Tim Murphy

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, one of the important points that we need to recognize as we address these issues of mental health and mental illness today are the causes. For so often, as I described earlier, when people are thinking about or talking about mental illness, we oftentimes do not understand that it really is a problem of brain functioning. It's written off too often as the worried well of people complaining or malingering, when really we need to understand the following. When we're talking about problems with heart disease, it's easy to look upon those problems, to look at X-rays and other tests and MRIs and see if the function of the heart is appropriate, if the valves are working, if the arteries and veins are blocked or free. When we look at other illnesses throughout the body, there are so many tests which we have grown accustomed to, MRIs, CT scans, EKGs, et cetera. And we look at those things and we're able to see that something is wrong based upon the results of those tests. One of the problems with mental illness, leading to the prejudices about mental illness, is that there are no tests like that. One cannot take an X-ray of the brain and say that the person has depression or anxiety disorder or bipolar illness. There have been multiple studies looking at patterns that may show up on some tests. But my point is this: Just because we cannot see it on a medical test like that does not mean it does not exist. Back in the 1800s, Louis Pasteur described the microbes that finally led us to understand about germs and diseases. Before that, no one had any tests to look at that. It did not mean they didn't exist. That merely meant that we did not know that they were there. But it was a full century later before we found that one could treat diseases with antibiotics, and we're still learning more about it. So, too, it is important we understand that so often when discussing these issues of mental illness treatment, people raise the question that you cannot really test for it. Now, those are areas that science and research are still needed to determine what we can do, but it does not mean they don't exist just because we cannot find those. Instead, what we rely on is the comments made by persons themselves or watching the behavior of persons because, indeed, those are the indicators that tell us something is wrong with the function of the human brain. It is a neurological problem. It is a neurobehavioral exhibition of those problems. It is those problems that we have to understand that sometimes are treated with medication and sometimes are treated with counseling and sometimes both, but we have to make sure we understand that we cannot write these off with treatments just by ignoring them or just saying that someone else without treatment because an insurance plan will cover that is enough. Many times cardiologists will tell us that they recognize when they give someone a diagnosis that it's terminal or severe, that many of those patients will themselves exhibit symptoms of depression, so they automatically write a prescription for an anti- depressant drug. That's not enough. The comments I made before about how, when a person has a chronic illness, their health care costs can double if they have untreated depression, that alone should wake us up to understand that we need to be treating mental illness, not ignoring it. That alone should wake up employers to understand that improved productivity and lowered health care costs should be enough to motivate us to do that. That alone should be information that the Congressional Budget Office, who scores these bills, should tell us that there are scores that are important in terms of savings. Unfortunately, they don't tell us scores for prevention. And so it goes on. These are things we need to be continuing to do, and that's why we will continue to support this bill. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I am just inquiring how much time we have remaining.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, many important things have been said by several Members, and passionately, on this bill. What we also have to remember, as we wrap this up, is somewhere in America there are people who are suffering in silence, there are children who are facing abuse, angry spouses who are attacking one another, anxious mothers struggling to care for their children, and, of course, throughout the workplace, as has been so carefully documented here, so many problems. It is important that we not only pass this bill strongly but also continue to work together. I commend my colleague, Chairman Pallone, and the work that he does and to continue the work that he does in leading this. Myself and many Members from our side of the aisle continue to stand ready to make sure we work out any issues with regard to expanding issues of mental health parity. We know that all of us care deeply about those in need and all of us remain committed to helping those in need from our side of the aisle.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, while Congress and the President are talking about an economic stimulus package, remember that the high costs of energy are costing us our economy. Oil and gas prices continue to climb. Our President asked Saudi leaders to produce more oil to bring prices down. Well, something is wrong here. OPEC controls the price, OPEC funds the process, and we end up funding both sides of the war on terror. The trade imbalance grew in November to record levels, primarily from the high cost of imported oil. But Congress votes to block drilling for U.S. oil on the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Coast, the Western States and Alaska. Something is wrong here. We have hundreds of years of American coal to make electricity. We should fund research to clean up the coal, not ignore it. In the meantime, energy costs go up, food costs go up, manufacturing jobs go down, the economy goes down. Something is wrong here. If we are serious about helping the economy, let's bring down the cost of energy. The best economic stimulus package is a job.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, congratulations to Coach Ray Reitz and the Jeannette Jayhawks football team, who are the Class AA football champions, beating every team they played this year by more than 20 points. Senior quarterback Terrell Pryor, who is also USA Today's Offensive Player of the Year, scored five of the seven touchdowns in their 49-21 win. He is the first player in State history to eclipse both 4,000 yards rushing and 4,000 yards passing. But Jeannette is champions in the classroom as well, with McKee Elementary being a Blue Ribbon school, and all their schools receiving the Keystone Achievement Recognition this year, and the school district getting the bronze medal. Great accomplishment for a small school district. Congrats to the Jayhawks for excellence in the classroom and on the field.