delegation to see firsthand the site of the ongoing genocide in Darfur, and to meet in person with the refugees--people displaced from their homes because of targeted political violence. At that time, 250,000 people had already been murdered or had died from subsequent malnutrition and disease. Another 2 million people had already been displaced. I returned from that trip outraged with the conduct of the Government of Sudan. Not only did the Sudanese Government refuse to protect the innocent people caught between the rebels and the government, but it was also actively involved in the raping, maiming and killing of these refugees. I returned with the hope that our Nation would do everything possible to bring this nightmare to an end. But not enough has been done. The murders and the rapes continue in Darfur, and in response, the American people want us to do more to help bring this genocide to an end. Therefore, we in Congress must pass this bill today so that State and local governments will be able to divest from companies that continue their financial ties with Sudan. We must also ensure that the Federal Government is not complicit in the horrendous conduct of the Sudanese Government through our use of government contracts. By passing this resolution, we will stand with the thousands of religious groups, churches, humanitarian and community organization, and State and local governments--all of whom are coming together to send a message about the ongoing genocide in Darfur--not on our watch.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I want to recognize the difficult choices that the Appropriations Committee had in dealing with the education portion of this legislation. At a time when this administration is almost $55 billion behind its promises to the American people, to the parents of this country, to the children of this country, to the educators of this country, of the resources that would be available in title I, we find that, in fact, we are only going to be able to add about $1 billion, a little over $1 billion this year, which is completely insufficient, at a time when schools and school districts are struggling to make the reforms required under No Child Left Behind. But I want to thank the Appropriations Committee, because as difficult as that choice is to only provide that small amount of money, they were able to make of that portion of the money almost $500 million available to schools in need of improvement. These are schools that we were supposed to have started helping out 3 and 4 years ago. This is the first time this money has ever been put in this budget to help these schools that have been recognized as needing very substantial improvement to improve the opportunities of the children in those schools for a decent education, but this bill is the first time that we have done that. The administration has ignored that over the last 6 years. I also see that the committee was able to restore some of the money for educational technology, a subject that is becoming more and more important in terms of improving our schools, improving the opportunity of students to learn, and improving opportunities for students to understand the technologies that they are going to have to grasp in the workplace and in higher education. The President's budget zeroed that money out. The Appropriations Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Obey, was able to restore almost all of it, the money that was available in the last year. Now I see that we have been able to add $259 million to IDEA, which is able to take it above the President's request, which was a cut in education for students with disabilities. Once again, the Republicans, when they were in the minority, promised that they would fully fund IDEA because districts are struggling with the education of students with disabilities, and they signed letters, they passed resolutions, they did all of it. The day they came in power, they stopped funding IDEA. So it has been flat-funded while school districts struggle with both trying to deal with school reform and the education of students with disabilities. So this committee, I think, made some good choices, difficult choices, insufficient choices. But if you look at what the President had recommended for educational technology, if you look at what the President had recommended to help schools with English learners in those schools, this is a dramatically better budget, but an insufficient budget for the education, but it is completely insufficient for the education of America's children. Don't go home and tell your constituents how well you understand the tools that they need to compete in a globalized world, in a globalized economy, because you have absolutely failed to provide them, and this administration has failed to provide them. Fortunately, the Appropriations Committee has been able to recalibrate some of the numbers and to move some of the money around for these high-priority areas. I am only so sorry that we weren't able to do better by America's children and their families.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I want to congratulate her on this legislation. This is an important piece of legislation, and I'm delighted that we were able to work it out in the committee on a bipartisan basis. And I want to thank all of the Members on both sides of the aisle. Since the early 1990s, I've tried to bring legislation to the floor of this Congress to reform the abusive labor practices and the broken immigration policies of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an American territory in the Pacific. I sought these changes so that we could put a stop to the well- documented and widespread abuse of poor men and women in the garment and tourism industry in the CNMI and to better secure America's borders. But for more than a decade, a lobbyist by the name of Jack Abramoff joined then-Majority Leader Tom Delay and others here in Congress to block