Donald Manzullo

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6159) to extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small Business Administration.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this legislation.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the bill simply extends all of the programs, including pilot programs, the authorities or provisions of the Small Business Act, the Small Business Investment Act, until February 2 of 2007. Currently, the programs and authorities of the SBA expire in September on Saturday, September 30. Passage of this bill will continue to give the committee the time necessary to work on a more comprehensive SBA reauthorization during the rest of this session. Many of the programs of the SBA do not operate under a direct appropriation. This includes the 7(a) general business loan guarantee program; the Certified Development Company program; and the Small Business Investment Company program. Passage of this bill will make it absolutely certain that there is no legal ambiguity as to whether or not the Federal Government can continue to guarantee these critical loans and debenture programs during the period of time covered by a continuing resolution. In addition, this bill would extend the authority of the SBA to operate several smaller programs including grants to Small Business Development Centers to participate in the Drug-Free Workplace program; sustainability funding for Women Business Centers; a pre-disaster mitigation pilot program; the New Markets Venture Capital program; and BusinessLinc. It would also extend SBA's cosponsorship and gift authority, which enables the SBA to accept private donations to help put on events or print publications, thus saving the taxpayers precious dollars. Mr. Speaker, this bill is quite simple. It contains the exact same language, with only the dates changed, that was signed into law four times in the 108th Congress when this House confronted the same problem 2 years ago in attempting to pass a comprehensive SBA reauthorization bill into law. Unfortunately, we are at an impasse today for nearly the same reasons. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6159 so that our Nation's small businesses will see no interruption of service from the SBA over the next 4 months while Congress completes its work for the year. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further people that are going to be speaking, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, Federal Prison Industries takes jobs away from law-abiding citizens of this nation. Many people are concerned about their future job security or where their next job will come from. If it is within one of the more than 250 industries FPI already is in, watch out! We all understand the need to control a potentially violent prison population. This bill points to a better way to train prisoners for real jobs in the outside world than to have them unfairly compete against small businesses for the precious few contracts with the Federal Government. It will also allow FPI to manufacture products that are no longer made in America and to also perform work in support of non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity. The jobs of law-abiding citizens--the forgotten Americans--who get up every day, dress their kids for school, and set off for a long hard day of work should not be sacrificed for convicted felons. The unintended and indirect message from FPI to the forgotten American is that if you want a job, commit a crime. That's not the American way! Some of my small business constituents from northern Illinois have had difficulty in selling to the Federal Government because of the unfair competition from FPI. I support H.R. 2965 because it will simply require that FPI compete like every other business for contracts with the Federal Government. FPI already has many advantages off the bat, such as a captive below minimum wage work force and no health care, worker's compensation or other benefits to pay for. Even with these advantages, small businesses still believe they can beat FPI because various government agencies have long complained about the quality and timeliness of delivery of products from FPI. Mr. Chairman, let's allow small businesses to compete against FPI. We should convey the message to the forgotten American that if you play by the rules, you have a fair shot at all the opportunities this society has to offer. Convicted felons should not receive better treatment than law-abiding citizens. I urge a ``yes'' vote on FPI and a ``no'' vote on any amendment that weakens this well-thought out bill.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I also want to join in praising Chairmen Oxley and Pryce for the tremendous work that they have done on reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank. Mr. Speaker, now more than ever we need the Ex-Im Bank. With the collapse of the Doha round of the WTO, other nations will continue to vigorously use their government- sponsored export credit agencies to promote their exports. The unfortunate reality is that American companies often win export sales on quality and price only to later lose because their competitors were able to obtain faster, less expensive export credit funded by other countries. Supporting this bill will ensure that an attractive foreign financing package will not be the deciding factor in winning an export opportunity. Defeating the bill will amount to unilateral disarmament in global trade. While Ex-Im Bank supports large business deals, this bill should actually be renamed the Small Business Exporters Acts of 2006. H.R. 5068 restores a viable small business division and creates a Small Business Committee within Ex-Im Bank to better serve the needs of America's small exporters. The legislation also enhances the bank's delegated loan authority with respect to medium-term transactions by private lenders for small businesses. This is one key tool to help Ex-Im reach and exceed its 20 percent statutory mandate for small businesses. The manager's amendment contains further improvements to the bill to make small business truly the focus of the bank. This reform designates adequate staff at each of the bank's operating divisions to specialize in the needs of small business exporters. This staff will also be jointly supervised by the Small Business Division. Furthermore, these small business specialists will have the authority