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank my distinguished ranking member. In 2007, there have been 61 toy recalls, which translates to about 25 million toys. This number is up significantly from the 40 recalls of 5 million toys we had last year. And this is what we caught. This bill will help protect consumers. The real culprits remain, however, the trading partners who refuse to abide by international standards, countries like China and others who have lax oversight, who happen to be the leading countries that are involved with these appalling rates. That's why this bill is so important, because it is up to us to set sound and safe standards and enforce them. In addition, I am pleased the committee will be looking at further research to look at the issue of pet toys, pet toys that may themselves have lead and other toxic metals that are unregulated. Not only is this a concern in exposure for the family pet, but also because many of these toys themselves are inviting to children. Young children themselves may pick them up, put them in their mouth, and get these toxic substances on their hands. As people do their shopping this holiday season, perhaps what we should be doing as a Nation, before this bill is signed by the President and goes into effect, instead of judging products by cheap prices, we should all be looking for quality and safety that comes from buying American products. With that, I thank the committee.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, over the last several months, and certainly over the last 2 weeks, Congress has had a number of accomplishments. Today we did a number of things that were important such as funding for our troops. We also improved toy safety. But there have been a number of other opportunities which, unfortunately, with the schedule that we missed, that we could have done and should have done and I hope next year we will do. And that is while we are looking at issues to improve health care and reduce health care costs, when we talk about Medicare or Medicaid or SCHIP, one of the things we should have done was really work to lower costs and save money and save lives. We hear both sides of the aisle these days talking about the costs of everything: The national debt in the trillions, earmarks need to be reduced, health care is too expensive. But too often we keep talking about these problems or saying perhaps Congress can find a way to pay for these things. But shouldn't we look at how to fix the problem and not just finance it? We had a solution in front of us that could have saved $50 billion in health care costs. But it didn't happen. Earlier this year I introduced H.R. 1174, the Healthy Hospitals Act, which received strong bipartisan support. This legislation is a simple solution to lower costs associated with hospital- and health care- acquired infections. The implementation of this bill is not expensive; it only requires hospitals to publicly disclose their hospital-acquired infection rates and follow simple cleanliness techniques that we already expect our caretakers to follow, things you assume that hospitals and clinics are doing, but, unfortunately, they are not always doing that: washing their hands, wearing gloves, sterilizing equipment before and after uses, testing patients for other diseases prior to treatment or admission to hospitals, giving antibiotics before and after surgery. These aren't revolutionary ideas; they're just ideas that too often are not followed. Well, how much of a difference does it really make letting the public know about hospital-acquired infection rates of individual hospitals? In my home State of Pennsylvania, to give a great example of what hospitals can do when they're held accountable for these infections, many hospitals, where they are now required by law to publicly post on the Internet their infection rates, have seen their rates drop to zero or near zero. Incredible, and a good story. According to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the average charge of hospitalization in 2005 for a patient who became infected with a hospital-acquired infection was over $185,000, but the average charge for a patient without infection was $31,000. That's $31,000 versus $185,000, a difference of over $150,000 per patient. Doesn't that tell us what we can be doing to save money and save lives? Now, multiply that statistic by 49 other States and we see what happens. We need to seek areas where we can reduce costs. Let me point out the grim statistics of this year as of today. This year's toll of health care acquired infections, such as pneumonia, urinary tract infections, or what's been called the ``super bug of methicillin-resistant infections,'' as of today, 1,934,246 cases, 87,010 deaths, and over $48 billion spent on infections people acquired when they go to the hospital or go to the doctor. Twenty-two other States have taken some steps to reduce these, and we need to make sure we make this a universal system of recording. I hope that we work this next year to emphasize patient choice, patient quality, and patient safety, and pass H.R. 1174.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a town in my congressional district, is lucky to have had their fire chief for 55 years. John Edward Hutchinson, who prefers to be known just as Hutch, first took office in 1952, and he has no intention of slowing down. Were he standing with me, he would say that he simply wants to help. And help he has. From developing training programs and specialized teams in his department to establishing burn classes in local schools, Hutch has put in countless hours of service to the community. But it's not just Southwestern Pennsylvania that has benefited from Hutch's time as fire chief. Hutch has organized his teams to assist the victims of natural disasters throughout the country from hurricanes to floods. Hutch always shies from attention, but he deserves our recognition for 55 years of tireless service to the community.