Gary Miller

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) such time as he may consume.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010. Representatives Meeks and Waters wasted no time responding with this legislation. They have been the most stalwart proponents of the Haitian people, and the Haitian people are very fortunate to have them on their side. I want to applaud them for their efforts with this act. As the Members of this body know, on January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered approximately 15 miles southwest of the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. What followed were 50 aftershocks with magnitudes over 4.0, all occurring within 24 hours. As of now, the Haitian Government has estimated 230,000 deaths and 300,000 injured. Additionally, 700,000 people have been displaced in the Port-au-Prince area. Damage caused by the earthquake is estimated between $8 billion and $14 billion, with reports speculating that reconstruction costs could approximate $14 billion. As the people of Haiti strive to put the pieces of their lives and the country back together, Congress clearly needs to help. This bill would have the Secretary of the Treasury instruct the U.S. representatives at the World Bank, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other multilateral institutions to use their influence at these institutions to reach an agreement on relieving Haitian debt to these entities and to suspend Haiti's debt service payments until those debts are canceled. Additionally, U.S. representatives at these institutions would advocate that future aid provided to Haiti be grant-based to avoid placing the country immediately back in debt as they seek to rebuild. In the shadow of a tragedy this size, this is an important first step, but I think the body must consider how much more can be done. So often American efforts to provide aid to impoverished nations come in the form of a check, which does provide a significant boost, but the goal here is to mitigate the impact of the disaster on the people. I hope this body can look at areas where American resources and know-how can be invested in Haitian society. In addition to feeding the people and providing shelter and medical care, we can leverage American resources so that we aren't simply sending a check. Americans are the most generous people in the world. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the citizens of this country have raised tens of millions of dollars to help the Haitian people. We should also be looking to send our heavy machinery and engineering capabilities along with qualified American workers--many of whom have been out of work themselves--to assist the Haitian people rebuild their nation quicker and more effectively. We will be holding a hearing next week in Financial Services to discuss many of these issues, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on ways that we can further leverage our Nation's great resources. In conclusion, I want to thank Representatives Waters and Meeks for introducing this legislation. You have been strong advocates, and I really applaud you for the efforts. I thank you for allowing me to participate here tonight. I strongly urge support of this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, am I correct that we have 7 minutes remaining?

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Meeks, I would be happy to yield 4 minutes of our time to you because I see you have numerous speakers, and I think you could probably utilize that time in additional speaking. I yield myself 1 minute at this point in time. As I have spoken to my good friends, Mr. Green, Mr. Meeks and Ms. Waters, about introducing legislation to help employ American workers in Haiti, we are going to be giving--and other groups are giving--tremendous amounts of money to Haitians and to the Haitian Government to basically rebuild. We all believe that it is important, with the amount of American workers, especially construction industries, that we have that are unemployed, to utilize many of our dollars to send the expertise and skills we have in contractors and workers and laborers from the United States to work with the labor and the Haitian people to rebuild their country. I want to commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for working with me on this. We are close to having legislation done. Ms. Waters, I spoke to you today, and we will be getting that to all of you to review before I introduce it. Hopefully we can bring this up in committee within a couple of weeks to start implementing American manpower and resources to help the Haitian people, and also, at the same time, to benefit those Americans that are out of work. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I would be happy to yield 4 of our minutes to my good friend from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield to the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from Alabama.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. My daughter, Elizabeth, lived with me here in Washington for about 4 years. She was one of the directors for a group called Witness for Peace, which is a human rights organization. I recall very well a trip she led of a group to Haiti. She spent a week in Haiti with individuals from the United States, looking at the situation that the people were in and trying to come up with ways that we could help the people of that country. My daughter passed away about 2 years ago, and I am proud to be part of this bill because she believed in this. She believed in the people. She believed that there was a lot of good that the American people could do for people in this part of the world. So I am just glad to chair this side of the hearing tonight. I would like to do it in honor of my daughter, if you don't mind. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for allowing S. 1599 to come to the floor today. I want to also thank my colleague, Howard Coble, who just previously spoke before me, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, and Chris Carney, an active reservist Navy commander, for introducing the House companion bill. I also wish to thank the committee staff for working so diligently behind the scenes to bring the bill to the floor today. Founded in 1922, then chartered by Congress in 1950, the Reserve Officers Association's mission is to ``support and promote development and execution of a military policy for the United States that will provide adequate national security.'' ROA is a first-class, member- oriented association which provides the men and women who serve our Nation in the cause of freedom a voice in creating government policy. ROA has a long list of policy accomplishments and an ambitious long- range program for the coming decade and beyond. Today ROA is still proudly serving our Nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in so many ways. This legislation, once enacted into law, will allow ROA to make the necessary technical changes within its organization to stay effective as an association. In 2010, ROA will be celebrating its 60th year as a congressionally chartered organization. I wish them continued success and thank them for their service to our country.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Thank you for yielding. We have been led to believe that the AMA, the doctors, now support this health care bill that is before us today, and the board of directors was somehow coerced to come out publicly and say they do. But the AMA House of Delegates Conference is convening today in Houston, Texas. It's made up of elected representatives from across the country. These representative doctors represent members of the AMA within their region. They meet to vote on policy issues affecting their doctors. They believe this was an unauthorized vote before the delegates arrived, that the board of directors should not have taken this vote. Today, the AMA doctors are circulating a petition requesting a vote of ``no confidence'' against the board of directors of the AMA. I repeat again, the doctors and delegates of the AMA believe this vote of their board was unauthorized, it should not have taken place prior to their convening, and there is a petition being circulated today by doctors who are extremely angry that their board would have taken this position. There are thousands of delegates meeting today in Houston who never had an opportunity to even voice an opinion or a concern or even have the light of day shine on this issue before they convened, before their board took this decision. I believe that AARP should be absolutely ashamed of coming out and voting for a bill that is against the interest of their people. I have over 70,000 Medicare-eligible seniors in my district; $500,000-plus dollars of cuts to Medicare. Now, many individuals in my district love the concept of Medicare Advantage. They say it's a great program, it covers things that they need covered, and there is no other opportunity for them to get this type of coverage. $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage: that's not waste, fraud and abuse; that's cuts to Medicare Advantage--$23.9 billion in cuts to skilled nursing facilities, $143.6 billion in cuts to hospitals, skilled nursing rehabilitation facilities, psychiatric hospitals and hospice cares. Again, $143.6 billion in cuts to the very hospitals that Medicare recipients need to go to. They need to look at this bill and say, Is this good for the people of this country? We were told that if we passed this huge stimulus bill, unemployment would not go above 8 percent. We are at 10.2 percent today. In reality, it's about 17.5 percent when you figure the individuals who are discouraged and have given up trying to get a job. The underemployed people who have part-time jobs that would love to have a full-time job, they are not being considered. They need to be taken into consideration. This bill destroys jobs in our Nation. These are letters from business people within my district that I've received in this last week that say it is going to kill jobs in our communities. The Orange County Department of Education, I received a letter from them today saying many jobs in education will be eliminated. ``I firmly believe that if Congress passes the proposed health care legislation that many jobs in education will be eliminated. Passing this legislation in this form will have a tremendous impact on students, their education, and the workforce in Orange County.'' Even one franchise dealer with Pizza Hut says it will cost him $3.5 million each year, on an annual basis, $3.5 million. You need to say, what are we doing in this country when doctors who are delegates representing other doctors are livid at this bill saying we are being accused of supporting something we do not support. Let's see how this vote goes. Let's see if they will even allow this vote to come to fruition tomorrow as it should. But think of the people we're supposed to be helping that we're going to hurt.