under appropriate guidelines to approve loan guarantee and insurance applications of up to $10 million. This provision will help small business exporters overcome the obstacles of the slow internal approval process within Ex- Im Bank. Finally, the manager's amendment automatically appoints these small business specialists to serve as members of the Small Business Committee at the bank. These small business specialists will be on the front line of assisting small business and will have firsthand knowledge of Ex-Im products at work and what needs to be changed. I was pleased to work with many of the industry groups which support Ex-Im Bank, particularly the Small Business Exporters Association, in the development of the small business provisions in H.R. 5068. Mr. Speaker, passage of this bill will send a powerful positive signal to small business exporters around the Nation that there will be internal advocates for them within the bank from the time they enter the door until the time they exit with a decision. With these new legislative enhancements to Ex-Im's charter, small business exporters will have strong shoulders to stand on to win trade deals overseas. I urge the adoption of H.R. 5068.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, last Monday was the last day in office for Hector Barreto, the second-longest serving SBA Administrator in its 53- year history. Last week, there was a reception in honor of former Administrator Barreto with a broad spectrum of the small business community in Washington in attendance. This reflected well upon Mr. Barreto and his leadership style to bring people together of diverse interests and backgrounds. I don't know how Mr. Barreto put up with being in Washington for these past 5 years. I'm proud to be associated with Mr. Barreto and where he has taken the SBA to serve more small businesses than ever before in the history of the agency. I'm also proud to say that Mr. Barreto and I have similar backgrounds, growing up in the family restaurant business in the Midwest. It's amazing to see what has happened during the tenure of Mr. Barreto as Administrator of the SBA. Mr. Barreto was confirmed by the Senate and then sworn into office on July 25, 2001. Several weeks later, our Nation was hit by the awful terrorist attacks on September 11. More Americans were killed in 9/11 than at Pearl Harbor. Mr. Barreto was just getting used to his new job responsibilities and this terrible tragedy struck America. Administrator Barreto rose up to the challenge by extending Economic Injury Disaster loans to small businesses all across America regardless of their proximity to the locations of the actual terrorist attacks. The terrorists sought to devastate our economy by tearing down the World Trade Center and disrupting air travel but they did not count on the resiliency of the small business sector and the American people. More than 10,000 small businesses across the Nation employing 166,000 workers were helped with over $1 billion in 9/11 SBA disaster loans. If that wasn't enough, Mr. Barreto achieved great results in other programs of the SBA. Between 2000 and 2005, the SBA more than doubled the number of loans made through its main business loan guarantee programs. The dollar volume also dramatically increased--in 7(a) by nearly 40 percent and in the 504 program by threefold. And after a series of programmatic shut-downs and curtailments, I joined with Mr. Barreto in making the historic decision in late 2004 to finally get the 7(a) program off the rollercoaster of the appropriations process and have it funded entirely through user fees just like the 504 and the SBIC program. Now, the 7(a) program is going like gangbusters, serving record numbers ,of small businesses throughout all demographic groups, as compared to when it was receiving a loan subsidy. There has also been a steady increase in the number of individuals receiving technical assistance, education, and counseling through the SBA and its resource partners. Also, as a result of active engagement between the SBA and Federal agencies, Federal procurement dollars going to small businesses are at an all-time high. All this was accomplished while transforming the SBA into an agency to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Change is hard but Mr. Barreto made the courageous decision to have the SBA operate more like the private sector than a bureaucracy. Doing more with less should be praised. not condemned, particularly in this tough budget environment. Then, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita. and Wilma violently struck the gulf coast last year. It was as if a swath of complete devastation 100 miles wide ripped through our country from Boston to Chicago. Again. Administrator Barreto and his team in the Office of Disaster Assistance came through despite enormous obstacles placed in their path, including not being able to really get to the areas of deepest destruction until well after a month after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. The SBA and Administrator Barreto in particular took many below-the-belt political potshots along the way. I know when a person's integrity has been unfairly questioned, and I had to stand up to defend a decent and honorable man. I was proud to stand with Mr. Barreto last December in the press conference to put some context and additional facts into a very complicated situation. Just as a side note, it is very interesting to me that the media is not reporting that the SBA thus far has approved a record amount of over $10 billion in disaster loans to more than 152,000 Gulf States residents, representing an accomplishment 2\1/2\ times greater than the Nation's previous largest disaster--and all done at a faster pace. That is something to be proud of. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this brief opportunity to once again thank Mr. Barreto for his leadership; for his friendship; and for his service to our country. Our Nation's small business community is better for Mr. Barreto's tenure as the second longest serving SBA Administrator in history. The new SBA Administrator, Steve Preston, has some fairly big shoes to fill. Freda and I wish Hector Barreto and his family all the best in his new endeavor as the new national chairman of the Latino Coalition. I am confident that Mr. Barreto will never forget his small business roots.