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the career of John Edward ``Hutch'' Hutchinson. Hutch has served as the Greensburg Fire Chief in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, for the past 55 years. The position of fire chief in Greensburg is an elected office. Since 1952, the residents of the community have resoundingly affirmed they appreciate Hutch's dedication to the job by reelecting him. Since taking office, Hutch has made countless improvements to the department. His firefighters are all volunteers, highly trained and specialized. Hutch has developed a dive team, a swift water rescue, large foam and vent operations, a bloodhound team, and an air rescue team. In 1997, the Greensburg Fire Department First Responders were prepared to handle a large community disaster, including attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. Few in 1997 could have seen the value in this forward-thinking for a volunteer department, yet it is essential knowledge for all firefighters today. Under Hutch's leadership, the Greensburg Fire Department has assisted with natural disaster response nationwide. From helping rebuild a community playground in Alabama to clearing trees off roads in South Carolina, Hutch has turned the Greensburg Fire Department into a humanitarian outlet. Hutch takes his job beyond the walls of the firehouse into the community. He established health and fitness centers for the community, firefighters, and City employees. Hutch has developed burn prevention classes for the local elementary and middle schools. He has served on the local hospital board, the Greensburg YMCA Board, the aerobics center board, and the camp cadet board. Though he's been in office for 55 years, Hutch has no interest in slowing down. He calls himself ``a young kid''--and isn't that a wonderful attitude? Hutch refuses to let his age be a factor. He works out twice a day, 7 days a week, to ensure that he's not asking his firefighters to do anything he can't do himself. It is my great honor to recognize the long career of John Edward ``Hutch'' Hutchinson, a man who has given immeasurable amounts to the city of Greensburg, to Pennsylvania, and to our nation during his five and a half decades of service as fire chief.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 1141, H.R. 2085, McGee Creek Project Pipeline and Associated Facilities Conveyance Act, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes''.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, over the next 40 years, electricity demand in the United States will double. We have to conserve. We have to make strides in efficiency and renewable energy, but we can't depend on renewable power alone. It would take 3,000 huge windmills or 11 square miles of solar collectors to equal the power output of one modern coal plant. Even if we quadrupled the share of renewable power by 2050, we will still need coal for half of our electricity. To meet America's future energy needs, we will probably need to build 800 new coal plants over the next 40 years: 400 to replace the old, inefficient plants and 400 to meet the growth and demand. This translates to one coal plant every 2 to 3 weeks, even if we start in 2010. Solving the problem will require clean coal technologies with zero emissions, including greenhouse gases. Let's solve American's energy problems by cleaning up America's abundant energy resources. This bill, however, will tax America's abundant supplies of coal, and that just doesn't make sense.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, defective, unsafe products, toys with poisonous lead paint, American jobs going overseas lured by cheap labor and unfair trade practices, these issues concern every American. But all of us can take a stand this holiday season. One way is that instead of judging products by cheap prices, look for quality and safety that comes with American products. This holiday season shoppers will be buying gifts made from all over the world, but let's make an extra effort to look for American products. This Christmas check the label for ``Made in the USA'' and support jobs for hardworking Americans and American quality. ``Made in the USA'' may be the best gift ever this Christmas.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me on this critically important issue about energy. As American families look into the next few months about how they are going to be paying their gas bills as the cold winter sets upon us, as natural gas prices go up, of how they will be paying their automobile costs as gasoline prices go up, as we look at such things as jobs such as chemical industry as was just outlined by my friend from New Mexico, it is extremely important that as Congress looks at facing an energy bill this week that we note not only what is in there but what we expect is not in the bill. And unless we take on a comprehensive energy policy in America, America will be facing more brownouts, more times when the power is not there. And in a world where other countries, such as China, are opening up a new coal-fired power plant every couple of weeks without the scrubbers and environmental controls we have on, they will be able to undercut us even further with our costs of manufacturing. Unless Congress takes sizable action to back up energy legislation that looks to the big picture of diversifying our energy production and help to lower costs for consumers, our problems will only multiply. Now, I represent a district in Pennsylvania coal country, directly above the Pittsburgh coal seam. It extends throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Some geologists tell me that the Pittsburgh coal seam has been the most valuable mineral deposit in the world. It was responsible for the growth of the American steel industry, glass, chemical industry, it has some 50,000 jobs in southwestern Pennsylvania dependent on the coal industry, railroads, barges, trucking, so many other industries involved. It allowed for the development of modern railroads, river navigation networks. It remains a valuable resource that will be able to serve us for many years to come, perhaps 250 more years, long after the Mideast is dry in its oil wells. Closing the mines in Pennsylvania would be like closing the beaches in Florida or closing the harbors in New Orleans. The country can't afford to stop using coal, either. It is a valuable economic resource for our region as other resources available in other parts of the country. So we have to take advantage of every possible resource to meet our energy demands. The messages today are quite simple. We cannot achieve energy independence without coal. We cannot achieve energy security without coal. And our coal must be clean coal, not the other option of no coal at all. Now, listen to these numbers. They are quite compelling. Over the next 40 years or so, the electricity demand in the United States will double. These are the demands of people in their homes. They are also the demands of increasing jobs in this country. We will conserve, and we will have make great strides in efficiency. But with the growth in the population and improving quality of life, it all dictates that electricity demands will still increase substantially. Coal accounts for about 50 percent of our electricity, and nonhydro renewables like solar and wind account for about 2 percent. We have already built as much hydroelectric as possible, and it is doubtful that people will want to see more large super dams built around the country. But even if we triple the share of renewable electricity, we will still