my reform efforts, even though they passed on a bipartisan basis in the Senate and in the Senate committee twice. Ten years ago this month, in fact, Tom Delay visited the Mariana Islands and declared that our Federal reforms ``had no future'' as long as he was in control of the House of Representatives, but there is a new Congress in town. We have new Republican leadership and we have new Democratic leadership, and we're moving quickly under the leadership of the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands to right the wrongs of the past. Earlier this year, we raised the minimum wage across the country, and for the first time in almost a decade we gave the workers of the Northern Marianas a raise as well. Thanks to that minimum wage increase, workers in the Marianas make $3.55 an hour, up from barely $3 that workers were paid for these past years. And what's more, the minimum wage will continue to rise in the CNMI until their wage is equal to that of other American territories. Today, my friend and committee colleague from the Virgin Islands has brought this legislation to the floor to fix the other long-standing problem in the CNMI. The broken local immigration program in the CNMI has allowed unscrupulous recruiters to exploit and abuse thousands of workers and their families, and it helped the CNMI's sweatshop-based economy to persist for decades. The legislation we are considering today brings the CNMI within the Federal immigration system so that we can put an end to that exploitation and abuse. The bill was drafted by the Bush administration and improved by the Natural Resources Committee. I want to congratulate Chairman Rahall and Chairwoman Donna Christensen for bringing this legislation to the floor. As I said earlier, I also want to thank Congressman Conyers, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for helping to improve this. And I thank the cooperation of the Republicans, Don Young, and the subcommittee of the Resources Committee. Today, Jack Abramoff is in prison and Tom Delay has resigned in disgrace. And today we pass a bill that restores the human rights to those individuals working in the CNMI. And today we strengthen the borders of America. With these two pieces of legislation soon to become law, the minimum wage, which is already the law, and this legislation, to repair the immigration, I think now we can comfortably consider and support the notion of a delegate from the CNMI to the Congress. And I want to thank the gentlewoman for her persistence, the gentlewoman from Guam, and the gentleman from American Samoa for that effort. As they know, this is legislation that I have been deeply concerned about for a very, very long time that unfortunately brought about a lot of bad practices in the CNMI. But I am convinced with this legislation that we're doing the right thing, and we can open a new chapter, hopefully, of economic prosperity and of representation for the CNMI in the Congress of the United States. And again, I thank the gentlewoman very much for your tireless effort on this legislation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to thank him and the Chair of the committee and Mr. Issa for all of their work on this legislation. This legislation was drafted with the help and the cooperation of the Veterans Administration and the Office of Personnel Management and the Selective Service. Current laws governing Federal employment do not draw a very clear distinction between those who do not register for selective service through an oversight and those who knowingly and willfully avoid registering. Under current law, we are lumping sort of the innocent along with the guilty, and this legislation is an effort by these agencies to correct what's wrong with this legislation and to make sure that we can protect those who do this in an unknowing fashion. The bill sets out to correct this by exempting individuals from employment ineligibility who failed to register for selective service but were honorably discharged from active duty in the armed services. And second, it would allow current Federal employees who are at least age 31 to remain eligible for Federal employment despite their failure to register. And this would effectively change the lifetime ban from employment to a 5-year ban, which would coincide with the statute of limitations. So there would be the full ability to prosecute those individuals that we felt wrongfully failed to register for the draft. This would have a big impact on the caseload, and it would also make sure that we do not deny many of our agencies the talents and the abilities of individuals who have been caught in this conundrum that has taken place. And this has been, after many months of negotiation, and Mr. Issa has been a vital part of these negotiations with Selective Service, with the Veterans Administration, and with the Office of Personnel Management, and I would encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation. I think it restores to law the intent for which it was passed and keeps us from punishing those individuals who are not guilty of knowingly refusing to register for the draft.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I want to thank my colleague from California for mentioning Mr. Frecking, because this was a case that really was just so absurd in how it was being played out because of the circumstances that he found himself caught in, but more importantly it also had the potential to deny the veterans service of the VA Hospital in San Francisco the very skilled talents of this individual. They went to bat. They recognized that they too had made a mistake, inadvertently they made a mistake. But they did not want to lose his skill and talents to our veterans coming through that hospital. And it was really at their insistence, their concern, that brought this case to the forefront and allowed us to be able to work it out with the Office of Personnel Service and Selective Service. I know as we explained it, we talked about it back and forth, and Mr. Issa, at first I don't think he thought this could possibly be going on, but we convinced him that it was, and this is exactly the kind of case that this legislation is designed to address so we don't harm these individuals in the manner which was possible for Mr. Frecking. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, for too long this Nation has been held hostage and has been dependent upon Middle East oil. For too long this Nation has been held hostage and been dependent on the automakers of this country in terms of determining whether kind of transportation we will have in the United States. Today, just an hour or an hour and a half ago, this House voted overwhelmingly and on a bipartisan basis to break that dependency and to become free again, to become free of Middle East oil, to become free of the automakers who have prevented us from having more efficient automobiles, getting better miles per gallon, and greener, to save our environment. By that vote, this House spoke for the independence of this country. By that vote, this House spoke for the American people who have been demanding from us now for many years to have automobiles that were more efficient, less polluting, that serve their needs. For many years, they have told us that they have been worried about our national security, about our foreign policy, when we are driven to decisions based upon the dependency of Middle East oil, based upon the dependency of foreign oil, based on the dependency of not having our own energy house in order so we can make those decisions. When they have seen time and again American lives and treasure lost to secure sources of oil, they have asked for a new direction. They have asked for a new day in American energy policy. Just a couple of hours ago, the House of Representatives delivered to the American people that new energy policy and that new direction. It's a policy that is based in the future, it a policy that is based in American ingenuity, talent and skills. It's a policy that is based in innovation and discovery, the things that America has been great at since this country was founded, that real talent and the strengths of this Nation being pulled together for the new technologies of wind energy, of biotech energy, of ethanol, and the other alternative fuels that are available, to the alternative sources of electricity, whether it's wave energy, solar energy. That is what America does best. We have wasted 8 years while we have refused to embrace the future. This bill over the next few years will generate 3 million jobs in every geographic sector of this Nation as utilities seek out alternative energy sources for the generation of electricity. That means the people will be going to work in solar facilities, people will be going to work in wind facilities, people will be going to work in biofuel facilities, in ethanol facilities, in all kind of new technologies, new production, new manufacturing, the next generation of manufacturing, the next generation of innovation. When we were working on our Innovation Agenda, which this Congress passed a couple of months ago and was sent to the President, passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan vote, signed by the President of the United States, when we were working on that Innovation Agenda with the leaders in biotech, in high-tech, in the venture capital community, people who are betting real money on the future of this country, they told us to give them a new energy policy that would drive a next generation of technology in the computer industry, in the telecommunications industry, in the biotech industry; that would drive the next generation of investment in energy and in the future of this country; that would drive the next generation of discovery and innovation. Today, the House of Representatives delivered that energy policy to the American companies so they can go to work in discovery and innovation and creating jobs here in America in the new industries surrounding the new energy future and the new energy policy. I am very, very proud this day to be a Member of the House of Representatives, casting this vote for a new energy future for America.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership on this legislation. I want to thank the leadership of Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and the skill and experience and the knowledge of Congressman John Dingell for all of this help on this legislation. This is a remarkable day for the United States House of Representatives and, hopefully, for the people of this country as we break the chokehold of those Middle Eastern countries that have us tied to them because of oil. The energy independence that we talk about in this legislation is the ability, through the savings, through fuel-efficient automobiles, through fuel-efficient appliances, through fuel-efficient houses and businesses and buildings that the savings that we will be able to have with respect to the use of energy and oil in this country will allow America to make decisions based upon the American interests and not the interests of other countries because we are tied to them because we do not have energy efficiency in this country. This is a remarkable piece of legislation for the benefits that it will provide for American consumers at the gas pump, at the department store when they buy new appliances, when they buy new homes, when they go to work in new buildings, when they start businesses in more energy- efficient buildings. These are the kinds of benefits that we can have because we have renewable energy, we have fuel standards, and we have a new CAFE standard that is a 40 percent increase in the efficiency of automobiles that Americans will buy into the future that will break that tether to that high price, $3.50 gasoline as it is in California. They will be able to go further on each one of those gallons