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize two Northern Illinois University, NIU, law students, Mary Riley and Cathryn Streeter, who placed second in the Nation at the 2005 Law Student Tax Challenge. This event was sponsored by the Young Lawyers Forum of the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation. Coached by Northern Illinois Law Professor Dan Schneider, the third-year law students researched a real-life, tax-planning problem and submitted their analysis and solution for judging. After being selected as semi- finalists from a pool of 36 entries, Ms. Riley and Ms. Streeter traveled to San Diego to present both oral and written arguments in front of a panel of distinguished tax lawyers, which included the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. Established in 1895 by an act of the Illinois General Assembly, Northern Illinois State Normal School opened its doors to students in September 1899. In July 1957, after 58 years of physical growth and expansion in academic programs, Northern Illinois State College became Northern Illinois University by action of the 70th General Assembly. In August of 1979 the university was authorized to acquire the College of Law, which had originally been founded in 1975 by Lewis University. Today Northern Illinois University offers pro!ams to more than 23,000 students in the basic disciplines, the arts, and the professions through courses conducted on the main campus in DeKalb and at regional sites throughout Northern Illinois. The university's academic work is organized under the College of Business, Education, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Health and Human Sciences, Law, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Visual and Performing Arts, in addition to the Graduate School. As the only public law school in the greater Chicago area, NIU Law has previously ranked first in the Nation for government placement, according to U.S. News and World Report. Nearly one-third of its graduates choose a career in public interest, including more than 50 alumni in the judiciary--a truly remarkable accomplishment for a law school with less than 3,000 graduates. In honor of its commitment to public service, NIU law received the 2001 Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service Award. Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate NIU for its outstanding performance at the Law Student Tax Challenge. NIU should be extremely proud of this tremendous accomplishment, and I am honored to recognize its students and faculty here today.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I understand the frustrations with the Mexican border that drove my good friend, Representative Ted Poe, to offer this amendment. But this amendment is a sledgehammer to kill a gnat. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) applies to all air, sea, and land entries into the United States by January 1, 2008. There is a vast difference between the Mexican and Canadian land borders. As Chairman of the Canadian-U.S. Interparliamentary Group, I know that requiring everyone crossing the U.S.-Canadian border to have a passport is unrealistic, would devastate our economy, and would divert precious limited resources away from prosecuting true threats to our national security. Just yesterday, I met with a group of Canadian Members of Parliament from Alberta visiting Washington, DC who once again raised this issue as the top irritant in our bilateral relations. Only 40 percent of Canadians and 20 percent of Americans have passports. I am not a fan of WHTI. But at least it attempts to solve the conundrum of improving border crossing documents without requiring everyone to spend $97 to purchase a passport that takes six to eight weeks to get delivered. Already, the rumors that a passport is required for Canadians to drive into the United States have cost our economy over half a billion dollars. It also obviously affects the Canadian economy. One planned multi-million dollar resort complex in British Columbia was scrubbed based on the threat of a passport requirement. Yes, it's true that the Canadians are more liberal with their immigration and asylum policies than we are. But I am satisfied that the Canadians are addressing border security in a responsible fashion. With the new Conservative government in power in Canada, I am more confident that they will continue to fix the problems in this area left undone by the previous Liberal government. Finally, it's important to remember that no 9/11 terrorist came from Canada. In the only documented case from Canada--the Millennium bomber--the terrorist was caught by our border officials not because of documentation problems but because of human intuition. Some assert that Canada has at least 50 terror groups present and strongly infer Canada's alleged incompetence for not rounding up these individuals. Yet, they fail to recognize that if these individuals do nothing illegal, you can't arrest or deport people indiscriminately. U.S. authorities believe that there are somewhere between 50 and 100 Hamas and Hezbollah operatives in America and that al-Qaida sleeper cells are believed to be operating in 40 states, awaiting orders and funding for new attacks on U.S. soil. Yet, we haven't arrested these people. Why should Canada be held to a different standard? When there is evidence of terrorist activity, the Canadians act. Earlier this month, the Royal Mounted Police captured the latest terrorist cell inside Canada, thanks in part to good cooperation with U.S. law enforcement officials, and have acted forcefully and effectively in intercepting these and other terrorists before they can enter into the United States. This is where our efforts should be directed, not in forcing U.S. schoolchildren to obtain a passport simply to play in a Pee-Wee hockey tournament in Thunder Bay. Mr. Chairman, I urge a ``no'' vote on the Poe amendment.