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I thank the gentlewoman for the time. The resolution before us deals with China, and many of our jobs are going to go to China if the health care bill the Democrats are proposing is enacted. The administration is using the American Medical Association and AARP to garner support for their health care bill. The AMA House of Delegates is meeting today in Houston, Texas. It is made up of elected representatives from across the country, representing doctors and their members of the AMA. They meet to vote on policy issues affecting doctors. They're saying that it was an unauthorized vote of the board prior to the delegates arriving that went to support this bill. AMA doctors are demanding a vote of no confidence against the board of directors. In fact, there are two resolutions that they're demanding to be heard tomorrow. One is from the rank-and-file membership and members of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association. It reads: ``We of the rank and file membership and the members of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association do hereby object to your recent vote supporting H.R. 3962, also known as the Affordable Health Care for America Act. ``Whereas, H.R. 3962 will change the practice of medicine in America forever; and whereas, the AMA leadership voted to support H.R. 3962 prior to the convening of our House of Delegates; and whereas the AMA House of Delegates has strong feelings, beliefs that in many cases grave misgivings regarding H.R. 3962; and whereas the AMA leadership has denied our membership full discussion on this vitally important issue, we the undersigned do hereby demand, prior to addressing any item of business on the current agenda, immediate suspension of the rules of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association.'' And they called for a ``full discussion and debate of H.R. 3962, including a vote of no confidence in our leadership by the members of the House of Delegates.'' A very, very strong statement. The second resolution was filed, and it's called Resolution 1006. It was introduced by the Alabama delegation, the Arkansas delegation, the Delaware delegation, the District of Columbia delegation, the Florida delegation, the Georgia delegation, the Kansas delegation, Louisiana delegation, the New Jersey delegation, the South Carolina delegation, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the American Society of General Surgeons and Triological Society. The subject is ``Withdrawal support of H.R. 3962.'' Obviously, there is a problem that doctors are having with this bill. AARP has also come out saying that they represent seniors supporting this bill. But you have to look at this bill. I represent over 70,000 Medicare-eligible seniors in my district alone. The bill cuts over $500 billion out of Medicare starting in 2010, including $23.9 billion in cuts to skilled nursing facilities, $143.6 billion in cuts to hospitals, including skilled nursing facilities, long-term care facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, psychiatric hospitals and hospital care. Again, $143.6 billion in cuts to hospitals. Worst of all is $170 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage, which effectively will eliminate Medicare Advantage in the future. You can't support this bill and say you support seniors and you support doctors who represent their patients. With unemployment over 10.2 percent, a 26-year high, in reality it's 17.5 percent when you include the individuals who are discouraged trying to find jobs and they can't find them and those who are underemployed having part-time jobs and would really prefer to work full time. We have a problem in this country. We've passed a stimulus bill that said unemployment would not go above 8 percent. It's 10.2 percent today. It said it would not go up to 8 percent and lose more jobs, and it lost over 3 million jobs since then. We need to look at what we're doing. We need to say we care about the American people; we care about those people who are going to be taxed to pay for this; and we care about a system of health care that's the best in the world that will be ruined.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, the administration and congressional Democrats are currently wheeling and dealing behind closed doors attempting a government takeover of our Nation's health care system. Additionally, the Democrat scheme provides a back door to allow for the government funding of abortion. Since 1976, Federal funds have been barred from being used for abortions, and Democrats are refusing to continue this policy. Some of my colleagues will tell you their plan doesn't fund abortion, yet, on page 171, section 303 states that at least one plan participating through the new government-run exchange must cover abortion services. In addition, the bill contains explicit language saying ``nothing in this act shall be construed as preventing'' the public option from paying for all elective abortions. The public option will be a Federal program using Federal funds. The American taxpayers will be forced to send part of their hard-earned dollars to Washington every year to end the life of an unborn child. I call on my colleagues in this House to demand that Federal funding for abortion is banned in any and all forms of health care funding.