need coal for close to half of our electricity in 2050. This means we will still have approximately to double the available coal capacity by 2050 just to meet demand. Right now there are about 400 coal plants in the United States. Many of them are old and inefficient, outdated. Most or all of them will need to be replaced over the next 40 years. So just to maintain our current level, we are going to need to build about 400 plants to replace those. And then to meet the new electrical demands over the next 40 years, we are going to have to build an additional 400. That is 800 new coal-fired power plants between now and 2050. This is twice as many plants as have been built since the start of the Industrial Revolution. This translates to about one coal plant every 2 to 3 weeks, even if we start in 2010, just to maintain the current capacity. It is a huge demand. And we can do that in a way that has clean coal technology, zero emissions, if we will choose to make the investments. MIT said about $8 billion or so will be needed to meet those investments in real dollars. That seems a lot cheaper than it took us back in the 1960s to put someone on the Moon. In the meantime, China is adding about one or two coal plants a week and they are going to continue. They put cheap power in the plants without scrubbers. In the U.S., renewable technologies such as solar and wind are expanding rapidly and will continue to do so. But they simply cannot match coal in terms of delivered power. Here are some examples. This past August, power from West Virginia's largest wind farm was available only about 10 percent of the time that it was actually needed. That is, the wind doesn't blow consistently every day. At 10 percent availability and 3 megawatts capacity, about 3,000 windmills would be needed to equal the useful output of just one coal plant. To completely replace coal with wind, we would need to build 1.2 million windmills by 2050. This assumes the utilities will actually be allowed to build all the new miles of transmission lines they will need. And will people want all those wind towers up? Another area, the largest solar panel array in the United States is under construction at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. It is going to cover 140 acres of desert with 70,000 solar panels, but will produce only about 2 percent of the output of a modern coal-fired power plant. At that rate, we would have to destroy 11 square miles of beautiful southwestern Pennsylvania forest or consume this much valuable land from our farmers just to avoid building one coal plant. The truth is, we need to increase the supply of all energy, coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables. We can't afford to ignore any of them unless we are willing to put up with a series of brownouts and blackouts during times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. So the key to solving this problem includes developing clean coal technologies with zero emissions and zero greenhouse gases. Another option is to switch to natural gas, and what we are hearing in the energy bill is there will be more push for doing that, as was outlined by my friend from New Mexico. As natural gas prices continue to soar, that is more jobs out of America that use chemical plants and more families' gas bills going up. Natural gas provides about 19 percent of our current electricity demand, and its use will also have to double by 2050 to maintain its current market share. About 90 percent of the electric generating capacity installed since the year 2000 has been natural gas-based, and natural gas is about three times more expensive than coal per kilowatt of electricity generated. This has increased the demand for natural gas and raised the price of both gas and electricity. The increased use of natural gas for electricity combined with our policies that place off-limits much of our domestic gas resources has caused us to be become a gas-importing nation when we could be a gas-exporting nation. Congress has repeatedly made vast areas of our coastlines off-limits, thus embargoing our own resources from ourselves, boycotting our own resources, and all the while countries like Cuba drill closer to our shore than we are allowed to. We used to be self-sufficient in natural gas, but not anymore. Most of our imported gas still comes from Canada, but this is declining. Imports of liquid natural gas, or LNG, are increasing rapidly. Not only does this move us farther away from independence, but it is unsustainable because demand for liquefied natural gas throughout the world, especially in Europe, is also increasing rapidly. Chemical companies which use natural gas as their primary feedstock to make such chemicals and fertilizers and other products and other industries that depend heavily on natural gas are going to move their operations overseas where gas is cheaper. When natural gas costs in Middle East or Russia are $1 per unit or less compared to $6 to $12 at a fluctuating cost line in the United States, it is easy to see why the decisions are being made. Already we have lost 3.2 million manufacturing jobs, almost 20 percent of the total since the year 2000. Chemical companies consistently say that natural gas costs are far more important than labor costs when making their decision to move overseas. Worse yet, if greenhouse gas legislation becomes reality in its current form, natural gas will become by default the fuel of choice for electric utilities. The trends we have already seen will only become worse. Prices will soar. In the mix of which energy source is the cheapest, hydro is probably the cheapest, but as we said before, we doubt if people will want to build several more dams and dam up beautiful valleys across America. Next cheapest is nuclear power followed by coal, wind, natural gas and solar. But let me briefly talk about nuclear. We need to decide whether nuclear power can pick up the required electricity supply. Nuclear plants currently provide about 19 percent of our electricity, about 30 percent in Pennsylvania. There are about 100 nuclear power plants in operation in the United States today, but we can't just keep relicensing them forever. They are also getting old and worn and will need to be replaced. By 2050, we will have to replace just about all of the existing nuclear fleet. They are long past their prime and will need to close. This means that by 2050, we will have to build about 200 new nuclear power plants. That is 100 replacements and 100 new to meet the expected demands of 2050. The trouble is we haven't built a single nuclear power plant in the last 30 years, given all the delays and costs associated with nuclear construction. It is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to build plants in the U.S. at the rate needed. That is about five per year, about one every 2\1/2\ months starting in 2010. Although the operating costs for nuclear plants are about the same or slightly cheaper than coal, the capital costs are much higher and the lead times for construction and permitting are much longer. The nuclear operating costs also do not include the long-term costs of nuclear waste disposal or storage. As with natural gas, the enactment of greenhouse gas legislation in what we are understanding is the current form, without working to help the nuclear is going to increase the demand for nuclear power and place further strain on resources and increase costs. So there we are, two of our biggest resources for producing electricity, coal and nuclear, are areas that Congress has got to deal with seriously. We have 250, perhaps 300 years' worth of coal in the ground. Scientists are working on ways of making sure we have zero emissions coal, zero greenhouse gases, massively reduce that. Right now I know in Pennsylvania about 40 percent of our coal-fired power plants have no scrubbers, or inadequate scrubbers. Unfortunately, the way new source review works is if a company says let's work to improve efficiency, let's put in new turbines or other things that improve efficiency by a few percent, at that point, the government comes in and says, no, we now have to review everything you do, and if you don't take care of everything with all the scrubbers, you can't do it at all. The companies say, well, we were thinking of spending 20, or 50 or $150 million on some upgrades but we don't have four or $500 million to take care of this one plant. So they hold off. That is not cleaning the air. That is not taking care of our needs. What we have to do is look at ways of promoting the new technology, helping private business make those investments in new technology, but above all, meet our current and our future needs by addressing the issues of America's abundant supplies of coal and expanding the use of nuclear power which is clean. It is one of those areas we have to deal with seriously. I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for yielding me this time and his leadership on working in these areas which is so important for America's energy security.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. In Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a town in my congressional district, Allegheny Police Detective Lawrence Carpico saved the life of 16-year-old Sarah Deiuliis, a victim of a school acquaintance, on October 31, 2007. Sarah had been lured into the woods by someone she considered a friend. When the young man attacked her with a hammer, she fended off her attacker and ran luckily into the path of Detective Carpico who happened upon the couple while walking a dog. Detective Carpico, who was off duty at the time, acted decisively and ushered the girl to safety and called for the assistance of on-duty officers and medics. For his actions, he will be presented with the Mount Lebanon Police Department's Chief's Award. Likewise, let's recognize Sarah, who displayed extraordinary courage in the face of extreme danger. She fought back against her attacker using intelligence and quick thinking. For this, she will be recognized with the Survivor Award. It is a great honor to represent such courageous citizens and to present their story in this Chamber, and I commend both for their actions.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1100, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.'' Stated against:

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1103, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this week Education Secretary Spellings released guidelines to clarify the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but the current law does not go far enough to keep our campuses safe. Schools need to be able to talk with parents when they think a student is at risk for violence without fear that they are going to be sued. That is why I introduced H.R. 2220, the Mental Health Security for Families and Education, or the Mental Health SAFE Act, to allow universities to notify parents if a student is at risk of suicide or homicide or assault, while holding schools harmless if they act in good faith. Schools should be focused on the safety of students, not fear of being sued if they do take action or sued if they don't take action. We need a law to protect students and parents. It is too late for Virginia Tech; it is too late for the many students who commit suicide or homicidal acts each year. It is not too late for other campuses. I ask my colleagues to please cosponsor the Mental Health SAFE Act. Let's work together to save lives.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. This Tuesday, a Wall Street Journal article written by Theo Francis started off by saying, ``Hospitals are prime breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant `superbugs' that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year. But most people have had no way of knowing how well their hospital keeps these bacteria--and infections in general--under control.'' Nineteen States have some version of requiring reporting of infection rates in hospitals, but there is no overall plan for this, and thus there is a great deal of confusion. That is why I introduced H.R. 1174, the Healthy Hospitals Act, to help our Nation's citizens understand the infection rates in hospitals and get these under control. Here are today's sad statistics. So far this year 1.6 million people have developed an infection in a hospital. There have been 73,000 deaths and a cost of over $40 billion. It is time we get these under control, and I ask my colleagues to help support by signing on as cosponsors of H.R. 1174. Let's stop these deadly diseases that are killing so many in our hospitals.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, in the news headlines yesterday and today, we learned that more people die from an infection called MRSA than die from AIDS. The news, however, is much worse than this. And that is, if you look at the amount of preventable infections that occur in health care settings, it actually is more like 90,000 people die, will die this year from preventable infections in health care settings, and over 2 million cases will occur. The cost to our health care system in America is over $50 billion. As we look at the cost of health care and how families cannot afford it, it is important that this Chamber take into account what we can do to reduce costs and fix the system and not just finance the system. And this is one of those areas. Now, recently, the Center for Medicare Services, CMS, also said that they would move towards not funding treatment of preventable infections in hospitals. Now, although that is an important move, and one that will save a great deal of money and one that we believe will help motivate