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, the 7(a) program at the Small Business Administration has operated on full cylinders, breaking record after record of program usage throughout all demographic and regional groups. Look at this chart and look at the number of 7(a) loan approvals. It is going off the charts ever since the subsidy got removed. In fact, there have been more 7(a) loans made thus far in the 9 months of fiscal year 2006 than in all of fiscal year 2001. By removing the 7(a) loan subsidy from the uncertainties of the annual appropriations process, this has produced a stable and predictable program. When the 7(a) program has subsidies, then it is subjected to yearly shutdowns when there is not enough money, as what happened in December of 2003. When the subsidies get removed and taxpayers save $40 to $100 million a year, no shutdown will ever occur because the program will never run out of money. So why would you want to subject a good program to a shutdown by running out of money? It simply does not make sense. The noble intent of the Velazquez amendment is to reestablish a lower 7(a) fee structure exactly as it existed in 2003 and 2004. However, with a higher 7(a) program level, an appropriation of $168 million would be required, according to the SBA. The $40 million in the Velazquez amendment would not result in the cutting of any fees to small businesses. The Velazquez amendment directs the funds to pay for the salaries and expenses of the employees at the SBA who work in the business loan division, not to the 7(a) business loan subsidy account. This amendment would not help any small business owner or lender. It does not make sense to take a program and ask the taxpayers to dig into their pockets for $40 million to $100 million a year on a bill that does not do anything. It saves no money whatsoever, and I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this. Three years ago, I was in favor of this subsidy; and then I found out one thing: To get rid of the subsidy, to save the taxpayers $40 to $100 million a year, to have stability in the program costs 10 bucks a month per loan for the loans of under $150,000. You tell me, what small businessman cannot afford an extra $10 a month just to have stability in the program and to know that the program will never run out of money? And why are we doing this? You got me. It does not make sense. The small business owner has no legal or constitutional right to a subsidized loan by the rest of the taxpayers in this country. What kind of an entrepreneurial thing is that? So I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment.

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, if I could address the statement made by my colleague from New York where she said up-front fees can exceed $50,000, the issue is how much of an increase would there be if we get the subsidy eliminated? Well, on a $1.5 million loan, the biggest increase would be $3,500, and over a period of 10 to 20 years, that sum is almost negligible. On loans over $700,000, the fees have never changed, and what is going on with the total amount of the dollar loan is the SBA is concentrating on small businesses. It is the small businesses themselves that are asking for the dollar amount. They are the ones that are driving this. So I think it is extremely important that the Small Business Administration concentrate on giving these loans to the real small businesses. In fact, those that are at $1.5 million, I am sure they can afford an extra $3,500 over the course of the next 10 to 15 years. Now, small firms received $160 million less and 1,000 fewer loans through the 7(a) program from the first half of fiscal year 2006 as compared to the same time the previous year. But this mixes apples and oranges. Lending under $150,000, regardless of the exact size of the small business, is down slightly from FY 2005 levels, but it is slightly higher than the FY 2004 levels when there was no loan subsidy and lower fees. In comparing year-to-date figures, there were more than 12,300 smaller loans made worth $212 million in fiscal year 2006 versus fiscal year 2004 in the under-$150,000 category. So we got rid of the loan subsidy and the volume goes up. This is a ``no'' vote. It is an easy ``no'' vote.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Speaker, I am proud to come down to the floor this morning to show my strong support for my friend and our Speaker, Denny Hastert. This is a man of intense integrity, a man of great character, a man who has worked tirelessly to bring honor and as much unity as possible to this institution. When our former Speaker and successors resigned, we went to Denny to be our Speaker because he was the right man for the job. He has never let us down. He set the standard for integrity. I would encourage ABC, who thinks it knows truth in its own definition and probably does, I would encourage them to tell the truth and to apologize to the American people for their assault upon the Speaker of the House.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I wish to call your attention to H. Con. Res. 390, a resolution I introduced on April 26, 2006. We are currently living in an environment where prevention of terrorism is at the forefront of the American mind. It is important to remember that although the U.S. dollar is not typically viewed as a vessel of major catastrophic events, mass counterfeiting of the dollar will undermine the U.S. economy and ultimately destroy the security of our Nation. We have come a long way in protecting our highly visible assets since September 11, 2001. Now we must also extend that to our currency. H. Con. Res. 390 calls upon the U.S. government to ensure the protection of the U.S. dollar and defend its integrity throughout the world. Our Nation must deter counterfeiting of our currency in order to preserve the strength of the U.S. dollar and protect America from a economic disaster. Recent global politics illustrate the necessity of H. Con. Res. 390. A few months ago, the United States accused the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) of counterfeiting the U.S. dollar. In retaliation, North Korea claimed that the CIA had counterfeited the U.S. dollar and planted the counterfeit bills in North Korea. Despite North Korea's claim of innocence, it is estimated that at least $45 million counterfeit U.S. dollar are in circulation and have originated from North Korea. A timely CRS report released March 22, 2006, correctly states that any act of counterfeiting the U.S. dollar is a direct attack on the United States. We must not allow our adversaries the option of using counterfeit U.S. dollars to cause harm against our Nation or economy. That is why H. Con. Res. 390 is so necessary. This is not just a threat against the United States. The U.S. dollar is the world's reserve currency. Undermining the value of the dollar will negatively affect our allies and the nations that are dependent on our currency. Counterfeiting of the U.S. dollar weakens our own ability to protect the U.S. and also pads the arsenals of those who wish to engineer our destruction. It is time to step up and put a stop to the obvious counterfeiting of the U.S. dollar by foreign nations. I am proud to introduce H. Con. Res. 390 in the House, and I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this measure. We must protect our most important national asset--the U.S. dollar.