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 795 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act. I see that Mr. Weiner is just walking in the door right now, so we're going to be able to have a very nice conversation. Welcome, Mr. Weiner. I'm very glad to have you. I'm honored to support your bill. This addresses the need for new construction or substantial rehabilitation to multifamily units in extremely high-cost areas of the country. The FHA multifamily mortgage insurance program works with private sector partners to expand the supply of rental housing. FHA's multifamily mortgage insurance programs enable qualified buyers to obtain long-term, fixed-rate, nonrecourse financing for multifamily properties that are affordable to low- and moderate-income families. These families include police, firefighters, teachers, entry and mid- level service workers, among others. In our most expensive cities it is very difficult for these workers, particularly those starting out in the workforce, to find affordable rental housing where they work. While the FHA multifamily mortgage insurance program could help, because of its loan limits there were only three FHA-insured multifamily loans for high-rise construction or rehabilitation approvals in the Nation in fiscal year 2007 and 2008. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, MBA, while the base loan limits and high-cost factors have been raised over the past 8 years to address issues in most parts of the country, there's still problems concentrated in major cities where high-rise construction is involved. In fact, the data shows that while elevator buildings cost 45 percent more than non-elevator structures, the current loan limits for these structures are less than 10 percent higher than non-elevator structures. Developers are simply unable to provide affordable housing units in high-cost areas because the current statutory limits for FHA mortgage insurance are too low for these types of structures. The slowdown in affordable rental housing production that is being enhanced by the credit crisis has resulted in a significant gap between the demand for and the supply of affordable rental housing. There is no private sector alternative to this program. The market served by FHA multifamily insurance does not overlap with competing private sector insurance. This bill would increase the multifamily loan limit for elevator buildings by up to 50 percent and give the Secretary of HUD the authority to increase the limit in extremely high-cost areas to 305 percent of the base rate; similar to insurance of mortgages on property in States like Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. And I think Mr. Weiner and I agree--if it's good enough for Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands, it's good enough for the rest of the United States. This program has a positive budgetary impact. Now this does not cost the Federal Government any money. Making money for the taxpayers is what we're looking at. Looking at the President's fiscal year 2010 budget, the multifamily insurance programs that relate to these loans limits is projected to make a profit--I repeat, a profit--on new loans insured in the fiscal year budget of $93 million. In fact, over the years, FHA multifamily loans have consistently made a profit for the taxpayers. Under the bill, 52 projects with over 11,000 units valued at $3 billion that are on hold will be able to move forward by using the FHA program. In Los Angeles alone, five multifamily projects for 1,700 units that are stalled due to the loan limits would be able to move forward. The National Home Builders Association has predicted that with the passage of this bill, 12,000 new construction jobs will be created. Over the past 74 years, the FHA multifamily mortgage insurance program has operated successfully, working with private sector parties to expand the supply of housing. This public-private partnership has leveraged billions of dollars in private sector investment to provide rental housing for millions of families and the elderly throughout the country. The bill is endorsed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors, the Institute of Real Estate Management, and 10 others. I want to commend Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bachus for sending this bill to the floor. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I thank Mr. Weiner for bringing this bill forward. It's very reminiscent of what happened to California with FHA and with conforming loan limits to high-cost areas. And I represent a high-cost area. My FHA loans from 2000 to 2005 dropped by 99 percent. Today, we've raised conforming loan limits in high-cost areas for FHA for conforming, and over 90 percent of the loans made in my area today of California, and most of California, are conforming in FHA loans. This, again, addresses a loophole that has existed for years. If it's good enough for Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands, which I think it is, it's good enough for the other high-cost areas of this country. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. I commend Mr. Moore for bringing it forward. This has passed Congress twice in the last Congress. It's been noncontroversial. It amends the Federal securities laws to make technical corrections and make conforming amendments related to the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. It's a reasonable approach. I don't know of any controversy or any opposition to this. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I want to thank Mrs. Maloney for coming forward late, but she is my dear friend, and we have worked for years on issues together, and this is one of them. She has always been diligent about recognizing the errors that might exist in this country and how we could be more productive and be fair to everybody on these issues. I applaud you for your efforts and for being my colleague. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentlewoman from Kansas (Ms. Jenkins) may be able to control my time and may be able to yield time, as required.