health care centers to take more action, it still does not help with a couple of issues. One is that there's not a universal system across America where citizens can find out what are the infection rates within certain health care settings. And those are important because when one is selecting a hospital for care or going to a clinic, it would be good to know what those infection rates are. You know, for example, it's mandated by law that airlines have to report their on-time rates for when they depart or arrive at the gates at an airport. However, you cannot find that information about the safety levels of the hospital which you may be going for treatment or surgery, and we need to make that available. Nineteen different States require some level of this, but, quite frankly, it is a hodgepodge of different requirements. Some report to the Department of Health. Some report some diseases and not others. And we need to make this uniform across the Nation so that patients can tell and that it is an important aspect of helping people to understand before they go into a hospital. Now, the thing about this is these infection rates are preventable. You have issues such as MRSA, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus; pneumonias; urinary tract infections; and others that could be preventable by a couple of important procedures: washing hands; wearing gloves for procedures; sterilizing equipment; cleaning up before and after procedures, including patients' rooms and other areas; making sure that visitors to the hospital follow these same procedures; wearing a hospital gown or other clothes so that patients do not get exposed from one doctor visiting one room to the next. Some countries even require visitors to wear masks and a gown and to scrub. I understand in the United Kingdom they require the doctor to make sure they scrub and not wear jewelry room to room and to put on a different gown as they go to each room so that diseases are not spread. These are important steps that can take place. However, we don't have any kind of universal reporting system in this country. My bill I introduced called H.R. 1174, the Healthy Hospitals Act, would help to make this uniform. And that is it would require the Secretary of Health to come up with a system of reporting and hospitals would give their information and there would be an annual report to Congress of best practices to reduce these deadly diseases. It is tragic that more people die from infection they pick up at a health care center each year than all of our soldiers who died in Vietnam. And if we saw this as the emergency that it is, if, for example, we had heard that a plane crashed somewhere and a couple hundred people died, we would know that all sorts of Federal agencies would be all over that investigating that. If the next day another plane crashed and a couple hundred more died, an uproar would be across America as to what is happening to airplane safety. If it happened a third day in a row, probably we would shut down the airports. But here, when someone dies every 5 minutes, new infections occur all the time, we do not take this kind of action. And we need to see this as an emergency, particularly because there has been a number of hospitals which have tackled this problem and have solved this problem and have virtually eliminated some of their infection rates. We need to do this as a nation. In addition, my bill, H.R. 1174, would also provide, from the savings that come from reducing these infections, a grant program to hospitals that have been able to massively reduce or eliminate their infection rates. We need to gather together as a Congress and no longer ignore this problem, which is leading to so many deaths. We need to acknowledge those hospitals and health care settings that are leading to major changes and cleaning this up and also help those hospitals that are not. We can no longer hide from this problem when we see in the news the number of deaths that are occurring there, and even now so many have this, the things that are occurring in schools as well. We have to take vigorous action as a nation to save these lives. And I would hope that my colleagues would sign on as supporters of this bill.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, yesterday's headlines stated that more people will die from MRSA infections than die from AIDS, but that's just the beginning of the story, for actually some 90,000 people will likely die this year from an infection they pick up in a hospital or receiving health care. Tragic news. We also hear about students in school who have died from MRSA infections. But the point is hospitals are taking actions to reduce its infection rates, and yet Congress is not doing anything to help address this issue. We can do something about it by passing legislation I've introduced, H.R. 1174, the Healthy Hospitals Act. My legislation would require hospitals to report infection rates. After all, people can find out if their airline is on time; why not be able to find out if your hospital is infection free. Nineteen States currently require reporting, and several other States are considering legislation. Medicare earlier this summer began denying hospitals reimbursement for hospital-related infections. It is long overdue that Congress act. Let's standardize hospital reporting practices and fight hospital-related infections. I ask my colleagues to please cosponsor the Healthy Hospitals Act.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last April, 33 students were killed at Virginia Tech. That tragedy exposed problems with Federal laws that are a barrier to schools communicating with parents when a student has a serious problem. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 states that students' records cannot be released except ``to protect the health and safety of the student and others.'' Unfortunately, the interpretation of that law is so unclear that schools are fearful of being sued. The just-released report from the National Association of Attorneys General Task Force on Campus Safety calls for an update of the FERPA law that would allow for protection from liability if schools make good-faith efforts to protect students, faculty and staff. That is precisely what my bill, H.R. 2220, offers, a way to allow schools to communicate with parents when a student has significant mental health problems that increase the risk for suicide, homicide or violent acts while we still protect the confidentiality of records. I ask that all my colleagues join me and Representative Grace Napolitano in cosponsoring our bill, the Mental Health Security for Families in Education Act, and work to protect our students. Let's take down the walls between parents and schools. Let's take action now to save lives tomorrow.