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Burpee Museum of Natural History of Winnebago County--Burpee, IL, in the district I am proud to represent. The Burpee Museum is a remarkable cultural institution that has received two prestigious American Association of Museum--AAM--Awards. Both of these awards are for the Jane: Diary of a Dinosaur exhibit at the museum, which opened to outstanding reviews in June 2005. The museum submitted entries in two categories: Overall Exhibit Excellence and the MUSE Award for the use of media and technology in the Jane exhibit. Burpee received the Exhibit Excellence Award, which is considered the museum profession's highest honor. It also received an Honorable Mention MUSE award for Jane's interactive Meet the Researcher video. Lew Crampton, Burpee president and CEO, accepted the awards at the AAM's 100th International Conference in Boston in the company of 7,000 other museum profession delegates from around the world. Judges who presented the awards to Mr. Crampton praised Burpee, stating the ``whole project was so solid . . . and you just did everything right . . . your work could and should serve as a model to other institutions (including much larger ones) as a way to create an excellent exhibit.'' Jane's exhibit is a reflection of the dedication and professional excellence that is demonstrated by the personnel at Burpee. Burpee's personnel overcame three daunting tasks in order to successfully create the exhibit. First, after transporting Jane from Montana to the museum lab, Jane's 66 million year old bones were carefully removed from the rocks in which they were embedded. Second, identifying Jane's place in the dinosaur family tree presented a unique challenge because many scientists consulted in the process disagreed on this matter. Finally, in the midst of the first two tasks, Burpee's personnel had to consider how to create an exhibit that would be able to bridge the gap between science education and family enjoyment. Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend my recognition and support of the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, IL. Since its founding in May of 1942 as a part of the Works Progress Administration, the mission of Burpee has been to inspire all people to engage in a lifetime of learning about the natural world, and they have been very successful in doing so. To this day, Burpee reaches out to the public through its creative event programming and excellent educational offerings for educators, families, and other members of the local community. Burpee is a prime example for other cultural institutions across the country, and I am honored to recognize the museum and its personnel here today.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I commend the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Lewis, and the Chairman of the Science, Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce Subcommittee, Mr. Wolf, for the expeditious consideration of this legislation. Without passage of this legislation today, the disaster loan program of the Small Business Administration would not be able to offer critical disaster loan assistance to anyone across the nation after February 21. This legislation is also budget neutral--it simply redirects $712 million previously appropriated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the SBA's disaster loan account. This bill does not create any new spending. However, HR 4745 will enable the SBA to support about $4.8 billion in disaster loans to homeowners, renters, and businesses through May 1 when the next Katrina-related supplemental is expected to be completed. This legislation is needed because SBA is, in a sense, a victim of its own success. Despite all of the huge hurdles and unfair attacks the SBA has received in recent weeks, the SBA has approved over $4.3 billion in disaster loans to more than 60,000 residents and business owners in the Gulf States region in five and a half months--despite not being able to get into the region until after the first month after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. In comparison, it took the SBA more than 12 months to approve a similar amount of disaster loans to the victims of the Northridge Earthquake in California in 1994. The SBA disaster loan program offers low-interest loans up to $200,000 for homeowners and $1.5 million for small business owners in a disaster area for those items not covered by insurance for the purpose of long-term recovery. Most of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not have flood insurance because they weren't in a designated flood plain. Thus, the average size of a typical SBA disaster loan has doubled for this event. Combine this with the fact that this is the largest unprecedented natural disaster ever to hit the United States, I trust that my colleagues can see why it is very difficult to accurately predict exactly how much should be appropriated for the SBA disaster loan program for an entire year. I commend the hard work of the SBA and their disaster loan officers, led by Administrator Hector Barreto and Associate Administrator Herb Mitchell, in providing this record-amount of assistance to Gulf States victims. I urge my colleagues to support HR 4745 so that these fine public servants can continue their good work not just in the Gulf States region but also for other parts of the United States that may unfortunately be hit by a natural disaster in the coming weeks and months.