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill. Requesting Member: Congressman Gary G. Miller Bill Number: H.R. 3326 Account: Navy--Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Legal Name of Requesting Entity: L-3 Power Paragon Address of Requesting Entity: 901 E. Ball Road, Anaheim, California 92805 Funding Secured: $2,000,000 Description of Request: This project is a design build prototype for a hybrid electric drive (HED) for the CG 47 Class Cruisers for the U.S. Navy. This project contributes to the future of environmentally sound, fuel-efficient propulsion. The Navy believes that this improvement would realize a significant savings per year per ship. This HED for surface combatants such as the CG 47 would significantly reduce fuel costs, increase ship endurance and range, produce less environmental emissions, increase ship survivability through reduce signatures, and provide increased overall ship electric power generation capacity. This installation would leverage advances in lighter weight and more efficient electric propulsion technologies that have resulted from the Office of Naval Research investments over the last several years. Requesting Member: Congressman Gary G. Miller Bill Number: H.R. 3326 Account: Army--Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Athena GTX Address of Requesting Entity: 10291 Trademark Street, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 Funding Secured: $3,000,000 Description of Request: This project will complete the development of a Wireless Medical Monitor (WiMed) allowing a combat medic to monitor vital signs and triage wounded soldiers in real time. Current medical triage monitors and vital signs data tracking tools are complex, heavy, and have bulky connections. They are also large, costly, and difficult to use. Using proven technology, the WiMed provides increased capability at a much lower cost. By streamlining casualty care and providing patient trend data, life saving decisions lead to earlier interventions and improved outcomes. Prototypes have demonstrated WiMed's ability to improve critical care by linking all patient care within the same wireless systems and platforms already in service. Once placed on a patient at the point of wounding, WiMed stays with that patient throughout triage and care. WiMed works with standard blood pressure cuffs or a simple highly mobile forehead stick-on sensor and integrates many inputs, including: pulse oximetry, blood pressure, temperature, skin humidity, and electrocardiogram. The patient's state is broadcast via Wi-Fi technology to any number of users with linked platforms anywhere in the world at any time and they can receive vital signs information on any number of casualties that have the WiMed monitoring equipment placed on them. Continued funding for this project will greatly improve combat casualty care outcomes. Requesting Member: Congressman Gary G. Miller Bill Number: H.R. 3326 Account: Navy--Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Sabtech Address of Requesting Entity: 17320 Dahlgren Road, Dahlgren, Virginia 22448 Secondary Address: 23231 La Palma Avenue, Yorba Linda, California 92887 Funding Secured: $5,000,000 Description of Request: The United States Navy's Aegis ship modernization plan includes modernization of the ships' basic hull, mechanical, and electrical equipment, and modernization of their combat systems. In both areas, the Navy plans to install new systems or components that are more capable than the ones they are to replace. Some of the planned changes are intended to permit naval ships to be operated with a smaller crew, thereby reducing their annual operation and support costs. Planned changes to the ships' combat systems are intended to, among other things, begin shifting their Aegis computers and software to a more open architecture meaning, in general terms, an arrangement that uses non-proprietary computers and software. The Navy believes that moving to an Aegis open architecture will permit the Aegis system to be updated over the remainder of the ships' lives more easily and less expensively, using contributions from a variety of firms. This funding will be used to conduct a demonstration to remove existing Legacy NTDS computer interfaces found in Baseline 7, Cruiser Modernization, and Aegis Modernization. This request was also submitted to the House Armed Services Committee in order to secure authorization statutes in the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization Act. Requesting Member: Congressman Gary G. Miller Bill Number: H.R. 3326 Account: Navy--Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Naval Health Research Center Address of Requesting Entity: 140 Sylvester Road, San Diego, California 92106 Funding Secured: $3,000,000 Description of Request: In the United States, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, with an incidence rate of 16 percent of the general population. The primary treatment of prostate cancer usually includes radical prostatectomy surgery, which provides a good management of the local tumor in most of the patients. Unfortunately, in 15 to 40 percent of patients, recurrent prostate cancer is possible within five years of surgery. Though recurrent prostate cancer following failure of local control is not curable, patients with recurrent cancer are perfect candidates for immunotherapy, a new approach that is still under clinical investigation for oncology applications. The U.S. Navy, through its Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California, is in a unique position to advance immunotherapeutic approaches for prostate cancer that have so far shown efficacy in animal models. With Fiscal Year 2009 funding, the U.S. Navy Cancer Vaccine Program implemented a Phase 1A/1B clinical trial of its developed vaccine for prostate cancer patients at the Veterans Medical Center. Forty-eight U.S. military veterans who have received previous treatment (surgery, radiation or radioactive seed implants) and now have a rising PSA participated in the study. With proof of minimal toxicity of the PSA vaccine in the Phase 1A clinical trial, a second clinical trial of patients with rising PSAs and nonpalpable biopsy confirmed prostate cancer would be initiated with Fiscal Year 2010 funding. This program will have direct benefits for the health care options of our nation's active Armed Forces, retired veterans, and the general American population.