of gasoline. That is what we need. This bill also creates over 3 million jobs in the green industry that are supported by this legislation that encourages that investment in wind and biofuels and solar energy. Those 3 million jobs, we are 8 years late coming to those jobs, but they are in this legislation; and those jobs will be created in almost every sector of the economy no matter what geographical area people live in. But we need to develop those skills. And I want to thank John Tierney and Hilda Solis for their efforts on that. This is what the people who are betting their money on the future of the high-tech companies, people who are betting their money in terms of venture capitalists, that this is where they told us to go to generate the next generation of innovation, of technology, was in energy. And that is what we are going to do, and America is going to have a much better energy future as a result of this legislation.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And, one, I want to commend him on the success of getting provisions in this legislation on renewable electrical sources that he just pointed out will make all of this better in the future as we see a convergence of transportation, as we see a convergence of energy efficiencies in our homes and our businesses, and then to have a clean, green, and renewable way to generate that electricity. This is going to be a remarkable gift to the American people, to the American economy, to American businesses. One of the things we've seen first and foremost is in so many instances the amount of money that is being saved by those who are investing in this effort in their businesses to make them more efficient, to make them greener, and to make them cleaner. I am very excited that this legislation, which you have led the fight on, is also going to include the CAFE standards, the improvements in the miles per gallon that people can expect to get from cars in the future, that we will provide for 35 miles per gallon by the year 2020, which will dramatically change the transportation picture in this country, and then joined with the hybrid, with the renewable energies, can change our dependence on imported oil. And combined with other provisions of this legislation, we know that we have the opportunity to dramatically impact for the good the American economy, our climate, our environment, and the health of our neighborhoods and our cities. So this energy bill, which many people said was not going to be possible at the beginning of this year, will be a major vote for those of us who are concerned about our dependence on foreign oil, our dependence on fossil fuels at all because of the impacts on the climate, the impacts on the health of our constituents. And it's going to be a remarkable vote when it takes place. This legislation also provides for energy efficiency and renewable energy worker training. We're now starting to see in this country, as more and more investment is made by the private sector, that we need skilled workers who know how to work in these facilities, who understand the technology, who understand the mechanics of these operations. And that's going to provide real opportunity to working people in this country to create jobs all over this country, not just on the coast, if you will, but in the Midwest and the Southeast, in the Southwest, where wind, where other renewable energy sources are going to be developed, are going to be promoted, and are going to be utilized by those communities. The gentleman from Washington has been in this struggle, started with the Apollo Project. This isn't quite the Apollo Project, but this is a major down payment, a major, major step, after 30 years of this Congress being shackled by the auto industry and the oil industry and others to continue a policy that has not served this country well and that continues to threaten our economic stability, our national security. I know how much energy the gentleman from Washington has put into this legislation and put into this issue to get the public to understand something like the GM Volt. We had the automobile on the Hill a few months ago. It's a rather impressive automobile, as you pointed out. I think we probably read the same articles about the recent auto shows where it's attracting a great deal of attention, a major commitment by GM. I'm delighted to see GM now make this thrust into these new technologies, and I think that that legislation will provide further incentives for them to do that. I read a rather interesting commentary. GM also developed a hybrid for the Tahoe, for their SUV. And in the comments about it, it's not the best hybrid in terms of mileage, if you're really concerned about mileage standards, but it's a major effort, certainly a major effort on behalf of a vehicle that's very popular with the American public. But the interesting thing was, because of the engineering that they had to do to deal with the hybrid technology, the commentary of the auto reviewers was that they made a better car, this Tahoe was far superior to those that weren't. And they were hoping that they would then transfer the technology, the design, the engineering over to the rest of the fleet because they, in fact, would be presenting a car of higher quality, be it hybrid or nonhybrid, to the American public. And I think it's interesting to see what the spin-offs are and what this kind of engineering develops.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Yes, I would be happy to yield.