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the administration's efforts to maintain a robust trade agenda that seeks to boost intellectual property protection at the upcoming meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, forum in Busan, South Korea. No regional institution is more important to promoting U.S. interests on anti-counterfeiting and piracy in Asia than APEC. The 21 member states of APEC will consider a range of pressing issues that include supporting the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Round, trade facilitation, and preventing the spread of avian influenza. APEC partners account for two-thirds of all U.S. trade and are playing an important role in the war on terror. In 2004, APEC helped put the Doha Round of the WTO's negotiations back on track, and it continues to help control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and combat regional corruption. The APEC region is of great importance to the United States-- geopolitically, militarily, diplomatically, and economically. It accounts for some 40 percent of the world's population, over half of world trade, approximately 60 percent of world GDP, and a disproportionate share of global growth in recent years. The United States, Japan, and South Korea are joining forces to promote the APEC Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative to fight fraud and protect consumers. Under this initiative, APEC will develop guidelines for the inspection, seizure and destruction of goods used in trading counterfeit and pirated goods. The initiative also provides cross-border enforcement mechanisms for APEC members. E-commerce is another area where the U.S. is demonstrating leadership in protecting intellectual property and data privacy. The U.S. continues to support APEC efforts to put in place effective legal regimes to ensure appropriate enforcement of e-commerce while protecting data collected during online transactions. By working in APEC, the U.S. can maximize its ability to engage countries lacking proper intellectual property rights protection. Recognizing the increasing importance of the Asiatic region to our national interests, I strongly support the effort to keep APEC energized and at the center of American diplomacy in East Asia.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Festival of China taking place at the Kennedy Center. This festival is the largest in the history of the Kennedy Center and the largest celebration of Chinese performing arts ever undertaken in the United States. Indeed, the Kennedy Center is coordinating the performances of more than 800 artists from China and the United States and is hosting more than 50 events associated with the month-long celebration. Mr. Speaker, it is well known that significant differences exist between the United States and China in some areas of current policy and practices. This is why it remains important that our government fosters cooperative artistic interaction between our two countries. I am pleased to commend the Kennedy Center and the Chinese Ministry of Culture for collaborating in this vein. Mr. Speaker, I also want to draw this body's attention to the important role that these cultural exchanges play in the overarching relationship between China and the United States. As Chairman of the US-China Interparliamentary Exchange, I know that it is important that the United States and China continue to work to understand each other on a variety of levels. Mutual cooperation, particularly through U.S.- China exchange programs and cultural events, brings about a deeper understanding and, in turn, can strengthen our bilateral relationship, so we can resolve our differences. Mr. Speaker, I applaud this exposition as it works to deepen our appreciation for some of China's unique cultural treasures and enhance the friendship between our two countries.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 250. I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Chairman Boehlert) for his leadership on the bill and commend the gentleman from Michigan (Chairman Ehlers) for introducing legislation that is so vital to the future of manufacturing in our country. Recently, I met with a representative of Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies out of Kansas City. He discussed his research and development activities on micromechanical parts, such as gears and other smaller devices. This work is very similar to that performed at the EIGERlab which is also a Federal micro-manufacturing research and development facility that I recently helped establish in the district I represent. EIGERlab has attracted a collection of scientists and researchers and has already proven to be a valuable center for advanced manufacturing R&D. H.R. 250 would help decentralize and streamline this type of manufacturing research so that efforts and duplication would be minimized, helping to ensure that American manufacturers can not only stay competitive, but thrive. The Kansas City facility uses a German process similar to an EDM wire. The EIGERlab uses a milling process, both making gears the size of Lincoln's nose on a Lincoln penny. H.R. 250 also provides robust authorizations for numerous manufacturing initiatives, including the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which is quite active in the area that I represent. Steve Yagle, the president of Reliable Machine Company in Rockford, Illinois said ``the training he received from IMEC has made Reliable more profitable, higher level of quality to our customers, increased our efficiency to be competitive,'' and, ``from this will be job creation, and a plan to handle company development as we grow.'' As we can see, funding programs like MEP are vital to helping our small manufacturers. I spend 75 to 80 percent of my time in Congress working on manufacturing issues, traveling the country and looking at new machines and new manufacturing processes. The American manufacturer needs as much help as he can get. H.R. 250 goes a long way, and I would urge its passage.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3673, but as chairman of the Committee on Small Business I want to raise an issue of potential concern regarding one provision included in the bill that raises the micropurchase threshold from $2,500 to $250,000 for goods and services used in support of Hurricane Katrina rescue and relief. We understand the need for giving relief and aid to the victims as quickly as possible. I also understand that was the reason the administration requested inclusion of this provision in the supplemental. While the provision in the bill only deals with the immediate rescue and relief operations, I am concerned that, moving forward, we ensure that small businesses, particularly those in the impacted gulf areas, are able to play a significant role in the recovery. I would ask the chairman if he would be willing to work with me and the administration to ensure that our small businesses are fully utilized and that we maintain appropriate controls over contracting.