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, within the past hour, the House voted to pass a bill on the Children's Health Insurance Program, a laudable program that all Members agree is important to help children with their health care needs. Unfortunately, the debate was filled with much rhetoric, and it is important that we cut through all that rhetoric to understand that despite comments made, neither Republicans nor Democrats nor the White House nor anyone else dislikes children. We all want them to have the best health care they can get, and we will continue to work to make sure that happens. But as that bill was voted on on this floor with a threat of the White House to veto it, feeling it was not an appropriate bill, it appears that there may be enough votes to sustain that veto. During the coming days or weeks as the Senate also looks at this bill and as it goes to the White House, Congress has a couple of choices. First of all, Congress may take this as an opportunity to gain political points, spending untold hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign ads attacking each other, perhaps saying that each side doesn't care about children, perhaps trying to sway votes so that the veto is not sustained, accusing people of horrendous things which are not true. Or Congress can do what the American people expect us to do, and use this as an opportunity to make things even better. Now, I believe there were a lot of good things in that bill, and I think all Members agree that there are important aspects about children's health insurance we need to support. But shouldn't we also use this as an opportunity to make things better? There are elements in this bill that looked at some things to help with prevention, obesity, case management, health information technology, things that I have been talking about in this Chamber for the last 4 years as important things to help us save money. But let me review a few of these and say what we need to do and what we should be doing as Members of Congress to use this bill that will help several million children with their health care as a vehicle to find real change with health care. Instead of us continuing to come to this Chamber and debate how we are going to finance health care, we should be talking about how to fix health care. The problem with health care is not just that the costs are too high and people can't afford them. The concern is that there is so much waste in our health care dollars that people cannot afford it, perhaps as much as $400 billion a year wasted on our health care system. If we are able to reduce that waste in health care, we can make health care more affordable, and we wouldn't have to be dealing with how do we find the money to fund children's health insurance or adult health insurance. By fixing the system, we could change that. For example, health care-acquired infections this year will account for something like $50 billion in waste. This chart next to me indicates that just as of this evening, as of this evening there has been at least this many cases who have picked up infections in America, almost 1.5 million cases here, while some indications are that it may be much more than that. There have been some 66,000 deaths so far this year, one every 5 minutes, and so far spending, some $36 billion in health care-acquired infections which are preventable through hand washing, sterilized equipment, using clean procedures. Health information technology, if we stop talking about it and work with hospitals to invoke it, can save $162 billion in reducing errors. If we do more with case management, we could reduce the big bulk of dollars spent on people who have chronic illnesses such as heart disease and other problems. If we worked to reduce maternal smoking, we can reduce premature births, problems with low birth weights, asthma, respiratory distress symptoms, and so many other problems that infants experience, if we work to reduce maternal smoking. Now, we have a choice here. We can continue to argue as a House over who has the better plan, the Republicans' or Democrats' plan; or we can really get together over these next several days and say we need to fix our broken health care system, not continue to finance it. We need a health care system that is focused on patients and not politics. We need a health care system that is focused on patient safety and patient quality and where patients can choose their doctors and hospitals. I hope this is not a time that Americans will continue to see politicians beat their chest and say ``my plan is better''; ``no, my plan is better.'' I know if every few minutes a child or an adult is dying from an infection they picked up in a hospital, if we know the chronic illnesses they face continue to be so difficult to manage, and it is odd to me that Medicare and Medicaid will spend thousands of dollars to amputate the foot of someone who has severe diabetes, but won't spend $5 to have some nurse call that person and check up on them with care management, something is wrong and something is broken with that system. If we really and truly care about children, as I believe we do, if we really and truly care about the health care of Americans, as I believe we all do, shouldn't we be focusing our time instead on how to fix the system and use the compassion in our hearts to roll up our sleeves and work together and stop this continued fighting for the sake of political points. I believe that is what America wants, I believe that is what America needs, and I believe that is what they sent us here to take care of.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the career of Dr. Pascal Spino of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, a remarkable physician. After serving 60 years as a pediatrician, Dr. Spino is retiring after this long career. In 1954, he founded the first well baby clinic in Westmoreland County, which provides free exams and immunizations to children up to 6 years old. In 1972, Dr. Spino started the Render Any Needy Child Help program to provide medical care for abused children. He then went on to create a Level II nursery and modern pediatric department at Westmoreland Regional Hospital. Dr. Spino has received a number of recognitions, including Dr. Spino Day in Westmoreland County, for his lifetime commitment to helping others. More than 4,000 people were in attendance, despite a downpour of rain. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. Spino's career, personal sacrifice, and devotion to improving our health care system and helping children.