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. This bill, when we pass it and send to the President and he signs it, it is just the beginning of this adventure in energy technologies. Earlier this year we passed an innovation bill that dealt with new technologies and encouraging research and development and innovation and discovery, and when we were putting that bill together, we were talking to the CEOs from venture capital companies, from biotech industries, from the high-tech industry. And the question came from a lot of people, when you do all this innovation, you make all this effort, training all the engineers and scientists and others, where are the jobs that result? And Craig Barrett, the former CEO of Intel Corporation and other CEOs of the major tech companies of this country chimed in and said you make an investment, the government must make an investment in energy. That will drive the next generation of technology comparable to the kinds of technologies we saw with that investment in telecommunications, in computers, in the Internet and all the things that resulted from that. Their first choice for that, to drive that technology would be energy and the need that this country and other countries are going to have to develop these sources of energy. Again, I want to thank the gentleman for all of the work he did. I know how hard he worked, especially on that provision of the bill for the renewable energy standards that are in this legislation. I thank him for his effort on that and also on the Apollo project that kicked off a great part of this debate in the Congress. What a difference a year makes. Under Republican rule, it took three sessions of Congress just to finish an energy bill that subsidized pollution and Hummers. But after just 1 year of the new Democratic leadership, we are replacing those subsidies with groundbreaking steps to increase the efficiency of our vehicles, to lower energy costs, to create new jobs, and to combat global warming. Fuel Economy. The historic fuel economy compromise is supported by labor, the environmental community, and the automobile industry. This is the first increase by Congress since 1975. The bill will increase fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for new cars and trucks. These provisions will save American families $700 to $1000 per year at the pump, with $22 billion in net consumer savings in 2020 alone. It will reduce oil consumption by 1.1 million gallons per day in 2020 (one-half of what we currently import from the Persian Gulf), and reduce greenhouse gases equal to taking 28 million of today's average cars and trucks off the road. Renewable electricity standards. This provision requires utility companies to generate 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources--such as wind power, biomass, wave, tidal, geothermal and solar--by 2020. Green Jobs. This package creates an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program to train a quality workforce for ``green collar'' jobs--such as solar panel manufacturer and green building construction worker--created by federal renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. Major investments in renewable energy could create 3 million green jobs over 10 years. Thanks to the leadership in the House by Hilda Solis and John Tierney, we reported this legislation from the Education and Labor Committee. In the Senate, this important provision has been championed by Bernie Sanders and others. Energy efficiency. The bill includes landmark energy efficiency provisions that save consumers and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars through 2030. The bill will assist those who want to make their homes and offices more energy efficient, and it creates new energy-efficient appliance standards. This reflects the successful model pursued by the State of California: cutting greenhouse gas emissions and investing in renewables will lead to economic growth.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to praise a public servant who is finishing 20 years of outstanding service to the Federal Government and a total of more than 30 years of public service. Members of Congress and their staff who are engaged with Federal education legislation have benefited from the wisdom and professionalism of Sandra Cook, Special Assistant in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. Sandra joined the Department in 1988, and has worked with Members of Congress and their staff on many of our most critical educational issues. In the past 10 years, she has specialized in elementary and secondary education, including No Child Left Behind. Sandra was involved in helping to pass NCLB and has kept the lines of communication open between the Executive and Legislative branches of Government. Sandra is a career civil servant who knows that Federal education policy matters. She has served under administrations of both parties and has consistently received internal recognition for her professionalism and commitment to excellence. Her quiet, thoughtful comments in congressional meetings and discussions with congressional staff have provided both with information and guidance. Sandra's Rolodex is renowned for both its size and breadth. And no matter how stressful the situation because of time pressures or personalities, Sandra has never lost her calm, composed, and friendly demeanor. After graduating from Southern Illinois University, where she was an honors student, Sandra Cook began her professional life as a teacher. She taught language arts and history for 6 years in West Lafayette, IN. Though she did not stay in the classroom as a career, those experiences shaped the rest of her professional life, particularly her work at the U.S. Department of Education. Sandra's public service prior to joining the Department included work for several Members of Congress: Representatives Robert Daniel, Jr., Tom Railsback, and Rod Chandler; and Senator Paul Trible. She also worked for Fairfax County Supervisor Farrell Egge in Virginia, who represented the Mt. Vernon district. As she retires from Government service and heads back to her family in her home State of Illinois, I am proud to thank Sandra Cook publicly on behalf of this Congress for her many contributions to our Nation and its students.