Mr. MANZULLO. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, the United States has been blessed with the best system of medicine in the world. But we are having a crisis of access. This problem is not a case of whether a patient has health insurance. You may not be able to find a doctor to treat you. The headlines are replete with stories of women having to drive several hours because they cannot find a doctor to deliver their baby. If you are in a car accident in southern Illinois and need a neurosurgeon, you will be airlifted to another State because there are no neurosurgeons left to treat you. Litigation has escalated and awards have skyrocketed. Multi-million dollar court decisions and jury awards have left doctors with medical liability premiums increase 40 to 50 percent per year. Doctors in certain fields of high-risk fields of medicine can expect to be sued at least once in their career. As a result, doctors are retiring or leaving the practice of medicine. Emergency rooms and rural facilities have closed. Many other doctors are moving to States that have taken action to cap jury awards, which stabilizes malpractice costs. I know of one OB-GYN in Illinois who left her practice to go back to being a pharmacist where she could earn more money and not worry about malpractice premiums. She explained that after paying malpractice insurance, she and another physician made $50,000. A third doctor made $60,000 and the fourth doctor made $70,000. Their office manager made more than all of them: $75,000. Thirty years ago, California passed comprehensive medical liability reform. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, States that have limited noneconomic damages have seen premium increases by less than 20 percent. States without limits on noneconomic damages have seen premiums increase on average of 45 percent. This is quantifiable evidence that medical liability reform works. I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 5.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, as the chairman of the Small Business Committee, our Nation's small business men and women tell me over and over that finding accessible and affordable quality health care is their number one priority for themselves and their employees. I have heard from thousands of small employers in America who have been pleading for options to help them manage their surging health care costs. Small business owners tell me regularly how they struggle to provide their workers health insurance, but each year they face double digit increases. ``Mom and Pop'' businesses tell me how they want to provide healthcare for their employees, but every single year it gets more difficult. Many are giving up. Our Nation's entrepreneurs, whose ingenuity and hard work ethic have driven the American economy, have run out of options to battle this crisis. They need our help. And today, we bring forward a great option--Association Health Plans--to help them control these outrageous costs and continue offering vital health insurance to their employees and their families. In March of this year, I held a hearing on AHPs. The Coca Cola Bottlers Association testified they have long offered AHPs. However, in 1990, they had to stop offering AHPs to members with under 100 employees because of the disparity of law from State to State. Those small employers have incurred increased premiums of between 20-25 percent per year. For those bottlers employing over 100 workers and who still were able to maintain an AHP, they only had an average increase of 9 percent a year. The proof is irrefutable. AHPs work. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 525. Give hope to America's entrepreneurs. Vote for H.R. 525.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Speaker, I wish to express my strong support for H.R. 739, the Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act; H.R. 740, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act; H.R. 741, the Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act; and H.R. 742, the Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act. As Chairman of the Small Business Committee, I see daily the immense regulatory burden placed upon our small businesses. The Office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that the average small business is burdened with almost $7,000 per employee in regulatory compliance costs. I am pleased that the House has taken action to relieve small businesses of some of this burden. H.R. 739 provides small businesses with additional flexibility by allowing certain exceptions to the arbitrary 15-day deadline for employers to file responses to citations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This commonsense measure allows an extension of the 15-day deadline in narrowly tailored circumstances, namely when a small business inadvertently misses this deadline by mistake. H.R. 739 helps ensure that disputes between OSHA and small businesses would be resolved based on the merits of the situation as opposed to legal technicalities. No small business should be foreclosed from a remedy simply because of an arbitrary deadline. H.R. 740 helps ensure that OSHA reviews cases in a timely and more efficient manner by adding two additional commissioners to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). This change ensures that small businesses do not have long, drawn-out proceedings that monopolize their limited resources. H.R. 741 is designed to restore the review process that was originally intended by Congress when it enacted the OSHA law. Congress's original intent was to form a separate, independent, and unbiased entity, OSHRC, that presided over OSHA hearings. However, the lines between OSHA and OSHRC have become blurred. This bill restores the original system contemplated by Congress and ensures that OSHRC, and not OSHA, would be the party who interprets the law and provides an independent review of OSHA citations. Finally, H.R. 742 will assist small businesses by giving these businesses an opportunity to recover attorney fees if successful in challenging an OSHA citation. In all, this common-sense legislation allows OSHA to continue protecting workers at their place of employment, while giving small businesses the ability to be competitive, create jobs, and to be protected from frivolous lawsuits.