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, think about it-- government-run health care. Now, the argument being made by my friends on the other side is that the only reason it hasn't worked everywhere it has been tried is that the right people aren't in charge. Think about that. It has never worked anywhere. It doesn't work. An individual I represent, who lives in Mission Viejo, was a doctor for 60 years in the United States and in Canada. He holds two of the highest degrees in medicine. He said it not only hurts the poor; it hurts the wealthy, it hurts everybody. If you want to ruin health care, have the government take it over. Now, the argument is we'll just have the government compete with the private sector. Think about that. Where does the government get the money? From you--the taxpayers--and the private sector has to charge people to provide health care. There is no way in the world the private sector can compete with government when the government is funded by unlimited amounts of money that they extort from you, the working people. If you want health care in this country to be of quality and to be good, there are things we can do, but don't destroy it by turning it over to the government. The government does very few things well. In fact, my colleagues complain about the way the government even handles wars. That's the one thing we can do in a quality fashion, but government-run health care is not something we want to turn over to the government.

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California

Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Neighborhood Preservation Act, a bill that I introduced with my colleague from Indiana, Joe Donnelly, who I want to thank for his support on this. This bipartisan legislation is supported by Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bachus of the House Financial Services Committee, who are both cosponsors of the bill. This bill amends the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to authorize depository institutions and their holding companies to lease foreclosed properties held by institutions for up to 5 years while ensuring the safety and soundness of such activity. H.R. 2529 would provide a tool to address the current foreclosure crisis. Today the American economy is suffering from an overburdened inventory of available houses for sale, roughly estimated at a 10-month supply. In some areas of the country, distressed sales have reached almost 90 percent of the houses being sold which are continually driving down home and neighborhood values. In my district, distressed sales represent approximately 86 percent of homes on the market in San Bernardino County, 65 percent in Los Angeles County, and almost 50 percent in Orange County. In fact, foreclosures have caused prices to decline in California alone by 30 percent in recent months, and they continue to be a problem. To address the inventory surplus and help stabilize the housing market, the Neighborhood Preservation Act would allow banks to temporarily--and I emphasize temporarily--lease foreclosed properties. Under the bill, the prior homeowner would have the opportunity to lease a property and could be given the option to buy back the home. By allowing a family to lease a property rather than abandon it, families would be given a chance to remain in their homes until they have the means to own again. This legislation would also enable the lender to sell the property within 5 years into a more stable market; thereby, potentially recovering all or part of the losses that could otherwise have occurred in an immediate sale in a saturated market. The Neighborhood Preservation Act would not only reduce the number of houses being sold, but it would help preserve the physical condition of foreclosed properties, which would ultimately help stabilize the aesthetics and economic value of neighborhoods and communities. This would minimize the negative impact on surrounding homes and neighborhoods that have been impacted by the unrelenting foreclosure crisis. To ensure bank solvency, this bill would require the Federal bank agencies to establish criteria and minimum requirements for the leasing activities of any depository institution, including minimum capital requirements that the agency determines to be appropriate for the preservation of the safety and soundness of the institution. The bill explicitly states that ``it is the intent of Congress that no permanent change in policy on leasing foreclosed property is being established with respect to depository institutions'' and their ``holding companies.'' The purpose of this bill is to mitigate the impact of the oversupply of homes on the marketplace and allow individuals the chance to stay in their homes during these exigent circumstances. Mr. Speaker, at no cost to the taxpayer, this bill will help preserve properties and communities, provide more confidence in our housing markets, and assist in stabilizing the economy. At this point, I reserve the balance of my time.