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I want to thank you very much for taking this time to discuss what is almost now a year of the effort by Speaker Pelosi to provide for the greening of the Capitol and the surrounding areas here on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. And her choice of Dan Beard as the Chief Administrative Officer to lead this effort is a wise choice. Dan Beard worked for the Resources Committee when I was Chair of that committee, and really led a transformation in western water usage throughout the western United States. When he was at the Committee, and later at the Bureau of Reclamation, he transformed those programs from huge, wasteful water projects into projects of conservation, ending subsidies that the taxpayers were paying in many cases, or reducing the subsidies that taxpayers were paying that led, again, to water conservation, to new technologies being brought onto the farmland, to level those lands, to provide for drip irrigation, to provide for computerization of irrigation, to mingle water with fertilizers or other things that were necessary for the growing of those crops. That has saved farmers a huge amount of money. It has provided for better utilization of the resource. Water was able to be recycled into fish and wildlife protection in other parts of the State and all through the Southwest, in Montana, in Utah and in California. So, he has a long experience for this. When he left the Congress and the administration, he went on to work in dealing with public-private partnerships to bring about environmental solutions to very difficult problems and was able to engage the public sector, the private sector, the nonprofit sector to build teams, to build organizations to solve some very thorny problems around this country. That's the expertise he brought to the greening of the Capitol. And as we've seen in this first year, many things that were just taken for granted here that were so wasteful of our environment, were so wasteful of energy, so wasteful of taxpayer dollars, that now has changed, or started to change. And it's a work in progress, but I think as Members see it, one, they're proud that they're part of this effort. We go back and we have town hall meetings with our constituents and we talk to them about the urgency and the necessity to do this. And sometimes maybe we don't lead as well as we should, but here we are leading in this wonderful, wonderful United States Capitol. The other one is that this Capitol is part of a neighborhood, and to the extent in which we can reduce our reliance on coal-fired plants in this neighborhood, we improve the air quality from the people who live downwind from the plants that supply the power for the Capitol. The extent to which the Chief Administrative Officer that been able to role that into green energy is very, very important, to reduce the carbon footprint, which so many businesses now see as just not nice talk; it's really about hard decisions, the yield, immense savings over relatively short periods of time, in many cases for those corporations, allow them to increase their investment in their businesses, their employees, or their own profits. And that's the kind of change that we need. It's the kind of change that we should be leading on. And under this effort to green the Capitol by the Speaker and the leadership with the Chief Administrative Officer, Dan Beard, we all see the benefits of it. And, again, as Mr. Blumenauer was pointing out, these choices weren't difficult. They weren't costly. They weren't complex. But they weren't being made. And once they are made, people go on with their lives, and all of a sudden they are participating in reducing the tax that our activity puts on the environment, on the climate, on the resources of this Nation. So I really want to thank you. I want to join and associate myself with your remarks that you've all made. All of you have been involved in this effort on a national basis with your leadership and the protection of the oceans and new forms and methods of transportation and for communities. And, Jay, certainly your efforts on alternative energy has led the way in this Congress. Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, we will be able to go to even a broader initiative, which is the passage of the energy bill, which will lead to alternative energy sources being developed, alternative fuels, and the savings on the cafe standards so that people who are now looking at a $3.50 gasoline, $4 gasoline will be able to have the alternative of buying a more efficient automobile, a less polluting automobile. They'll feel good about it. Their pocketbook will feel good about it, and I think their children will really like the idea too. So thank you so much for taking this time on the floor tonight.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I want to thank you. It has been a long day. It is now 11:30, so I want to thank you for recognizing what has been done here for the greening of the Capitol under the leadership of Dan Beard and the Speaker. And I want to take my very efficient cell phone, I am going to walk, and it is going to be very efficient, pretty carbon neutral, and I am just going to walk home. And if you are still here I will watch you on C-SPAN. But it has been a great education, and I am sure this House staff would like to officially go home. I think this has been a very important review of our first year, and it is only the beginning. And as Congressman Inslee has said, so many of the changes we are not even aware of because they really don't interfere. They don't change the way we do business or the way we eat at the cafeteria or wherever it is. It is just greener, better, smarter, and in many instances it saves us money. So thank you very much for your recognizing this first year of the greening of the Capitol.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Is your bike outside?