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Chairman, last week, I rose in opposition to bringing up the East Asia Security Act of 2005 (H.R. 3100) on the suspension calendar because it contained some provisions that created unintended consequences for our exports to China as well as some of our largest export markets in Canada and Europe. I strongly support the efforts to strengthen our arms embargoes and make them more multilateral, particularly against China. Strengthening the weakest link--Europe--in the arms embargo against China will serve the cause of peace and freedom in the Pacific Rim region. At the same time, we must act diligently in pursuing this noble goal so we do not weaken our overall global competitiveness and give more reasons to foreign customers to avoid American-made products. I am pleased to report that many of my initial concerns have been addressed in a subsequent modification of H.R. 3100 that will now be offered as the Hyde/Lantos/Hunter/Manzullo amendment to the Foreign Relations Reauthorization Act, Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007 (H.R. 2601). In addition, another similar section that was already incorporated into H.R. 2601--dealing with the comprehensive nature of U.S. arms embargoes (Section 733)--will also be amended as part of the manager's amendment to address certain unintended consequences of this section. Some were concerned H.R. 3100 could have terminated U.S. defense cooperative projects with our allies whose policies permit arms transfers to China, regardless of whether such transfers actually occur. At a minimum, H.R. 3100 would have required an export license for every transaction and a notification to Congress regardless of dollar value, adding a costly new regulatory burden on U.S. companies specializing in the defense trade. It no doubt would have persuaded some of our closest allies to withdraw from cooperating with us. The bill as originally drafted threatened to disrupt numerous ongoing U.S. defense projects in Israel, Canada, Australia, and among member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. The compromise contained in this amendment permits the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense, to waive the export license requirement. H.R. 3100 also would have imposed a new export licensing requirement for ``dual use'' products (primarily commercial goods that may have a military application that currently do not require an export license) if the item is intended for military end use by the PRC. Some were concerned that because the language was not specific enough to just target military institutions inside China, such as the People's Liberation Army, PLA, and that there are still many state-owned enterprises in China, including all of their airline companies which can be taken over by their military in case of national emergency, this could have been an incentive for China to purchase non-U.S. products. The compromise contained in this amendment eliminates this new licensing regime and replaces it with a reporting requirement to the Commerce Department by the U.S. exporter 15 days after an item is exported. Commerce would then provide a report to Congress every quarter on the information provided by affected exporters. In addition, H.R. 3100 originally contained a list of five possible foreign sanctions the President could apply to any foreign person, including foreign governments, who violated the terms of the bill. Included in this list was a prohibition on the approval of ``dual use'' export licenses. If imposed, the only way around this sanction was to obtain a written presidential waiver to Congress. In 2004, Commerce approved $547 million in ``dual use'' exports to China. The compromise strikes the language that would prohibit Commerce from continuing to approve ``dual use'' exports licenses. Finally, I had several concerns about Section 733 of H.R. 2601, which aims to make U.S. arms embargoes more comprehensive. Again, this is a noble goal but must be achieved in a prudent manner. The section as originally written would have required U.S. exporters to obtain a ``dual use'' export license from the State and Defense Departments to sell to any entity or person even remotely connected with a foreign military that is subject to a U.S. arms embargo. Thus, for the first time, Section 733 would have transferred the licensing of these types of commercial ``dual use'' products from Commerce to the State and Defense Departments. Also, Section 733 as originally drafted did not recognize the commercial ties the PLA has in enterprises throughout China. For example, the PLA is technically the prime contractor for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Even many U.S. multinational corporations have joint ventures with Chinese partners in which the PLA has some stake. Thus, the provision would have imposed a new huge licensing burden on U.S. exporters selling to China. The Hyde manager's amendment institutes this new licensing procedure only for products that a U.S. exporter knows will be used for military, not commercial, purposes by any entity or person associated with a foreign military subject to a U.S. arms embargo. I trust that as the Executive Branch implements this provision, they will look to Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 1999 for a clear definition of a Chinese military end user. The compromise also retains Commerce as the lead agency to decide on commercial ``dual use'' export licenses. This compromise will allow our federal export control agencies to focus on what is truly important and will also not impose an undue regulatory burden particularly upon our small business exporters. Madam Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support the Hyde/Hunter/ Lantos/Manzullo amendment and also the Hyde manager's bloc amendment to H.R. 2601.

Mr. MANZULLO

Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Hyde- Lantos-Hunter-Manzullo amendment and associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) that sometimes we all are headed in the same direction, but it is extremely important to craft the legislation in order to achieve its intended purpose. The issue came up last week. It did not pass on a suspension. Mostly because of my activity on the floor, it failed at that point. Our staffs subsequently got together and came up with an amendment that makes sure that the Chinese army does not receive sensitive information from our allies and, at the same time, it does not hinder the export of our valuable manufacturing. So I want to commend the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde), the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for coming up with an excellent resolution, all aimed towards making sure that we preserve our manufacturing base, and at the same time we do not give any technology to the People's Liberation Army. I urge a yes vote on this amendment.