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the medical career of Dr. Pascal Daniel Spino of Greensburg, PA. After 60 years of serving the citizens of Greensburg as a pediatrician, Dr. Spino is retiring from practice. The genuine concern and compassion Dr. Spino gave his patients on a daily basis is appreciated more than words can say. The sincere love and care his patients received should serve as a model to all who practice medicine. Dr. Spino has had a truly remarkable career. But he is a modest man who would not boast about his many accomplishments or awards. So let me mention just a few. Always having a big heart for the less fortunate, Dr. Spino founded the first Well Baby Clinic in Westmoreland County which serves indigent children from birth to 6 years of age. The clinic provides free exams and immunizations to the indigent children of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Dr. Spino has personally manned the clinic since it began in 1954. In 1970, when a patient, Jacob, was suffering from biliary atresia (a rare condition in newborn infants in which the common bile duct between the liver and the small intestine is blocked or absent), the townspeople of Greensburg, PA, responded generously with donations to help with the high medical costs. This tradition has carried on and the ``Joy of Jacob'' fund is still active and successful in helping to treat children with birth defects. Dr. Spino took notice of abused children with no place to go. He felt for them and decided to take action in 1972, by founding the RANCH, or Render Any Needy Child Help program. A program designed solely to provide medical care for abused children. Dr. Spino then went on to create a Level II Nursery at Westmoreland Regional Hospital for the care of infants and helped create a modern pediatric department at Westmoreland Regional Hospital with intensive care capabilities. Dr. Spino has received a number of awards including: Man of the Year by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for his outstanding service to the community; the Pennsylvania Pediatrician of the Year in 1989 by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics and was honored with ``Doctor Spino Day,'' in Westmoreland County for his lifetime commitment to helping others. Over 4,000 people--\1/4\ of the City's residents were in attendance--despite a downpour of rain. In my practice as a child psychologist, our paths have crossed several times over the years through our patients. I know first-hand the tremendous respect and affection patients and professionals alike have for Dr. Spino. I understand first-hand the joy of helping a child. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. Spino's career, personal sacrifice and devotion to improving our health care system and helping others.

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania

Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, what I am about to say may not be politically correct and it may not make folks in the White House or some of my colleagues in Congress happy, but every time I go home to my district, people ask me, when are we going to get serious about dealing with China? For a long time, China has acted more like an enemy than a friend. Over and over again, they have sold our families harmful and contaminated products, they have spied on us, and now we find out they are shipping weapons to our enemies in the Middle East to kill our soldiers. This is not the behavior of an ally, but the behavior of an enemy. They hurt our children. We have found toys containing lead paint and bibs and vinyl lunch boxes containing lead. Just this Wednesday, toy manufacturer Mattel announced it is recalling 700,000 Chinese-made toys because they contain excessive amounts of lead paint. This is the third recall of Chinese-made toys by the company in the past month. On August 1, Mattel's Fisher-Price announced it was recalling 1.5 million preschool toys, including nearly 1 million in the U.S. And then on August 14, the company announced a worldwide recall of 19 million toys. We all know the dangers caused by lead paint, which is why it is not used in American-made toys or homes. As a child psychologist, I can tell you firsthand exposure to lead paint can lead to attention deficit disorders, brain damage and medical ailments in children and in later life. China has continuously sent us products that are harmful to our families, and even our pets. Their harmful products sold to Americans include contaminated pet foods, used chop sticks, tires that have caused fatal accidents, diapers containing a fungus, lipstick containing carcinogens, juices with unsafe color additives, baby bottles with ingredients that can alter a child's hormones, pacifiers containing chemicals linked to cancer, and teething rings with toxic chemicals. In addition, China has systematically manipulated its currency to create an unfair trade advantage over the United States and other global competitors. They have repeatedly allowed their workers to counterfeit American products and steal our patents, costing us billions of dollars of trade each year, thus destroying American manufacturing jobs. They have built power plants with cheaper outdated technology, causing excessive pollution and environmental hazards throughout the world, including the United States, and they have stolen national secrets from our U.S. energy labs. Congress and the White House have allowed China to continue its blatant disregard for our country; and as a result, China has become more and more emboldened. They have now begun to directly and indirectly attack our military, actions that have taken the lives of American soldiers. Beijing appears to be the culprit of a cyberattack launched against the Pentagon this past June. While this attack was not with missiles or guns, it is nonetheless an attack on our sovereignty that should not be unchecked. Now we learn that China is supplying our enemies with weapons and ammunition being used to kill our soldiers. These weapons have included large-caliber sniper rifles; rocket-propelled grenades; improvised explosive devices, or IEDs; and shoulder-fired rockets. Millions of rounds of ammunition have also been linked to China. And many of these weapons are finding their way into the hands of the Taliban and insurgents in Iran. As U.S., Iraqi, and coalition forces try to prevent weapons from coming into Iraq, China has been directly aiding and abetting our enemies. For far too long, China has been harming our children, our families, and our economy. Now they are killing our soldiers. Well, enough is enough. China must be held accountable. If Congress can't act, the American people can, and Americans are saying no to China. From our food, to our clothes, to household goods, Americans are saying they will stop buying Chinese products. Unless China stops its practices that hurt Americans, kill our soldiers and kill our jobs, I believe the American people will continue to stop buying Chinese-made goods. But Congress must also demand that if China does not stop these practices that hurt our soldiers and hurt our citizens, Congress, too, must act, and do so quickly.