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Maybe I will take your bike.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman, and I thank him for taking this time. As one who had the honor of serving under Gus Hawkins when he was Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, I would just like to say to my colleague that this was a man of great vision for young people, for students, and for working families. I knew Gus long before I came to the Congress. I knew him as a young man when he and my father served together in the State legislature and they were engaged in the great civil rights battles at that time, the great battles over education and school quality. Gus died when he was 100, but he was thinking about things 120 years from now because that's the way he always was. Gus was always looking over the horizon for new opportunities and new ideas and new ways of doing things. He was a great pioneer, but he was also a great visionary and he honored us with his service in this body. I thank the gentleman for taking this time.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, more than 40 years ago, we recognized that poverty was robbing millions of children of the opportunity to do well in school and succeed in life. As a nation, we made a decision to help poor children reach school age ready to succeed by creating the Head Start early childhood program. In the last four decades, it has helped nearly 25 million children by providing them with high-quality, comprehensive education, health, and nutrition services. Head Start remains a cornerstone in this country's efforts to help all children learn, to combat poverty, and to provide all Americans with the opportunity to meet their fullest potential. We know that Head Start works. Research shows that not only do Head Start students make important educational gains while they attend the program, they also continue to gain ground after they leave Head Start. Research shows that by the end of kindergarten, Head Start graduates are ``essentially at national norms in early reading and writing'' and have further narrowed the achievement gap in vocabulary, general knowledge and early math. In other words, Head Start is doing what we expect and demand that it should do--help prepare children to succeed in school and in life. We also know that there are ways we can improve Head Start. That is why I am so pleased to be here today with a bipartisan conference report to reauthorize and reinvigorate Head Start. This bipartisan legislation improves teacher and classroom quality, expands access to Head Start for more children, improves comprehensive services that help children and their families, and ensures that taxpayer dollars only fund Head Start centers that are well-run and high quality. First, this legislation builds on Head Start's success by integrating the best available science on child development to inform classroom instruction. Each year we learn more and more about how children's brains develop. This legislation ensures that we improve teacher quality and update classroom practices based on what the research tells us. It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to re-evaluate and update early learning standards and use of assessments with the best available science, including a forthcoming study from the National Academy of Sciences. And it terminates further use of an inappropriate and ineffective testing regime for 4-year-olds. This wasteful testing regime cost taxpayers over $25 million dollars, it took up valuable classroom time and hasn't been useful for improving program quality. Of course, Head Start is much more than an educational program. Head Start provides health, nutrition and parent education services in addition to a strong educational curriculum. The conference report recognizes this by also strengthening Head Start's role in meeting these important needs of the children it serves. This legislation takes important steps to ensure that Head Start centers are well-run and effectively managed. This will ensure that taxpayer dollars are used wisely and that every Head Start center is high quality. The report allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to more quickly take funding away from bad programs. It requires that new and detailed fiscal management protocols be included in program reviews. Finally, the legislation also expands access to Head Start in many important ways. Expansion of Early Head Start is prioritized so more infants and toddlers can attend Head Start during the years their brains are growing the fastest. And expansion of Migrant and Indian programs is prioritized so more of these children can have access to this important program. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I'd like to take a minute to thank Congressman McKeon, Chairman Kildee, Congressman Castle, Chairman Kennedy, Senator Enzi, Senator Dodd, and Senator Alexander for their hard work in getting us to this point. I'd also like to thank the staff for their work and expertise. In particular, I'd like to thank Liz King and Jean Harmann with Legislative Counsel; Lloyd Horwich with Mr. Kildee; James Bergeron, Susan Ross, Kirsten Duncan, and Jessica Gross with Mr. McKeon and Mr. Castle; Roberto Rodriguez and David Johns with Senator Kennedy; Catherine Hildum with Senator Dodd; Lindsay Hunsicker and Beth Buehlmann with Senator Enzi; David Cleary and Sara Rittling with Senator Alexander; and from my own staff--Lamont Ivey, Molly Carter, Kate Scully, Stephanie Moore, and Ruth Friedman. This bill will build on Head Start's past successes to create an even stronger program to provide Head Start children with a better future. I am pleased that we are about to send this legislation to the President for his signature. I thank my colleagues for their efforts.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may insert material relevant to H.R. 4154 into the Record.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the majority whip of the House, who has worked and moved all might here to get this legislation to the floor.