Ralph Norman

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3823, the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017, which provides additional time to debate the future of our Nation's air traffic control system. Earlier this week, I visited Charlotte Douglas' air traffic control tower and learned firsthand from the controllers about the importance of modernizing our traffic control system. Fortunately, Chairman Bill Shuster exercised leadership through spearheading H.R. 2997, the 21st Century AIRR Act, that does just that, by shifting the current bureaucratic and broken air traffic control to a stakeholder-managed, not-for-profit corporation. With NextGen projected to ultimately cost $120 billion, it is imperative that we fix our air traffic control in this Congress. Importantly, the 21st Century AIRR Act also strengthens air service in rural communities through ensuring that general aviation will have full access to U.S. airspace. It advances the remote air traffic control tower program, which means that rural communities are fully integrated into our Nation's air traffic control system. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on this critical issue facing the Fifth District of South Carolina.

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to seek support for my en bloc amendment to H.R. 3354. As we all know, drug overdose deaths in our country have dramatically increased since the turn of the century. Over the past decade alone, overdose deaths have increased by more than 400 percent. In 2015, more Americans died from opioids than in the Vietnam war. Mr. Chairman, that is astonishing. This is a national emergency. I have seen the effects firsthand in my district. In 2016, nearly one-fifth of all opioid-related deaths in South Carolina took place in my district. My amendment would provide more funds to opioid prevention by transferring $7 million from the DOJ General Administration account to the opioid abuse reduction activities. More than ever, we must provide as much funding as possible to defeat this national epidemic. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join me in combating this crisis.

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I rise today to seek support for amendment 77 to H.R. 3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, which is supported by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and key voted by the National Taxpayers Union, Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America, and FreedomWorks. Mick Mulvaney, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been guided by the idea that every dollar spent by the Federal Government must be scrutinized. I took this principle to heart as I examined the President's budget request, which stated: ``Everyone believes in and supports safe food supplies and clean air and water. But the agencies of the Federal Government have gone way beyond what was intended by the Congress.'' Madam Chair, while traveling around my district this August, I heard the same sentiment put more plainly: ``Washington is off the rails.'' As our national debt grows in excess of $20 trillion, each of my 15 grandchildren is being saddled with a $61,000 share of the debt. Now, Madam Chair, my 16th grandchild is on the way. I would really like to start tackling Washington's spending problems now before grandchild 16 joins us in early December. I am encouraged by the leadership of President Trump's administration with its budget request, but I strongly believe Congress must do its part to stop this debt from crushing our Nation. That is why I have submitted an amendment that would reduce EPA appropriations by $1.869 billion to the administration's requested level of $5.655 billion. In his testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt emphasized the need for the EPA to get back to the basics of statutory authority of ensuring access to clean water, clean air, and land. Madam Chair, the amount of overreach and wasteful spending the EPA is responsible for is endless. Allow me to share with you a few recent examples. For overreach: first, look to Sackett v. EPA, where the EPA imposed $75,000 cost per day on a couple for placing gravel on dry land to build a home within the existing subdivision. And then there is Andy Johnson, the Wyoming rancher who was facing $20 million in fines for his stock pond, which the EPA alleged violated the Clean Water Act. This is despite the fact that stock ponds were exempt from Federal law, and that he had obtained the necessary permits. It took Mr. Johnson 5 months in court to reach a winning settlement which freed him from any obligation to pay the EPA. The waters of the United States rule, which I am happy to see this administration working to roll back, embodied the overreach perfectly, as the Obama EPA pushed the limits of its power under the Clean Water Act to even regulate some ponds and manmade ditches. Now, for wasteful spending: there is an Environmental Justice Program, a program that is supposed to support business development in disadvantaged communities, which funded an effort to increase knowledge of environmentally-friendly nail salon practices in California nail salons. The estimated price tag was $73 million over the course of 2016-2025. There was an EPA environmental education program which funded ``educational projects'' that have included learning how to build rain gardens, the significance of urban forests, poster contests on sun protection, asthma awareness and radon and schoolyard habitat restoration. There was even $300,000 in grant money going to fund the Chesapeake Bay Journal, an environmental newspaper in Maryland. Madam Chair, these are just a handful of recent instances of the EPA's bureaucratic waste at the expense of the American taxpayer. The Presidential budget request for the EPA provides the roadmap for trimming the Agency back to focus on its core mission. Funding for the Agency is focused on infrastructure, elimination of duplicative programs and programs that extend past the EPA's statutory authority, and ensuring that funds are not lost to bureaucratic waste. Madam Chair, Congress has an incredible opportunity to practice what we preach in tackling an out-of-control Federal Government. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. NORMAN. Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. NORMAN. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. I thank the chairman for his response and commitment to the National Emergency Grant program. I have seen firsthand the importance of this program in my district, including the recent layoffs at the VC Summer power plant and throughout the country. Getting people who are laid off from their jobs back to work as quickly as possible is critically important for affected communities and for the economy. I fully support this program and this bill. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your work on this bill which provides funding to critical programs within a difficult but fiscally responsible allocation. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify on the Record a question I have on funding for the National Emergency Grant program. The National Emergency Grant program provides critical job training and reemployment funding for workers who have lost their jobs as a result of plant closures or mass layoffs. Does this bill fully fund the National Emergency Grant program?

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2333, the Small Business Investment Opportunity Act of 2017. As a businessman, I am keenly aware of how vital small businesses are to keeping our Nation's economy moving forward. Small businesses alone employ nearly half of America's private sector workforce. However, the dreams of many small business owners in South Carolina can't be fully realized because of the serious obstacle of accessing capital. This burden prevents the creation of more jobs and better opportunities for the hardworking American people. H.R. 2333 will allow the SBIC program, offered by the SBA to help tackle lending roadblocks, to be utilized to its full potential by increasing the individual leverage limit from $150 million to $175 million. With this legislation, small businesses will have a greater chance to grow and help spur our economy. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2333 and for all of the small businesses nationwide.

Mr. NORMAN

Mr. NORMAN. Mr. Speaker, members of my South Carolina Congressional delegation, it is an honor to be here. Let me have my family and friends stand. It is South Carolina's Brady Bunch. You all stand up there. It is a tremendous honor to serve with such an esteemed group. I think it is a special time in history. As Congressman Lewis said, we are family. With the shooting of Steve Scalise, we know that we are all Americans. We have got such an opportunity, and I look forward to playing a part in working with Members to move this country forward.